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BBE’s D82 Sonic Maximizer plugin

Though not as popular as compressors, maximizers (sometimes called exciters or enhancers) are many engineers’ “secret weapon” for adding extra pop and sizzle or smoothing out rough-edged tracks. For those familiar with studio compressors, BBE is to maximizers as DBX is to compressors: affordable and dependable. BBE’s D82 Sonic Maximizer plugin, a faithful emulation of their hardware unit, is a flexible addition to any recordist’s arsenal. Using two simple controls, Lo Contour and Process, the D82 adjusts phase irregularities in low and high frequencies. Overall, I found the plugin most useful at rounding out the boomy bass and low-mid frequencies found in acoustic recordings. As a test, I applied it to an overly muted kick drum recording and it brought clarity and definition back to the track. The D82’s preset settings are too generalized to rely on, but it doesn’t take long to become comfortable tweaking the controls. I found that the plugin sounds best placed at the front of the signal chain and applied in moderation. High end companies offer similar plugins to tackle multi-band dynamics, such as Sonalksis’ CQ1 Multi-Band Compander. However, no one offers a plugin that functions quite like the D82 at a low price. BBE […]... Click on the title for more

BBE’s D82 Sonic Maximizer plugin

Massey Plug-ins L2007 Mastering Limiter

How does this sound to you… a set of totally awesome FREE plug-ins (that is, with an unlimited demo period), and if you want to have settings that are savable, automation and bypass mode you can buy each program for between $69 and $89? Sound amazing? Well, that’s the deal with Massey Plug-ins (www.masseyplugins.com). The idea behind Steven Massey’s company is that you’ll use his plug-ins and love them so much that eventually you’ll want to buy them (dirt cheap, for what you get) to get the full functionality. That’s exactly what happened to me with the L2007 Mastering Limiter. I’m not a mastering engineer, but I do at times master tracks for people. Even when I’m putting together a mix I always try to throw a compressor/limiter combination on the Master output so that I have a sense of what it will sound like after it’s been mastered. The idea is that once a song or album is mixed you bring it to a mastering engineer to have him or her put the finishing touches on it. They try to get a good EQ balance that stays consistent from song to song, and they compress and/or limit the stereo […]... Click on the title for more

Massey Plug-ins L2007 Mastering Limiter

Cabinet – Convolution Speaker Cabs by Audio Ease

Cabinet is the latest piece of software from Audio Ease, the company that brought you the highly regarded convolution reverb plug in Altiverb and Speakerphone. Cabinet (which costs only $60) is actually a basic version of Speakerphone and is geared specifically toward guitarists and bassists. This software is a set of five famous speaker cabinets captured using convolution technology for you to run your guitar or bass through. If you don’t know about convolution and how it works, here are two wiki pages going through the basics: Convolution – Convolution Reverb... Click on the title for more

Cabinet – Convolution Speaker Cabs by Audio Ease

TC Electronic Polytune: a dream comes true.

We finally managed to put our hands on a TC Polytune - people at the Winter NAMM show back in January were pretty excited about this little white box. What makes this tuner truly revolutionary is the fact that it is poly-chromatic, providing the ability to tune all strings concurrently: Strum all six strings open and the display shows which individual strings are sharp, flat, and on pitch. And yes, it works for bass guitars, too!... Click on the title for more

TC Electronic Polytune: a dream comes true.

V-Moda Crossfade LP Headphones

V-Moda is a Hollywood-based lifestyle brand that mixes fashion, design and music to make some beautiful products. The Crossfade LP headphones are their latest addition to their product lineup. Four years in the making, the Crossfade LP is the marriage of design and functionality. V-Moda founder Val Kolton collaborated with musicians and DJ’s from around the world to develop headphones with a balanced, warm, functional sound. And Kolton’s passion for Italian design shows in the Crossfade LP, which looks like the Ferrari of headphones. They definitely score high marks in the bling-factor category. As far as sound goes, these headphones have great isolation from outside noise – the closed-back design and the memory foam ear cushions see to that. The Crossfade has a warm, punchy low end response with a slightly softer high end, which helps combat fatiguing high frequencies in loud and/or long listening sessions. As its name might suggest, the Crossfade LP is a great choice for DJ’s who are exposed to exactly that – long and loud listening sessions where they need punchy (not squishy) bass frequencies and a slightly reigned-in high end. Another great feature (again, especially for long sessions) is the super-comfortable fit. When I […]... Click on the title for more

V-Moda Crossfade LP Headphones

Violence plug in – deconstructing the violin

It is really amazing what audio plug ins manufacturers are doing these days to recreate the original sound of acoustic instruments (for a fun article about this, see “The Invasion of the Sound Snatchers” here). Vir2’s Violence is the latest attempt to emulate the sound of a (real) violin through multi-sampling – with some added extras. Even though my personal belief is that no plug in can get even close to the sound a fantastic performer can deliver, this kind of software is extremely useful when what is needed is a quick and great sounding way to add a part to an arrangement – something that sounds realistic enough to be kept in the final mix. Violence also shows promise as a creative tool for original sound design for musicians that are not necessarily interested in a realistic tone. The inspiration for Violence came from the influential American composer John Cage, whose extensive experiments with prepared piano yielded new timbres and effects. According to Vir2, what Cage did on the piano, Violence brings to the violin: an unorthodox approach to a traditional instrument, yielding new textures and sound design elements. Violence combines physical alterations with digital manipulations for a sound […]... Click on the title for more

