Engineer’s Advice: Know THIS Before Watching Another YouTube Video
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00:00 Introduction
01:15 3 Main Problems With YT Videos
02:02 Guitars Out of Context
02:43 The Honesty of Youtubers
03:36 Am I Full Of SH*T
04:43 5 Types Of Guitar YT Videos
05:10 No Post Processing Group
06:16 Halfway Processed Group
07:08 Overly Produced Group
08:26 The Producer Type Group
09:50 The iPhone Group
11:10 The Verdict
#SoundPostProduction #YouTubeDemos #GuitarEffects #AmpSimulation #PedalDemo #AudioIllusion #GuitarTone #SoundDesign #MusicProduction #StudioRecording #GuitaristLife #PedalEffects #AmpDemos #SoundEngineering #CreativeAudio #GuitarSound #RecordingTechniques #MixingTips #SoundQuality #MusicianTips #GuitarDemo #AudioProduction #PostProduction #GuitarPedals #ToneCrafting #StudioTechniques #GuitarRecording #SoundManipulation #MusicDemo #AudioIllusionist #GuitarCommunity
#Engineers #Advice #Watching #YouTube #Video
Originally posted by UCVc59YTmgsPknYbuM3futAw at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwGgJ08M_ck
I dont like chugging or chooging or djent to begin with so if I come across that I immediately click to another YouTuber's channel and hope they dont choog or djent ????
I never listen to YT on my smartphone's speaker I have over ears headphones or in-ear buds either using Bluetooth ????
Some pet peeves: no dirt pedal demo videos I’ve seen give you any idea of the noise floor of a pedal when the distortion is all the way or nearly all the way up. I have pedals that hiss like a snake and others that don’t make much noise and don’t need a noise gate. That is an important concern to me. And self noise can be measured objectively!
Most also don’t sweep the volume knob of the guitar to demonstrate how much the pedal cleans up. I want to know. And the volume as you do that can also be measured objectively (with a decibel meter) since we know YouTube is going to compress it!
Many also don’t tell you whether they’re overdriving the front of the amp with the output of the pedal, or how much distortion they’re running on the amp itself. As someone else commented, I want to hear the pedal through a clean amp as well as overdriving the amp if appropriate.
Hmm I would say it’s kind of the nature of the beast that one way of demoing a piece of gear will not always translate to other use cases.
So, I’d back the question up a bit and first ask – what use case do you want to focus on? For me it’s usually going to be in the context of a recording… unless you have some really good ideas about how to capture the sound of a band playing live.. recording is the low hanging fruit. As for that.. I think it’s best to use some kind of ‘raw mix’ demo – how does it sit in the mix at the stage it comes in – so for example how does any guitar gear sound after it comes in to the microphone, with the other instruments at a similar stage in the mix – so, no post processing yet, just some basic level matching. If you’re demoing a bus compressor for mastering.. that’s a different story of course. It’s also nice to have dry files that we could then add post processing to ourselves. I think another very useful thing is to have not only on/off comparison, but also comparison with other ‘competitor’ gear – like if you’re demoing a BB Preamp that’s based on a Tube Screamer.. it’s nice to have a regular tube screamer in the demo as well for context.
Excellent video about what we hear on demonstration videos vs what we get if we buy the product. I agree that sometimes the "raw" phone videos can present a better indication of a products performance and sound than the polished, well produced sound we often hear. Two of the biggest issues are how to translate the sound you would hear if you were in the room and the other is the compression caused by the phones mic/audio handling. Then there's always the issue of what YT adds to the audio with regards to compression etc. Nice Job!
Not everyone posting videos are investing in video studio equipment; some of us just film on our phone! The audio sucks so hopefully the commentary is useful… A direct audio feed of guitar or pro microphones is ideal to demonstrate audio nuance. I dont have that capability yet
I consume near to no reviews anymore because after trying out a lot of gear over the years and hearing it with my rig I came to a point where everything repeats most of the time and everybody is just cooking with water. Like you said its an industry that wants to get their new product out. You will get a sense after some time watching all this demos and trying out the gear yourself. I dont get excited anymore because after watching 1 or 2 demos you hear the character of a pedal and you instantly know I already got something similar or dont like it. In this space you are surrounded by all this stuff and forget sometimes why you are playing guitar and how you came up with your signature sound. Its just distracting you from making music your own way. Also its a good thing to know, that you will sound always the same at some point even if you buy 300$ or 3000$ gear when you dont understand how to use and combine all stuff to achieve a certain sound. I would suggest go to a guitar store and try out as much as you can. This may save you from GAS and bankruptcy.
