Using grey noise instead of pink noise?

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RobC
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21 Jan 2019

They say, pink noise is closer to the human hearing than white noise at least. Grey noise, however, also considers adding an important drop around mid/higher regions, due to the human hearing's sensitivity there. Now, for me, generally anything works when setting levels with an A/B comparison, cause I just need a full/filled/random sound, that just gives me a loose guide. Still, I feel a grey noise is a bit more pleasant to listen to, than white or pink.

Does anyone have any experience with trying grey noise instead of pink noise during mixing or alike?

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aeox
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21 Jan 2019

If my understanding of grey noise is correct , equal loudness curves technically depend on the person listening and the playback volume.

I think the better approach would be to use similar genre well-mixed/mastered commercial quality tracks that you love and think sound great as a reference, and don't worry about mixing to any noise. Just mix to sound good IMO.

I'm fairly certain that people weren't mixing to any kind of noise, they were mixing to sound good and it happened to have a pink noise curve generally.

RobC
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Joined: 10 Mar 2018

21 Jan 2019

aeox wrote:
21 Jan 2019
If my understanding of grey noise is correct , equal loudness curves technically depend on the person listening and the playback volume.

I think the better approach would be to use similar genre well-mixed/mastered commercial quality tracks that you love and think sound great as a reference, and don't worry about mixing to any noise. Just mix to sound good IMO.

I'm fairly certain that people weren't mixing to any kind of noise, they were mixing to sound good and it happened to have a pink noise curve generally.
All generally true, though a standard grey noise is still very loose compared to an F/M Curve for example.
I was just wondering if anyone experimented with grey noise (I know people do with pink noise).

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selig
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21 Mar 2019

aeox wrote:If my understanding of grey noise is correct , equal loudness curves technically depend on the person listening and the playback volume.

I think the better approach would be to use similar genre well-mixed/mastered commercial quality tracks that you love and think sound great as a reference, and don't worry about mixing to any noise. Just mix to sound good IMO.

I'm fairly certain that people weren't mixing to any kind of noise, they were mixing to sound good and it happened to have a pink noise curve generally.
^^THIS^^ (all of it!).
:)


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guitfnky
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21 Mar 2019

aeox wrote:
21 Jan 2019
If my understanding of grey noise is correct , equal loudness curves technically depend on the person listening and the playback volume.

I think the better approach would be to use similar genre well-mixed/mastered commercial quality tracks that you love and think sound great as a reference, and don't worry about mixing to any noise. Just mix to sound good IMO.

I'm fairly certain that people weren't mixing to any kind of noise, they were mixing to sound good and it happened to have a pink noise curve generally.
this gave me a thought...what about treating a target reference mix as noise? wonder if anyone's tried that... take a section with the type of energy you want to emulate, and loop that over the top of a similar section, then pull down your levels and bring them back up as if you were using noise.

probably would be difficult with sparser sections, but in the busiest parts of a song, might yield some interesting results.
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RobC
Posts: 1833
Joined: 10 Mar 2018

21 Mar 2019

selig wrote:
21 Mar 2019
aeox wrote:If my understanding of grey noise is correct , equal loudness curves technically depend on the person listening and the playback volume.

I think the better approach would be to use similar genre well-mixed/mastered commercial quality tracks that you love and think sound great as a reference, and don't worry about mixing to any noise. Just mix to sound good IMO.

I'm fairly certain that people weren't mixing to any kind of noise, they were mixing to sound good and it happened to have a pink noise curve generally.
^^THIS^^ (all of it!).
:)


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I don't deny what works okay commonly, I just try to explore "gray areas".



Anyway, I guess that loudness reference doesn't matter what it is. In another thread, I tested equalizing a kick, where I happened to use a pink noise as the loudness reference. (The very first thing I did previously, was listening to songs, getting my ears trained, same way you once suggested.) I simply did the A/B listening back and forth. First I set the overall level, then got to equalizing.
Here comes the interesting part: I chose parts with an EQ that had interesting transients for my ears. Mostly a higher region click, some knock in the mid/lows, and the punch in the subby area. I set the the curves to my taste, then got to setting the gain. I yet again did an A/B listening for that, and set the gain until I felt it's just as loud as the reference. When I was done, it sounded nothing like the pink noise, neither did it look like it. When I started comparing the kick to some similar stock kicks from Reason's library, I was surprised to see, that on the spectrum, my quickly EQ'd kick had quite a similar response to other kicks.

So during sound design, I'd definitely do this kind of equalization. I like what weird character and a bit of extra "bass release" even Reason's stock MClass EQ can add, too.
Then I'd probably do a generic Multi-Band EQ-ing the same way.

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selig
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21 Mar 2019

Remember that the pink noise trick is for the entire mix. If you used only individual instruments that matched the pink noise curve, there would possibly be no distinction between the instruments…

How would you “pink noise” a hi hat? A shaker? A sub kick?


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bxbrkrz
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21 Mar 2019

Would splitting a mix in diff stems of freq bands, and then compare those to a more appropriate type (closer to that frequency 's energy) of noise be anything worth looking into?
I have no idea but it's fun to think about it. I was looking into the Matrix Brute and its white, pink, red and blue noise generators and thought... maybe?
Anyway, the sum won't put out one big and nice pink noise in the end I don't think, especially if a pink noise is already part of the whole equation. :puf_smile:
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Ahornberg
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21 Mar 2019

You can have noise painted any color you want as long as it’s pink! :lol:

RobC
Posts: 1833
Joined: 10 Mar 2018

21 Mar 2019

selig wrote:
21 Mar 2019
Remember that the pink noise trick is for the entire mix. If you used only individual instruments that matched the pink noise curve, there would possibly be no distinction between the instruments…

How would you “pink noise” a hi hat? A shaker? A sub kick?


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Actually, that reference sound is nothing more than a loudness guide. It could be as much as a hiss. I could still do the A/B checking and set up the sub bass. See, cause it's just some sound that tells me 'this is how loud I want to go'. As for how I know how much bass is too loud or quiet compared to that hiss - well, my ears already know the limits, cause I previously trained them by listening to reference songs for that session.

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