So, UA finally decides to get into the loudness race, eh? 
... Well, maybe not.
As always with UA's plugins there is one thing you can count on, and that is quality. Maybe you don't like this or that plugin, but there is no denying that the algorithms themselves are top notch! I have to say that the new Maximizer from UA does not disappoint. Its resemblance to the Oxford Inflator can't be denied, and as another forum member pointed out, they cancel eachother out by -40db! That is the same as Waves SSL plugins cancels against their hardware counterparts.
To my ears, they sound radically different though but are set out to accomplish the same task; giving you a larger than life sound! So, how can you use it? On pretty much any sound that needs an extra \"wow\" factor I would say. Complete mixes, drum subs, guitars, vocals... you name it. It can be considered the special sauce that just gels it all together, but if you use it on everything it will not taste/sound that good. I've put it through its paces the last couple of days, using it on both a mastering and mix session. So here goes!
I had just finished a mastering session that demanded some very loud average levels. Pretty much ranging from -8.5 to -6dBFS RMS. This is very hard to achieve cleanly, but as an ME I've worked for years on my loudness techniques and found the best way for me to do it, and so this was the PERFECT challenge for the Precision Maximizer, to see if it made any of my trusted techniques and tools obsolete. The first thing I reacted to was that the saturation sounded a lot like the PENTODE process on the Cranesong HEDD. Actually they sounded surprisingly similar... they even work in the same manner since the HEDD also \"mixes in\" the saturated sound with the original which makes it more transparent than other similar processes. The PENTODE process goes from 0-10, and pretty much when using the PENTODE process above 6 you start to push the programme a bit too much. When MIX equals 100% on the PM it's about the same as 7 on the HEDD... So for mastering purposes where you aim at subtle enhancement you might want to look at a MIX setting of about 50% as a good starting point.
So I just removed all of my \"loudness enhancing processes\" from the session and threw in the PM to see how well it fared. My conclusion is, better than any other single loudness maximizer I've had the pleasure of trying. But as always with loudness, it is a very fine line between something sounding good vs. over the top. This is a process where 1/4 of a db anywhere will make a big difference, so it really does take quite a while to understand how to get the cleanest, loudest result out of this box. When you go for loudness, the secret is to spread the workload out between a number of boxes that all complement eachother. 1db there, 0.5db there, 1db there... etc.... It's important to find the right tools in the right place. So, I can say that the PM did not replace or enhance any of my previous tools or techniques for gaining loudness. But that's due to the fact that it didn't \"interface\" with my other combination of tools. Using the PM solely I ended up with a 1-2db lower master than my original while having the same amount of acceptable \"grunge\" present. But consider that I normally use a combiantion of high-end hardware and plugins to gain my gain.
So this is actually a very high score for the PM I think! The way to go is to get as loud a result as you can, using the cleanest tools you have, and then add the grunge to gain extra level. So, slam a Precision Limiter on your bus and limit as much as you think is musically appropriate and then add the PM just before it and tweak until you get the best of both worlds!
...
... Well, maybe not.As always with UA's plugins there is one thing you can count on, and that is quality. Maybe you don't like this or that plugin, but there is no denying that the algorithms themselves are top notch! I have to say that the new Maximizer from UA does not disappoint. Its resemblance to the Oxford Inflator can't be denied, and as another forum member pointed out, they cancel eachother out by -40db! That is the same as Waves SSL plugins cancels against their hardware counterparts.
To my ears, they sound radically different though but are set out to accomplish the same task; giving you a larger than life sound! So, how can you use it? On pretty much any sound that needs an extra \"wow\" factor I would say. Complete mixes, drum subs, guitars, vocals... you name it. It can be considered the special sauce that just gels it all together, but if you use it on everything it will not taste/sound that good. I've put it through its paces the last couple of days, using it on both a mastering and mix session. So here goes!
I had just finished a mastering session that demanded some very loud average levels. Pretty much ranging from -8.5 to -6dBFS RMS. This is very hard to achieve cleanly, but as an ME I've worked for years on my loudness techniques and found the best way for me to do it, and so this was the PERFECT challenge for the Precision Maximizer, to see if it made any of my trusted techniques and tools obsolete. The first thing I reacted to was that the saturation sounded a lot like the PENTODE process on the Cranesong HEDD. Actually they sounded surprisingly similar... they even work in the same manner since the HEDD also \"mixes in\" the saturated sound with the original which makes it more transparent than other similar processes. The PENTODE process goes from 0-10, and pretty much when using the PENTODE process above 6 you start to push the programme a bit too much. When MIX equals 100% on the PM it's about the same as 7 on the HEDD... So for mastering purposes where you aim at subtle enhancement you might want to look at a MIX setting of about 50% as a good starting point.
So I just removed all of my \"loudness enhancing processes\" from the session and threw in the PM to see how well it fared. My conclusion is, better than any other single loudness maximizer I've had the pleasure of trying. But as always with loudness, it is a very fine line between something sounding good vs. over the top. This is a process where 1/4 of a db anywhere will make a big difference, so it really does take quite a while to understand how to get the cleanest, loudest result out of this box. When you go for loudness, the secret is to spread the workload out between a number of boxes that all complement eachother. 1db there, 0.5db there, 1db there... etc.... It's important to find the right tools in the right place. So, I can say that the PM did not replace or enhance any of my previous tools or techniques for gaining loudness. But that's due to the fact that it didn't \"interface\" with my other combination of tools. Using the PM solely I ended up with a 1-2db lower master than my original while having the same amount of acceptable \"grunge\" present. But consider that I normally use a combiantion of high-end hardware and plugins to gain my gain.
So this is actually a very high score for the PM I think! The way to go is to get as loud a result as you can, using the cleanest tools you have, and then add the grunge to gain extra level. So, slam a Precision Limiter on your bus and limit as much as you think is musically appropriate and then add the PM just before it and tweak until you get the best of both worlds!
...
