Pink noise and mixing

[LamarPecorino]

I recently watched an interesting video on balancing a mix utilizing pink noise. I was wondering if anyone has tried this approach.

[funsongs]

I recently watched an interesting video on balancing a mix utilizing pink noise. I was wondering if anyone has tried this approach.

No - not me. But it probably wouldn't help, because I'm a bit color-blind; at least that's what they told me in Driver's Ed class.
I get in trouble putting brown stuff in the green bin, and green stuff in the brown bin. Know what I mean? Jeepers!

[davekropf]

Can you post a link to the video? I'd be interested in checking it out.

Thanks!

[larrymagee]

I heard about it from Paulie. It's a great way to get everything to the right level before fine tuning the mix. On my monitors it tends to make the bass a little too loud and the lead melody a little to quiet but I like the way it balances everything else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUaok-7-2L4

[LOCK88]

I heard about it from Paulie. It's a great way to get everything to the right level before fine tuning the mix. On my monitors it tends to make the bass a little too loud and the lead melody a little to quiet but I like the way it balances everything else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUaok-7-2L4

I tried with 2 mixes, and it did exactly what Larry mentioned. For whatever reason, it made my bass WAY too loud. Probably something to do with my room. My room does cancel out some db's from 50-60hz, so over the years, I've learned to adjust my mixes accordingly. However, you might find that it is really helpful to your mixes. You might try a few mixes using this technique, and compare against your mixes without using it.

[davekropf]

Interesting stuff! I'll have to check it out for sure.

[Len911]

Interesting. But mixing??

Pink noise-

The frequency spectrum of pink noise is linear in logarithmic scale; it has equal power in bands that are proportionally wide.[2] This means that pink noise would have equal power in the frequency range from 40 to 60 Hz as in the band from 4000 to 6000 Hz. Since humans hear in such a proportional space, where a doubling of frequency (an octave) is perceived the same regardless of actual frequency (40–60 Hz is heard as the same interval and distance as 4000–6000 Hz), every octave contains the same amount of energy and thus pink noise is often used as a reference signal in audio engineering.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_of_noise

Human hearing-

The range of human hearing is generally considered to be 20 Hz to 20 kHz, but it is far more sensitive to sounds between 1 kHz and 4 kHz. For example, listeners can detect sounds as low as 0 dB SPL at 3 kHz, but require 40 dB SPL at 100 hertz (an amplitude increase of 100). Listeners can tell that two tones are different if their frequencies differ by more than about 0.3% at 3 kHz.

http://www.dspguide.com/ch22/1.htm

Fundamental frequency and harmonic amplitude (power) difference- The illustration didn't link correctly, but the fundamental freq has the most amplitude, and each successive harmonic decreases in amplitude.

I'm not sure if you are mixing with pink noise in the mix or merely using it as a reference, though I'm still unsure the purpose? Giving all octaves the same energy (amplitude) seems contrary to a natural mix. Not that pink noise doesn't have it's purpose, like troubleshooting. The same energy (amplitude) is not the same thing as perceived loudness and the way humans hear. The fundamental frequency is the note we hear, like A4, but if A5, A6, A7, become the same amplitude, then they would all essentially become the fundamental A4-7? You are essentially messing with the adsr amplitude envelope, giving every instrument an organ adsr envelope?? We are also messing with the formants? The timbres? If you really referenced and modeled pink noise, it seems you'd end up with, pink noise?

Sounds very basically are sine waves and cosines differing in amplitude(voltage), and frequency, superimposed on each other to form complex waveforms. If you are giving all the sines the same power, you would essentially end up with noise.

[funsongs]

Interesting. But mixing??

Pink noise-

The frequency spectrum of pink noise is linear in logarithmic scale; it has equal power in bands that are proportionally wide.[2] This means that pink noise would have equal power in the frequency range from 40 to 60 Hz as in the band from 4000 to 6000 Hz. Since humans hear in such a proportional space, where a doubling of frequency (an octave) is perceived the same regardless of actual frequency (40–60 Hz is heard as the same interval and distance as 4000–6000 Hz), every octave contains the same amount of energy and thus pink noise is often used as a reference signal in audio engineering.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_of_noise

Human hearing-

The range of human hearing is generally considered to be 20 Hz to 20 kHz, but it is far more sensitive to sounds between 1 kHz and 4 kHz. For example, listeners can detect sounds as low as 0 dB SPL at 3 kHz, but require 40 dB SPL at 100 hertz (an amplitude increase of 100). Listeners can tell that two tones are different if their frequencies differ by more than about 0.3% at 3 kHz.

http://www.dspguide.com/ch22/1.htm

Fundamental frequency and harmonic amplitude (power) difference- The illustration didn't link correctly, but the fundamental freq has the most amplitude, and each successive harmonic decreases in amplitude.

I'm not sure if you are mixing with pink noise in the mix or merely using it as a reference, though I'm still unsure the purpose? Giving all octaves the same energy (amplitude) seems contrary to a natural mix. Not that pink noise doesn't have it's purpose, like troubleshooting. The same energy (amplitude) is not the same thing as perceived loudness and the way humans hear. The fundamental frequency is the note we hear, like A4, but if A5, A6, A7, become the same amplitude, then they would all essentially become the fundamental A4-7? You are essentially messing with the adsr amplitude envelope, giving every instrument an organ adsr envelope?? We are also messing with the formants? The timbres? If you really referenced and modeled pink noise, it seems you'd end up with, pink noise?

Sounds very basically are sine waves and cosines differing in amplitude(voltage), and frequency, superimposed on each other to form complex waveforms. If you are giving all the sines the same power, you would essentially end up with noise.

Yikes, Len
You must have ESPN!
Took the words right outta my mouth!

[ochaim]

this pink noise mixing thing helped me a couple weeks ago when i had a hard time balancing vocals and lead synths.

it isnt a set it and forget it way of mixing (what is?). it can get you in the ballpark and you can tweak from there.

it just takes a few minutes to try and is worth it if you are having a hard time getting a mix balanced.

[LamarPecorino]

Can you post a link to the video? I'd be interested in checking it out.

Thanks!

Here is the video that I saw. There are others on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b3DtQALtuY&t=8s