Syntrillium Backup Forums :: View topic

SJM · Posted - Thu Aug 30, 2001 8:32 am

Greetings,
I'd like to here reviews from anyone (or everyone) using Sonic Maximizer. Stuff like: ~ When, in your recording process, do you use it? (i.e. editing individual tracks, mastering, etc.)
~ What settings work best for you?
~ Your overall rating?
~ Was it worth the $$$
Thanks, SJM

Syntrillium M.D. · Location: USA

You might want to email Turboman (who just posted a thread about this)...He seems to really like it!

--Syntrillium, M.D.

daz · Posted - Tue Sep 11, 2001 12:42 am

I have recently bought 3 'mastering' software packages:
1 BBE sonic maximizer
2 T-racks 24
3 Ozone
BBE is the most limited in functionality but I do find it useful on certain tracks like distorted guitars. I do intend to use it as a mastering effect now I have T-racks and Ozone. BBE adds a certain kind of 'professional' smoothness and space, but the danger is losing the sound's focus if using other plugins and filters too.
I also had to turn down the volume on all my tracks by 50% (and turn up the master by 100%) to prevent BBE from clipping sometimes.

daz · Posted - Tue Sep 11, 2001 12:44 am

correction - I do NOT intend to use BBE as a mastering effect.

iZotope · Posted - Fri Sep 28, 2001 9:50 am

Regardless of what you use we put together this guide that might be helpful to people working with mastering effects. Of course it references Ozone, but the same principles and settings apply no matter what hardware or software you use.

http://www.izotope.com/products/ozone/ozoneguide.html

Cheers,
Justin
iZotope, Inc.

VoodooRadio · Location: USA

Santa let me open (1) present early today.... She said I had been good! She got me the BBE Sonic Maximizer plug-in. I loaded it up, but only had a few minutes to play around before leaving for work. At first glance, I'm not real sure that I like it much. I have used the rack units for years so I'm sure the same principle of "a little dab'l do ya" applies. I will get some time for it in a couple of days (hopefully). Good Luck Voodoo

I'm pretty sure that she also got me the Anteras Mic Modeler software and possibly Izotope Ozone.... She had already got T-racks, but let me open it last week! I LOVE SANTA

sk · Location: USA

Well, yeah, I can see why you love santa. what I'm not clear on is what exactly you love about T-Racks.

sk

WOAH...Self-editing!!!

I just found the T-Racks Presets!!!!!!!!

Way to go, Santa!!!

(Not the world's most intuitive program, but the presets help a LOT, especially Vintage Master 1!!!)

One more question, though. I've run into this with some other programs, especially from Magix (and even Steinberg too), with interfaces that choose to use 'pseudo knobs' - they never seem to work in a way that makes logical sense to me (i.e. grab hold of the knob with the cursor arrow and direct it clockwise or counterclockwise to position it where you want. They only seem to respond to a disjointed 'up/down' movement of the cursor arrow, with up increasing and down decreasing the value of that particular knob. It's like you have to first hover or click over the knob and then it responds to only up and down. Is that 'standard', meaning, is that how they're supposed to work? If so, I owe Magix an apology, because I always thought that for the knobs to repsond that way indicated a big time design flaw. If that's how they're supposed to work, then it was definitely my bad.

sk

And one last thought/observation:

