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Ufabulum, good, bad or meh?

azatoth

By azatoth
in Squarepusher

Ufabulum - Yay or Nay?  

265 members have voted

  1. 1. What say you?

    • Yay
      152
    • Nay
      31
    • Meh
      82

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baph Grand Master

baph

Posted
Posted

There is not enough bass. My test is I'm my car. I have the settings just right to shake the buhjeezus out of whatever I'm stopped next to when some bass madness drops.

Absolutely, thought this second time I listened to the album on my reference 'phones (the first time I attributed it to ear fatigue as it was late at night). The mids and top end are there fine but the bass (and sub bass) is virtually non-existent - It's like someone slipped and knocked the <100Hz eq slider when it was mastered.

 

Right!!?!? I know!

The sub-bass is missing, for sure.

 

There's a decent amount of mid-bass, some bass, as per mainstream iPod earbud brostep. [Not that it really sounds like that, but it seems to an obvious intentional reference in the sound design. I haven't decided how successful that element is, but it's not really any different from the re-contextualized trance synths on the album, which for some reason work for me right off the bat. ]

 

But I don't remember a ton of sub-bass. Only had 1.5 listens so far, though, and not on my best setup.

 

jefferoo, did you get the physical yet? Still waiting in my part of LA.

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Guest catharsis

Guest catharsis

Posted
Posted

There is not enough bass. My test is I'm my car. I have the settings just right to shake the buhjeezus out of whatever I'm stopped next to when some bass madness drops.

Absolutely, thought this second time I listened to the album on my reference 'phones (the first time I attributed it to ear fatigue as it was late at night). The mids and top end are there fine but the bass (and sub bass) is virtually non-existent - It's like someone slipped and knocked the <100Hz eq slider when it was mastered.

 

Right!!?!? I know!

The sub-bass is missing, for sure.

 

If I may clear this up:

 

Using the graphic peak meter on Foobar2000, one can clearly see that there is plenty of action happening down to 50hz and presumably lower judging by the looks of the peaks. No headphones or speakers necessary - case closed.

 

If anything, the relative quantity of treble to bass is probably creating what is know as "masking", or the covering of one frequency or band of frequencies by another of greater amplitude (higher dB). So, rather than being bass shy, this album is actually merely heavy on treble creating a relative deficiency of perceived bass.

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J3FF3R00 Grand Master

J3FF3R00

Posted
Posted

There is not enough bass. My test is I'm my car. I have the settings just right to shake the buhjeezus out of whatever I'm stopped next to when some bass madness drops.

Absolutely, thought this second time I listened to the album on my reference 'phones (the first time I attributed it to ear fatigue as it was late at night). The mids and top end are there fine but the bass (and sub bass) is virtually non-existent - It's like someone slipped and knocked the <100Hz eq slider when it was mastered.

 

Right!!?!? I know!

The sub-bass is missing, for sure.

 

If I may clear this up:

 

Using the graphic peak meter on Foobar2000, one can clearly see that there is plenty of action happening down to 50hz and presumably lower judging by the looks of the peaks. No headphones or speakers necessary - case closed.

 

If anything, the relative quantity of treble to bass is probably creating what is know as "masking", or the covering of one frequency or band of frequencies by another of greater amplitude (higher dB). So, rather than being bass shy, this album is actually merely heavy on treble creating a relative deficiency of perceived bass.

 

Funny, I was actually just stopping by to present my new theory, which is in accordance with what you say.

 

I listened to the whole album on headphones today and needed to listen to it really loud to feel the low end. In doing so, the high end gain proceeded to give me a headache.

 

I was going to say my new theory is that the high end gain is pushed so much that it overwhelms the low frequencies.

 

 

Re: Baph

 

After getting all pissy and bitching about it, I got it in mail late yesterday afternoon :trashbear:

 

Btw

 

The glossy packaging is quite nice.

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Hugh Mughnus Grand Master

Hugh Mughnus

Posted
Posted

There is not enough bass. My test is I'm my car. I have the settings just right to shake the buhjeezus out of whatever I'm stopped next to when some bass madness drops.

Absolutely, thought this second time I listened to the album on my reference 'phones (the first time I attributed it to ear fatigue as it was late at night). The mids and top end are there fine but the bass (and sub bass) is virtually non-existent - It's like someone slipped and knocked the <100Hz eq slider when it was mastered.

 

Right!!?!? I know!

The sub-bass is missing, for sure.

 

If I may clear this up:

 

Using the graphic peak meter on Foobar2000, one can clearly see that there is plenty of action happening down to 50hz and presumably lower judging by the looks of the peaks. No headphones or speakers necessary - case closed.

 

If anything, the relative quantity of treble to bass is probably creating what is know as "masking", or the covering of one frequency or band of frequencies by another of greater amplitude (higher dB). So, rather than being bass shy, this album is actually merely heavy on treble creating a relative deficiency of perceived bass.

In doing so, the high end gain proceeded to give me a headache.

 

 

 

 

I got this too... you guys must be right.

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Guest CraniumXII

Guest CraniumXII

Posted
Posted

After repeatedly listening to this at high volumes, I am no longer bothered by the highs... It is likely my ears are dying :emotawesomepm9:

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Guest catharsis

Guest catharsis

Posted
Posted

After repeatedly listening to this at high volumes, I am no longer bothered by the highs... It is likely my ears are dying :emotawesomepm9:

 

Frankly, alot of u-ziq distortion (and the DSP wankery on Bilous Paths in particular), is also terribly grating on the ears. That treble splits my brain wide-open.

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mcbpete Grand Master

mcbpete

Posted
Posted

In b4 Fletcher-Munson curves

 

I looks like the 'everything is at the same level so the bass seems quiet in comparison' is definitely correct. I've just ran the frequency response of the opening track (4001) through Izotope Ozone and couldn't believe how flat the curve was -

 

squarepusher.png

 

So that's why on reference phones the album does indeed sound so flat, it looks like the album was mastered for systems that normally have their bass whacked up a bit.

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Guest jenny

Guest jenny

Posted
Posted

i love it.

 

it's definitely better than hello world, just a souvenir and shobaleader one. and i liked two of those albums a lot.

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