Requesting Contributions for a New AGF Masterlist Video Section

[jim1960]

I have an idea for another video section. I'm sure some of us have favorite or useful plugins that do NOT easily fit into the common categories of equalization, compression, reverb, delay, channel strips, virtual instruments, or noise reduction. I think it could be helpful to come up with a list. Comment with the company and plugin name, how you use it, and I'll write a brief description of what the plugin does and look for a good demonstration video for each one.

Just to be clear, I'm NOT asking for plugins that easily fit into the categories of equalization, compression, reverb, delay, channel strips, virtual instruments, or noise reduction. If a plugin does one of those things but departs from how that type of plugin typically works or deviates in some significant way from how the user interacts with that type of plugin, I'll certainly consider adding it but I'm not trying to create a list of everyone's favorite EQ, comp, etc.

I might do sections for the more common categories but I suspect our preferences would vary so much that we'd wind up with dozens for each category and it would become too big to be useful. I may just do lists for those and let people explore the plugins on their own.

[Doug Young]

A few that I use at least on occasion that I think may be what you have in mind are:

SPL Vitalizer - an "enhancer", stereo-widener, with some similarities to the Aphex Aural Exciter - mastering bus

Ampex ATR-102 - tape emulator - mastering bus

Oaksound Soothe2 - a dynamic "soother" :-) basically a many-band compressor, but with a unique interface and dynamic behavior - usually on tracks, good for any instrument

Celemony - polyphonic pitch correction - great for voices or strings, but I've corrected even individual notes in a guitar chord with it

Voxengo MSED - mid side manipulation - use for mid-side mic setups

Little Labs IBP - phase correction - manually find the "best" sound when mixing sources, like mic+pickup

Sound Radix AutoAlign - automatically correct phase between 2 tracks. Used in multi-mic (more than 2) setups, mic+pickup, etc

Little Labs Voice of God - an EQ, I guess, but different. Bass resonance. Good on basses, baritone guitars.

Waves - X-Click - a declicker (maybe you consider this "noise reduction", tho?) I often use this or the iZotope version ahead of a reverb on the reverb aux bus to prevent keep the reverb from accentuating the click

Wave Bass Rider - sort of EQ+compression, but different, "rides" the volume control on a bass track fairly effectively. Used as a mixing aid on bass tracks

iZotope declick - another declicker

Metering - lots of options here. iZotope Insight, Blue Cat Stereoscope, and TC Electronic LM2n are some I often use. I use Insight for mic setup, Blue Cat Stereoscope for a different view, LM2n is nice for the master bus and final level setting

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

A few that I use at least on occasion that I think may be what you have in mind are:

Celemony - polyphonic pitch correction - great for voices or strings, but I've corrected even individual notes in a guitar chord with it

What level of Celemony is successfully capable of singling out one note of a chord to adjust
it's pitch (Melodyne 5 essential or Melodyne 5 assistant or Melodyne 5 editor)?

The more complete versions get pricey.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

What level of Celemony is successfully capable of singling out one note of a chord to adjust
it's pitch (Melodyne 5 essential or Melodyne 5 assistant or Melodyne 5 editor)?

The more complete versions get pricey.

Editor has the "DNA Direct Note Access" feature.
I mainly use Melodyne to tune vocals when needed but over the years I've worked my way up to the Studio version. If you're patient, every once in a while they'll run a really good upgrade sale where you can move up a step for not a lot of money. I'm not sure if it's cheaper in the long run but doing it like that was less painful in the short term.

[rick-slo]

Thanks for the info Jim. At this time I'm not ready to spend $500 for the Editor version for an occassional note
pitch adjustment though in some cases it would be a nice option.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Thanks for the info Jim. At this time I'm not ready to spend $500 for the Editor version for an occassional note
pitch adjustment though in some cases it would be a nice option.

If you wait until June, the base level will likely go on sale. Then, over time, you can slow walk yourself up a couple of steps. Honestly, it's a tremendous piece of software and one of the few I'd really hate to be without.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

What level of Celemony is successfully capable of singling out one note of a chord to adjust
it's pitch (Melodyne 5 essential or Melodyne 5 assistant or Melodyne 5 editor)?

The more complete versions get pricey.

Looks like Jim found the answer - I wasn't sure. I appear to have "studio". I've had it for ages, since it was just "melodyne", and keep getting updates as they keep changing product structure.

It's a little hit or miss on solo guitar, since it's so exposed. You can hear some phasiness if you process a whole track. But I have been able to do spot fixes, especially in a mix with other instruments, if I'm careful to limit it to the phrase (or chord) in question. It's still a miracle that it can do what it does.

In other applications it's perfect. I did a project recently with 20 vocals a-cappella, mostly amateur singers whose pitch and sense of time was marvelously flexible :-) Fixed it right up and in a way that you hear no artifacts. Everyone just thought they all sang with perfect pitch.

[AcousticDreams]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

SPL Vitalizer - an "enhancer", stereo-widener, with some similarities to the Aphex Aural Exciter - mastering bus

Ampex ATR-102 - tape emulator - mastering bus

Oaksound Soothe2 - a dynamic "soother" :-) basically a many-band compressor, but with a unique interface and dynamic behavior - usually on tracks, good for any instrument

There are so many areas of which I need to explore.

