Discuss here mixing and mastering

can someone here give this noob a working definition of "transients"? I do know my audio tech and sound physics fwiw

this revive reminds me of a recent interview I saw with James McNew of Yo La Tengo, talking about how they recorded the new album on their own, but sent it off for mastering "because that is something that can only be done by wizards"

Basically it's the attack at the beginning of a sound, like the stick striking a drumhead or a pick hitting a string. As opposed to the sustained tone that comes after. So sometimes you want to tame that with compression for a more even sound, but you also need them eg for drums that should 'hit' viscerally and not stroke your ears like a feather.

got it, thanks - the only other thing I knew was "that's what Rush fucked up on that album that people hated"

Haha, oh really?

https://gearspace.com/board/mastering-forum/736700-cant-stand-new-rush-album.html

Vapor Trails, I think