pouët.net

When I play c64-tunes in the audioplayer foobar2k, I usually just use the component,
"Programmable reverb DSP 1.2", with the setting "Studio Medium".

Do you have any tips to do it a better way?

I noticed that the musician Chris Huelsbeck spent quite some time to make his old c64-tunes good,
"Painstakingly mixed and mastered to be enjoyed on modern stereo systems as well as headphones while still preserving the vibe of the original hardware!"
http://www.huelsbeck.com/introducing-the-sid-anthology-series/

Thanks

The best way is with a real C64, of course.

You won't get anywhere near "Painstakingly mixed and mastered" quality by applying an effect plugin to a finished tune. There's no accounting for taste of course, but I'd just drop the reverb, as it makes everything muddy to my ears. If you REALLY want to improve specific tunes, you could do what Hülsbeck probably did and record (or render from an emulator) each channel individually and cut different "instruments" to different tracks in a DAW and do normal mixing and mastering as you would for any other tune, but that takes a lot of time and knowledge.

You can get somewhere by applying multiple effect plugins 8)
If reverb makes everything muddy its just wrong (eg. missing eq on the reverb itself and so on)

Just slamming master effects on entire tracks won't get you far. I'd generally say the "good way" would be to just leave them as authentic as possible.

Is this only for your own amusement or will others have to listen to your "mastered" versions?

C64 tunes are not C64 tunes if they are "mastered" in any way. They are something else then.

sound changes anyway by what speakers you use the room you are in yadda yadda. remember when I got the idea to plug my 64 into the big speakers of my parents' I spent weeks relistening my favourite stuff it sounded so much bettter than on the telly.

Just imagine how awesome it would have sounded if it had been played with the audioplayer foobar2k, and "Programmable reverb DSP 1.2", with the setting "Studio Medium"!

Maybe I was too harsh. In other words, to the OP, I'd recommend trying to hear the actual C64 better, so better loudspeakers might not be a bad idea. Usually any sort of self-made "mastering" will make things worse, not better. The more "mastering", the worse it gets.

@yzi: I just thought I wanted some simple tips for personal use, listening to c64-music on my headphones. I liked Hülsbeck's remastered c64-music more than his old untouched ones, but as absence mentioned, it's all about the taste.

BTW, I just compared Hülsbeck's music (from the game 'Madness'), and I certainly hear some reverb.

you should listen to pieces like they were meant to be listened.

adding stuff to em is called building.

..if we talk about adding reverb we start to talk about sound mixing..
and that is about taste.

I'm too tired for this. Better rather ask in hydrogenaud.io or something.

BTW, I don't think any of you listen to c64-music nowadays, that's why you come up with these comments.

Seems like you can't accept that "unmastered" chiptunes sound completely acceptable, that's why you come up with that comment.
FWIW, I prefer pretty to listen to pretty much everything I have the way nature, err, the composer intended. But apparently that's not acceptable for you.

Adding reverb to c64 tracks, what...?

Also I'd imagine the people hydrogenaudio to be as if not more stringent on the matter.

The difference is that Hülsbeck has carefully applied the reverb (and probably EQ and compressor and other stuff) only to the parts of the audio where he thinks it fits, which is very different from applying reverb to the whole tune. There's no quick or easy way to get C64 music to sound like what Hülsbeck has done, it's painstalking work, and Hydrogenaudio won't tell you otherwise.

At least my few SID tunes were made to be listenable as is, without added reverb.

@ Saga Musix: Double-faults. "the composer intended" I don't think so, then you'd need to have the composers exact setup (headphones and such), as some headphones got lousy bass etc.
I hear the same thing ("the composer intended") with movies, some people likes Blu-ray movies with lots of grain, some wants total degrained/sharpened movies. I prefer medium grainy movies though.
"can't accept"? It's all about taste, not acceptance.

Maybe some people here are jealous that I rather listen to Hülsbeck's 30 year old music (that came from something that looks like a breadbox) than listen to their new effing music, so they don't give me concrete tips. All I really wanted more is tips about how to make c64-music get surround sound.

And people here keeps giving Captain Obvious tips that to do it the best way is to apply reverb on like separate channels/sounds, but I rather prefer all reverb than none (BTW, Farbrausch's/KB's music is often all reverb).

Well... I recommend you to try playing around with the settings via trial and error until you find something that you feel sounds good for you.

Also don't forget about the equalizer, it can really make the sound pop if done right!

lol

@TomoAlien Thanks again for concrete tips (referring to other thread), although I did that yesterday, in the XMPlay-equalizer I increased the bass-sound like Hülsbeck did on his remastered c64-music (but he did the professional way, on separate sounds, ofcourse), and I also increased the treble a bit.

composers make a product intended for setups most popular at given time.
if it sound better or worse on their own setup is not important.
for c64 this was tv-speakers.

and for the rest..
life is a process