You speak truth. Subbed. I think the best approach is to use your skills to ensure the listener is getting as close as being in the room with you that you can get them, hearing what you do (with their ears of course). Cheers!
What’s with the coffee? Beer or your not relevant.
Applies to mixing and mixing gear etc. The few channels I trust I still know have a sound and importantly, choose material to facilitate it; won't use a song that doesn't fit the gear, and many of those guys though they don't say, are affiliated with the companies. I'm also not going to some youtubers for their demos but their opinions, like kind of said in this video. I'm not going to Fluff to hear how an amp sounds bc I won't hear it but instead his one tone. His opinion/taste is what I go there for.
100 Percent correct buddy. Gear promoters is what they are and they make more $ than real artists and songwriters.
That's why I play live and raw and up close. It might not be perfect but it's damn close and it sounds face melting.
Silent watcher gives five stars for the shirt, great band great album.
I don't think gear reviews are any useful, for all the different reasons you mentioned. The only way to tell how something sounds or behaves is by getting to use it in my rig, through my hands, at my place etc. That's the only environment and set of variables that I'm absolutely familiar with, and that is imperative for being able to make any kind of educated judgement. I will say though, there's one guy on Youtube who's stuff I actually find useful: Mike Stamper. He does pickup comparisons. The reason it works is because he gets a pickup and then shoots it out against a bunch of other ones, each in a separate video. Same rig, same guitar, same riffs, pickup A vs pickup B. No noodling, no chugging around, no waffling – just the exact same riffs performed the same way on the exact same guitar through the same signal chain, neatly organized and cleanly edited. Since he compares the pickup with a whole number of others, chances are there are gonna be some among them that I'm familiar with, so what he's providing is a realistic point of reference. Which again tells you: the context needs to be as well-defined and as universal as possible, otherwise it's just product marketing.
I tend to trust your opinions, so when you suggested the Vertex Ultra Phonix a few videos ago, I was intrigued. I then watch a dozen or so different videos of people doing demos of the pedal, and noticed certain characteristics that I liked consitantly in all the demos.
Pedal arrived yesterday, it it certainly delivers. I hope my neighbors are enjoying it as much as I do!
I think the best demos are the ones that compare one piece of gear to a relatively common piece of gear that most people can experience, for example, comparing a rare hand-wired fuzz face with a dunlop fuzz face, both in side by side short cuts of the same simple part or chord being played. That creates a reference you can know and use to frame the differences and infer how it will sound in your setup. I think the most important thing for a review to be useful is actually the experience of the watcher. Now that I have experience and familiarity with a lot of pedals, amps and guitars, I can translate what I see and hear in a video to what I can expect in my setup, but before that, nothing was really that useful for me. Also the part where the reviewer talks about their opinions on how the gear reacts and compares to others they have is way more useful information than the actual playing part. If the demo is really post processed or not at all makes no difference to me.
If I am interested in a piece of gear, If I go to YouTube for opinions I tend to watch as many videos on the product to get as much perspective as I can.
Great points, keep up the good work, I predict you’re the next guitar YouTuber to gain a sizable following.
Honestly I’ve always gravitated to the “good player who knows tone and shoots on an iPhone” type videos because it does seem to produce the most accurate “in the room” type of sound.
Perhaps a short demo of each style of video production using same riffs and amp settings contrasting the recorded sound , using limited variables.
I like to hear pedals tested through the clean channel of an amp and straight to a cabinet, while listening on my 65-in TV cast from my phone. Any more pieces of equipment involved in the chain, and I down vote the video and look for another.
And this is why you never know what an amp or pedal sounds like until you get it yourself and try it out with your amps–which are always different than the amps they tried to the gear with in the YouTube video.
An interesting exercise is to take a piece of equipment that you’re familiar with, say a boss pedal, and listen to some of the examples of the five categories you mention, with someone using the same piece of gear. It helps solidify your points in my mind.
I can only speak for my own preferences, but:
To best hear gear, it is not necessarily the most impressive playing that is best. A flurry of notes does not show the full tonal nuance and some of the most telling information can come by playing a note and letting it ring – it is amazing how many sonic 'flaws' come out on the note sustain.
Some gear (or settings on gear) sounds good in isolation and not in a mix and vice versa. Testing in both situations is nice.
Now that there are really usable speaker IRs and amp sims, maybe amps can be tested with an IR direct from the load box and if we want, we can load the same IR and see how our own gear compares. You can even provide your own test IR.
As an equipment designer, I like to see how the player interacts with the gear. Sometimes a player will try to play something and it will not deliver and you will see them try again, digging in harder. Or maybe they play something that really jumps out and you see them doing the same thing again for joy – it all shows in the facial expressions. For this, the first impression is really good.