Reference Tracks

Phoenix - Andrew Holmes

Get Lucky - Daft Punk

Vultures - John Mayer

Transcript

All right. So here are three sound system tuning reference tracks you got to have in your arsenal. So what our reference tracks for. So we do the hard work of designing a show, getting it out in the field, hanging in the air, and we need to verify that all these measurements and whatever audio analyze it, we're working.

We can get it as flat as we want all this data adding up at the end of the day, it has to sound. So having a reference track means it's material that you've already decided in advance. That sounds amazing that you trust that, you know, the nuances of it in and out. You've spent years listening to this, and here are three tracks that I use regularly.

These days. I've got more and I'm going to show you through PDF. That's actually got 10, but, um, if you are in system tuning world, you probably going to want something. It's my audio, math survival spreadsheet. So it's here, it's got over 30. Something different calculators that help you get results when you're designing shows and when you're in the field.

So I don't feel as overwhelming half with which data, but I've read, you know, a ton of stuff and compiled it here to the very useful formulas that I think help me get results. So that's gonna be a link below in the chat, or you can go to produce by mkc.com/audio toolkit, and it will have that link. Okay.

So without further ado, what are those reference checks? I speak of? The first one is called a Phoenix by Andrew Holmes. It is an absolutely wonderful piece of me. Sorry. I lost my notes here, as you could probably tell. So yeah, it's by Phoenix, by Andrew Holmes and full disclosure. I actually mastered this tune while I'm not out on shows.

I am here in my studio cave. I do mastering it's a ton of fun. So, uh, that is, uh, a record that was released recently. And what I love about it, it has this massive deep. Kick drum that hits super, super hard. So it's really going to push your subs hard and really reveal if they are going to be able to handle the type of SPL that you want.

It's still a pretty hot master. So it's hitting a limiter pretty hard, but that transient is still super strong, all the way down to the super low and like 30, 40 Hertz. It's got also some sustain the baselines with that. So it's a longer notes that are held. It's not jumping over the place. So I can really walk around the room and hear how a lot of different registers in the base are going throughout the room.

So if I'm doing a walking baseline, a jazz track, that's jumping around quickly. This is sustained. Nice deep base that can give me a good sense of the room and a lot different, uh, frequent. The ma mid range and the vocals also super rich and side note. Why am I not playing for those for you right now?

YouTube would yank these down cause the licenses. So just want to get out of the way. So I'll just put these into Spotify or we can go to the PDF later, which I'll show you that has links to all these. So, yeah, this is a very rich mid range and the vocal it's the hip hop music thing to scoop the crap out of the vocal.

But this one has just really rich mid range and it gets me a good handle of the 300, 612 1 0.2 K uh, octaves there. So it sounds fantastic. It's also got sustained sections in the song to have no vocal in it, which is really. Uh, if you just want to hear the PA and instrumental section, usually we sent her on the vocal because we're humans and we like voices and we talk, but having sections without the vocal is really nice.

It has some good turnarounds. Um, and lastly, the high hat has really great balanced top end. It's not too toppy. It's not EDM track 10 Ks tearing your head off. Uh, but it's a good balance. I'd say right in the middle as far as top, and it's not too zingy and it's not dull sounding either. So that's track number one, Phoenix by Andrew.

Number two is get lucky by daft punk. We all know this. Uh, I can't forget. I came out, I think twice, uh, 17, I think. Uh, but it has much easier transients and controlled from, uh, the Andrew Holmes tune. The Andrew Holmes too. And the kick just slams you in the face. It's not overbearing, but it hits really, really hard.

This one's more. So not looking to see what transients are doing in the system. As much as the clarity and detailed, the high hats are incredibly crispy on this track. Not too much, but they serve as a boundary for me that if I'm able, if I'm working on a mix, even in a live setting, I can reference the, get lucky track.

And here, if the hats are overcooked or not, if they are crispier than this track, that what I'm working on, then the daft punk track, then it's definitely to me. It's also got a really tight, deep bass, the bass player. So playing a five string. Uh, so he gets down to that low D and I think a low B and a couple of points.

So it's really showing me the basement of my subs. Uh, I would say even another adjective for the hats are they're almost airy. Uh, and the vocal is not. So a lot of pop music, uh, has a very airy, airy vocal. Uh, if you will look another track, the Japanese house saw you in a dream has the most over cooked areas, vocal out there in the world.

It's way too much in my opinion, but the hats are crispy and area by the vocal is not, the vocal is very smooth and forward. Us also has a very rich mid range as. It also doesn't have a ton of hard pan instruments. So if you have to do a weird stereo configuration, you're not going to hear stuff pulling you hard, left and hard.

Right. And number three is vultures by John Mayer. This is obvious his continuing record. And if you talk to Manny Mira Quinn, who's interviewed a lot about this record. Cause it sounds so good. He goes, I wanted the record to give you a hug and that's exactly what it does. It has this. low end. The kick. I would say hits harder than get lucky, but not as hard as the Andrew Holmes, Phoenix tune, uh, and the base.

It's still just this warm blanket hug. And both of those are just sitting very forward in the mix, a very solid, so it's a fantastic foundation. The vocal in it. And John Muir's vocal has a ton of one to two K range, which is very interesting. There's not a ton of air in it. There's not a ton of meat. It's really focused there, more of that kind of telephone range.

So it's just an interesting characteristic about it. And whereas the get lucky high hats, uh, Uh, toppy the high hats on vultures or more. So that shows me an Octa of below that tank came more like a 5k focus or in a lot of low end and high hat. And it's also very spread and that region as well. So it's a very warm track.

You see all three of these tracks it's really. Uh, revealing a lot in this sub and that handoff into the mains, or is that a very commonality forum? And, uh, so I want to show you, I want to just talk about these three here for brevity's sake, but I've got, um, a PDF here that has, uh, I made last year. For every trial count on here, except the Phoenix one.

You need to edit this, but it's also in my audio toolkit and it has a lot of these notes on it. Another is temptation by down a crawl. That's when I stole from Jamie who owns and runs smart a little longer by Bethel has a really, really deep. Um, and just some other ones you can take a look at. So I have that in my ideal toolkit.

That's again, produced by mkc.com/audio toolkit, or I'll have a link here below in the description. My name is Michael Curtis. I love helping people make concerts. Sound amazing. Primarily through sound system design and want you to know your stuff. So please comment below and let me know what your favorite reference track is.

And I would love to hear from you, I'm going to clumsily end this live stream, and I will see you on another video. Thanks.