What is your go-to saturation plugin and what on? 🤓 FYI I was incorrect regarding the ACG. You are best to click calibrate and let it learn as that will give you a more consistent auto gain compensation. My method shows its still works cause I knew where my gain staging was to begin with but using the learning function of the calibrate will tweak it for optimum ACG performance. Also for those wanting to hear the final mix with spice rack on drums (intro and chorus), bass, bass synth part, lead vox (chorus) & BGV Listen to Battle Cry - Little Empire (Mastered by ACTDOMAKE) on.soundcloud.com/ogpnf
Saturn 2 all day. Have Decap and hardly use it to be honest. Tried HG2 Black Box and holy crap the aliasing was bad, like audible chirping. So just sticking to Saturn, does the job!
I have the softube , the one waves gave for free and also decapitator, but this one seems very very good also. Glad you are enjoying studio one, I hope you've already discovered de low latency mode for plugins (the Z you can check in the mixer xD pretty useful)
So i have only recently found you on here and because of you i also found dan worrall, got to send you a message to say that the more i learn and understand mixing etc the more unsatisfied i am with the videos on youtube, they seem to be and more along the lines of adverts than learning. Thank you paul please dont change its really lovely to learn something through the realistic and honest demonstrations/insights. I dont usually comment on any videos i watch but could not help praising the down to earth content. Thanks paul 👍 dont change 👍
It seems as if a climax is being realised. Subtle distortion, saturation and harmonics is where the secret source is. In some ways it’s a shame it’s been so long, however I’m glad it’s here!
I noticed I forgot my obligatory comment to push the algorithm. There you go! Let's give it some positive keywords. Wonderful! Thank you so much! Best video ever! Supreme quality! Watched it 1000 times. Allright, have a good day!
I trialled this (a generous iLock 30 days) and loved it. Waited till now to pick it up on the BF sale. It's just pretty wonderful. I recommend people give the trial a blast. I'm glad you told us you were sponsored - it's why I stopped looking at review channels when they're not upfront. I know being paid must have some spin on the conclusion, (we're all human not machines) but your reviews seem genuinely honest and I appreciate that. Be nice if you took a look at the P11 Abyss compressor from Process Modular, these guys are expensive love to know your thoughts on the cost/value. Thanks again.
its an awesome innovative plug in that sounds great. huge fan of what process audio are doing. sugar, decibel and spice rack. 3 home runs.. and if you become a puremix member you get them for free!
I'll reach for Tone Project's Kelvin 80% of the time. For more obvious effects I'll bring in different stuff. ALSO I just found out about Apogee's free Soft Limit - tried it as a bass-guitar distortion (heavy push-pull emphased with a -9dB lowshelf). Absolute gem!
@@PaulThird Would love to see your take on it! I'm still in awe of it's three new transformers (purple, dark iron and hot iron), which I'll often blend, and the "boutique" tube sound. But it is a great allrounder, also in terms of versatiliy. I'll often use push-pull EQing with saturation/distortion, and Kelvin's approach feels very intuitive to me.
Have the Process Audio people spojken about what the meters mean? I notice you're going pretty deep into the reds in your examples and am wondering if the clipping/compression is to do with the plugin being hit real hard in the gain staging? Or this is a plugin that can't clip? I tend to be pretty bad at gainstaging before saturation plugins and I wonder if it's massively negatively effecting stuff or not. :P
"This VU meter lookalike does not show your audio level but the amount of distortion applied to it. If the needle does not move, it means your audio is left untouched. The higher the number, the more distorted your audio will sound" Hope that helps
Hi Paul, great video. I particularly liked your very clear and up-front explanation that you were being paid to make this video but that your opinions were your own. Well done on getting this gig and I wish more channels were this transparent. It does beg the question of what you'd do if you didn't like the thing you were being paid to test as it could end up your last paid video! Spice Rack looks good although looks like there's a few rough edges to knock off. I ditched all my saturation plugins and moved to Tone Projects Kelvin about a year ago and am not sure I need anything else. But if I was looking for something I'd definitely try this out and your video was helpful. Especially the part about aliasing because it can't be emphasised enough times that if you're saturator is aliasing then your instantly limiting the clarity of your mix. I don't want to get into the whole digital vs analogue debate but if there is a gap between ITB and analogue then imho most of it is in the aliasing.
My top saturator is Tupe by GoodHertz. Best tube & tape algorithms I’ve ever used. UAD OTO for lofi. UAD API 560 or 1073 for console clipping. My thoughts about this spice rack tho: - There are not many plugins offering an alias-free option for fuzz. This is quality. - How important is linear phase eq? It’s only important to me in parallel IF that. I never need it on a serial source.
