What do you use to brighten your tracks ?

Hello,

EQ aside (which can sound obvious or artificial), what do you use to brighten up your tracks, add some glassy sparkle, etc ?
Preferably something that retains as much clarity as possible and doesn't introduce synthetic distortion (as some tube plugs can, etc)

I've tried BBE Maximizer before, any other suggestions or plug-in recommendations ?

Sonic

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1713.html

bass traps

ORIGINAL: cryophonik

EQ, good mics, and a good sound source/signal path is all I use. This is a time-tested and proven method of creating quality tracks. Make sure you're using quality EQs. Also, don't forget that brightness doesn't just come from boosting higher frequencies - it also comes from cutting mid and low frequencies. A good linear phase EQ applied at the pre-mastering stage is a crucial step, IME. I also use Har-Bal to balance out my songs' frequency spectrums, but that is also essentially just using an EQ.

BTW, I had the BBE Sonic Maximizer plugin for a while and THAT sounds very obvious and artificial - it adds a horrendously annoying phasey sound to tracks.



edit: typ0

+1 for this. I'm using a new mic and wow...what a difference. I also had to have my preamp sent out for repairs and am using a lesser quality one...what a difference that has made on brightness also. Good thing is the new mic sounds way better even on the lesser preamp...so hopefully it will completely floor me when my regular one is back home.

Donny

+1 for Ozone. I like to use the multiband harmonic exciter across either the drum bus or the entire instrument bus. Really adds sparkle to cymbals.

On some songs, Har-Bal's "Air" effect does an amazing bit of magic, spreading the stereo and brightening up the song. I'm not sure what it really does, but I expect it's similar to the BBE Sonic Maximizer, some combination of harmonic enhancement and banded delays. It's hard to describe the effect, but when it works it's pretty cool. And of course Har-Bal's an awesome linear-phase mastering equalizer, too.

Preferably something that retains as much clarity as possible and doesn't introduce synthetic distortion (as some tube plugs can, etc)

Is that a bad thing?

Jeez, man, that's a bad day. Better buy a lottery ticket tomorrow - I mean, when the roulette table hits black four times in a row, the next spin's gotta be red, right?

ORIGINAL: doncolga

My new acquisitions have been bitter sweet. Totally love the new mic

Which is the new one? The C414 or the KSM-32? They're direct competitors, right?

Sven

I use a Baxandall EQ curve which is similar to a shelf but rises indefinitely. It also moves the phase shift in a more linear fashion away from the human weighted areas making it much smoother in image and transparency.

Oops - I just let out a secret of the pro's eh?

-D

VC-64

Some kind of spectral enhancer is a good place to start.

I don't know why you ruled out EQ so fast, it's really the best tool!

You can also play around with maybe some distortion tucked underneath the mix, especially if you get REALLY creative and apply it to a double of the track that is totally hi-passed, so only the top end getst the crackle.

You can use Motown Compression on the track, that usually brings out some presence (though again EQ is an ingredient in that solution too).

UAD-1 Pultec Pro

Nothin' like it.

ORIGINAL: stratcat33511

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1713.html

This looks pretty cool (at least the price is right). Anyone have any firsthand experience with this? I'm wondering what it could do for my humble little Ovation Celebrity.

ORIGINAL: pgw

Cryophonic & Cj said it already - learn to use your equipment right & instead of boosting highs - cut the frequencies that makes your sound muddy i.e. mids & lows.

I reeeeeeally like VC64

Regards
Per

Hi pgw,

Hope you don't take this the wrong way. Not meant as an attack on you, but you make it sound like pros that really know how to use their equipment "right" never use eq to boost highs. That's just not true. Subtractive eq has it's uses, but high-end eq from the likes of Neve, Pultec, Manley, Avalon, Emperical Labs, Great River, CraneSong, Summit, Millenia, API, and SSL, are OFTEN used to brighten up a track, mix, or sub-mix with eq boost. Eq is definitely used to add "glassy sparkle" as in the O.P.'s question. What you hear on CDs just doesn't sound that way in a room... so how could you expect to "capture" it naturally that way by just "learning to use your equipment right"?

Understand, I'm not sayin' that if you want a bright snare or sparkling acoustic guitar that you shouldn't choose your mics and preamps wisely. I just suppose though that if you owned a few of those amazing eq's, you'd be using them to brighten up tracks, and then you WOULD be using your equipment "right" because that's what those eq's are designed for.

Sorry... I just hear that pat answer a little too often.

By the way... Happy Thanksgiving! (U.S. tradition and my way of saying I'm thankful for this great forum where we can discuss, teach, and learn from one another)

My mixing skills just do not give me that radio ready high end sheen well enough yet. Boosts with high quality eqs to the entire mix don't get me all the way there either. I also use har-bal. CLAS over the mix bus helps, but crysonics Spectralive NXT justs seems to nail it for me. Gives it that air and stereo widening all together. YMMV.