The ones that intrigue me the most..that I believe would be of most use to myself are Stereo Signal enhancers, Saturators-harmonics, and those problem spike frequencies=harmonics that are best tamed by individual frequency control.

Saturation is easy enough to understand how it is working. However Stereo Widening..and individual frequency taming is harder to comprehend in its real time effect of the signal.

If you so feel inclined, would you be able to provide us with some examples in each of those Two areas? Funny thing. In most of plug in demos they use synthesized instruments. Very hard to tell with synthesized instrument what the real time effects would be like with real acoustic instruments.

Of All, Stereo Widening, enhancement is the most intriguing. Especially the way that the Vitalizer might work? Image is so important. If the stereo image is wider then the sound might engulf us more. On the other hand...I always wonder if stereo widening...is taking away something as well?

Quote
"The hidden gem in this EQ is the Stereo Widening circuit, which sounds amazing on stereo guitars, drums, keys, and any other stem buss."

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Knives&Guitars

T
Saturation is easy enough to understand how it is working. However Stereo Widening..and individual frequency taming is harder to comprehend in its real time effect of the signal. [INDENT]If you so feel inclined, would you be able to provide us with some examples

I can put together a demo. There are 2 basic approaches to stereo wideners as far as I know:

1) convert a stereo signal to MS, increase the level of the sides, then convert back to stereo. The Voxengo MSED plugin (free) can do this, just by using the "inline" setting. Logic also has the "Direction Mixer" plugin, which sort of tips off what it's doing, since it doubles as an MS-decoder.

2) Take a bit of the L channel, reverse the phase, then mix it into R. And vice versa. This probably amounts to the same thing as approach 1, tho I'd have to think about it to convince myself of that.

The SPL vitalizer does more, tho, it has various enhancements that are less clear what's really going on, many falling into the category of "psychoacoustic" processing. You can read the manual for the hardware unit here: https://spl.audio/wp-content/uploads..._9739_OM_E.pdf

I tend to not use that other stuff, but there's something about the SPL stereo widener algorithm that I like - best used in moderation, tho. Every one of these gizmos seems to have its own approach and sound. Har-Bal (a controversial standalone tool) has a process it calls "air", which seems to be some variant of approach 2, and it sounds different yet.

[hazmuz]

i was looking for something like this and last week i found this one in my mailbox (free thru 12.31.):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5r2HhDeFgE

there are others which are also free, like this one:

https://www.caelumaudio.com/CaelumAu...=TapeCassette2

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Knives&Guitars

[INDENT]If you so feel inclined, would you be able to provide us with some examples in each of those Two areas?

Here's a quick demo off stereo widening

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/....php?p=6892732

[jim1960]

Here's a demonstration of Melodyne by Celemony on vocals. My buddy Steve isn't a great singer. He's very pitchy and often sings flat. The great thing about Melodyne is you can really control the degree of pitch correction you want to apply. I recall when I worked on this many years ago I dumped my original Melodyne corrections because they were too spot on ...so much so that Steve didn't sound like Steve anymore. You can go too far with it just as with any pitch correction software. I redid the vocals with the intent to find the right balance... to get the it mostly in tune but still retain the qualities that make Steve sound like Steve. You can really hear the difference on the 3-4 times he tries to hold a long note. My buddy really struggles to stay in tune when extending a note but Melodyne lets me clean those up so he's not so pitchy.

The first clip is without Melodyne, the second is with. What I like about Melodyne is that it is so transparent. Unlike AutoTune, Melodyne doesn't have an "effect sound." It's a precision tool that does it's job and stays out of the way. Like a lot of other pitch correction plugins, Melodyne can be applied globally to a track, but unlike AutoTune, I can go in and address individual notes. Melodyne identifies every time a note is off key and allows me to correct it as much or as little as I want. I can even shorten or extend the length of notes if I desire. And as previously mentioned in this thread, at the Editor and Studio levels, you can even tune a single note within a guitar chord. It's truly amazing tech.

FYI - I'm only going to leave that SoundCloud file up for about a week.

[KevWind]

Interesting Jim. I also occasionally go off pitch , so I should really learn how to use it
I suppose the Melodyne that comes with PT Ultimate is the Essentials version ?

One plugin that comes to mind as a bit different way of loudness boost (but unfortunately only for Pro Tools and Mac) is the Massey Golden Master (soft clipper which I use now more than a limiter and is very transparent ) Massy specializes in affordable plugins for PT on Mac but has an outstanding reputation. I also used to use his look ahead brick wall limiter L2007 which is very transparent also

The only other one I can think of off hand is the Nugen Audio- Master Check which is a professional level Streaming platform loudness tool ( I specifically got it for two reasons because it was on sale) and after Bob Womack mentioned in a thread that Youtube likes to see - 11 to -14 level at which YT would not further compress the video sound
I am still learning how to use as it is fairly complex

https://nugenaudio.com/mastercheck/

[jim1960]

Kev, just in case you didn't see the edit, that sale price is good only until 12/31 ...today.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

LM2n is nice for the master bus and final level setting

Doug, I'm probably going to have to leave this one out because it appears there is only one YouTube video for it and it isn't very helpful.