New Music Gear Monday: W.A. Production Zqueezer Adaptive Filter Plugin
So often artists, engineers and producers are looking for a new sound, and as anyone who’s ever gone on that search knows, it’s not always easy to find. Then there’s the case where a mixer might be trying to get something to jump out of the track, but finds that the normal processors like EQ or saturation just isn’t doing it. If that’s ever been you, then you probably want to know about Zqueezer from W.A.Production.
It’s difficult to describe what Zqueezer really is, so much so that the developer has a hard time as well. The best way to describe it an adaptive bandwidth filter like you’ll find on an analog synth that emphasizes the harmonics of the mix element.
It’s dead simple to use with only 3 controls – Gain, Overtone, and Dry/Wet. The secret sauce of the plugin is the Overtone control, which allows you to zero in on certain sectors of the frequency band in a way that can go from subtle to totally changing the sound.
Despite its simplicity, the 3 controls give you a lot more range to change the sound than you might think. While most of the effect comes from the Overtone control, the Gain control does change how hard the plugin is driven, which in turn changes the mix element’s harmonic structure. The Dry/Wet control is more useful here than on most plugins as it’s basically selecting how subtle or over the top you want the sound to be.
While the video below mostly uses electronic music (i.e. synthesizer) as examples, I can see this used successfully even on acoustic music. You want something to just peek out of a mix, add a little Zqueezer to it. Looking for a new sound, dial in a massive amount of that sucker.
What’s even better is that Zqueezer doesn’t cost that much. It normally sells for $39.90 but is currently on sale at $19.95. It’s available for Mac or PC and on most plugin formats.
Find out more here, or check the video below to hear some examples of the plugin at work.
