Recording - March 2013 - 57

or ‘Pop’ in my opinion; it gives snare drums, guitar amps and
even some lead vocals a nice forward attitude in the mix.
When either setting is set to Tight it is the most forward and
focused that this unit gets, and yet it is very smooth. Switching
to Diffuse reins in the selected frequency a tad and flattens it out,
giving it a looser, even dispersion. It is a sound that is more
implied than forced forward like the Tight setting.

It’s also a handy utility tool on individual instruments, for
things like adding a lively jangle to acoustic guitar, bringing life
back to a dull voice, and it can really highlight a great room
sound without being heavy-handed. Gregory Scott of Kush also
tells me he thinks it’s “the world’s best piano eq”, but I didn’t
have an opportunity to test that application myself; if you get a
chance, write to me at Recording and let me know how it works!

Clearly
The Clarity side has a pair of two-position toggle switches marked
Presence/Sheen and Shimmer/Silk, and between those is a threeposition toggle that selects between the two switches and a third
choice of out or bypass.
Presence and Sheen are high bands with center frequencies
of 3.5 kHz and 9 kHz, and are pretty close to the classic presence and high-frequency bands found on many vintage consoles and eq boxes. I love what Presence does to guitar strumming and male vocals. Sheen is the sonic opener of the unit
and gives drum overheads and room sound a nice round clarity that is great for opening up a mix.

Plug me in: The Clariphonic DSP
The Clariphonic DSP has been co-developed by Gregory Scott
and by Marc Gallo of Studio Devil, whose guitar amp simulators we
looked at most recently in our December 2012 issue. Clariphonic
DSP is 32-bit AU, VST, & RTAS on a Mac and 32-bit VST for
Windows, and uses an iLok (1 or 2) USB key for authorization.
Visually and functionally the plug-in is laid out similar to the hardware but it lacks the FF switching option—it is always in Full
Frequency mode, with no way to audition the selected bands on
their own. Also, while it can be used in stereo or mono, there is
only one set of controls, so in stereo use the two processed channels are always linked. On the hardware, of course, you can make

The last choices of Shimmer and Silk are the extreme top end
of the spectrum. Shimmer centers on 19 kHz and is close to the
typical top end found in many classic mastering equalizers. Silk is
up around 39k... yes, 39 kHz, and is better known in today’s vernacular as an air band. It’s like a fairy dust that you perceive more
than you hear; think of it as “implied top end” that brings life to
dull mixes, especially those that have been done in the box.

separate adjustments to each side of the stereo field.
In use I found it to be very close to the hardware, with a few slight
exceptions. First, the knobs on the hardware have a wider, smoother
throw and are a tad more forgiving. As to tone, I found the Focus
section of the two units fairly spot on and hard to discern in a blind
shootout. The Clarity section of the hardware exhibited a bit more
depth to its sound stage, and was just a tad more open and airy, as

In use
While this unit appears cryptic and tricky, its names actually do
make sense. What does take some getting used to is that it is not
a classic program eq that simply tweaks the stated frequencies.
Rather it extracts them and imposes them onto or alongside the
dry signal for an emphasis that you blend in and mix to taste.
If this unit has any flaw, it is that it makes it very easy to get
carried away with it, and boost too much. It’s strangely addictive, and its smooth brightness just sounds better on everything.
On his website Gregory recommends that once you have
what you think sounds great, you may want to force yourself to
back off a bit—he suggests by up to half! In my experience he
is absolutely correct. I finished two songs for a client, thought
the mix sounded amazing and detailed, printed it, got in my
car to drive home, put my mix on, and... “Oh holy crap this is
bright!” The vocals especially! The next day I came back and
dialed each setting down by 45% and it was much better!
Ultimately this is a final “spit-and-polish” eq, and just like a
good, gently tickled bus compressor, the Clariphonic can help
add a final touch of coherence to a mix. I find it to be a fantastic complement to the Dangerous Bax EQ (reviewed October
2012) as they almost do opposite things, do them well and—
better still—do them well together.

hardware typically is at the extreme high end (even with audio interfaces like mine that can handle 96 kHz sample rates and up). If I
had to quantify the difference between the hardware and the plugin, I would put it at about 10 to 15% in sound and feel, which puts
it in line with some of the best hardware emulations on the market.
Conclusion
Overall the Clariphonic falls into the specialty arena when
compared to the general-purpose UBK Fatso or even a typical
program eq; to my knowledge there is currently no other device
on the market that does what the Clariphonic does! For the discerning studio user who wants fine and musical control of his
track and mix eq in a very intuitive way, this box is well worth
a listen; on its own it does magical things to audio and as I stated before, it plays well with other eqs.
As for Clariphonic DSP, well, at this price it’s a steal. If you’ve
been unhappy with the tonal balance of your in-the-box mixes
you should give it a try, you have nothing to lose and a whole
lot of high-end clarity to gain.
Prices: Clariphonic, $1599; Clariphonic DSP, $149 (free
demo license codes available)
More from: Kush Audio, www.thehouseofkush.com
RECORDING March 2013

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http://www.thehouseofkush.com
Recording - March 2013

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