Universal Audio has announced the Precision K-Stereo Ambience Recovery Plug-In for the UAD Powered Plug-Ins platform and Apollo Audio Interface. Created by Universal Audio in collaboration with mastering engineer Bob Katz, the K-Stereo Ambience Recovery plug-in extracts ambient cues from source recordings — allowing users to enhance the stereo depth and imaging of mixes without unnatural artifacts.

Designed for critical 2-track mastering or post-production applications, the K-Stereo plug-in offers a "do-no-harm" approach to adding depth and width to busy or narrow-sounding mixes. Using elements of the Haas effect and other psychoacoustic principles, the plug-in transparently enhances existing ambience and early reflections without adding artificial reverb or changing the ratio of center elements to side elements.

Features:

• Ambience recovery and stereo processing tool, created and patented by mastering engineer Bob Katz.
• Extracts ambient cues from the source material, naturally adding depth and width to the stereo field.
• Designed for fixing busy or "narrow" mixes at the mastering stage.
• 3-band Ambience Filter EQ for further shaping the effect.
• Mid/Side gain controls available to adjust the center-to-side balance.
• Left/Right Gain controls for final stereo image balancing and leveling.
• Custom user presets created by Bob Katz.

Price: $199 US via UA's Online Store. Available as part of the upcoming UAD Software v6.3.2 release, scheduled for early November.