Melda MSpectralDynamics 50%...

... just sayin'

Thanks, I've been waiting for this one and just bought it.

I just installed and played with it for about 15 minutes and it sounds very good, more transparent than DSM. But it's a lot more complicated than DSM and I'll have to read the docs and reread bitfilipper's review a few times to try to get the hang of it. 

I tried to understand the tools of this plugin via the You Tube videos; that seems interesting but even if the GUI is still fun, there are a lot of functions (like, it is said, a "gas plant") ! But it seems that most of their main plugins recover similar functions in particular analyser and side chaining. In what, for instance the Melda compressors  are "different" from other compressor besides the many possibilities they can offer in a same plugin ? Is the sound more defined, more mastered ... ? I ask that because Dstrenz made a comparison with DSM which was considered as the holy grail concerning mixing or mastering treatment (maybe too much hype).
Now, it's coming the idea that Equalizers and in particular dynamic equalizers are more important than compressors : The Melda dynamic Eq seems to be very intersting...

Thanks a lot Bitflipper for the precisions !
In fact I have DSM purchased at a very discounted price (and Sausage Fattener too) but the fact is I don't use it a lot because of the lack of more explicit controls and graphic informations ! I find DSM a little too "mystic" and it appears that in some of my mixes, even with very moderate settings, it was still  a bit "agressive"  (maybe it's me and my mixing skills are limited but I  scrupulously listen , compare with reference mix, and listen again and again until getting a certain balance that I think is fair).
The analyzer, the specified spectral shaping, the sidechaining function adressed in specific frequency areas, and the great anti-masking tool you mentioned make this plug very attractive and make me get the demo and still spend time to see if I'm able to use it correctly ! I've already the little Nomad Factory Track spacer plug, but maybe there is like a lack of precision in the treatment...
Just a subsidiary question : MSpectralDynamics seems to be complete and finally can cover main functions of MDynamicEQ ?

Thanks Bitflipper for the infos.
So I downloaded the demo versions of the Analyzer, Modercompressor and MspectralDynamics, testing them on a whole mix and to confirm the feeling of Dstrenz, the MSdynamics seems to sound very good : The quick general impression is that it sustains and "expands" the signal smoothly.Comparatively, I tried DSM, and cannot get this smoothness and still stay with this agressivity ! I also tried the Slate compressor (FGx and Bus compressor) and, no offense to the Slate stuff, but it sounded very tense and rather disgusting !
By cons (concerning the MspectralDynamics) it is true that despite the explanatory menus, it is not easy to choose a particular criterion and the many different options could be more confusing than anything for the novice user I am.

Bit - I have MDynamics in their Mixing bundle.
 
How does MSpectralDynamics differ from that one?

peter434
Thank you very much dstrenz for all those precisions ! I was certainly a little confused by the controls of DSM and their interactions, But in fact, I just used the presets and not captured a reference track. And yes, if you could show how you're doing, it could be very informative.

Sorry, I missed your reply until now. Here's a basic rundown of what I do.
 
Say you've got a digital copy of an old cassette of a garage band and your (possibly unrealistic) goal is to make it sound like Allman Brothers Live at the Filmore. Note that if there is something drastically wrong with the recording, like a super loud guitar, there isn't much you can do to improve it.
 
Capture a curve from the Allman Brothers album and save it. Load up the old recording onto a track and copy that track and mute it. It is all too easy to make changes that make it sound worse than the original, so the unmodified copy is for reference and should be compared with the modified track often.
 
Let's see if the curve we're using will improve the sound. Insert MSD and load the Allman frequency curve. As you play the song, you'll probably see the  source material does not come close to matching the curve. Adjust the threshold so that the entire curve is below the source material, which will cause MSD to compress practically every band all the time to match the curve. The result will probably sound unnatural at 100% wet. Set the wet/dry fader to dry and slowly raise it to mix in some of the compressed signal until it sounds best. You're probably somewhere around 10-20% wet. If there's no improvement, use a different curve until it does.
 
Now put a good parametric eq in front of MSD and use it to make it so the source material more closely matches the curve. Set the MSD threshold so that the curve is, on average, slightly above the source material. Now use the wet/dry control's to smooth things out. It will probably end up somewhere between 50-100% wet now.