The RedFaux Transmission

Understanding The Basics Of The Audio Compressor

Probably one of the more difficult processors to understand when you are a newbie to electronic music creation is the compressor. I have had many friends new to electronic music asking me what this processor does, as well as I have had to explain this to many an executive when trying to get my equipment budgets approved, so I thought I would post an overview here for anyone interested. 

Compression was originally created to control the range of dynamics of a sound.  Think of it as an automatic volume control. Although, compression has many applications aside from recording, a perfect example of how compression is used and what it does, is easily illustrated in a typical vocal recording scenario. When you record vocals you want to get the signal to noise ratio as high as you can. Meaning that you want to have a loud voice signal and a low noise signal on your recording.  However, vocalists can be very dynamic and if you set your recording levels to be perfect when they are singing loud your signal to noise ratio will drop when they sing a quiet part.  If you set your levels to be perfect when the vocalist sings quietly, then you will distort your input when they sing louder. To solve this problem you need to reduce the overall dynamics of the incoming signal. Back in pre-historic times the engineer would ride the faders to keep a signal's volume under control.  Nowadays, fortunately for all of us, you can apply a compressor to this problem that will automatically adjust the volume to fit with the levels that you specify. So in a nutshell, compression controls the volume of a sound, keeping it within levels that the user sets.

 Controls on a Typical Compressor

On most of the software compressors there are pre-sets that you can use for the most standard compressor applications.  However, like anything its better to know what the controls on the compressor actually do. This will give you the power to make intelligent tweaks to get the compressor to do exactly what you want it to. Don't be beholden to presets! 

Threshold - This is the signal level at which the compressor will start reducing the incoming signal. This is usually measured in dB (decibel). Typically you want to set this so the signal level is just below the threshold.  Notice in the picture below that the peak incoming signal is -8.1 dB.  You can see that I've set the threshold to -10.0 db. This will reduce the signal of anything that is louder than -10 dB. 

Ratio - This setting refers to the amount of gain reduction that will take place on the signal if it surpasses the threshold.  For example if the ratio is 5:1, then a signal that exceeds the threshold by 5dB would be reduced so you would only see a 1dB increase instead of a 5dB increase at the output.

Attack & Release - On the most simple level, the attack refers to how long it takes the compressor to pull the volume down on the signal once it reaches the threshold and the release refers to how long it takes the compressor to returns the signal to its original level.

Soft & Hard Knee Compression - Hard knee refers to compression that happens abruptly where soft knee compression is more gradual.  As you can see in the graph below, hard knee compression squashes the signal as soon as it reaches the threshold.

With soft knee compression the signal starts to be compressed gradually as it approaches its threshold.  See the soft knee compression chart.

Output or Make Up Gain - This setting specifies how much the over all signal should be boosted after compression.  Some compressors have a setting to do this for you automatically. 

Additional Features Some Compressors May Have 

Side Chaining - Some hardware and software compressors allow for side chaining. This means that there is a separate input aside from the original audio input. This input can be used to introduce an audio signal that can act as an envelope for the compressor acting on the signal coming in through the normal inputs. A good easy example of this is when you hear an announcer on the radio talking over music.  When the announcer starts talking you can hear the music get softer so you can hear the announcer more clearly.  This is done by having the signal of the announcer informing the compressor when to attenuate the music. When the announcer stops talking, the absence of the signal returns the compressor back to its original level bringing the music back up in volume. 

Hold Control

This setting is typically found on compressors that have a side chain feature.  This allows you to have more control on the compressor's release value when side chaining.  For example, using our announcer scenario up above, if the announcer took a long enough pause while speaking the compressor would release, bringing the volume of the music back up momentarily until the announcer started speaking again.  This would sound unexpected and sloppy.  To fix this you would set the Hold control to 40 to 60 ms after it detected silence from the announcer before it would return to the original volume level allowing for pauses. 

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So there ya have the very basics of the compressor. There are obviously more nuances and things to know to be well schooled in the sorcery that is compression.  Stay tuned for some more advanced compression topics in the weeks to come :)

Free VST Compressors to get your feet wet with: (Click on the bold face names to go to the VST website for download) 

1. BlockFish

2. Modern Compressor

 

Until next time... Over N Out

RED

10 Great Free VSTs : The Free VSTs That Made The Cut

So recently I had to wipe my computer clean and start from scratch.  I had quite a plethora of free vsts on the computer and decided that most of them weren't really worth re-installing.  Here are the 10 that made the cut and were re-installed on the machine because I do use them frequently. I think most of these are PC only folks... Click on the VST title to go to the download pages for each VST. 

 

1. TAL- Noisemaker - So pretty much everything put out by TAL is really good and usable, but I think Noise Maker stands out.  I find myself using this synth alot for sound design and music.  It has a nice fat analog sound to it and it is really easy to tweak to get the sound you want out of it. 

 

2. Analog Warfare (1, 2, &3) - This comes as a suite of 3 plugins (Analog Warfare 1, 2 & 3).  Install all of them.  They are all slightly different and good for creating creative synth textures, modulation & arpeggios. 

