adding warmth and clarity etc to music

[ritaheed]

prob been done a million times on here but what do you's guys recommend for making your productions sound sweeter, cleaner, more depth etc

The only thing I use is bbe sound maximiser which gives bass sounds more depth

Apart from EQ, compression, reverb etc what do yous guys use to get a nice warm sound?

[BloodStar]

appart eq, compressor, reverb which are the most importnat tools. you can add some soundshaping fx. modulation plugins are excellent for creating spacey spatial FXing. you're probably looking for some sort of saturation tool. tape saturation, tube saturation/overdrive. depends on the context and if you want mild or brutal kind of saturation.

you can try Ferric from infamous developer Bootsy or any kind of "warmifier". most important, be careful to not overdo. some people use white noise sampled from analog machines and mix it in to original sound, when used subtly sounds become more organic.

for normal saturation, you cant go wrong with IK Amplitube, plugins from D16, Antares Tube, etc. go search KVR, you will find plenty.

for brutal saturation you can try any bit crushing plugin or twist above mentioned to extreme settings.

[ritaheed]

kool man cheers

any "special" gems out there for what im looking for?

[Jay Pace]

tape mastering does lovely things to sound.

Mainly I'd just do the tightest mix you can, then leave the final polish to people with big brains, clever ears and high-end gear. They'll polish up your sound in ways you could never hope to.

[DannyBlack]

What I like to do to add a little bit of something extra and a lot of warmth is route my drum machine through a synth and then the channel through a vocoder. Really adds something else. Only a touch of it mind.

Other than that I use FL's Maximus, Audio Damage Eos (reverb), TAL- Chorus etc.

What I like to do when I am adding my depth is listen to it on headphones first of all. It gives me that close up in your head impression of each sound. Then from there I use monitors.

Hope this helps mate?

[rhythmtech]

unfortunatly in the realms of software theres not a whole lot you can do. the problem is that when working on a real desk each channel will add non-linearities and move the phase slightly.

the closest thing we have in the software world at the moment is nebula which employs an advanced version of dynamic impulse responses. the virtual console libraries are quite good and add a little depth and clarity that no static plugin can.

although by all accounts this is about to change with the steven slate virtual console plugin which differs slightly with each additional plugin which you add to the session.

to be honest, without spending silly money on a big old analog desk, the best thing you can do is invest in a small quality desk and send your mix groups out thru it and record back into your DAW.

[ritaheed]

unfortunatly in the realms of software theres not a whole lot you can do. the problem is that when working on a real desk each channel will add non-linearities and move the phase slightly.

the closest thing we have in the software world at the moment is nebula which employs an advanced version of dynamic impulse responses. the virtual console libraries are quite good and add a little depth and clarity that no static plugin can.

although by all accounts this is about to change with the steven slate virtual console plugin which differs slightly with each additional plugin which you add to the session.

to be honest, without spending silly money on a big old analog desk, the best thing you can do is invest in a small quality desk and send your mix groups out thru it and record back into your DAW.

yeah a know what you mean with using a big analogue desk - i use this in college and it brings an extra something to my mix

Toft ATB24 (http://toftaudio.com/atb24a.html)

but the problem is that ive not got this in the house, gotta use what i can get

[ritaheed]

that steven slates gear looks and sounds the bomb

maybe just what im looking for

News - NAMM 2010: Steven Slate FG X and Virtual Console Collection (http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=12505)