New Music Gear Monday: IZotope's Free Vinyl Plugin

Did you ever want to get that old vinyl record sound on a recording? It's pretty hard to do manually, since you have to simulate everything from scratchiness to electrical noise to record warping. There is a plugin that will do all of that for you and more, and and the best part is that it's free!

I'm talking about iZotope's excellent Vinyl plugin - the ultimate lo-fi weapon. The plugin will return your tracks to a previous era quickly and with ease, and once again, it's free!

Vinyl provides controls to inject mechanical noise, record wear, electrical noise, dust, scratch, and warp, as well as simulating the era of the recording (1930, '50, '70, '80 and 2000) and the speed of the record (33, 45 and 78 RPM). There's even a unique Spin Down feature that simulates the sound of slowly stopping a record, as well as a stereo to mono switch.

A few years ago I was mixing a song that was a newer version of 1940's blues song, when the artist asked me to "make it more realistic." Vinyl was inserted into the stereo buss, and before you knew it, you'd swear we were back there listening on an old record player.

To get Vinyl, go to iZotope's website. Did I say that it's FREE.

Here's a Soundcloud example of Vinyl getting that old radio sound.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

New Music Gear Monday: Sound Radix Drum Leveler

Digital technology has revolutionized limiters, enabling "look-ahead" algorithms to spot transients in the signal before they cause an overload. Now that same technology is being put to use with Sound Radix's totally unique Drum Leveler software.

Drum Leveler does a lot of very cool things very easily. For instance, if you work with drum loops, it will allow you to change the level of a drum hit within the loop. That means that if the snare of the loop is too loud or quiet, Drum Leveler allows you to look inside the loop and bring the snare level up or down.

Another thing that Drum Leveler does well is adjust the level of an individual track without having to use a compressor. That means that you can keep the level of a snare or hat consistent or even exactly the same, or change the volume envelope if you choose. While you're at it, you can also decrease or increase the leakage of a drum track, something that no other plugin can do as easily.

Drum Leveler also works with other instruments, especially when connected via the sidechain, as it provides much more control over dynamics and syncing than most gates.

Sound Radix Drum Leveler is priced at $149 and is available for all computer and plugin platforms.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

New Music Gear Monday: Sonnox Evolution Envelope Shaper

One parameter than many engineers overlook is the envelope of the sound they're processing. Sure, you can change it with a compressor, but sometimes you need more control than a typical analog-style processor can give you, and that's where an envelope shaper comes in.

Sonnox has taken this concept to another level with its new Oxford Evolution frequency dependent envelope shaper plugin, which has separate transient and sustain sections that allow you to radically re-shape the envelope of the sounds you're working on.

Evolution is great for adding extra snap for drums or percussion, boosting sustain to keyboards and guitars, for smoothly controlling leakage in a track. It comes with a attack, release and hold controls for both the transients and sustain, as well as a master control for each, and the ability to alter the main frequency band that it's operating in. A DIFF button (similar to a Listen control on a gate) allows you to hear only the effect, and a Warmth control adds harmonic saturation.

The Sonnox Oxford Evolution plugin is available for AAX, Audio Units and VST formats and costs $270 USD. There's a 15 day free trial period available. Here's a video that lets you hear how it works on various program sources.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

New Music Gear Monday: McDSP SA-2 Dialog Processor Plugin

Anyone that works on dialog (or vocals) knows that sometimes it's tough to make it cut through a mix. Add enough compression and EQ and it becomes sibilant, which a de-esser can control but sometimes at the expense of intelligibility. Now the new McDSP SA-2 Dialog Processor plugin gives you more control over that dialog than ever before to keep the dialog sounding natural.

The SA-2 Dialog Processor is based on the hardware originally conceived by Academy Award-winning re-recording mixer Mike Minkler, who used it on over 100 major motion pictures.

The plugin features 5 bands of active equalization centered around strategic frequencies in the dialog or vocal area. Each band has a threshold control to determine at what signal level the active equalizer begins to effect the signal, as well as the ability to solo each band to quickly audition the effect.

The SA-2 also has two mode selectors. One is for controlling the ballistics of the active equalization, and the second is for placing the five bands at other locations in the frequency spectrum. Finally, there are input and output gain controls for overall adjustment.

