Master Bus Coloring with Microphone Preamplifiers

Zang Y, You J. Master Bus Coloring with Microphone Preamplifiers. In: AES Convention 155. Audio Engineering Society; 2023. Paper 170. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22324

@inproceedings{Zang2023_22324,
  author = {Zang, Yongyi and You, Jingyao},
  title = {{Master Bus Coloring with Microphone Preamplifiers}},
  booktitle = {AES Convention 155},
  note = {Paper 170},
  year = {2023},
  month = oct,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22324}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Master Bus Coloring with Microphone Preamplifiers
AU  - Zang, Yongyi
AU  - You, Jingyao
T2  - AES Convention 155
M1  - Paper 170
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/10/06
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=22324
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Summing boxes are increasingly used for digital mixing to provide benefits like added dynamic range and coloration compared to in-the-box mixing. However, the coupling of dynamic range and coloration in summing boxes lacks flexibility. We investigate the use of microphone preamplifiers, commonly found in studios for coloration on vocal and instrument recordings, in conjuction with summing boxes. We start by characterizing microphone preamplifiers in full-frequency settings by probing its frequency-magnitude response along with total harmonic distortion (THD) at different amplitudes. We then explore their use for mastering without separate stems or summing, and for mixing where engineers can adjust the signal chain as needed. As mixing and mastering is a subjective process, we collect feedback from the mixing and mastering engineering community for quantitative and qualitative feedback. By using microphone preamplifiers on master bus, engineers can decouple dynamic range and coloration, providing more flexible bus processing for the digital age while reusing existing studio equipment. Both authors contributed equally to this paper.
ER  -