“The Exciting Compressor”

Have an urge to learn, or a calling to teach? Want to share some useful Youtube videos? Do it here!
Post Reply
jimmyklane
Posts: 740
Joined: 16 Apr 2018

24 May 2018

So, instead of looking to exciters, there is an old Motown trick that I’ll explain here. With a parallel channel it’s dead easy to make happen.

Mult off your signal (via a parallel channel) and play it as normal. Take the second and really smash the signal onto a compressor, and then apply drastic EQ to the output of the compressor. You can choose to have a mid-forward sound by boosting only mids and cutting the rest or the traditional excited sound by boosting the highs. Blend the parallel channel in about 12-18dB down and adjust for taste.

No aphex needed.
DAW: Reason 12

SAMPLERS: Akai MPC 2000, E-mu SP1200, E-Mu e5000Ultra, Ensoniq EPS 16+, Akai S950, Maschine

SYNTHS: Mostly classic Polysynths and more modern Monosynths. All are mostly food for my samplers!

www.soundcloud.com/jimmyklane

User avatar
selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

24 May 2018

jimmyklane wrote:So, instead of looking to exciters, there is an old Motown trick that I’ll explain here. With a parallel channel it’s dead easy to make happen.

Mult off your signal (via a parallel channel) and play it as normal. Take the second and really smash the signal onto a compressor, and then apply drastic EQ to the output of the compressor. You can choose to have a mid-forward sound by boosting only mids and cutting the rest or the traditional excited sound by boosting the highs. Blend the parallel channel in about 12-18dB down and adjust for taste.

No aphex needed.
So cool to hear parallel compression correctly called “Motown compression” (as opposed to NY compression), something I learned (among many others) from amazing mastering engineer Bob Olhsson! Sometimes the old tricks are still totally valid.
:)


Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Selig Audio, LLC

jimmyklane
Posts: 740
Joined: 16 Apr 2018

24 May 2018

selig wrote:
24 May 2018
jimmyklane wrote:So, instead of looking to exciters, there is an old Motown trick that I’ll explain here. With a parallel channel it’s dead easy to make happen.

Mult off your signal (via a parallel channel) and play it as normal. Take the second and really smash the signal onto a compressor, and then apply drastic EQ to the output of the compressor. You can choose to have a mid-forward sound by boosting only mids and cutting the rest or the traditional excited sound by boosting the highs. Blend the parallel channel in about 12-18dB down and adjust for taste.

No aphex needed.
So cool to hear parallel compression correctly called “Motown compression” (as opposed to NY compression), something I learned (among many others) from amazing mastering engineer Bob Olhsson! Sometimes the old tricks are still totally valid.
:)


Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Yep. As far as I know we still have to turn to analog, or VST to have an actual exciter....(you can use the MClass Stereo Imager with a soloed high end and a gentle clipper to get those extra harmonics, which is another approach) are there REs out there?

Selig, is your coloring EQ capable of the AX-type sounds?

I’ve still got three Type C units hanging around in the rack, but I generally only use them as preemphasis to cassette tape (which in itself can be a part of that parallel channel for its compression and distortion!)....
DAW: Reason 12

SAMPLERS: Akai MPC 2000, E-mu SP1200, E-Mu e5000Ultra, Ensoniq EPS 16+, Akai S950, Maschine

SYNTHS: Mostly classic Polysynths and more modern Monosynths. All are mostly food for my samplers!

www.soundcloud.com/jimmyklane

User avatar
Boombastix
Competition Winner
Posts: 1929
Joined: 18 May 2018
Location: Bay Area, CA

07 Aug 2018

I have an exciter in the rack too (also a VST), but the "Dolby trick" sounds smoother in many cases, such as this VST (similar in concept as to what you describe, but multiband):
https://www.audiothing.net/effects/type-a/

Back in the days I did some fullblast exciter-ing on filtered down synth lines, kind of similar to an over driven TB-303.
10% off at Waves with link: https://www.waves.com/r/6gh2b0
Disclaimer - I get 10% as well.

User avatar
selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

07 Aug 2018

jimmyklane wrote:
selig wrote:
24 May 2018
So cool to hear parallel compression correctly called “Motown compression” (as opposed to NY compression), something I learned (among many others) from amazing mastering engineer Bob Olhsson! Sometimes the old tricks are still totally valid.
:)


Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Yep. As far as I know we still have to turn to analog, or VST to have an actual exciter....(you can use the MClass Stereo Imager with a soloed high end and a gentle clipper to get those extra harmonics, which is another approach) are there REs out there?

Selig, is your coloring EQ capable of the AX-type sounds?

I’ve still got three Type C units hanging around in the rack, but I generally only use them as preemphasis to cassette tape (which in itself can be a part of that parallel channel for its compression and distortion!)....
An “actual exciter” is generic. If you mean an “Aural Exciter” in the form of a clone, then yes. But I could NEVER get useful results from those devices over the years, though I kept giving them another chance with each new product.

However, the idea of adding saturation to a sound in parallel with the original, and only over certain frequency ranges is the exact concept of my ColoringEQ. What’s different is the control you have, being able to saturation any range from as wide as the entire spectrum to as narrow a range as a single frequency!

And as someone who could never find a good use for the original exciter devices, it was the success of this very effect that first revealed the potential power of my approach when working with the first prototype.

Rather than being a “one button” approach to saturation FX, or cloning any vintage devices, the ColoringEQ is instead more of a toolbox of many possible saturation FX - as well as a killer EQ if you ask me! ;)


Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Selig Audio, LLC

User avatar
selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

07 Aug 2018

Boombastix wrote:I have an exciter in the rack too (also a VST), but the "Dolby trick" sounds smoother in many cases, such as this VST (similar in concept as to what you describe, but multiband):
https://www.audiothing.net/effects/type-a/

Back in the days I did some fullblast exciter-ing on filtered down synth lines, kind of similar to an over driven TB-303.
One is adding saturation, the other is not (could be why it sounds “smoother” to you?).


Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Selig Audio, LLC

User avatar
Boombastix
Competition Winner
Posts: 1929
Joined: 18 May 2018
Location: Bay Area, CA

09 Aug 2018

selig wrote:
07 Aug 2018
One is adding saturation, the other is not (could be why it sounds “smoother” to you?).
Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Correct. I'm sure you know quite well how the actual circuits work and differ. The Dolby trick is a "dynamic upwards compression / dynamic EQ" of the higher frequencies. So the transients are getting less treatment than the rest, but the exciter adds overtones a bit harshly, unless you are careful, to the transients. Though it has the ability to shape the sound quite a bit more. Both have their merits.
10% off at Waves with link: https://www.waves.com/r/6gh2b0
Disclaimer - I get 10% as well.

Post Reply
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests