#52

I only had the AH about a week before upgrading firmware and hadn’t created presets yet.

#53

gotcha, :+1: 20 char

#54

I really like the Analog Heat and I use it at every stage of production, from sound design to recording to mastering. It’s very easy to work with. It forced me to learn how to properly gain stage things as an added bonus. For end of chain/mastering purposes I like to use its bandpass or highpass filters to find a part of the track I want to emphasize, get a little bit of drive drive going on one of the calmer settings, and dial in the wet/dry mix so that it just very subtly shapes things. It’s also excellent for dynamics–beyond compression and expansion, it can do some very cool things when you start applying the envelope follower to the EQ bands, filter, and resonance.

2 Likes
#55

here is where these threads come together…Mixing/mastering

2 channel (stereo) sweeting is mastering

it doesn’t really matter what you used to get a mix… modular, laptop, 12bit sampler, mastering cats can help (if you find someone who shares your aesthetic)

as part of 'research you can hear how good it can be if you dm @taylor12k
(or someone who shares your vision)
just pick one track from your system and contract a mastering of it, you can learn a lot about your system
(it’s not just the gear) :slight_smile:

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#56

thanks for the mention…

but, yeah, i should add… “sweetening” is one of those words like “mojo” or “warmth” that can mean different things to different people.

for me, and my day job (as a mastering engineer) i think of “sweetening” as more of a question… “what does a track need?”

sweetening is not always ADDING, either… in fact, adding is secondary in (my) mastering to subtracting and sometimes taking care of a problem (frequency, with EQ, etc) will enhance, and thus, “sweeten” the mix.

there are some processes that are harder to put your finger on and describe and can often be used to great effect to make a mix sound better in a few different ways… saturation is one of those “mysterious” processes… i find different kinds of tube saturation can give a mix girth… or “hair”, or a lift… or just a little something that’s sort of difficult to describe.

but, to echo @abalone it’s definitely not just the gear, but knowing what needs (wants/should) be done to a mix to make it sound… “better” (? subjective) and then how to do it… having certain tools that either make your job easier or don’t harm the audio more than help are somewhat secondary…

12 Likes
#57

let me add one final thought… based on a mastering job i’m working on right now… and a track that lacks definition and separation. you could spend all day trying to boost or cut the right frequencies to make things punch or more defined… but the answer was much simpler than that… a good portion of the mid range was out of phase… and as soon as that was cleared up and brought back in phase the whole mix pops and loses that washiness that wasn’t doing it any good.

an example of no fancy tools, just knowing what to listen for and what to do about it.

18 Likes
The Tiny Studio Corner Thread
#59

Late contributor to this thread (and Lines noob), but thought I’d chip in. Some of the things that I’ve gotten over the years that have been a big help for me, fidelity-wise:

  • Apogee stuff. I love the sound of their converters, and have owned the Ensemble FW and TB.
  • Dangerous Music D-Box. On paper it initially felt like a pretty simple device, but the amount of headroom and general (for lack of a better word) space it gives have been huge helps in making mixes that i like. It also does sort of fun things to my mix workflow by breaking stuff into buses—it’s definitely helped the way I approach things and has made me simplify a bit, in a good way. In retrospect that sounds like I just said a bunch of BS but I guess the simplest way I can say it is that it’s made me consider the density of recordings much more, and to edit unnecessary stuff accordingly.
  • OTO BOUM. I really can’t say enough good stuff about this thing, and oddly enough the gain setting I use the most is the boost.
  • API 512v preamps. I wanted some outboard pres that had a bit more character than the stock pres on the Ensemble. I was initially very worried that getting a pair of these wouldn’t be a noticeable enough difference for the money, but I’ve been beyond happy with them so far. All of the things people say about them—punchy, etc—that’s all true, but I guess overall I’d simplify it by saying they just have more immediacy and presence.
  • Want to get a pair of outboard compressors for bus stuff but am unsure what to pick up at this point, as one previously sought option didn’t work out. Might see how the RNC handles that duty, as I’ve only really used it for tracking/mono sources. Might just stay ITB for the mixing end though, not sure.

On the whole the stuff I’ve made up to now has been almost all sort of indie rock / psych / chamber pop type music with more conventional rock band instruments (guitars, bass, keys, etc), but I’m getting more and more into recording electronic music. Interested to see how the stuff I’ve come to use will translate into the new musical territory.

3 Likes
#60

I don’t know anyone here who has suggested it’s only the gear. All of that other stuff matters (of course!), but what we’re talking about are the hardware tools that can improve the sound, which is an admittedly subjective topic. If we open things up to the other variables this topic gets even broader and more subjective!

