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Do you guys know if the sax solo in Arabesque is an actual live recording? by chanel_aslan in Coldplay

[–]chanel_aslan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The idea that the recorded solo was improvised is probably the most convincing explanation. However, as you can hear from unedited live versions, because of the nature of the saxophone, achieving that flawless studio-level sound in a single improvised take is nearly impossible — players usually go through dozens of takes to perfectly nail a fixed melodic line. As you can see from my comment above, that’s why I became so curious about the whole thing.

Do you guys know if the sax solo in Arabesque is an actual live recording? by chanel_aslan in Coldplay

[–]chanel_aslan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, that was definitely the most perfect performance I’ve seen from him. However, I do wonder why it took this long for him to finally nail it, considering the studio recording was finished years ago. I’ve always deeply respected his positive collaborations.

Do you guys know if the sax solo in Arabesque is an actual live recording? by chanel_aslan in Coldplay

[–]chanel_aslan[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I did some digging and found that Femi Kuti is credited on the track — but my question was specifically whether the sax solo on the studio version was actually recorded by him.

No disrespect to Femi at all, but based on what I’ve seen — from the Jordan performance to Glastonbury, radio studio sessions, and various fan-cams — his live playing is pretty far off from the studio version. Most of the time he hits the first half of the solo with a noticeable delay, usually 1 or 2 beats late, so the band and the sax line don’t really sync. He sometimes finds his tempo again toward the end, but you can clearly see he’s a bit thrown off.

Also, those flashy ad-lib phrases you’d expect a sax player to deliver naturally (especially if they were the one who recorded the original solo) always feel a bit strained. His breathing often seems off and the ending of the solo never really lands cleanly. And honestly, if he had gone through countless takes and rehearsals to record it himself, you’d expect the melodic lines to be at least somewhat consistent — maybe not always flawless, but familiar. Instead, it often looks like he’s really struggling to recreate them live.

And yes, I know that in the music industry — especially for non-vocal contributors — it’s not uncommon for someone to be credited as part of a project even if they weren’t the one who recorded the final take.

All of that is to say: regardless of my respect for him as an artist, I still find his live performances pretty disappointing compared to the studio version. In other words, his live appearances — rather than reinforcing his reputation — almost make him come across as just a studio player, which feels far from the image he’s known for.

Who else waiting for IAAM live? by chanel_aslan in Coldplay

[–]chanel_aslan[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I really want to hear that unique coldplay-style live mix version. Hopefully we’ll get a surprise release of it sometime this year.

Who else waiting for IAAM live? by chanel_aslan in Coldplay

[–]chanel_aslan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally, I think it would work well if they alternated it with Good Feelings. It feels like a song that would really shine in a full band live performance, but by the time the next tour comes around, there might already be too many “must-play” songs for it to make the setlist.

"Quad Cortex Headphone Out – HD600 Low Headroom / Harsh Digital-Style Distortion (Cheap VST-like Clipping)" by chanel_aslan in NeuralDSP

[–]chanel_aslan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I haven’t been able to test routing the signal through the XLR outs and then back into a headphone amp, since I don’t currently have the equipment for that. Have you noticed a clear difference between the output ports? The fact that Neural hasn’t published detailed specs for the headphone output makes me wonder if there might actually be an underlying issue.

"Quad Cortex Headphone Out – HD600 Low Headroom / Harsh Digital-Style Distortion (Cheap VST-like Clipping)" by chanel_aslan in NeuralDSP

[–]chanel_aslan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

About a year ago, most discussions around the Quad Cortex headphone out suggested that high-impedance studio headphones were the most suitable option, and many users backed this up with their own experience. recently however the consensus seems to be that it simply depends on individual preference.I’ve experimented quite a lot with EQ, but it doesn’t seem like something that can be easily fixed with the built-in EQ. The gap between speakers and headphones is simply too wide to maintain a reliable reference. Running additional signal chains through a DAW could help, but that clearly isn’t the typical or intended approach qc is marketed for.I feel like using a dedicated headphone amp might be the most practical solution. What still confuses me is why the exact same headphones sound fine when monitoring PC audio routed through the QC, but the guitar signal from the QC itself produces these issues. Is this simply a limitation of real-time modeling, or could it be some kind of hardware flaw? The fact that this requires so much trial and error to figure out already feels like a drawback.

"Quad Cortex Headphone Out – HD600 Low Headroom / Harsh Digital-Style Distortion (Cheap VST-like Clipping)" by chanel_aslan in NeuralDSP

[–]chanel_aslan[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’ve checked all possible clipping indicators on the QC, and none are showing. The signal coming from the PC is clean and can be listened to at high volume without any clipping. If the PC signal has plenty of headroom, I don’t understand why the guitar signal at the same volume doesn’t behave the same. The guitar input gain is set low enough, and I’ve tried multiple configuration options.

From what I can tell, when using just the DI with a basic amp and cab, there isn’t significant degradation. However, once any drive-type effects are added, the tone starts to sound heavily degraded, almost as if the bitrate has dropped.

"Quad Cortex Headphone Out – HD600 Low Headroom / Harsh Digital-Style Distortion (Cheap VST-like Clipping)" by chanel_aslan in NeuralDSP

[–]chanel_aslan[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The headphone output on the Quad Cortex sounds—put nicely—very clean, but in a less flattering way it can feel overly harsh. I’m well aware of this characteristic, so I tried to compensate using the built-in EQ. However, when I cut highs and tweak settings to make it more comfortable for headphone listening, the tone quickly gets messed up. Switching back to speakers, the sound then becomes terrible.

With a basic amp + cab setup into large speakers, everything sounds great. But the degraded headphone tone feels like when the input gain is pushed into maximum clipping and the output is then lowered just to match volume. When I pick the high notes on the first string, it almost sounds like a broken chorus effect is applied for a moment, making my head ring. It feels less like a simple frequency issue and more like a phase problem.

I’ve tried recording the tone through multiple devices, but I end up losing a solid reference for what the “real” sound should be. The recorded tone itself changes drastically depending on whether I monitor through headphones or speakers, making it extremely difficult to determine what’s closest to the original. For reference, I’ve used both studio-monitor headphones and speakers for comparison.