TECHNOLOGY FOCUS AUDIO PLUG-INS
Expert Witness S
oftware manufacturers of DAWs these days seem to be vying with each other as to how many sound-shaping tools they provide. Nuendo, Pro Tools, and Logic are all stuffed full of creative toys to keep you happy, surely you don’t need any more third-party plug-ins, right? Perhaps, but plug-ins offer more than just a funky new skin for an EQ; they offer different ways to shape it, distort it, or even just monitor it. Having the choice of a third-party
EQ, or two, can really help your creativity and other types of plug-ins could potentially save your mix in a tricky situation. If you need to move from one DAW platform to another, having your own set of plug-ins that can move with you is very important. Some plug-ins are free and fun while others represent a serious financial investment. Many seek to emulate old and classic outboard hardware while others invent entirely new devices. Let’s start by looking at what EQ options are available. You’ll find many variations on a theme of classic hardware as well as completely new designs. Most free EQ plug-ins tend to be limited in their scope or development and so may not find a permanent home in your toolbox, but a small outlay will get you the versatile and good looking MDynamicEQ which incorporates dynamics processing. Tis side-chain effect is usually seen on compressors, but why not have it as part of your EQ for added versatility? You also get visual feedback in the form of a sonogram, which can be a real help in understanding how your sound is being affected by the changes you make. Taking a more traditional approach to EQ with a plug-in based on the hardware unit found in Sony Oxford large-format consoles; the Sonnox Oxford EQ presents itself as a precision tool. With a simple, clean layout, this EQ is easy to use and you should find the result you want pretty quickly. Recreating a classic sound of the past is the role fulfilled by the Waves
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PuigTec EQP-1A & MEP-5 – copies of the highly regarded Pultec units of the same name. With simple controls and a very musical sound you’ll quickly be able to dial-in an effect you like.
Reverb
It can be easy to under-estimate reverb as just something to take the dryness away from your recordings, but the appropriate application of it can really enhance things. Perhaps you feel like placing the vocalist in the middle of Notre Dame cathedral? Or maybe recreating a more intimate room setting for your drama without building several false walls around the talent? A convolution reverb plug-in is what you need for this. It recreates the environment of your choice by sampling the reverb from the actual building itself and applying it to your mix.
“It’s a given that at some point your DAW of choice will comprehensively change its core software and your favourite plug-ins will become redundant overnight.” Matthew Holley
AltiVerb is from the originators of this tool, AudioEase. It offers a wide range of sampled spaces to play with as well as the ability to make your own. Something really useful for post production is the function to take the sound of the clapper-board to recreate room ambience. When going back to the original location is no longer an option, this could be a potential scene saver for any over-dubs that may be required. If you’re searching for a more
electronic sound then there’s a huge range of choice. ToneBoosters offers its versatile TB reverb plug-in, which includes another six useful studio plug-ins – one of this year’s plug-in bargains. Any self-respecting studio in the 80s would have had a Lexicon 224
Matthew Holley talks through a few of the dizzying amount of plug-ins available.
reverb unit as part of their tool set – the ubiquitous white control box proudly on display at the centre of the desk. With the RC-24 reverb, Native Instruments has recreated this popular effects box, right down to the 12-bit sampling converter. Tere’s also the RC-48, which recreates the more sophisticated Lexicon 480L.
Loudness Monitoring
Plug-ins are not just for the fun stuff either. With the widespread acceptance of the EBU R128 protocol for mix loudness a demand for improved audio level monitoring has developed. Tere are cheap versions to expensive ones so pick what suits your needs/budget/abilities. First up is the Klangfreund LUFS
meter. Still in beta, but also free, this basic meter gives you an easy-to-read overview of programme loudness, as well as a peak display. It won’t give you a live readout of your programme peak levels, so you’ll have to play it all through first in real time. TC Electronic’s LM6 is a plug- in based on its own hardware. Tis displays the loudness history in the form of a radar sweep, adjustable from between a minute and 24 hours, making it suitable for a range of programme material. A more traditional momentary peak display wraps around the radar view along with numerical readouts, making for a busy but compact display. Nugen Audio has a range of loudness plug-ins forming a Loudness Solution suite. Comprising four separately available tools, this suite not only gives a comprehensive monitoring overview of your audio but corrects it as well.
Cross Platform
I’ve ensured that the plug-ins mentioned here are cross-platform, working on both Macs and PCs in VST, AU, and RTAS formats. It’s worth bearing in mind that some of
Matthew Holley Credit: Holly Tighe
the more esoteric choices you may find are often single platform. Don’t forget the format you choose may have a bigger impact on your set-up than you may wish. Many plug- in manufacturers include different formats as part of the cost but it pays to check your long-term plans. It’s a given that at some point your DAW of choice will comprehensively change its core software and your favourite plug-ins will become redundant overnight. Avid’s adoption of a new format, AAX, to ultimately replace its aging TDM and RTAS plug-ins is a case in point. While the shift to a more-future proof format can be seen as a wise move, the resulting cost implications of new hardware and software meant that many users went looking for DAWs that used a more universal (and cheaper) plug-in format.
Expert witness
With nearly 25 years of experience in BBC Radio and freelancing, Matthew Holley is currently based at the Open University as an audio producer.
www.audiomedia.com
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