new to this forum, thinking of buyin a UAD card...

[joeysilvero]

hows it going, new to this forum, and new to UAD,

im workin in Live 5 and SX and im thinking about getting a UAD card for a more solid plug fx range and to save on cpu usage.
Im not under the impression that these plug ins will magically transform my music as soon as i insert them but ive heard great things about UAD and think they could help my drum beats, im making soulful house and cant get my beats where i want them.

i carefully choose each drum hits, mix on seperate channels for EQ and compress the drum sub mix, still not gettin the sound im looking for and after all this my cpu is quite high, my spec is good 2 gig ram P4 3.0
pc is only used for music nothing else is installed.
please just let me know your thoughts on this as its alot of cash to spend

many thanks joe

 

[Miser]

Hello

Do you have any specific goal that you are trying to achieve soundwise?Is there any specific song that would work as a reference point?
I`m not familiar with aesthetics of house
music,but there might be someone who is and would appreciate some reference.Also knowing what compressor and eq you
are currently using might help the case in hand.So please be more specific.
Good luck!

 

[joeysilvero]

thanks ok well im using some of lives own plug ins, compressor and
EQ, also have a voxengo EQ, not really tried loads of plug ins
had a go on some demo plug ins trials etc, i know psp is great,

its the general gel of the beat, shuffling hats, solid hard kick, lower snare/clap, i avoid loops and prefer programming my beats for complete control.

heres the kind of thing im talkin about,
i have spoken to this guy but hes not keen to give away tips on his drum techniques which is understandable
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemus ... dID=366139

also
http://www.thedjlist.com/djs/RICHARD_EARNSHAW/vinyl
http://www.thedjlist.com/djs/KNEEDEEP/vinyl
http://www.thedjlist.com/djs/COPYRIGHT/vinyl

thanks joe

 

[olafmol]

this might interest you:

http://www.sonicstate.com/articles/article.cfm?id=92

furthermore i can look up some info i got from peeps like Dennis Ferrer and Jay J about how they create their beats.

Anyway, the UAD is a very good investment, regardless of what kind of music you create. With house music, the sounds themselves, and the programming/swing/shuffle are more important imho than the processing, although these days *a lot* of limiting and compression is going on to make that kind of junior jack pumping sound

Olaf

 

[joeysilvero]

hi,
oh great many thanks indeed, ill get reading this, if you find the jay j info that would be amazing, any help i can get at this point would be fantastic
as its been months ive been at the same situation tryin hard to get the sound i want but not being able to get there

thanks joe

 

[Miser]

Hello again!

On general level it is arrangement,source sounds,processing and effects (in that order) like Olaf said.
The EX-1 and LA-2A are transparent and do not colour sound that much.So if it is just leveling and processing of contour that you need,Project PAK with additional LA-2A should suffice.
LA-2A works great on kick and on subgroups.EX-1 has more control over parameters
and is easy on cards CPU.1176SE works on drums as well.On your system this setup should leave more headroom for
the host and native plug-ins.On the other hand I don`t know what is your budget so here is some general tips.
Layering sounds might help.For example kick drum layered with compressed version of it self can increase
solidness (play with ratio,attack and realease).
Subgrouping kick and snare for compression and EQ`ing (Pultec works great on drums and on bass frequencies).
Rule of thumb is to process within a context of a song,but I quess you already know it.Learning and listening
what gear does to sound is utmost important.Have you tried any freeware?

Best wishes!

 

[Eric Dahlberg]

Joe! Send me some loops along with the next track & I'll put them through the UAD-1 compressors to show you what they sound like. I'm sure you'll like the way the LA2A can make a programmed part \"breathe\" & sound more live.

 

[olafmol]

Joe! Send me some loops along with the next track & I'll put them through the UAD-1 compressors to show you what they sound like. I'm sure you'll like the way the LA2A can make a programmed part "breathe" & sound more live.

ehhm..the examples that Joe mentions generally don't sound "breathing and live" at all

looking at free plugins that are very usefull to get that typical slamming house sound i often tend to use less or more of camelphat free and/or the TLS pocket limiter

Olaf

 

[taylor]

IMO, the LA2A is not transparent at all.. but ads a really nice something to the sound. i often use it in very subtle amounts on my mix for color.

Hello again!


The EX-1 and LA-2A are transparent and do not colour sound that much.So if it is just leveling and processing of contour that you need,Project PAK with additional LA-2A should suffice.Best wishes!