Yeah I'm using sugar on every lead vocal at the moment. Just really like what it adds and I can't think of anything I've currently got that can give me that. I've got vitamin but I dunno if it does the same thing
oversampling is awesome but I've heard some plugins utilize ultra sonic filtering too. Which is why It's much harder to just oversample away aliasing in a plugin that didn't take it into account in the first place..... Pretty sure a lot of companies that offer oversampling still aren't doing a good job at ultrasonic filtering. You should be able to get rid of aliasing while you're oversampling lower than x8 or x16, with ultrasonic filtering.... Heck, you can already put your filtering way above the nyquest level even at x2 The Nyquist level is already 48kz (in a 48 kz session) not going to run into phase issues... It does take some CPU.... But not as bad as multiple times over sampling. Most plug in manufacturers just seemed to not have a clue.... And many want to deny that aliasing matters so they don't have to go back and do anything to fix it.
I may be getting you wrong so disregard if I have caught you wrong. Ultrasonic filtering is only applicable at higher sample rates. It'll do absolutely nothing at 44.1 & 48k because there is genuinely no ultrasonic frequencies there to remove. What you have to remember is that filters can only remove frequencies, not harmonics, thus oversampling is needed to upsample to a higher sample rate in order to extend niquist so the harmonics made past 24khz can be computed. If you upsample x4 at 48khz you upsample to 192khz sample rate which increases the bandwidth to 96khz so any harmonics made up to 96khz can be computed. Any past that will bounce back as aliasing. If you are talking about utilising ultrasonic filtering in combination with oversampling then I'm not that versed on that. I couldn't tell you plugins that utilise both. It's just something I only looked at with the airwindows plugin
Paul third yaaaaay!!!, i like the decapitator for aggressive things too, but i mostly use the Softube harmonics when i want some ssl 4000 e summing using the solid mode.
Thanks, hope you're keeping well. My list of plugins to check out has reached 100. These companies churn out mediocrity faster than I can load, listen and delete. Luckily this sounds good and gets an asterisk. If only you would test every plugin for me and say 'Danny, here's a short list mate. I've done the hard work.' 😄
Paul i would have chosen also some acoustic sources to test this kind of plugin, cause aside an already processed vocal track we really didn't hear what it imparts to the whole harmonic content of a raw vox, AC guitar, bass, snare, kick, toms etc... With just electronic and/or processed sounds part of the real effectiveness of the plugin can go lost or "masked" due to the nature of the test signal 😎👍 M2C
Tbh when somebody asks me to test a plugin it'll be used on whatever session I'm working on at that moment as I'm a big believer of showcasing how you would realistically use it in a mix compared to unrealistic audio examples. That's the job of the developer in my opinion. Plus I don't use that much saturation on mixes now anyway, too much instances just depreciate the clarity of the mix to me. I also don't reccomend buying a plugin based off audio examples from a video. Always should be tested by those interested in making a purchase. I stopped doing raw examples ages ago cause in reality most plugins, especially saturation plugins aren't being used on a raw source. Saturation is normally near the end of the chain. It just doesn't make sense to me as its pretty unrealistic but that's just me. As you can see, I'm very particular about these things haha
@@PaulThird if you stopped doing raw examples ages ago, you should try nowadays, ages ago saturation plugins were... well.. shitzz! 😅 i didn't suggested to use "too much instances" in your mix, but just what about "add" demostration on how it sounds on single sources. Try record a cheap sterile AC gtr or bass, or an harmonically dumb snare drum and you'll found out how usefull can be using those kind of plugins on raw sources 😎
Seems nice. Speaking of distortion/saturation: Just getting into Black Rooster plugins for the first time. I never like how they stood up in blind tests years ago- so wrote them off. Theyve recoded all of their shit apparently and it sounds GOOOD. The Altec tube amp sounds glorious, like a real one with no noise/hiss. Incredible truly. Also, the saturation on their Mk2 LA2A is the only thing besides UA that comes close - and its as good as UA, just different. A little bassier maybe (the real one’s output gain stage is almost overdrive like if you push it) - but it all seems to have that 3d depth that i look for in hardware. Check em out
Tbh im pretty much done with analog emulations unless it's TimP but even still it's only from more of a geeky modelling POV and not cause I want another analog box. The thought of analog gear makes me yawn out loud now 🤣
@@chriscorral6365 No idea, just kind of going by some of the material on their website. And tbh im not even sure its “all” of their stuff- but I recall a few things i listened to previously from them (their LA2A for example) and not being really moved one way or another. They have a Mk2 of that unit now- and a few others that are new since then; I think they did away with some of the earlier shit too. I havent been following them for a long time…perhaps a “shift” in products would be more accurate than “recode”
I don't think I will be buying the plugin but this was a really good review Paul! I certainly know everything I would possibly want to know before I would buy it now if I were considering it. Was not a fan of what it did on the bass, just being honest. It was just a bit to much for my taste but then again you are doing a demo lol. The point is to HEAR the plugin.
