Drew
Forum MVP
Finally got around to checking this out, and sure enough the code is stll good. It's downloading as I type this.
Mastering stuff 2021
- Thread starter thebeesknees22
- Start date
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DudeManBrother
Hey...how did everybody get in my room?
It’s a pretty cool eq. It’s not replacing pro Q3 or anything, but I’ve used it on a couple ride cymbal tracks to mellow out the bell hits and get some smooth top end.
Drew
Forum MVP
...though holy hell is it taking forever to download. 
31% finished.
My go-to is still Burnley73 mostly for the added saturation, but it'll be fun to check out.
31% finished. My go-to is still Burnley73 mostly for the added saturation, but it'll be fun to check out.
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DudeManBrother
Hey...how did everybody get in my room?
SSL just updated their Native Channel Strip and Buss Compressor to a version 2. If you have the V6 already, then it’s a free download (still get to keep the previous versions). They added 2 and 4x Oversampling on the Comp and it sounds fantastic. I think I read that they are both actual models of a 9000J now, where the previous version was not. Either way, they look and sound great.
thebeesknees22
SS.org Regular
I was wondering about their plugins a while back when I was looking into ssl9000 plugins, but I haven't had a chance to try them yet. I wound up going with the PA one when it went on sale. Any idea how they compare?
DudeManBrother
Hey...how did everybody get in my room?
PA stuff is great; especially if you have Metaplugin to OS, which can go 16x on most of their plugins (huge improvement). All the makers do the ssl thing pretty well. I’m in the camp that thinks you don’t need all of them. As long as you have a 4000 and a 9000 you’re covered on the ssl channel sound. I don’t own the PA versions since I have the Native and Waves already. I see no reason to get them if you already have the PA stuff, unless that 90% off (both for $49) off deal ever happens again.
I will be comparing the new Buss Comp to the Waves and PA Townhouse and VSC-3. I think the Waves falls last because it doesn’t have any sidechain options and I can only oversample it 2x. With the internal sidechain the Native can get super fat sounding so I’m curious how it stacks up against the Townhouse (also fat bottom end) which has been my favorite Buss comp for a while. I’m mixing a bands record right now so I’ll be testing them out pretty thoroughly over the coming weeks.
I will be comparing the new Buss Comp to the Waves and PA Townhouse and VSC-3. I think the Waves falls last because it doesn’t have any sidechain options and I can only oversample it 2x. With the internal sidechain the Native can get super fat sounding so I’m curious how it stacks up against the Townhouse (also fat bottom end) which has been my favorite Buss comp for a while. I’m mixing a bands record right now so I’ll be testing them out pretty thoroughly over the coming weeks.
thebeesknees22
SS.org Regular
oh man i'm a huge fan of the townhouse ever since I got it a few months back. I've used it on my last 3 practice songs. I had the PA SSL bus comp too but I just find myself using the townhouse way more. I just picked up the Api and Neve comps today in my last UAD bundle so i have to play with those next.
Is this the metaplugin you're talking about?
https://ddmf.eu/metaplugin-chainer-vst-au-rtas-aax-wrapper/
If that's it i'm totally picking that up.
I have most all of the SSL stuff. 4000E from UAD, the 4000J, and 9000 from PA (and I have the lindel 80 series which I like on some things, and UAD neve 88 as of this morning). I've been leaning more towards PA console plugins due to dsp limits with my apollo twin and satellite that I hit if I start using a lot of 1073's, but I just picked up the UAD API and I'm reaaally liking that a lot for high gain guitars.
I think I'll track with the API on guitars then mix with the SSL's on my next practice song. (or i'll go back and redo my last 3 real quick with that chain)
Is this the metaplugin you're talking about?
https://ddmf.eu/metaplugin-chainer-vst-au-rtas-aax-wrapper/
If that's it i'm totally picking that up.
I have most all of the SSL stuff. 4000E from UAD, the 4000J, and 9000 from PA (and I have the lindel 80 series which I like on some things, and UAD neve 88 as of this morning). I've been leaning more towards PA console plugins due to dsp limits with my apollo twin and satellite that I hit if I start using a lot of 1073's, but I just picked up the UAD API and I'm reaaally liking that a lot for high gain guitars.
I think I'll track with the API on guitars then mix with the SSL's on my next practice song. (or i'll go back and redo my last 3 real quick with that chain)
DudeManBrother
Hey...how did everybody get in my room?
Yeah that ddmf is what I’m talking about. I use it to oversample mainly, which allows for real time os, and another for offline (so you don’t murder your cpu while mixing); but it’s also really great for saving plugin chains.
thebeesknees22
SS.org Regular
This is sick. It's basically the node graph I've been wanting for the entire time I've been learning to mix. (it's really similar to Houdini and what I do in vfx. node graphs are just ridiculously flexible)
hensh!n
SS.org Regular
Fab Filter stuff all the way. I wish I bought their plugins years ago as it would've saved me a lot of headaches. Brainworx stuff can be helpful too. I also use a few Waves plugins like the Abbey Road Mastering Live.
DudeManBrother
Hey...how did everybody get in my room?
