ProSound News - December 2008 - (Page 24)

[24] A by Christopher Walsh s legions of AES attendees crowded the Digidesign exhibit at the 125th Audio Engineering Society, held October 2-5 in San Francisco, nearby, a far more modest booth belied the buzz generated by this exhibitor’s Plugged into Massey Plug-Ins plug-ins products. There, Steven Massey demonstrated his Massey PlugIns, which are delighting engineers at all levels with their sonics, simplicity and surprisingly low prices. Massey Plug-Ins, compatible with Pro Tools LE, M-Powered, HD and MIX systems (version 6.0 and higher), are comprised of the THC distortion stompbox, the CT4 compressor, the L2007 mastering limiter, the vt3 EQ, Tape-Head saturation, TD5 analog tape delay, the De:Esser and—most recently—the DTM drum-to-MIDI converter. The latter is a PAR Excellence Award winner, as featured in the November 2008 Pro Audio Review. Massey spent 2 1/2 years with Digidesign, primarily assisting third-party developers. Designing software, he explains, “was something I always wanted to do on my own,” and he did, “until I ran out of money, and wound up with Trillium Lane.” At Trillium Lane Labs, Massey worked on the TL Space reverb. “Prior to joining them,” he points out, “I was working on Drum Rehab, which I then sold to them, and continued working on that.” Digidesign announced its acquisition of the assets of Trillium Lane Labs, which it now distributes, early in 2006. Massey Plug-Ins range in price from $69 to $89. All of the first seven products—excluding the new DTM—can be purchased via download from the company’s website for $533, a price comparable to many individual plug-ins. What’s more, DTM is offered as a bonus for all buyers of any Massey Plug-Ins. “People told me I was crazy when I said I was going to do that,” Massey says of the pricing. “I talked to friends about it, and people at Digi. I saw how hard it was [for developers] to sell software at $500, $1,000 apiece. You end up re-investing all that money into convincing the person to buy it in the first place. It seemed like a lot of it was a waste of money. I just realized that wasn’t the right—or at least, the approach I wanted to take, especially as a one-man shop. I’d rather be developing cool stuff. I just wanted to try something different. “It was really just luck,” Massey offers of his products’ swift rise and recognition. “My intentions in pricing it cheaply were deliberate, but I didn’t really think it was going to take off. I guess I lucked out that way. A lot of people said if you price it too low people will think it’s not any good and won’t pay attention. There was a little bit of that, but I think most people realized, once they started using it, that that wasn’t the case.” This very laid-back approach to commerce has clearly worked in Massey’s favor. “The Massey plugs are by far the best deal in audio right now,” says engineer/producer Joel Hamilton. “Totally pro results and functionality for a totally non-pro price. “The Massey CT4 Compressor plug is the only compressor plug-in I will use,” Hamilton adds. “I have a serious analog compressor collection that includes things like an SSL bus compressor, an ADL 670, a Neve 33609 and all kinds of unique and killer stuff, and I still find myself with a CT4 as a part of the vocal chain.” “In my opinion, the Massey plug-ins are more than just a great value,” says Dave McNair, a mastering engineer at New York-based Masterdisk, but a producer/mixer for over 20 years who continues to mix music. “I think they are among the best sounding of anything available for Pro Tools. The CT4, TapeHead and 2007 Limiter I have used on virtually every mix I’ve done for the last several years. I’ve tried almost every plug-in that’s out there, and I consider those three as must-haves if you are mixing in Pro Tools. The CT4 is my standard stereo mix compressor and drum submix smasher. I have almost all the harmonic enhancement plug-ins that are available and still use Tape-Head on certain tracks. It just does something good in way unlike anything else.” “I mix on a console,” says Hamilton, “but I will use certain plug-ins that really help me get things working, and the Massey stuff has truly become some of my go-to stuff that I put up without even thinking about it. I will put a compressor on the vocal, and then a TapeHead on the percussion, just to give it some color before coming out of the box. I use plug-ins to ‘twist’ the source, and then treat those sounds like they had been that way from the start. Stuff that was tracked straight into a DAW, I find myself throwing a CT4 on it even without compressing, just to get the sound of it.” “The limiter is my default ‘get the track louder for client approval’ situation,” McNair adds. “Although I remove it for mastering, I’ve had several instances as a mastering engineer where the mixer supplied me with limited— with the Massey limiter—and unlimited versions to master. It’s not unusual for me to pick the limited version to master from—it’s that good.” “The fact that Steve made some plug-ins that don’t just ‘start at zero’ impressed me right off the bat,” says Hamilton. “They do something to the sound right away. Just like when you insert a cool old piece of gear on a channel, it ‘does something’ before you even really dig in to it. I have been using the de-esser recently on certain things, like chilling out some horns or acoustic guitar, just to ‘push back’ on the top end a bit. The Massey does that well.” Future releases are “still up in the air,” Massey offers. “I’ve got a couple of things on the drawing board and halfway done. I really like doing compressors; those are my favorite. That might be what’s next, but I don’t know.” Massey Plug-Ins www.masseyplugins.com prosoundnews.com December 2008 http://www.sonicus.net http://www.sonicus.net http://www.masseyplugins.com http://www.sonicus.net http://www.prosoundnews.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProSound News - December 2008

ProSound News - December 2008 Sound Business Contents Hank’s Best Yet Sound Recording Studio Showcase: Great City Productions Software Tech Tracks Sessions Anticipating Post’s Future Post Showcase: Eargasm HD Audio Post The Business of Being Creative Sound Innovations: VRsonics VibeStudio Spatial Design Suites Field Reports: Product Profiles Yes We Can Hear Obama Live Sound Showcase: Stone Temple Pilots Centerstage Soundcheck Sound People View From the Top Product Spotlight Classifieds Advertiser Index Company Index Music, etc

ProSound News - December 2008

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