That's my approach to a sponsored video. Just test the shit out of it haha Does kill the soul a little making a video that you didn't intend on making otherwise but it's these videos that act as investment into furthering the channel and my career. I've got a tax bill and an accountant to pay for now and I don't know how much both are gonna be 😅
@@PaulThird 😂 Believe me, I get it. I don't think anyone is going to hate on you for doing sponsored ads. I think we all know you well enough by now that we can be confident you are going to be completely honest. If not, Steve will! 😂
Hi Paul, what is your personal favorite saturation plugin? I´m still searching for a great sounding saturation plugin. At the moment Klanghelm SDRR 2 is used a lot in my mixes but I feel it´s lacking used with mastering. Don´t say FB Saturn 2 *haha*
I've went off saturation plugins now being honest but genuinely I do quite like this one. I like hg2 ms, and used big AL when I had it. Spice rack is basically a more modern decapitator
Do you think this will sound good as a preamp emulation for vocals on the tube setting? Ive currently been using the nsl from waves and wanted something that sounded better. Love your content and thanks for the help.
This is really nice Paul, thanks but I’m still on Saturn 2 which is a huge monster in terms of tweaks and versatility , any way you know. Greetings and have a nice weekend.
Paul I have a question for you. Recently I have started to mastering songs and I manage to get a couple of happy clients that where satisfied with my results. I master 100% in the box and one person contacted me and said that people like me destroys the quality in the industry by mastering in the box. Its hardware or nothing in thats persons opinion. Whats your take on this Paul?
You shouldn't even need to ask haha tons of massive hits are mastered in the box. My mastering engineer sent me clips of dua lipa being mastered with like 2 or 3 plugins. Think it was proq3 and stealth limiter if I recall. Here's the thing with mastering analog. You run the risk of stereo imbalance due to analog tolerances and its not your job to be adding colour and altering the phase relationship of a mix by sending the signal through 3 or 4 pieces of gear. The truth is behind the scenes. Analog gear is mostly kept to attract clients. It's to look good. They don't want you or anybody else to find out. Mastering is all about the ear. NEVER the gear. Theres an idiot on YT telling guys that you should own like 100k worth of gear for mastering cause.. "you'll never beat the analog guy charging the same price" One of my mentors mixes and masters itb and gets millions of streams every year. He sent me a "mix off" he had with another big engineer who was fully itb. Producer didnt like the mud and lack of clarity which the analog guy called "warmth" and "the vibe" of mixing analog. My mentors itb smashed him and that producer never used that analog mixer again due to the sheer arrogance he had. You have to remember that many guys invest tens of thousands in gear and you come along and get the same or subjectively better results at a fraction of the investment. THAT'S where the issue lies. Do you see mastering engineers adding tons of gear to serban mixes.. Nope, cause they are already heavy limited and sound like a record before the mastering engineer downloads the folder. If you were actually destroying the quality of the industry these guys wouldnt be bothering to take the time to contact you, they would just show clients how shit your masters are and compare them to their own.. But they aren't doing that.. Cause they have a bit of a sore arse after wasting money on gear and depending on it to produce "industry ready" masters Keep your head down and ensure your clients are happy.. They are the ONLY people you care about right now
@@PaulThird Thank you Paul for a perfectly answer :-) Your answer is just what I thought in my head, since I have never mastered with analog gear I can´t compare in real life, but your answer really hit the last nail in the coffin *haha*. I never bothered answering back to the person you thinks that analog gear is the "only" way to master a song and that it´s an enormous difference in quality. As long as it´s sounds good in my ears and that my clients are happy then i´m happy and confident that i´m doing something right in the music community. Thank again Paul for your answer :-)
Interesting! I'm not really into the GUI but can definitely see others into it. Personally, I love the simplicity of kHs Distortion, Metric Halo Character, and SoftTube tape for the master is pretty nice as well. Thanks for the video!
@@PaulThird yeah, not 1to1 emulation but they managed the capture the essence imo. really interesting curves, i just throw the default setting on any guitar, better check out yourself, all the best!
There’s damn near “enough” of every type of plug-in. I’m not sure why this kind of statement keeps being a thing. We all have preferences, we all have specific things that we like about one over the other, even if they’re both serving the same function.
