Who does bass-down mixes for YT?

[Poniiboi]

I've noticed many major labels mix songs quite differently for Youtube than for other mediums. The bass goes waaaaay down in an official Youtube vid for a major label artist.

I can see why cuz you never know on what medium someone will be accessing a video. Smartphone speakers suck, so the bass should go down in that case. However, i wanna make sure I'm not just hearin things.

Am I hearing things or is this a real technique? I ask cuz I'm gonna start doin some YT vids myself. Would also love to hear if animators and Youtube video artists prefer receiving mixes from audio specialists with the bass down.

[InvisibleObserver]

At 6/19/12 01:51 PM, SenatorJohnDean wrote: I've noticed many major labels mix songs quite differently for Youtube than for other mediums. The bass goes waaaaay down in an official Youtube vid for a major label artist.

I can see why cuz you never know on what medium someone will be accessing a video. Smartphone speakers suck, so the bass should go down in that case. However, i wanna make sure I'm not just hearin things.

Am I hearing things or is this a real technique? I ask cuz I'm gonna start doin some YT vids myself. Would also love to hear if animators and Youtube video artists prefer receiving mixes from audio specialists with the bass down.

This doesn't make a ton of sense to me. If a songs written that has sounds across all frequencies, and is compressed / made to be loud, reguardless of wether or not someones playing off youtube, iphone or w/e, the song should be done up the same way.

The only difference is wether or not the person listening has a peice of hardware that plays out what was originally written.

If there is some tom foolery going on, its probably a monumental waste of time, atleast on an individual level.

[BrokenDeck]

At 6/19/12 01:51 PM, SenatorJohnDean wrote: I've noticed many major labels mix songs quite differently for Youtube than for other mediums. The bass goes waaaaay down in an official Youtube vid for a major label artist.

I can see why cuz you never know on what medium someone will be accessing a video. Smartphone speakers suck, so the bass should go down in that case. However, i wanna make sure I'm not just hearin things.

Am I hearing things or is this a real technique? I ask cuz I'm gonna start doin some YT vids myself. Would also love to hear if animators and Youtube video artists prefer receiving mixes from audio specialists with the bass down.

It's not just the base, but the upper end that is also mixed differently between audio format releases, and the mix for other media such as television and youtube.

The dynamic range is also usually more compressed as well for a visual media release.

Mostly this is done because television speakers generally have crappy quality.

It's always been done like this AFAIK.

[Poniiboi]

At 6/19/12 01:55 PM, InvisibleObserver wrote:
This doesn't make a ton of sense to me. If a songs written that has sounds across all frequencies, and is compressed / made to be loud, reguardless of wether or not someones playing off youtube, iphone or w/e, the song should be done up the same way.

The only difference is wether or not the person listening has a peice of hardware that plays out what was originally written.

If there is some tom foolery going on, its probably a monumental waste of time, atleast on an individual level.

Question though...how is that tom foolery? I know TV does it. That's why on old CD singles you'll get "TV mixes" along with the instrumentals.

Also, if you put the bass down, you can make the overall sound seem louder because bass takes up most of the space when a song is compressed. So I don't think it's just hardware.

[LiquidOoze]

I've noticed that as well for a lot of songs. I think it's done so people are less motivated to rip the song from Youtube. Nowadays people only seem to care about 320 kbps songs with lots of bass. When you cut the bass, export your song as a 96 kpbs, upload it on Youtube and give a link to a $0,20 HQ download, you can make good money.

[InvisibleObserver]

At 6/19/12 01:59 PM, SenatorJohnDean wrote: Question though...how is that tom foolery? I know TV does it. That's why on old CD singles you'll get "TV mixes" along with the instrumentals.

Also, if you put the bass down, you can make the overall sound seem louder because bass takes up most of the space when a song is compressed. So I don't think it's just hardware.

A change you make attempting to compensate for what people play out of though will short shaft a number of other people though. You and brokendeck both bring up TV, which is true. But you're mixing predominantly for headphones or computer speakers. I wouldn't bother removing bass and things for a released song. Its probably better to just get the best even quality you can.

[sorohanro]

Beside the compression and re-conversion that goes automatically on YouTube, MySpace or Soundcloud, it might be some mixing/ mastering for such targets.
Maybe it's not the bass lower, but just a different mid-side setting.

[Poniiboi]

At 6/19/12 01:59 PM, LiquidOoze wrote: I've noticed that as well for a lot of songs. I think it's done so people are less motivated to rip the song from Youtube. Nowadays people only seem to care about 320 kbps songs with lots of bass. When you cut the bass, export your song as a 96 kpbs, upload it on Youtube and give a link to a $0,20 HQ download, you can make good money.

I am very interested in this strategy. Never would have thought of that. Good stuff, Liquid.