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.
“The Exciting Compressor”
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- Posts: 740
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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
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
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.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.
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Selig Audio, LLC
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- Joined: 16 Apr 2018
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 wrote: ↑24 May 2018So 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.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.
Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
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
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
- Boombastix
- Competition Winner
- Posts: 1929
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- Location: Bay Area, CA
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.
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.
Disclaimer - I get 10% as well.
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.jimmyklane wrote: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 wrote: ↑24 May 2018So 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, 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!)....
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!
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Selig Audio, LLC
One is adding saturation, the other is not (could be why it sounds “smoother” to you?).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.
Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Selig Audio, LLC
- Boombastix
- Competition Winner
- Posts: 1929
- Joined: 18 May 2018
- Location: Bay Area, CA
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.
Disclaimer - I get 10% as well.
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