Aural Exciters & Hiss???

[reel buzzer]

I'm thinking about getting one.
I see reviews from people who use it with digital recorders, but nobody from tape days.
Does this help mixdown from tape to digital?
Any particular model you know about?
I need to improve the lows in the mix.

Thanks ...

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Those units you speak of, the Aphex Aural Exciters were designed to clarify the mids and highs and didn't put a lot of attention on bass management. The units from BBE also addressed similar frequency ranges to the Aphex stuff only I think the BBE did a nicer job IMHO. I use the BBE 2002 model myself, on my stereo mastering buss on my mixer when I mix-down from my TASCAM MS16 - 16 track, 1 inch recorder.

For specific bass management, you might want to look at an older product from Audio Control called the Richter Scale or the dbx 120X DS which were both analog bass management specialty pieces from the golden era of analog.

As for addressing hiss on a single ended unit, I believe dbx also made a piece to address that issue but the model number of it escapes my memory right now. Good quality noise gates might be considered too.

Cheers!

 

[reel buzzer]

What about the Aphex 204, it says it has a "big bottom" knob?

And the hiss in the subject line, just wondering if your exciter added any to the mix.

I don't really hear any hiss now because the material is loud. (rock music)

 

[reel buzzer]

Hey thanks Ghost.

That Richter Scale looks cool, saw one on ebay.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

And the hiss in the subject line, just wondering if your exciter added any to the mix.

I don't really hear any hiss now because the material is loud. (rock music)

The S:N ratio on my BBE unit is around 90db so, no; it doesn't add any audible self noise. It just focuses the sound so everything is much clearer without the normal ear fatigue that many experience from the Aphex stuff which makes everything too bright sounding.

As for the bass management on the BBE, there is a low frequency contour circuit but it's just basically giving a 3db boost @ 50Hz...I suspect the one on the Aphex is a similar design?

Cheers!

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Hey thanks Ghost.

That Richter Scale looks cool, saw one on ebay.

They were real popular back in the days of vinyl LPs because of the bass roll off that records had in order to be pressed properly. The dbx 120X sub-harmonic synthesizer also was big with the DJ's because of how it added a lower octave of bass below 50 Hz that was filtered out of most records back then.

What specific bass issues are you having that are getting you to seek out this kind of gear?

Cheers!

 

[reel buzzer]

Thanks.

Wasn't really an issue, just thought some improvement could be made.

Seems the kick drum sounds on the radio these days has less pop/click and more compressed umph. And I get close to it using the EQ on the channel strip, but not quite there yet.

 

[arjoll]

What about the Aphex 204, it says it has a "big bottom" knob?

The Aphex exciters with Big Bottom do have bass management - there were different versions, some with and some without. I'm sure there was something in the 100 series with Big Bottom as well.

I haven't used the Aphex exciters at all on their own, but some of the same concepts are employed in the 2020 broadcast processor which I have tuned for Life fm here. Note that I've only used it as a broadcast processor, but Aphex have marketed it as a mastering tool as well. We've got the mk I upgraded to mk II, and the bottom end can sound really fat, but not over the top.

 

[gtrbass]

I have the BBE 442 and Aphex 204, as well as the BBE Direct X plug in. I've used them for various purposes, and I have used all of them at one time or another for mxing/mastering.

The BBE stuff is great, and so is the 204. They each have a slighly different sound. To my ears, the Aphex 204 handles bass mgmt better than the older BBE. Sonically, it reminds me of the aural exciter features in the TC Finalizer. The BBE's seem to have a smoother top end. That doesn't mean the Aphex has an unpleasant top end. Unlike the BBE's, it is tunable for both the bass mgmt and mid/hi frequency range you wish to center the processing on. The 204 seems to be a more flexible processor, which means you can easily muck up your audio if you have less than stellar judgement.

One place where they have a purpose is to balance the presence of say a guitar track against a lot of digital synth or sampler tracks in a mix. If you use one on individual tracks, be careful using it on a mix or master, becasue it will be double processing the signal.

No matter which type you use, remember that less is more. Overdoing it with an aural exciter creates mix which is hyped in the bottom end and top end. It will sound unnatural and 'artificial'.