Aural exciter

We had one on the master output insert, daisy chained through a 32 band EQ unit on our PA for lord knows how long, don't even know when we stopped using it. First had the original ( 1984?) then the one with "Big Bottom". I was told back then that it achieved it's magic "high end Brightening"  by adding harmonics somewhat like distortion does. It did make the PA shine and was noticeable ( dull)  if you by passed it. 

There may be another approach which could interest anyone after some high frequency emphasis. It is free as well.
 
In the MAY issue of Sound on Sound I have just read a rather interesting article under the Cubase Workshops section. Unfortunately it is a little too soon to be able to read the full article on the SOS site so right now the only way is to read the mag if you actually have it. If you wait long enough the full article will be available free for download.
 
It uses the concept of creating a setup within your DAW that emulates what the Dolby A encoder used to do in the old days for tape machines. The original article is based around Cubase but it applies to any DAW of course and can be adapted easily. Apparently they used to feed certain things through the encoding side of a Dolby A noise reduction system in order to create emphasis on the treble part of the spectrum. This approach is nicer than EQ and exciters as well. It creates the HF emphasis using a set complex of filters and compressors. It can be used on mixes and on individual things that may need some HF emphasis. This approach is a single ended system. With Dolby A the tape also played back into the Dolby A decoder to bring things back to normal but this process is only using it one way eg encoding only.
 
I am not a fan of either the Aural Exciter or the BBE as well. They are essentially bad things especially when applied over a whole mix. I think on individual elements of a mix they could work but it all gets back to if you are doing your job properly it could be argued that they are simply not necessary.
 
In the case of the PA and using an exciter over the FOH sound, well if you set up and tune FOH properly to start with, you can get a beautiful top end happening that certainly does not need an exciter to put a whole lot of highs back in. It is unnecessary these days too because the PA's can produce the bottom and top end without any of that stuff going on. Beware running entire mixes through such things. They will simply lower the integrity of your mix and that is not desirable. One should be able to get all the high end you need at the time of your mix.
 
But the Dolby A thing actually looks interesting and it caught my eye and after reading it I am interested to try it myself. It is all a bit tricky to setup and adjust but once all done it could be a nice way to go in terms of brightening either mixes or individual sounds. I see it mainly on individual things like kicks, snares hats etc and maybe voice too. It is supposed to sound much better than either EQ or any form of exciter.