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Hey Dana, great info, as always! I am about to go down a rabbit hole here (and take you with me, sorry lol).
My question is: How important is the quality of the recording you are referencing?
Spotify is a great example. I know from my own experience a noticeable (to me) difference between my final 24 bit 44.1 khz master and what I hear once it streams on Spotify.
I have read some people compare Spotify’s upload compression to a 320kbps mp3 but I don’t think this is completely accurate.
I personally notice some minor freq variations and a loss of some transients.
Obviously none of these are deal breakers but I am sure I am not the only one who finds it a bit disheartening to hear the mix you’ve worked so hard on “not” be replicated the way you want others to hear it. lol
Anyway, I guess my thought is, if I am not referencing another artist’s 24bit (or higher) master, how close, especially eq-wise, can I hope to get to what they uploaded to Spotify, (or before compressed into a mp3 format, in that case).
I think overall a general reference quality is especially useful for dynamics, mix placement etc. but Ozone, which I use has a reference feature where you can insert a reference track for Ozone to compare to. I am thinking that optimally you need access to a high quality reference for Ozone to make a proper comparison.
Am I crazy? 🤣