Compression wise they are pretty bang on though. Not from a harmonic standpoint it looks like as there is hardly any high order harmonics but the compression behaviour is very well modelled if you compare it to others. Cl1b for example has the inverse release in manual mode which even acustica doesnt have. I'm using the fat channel quite a lot cause I like the fact that that the compression behaviour is the most important thing and not the exact colour. Awesome for tracking as well as I never have to worry about aliasing and adding too much colour when recording
They do make harmonics though. I've ran sweeps. Cl1b for example makes harmonics in fixed but hardly any in manual cause of the inverse release, just like the hardware. 1176 makes transformer based harmonics as well. Not to the overall scale of say arturia or UAD but the low order harmonic stuff is there
Decapitator aliasing makes everything sound smaller and more digital. I get that people are used to it now....And 192kz isn't enough to fully rescue it.
huh, guess this is kinda like a follow up to your video about the state of audio engineering on youtube. Like they paid you! i feel like this should be the norm and not the outlier.
It's how I've been doing it for quite a while now. Unless I'm personally interested in the product, you'll pay me to test it and share it with my audience. Only fair. Give process audio their due. Paid me what I asked both times and I still use decibel to this day. I only get sporadic paid offers though which I actually think works better for me and my channel as I prefer to mostly focus on content that I'm experimenting with at that time and the odd paid video keeps the financial side worthwhile, pays for tax, accountants and further investment in my career
Tone Projects Kelvin simple and work well very low aliasing not heavy on CPU, and can select different type of distortion, with good description of each to go fast. But dam the track it's not easy to hear it on it exept when it's to much, the pic of guitar around 1k 2K might be more important to fix than add saturator. Lot of big hit was done with decapitator (don't get it) but if you use it on bass like most time i see it for add hamonic the bass miss no aliasing issue. measure are good but there is much more to do in a mix than tracking aliasing 70db under the fundamental
Tbh I hardly use that much saturation anymore but if I do then im always hardly ever adding aliasing. Saturation is few and far between in my mixes now. Only if I feel it can benefit a source in the mix. Never something I automatically go to now
What? So all the multi award winning engineers mixing the biggest songs / artists in the world on MWTM using Decapitator and making it sound phenomenal are wrong? Well I guess I’ll just take your word for it then. 😂😂😂
I never said that 🤷♂️ I said as a saturation suite I believe spicerack is better than decapitator. And gave a lot of justification as to why. I make my own opinions based on my own tests, not what such and such used on a certain record. BUT if that's what you wanna do then that's up to you
What is your go-to saturation plugin and what on? 🤓
FYI I was incorrect regarding the ACG. You are best to click calibrate and let it learn as that will give you a more consistent auto gain compensation. My method shows its still works cause I knew where my gain staging was to begin with but using the learning function of the calibrate will tweak it for optimum ACG performance.
Also for those wanting to hear the final mix with spice rack on drums (intro and chorus), bass, bass synth part, lead vox (chorus) & BGV
Listen to Battle Cry - Little Empire (Mastered by ACTDOMAKE)
on.soundcloud.com/ogpnf
It's currently Tone Projects Kelvin. Considering buying Decapitator this Black Friday.
Saturn 2 all day. Have Decap and hardly use it to be honest. Tried HG2 Black Box and holy crap the aliasing was bad, like audible chirping. So just sticking to Saturn, does the job!
I have the softube , the one waves gave for free and also decapitator, but this one seems very very good also. Glad you are enjoying studio one, I hope you've already discovered de low latency mode for plugins (the Z you can check in the mixer xD pretty useful)
Spicerack from now on
Melda saturation and wave shaper for general use. Sixth Sample Flatter for multiband. Klanghelm SDRR for a lighter touch.
Thanks Paul. I always enjoy your videos and your advice on plugins.
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So i have only recently found you on here and because of you i also found dan worrall, got to send you a message to say that the more i learn and understand mixing etc the more unsatisfied i am with the videos on youtube, they seem to be and more along the lines of adverts than learning. Thank you paul please dont change its really lovely to learn something through the realistic and honest demonstrations/insights. I dont usually comment on any videos i watch but could not help praising the down to earth content. Thanks paul 👍 dont change 👍
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It seems as if a climax is being realised. Subtle distortion, saturation and harmonics is where the secret source is. In some ways it’s a shame it’s been so long, however I’m glad it’s here!
🤓🤓
I love your style Paul, keep it up, dont ever change.
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I noticed I forgot my obligatory comment to push the algorithm. There you go! Let's give it some positive keywords. Wonderful! Thank you so much! Best video ever! Supreme quality! Watched it 1000 times. Allright, have a good day!