If I could buy perfect ears, whatever the heck that means, it’d be the first thing I’d be in line to pick up :slight_smile:

1 Like
#61

Yep I think it’s a pretty limiting approach to say it’s only the gear, to say the least. I’m sure everybody (myself included) has run into the wonderful experience of thinking a piece of gear is going to drastically improve your sound, only to leave you feeling pretty disappointed, haha.

I think probably the biggest thing I’ve learned above all is that you should always go with what sounds best, paying no attention at all to the impulse that something would definitely sound better if recorded with better gear. I’ve heard phenomenal recordings made with built in laptop speakers, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve recorded guitars straight into my interface for scratch and decided to keep a sound I dialed in quickly via a Logic amp emulation, just because hey—it worked.

I can’t help but be a geek though, so I guess I’m constantly trying to balance the ideals of striving for best fidelity vs being free/unencumbered. It’s a struggle! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

1 Like
#62

Was reading back in the thread and saw this. Plugins have indeed come a pretty long way—I don’t think anybody will say that they’re a pure 1:1 vs hardware, but for the comparative price (thousands of dollars for one compressor vs, say, an entire suite of plugins), it’s hard to say anything bad about the UAD stuff. I’ve had a very, very good experience with them. They also have great sales, so definitely keep an eye out for those if you’re interested.

1 Like
#63

Very much this. Like, Analog Heat or BOUM is pretty affordable in the scheme of things, but would I actually get much more from dropping double that on something like MAS? I know this is all very subjective, but that’s why opinion threads like this are pretty useful.

Also, I get that this is essentially a question of Mastering — but I guess I make a distinction between “mastering” a thing myself via end of chain sweetening and working with a person who has that as a focus. This is more of a tools thread, so my inquiry is on the first bit with the full acknowledgment that the latter is vastly preferable when possible.

2 Likes
#64

thanks @gregory.bell for the encouragement to update – things seem to be working pretty smoothly with the beta. I updated my earlier response.

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#65

I ran across this article while reading about transformer distortion and saturation earlier today. A bit antithetical to the proposed topic here but I think also fits very well with the general ethos of the thread.

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#66

I am just chasing a workflow that i find fun, rewarding where everything contributes to leaving you with a finished in the moment creation. One that compels me to interact with my tools and really learn them and then have them surprise and wow me in return. Its been a pretty great journey so far with synths drum machines and effects. In the past 2 years ive been focused on getting that system nailed and now I feel ready to have some fun with the really focused mixing and mastering tools.

As far as the topic of more expensive vs the very usable results of cheaper things. I mean sure its good to start somewhere rather than nowhere. But I think with pricier stuff you do get what you are paying for when you understand what you are paying for.

#67

This looks really great, but way out of my budget for the moment…

Thanks for the URL!

1 Like
#68

Agreed. It looks very interesting but I’ve always wanted a Thermionic Culture Vulture and at that budget, there are a lot of options. I should be able to get a lot of mileage out of the Chroma and a few colour modules though.

#69

I feel like the Vulture is really the top piece of studio distortion gear for most people—I’d of course love to have one as well. I haven’t checked out the UAD version yet, but I’m tempted, as I’m not likely to spend 2K on a color-adder. I don’t expect it to sound the same, but then I think it’d be worth a look.

#70

Thought it might be interesting to share an excerpt of a mix ran through Mannequins RIP (cinemag transformers)

Here’s no RIP:

Here’s RIP dialed in based on my preferences:

And here’s too much RIP (and also some pushing of Veils’ VCA chips. I exported everything before listening to it, got in my car and then was disappointed when nothing popped).

EDIT: update to make have the same left/right amplitude as the other two for a/b’ing

Definitely subtle, but I think there’s a bit of smoothing and “glue” they do. Or maybe it’s a placebo.

5 Likes
#71

Those all sound great, but I definitely prefer the two with the RIP. And yep, I like the subtlety—I’m not a huge fan of a lot of gain/fuzz/etc on synths, as I feel like it kinda tends to round off too much of the edges and you just get this sort of uniformity. That said, a little bit does wonders.

As I mentioned a while back, my fave setting on the BOUM is just the boost, which gives it just enough color to feel a bit more glued in, but without losing filter detail etc. Pretty similar results to what you’ve done above.

1 Like
#72

Thank you! I similarly enjoy the Heat for the clean boost (as well as saturation/enhancement modes) for this kind of thing.

I think the most useful technique I’ve learned recently in terms of this kind of thing is A/B’ing and listening. I think that being able to listen to things A/B’d (important they are gain staged identically) helps to allow your brain to understand the differences rather than just blindly adding more junk on top to give it “mojo” that’s not really serving the recording.