Yeah Fab Filter is still my go to eq and comp for technical work. I find them indispensable for mixing. I use them for mastering as well, but have other tool sets that I can confidently use and get the job done, so they’re not crucial in that department for me.
thebeesknees22
SS.org Regular
@hensh!n - I literally finally demo'd Pro Q 3 this morning before work... and then proceeded to buy it. I didn't want to demo it 'cause I knew I'd want to buy it and I was waiting on a sale, but curiosity got the better of me today lol ..sucks it was full price but it was worth it.
honestly it's pretty amazing. It makes eq'ing soooo much faster and easier since the workflow is so fluid. Plus being able to solo the band you're on is a must have. I wish I would have made it one of my first plugin purchases. It would have saved me tons of time. lol
on the other hand it's probably good that I learned the old fashioned way on more traditional eq's first. But man... yeah FabFilter pro q 3 all the way. I'll grab their other stuff when it actually goes on sale.
honestly it's pretty amazing. It makes eq'ing soooo much faster and easier since the workflow is so fluid. Plus being able to solo the band you're on is a must have. I wish I would have made it one of my first plugin purchases. It would have saved me tons of time. lol
on the other hand it's probably good that I learned the old fashioned way on more traditional eq's first. But man... yeah FabFilter pro q 3 all the way. I'll grab their other stuff when it actually goes on sale.
hensh!n
SS.org Regular
It's one of the few times I bought a plugin that wasn't on sale and actually regretted not buying it sooner. You really can't say enough good things about them. Not only are their products incredibly user friendly and functional, but they're also very educational as now I can isolate what parts I'm cutting/boosting. No more blind (deaf) EQ adjustments.
thebeesknees22
SS.org Regular
no kidding!
WarMachine
Well-Known Member
I've been experimenting with the SSL Native Bus Compressor and PSP Xenon for the last few weeks and i think these are my new favorites. Really simple to use and does the job. I like keeping my master bus as clean as possible and getting the tones i want from the start, not tweaking them with EQ's like crazy in the process.
DudeManBrother
Hey...how did everybody get in my room?
Have you downloaded the new version 2 yet? It’s even better than the previous. The oversampling makes such a difference in depth. It can be used as a limiter now as well, though I haven’t tried that yet. I’ve used it on a drum bus and on the 2 bus since the update, and it’s beat out my other bus comps. I will still probably use the Townhouse from time to time, but this is the one to beat now.
WarMachine
Well-Known Member
No I haven't yet but it sounds like I need to lol
thebeesknees22
SS.org Regular
yo just wondering
What are your guy's go to plugins for saturation?
Saturn? decapitator?
I tried softube's harmonics today and it was kinda nice.
I demo'd Saturn too and it was nice too. A lot more in depth for sure and it's on my list along with all the other fabfilter stuff. I have the black box hg-2ms from when it was on sale a long time ago, but that's kind of my only dedicated saturation plugin at the moment.
i need to demo the decapitator in a bit
What are your guy's go to plugins for saturation?
Saturn? decapitator?
I tried softube's harmonics today and it was kinda nice.
I demo'd Saturn too and it was nice too. A lot more in depth for sure and it's on my list along with all the other fabfilter stuff. I have the black box hg-2ms from when it was on sale a long time ago, but that's kind of my only dedicated saturation plugin at the moment.
i need to demo the decapitator in a bit
DudeManBrother
Hey...how did everybody get in my room?
I’ve been meaning to try Decapitator forever, but haven’t gotten around to it still. It’s been out forever, and people still use it all over the place, so it must be pretty damn good. I’ve heard good things about Softube’s tape and harmonics plugs as well.
I use FF Saturn quite a bit, as it does everything. Izotope Trash 2 does everything too, and I think is a free download now.
Ozone Vintage Tape and Exciter sound great, and are also extremely versatile, but I usually forget about Ozone stuff until I’m mastering. PA Black Box HG2MS is another I like quite a bit. It’s also one of my go-to’s for bringing up the sides. The Vertigo VSM3 covers similar ground but has a different character that’s also nice. I think the Black Box deals with aliasing better; but I use the VSM3 OS‘ed in Metaplugin, so I can reduce those negative effects drastically.
Then there’s the tape sims like UA ATR102, Studer A800, Waves J37, etc. that are all useful. I used to use J37 often, but have found the ATR102 is more open sounding.
Then there are clippers to generate saturation. Newfangledaudio Saturate is a great one that is simple to use. It’s got a slider from soft to hard clipping; and an input gain to either subtly saturate, or full on clip the peaks. It’s a very clean sounding clipper, and one of my favorites. Kclip 3 is my other go-to for clipping. It has quite a few saturation algorithms to select from, and multiband capabilities. I tend to use the single band most, unless I am trying to transform a tone drastically, as multi band saturation can really alter your source sound in a hurry.
I think I might have mentioned it near the beginning of this thread: but I’ve also been messing with the Melda Mwaveshaper recently, which is a completely different interface to generating harmonics, but ultimately can produce similar results. It’s pretty in depth and there is quite a learning curve to becoming adept at wave shaping. Using it with Msaturate (both free) does something similar to what the Oxford Inflator does; but is far more versatile (and potentially destructive).
