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WTF is "warm sound" anyway?

What do people mean by "warm" and "warm sound?" Most of the time I hear it used to refer to full, beefy bass like you get from an analog synth, and other times I see it referring to pleasant distortion and noise like you get from a tube amp, but in the "Ableton" thread I see it referring to 5Khz+ frequencies that provide the top-end sizzle. The use of "warm" and "warmth" is not at all consistent.

I think it's just a meaningless term of praise that people hand out whenever they want to say "I like this sound," and then they use "cold" to mean "I don't like this sound."

Re: WTF is "warm sound" anyway?

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles What do people mean by "warm" and "warm sound?" Most of the time I hear it used to refer to full, beefy bass like you get from an analog synth, and other times I see it referring to pleasant distortion and noise like you get from a tube amp, but in the "Ableton" thread I see it referring to 5Khz+ frequencies that provide the top-end sizzle. The use of "warm" and "warmth" is not at all consistent. I think it's just a meaningless term of praise that people hand out whenever they want to say "I like this sound," and then they use "cold" to mean "I don't like this sound."

My understanding is that it refers to subtle harmonics often imparted on analogue pathways. If a sound is rich in these harmonics it is generally regarded as 'warm'. Other terms such as 'fat' and 'rich', are also used to describe the same psycho-acoustic phenomena.

For what it's worth, I think such terminology tends to get applied to other areas, sometimes inappropriately. It's a bit like how some people use psychotic to describe someone who may, in fact, be psychopathic.

Id say it mostly refers to saturation.

quote:

Originally posted by EddieZilker For what it's worth, I think such terminology tends to get applied to other areas, sometimes inappropriately. It's a bit like how some people use psychotic to describe someone who may, in fact, be psychopathic.

Agreed.... Those buzz words are actually starting to get on my nerves.
But I guess they're inevitable when it's difficult to precisely describe so many sonic characteristics.

I enjoy some music from Black Sun Empire....all those tracks use mostly cold sounds.

Warm and Cold refers to the general feel of a sound. The emotional aspect of hearing something. One could also say all major chords are warm whilst all minor chords are cold, generally speaking.

My first impression is that now you're co-opting the terms to fit your own preference!
I agree that certain chords can aptly be described as warm or cold, but the context of the post, as I understand it, is about texture, without regard to tonality.

Well warmth is literally a feeling inspired by the synth work laid down in a track and the quality of it. Warmth isn't a set a definition but more of a variable dependent on the person listening. Its like the feel good news at the end of the news show, a pleasant addition that just adds to the overall show and makes something complete. I know this sounds quite vague and I'm sorry about that, though there are certain effects that stimulate this kind of sound. What kinds to mind is subtle delay effects and subtle distortion that sort of mimics a guitar amp rather than just degrading the sound. My personal opinion of what sounds warm is the track:
Breakfast & Mike Saint Jules - Only Two Should Know

It's just a matter of opinion really and is mostly due to what the person finds appealing in a track and emphasizing that feature with subtle effects.

I'm interested in what other people have to say about this, and if some of the more pro guys could comment it would be great.

Has nothing to do with chords/scales or actual musical content to me... I think its just about having a type of distortion which is mainly imparting (I think?) even harmonics, and is particularly beefy in the 500-1500 hz range. Too much warmth leads to tubbiness/muddiness.

quote:

Originally posted by kitphillips Has nothing to do with chords/scales or actual musical content to me... I think its just about having a type of distortion which is mainly imparting (I think?) even harmonics, and is particularly beefy in the 500-1500 hz range. Too much warmth leads to tubbiness/muddiness.

Yeah, i cant think of any high freq/pitched sound being warm.

Hi guys,

Yeah, as has already been stated, my understanding is that 'warmth' is a term used in reference to the distortion imparted on harmocis in lower frequency tones.

'Sizzle' is a term often used in refernce to the certain harmonics which result in clear and crisp high end frequencies.

...or something like that

Kenny

I don't think that warm and high are neccearily mutually exclusive, like a guitar might have a lot of shimmer on top but still be nice and warm in the middle. But yeah, you can't have a really high pitched sound that's warm IMO. It would have to have some low end as well.

try 2 distressors via parallel compression or on your main mix and you'll find out........... again a perfect example of something that currently can be emulated, but can't be replicated in software....

I have had some trouble with this....and have not yet found the solution:

I can create a proper track, decent in terms of programming, instruments, etc...

However, even after mastering (decent volume, no distortion)...it still sounds 'cold' compared to professional tracks. It lacks a certain something, a warmth...perhaps saturation...



Any ideas on this are more than welcome!

try 2 distressors on the mainmix....

or within software learn how to master with plugins

via UrbanDictionary.com

warm

Another word for horny.
I was so warm when I saw you last night!

Hrmmmm..

I kind of know what you mean. I always use the term "thick" instead of "warm", but I'm not sure it is any less ambiguous.

lack of midrange

Ive never heard of warm having anything to do with frequency range. you can have an extremely cold bass for instance. Despite that it fills ths spectrum.

i classify warm as a make you think , stare at the wall kind of sound.

lol wow, I think we sorta just proved JiveBogingles' point...

quote:

Originally posted by Raphie try 2 distressors via parallel compression or on your main mix and you'll find out........... again a perfect example of something that currently can be emulated, but can't be replicated in software....

Wrong thread. Fool.

quote:

Originally posted by cronodevir Ive never heard of warm having anything to do with frequency range. you can have an extremely cold bass for instance. Despite that it fills ths spectrum.

but would probably have a bit of a dip in that 500-1500 range. And would also probably be pretty unsaturated. I know what you mean though. But I definately think it has to do with frequency ranges.

Palm: totally disagree, lack of midrange would make something cold.

The diffirence between a blurry and a sharp sound could also contribute to how warm or cold a sound is.

Hey, atleast we haven't brought "bright" and "dark" sounds into the mix yet :P

You could have a very warm dark sound, and a very bright cold sound, and vice versa.

there are too many ridiculous adjectives in music. "omg that sounds fat" "that sounds airy" "that sounds so apple man omg".

what i love the most is when magazines review monitors. "the bass is very tubby and there is a lot of tingle in the highs"... yeah shit that's super useful mang.

I agree that a sound lacking in mid-freqs may generally end up sounding 'cold', whereas more presence in the mid-range may sound 'warm'

Also I've noticed that sounds containing many high-freqs generally sound 'cold.' This may reinforce the above point, since having lots of high-freqs would generally mean that relatively, the mid range is lower.

I think that bass frequencies would generally sound warm as well, so maybe you can put bass + mids together in terms of 'warmness'.

To summarise, if a sound has relatively more high than mid/bass frequencies then a sound may be heard as 'warm'.

However it's probably more complicated than that. For example, many people in this thread have alluded to the harmonic structure of a sound, specifically talking about analog vs. digital distortion, and saturation. I remember reading somewhere that analog/tube distortion tends to add odd-numbered harmonics whereas digital distortion tends to add even-numbered harmonics? If that is true then perhaps warmth is not just about relative high/mid freqs, but also the makeup of what is in those high freqs.

Finally most people tend to say that analog synths are 'warmer' than digital synths. This may also be related to high-freq content. Take for example the difference between CD and VINYL. CDs could reproduce far more accurately the high-frequencies in a recording that would tend to be lost somewhat (maybe not lost but possible just altered) in a vinyl recording. And people say CDs sound cold. Digital synths probably have a similar effect on high-freqs.

Also this sounds similar to an issue with the Vanguard VSTi, which people said sounded really cold - the original Vanguard had a bug where the high frequencies got all distorted and made more prominent. So that could be what made it sound cold.

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