Re: [LAU] Alsa and 24-bit in Ubuntu Studio?

On Fri, Mar 08, 2013 at 10:02:49AM +0000, Ben Bell wrote:
 
> 1) Older kernels sound much warmer than newer ones.
>
> 2) Kernels compiled by hand on the machine they run on sound less sterile
> than upstream distro provided ones which also tend to have flabby low
> end response and bad stereo imaging.
>
> 3) As if it needed saying, gcc4 is a disaster for sound quality. I mean,
> seriously if you want decent audio and you use gcc4 you may as well be
> recording with a tin can microphone.
>
> 4) Kernels sound better after they've been worn in a bit. Don't expect your
> newly built 2.4 kernel to have that warm sound until you've run with it
> for a few weeks, but for a really classy sound here's a trick: compile the
> kernel and then put it somewhere safe (ext2 partition, obviously) to mellow
> for a month and then boot into it at the last minute before you start
> recording an important session. Your clients will thank you.

5) Make sure to disable all but one CPU and any hyperthreading.
   Parallel processing produces a very nasty form of crosstalk. [1]
   Even non-audio data (e.g. network packets) could leak into your
   signals if you leave it enabled.

[1] This is why Jack1 usually sounds more transparent than Jack2.

Ciao,

-- 
FA
A world of exhaustive, reliable metadata would be an utopia.
It's also a pipe-dream, founded on self-delusion, nerd hubris
and hysterically inflated market opportunities. (Cory Doctorow)
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