Recording - November 2010 - 39

out to be quite pleasant; in my tests, I found AGC to work best for guitars recorded via an external microphone rather than with a piezo or other pickup. VX1, the voice processor, has three programs, with eq, compression and delay/reverb, achieving excellent performance. Thanks to its combination of eq, compression and processing with effects, it is very easy to get the sound you’re looking for. I used it on female vocals with excellent results, for example, to separate the voices from the guitars in certain places. The compression module allowed me to control the highs and accentuate the vocals without loosing clarity. Furthermore, the compression module makes it possible to place the voice within the proper limits, without unpleasant effects. This module removed my need for other plug-ins since the sound achieved was of very high quality. HMX is another chameleon that adapts to multiple uses. I primarily tried it on guitars and pianos, although Waves states that HMX adds life to voices, guitars, or any other track in need of sprucing up. In one test I found the program Modal works wonders in adding harmonics to acoustic guitars. Although it sounded good on electric pianos, I noticed great results when using it on acoustic pianos, especially when adding a touch of chorus. This plug-in is particularly good for bringing life to dull-sounding tracks!

DRM has specialized programs for kick, snare top and snare bottom, hi-hat, toms, overheads, and room, adding presence and body to drum tracks. I used DRM to improve stereo drum mixes from in previous projects—I needed to determine whether it was possible to improve a track that was already mixed. For this particular job I worked specifically with the programs BD and OH. In one instance, I needed to reinforce the sound of the kick; the Snap and Treble parameters, particularly on the program for kick drum, allowed me to help bring out the instrument in the mix without raising its volume. With the OH program I was able to obtain a much more appealing eq than the original, which was taken directly from the output of a drum sound module. Also, I was able to balance the environment to create a really good sensation of space that allowed for a much more realistic drum sound in this project. B72 offers programs for acoustic, electric, and synth basses. It performs compression and tone control that result in tighter bass, and also adds simple and intuitive control over highs and lows that do away with the need for hunting for frequencies. I used the B72 module in a bass track that had too much in the mids and little force on the low end of the frequency spectrum. By simply adjusting the Bass control I was able to achieve more weight in that frequency

range, without obscuring the bass’s overall tone. I also got a good response with opaque bass tracks that needed some brightness to stand out without increasing the volume—a twist of the Treble control does the trick! Summing up Just as there is no guarantee that using a Strat will make you play like David Gilmour, the use of these plug-ins does not guarantee a hit. Even a good dose of harmonics generation from the VX1 Vocal Enhancer can’t fix an appalling vocal track. Talent, combined with these plug-ins, will mean success. Each of these plug-ins, when applied to a quality track, will help to make it shine. Use of the VX1 will become almost obligatory— its compressor will allow processing the voice with peace of mind about getting it to sit just right in a mix. The other plug-ins inspire the same kind of confidence. It’s fun to use them, because it’s so easy to get amazing results if you start with a good performance. Waves offers a 7-day trial (an iLok is required), so you can take Mr. Maserati’s chops out for a spin and see what he can do for you.

Fabio García (garcia@recordingmag.com) is a recording engineer, producer, and musician, living and working in Argentina. He is a frequent contributor to Recording’s Spanishlanguage sister publication, Músico Pro.

http://www.audiorecordingschool.com/recording.html http://www.audiorecordingschool.com/recording.html

Recording - November 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - November 2010