DO IT!!!

MSpectralDynamics makes the cut...

JULY MADNESS DISCOUNT IN PROGRESS!
50% OFF DIFFERENT 4 PLUGINS EVERY 4 DAYS!

MDYNAMICEQ
MMULTIBANDREVERB
MSPECTRALDYNAMICS
MMULTIBANDRHYTHMIZER

ORDERED! 
 
Now, I'm expecting to be BLOWN AWAY! 

This forum software needs help....IJS...

Yes it does. I would like to change my avatar but that feature has been broken for me for weeks.

Here's my MSpectralDynamics story...
 
I got hold of MSpectralDynamics by accident. When Melda first added GPU acceleration to the product line, it was incompatible with my ancient video card. I whined to Vojtech about it and he sent me a debug build to help him troubleshoot the problem. The plugin he sent me for testing happened to be MSpectralDynamics. After a few tries, he got the GPU acceleration working flawlessly. I thanked him for his perseverance (he could have just told me to update my card and get lost - many other vendors would have). He in turn thanked me for my contribution with a very kind gesture, basically said "keep the plugin" for your trouble.
 
Now, prior to this the plugin had been neither on my wishlist nor on my radar. I'd seen it and it looked interesting but I really didn't know what it'd be good for. But in the process of testing it, an amazing thing happened: I had my mind seriously blown. This thing was frickin' amazing. 
 
After scraping my brains from the desk and my socks from the floor, I dug into the plugin to see what the deal was. I PM'd a few of my compulsive plugin collector friends, asking them if they had it. None of them did. Not even yorolpal. It seemed to be a well-kept secret.
 
I'll admit that at this point it crossed my mind to keep it a secret. Hey, why not let people think I'm a better mixer than I am, and keep the discovery to myself?
 
But nah, I'm too much of a blabbermouth. So I've been working on an in-depth tutorial/review for about two months now, intended for publication in September's SoundBytes. It's been a long process because every time I figure out something new it can do, I have to revise the piece. And that's been happening about once a week. It happened again just this morning.
 
MSpectralDynamics is now in every new project. My current project contains no less than three instances: one on the vocal bus for leveling, one on the instrument bus for ducking against the vocal, and one on the master for general silky goodness, in front of Ozone. The GPU acceleration makes it practical to have multiple instances, as it greatly reduces CPU overhead on my stressed dinosaur of a computer.
 
So trust me that when I join cclarry in saying "do it", I ain't just whistling Dixie. Be prepared for a little study and experimentation, because it's not like anything you currently have in your toolkit. But once you get the hang of it, oh my.
 
 
 

Thanks Bit!
I am using MDynamicEQ for ducking my bass from the kick, but as I reported before the plugin is resetting on me. Is this plugin going to be a better alternative for that?

I'm revisiting MSpectralDynamics now (in demo form), and I'm reminded that I like what it does, but I'm getting artifacts on initial transients, for example at the beginning of a track that starts out with a snare hit or something similar.  Is there an easy way to fix that?   I had the same kind of issue with MTransient. 
 
Bit man, would you be able to suggest a starting point for use on a full mix?  I've tried a few of the presets and getting interesting results by adjusting the threshold and such, but I suspect I may be missing something.
 
I remember when I first demoed this a while back that it seemed similar in concept to Dynamic Spectrum Mapper.  Fair comparison?
 
Cheers,
Eddie
 

It's very sensitive to being overdriven and will distort badly when it happens. Lacking a peak indicator to alert you, you have to watch the waveform display closely for flat-topping. It's usually not a problem on tracks, but on the master, placed before the limiter, it's a greater possibility. I find that I get better results if I turn the Input fader down 6 or 8 dB and compensate with makeup gain.
 
This is my default starting point for full mixes:
 
Resolution: 15ms
Smoothness and Naturality: 0% (1% or 2% on other types of busses)
Slope: 4.5 dB (may end up anywhere from 3 dB to 5 dB but 4.5 is a good starting point)
Dry/wet: 100% (the last step is to back this off to 70-80%)
Attack: 10ms (may end up anywhere from 1ms to 40ms, depending on the song)
Release:40ms (may end up anywhere from 10ms to 100ms, longer for vox busses)
RMS Length: 1ms (just needs to be less than attack time)
Lookahead: off (turn on only if you have big percussive peaks)
Release mode: manual (auto works OK, but might boost reverb tails too much)
Threshold: -80 dB (I often customize the threshold curve, though)
Ratio: 1.2 (usually don't go above 1.3:1)
Knee: 100% (best for master busses - smoothest transition)
Range: 96 dB (full range)
 
Yes, DSM would be its closest (AFAIK its only) competitor. 

Hey bit,
 
I believe you are an Ozone fan as well. How do you fit Spectral Dynamics into your mastering process when using Ozone?
 
PS: Thanks for sharing your settings - I intend to try them this weekend!