Category Archives for "Plugin"
I remember the first time I used the original Eventide SP2016 reverb back in the mid-80s. There was something about the sound that made it instantly useable. Unlike other reverbs then and now, you didn’t have to fiddle with it to make it work in the track. It just sounded “right.” The hardware 2016 was […]
Continue readingWe all love the tactile features of a console, which is why many engineers opt for a hardware controller of some sort when it comes to mixing. With that in mind, it looks like a new trend is beginning to unfold as plugins are now being combined with a dedicated hardware controller, and TC Electronic […]
Continue readingMatching the sound of a mix has never been easy, yet it’s essential in learning the craft, or for pros, getting closer to a sound that the artist likes. In the past it’s all been done by matching by ear and as fruitful as that can be, it does take time. Recently there’s been a […]
Continue readingOne thing you can say about Universal Audio is that the company is always coming out with new products, and most of them are designed to be simple and easy to use. The philosophy seems to be “Let’s make it as easy as possible for the user to get a great sound and not complicate […]
Continue readingMultiband compressors are a powerful tool in any mixing or mastering toolbox, but they’re usually a little finicky to set up. As a result, many engineers don’t want to spend the time it takes to tweak them properly. Anything that makes that process easier is welcome, and that’s one reason why the new Leapwing DynOne […]
Continue readingIn a perfect world, we’d all like our projects mastered by one of the A-list mastering houses, but budgets being what they are, that’s not always possible. If that’s the case, self-mastering is the only alternative. That said, tere are a lot of mastering tools on the market these days and most of them are […]
Continue readingOne of the coolest tricks I learned as a young mixing pup was micro-pitch shifting. This technique to thicken up a vocal required 2 Harmonizers, with one tuned up by 5 to 8 cents and the other tuned down by the same amount. As you mixed the effect in, you could thicken up any vocal […]
Continue readingFor years every mixer had their own go-to way to check a mix to make sure it would translate well to the outside world. For many it was the Auratone or NS-10, others referred to the handy boom box, some to computer speakers, and most everyone ended up evaluating their mix in the car at […]
Continue readingAnyone that’s ever tried to manually create a Doppler effect simulation will know that it’s way easier said than done. It seems like a little panning, automated EQ, pitch change and ambience and you’ll have it, but it’s way more complicated than that. That’s why the new Tonstrum TRAVELER plugin is so cool. It precisely models […]
Continue readingAnyone who’s spent a lot of time recording knows that the type of DI used on a bass really matters. Use a cheap one and the bass will sound thin and dull; use one with a transformer and the bottom will be big and round, and use one with a tube and there’s a magic […]
Continue readingWe’ve all had those situations where we’ve had to record a noisy electric guitar or keyboard, or just found the background noise on a track too much to handle. Sure, sometimes the noise gets covered in the mix, but it’s also cumulative, so 4 or 5 noisy tracks can really muddy up a mix. There […]
Continue readingFor a good part of the analog audio hardware years of the 80s and 90s, the TC Electronic TC-2290 delay was a standard in every studio. It offered excellent quality delays coupled with some amazing modulation effects to take it leaps and bounds beyond anything else on the market at the time. Since we’ve hit the […]
Continue readingIt’s really difficult for a piece of gear to become a standard that everyone must have. It’s especially difficult when it comes to compressors, since most of the classic designs were created 50 years ago or so and we’ve seen mostly variations on a theme since. That’s why Dave Derr’s EL8 Distressor is such a […]
Continue readingAll songwriters face writer’s block from time to time and search for anything anywhere for inspiration. If that’s happened to you, one excellent place to refer to is a new plugin from Plugin Boutique called Scaler that’s uses “Creative Chord Composer” as an apt description that’s almost guaranteed to get you thinking about music in […]
Continue readingYou probably read the headline for this post and thought, “Not another compressor plugin,” and I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that at first I thought the same thing about Boz Digital Labs’ Manic Compressor. But this plugin has a number of tricks up its sleeve that most compressors don’t have, which makes […]
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