The McDSP SA-2 Dialog Processor plugin is available in AAX, AU and VST formats, and sells for $149 for native and $249 for HD. There's also a 14 day trial version. Find out more here, or check out the video below.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

New Music Gear Monday: Accusonics ERA-D Noise And Reverb Remover

While everyone likes to think that their recordings are as clean as possible, sometimes we're faced with fixing one that's either noisy or has more reverb in it than we'd like. It can get expensive when it comes to specialized plugins to fix noise or reverb problems, and sometimes the learning curve is steep to get the results you want and need.

Enter the Accusonus ERA-D de-noise and de-reverberation plugin, an easy to use plugin that's effective and won't cost you an arm and a leg.

The ERA-D has two large controls to set the amount of de-noise and de-reverb, and also features 4 modes of operation - de-noise only, de-reverb only, cascade where the signal passes through the de-noise and then the de-reverb, and parallel where the signal passes through both at the same time.

Additional controls allow you to tweak the results including noise time constant, processing time constant and three types of selectable noise reduction. There are also separate reverb time constant controls for both low and high frequencies and an advanced artifact control.

One of its best features is a hi-res display that shows frequency, noise, reverb, and dry and processed signals. There are also 4 adjustable bands for adjustment of de-noise and de-reverb, which are all linkable.

The Accusonus ERA-D is available for Mac or Windows platforms and in AAX native, AU, VST2 and VST3 formats. It's available with a 14 day free trial for $299 at the plugin-alliance.com.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

New Music Gear Monday: PSP L'otary Leslie Simulator Plugin

I'm a B3 player from way back and I know the sound of a Leslie speaker intimately, so believe me when I say that the new PSP L'otary is the best Leslie simulator that I've come across. All PSP plugins are killer to begin with, but the company might have surpassed itself with this one.

L'otary is based on the sound and operation of the two most famous Leslies, the 122 and 147, and provides ultimate control over just about any parameter you can think of, making it extremely versatile. That said, the presets sound great and might be all that anyone ever needs.

What I especially liked is the handle that changes the sound from chorale (slow spin) to fast, which also allows the user to select any speed in between. That said, a push button underneath provides the traditional slow to fast switching.

There's also a visual look at both the horn and drum speed provided which helps to lock in the right speed for the song.

One of my favorite aspects of L'otary is the the different simulated mic positions, as well as the motor and wind noise when it's set to fast. Just like the real thing!

The PSP L'otary is a bargain at only $99 and is available in VST, AAX and RTAS formats for both Mac and Windows. Check it out for yourself with the video below.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

New Music Gear Monday: Exponential Audio Excalibur Modulation Plugin

If you're not already familiar with Exponential Audio plugins then you should be. The brainchild of former Lexicon chief engineer Michael Carnes, the first two products, the R2 and PhoenixVerb, give you that great Lex reverb sound at a very reasonable price.

Now Michael has come up with something completely different with his new Excalibur modulation plugin. It's a multi-effects unit with a modular synth-like architecture that allows you to  quickly and easily configure both traditional and non-traditional effects.

If you're not up to building your own effects chain, Excalibur comes with 500 presets of classic chorus, flanger, phase shifter, phasor, ring modulator, resonators, glide, distortion and reverb effects.

The plugin is built around a 4 voice engine (with 2 inputs per voice) that allows for millions of different combinations of the above effects.

The Exponential Audio Excalibur operates on Mac or Windows platforms and on most DAWs. It also works in just about any plugin format and is comfortable with sample rates up to 384kHz. Despite it's architecture, the plugin is super efficient in terms of processor power (as are all Exponential Audio plugins) and low latency. An iLok 2 is required.

The Exponential Audio Excalibur multi-effects plugin normally sells for $199 but there's an introductory price of just $119 that's good until April 10th. A free trial is also available.

---

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

New Music Gear Monday: Eventide UltraReverb

Eventide has a long history of digital signal processing, being the first company to bring a digital delay to market, then the Harmonizer series, then the beloved 2016 reverb still revered by many mixers. The company now provides plugins that emulate the sound of many of its vintage units, and recently introduced the latest in the line called UltraReverb.

