When will the mastering gurus be all plugin based.

pingu

pingu

New member
Is it a long time before we can see the top mastering engineers using only plugins.
 
Not until the last UA and Pultec has become a pile of rust, and digital modeling of an analog world reaches a level of resolution at least a magnitude greater than what it is now.

Give it 15-20 years. :)

G.
 
There are several plug EQ's that I can't get enough of. Most of which are UAD's EQ's (the PEQ and Pultec are quite impressive).

Dynamics on the other hand...
 
The Pultec plugin is really good, but it's still missing a good 20% of the sound of something like the Massive Passive.

15 years ago, a rare few of us knew about BBS forums and 32 megs of RAM was unheard of. I'm sure plugins will get twice as good every couple years and we'll laugh and what passed as "professional" today.

The mixes I've been doing lately haven't been using many plugs at all. I'm finding that less actually is more as most plugins eat away at the depth of the track too much. The UAD plugs are alright for the most part though.
 
Massive Master said:
There are several plug EQ's that I can't get enough of. Most of which are UAD's EQ's (the PEQ and Pultec are quite impressive).

Dynamics on the other hand...
Click to expand...



Why is that Massive?


Why are there very high quality eq plugs available such as the ones you

mentioned and Algorithmix but there seems to be a lack of very high quality

dynamics plugs available?
 
I'm not a programmer, but I would imagine that it's the simplicity of EQ vs. the complexity of dynamics -

EQ ("Color" aside) -- Cut or boost this frequency by this much, all the time, no matter what.

Dynamics -- The level, the peak, the apparent volume, how "thick" or "thin" the signal, the speed, the timbre, the incomming dynamic range, the attack and release and how it attacks AS it releases -- For starters -- Again, "color" aside, goodness, that's a lot to put into ones and zeros. And to make that reaction relative to *any type* of signal... It still fascinates me that it's even possible in the first place.

And some nice ones - I think the UAD stuff (big surprise) is quite good. But for whatever reason, I always go back to the analog stuff almost every time. As hard as I tried to go with plugs (believe me, if I felt I could get the same quality at around *1/20th* the price...), it only cemented my craving for analog gear even more.
 
Massive Master said:
I'm not a programmer, but I would imagine that it's the simplicity of EQ vs. the complexity of dynamics -

EQ ("Color" aside) -- Cut or boost this frequency by this much, all the time, no matter what.

Dynamics -- The level, the peak, the apparent volume, how "thick" or "thin" the signal, the speed, the timbre, the incomming dynamic range, the attack and release and how it attacks AS it releases -- For starters -- Again, "color" aside, goodness, that's a lot to put into ones and zeros. And to make that reaction relative to *any type* of signal... It still fascinates me that it's even possible in the first place.

And some nice ones - I think the UAD stuff (big surprise) is quite good. But for whatever reason, I always go back to the analog stuff almost every time. As hard as I tried to go with plugs (believe me, if I felt I could get the same quality at around *1/20th* the price...), it only cemented my craving for analog gear even more.
Click to expand...


hm

interesting.
 
Probably not in my life time. Until they can perfectly clone my Sontec EQs or my STC-8, I'm not budging.

EQ's are 'easier' as the are linear devices, simple math. Compressors are harder because they are non-linear devices - the math is very complex. I've heard decent sounding plug-in EQs, but still haven't heard any plug-in compressors that I thought sounded very good.

Of course, I don't use plugs, so I'm not trying new ones all the time.
 
WARNING: OT Geek Sidebar Ahead...

bblackwood said:
Compressors are harder because they are non-linear devices - the math is very complex.
Click to expand...
This is rather off-topic, but I'm not sure how compression is non-linear. It's still a sequential modification of a linear waveform based upon a linear equation Aout = (Ain-t)/(r/1). I don't see where the feedback mechanism would be located; the amount of compression on a given sample does not depend upon the resulting amplitute of previous samples.

Just curious...

G.
 
Non-linear in that it generates distortion of the waveform which varies according to level and freq content.

EQ can be undone - it's a perfectly linear process - compression cannot be undone as it is not perfectly linear...
 
pingu said:
Is it a long time before we can see the top mastering engineers using only plugins.
Click to expand...

Aren't digital outboard devices really just another form of a plugin?

When Weiss comes out with an EQ1 and DS1 as a plugin it may be a bit closer than we think.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
This is rather off-topic, but I'm not sure how compression is non-linear. It's still a sequential modification of a linear waveform based upon a linear equation Aout = (Ain-t)/(r/1). I don't see where the feedback mechanism would be located; the amount of compression on a given sample does not depend upon the resulting amplitute of previous samples.

Just curious...

G.
Click to expand...


I knew there was some feynman in there.
 
masteringhouse said:
Aren't digital outboard devices really just another form of a plugin?

When Weiss comes out with an EQ1 and DS1 as a plugin it may be a bit closer than we think.
Click to expand...

I agree with ya there.

But i dont have any evidence to back it up its just a feeling i get.
 
masteringhouse said:
Aren't digital outboard devices really just another form of a plugin?

When Weiss comes out with an EQ1 and DS1 as a plugin it may be a bit closer than we think.
Click to expand...
Yah, but there are plenty of rooms (like mine) that don't use any Weiss gear, or only use it (read: Weiss, digital) in conjunction with their analog chains...
 
bblackwood said:
Yah, but there are plenty of rooms (like mine) that don't use any Weiss gear, or only use it (read: Weiss, digital) in conjunction with their analog chains...
Click to expand...

Yep, currently a hybrid fan here.

I remember way back in the mid 90's I told someone "one day they're gonna put an SSL in a box". He laughed and said I was crazy:

http://www.waves.com/content.asp?id=2055

Yeah I know, it's not the same sound though ...
 
I remember way back in '89 or '90 - I was interning in a small studio and the owner was talking about:

Someday soon, people are going to be able to record...

In their homes...

On a computer...
Click to expand...

I told him he was high - Which he probably was, but that's not the point... :D
 
Massive Master said:
I remember way back in '89 or '90 - I was interning in a small studio and the owner was talking about:



I told him he was high - Which he probably was, but that's not the point... :D
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly, Yes, he was high. I wasn't even there at the time, but I'm sure of it.
 
Ha! You know exactly who I'm talking about -

I just can't remember if Scott was there - If he was, then yeah, he was cooked. If not, I suppose it's 50/50... Although there's only a 33% chance of that...
 
software vs. hardware
I lean more to hardware as it stands right now
but most of us dont have thousands to invest, so what do most use...~software~
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top