Hahaha.. That'll do.. That'll do. Stats are surviving so far, actually outperforming another youtubers review of it 😜
Excellent vid, thank you bro! HELLOOOOOOOO
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I trialled this (a generous iLock 30 days) and loved it. Waited till now to pick it up on the BF sale. It's just pretty wonderful. I recommend people give the trial a blast. I'm glad you told us you were sponsored - it's why I stopped looking at review channels when they're not upfront. I know being paid must have some spin on the conclusion, (we're all human not machines) but your reviews seem genuinely honest and I appreciate that. Be nice if you took a look at the P11 Abyss compressor from Process Modular, these guys are expensive love to know your thoughts on the cost/value. Thanks again.
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its an awesome innovative plug in that sounds great. huge fan of what process audio are doing. sugar, decibel and spice rack. 3 home runs.. and if you become a puremix member you get them for free!
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I'll reach for Tone Project's Kelvin 80% of the time. For more obvious effects I'll bring in different stuff.
ALSO I just found out about Apogee's free Soft Limit - tried it as a bass-guitar distortion (heavy push-pull emphased with a -9dB lowshelf). Absolute gem!
Only heard good things about kelvin 🤓
@@PaulThird Would love to see your take on it! I'm still in awe of it's three new transformers (purple, dark iron and hot iron), which I'll often blend, and the "boutique" tube sound. But it is a great allrounder, also in terms of versatiliy. I'll often use push-pull EQing with saturation/distortion, and Kelvin's approach feels very intuitive to me.
Awesome to see devs payin and not only payin,, but payin the guys that actually test the plugs properly,, keep rockin my dude 🤟🤟
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Have the Process Audio people spojken about what the meters mean? I notice you're going pretty deep into the reds in your examples and am wondering if the clipping/compression is to do with the plugin being hit real hard in the gain staging? Or this is a plugin that can't clip?
I tend to be pretty bad at gainstaging before saturation plugins and I wonder if it's massively negatively effecting stuff or not. :P
"This VU meter lookalike does not show your audio level but the amount of distortion applied to it. If the needle does not move, it means your audio is left untouched. The higher the number, the more distorted your audio will sound"
Hope that helps
@@PaulThird Makes total sense, thanks Paul! :)
Hi Paul, great video. I particularly liked your very clear and up-front explanation that you were being paid to make this video but that your opinions were your own. Well done on getting this gig and I wish more channels were this transparent. It does beg the question of what you'd do if you didn't like the thing you were being paid to test as it could end up your last paid video!
Spice Rack looks good although looks like there's a few rough edges to knock off. I ditched all my saturation plugins and moved to Tone Projects Kelvin about a year ago and am not sure I need anything else. But if I was looking for something I'd definitely try this out and your video was helpful. Especially the part about aliasing because it can't be emphasised enough times that if you're saturator is aliasing then your instantly limiting the clarity of your mix. I don't want to get into the whole digital vs analogue debate but if there is a gap between ITB and analogue then imho most of it is in the aliasing.
Only heard good things about kelvin 🤓
@@PaulThird And I'm not going to disagree with what you've heard 😉
Why when you have saturn ..
I don't have saturn..
@@PaulThird Fabfilter for life :)
My top saturator is Tupe by GoodHertz. Best tube & tape algorithms I’ve ever used. UAD OTO for lofi. UAD API 560 or 1073 for console clipping.
My thoughts about this spice rack tho:
- There are not many plugins offering an alias-free option for fuzz. This is quality.
- How important is linear phase eq? It’s only important to me in parallel IF that. I never need it on a serial source.
I totally agree, it's a great saturation plugin. I also really like the Sugar plugin by process audio.
Yeah I'm using sugar on every lead vocal at the moment. Just really like what it adds and I can't think of anything I've currently got that can give me that. I've got vitamin but I dunno if it does the same thing
oversampling is awesome but I've heard some plugins utilize ultra sonic filtering too. Which is why It's much harder to just oversample away aliasing in a plugin that didn't take it into account in the first place.....
Pretty sure a lot of companies that offer oversampling still aren't doing a good job at ultrasonic filtering. You should be able to get rid of aliasing while you're oversampling lower than x8 or x16, with ultrasonic filtering.... Heck, you can already put your filtering way above the nyquest level even at x2 The Nyquist level is already 48kz (in a 48 kz session) not going to run into phase issues... It does take some CPU.... But not as bad as multiple times over sampling.
Most plug in manufacturers just seemed to not have a clue.... And many want to deny that aliasing matters so they don't have to go back and do anything to fix it.
I may be getting you wrong so disregard if I have caught you wrong.
Ultrasonic filtering is only applicable at higher sample rates. It'll do absolutely nothing at 44.1 & 48k because there is genuinely no ultrasonic frequencies there to remove.
