Am i right about "reason sound"

Hello.

I have been using reason for a couple of months. I normally rewire out.

However recently I have been having a lot of problems with mixing my music.

I haven't been able to figure out why. normally a problem with a abrasive high end. And low mid issues.

Any way i was putting it down to myself just losing my mixing touch.

Then tonight i had itunes going and was also doing a trak in reason. Anyway
i my ears had warmed up to the itunes trak.

Normally i have cold ears when writing stuff. As i only A/B before mixing.

So anyway i naturally started to adjust the reaon mix. To get it in line. Just out of habit.

After 15 min i realized there was something really weird going on. So i quit reason loaded up pro tools and ran an instance of kompact.

Loaded in a 808 kit. listening to the sounds they were "right".

So i then went back to reason. Got it. This time it was like night and day. The high end in reason sounded very odd. and then i played the mix and in sounded like a cardboard box.


So then i went thru all my mixs i had done in reason(normally just quick ones) and my mixs in pro tools.


Every single time i noticed the same overall sound coming out of reason. I would not notice this before because i was working on music. It sounded very bad indeed, once i knew what i was listening for.


I then have heard that the mixer is the weakest link. So i took it out and pluged a redrum direct to the main outs.

Loaded up the 808 kit and started playing. Sounded awful compared to the one inside pro tools.


I was wondering because i am i would say a professional level of mixing (10 years in)

And to be honest i had not really noticed this before. I did wonder why it was i made some wicked sounds today off my emax into pro tools. And then spent a while in reason and sounded rubbish.

Any one else notice this. I would really like to hear from people who have a lot of experience in mixing and production.

I would like to know what they think of the "reason sound".

Thanks!

I think Reason has quite a 'papery' sound. However, it is an amazing piece of software in terms of what it does for the amount of CPU it uses. You can run even the latest version of Reason on a very underpowered machine, which is great, but something has to give somewhere.

A kind of visual analogy I often use is this: reason creates an 'illusion' of depth, but it's not really there. It's as if all the substance of the sounds have been hollowed out, just leaving a shell, which still looks like the real thing, but if you pick it up, you'll see that it's hollow inside.

That's one way of looking at it!

Having said that, I've heard some good music being made on Reason. It's not for me, personally, but if others can get a good sound out of it, then great. Some people would work very hard to get a good sound in Reason, adding radical EQs and loads of compression to beef it all up, but I'd rather start with very solid sounds in the first place and then chisel away at the frequencies I don't want.

If you're getting the results you want in ProTools, just use it and don't waste time fighting to get the sound you want in Reason - no doubt it'll end up sounding forced (because you've had to struggle) and not as fresh in the end.

Yea.

I came to the conclusion that you just cant get a good sound out of it.

Even if you bounce/rewire the parts in to pro tools.


I would like to say its not subjective. But people will be in uproar.

All i will say is that you really, really notice how bad it sounds when you start having to sort out the high end.

It sounds dire, awful. akin to a beringer. possible worse.

Possible good music has been written on reason. But a good sounding recording certainly was never made on it .


For me i dont care if people think i am wrong. Let them waste their time.

I will say its probably due to the fact that the current version of pro tools LE, is from its big brother.

Which has had years of development and has to cut it with pros. Reason is a gimmick.

Pro tools and an mbox sound card is as cheap as chips now. Almost as cheap as reason.

And yet the sound of pro tools LE is the sound of pro tools. And the sound of reason is that of fools.

I do believe Propellerhead has become aware of the large amount of people bashing Reason's sounds. My reasonsing, what Reason 4 is capable of. Pull a search on it on youtube and you'll see what I'm talking about. The sounds are quite impressive

GritKitz: what resolution are you running? also, have you got the 'use high quality samples' option checked?

i think reason is more of an educational piece of software rather than a serious piece of program, i mean i learn't how to use synths using Reason and it's a fun program. I owe a lot to it really, but the sounds are total ass compared. I prefer Pro-Tools and Cubase over Reason anyday.

Reason has definitely got a lot of people into using equipment and honing their skills - it certainly shouldn't be bashed for any... er... reason (sorry). If it gets people thinking and then they move up into MPC land, or ProTools, or Logic or Cubase or whatever, then it's done a good job.

And remember a good track will still sound like a good idea, even through a Behringer mixer. It just may not realise it's full potential.

I would have loved something like Reason when I started out making music, but when I started, people were still banging two rocks together for percussion. Ancient times.

The amount of ignorant producers bashing software is getting rediculous.

DJ Babu The beat tape vol 1 was produced using reason. Trust ppl...it aint the program.

You're right on that, respect_mbs. It's the ears first, then the gear.

I just listened to DJ baboon.

He is absolute crap.

If you want to know what a good record sounds like go and down load a phil tan mix. Or portis head, dr dre chronic.

I listend to babu and he has a crap reason sound. Everything sounds thin.

look go and take your babu record and then play a real record next to it.


I am about 50x's better then babu.

I'm not here to lead the blind...i really dont give a **** what you think. It aint the software but you can keep telling yourself that.

As i said first.

If you are a total ameture who thinks reason is the same as an ssl. Then thats up to you.

I am glad that obviously more educated listeners have indeed confirmed my suspicions.


Let me let you into a secret. you have to find out from people who know. Don't bother quoting from a magazine or some one who cant get a good sound.

Its like would you ask a fat person how to diet?


Ask people who know, and not just think they know.


Maybe you should be asking yourself right now. What is it that wwe hear that you dont?

thats how you get good punk!

maybe you just "forgot how to mix"

if you don't like the sound of reason, stop using it.


If you trust your ears so much, why start a thread about it.


grow up little homie, puberty ain't so bad, you'll get through it.

GritKitz wrote:Maybe you should be asking yourself right now. What is it that wwe hear that you dont?

thats how you get good punk!

You dont need ssl gear to get a "thick" sound. A real mixing engineer would be able to get reason to sound superb.

Like most sequencer/samplers these days, the sound is transparent. If you're comparing stock sounds within reason then thats another story.