i've been seeing people get quite confused with the idea of warmth in music production and in music in general. so i thought i'd explain what it (usually) means and why people say it.
warmth is characterised as a notable difference between a cold, harsh digital signal and a smooth, pleasant analog or analog-sounding signal. people are trying to achieve warmth in their mixes because it sounds more pleasant, real and smooth. warmth doesn't have one universal technical definition, but here is an example list of things it can be characterised by:
- saturation/distortion of frequencies to add new even/odd harmonics into a sound
- boosting or cutting of pleasant/unpleasant frequencies, and the curves related to how it achieves such a boost/cut
- rolling off of very high, harsh frequencies
- subtle pitch variation so the sound moves over time
- subtle volume variation so the sound moves over time
- subtle noise/artefacts in the signal
- a more even, compressed/limited sound, characterised by squishing the sound and achieving a pumping effect
- subtle differences in the stereo field to make the sound feel more 3-D
- any combination or all of the above.
- etc.
hopefully, this clears some things up. if anyone has questions, feel free to leave them below! :) ~
Submitted October 11, 2017 at 08:50PM by iamartsea https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/75t64c/a_brief_guide_to_warmth/?utm_source=ifttt
Javier Rodriguez
Wednesday, October 11, 2017