What you have to remember is that filters can only remove frequencies, not harmonics, thus oversampling is needed to upsample to a higher sample rate in order to extend niquist so the harmonics made past 24khz can be computed.
If you upsample x4 at 48khz you upsample to 192khz sample rate which increases the bandwidth to 96khz so any harmonics made up to 96khz can be computed. Any past that will bounce back as aliasing.
If you are talking about utilising ultrasonic filtering in combination with oversampling then I'm not that versed on that. I couldn't tell you plugins that utilise both. It's just something I only looked at with the airwindows plugin
Overlouds sculptube and tapedesk...then XLN rc20 !
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Paul third yaaaaay!!!, i like the decapitator for aggressive things too, but i mostly use the Softube harmonics when i want some ssl 4000 e summing using the solid mode.
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Sounds good to me.
What song is this?
Battle cry - Little Empire
Plap. Nice😊
Predictable question Paul, but how does it compare to Black Box (HG-2MS)? Ta.
Very different. It's really more comparible to decapitator
Thanks, hope you're keeping well. My list of plugins to check out has reached 100. These companies churn out mediocrity faster than I can load, listen and delete. Luckily this sounds good and gets an asterisk. If only you would test every plugin for me and say 'Danny, here's a short list mate. I've done the hard work.' 😄
I'd probably make decent dough as well 🤣
@@PaulThird Seriously though... I need the list!!! Hahahaha
Im sorry whens The list? I have Money waiting for it right here. On my desk. Just waiting…
Paul i would have chosen also some acoustic sources to test this kind of plugin, cause aside an already processed vocal track we really didn't hear what it imparts to the whole harmonic content of a raw vox, AC guitar, bass, snare, kick, toms etc... With just electronic and/or processed sounds part of the real effectiveness of the plugin can go lost or "masked" due to the nature of the test signal 😎👍 M2C
Tbh when somebody asks me to test a plugin it'll be used on whatever session I'm working on at that moment as I'm a big believer of showcasing how you would realistically use it in a mix compared to unrealistic audio examples. That's the job of the developer in my opinion.
Plus I don't use that much saturation on mixes now anyway, too much instances just depreciate the clarity of the mix to me.
I also don't reccomend buying a plugin based off audio examples from a video. Always should be tested by those interested in making a purchase.
I stopped doing raw examples ages ago cause in reality most plugins, especially saturation plugins aren't being used on a raw source. Saturation is normally near the end of the chain. It just doesn't make sense to me as its pretty unrealistic but that's just me.
As you can see, I'm very particular about these things haha
@@PaulThird if you stopped doing raw examples ages ago, you should try nowadays, ages ago saturation plugins were... well.. shitzz! 😅 i didn't suggested to use "too much instances" in your mix, but just what about "add" demostration on how it sounds on single sources. Try record a cheap sterile AC gtr or bass, or an harmonically dumb snare drum and you'll found out how usefull can be using those kind of plugins on raw sources 😎
Seems nice. Speaking of distortion/saturation: Just getting into Black Rooster plugins for the first time. I never like how they stood up in blind tests years ago- so wrote them off. Theyve recoded all of their shit apparently and it sounds GOOOD. The Altec tube amp sounds glorious, like a real one with no noise/hiss. Incredible truly. Also, the saturation on their Mk2 LA2A is the only thing besides UA that comes close - and its as good as UA, just different. A little bassier maybe (the real one’s output gain stage is almost overdrive like if you push it) - but it all seems to have that 3d depth that i look for in hardware. Check em out
Tbh im pretty much done with analog emulations unless it's TimP but even still it's only from more of a geeky modelling POV and not cause I want another analog box.
The thought of analog gear makes me yawn out loud now 🤣
How long ago was the recode?
@@chriscorral6365 No idea, just kind of going by some of the material on their website. And tbh im not even sure its “all” of their stuff- but I recall a few things i listened to previously from them (their LA2A for example) and not being really moved one way or another. They have a Mk2 of that unit now- and a few others that are new since then; I think they did away with some of the earlier shit too. I havent been following them for a long time…perhaps a “shift” in products would be more accurate than “recode”
@@PaulThird I totally get it. Need some new stuff to tide me over until Tim decides to make a new Library lol
Saturn, Spectre, SSL Native Saturator, P42 Climax. The aliasing on Decapitator always turned me off but it's been a while since I checked it.
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The GUI is very beautiful. This seems to be a very good saturation plugin.
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Your little chuckle laugh😂
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I don't think I will be buying the plugin but this was a really good review Paul! I certainly know everything I would possibly want to know before I would buy it now if I were considering it. Was not a fan of what it did on the bass, just being honest. It was just a bit to much for my taste but then again you are doing a demo lol. The point is to HEAR the plugin.