 

[Miser]

Hello

Maybe I didn`t chose my words carefully.Yes indeed LA-2A has it`s own colour,but it is not as strong as on Fairchild for example.
In that sense it is relative matter.I don`t speak or write any language that well (including my native Finnish)so please bare my clumsy expressions.
The question is what transparent means in this context.I looked at dictionary and found out that it means clear or in electrical
engineering terms equipment that allows the signal pass through without being altered.So in strictest sense LA-2A is not transparent(but in absolute sense nothing is).However,traditionally LA-2A (hardware)has been used
when there is need for clear and colourwise subtle compression.It certainly is clear unless you deliberately overdrive it.
Good(read expensive) tube gear usually is subtle.I thank you taylor for pointing me to this important language related aspect!
I try to choose my words better next time.Let´s hope that Joe has found help to his mixing problems.

 

[taylor]

miser,

yes, i agree with you also.. the LA2A does not have a LOT of color, but it does have something \"special\".. especially when driven.... it is, for example, a lot more colored than say the Sony Oxford compressor (for Powercore)....

and, by the way, your english is excellent.. no need to apologize. it's a lot better than my Finnish!

 

[cane creek]

I bought a UAD-1 thinking it would be good to save CPU , I didn't actually realise the plugins were as good as they are... :wink:

Ive never met a person yet who bought a UAD-1 and regreted it


The UAD-1 is the best thing ive bought so far music wise , however i do regret buying a TC powercore.

 

[taylor]

i used to regret buying my powercore until i invested in some of the Optional plug ins..

now, the powercore is as essential as the UAD to me because of the Sony Oxford plugs, the VSS-3 and the Non-Lin reverb. the stock powercore plugs i can do without.

if you're still regretting your powercore, take a good look at some of the higher end optionals.. they're amazing.

The UAD-1 is the best thing ive bought so far music wise , however i do regret buying a TC powercore.

 

[cane creek]

I have a hardware access virus c and i thought it would be much easier to edit and automate if i bought a powercore.

so i bought

A Powercore firewire

The Virus/powercore

and the mutli license.

however the virus is totally unstable when using more than one instance (even one instance has plenty of bugs) , I feel cheated just wish i could have a full refund

 

[taylor]

yeah, virus powercore was sort of a bomb..

look into the VSS plug ins and the sony oxford... if you're looking for those types of processors.. you won't be disapointed..

 

[cane creek]

yeah, virus powercore was sort of a bomb..

look into the VSS plug ins and the sony oxford... if you're looking for those types of processors.. you won't be disapointed..

yes but should i be investing alot of money to TC for VSS plug ins and the sony oxford when they have just ripped me off with a buggy virus ? which it seems they have no intension of fixing , it defy's common sense to throw more money at them.

 

[joeysilvero]

Eric, yeah please do send me an example of what the UAD can do for my beats, im realy still undecided i cant get the house beats to where i want them, i realise i have to choose quality drum samples to start as a kick with no bottom end is not gonna work well any way

just dont know if i could maybe get the desired sound from some native plug ins ????


joey

 

[A1ex]

UAD is totally worth getting for dance. Get it first - LA2A and 1176LN are just awesome inserted on channels. Fairchild is good for real character. Nuff said.

I'm a big fan of the PoCo too - but as was said earlier you need way more $ investment to get that amazed feeling when you use it, because you need to get 3rd party add on plugins, and they make UA's prices look like chump change. 90% of my tracks have Sony EQ and inflator. Another great (and under-rated) tool is the Assimilator - I use it on maybe 30% of tracks, but it's really handy and very unique in what it does. Classicverb is surprisingly good (for a freebie) and only bows to VSS3 in the plugin world (IMO).

Once you get your mix together, try running it through the multiband compressor that comes with Cubase (Nuendo & Wavelab too) with the soft limit option off and add the sony inflator after it (or some other limiter - maybe the UAD's). For some reason I've always found that multiband easy to get good results out of. You should be able to get something nice going there too.

Last but not least, buy from JRR - I got my UAD, PoCo and extra plugins from Eric and he will cut you a sweet deal & deliver A1 service too. (He does a good deal internationally too - or so I've read.)

PS: do your homework really well & scour the relevant forums before buying any DSP card and make sure your hardware (motherboard, sound cards etc) isn't going to give you grief. It's a minefield out there!