I use FF Saturn quite a bit, as it does everything. Izotope Trash 2 does everything too, and I think is a free download now.
Ozone Vintage Tape and Exciter sound great, and are also extremely versatile, but I usually forget about Ozone stuff until I’m mastering. PA Black Box HG2MS is another I like quite a bit. It’s also one of my go-to’s for bringing up the sides. The Vertigo VSM3 covers similar ground but has a different character that’s also nice. I think the Black Box deals with aliasing better; but I use the VSM3 OS‘ed in Metaplugin, so I can reduce those negative effects drastically.
Then there’s the tape sims like UA ATR102, Studer A800, Waves J37, etc. that are all useful. I used to use J37 often, but have found the ATR102 is more open sounding.
Then there are clippers to generate saturation. Newfangledaudio Saturate is a great one that is simple to use. It’s got a slider from soft to hard clipping; and an input gain to either subtly saturate, or full on clip the peaks. It’s a very clean sounding clipper, and one of my favorites. Kclip 3 is my other go-to for clipping. It has quite a few saturation algorithms to select from, and multiband capabilities. I tend to use the single band most, unless I am trying to transform a tone drastically, as multi band saturation can really alter your source sound in a hurry.
I think I might have mentioned it near the beginning of this thread: but I’ve also been messing with the Melda Mwaveshaper recently, which is a completely different interface to generating harmonics, but ultimately can produce similar results. It’s pretty in depth and there is quite a learning curve to becoming adept at wave shaping. Using it with Msaturate (both free) does something similar to what the Oxford Inflator does; but is far more versatile (and potentially destructive).
thebeesknees22
SS.org Regular
I gave the decapitator a test spin. It's cool, but it's suuuuper easy to go overboard with it lol I think I'll hold off on this one until Black Friday sales since I think the full soundtoys bundle goes on sale a little cheaper then. In general the soundtoys stuff is fine, but feels kinda dated tbh
I demo'd the Vertigo VSM3 a while back, but that was after I had the HG2MS, and I just didn't vibe with it all that much in comparison. I was getting a lot of aliasing like you said when driving too hard. I may have to prioritize Metaplugin at some point. I'm not sure if ddmf stuff goes on sale very often or not. (but it's not expensive anyway so i'm guessing not)
I tried out Newfangled's Saturate on some drums last week and I like it a lot. Easy to drive and maintain clarity. Sometimes if I really drive it too hard on some things I get artifacts though, but that's like really cranked. Not sure if you get that or not. (That's an issue I have with UAD tape plugins too. If I drive them too hard they really start to have a lot of artifacts. But Softube's Tape you can just crank all the way to the max and it's still clean. I haven't bought it yet, but I like it)
I've been using the ART102 and A800 pretty much every single mix, every track (but I stopped using tape on drums recently)
Oh I have the Mwaveshaper, but I haven't been using this Melda free bundle much. It's dumb, but the interfaces are kinda ugly so I don't pop them on a track very often. And I don't know if you get this or not, but sometimes the interfaces just flicker like crazy and I have to flip the Style under settings to get it to stop.
I just tested the Mwaveshaper though, and this is pretty neat. I'll need more time to figure it all out, but it's cool you can crank the input negative and it's seemingly distorting quieter(?) frequencies more. It sounds good though. I can max it out and it's not crapping out with artifacts. It's just crazy thick distortion.
I've read good things about the Waves J37. It's on my list to test out when I get more time, and I saw Kclip was on sale last night but I haven't tested it yet.
I demo'd the Vertigo VSM3 a while back, but that was after I had the HG2MS, and I just didn't vibe with it all that much in comparison. I was getting a lot of aliasing like you said when driving too hard. I may have to prioritize Metaplugin at some point. I'm not sure if ddmf stuff goes on sale very often or not. (but it's not expensive anyway so i'm guessing not)
I tried out Newfangled's Saturate on some drums last week and I like it a lot. Easy to drive and maintain clarity. Sometimes if I really drive it too hard on some things I get artifacts though, but that's like really cranked. Not sure if you get that or not. (That's an issue I have with UAD tape plugins too. If I drive them too hard they really start to have a lot of artifacts. But Softube's Tape you can just crank all the way to the max and it's still clean. I haven't bought it yet, but I like it)
I've been using the ART102 and A800 pretty much every single mix, every track (but I stopped using tape on drums recently)
Oh I have the Mwaveshaper, but I haven't been using this Melda free bundle much. It's dumb, but the interfaces are kinda ugly so I don't pop them on a track very often. And I don't know if you get this or not, but sometimes the interfaces just flicker like crazy and I have to flip the Style under settings to get it to stop.
I just tested the Mwaveshaper though, and this is pretty neat. I'll need more time to figure it all out, but it's cool you can crank the input negative and it's seemingly distorting quieter(?) frequencies more. It sounds good though. I can max it out and it's not crapping out with artifacts. It's just crazy thick distortion.
I've read good things about the Waves J37. It's on my list to test out when I get more time, and I saw Kclip was on sale last night but I haven't tested it yet.