That's my approach to a sponsored video. Just test the shit out of it haha Does kill the soul a little making a video that you didn't intend on making otherwise but it's these videos that act as investment into furthering the channel and my career. I've got a tax bill and an accountant to pay for now and I don't know how much both are gonna be 😅
@@PaulThird 😂 Believe me, I get it. I don't think anyone is going to hate on you for doing sponsored ads. I think we all know you well enough by now that we can be confident you are going to be completely honest. If not, Steve will! 😂
Steve's waiting for Harrison to scape goat him still 🤣
@@PaulThird 😂🤣 Ohh boy, it may be awhile. Especially after the mess they created with Worall! hahahaha!!!!
Hi Paul, what is your personal favorite saturation plugin? I´m still searching for a great sounding saturation plugin. At the moment Klanghelm SDRR 2 is used a lot in my mixes but I feel it´s lacking used with mastering. Don´t say FB Saturn 2 *haha*
I've went off saturation plugins now being honest but genuinely I do quite like this one. I like hg2 ms, and used big AL when I had it. Spice rack is basically a more modern decapitator
There's a saturation knob on the Echoboy delay plugin. I like it very much. You should try it.
Do you think this will sound good as a preamp emulation for vocals on the tube setting? Ive currently been using the nsl from waves and wanted something that sounded better. Love your content and thanks for the help.
This is really nice Paul, thanks but I’m still on Saturn 2 which is a huge monster in terms of tweaks and versatility , any way you know. Greetings and have a nice weekend.
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Nice. I've been sleeping on this one. It's free with a PureMix subscription.
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No you have not. There was nothing to sleep on. It literally just came out
Paul I have a question for you. Recently I have started to mastering songs and I manage to get a couple of happy clients that where satisfied with my results. I master 100% in the box and one person contacted me and said that people like me destroys the quality in the industry by mastering in the box. Its hardware or nothing in thats persons opinion. Whats your take on this Paul?
You shouldn't even need to ask haha tons of massive hits are mastered in the box. My mastering engineer sent me clips of dua lipa being mastered with like 2 or 3 plugins. Think it was proq3 and stealth limiter if I recall.
Here's the thing with mastering analog. You run the risk of stereo imbalance due to analog tolerances and its not your job to be adding colour and altering the phase relationship of a mix by sending the signal through 3 or 4 pieces of gear.
The truth is behind the scenes. Analog gear is mostly kept to attract clients. It's to look good. They don't want you or anybody else to find out.
Mastering is all about the ear. NEVER the gear.
Theres an idiot on YT telling guys that you should own like 100k worth of gear for mastering cause.. "you'll never beat the analog guy charging the same price"
One of my mentors mixes and masters itb and gets millions of streams every year. He sent me a "mix off" he had with another big engineer who was fully itb. Producer didnt like the mud and lack of clarity which the analog guy called "warmth" and "the vibe" of mixing analog.
My mentors itb smashed him and that producer never used that analog mixer again due to the sheer arrogance he had.
You have to remember that many guys invest tens of thousands in gear and you come along and get the same or subjectively better results at a fraction of the investment.
THAT'S where the issue lies. Do you see mastering engineers adding tons of gear to serban mixes.. Nope, cause they are already heavy limited and sound like a record before the mastering engineer downloads the folder.
If you were actually destroying the quality of the industry these guys wouldnt be bothering to take the time to contact you, they would just show clients how shit your masters are and compare them to their own.. But they aren't doing that.. Cause they have a bit of a sore arse after wasting money on gear and depending on it to produce "industry ready" masters
Keep your head down and ensure your clients are happy.. They are the ONLY people you care about right now
@@PaulThird Thank you Paul for a perfectly answer :-) Your answer is just what I thought in my head, since I have never mastered with analog gear I can´t compare in real life, but your answer really hit the last nail in the coffin *haha*. I never bothered answering back to the person you thinks that analog gear is the "only" way to master a song and that it´s an enormous difference in quality. As long as it´s sounds good in my ears and that my clients are happy then i´m happy and confident that i´m doing something right in the music community. Thank again Paul for your answer :-)
My go 2 has been softube Harmonics
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Same here I tried them all and softube does the job nicely.
Gordito, how is the CPU?
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Man, try Heavyocity Fury. I just found it. Amazing saturation stuff.
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I just use Saturn 2... Sounds great.
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Interesting! I'm not really into the GUI but can definitely see others into it.
Personally, I love the simplicity of kHs Distortion, Metric Halo Character, and SoftTube tape for the master is pretty nice as well.
Thanks for the video!
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Paul, wheres the Lambo?
Still in the shop haha
Audio Assault XCTR is 10 bucks at the moment, it's pretty good actually
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i think the nembrini psa1000 is not talked about a lot
What is that.. Sansamp?