UltraReverb is an integrated bundle of 9 reverbs plus a compressor, four parametric EQs and stereo delays. The reverb algorithms are derived from the H8000 Ultra-Harmonizer and include Ambience, Rooms, Plates, Halls, Chambers, and the unit also features a compressor with a key input that can be set to either pre or post reverb, as well as 4 three-band parametric EQs.

UltraReverb also has a couple of very cool features in that you can control both the modulation depth and rate of the reverb tails, and there's a LoFi control for bit reduction to help emulate that vintage sound that we still love.

The plugin is available in AU, VST, or AAX64 formats for both Mac and Windows, and features over 300 presets created by audio pros and artists. It's available on the Eventide site for $199 with a free trial period, or from your favorite audio retailer. Here's a video that describes the UltraReverb's features.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

New Music Gear Monday: Audiomere Polarity Maximizer

Having trouble figuring the best positions for the channel input phase selections on your DAW? We know to set it to where you get the most bottom end, but as a session loads up with tracks, the possible combinations become enormous, so it becomes impossible to try all the possible combinations. Now a company called Audiomere has introduced a plugin that will automatically find the correct phase switch positions for you with its Polarity Maximizer.

Polarity Maximizer consists of a master and send plugin (there's one for mono and a different one for stereo) for each of the channels. The send routes the audio from the various channels to the master, which analyzes the audio and then uses a special algorithm to set the correct polarity for each track.

Polarity Maximizer also features a gain control on the send plug, and an additional low-frequency mode to emphasize the low-end if needed. There's also a pre-post A/B selection so you can monitor the changes in the sound.

The Audiomere Polarity Maximizer can work on up to 64 channels and is available in AAX, RTAS, VST and AU formats. It's currently available at an introductory discount of $49, and there's a 14 day trial available. Check out the example below and go to the Audiomere site for more.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

New Music Gear Monday: DDMF The Strip Plugin

There are some people who are in love with any and all things Neve, but even if that doesn't describe you, you'll still enjoy this new plugin by DDMF called The Strip.

The Strip sure does look somewhat like a vintage Neve channel strip, but it doesn't exactly try to emulate one. Instead it just goes for the best series of processors that it can be, which includes high and low pass filters, a 5 band EQ, a gate and a compressor. Plus the order of the order of the EQ and compressor is interchangeable, a nice feature not often found in channel strip-type plugins.

The Strip boasts some very low CPU usage so you can slap one on every channel if you want without having to worry about running out of processor power. It's also available for Windows and Mac OSX, and in VST, RTAS, AU and AAX 32 and 64 bit formats.

Best of all, it's only $39 until the end of September, with a free demo version available. Check it out!

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

New Music Gear Monday: UAD Valley People Dyna-mite Plugin

There are already so many cool compressors and limiter plugins available that you'd think there was none left to either invent or emulate. You might change your mind after hearing the new Universal Audio/Softube emulation of the Valley People Dyna-mite limiter/gate though.

The Dyna-mite was an interesting hardware device released by the short lived Valley People Inc in the 80s, which was the brainchild of the great audio designer Paul Buff. It was perhaps the least expensive pro unit available at the time, mostly because it was supplied in a plastic box instead of a 19 inch rack mount. It did have a couple of very unique functions and sounds though, and Softube and Universal Audio have managed to emulate them all.

First of all, the limiter is about as kick-ass on percussion as you can get. If you want an aggressive sound that really smacks, this plugin can really give it to you. Most unusual is the fact that the plug (like the hardware device) also has a de-ess and gate/expander function, and like the limiter, they react differently than most of the other plugs that you're probably using.

If you want a plugin with some real character and you already have the UAD hardware to support it, make sure you try the Dyna-mite. It's $199, but I think it's worth every penny. Find out more on the UAD Dyna-mite site.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

New Music Gear Monday: Eventide Ultrachannel Channel Strip

Here's a cool plugin that you'll find useful for so many reasons. It's the Eventide Utrachannel channel strip that features a pair of dynamics processors that include an emulation of the famous Omnipressor, and a micropitch function from the Harmonizer. The plug also has a 5 band EQ, a gate, and a feature known as  FlexiPath, which allows routing of the different modules by just dragging and dropping.