It dawned on me, as I was a/b switching back and forth between a Stevie Nicks song I've been working on for about a month now, and the song as it sounded after clicking 'one button' (Vintage Master 1, to be specific), that the whole discussion earlier about 'laziness' and 'expecting sonic/digital miracles' is, for me, more than a little bit misleading. Whether or not everyone else (or anyone else, for that matter) likes T-Racks, the reality is that a LOT of research went into this product. More research than I would ever be able - or care - to do. I could sit there with this product from now until the end of time and probably never 'happen', just by listening, upon the exact combination of adjustments that are built into that particular preset. (or any of the other ones, for that matter; I just happen to prefer Vintage Master 1). What T-Racks has, in essence, provided me with, is exactly that type of "Instant Fix/One Button Solution/Digital Magic" remedy. And again, this is obviously an extremely subjective matter; what sounds terrific to my ears might sound like cr*p to someone else. But that's part of the point as well. I'm the one who has been listening to this particular song very intently over the past month. It started out as a 128 kb mp3 download. I've checked all the local stores and honestly cannot find it on any of her CD's. If it were available, I'd buy it. And when I do find it, I will buy it. But for the time being, this is the only source I have available. And it's needed a boat load of work/help, especially after the 3:33 mark. From that point on it was almost nothing but 2 minutes of clipping/breakup/harsh/very unpleasant sounds. Up until I processed it with that T-Racks preset, I believed I had nursed it to the point where it sounded pretty good, all things considered. After fiddling around with some of the available T-Racks presets I chose Vintage Master 1 because from what I could tell from the preset previewing process, it seemed to just sound a little bit better; but I was curious to be able to compare that transform with the one I'd just finished last night using the Waves Ultra-1. (I know - you're not even supposed to re-process anything with T-Racks after it's undergone any other type of IDR processing, but I didn't have the pre-IDR wav any more, so I just did it anyway with the one I had.) In that sense, the 'test' was both completely objective and completely subjective as well. (Meaning, I didn't even know what to expect, so my mind was open to any real differences I was able to hear.) And I'm here to tell ya, that after listening to about 30 seconds of the song processed with T-Racks, and then switching back to the pre-T song, it was like: "WOAH!! I didn't realize it was THAT harsh before! And where did all that nice bass undertone go? Man, this sounds like shi* compared to the T-Racks version!!!" It certainly makes me wonder about perception in general. I mean, I knew the song needed some help before running it through T-Racks; but I certainly would NOT have said it sounded like shi*, that's for sure. But it sure DID sound like shi* after doing the comparison. And the simple fact remains, that this result was made possible all with the push of one button. Now, in fairness, to put it in perspective, a lot of the NOT one-button-pushing work had already been done to the file prior to running T-Racks. (And T-Racks' documentation clearly stresses DOING all the 'pre' work BEFORE using T-Racks). If I had just taken the original mp3, opened it up as a wav, and run that through Vintage Master 1, it would NOT have sounded the same. But as far as the final mastering step is concerned, it really WAS a 'one button/magic' process. And my feeling about that is: "Tough"! I didn't get into this 'hobby' to become an audio engineer. I got into it to be able to get the exact type of results I just got. And so it seems to me that there has to be a bit more tolerance for those of us who are serious hobbyists, not professionals, in the audio editing arena. Just my 2 cents worth.

Edited by - sk on 12/25/2001 11:59:22 AM

VoodooRadio · Location: USA

SK... there's an old saying "great minds think alike". When I first loaded T-rackS, I started to audition all the presets. I ultimately ended up at the Vintage MAster I preset. I pulled up several files and ran them through "the" setting and was quite amazed at the results. Like yourself, I'm not sure I like the way you use the mouse to make knob adjustments. It does seem kinda awkward, but I'm sure that I can get acclimated to it. A thought to ponder.... you said the Stevie Nicks file was an MP3 download and you have put quite a bit of processing into it to get it where you can accept it.... well, do you think that had you started off with a better sounding file, you would have opted for the "vintage master I" preset? I have already made a mental inventory of files on hand, that I rest assured will benefit from a dose of T-rackS. Good Luck VOODOO

sk · Location: USA

Thanks for your reply, V.
It's hard to say which one I would have chosen had the file not needed so much work. Because some of the parts that sounded so much better were even in the first part of the song (in the first 3:33, where there wasn't really any audible damage). What surprised me so much was how much more 'digital' it all sounded in the version before T-R. I think for the very first time I was able to 'quantify' (i.e. Point to THIS song) and say: "Ah...this is what people mean when they say digital music has a tendency to sound harsh, unnatural, less musical, colder, less 'warm', etc". I'd say I noticed the difference after about three a/b switches. It wasn't so obvious at first. And it definitely was not obvious while I was listening to the audition of the transform. At that stage I just noticed that I liked the sound of the transform. But when comparing a/b, it just became crystal clear that there was just no comparison. I found it much less fatiguing to listen to the one that had been T-R'd. I found myself being moved more by the music, as opposed to 'listening to how it sounded', if that makes sense. The song seemed to be over quicker when I listened to the T-R version. Obviously, it was exactly as long, but since I was feeling it more, and there were clearly less audible distractions, it was like being on an amusement park ride, in a sense. That feeling of: "Aw, is it over already?" kind of thing. What's so freakin funny is that just last night I was so jazzed at how much of an improvement the Waves Ultra1 had made. (For future reference, I have to remember to turn off the IDR in the Ultra since I think I'm going to be using the T-R a lot.) The one thing that surprised me with the T-R was that when I clicked 'Process', it essentially played the entire song, and that's exactly how long it took to process it. That just struck me as 'odd'. Maybe I need to go back and read the directions. lol.
(And I hope you gave your Santa something nice too, since she was so on target with your gifts. I hope you didn't give her something like a chain saw or a new lawn mower. lol.)

sk

sk · Location: USA

VoodooRadio · Location: USA

Alright...... Here is the final tally on my Christmas haul. I got T-racks a week earlier, cause Santa (wife) was too excited. I got the BBE Sonic Maximizer and Antares Mic Modeler. I haven't gotten much time into them, but they will do some major cool things. I did run some vocal tracks through Antares that were recorded with a Rode NT1. I used a Neumann setting for the output. Now, I have never had the benefit of using a Neumann, so I can't really give a comparison. However, the results were head and shoulders above the original track (NT1). Good Luck VOODOO

sk · Location: USA

All well and good, V.
But what did you get for Santa?

sk

:)