 

3. TAL Dub III - Another TAL plugin, this is a great simple little delay vst that allows you to create tempo synched or free form delays.  You can control what speakers the delay is pumped to and there is even a drive knob that allows for some subtle distortion.  I find myself reaching for this delay quite often. 

 

4. String Theory - This is a physical modelling synthesizer.  Its specialty is strings.  The synth has 2 arpeggiators which allows for some complex patterns. The range of the type of sounds it can create is impressive.  

 

5. TAL Filter II - This is a filter vst lets you apply an envelope across time and apply it to 7 different types of filters (the same ones used in Noise Maker) as well as pan and volume.  

6. Rez 2.0 - This is a monophonic virtual analog synth that is bright and resonant sounding.  I use it alot for bass lines that I need to cut through the mix. 

 

7. Boom Comb - This is a comb filter plugin that I use quite a bit for sound design to get crazy flange/delay/gritty style effects.   

 

8. Valhalla FreqEcho - This is the only free multi-band delay I know of, and it's good. I used it on vocals for the last dance remix I worked on. It was great for building up tension. I would also recommend this for sound design as well.   

myVST Demo: ValhallaFreqEcho MkI from myVST on Vimeo.

 

9. TAL Tube - This vst is a tube amp simulator which adds warmth to any sound you apply it to.  I use this one alot to add extra oomph to drums especially. 

 

10. DBlue Glitch - Glitch is an effects sequencer that allows you define the size of the slices of audio it effects based on a time grid.  I use this plug quite often on drums to spice up boring loops or patterns.  

 

Well I hope you enjoy these 10 plugins.  I think you'll find they are definitely the cream of the crop.  

Until next time... Over N Out

- RED

Using 32-bit VST plugins in a 64-bit DAW (PC)

At work they upgraded me to a 64-bit PC running Windows 7.  I was pretty happy about this until I discovered that I couldn't run my 32-bit vst plugins in my 64-bit version of Cakewalk Sonar 8.5.  A friend of mine recommended "BitBridge" which at some point was Sonar's answer to using 32-bit plugins in their DAW but I could find very little information on it. However, I did find a little app called "JBridge" which does the trick. Once installed you can run your 32-bit VST effects and instruments in your 64-bit DAW.  I only tried this with Sonar, but according to their documentation this should work with other 64-bit DAWs as well. You can download a demo version for free to see if it works for you.  The full version is: 14.99 GBP or $21.62 US.  For more information visit the JBridge Site.

Until next time... Over N Out

- RED

Is The Free Yohng W1 Limiter Really a Waves L1 Clone?

On Synthtopia on Jan 21, there was a post about a free Waves L1 clone called Yohng W L1. Waves L1 costs $300 so when someone claims they have created a clone and are offering it for free I become curious.  I become even more curious when the developer's site claims it creates "identical" output. I have Waves L1, so I decided to load up SoundForge and put these two plugins to the test, head to head and see for myself.

When comparing these two plugins I was interested in seeing if:

• The features match up
• How they compare with overall RMS values on a processed file
• How they compare on peak analysis and sound coloration on a processed file

Features: YES - well only the limiter part -- No Ultramaximizer

There are two flavors of Waves L1.  There is the L1 limiter & the L1 Ultramaximizer.  For the sake of clarity I should mention that this free limiter is a clone of the L1 limiter and not the L1 Ultramaximizer. So perhaps this clone isn't going to save us $300 like mentioned above, but it may get us halfway there. :)

The L1 limiter consists of a threshold slider, a cieling slider and a release slider.  The Yohng W L1 has all of these as well.  When comparing the two side by side you'll notice you can't get the exact same settings on the release slider.  The Waves release slider goes from -.01 ms to 1000.00ms, the Yohng Limiter goes from -1ms to 5000.00 ms.  But for most applications you wouldn't want to set your release any lower than 1 millisecond anyway, so this isn't too much of an issue. Also, ms are rounded up in the Yohng tool.

I took three different types of samples: a drum loop, a vocal bit and a piece of music to perform my tests on. All the screenshots here are from this analysis using the Waves PAZ analyzer.

Is RMS Output Identical? YES

The RMS frequency analysis is identical. 

 

 

Is the Peak Output and Sound Coloration identical: So Close I'll Give it a Yes

Waves L1, despite any marketing speak you have heard, is not transparent.  One of the reasons we choose to use L1, atleast in the video game world, is because of its sound coloration.  It gives a little bit of a raw edge to sounds which is really great for things like drums, gunshots, and less dynamic types of music.  If you are looking for transparency I would suggest L2 & L3. 

So my next curiosity was to see if the Yohng W L1 colored sound the same way Waves L1 does.  It sounds very, very similar to the Waves L1. The Yohng W L1 isn't entirely consistent in being dead on with Waves L1, in some files I noticed a slight dip at 20hz and occasionally some wierd dips in the low mids. However 95 percent of the time I would say it looked identical. (See the screenshots below for an example)

 

In Conclusion: This limiter is free and really, really close to it's more pricey inspiration.  If you're looking for a limiter that sounds like L1 and you're on a budget, this one will do the trick.