I'm most excited about the micropitch function as that was the secret weapon used many engineers back in the hardware outboard gear days. If you have a uneven vocal, pitch one side up a 8 cents or so, and the other side down by the same amount, and suddenly it sounds more in tune. Great for widening background vocals, guitars, and anything else that requires a little extra magic.

Here's the best news though - Ultrachannel is free until July 8th, and then it goes back to its retail price of $249. Just go to the download page and use Access Code 07D96411. You must have an iLock account to be able to install the plug and take advantage of this free offer. The plug doesn't require you to use an iLok USB dongle, but you must use the iLok Manager for authorization. The plugin is 64 bit AAX, AU and VST compatible.

Don't pass this up, as it will be something that I guarantee you'll use on every mix.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

New Music Gear Monday: Free SoundToys Little PrimalTap

Original Lexicon Prime Time

I used to love to use the Lexicon Prime Time delay. It was one of the first digital delay units and had a few sonic qualities that we would think of as drawbacks today, but actually were part of it's sound (like its 12kHz bandwidth). It had a multiplier switch that would double the delay time, but would half the bandwidth, which made it very "warm" sounding by decreasing the frequency response. It also had a great VCO for some pretty cool modulation effects. All in all, a very versatile unit that was much used and loved at the time.

Now Soundtoys is offering a free mini version of the Prime Time called Little PrimalTap when you enter their contest, which is a social campaign to see how many of your friends you can get to enter. You need a redemption code and a Soundtoys account to download and authorize the plugin.

Ask your friends for the redemption code or link so they can get credit in the contest. The one with the most referrals gets "Plugged In For Life," while runners-up get Soundtoys bundles, so it's worth the entry.

By the way, one of the really cool Soundtoys products that I'm really looking forward to using is the Microshift, which provides the detuned sound of the original Eventide Harmonizer (a much used effect in the 80s and 90s). Check that one out too.

Here's a little video about the Little PrimalTap.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

New Music Gear Monday: UVX-10P Polyphone Synth Plugin

We all love the sound of those old vintage synths, but boy do we hate lugging them around and setting them up. Synth plugins today go a long way to recreating them, but not all of our favorites have been emulated. Now the sound of three of Roland's most beloved sythns, the JX-10, MKS-70 and JX-8P has been captured by the UVX-10P by UVI.

The UVX-10P was a 12 voice 24 oscillator synth that needed an external controller in order to be programmed. That controller is emulated by the plugin, which also features a library of 150 patches and wave samples so you can create you own programs. The UVX-10P is $99 and available in VST, AAU, AAX, and RTAS for both PC and Mac.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

New Music Gear Monday: SoundRadix SurferEQ Plugin

Here's an idea that could totally change the way we think about equalization. The SoundRadix SurferEQ plugin is different from other equalizers in that it tracks the pitch of an instrument or vocal and changes the EQ on the fly, staying relevant to the music or program. This is some revolutionary thinking about equalization that for the last 60 years remained fixed and static.

SurferEQ uses a real-time pitch detection engine that triggers a low pass, high pass, bell, shape or harmonic filter (that's a new one) to make sure that the EQ is working at the right frequency during the song. It's available for Mac or PC in RTAS, VST and AU, and retails for $199.

Check out the video below to see it in action.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

New Music Gear Monday: iZotope RX 3 Restoration Tool

For those of you working in post or on archival projects, the latest version of iZotopes's RX software seems like a dream come true. RX 3 has a newly designed user interface and up to 6 times faster processing that the previous RX 2. RX 3 Advanced now also comes with the new Dereverb and real-time Dialogue Denoiser modules.

Anyone who's ever struggled with audio recorded in an overly ambient room will appreciate Dereverb. This could actually be great for those recording in bad sounding rooms with low ceilings, which tend to mangle drums sounds.

RX 3 can be used as a stand-alone tool or as an RTAS or VST plugin, and it's also 64 bit AAX compatible with Pro Tools 11.

RX 3 is expected to be available in September, and although no price has been announced, RX 2 listed for $349 and RX 2 Advanced for $1200. Upgrade pricing will also available. Here's a very short teaser video that explains it.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.