Violence plug in – deconstructing the violin

Maxon OD-820 Overdrive

The Maxon OD-820’s color—vibrant pea green—announces right off the bat that this pedal is from the same neighborhood as the classic Tube Screamer. But the DNA runs even deeper than that. Maxon pedals come from the same factory that made the original Tube Screamers, which Maxon sometimes built for Ibanez.... Click on the title for more

Maxon OD-820 Overdrive

Octant and the “Unmanned Backup Band”

Octant can be described as a one-man band featuring mainly acoustic robotic musical instruments that back up front man, Matthew Steinke, like a player piano as he sings, shouts, and plays various home brew instrumentation. For the upcoming performance at The Tank (NYC), Octant will perform an initial set of current and old songs ranging from dark melodic melancholy to bursting atomic pop-punk . The second part will include a live soundtrack to a projection of Steinke’s film, “Your Quest for Excellence” , a hypnotic abstract hand-drawn animation inspired by optical illusions and time lapse photography. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here).... Click on the title for more

Octant and the “Unmanned Backup Band”

Tube Saturator – Tube Amp Simulation Plugin from Wave Arts

You know how sometimes your amp simulation plugin doesn’t really sound like your awesome tube amp? Even though a lot of software can be pretty cool with options and built-in effects, they sometimes don’t quite get the job done. And then you end up recording your real amp anyway. That happens to me all the time. I think amp modeling has come a long way in the last few years, but there’s still something about tube emulation that hasn’t really quite cut it – until now. Wave Arts just put out a really great tube amp emulator called Tube Saturator ($99.95) that actually cuts the mustard. How did they do it? Without getting crazy technical I’ll just say that they meticulously modeled every nuance of an analog circuit using complicated mathematical equations that are solved on the fly – that is, in real time. The result is a very convincing tube amp sound. Here’s the downside (or the upside, depending on how you look at it) – it’s very simple. It doesn’t model fifty different amps, it only does one model of tube amp and it does it very well. That’s partly because it’s pretty CPU-intensive. Also because of its […]... Click on the title for more

Tube Saturator – Tube Amp Simulation Plugin from Wave Arts

A treat for bass fx fanatics: Q&A with Hank & Cupcakes

Hank and Cupcakes are a NYC duo that plays sweaty and groovy indie pop. If Cupcakes (the girl) provides driven drumming and soulful vocals, Hank’s bass is in charge of everything else – a role that the 4 string instrument rarely takes upon itself. You wouldn’t call Hank’s style “minimalistic”: the man can deliver at once melodic riffs and low frequency lines, mastering left hand dexterity, right hand picking authority, and huge array of filters, flangers and followers to make one of the freshest signature sounds I’ve heard in the bass world. Some bassists will use distortion and call it a signature sound, occasionally turning on a filter for a specific part of a song… Hank seems to dive into filter mode head first for nearly all of his playing, and serve up different shades of filtering – read Benjamin Wigler q&a with Hank here.... Click on the title for more

A treat for bass fx fanatics: Q&A with Hank & Cupcakes

Looping bliss: Akai Headrush E2

My first awareness of looping pedals happened at a rock show back in the ‘90’s. The acclaimed band Don Caballero, an instrumental math rock tour-de-force, had released a new album after losing their second guitarist. Curiosity was high among the indie dweebs pushing to the front at this, their first show as a three piece: how would they pull it all off live with just one guitar? The answer came in the form of not one but two Akai Headrush loop pedals employed by guitarist Ian Williams during the set. At times, the crowd was treated to what sounded like a wall of guitarists thanks to Williams’ pedal arsenal. Other pedals with similar features were already on the scene, but the Headrush had the advantage of simplicity: two switches, an in an out loop option, and 4 outs to simulate tape head echoes. My own musical endeavors had me go through two Headrush pedals in little over a few years. A fantastic little box with two major issues: a weak footswitch assembly and an easily destroyed power supply input. While it does not sport the silver tank look of its predecessor, the Akai Headrush E2 updates these weaknesses and adds […]... Click on the title for more

Looping bliss: Akai Headrush E2

DAW Review: PreSonus’ Studio One + Crossgrade offer

Every now and again, a product sneaks up on the audio public in a way that makes discovering its graces all the more significant. Studio One Pro from PreSonus is one such product. A virtual powerhouse audio editor, Studio One Pro delivers and outshines its competition by leaps and bounds while remaining intuitive, simple and affordable. The timing for this review couldn’t be better. I’d cut all the basic instrumental tracks for my latest record to tape, so without reading or investigation, I installed Studio One Pro with its FireStudio Mobile interface to dump the tracks into hard disc for vocals, overdubs, mixing and mastering. If the DAW wasn’t up to snuff after a day or two, I assumed I could go back to my former well known but frustrating ProTools interface and audio program. Though aversion of the software, Studio One Artist, comes with the FireStudio, I am using Studio One Pro for this review. This version allows VST, Audio Units, and ReWire, as well as video sync and mastering capabilities not found in the Studio One Artist version. – read the entire review here. P.S. PreSonus is currently offering Studio One for $299 for any user cross-grading from […]... Click on the title for more

DAW Review: PreSonus’ Studio One + Crossgrade offer