Grab the basic W L1 Limiter HERE 

Grab the W L1 limiter with a new skin by Betabugs HERE

Enjoy!

Until Next time... Over N Out

RED

My Top 10 Favorite FREE VST Effects Plugins

Hello and Happy New Year to you all! To start out 2010 right I thought I'd post my lists of my all time favorite FREE VST plugins.  This post will focus on FREE VST effects.  There are alot of FREE VSTs available out there of varying quality.  Downloading them all and trying them out can be like rummaging through a thrift store looking for treasure.  It takes time and patience. However you can find some diamonds out there if you look.  I have a pretty good arsenal of commercial plugins which are almost always good, but here are a list of FREE VSTs that I find myself using often because they are just as good or incredibly unique. If you can look past the sometimes homely interfaces of some of these homebrew plugins you will find you are in posession of a some very creative and good sounding audio tools. (Click on the title of the VSTs to go to the download sites :)

1. CamelCrusher by Camel Audio

I was apprehensive when I downloaded this.  How interesting can a distortion plug in be? (proof I'm not a guitar player ;-) Dime a dozen I thought.  Well I should have known better. Camel Audio makes some great sounding plugins and this is no exception.  This plug in is a distortion box with a compressor and a filter. I use this one alot.  Nice warm big distortion and you can assign the filter to a midi controller and effect real time...worth downloading :)

2. Glitch by Dblue

 

Glitch is a sort of an effects sequencer which allows you to specify a sequence or randomly trigger one or all of the following effects: Tape Stop, Modulation, Retrigger, Shuffle, Reverse, Crush, Gate, Delay and Stretch.  This plugin is most popularly used on drum loops, but the creative possibilities with this are endless.  This makes creating glitchy effects much easier and more creative than it used to be.  I use this plug in alot when I'm making drum or rythmic loops. 

3. DFX Transverb by Destroy FX

This one has been around awhile, but I have yet to find another plugin that can mess up drumloops as nicely as this one can.  I recommend using the random setting on this one. :) In fact, check out all the DFX plugins if you haven't already. They are all interesting.

4. Spinner LE by EmptySquare

I downloaded this one from KVR awhile ago, and it finds its way onto my tracks in LIVE alot.  I like the way it spins the audio around in the stereo mix.  I've never had a Leslie cabinet so I can't tell you how realistic it is, but I like the way this plug in sounds and its tweakability. 

5. Hybrid Reverb 2 by Christian Borss

If you want killer reverb, the reality is you're going to have to go with a commercial package.  I like Altiverb...but its a matter of preference.  However, if you can't afford a fancy expensive reverb, this one is pretty good for adding subtle room ambience to voice and music.  This is a convolution reverb that operates using room impulses like alot of the expensive commercial reverbs.  It also allows you alot of room for tweaking.  It wont give you that fancy orchestral hall sound, but it will give you good quality small room and studio reverbs for free :) This was the 2nd place winner in the 2009 KVR plugin contest. Be sure to download the extra room impulse pack from here.

6. Classic Phaser by Kjaerhus Audio

I like this phaser because it has a quirky sound to it that cuts through mixes.  I like to use it on bass and drums.  This is part of a larger collection of free plugins offered by Kjaerhus Audio which I have tried out and would have to say are all pretty good...this one is my favorite though.

7. Charsiesis by FuzzPils

This odd plugin is a wierd chorus/delay summing thing-y that really can produce some nice harmonics and fatness to a sound.  I like to add this to boring pads to liven them up a bit. 

8. Bionic Delay by Daniel Bosshard

 

Any time I want to add immediate interest to a static sounding drum loop or synth part I always find myself reaching for this delay plug in. Use this in addition with an auto-panner to get some nice results.

9. Ferox by Jereon Breebaart

This is part of a pack of free plugins from Jeroen Breebaart.  This particular plug in is a magnetic tape simulator. I use this one alot to warm things up and add a little flavor during mixdown.  Ferric is good too (the KVR 2009 winner) but I find that Ferox has more personality with its ability to manipulate tapespeed, noise and feedback.

10. Originally my choice for this spot was SandH by XOXOS. However his site went down the second week of January and is not back up, so I sadly can't recommend it anymore :(

 
This is another glitch-y sounding plugin that can add an element of randomness to your loops or whatever sounds you put it on.  It creates a sample and hold type effect by grabbing a wave cycle of your audio and holding on to it for a moment before playing back.
In fact, while you're at the XOXOS site downloading SandH take a look at his other vsts.  He has probably the most unique and creative set of free plugins available for PC.

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So there ya have it... my all time list of free vst plugins.  I've used all of these fairly often in Ableton Live with Windows XP and have had good results and no crashing.  So if you're apprehensive to download just any free vst... these have my approval atleast (for whatever that's worth;-) Enjoy... 

Until next time... Over N Out

- Red