@@PaulThird yeah, not 1to1 emulation but they managed the capture the essence imo. really interesting curves, i just throw the default setting on any guitar, better check out yourself, all the best!
VSM remains the saturation king
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There’s damn near “enough” of every type of plug-in. I’m not sure why this kind of statement keeps being a thing. We all have preferences, we all have specific things that we like about one over the other, even if they’re both serving the same function.
It's a youtube thing
Please do a video on fat channel plugins.. They need to get exposed in the name of analog emulations🤦♂️
Compression wise they are pretty bang on though. Not from a harmonic standpoint it looks like as there is hardly any high order harmonics but the compression behaviour is very well modelled if you compare it to others. Cl1b for example has the inverse release in manual mode which even acustica doesnt have. I'm using the fat channel quite a lot cause I like the fact that that the compression behaviour is the most important thing and not the exact colour. Awesome for tracking as well as I never have to worry about aliasing and adding too much colour when recording
@@PaulThird cubase has 2 Analog modeled compressors and they both add harmonics to the signal that's why i just felt jealous 🫠
@@PaulThird Absolutely Right but imagine Waves or any other company making Analog modeled compressors or Eq without any harmonics
They do make harmonics though. I've ran sweeps. Cl1b for example makes harmonics in fixed but hardly any in manual cause of the inverse release, just like the hardware. 1176 makes transformer based harmonics as well. Not to the overall scale of say arturia or UAD but the low order harmonic stuff is there
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Remember to check out my autism channel if you want to learn more about my life 🤓🤓
Decapitator aliasing makes everything sound smaller and more digital. I get that people are used to it now....And 192kz isn't enough to fully rescue it.
That's why i prefer to use saturators with oversampling. Give me the option
Saturn 2 or Spectre is a better comparison than Decapitator.
I don't have either haha
huh, guess this is kinda like a follow up to your video about the state of audio engineering on youtube. Like they paid you! i feel like this should be the norm and not the outlier.
It's how I've been doing it for quite a while now. Unless I'm personally interested in the product, you'll pay me to test it and share it with my audience. Only fair.
Give process audio their due. Paid me what I asked both times and I still use decibel to this day.
I only get sporadic paid offers though which I actually think works better for me and my channel as I prefer to mostly focus on content that I'm experimenting with at that time and the odd paid video keeps the financial side worthwhile, pays for tax, accountants and further investment in my career
Tone Projects Kelvin simple and work well very low aliasing not heavy on CPU, and can select different type of distortion, with good description of each to go fast. But dam the track it's not easy to hear it on it exept when it's to much, the pic of guitar around 1k 2K might be more important to fix than add saturator.
Lot of big hit was done with decapitator (don't get it) but if you use it on bass like most time i see it for add hamonic the bass miss no aliasing issue.
measure are good but there is much more to do in a mix than tracking aliasing 70db under the fundamental
Tbh I hardly use that much saturation anymore but if I do then im always hardly ever adding aliasing.
Saturation is few and far between in my mixes now. Only if I feel it can benefit a source in the mix. Never something I automatically go to now
top quality video. It's a bit expensive plugin though.
Think that's gonna be a "wait till its on sale" plugin haha
Whats the reason for the rip off price for a bloody saturation plugin? The coding is no rocket science!
Maybe a "grab it when it's on sale" plugin but tbh.. Decapitator is £160 on plugin boutique right now haha
@@PaulThird are they crazy? I think I paid 50 Dollars for the entire Soundtoys plugin suite.
I know. Soundtoys is that old I was using a cracked version when I was 19.. And I'm 32 now 🤣
@@PaulThird you P.Y.T.!
@@100states6 No, you didn't. Absolutely wild underestimation there.
What? So all the multi award winning engineers mixing the biggest songs / artists in the world on MWTM using Decapitator and making it sound phenomenal are wrong? Well I guess I’ll just take your word for it then. 😂😂😂
I never said that 🤷♂️ I said as a saturation suite I believe spicerack is better than decapitator. And gave a lot of justification as to why. I make my own opinions based on my own tests, not what such and such used on a certain record.
BUT if that's what you wanna do then that's up to you
Nice. $150 in todays market though..... Mmmh. Dunno 'bout that. Serious plugin fatique...
Thickens, like starch.
First
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I love decapitator so anything like it i’ll probably dig it.
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it looks great, it sounds great, 150$?.c'mon guys, We all know that the shortest way to a million dollars is the $29 way, just saying
Decapitator is £160 on plugin boutique at the moment haha 😅
They always put everything on sale for $89. Also the king of all metering apps is what they are famous for. Decibel.