KVR Audio

tahome · Post by **tahome** » Fri May 05, 2006 6:44 pm

justjazz wrote:What is the best limiter/maximizer under 70$ that is versatile for music from jazz to techno? Sometimes I will be looking for that radio-ready squashed sound (sorry), while most other times, clean dynamics will be my goal.

Dynasone, no question about that (ok - *if* you're willing to pay a little more than 70 $ for quality) - I use it exactly for that purpose everyday. There's a (somewhat old) review in EM at http://emusician.com/mag/emusic_quick_p ... index.html but it's still true. They're at version 2.1 now which is much better wrt. interface and handling and the quality is simply amazing.

HTH,
--th

justjazz · Post by **justjazz** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:00 pm

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:02 pm

Dynasone??? I'm sorry, but there is no way I could recommend that plugin for serious mastering. Transparent it's not, mushy it is, and that "Automix" usually just winds up with searing high end! Don't get me wrong, I actually kind of like that plugin (love that "Subsynth"!), but not for clean mastering. And not at that price.

But hey, maybe check out the demo, though; I could be totally wrong.

But you do bring up something important: to get radio-level death mastering, you'll need a multiband compressor. BuzComp makes a nice one, very similar to Waves...unfortunatley, there aren't that many low-cost ones available yet.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:07 pm

Don't forget about the TBT plugins. Free but good.

Torben · Post by **Torben** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:13 pm

justjazz wrote:Sometimes I will be looking for that radio-ready squashed sound (sorry), while most other times, clean dynamics will be my goal.

I do not want to interfere too much in your quest for the limiter of your needs but I could not help noticing the sentence "radio-ready squashed sound". You should know that a squashed sound is not radio ready. The radio stations got there own compressors that makes the sound "squashed", even on good dynamic material.

Cheers

Torben

P.S. Download some demos and believe what you hear. If you think it sounds good your friends will probably also

advaya · Post by **advaya** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:19 pm

bduffy wrote:MPL-1 is an absurd steal at its current price; run don't walk to the Kjaerhus store. Ozone is overkill, and I, for one, don't think its limiter is anything to write home about (no offense to owners, I just wasn't sold).

Sounds really interesting. I've been looking for a good limiter as of late.

Do you think the PRO version is worth the extra cost? I kinda like to keep things simple, but if there is some 'absolute necessity' included in the pro version, I'd probably live with the added learning curve.

cheers.

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:31 pm

Check out the MPL thread, or maybe Torben will enlighten us on that.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=133637

Torben · Post by **Torben** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:41 pm

advaya wrote:
bduffy wrote:MPL-1 is an absurd steal at its current price; run don't walk to the Kjaerhus store. Ozone is overkill, and I, for one, don't think its limiter is anything to write home about (no offense to owners, I just wasn't sold).
Sounds really interesting. I've been looking for a good limiter as of late.

Do you think the PRO version is worth the extra cost? I kinda like to keep things simple, but if there is some 'absolute necessity' included in the pro version, I'd probably live with the added learning curve.

cheers.

The standard version is made for those who want an easy solution and do not want / need to fine tune there material too much. If you want to be able to squice the maximum / best out of different materials it's the pro version you should have. The pro version also offers remote control through MIDI learn.

Torben

advaya · Post by **advaya** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:46 pm

Torben wrote:
advaya wrote:
bduffy wrote:MPL-1 is an absurd steal at its current price; run don't walk to the Kjaerhus store. Ozone is overkill, and I, for one, don't think its limiter is anything to write home about (no offense to owners, I just wasn't sold).
Sounds really interesting. I've been looking for a good limiter as of late.

Do you think the PRO version is worth the extra cost? I kinda like to keep things simple, but if there is some 'absolute necessity' included in the pro version, I'd probably live with the added learning curve.

cheers.
The standard version is made for those who want an easy solution and do not want / need to fine tune there material too much. If you want to be able to squice the maximum / best out of different materials it's the pro version you should have. The pro version also offers remote control through MIDI learn.

Torben

Thanks for the quick reply. That clears things up.

Cheers.

tahome · Post by **tahome** » Sat May 06, 2006 9:18 am

bduffy wrote:Dynasone??? I'm sorry, but there is no way I could recommend that plugin for serious mastering.[...]Don't get me wrong, I actually kind of like that plugin (love that "Subsynth"!), but not for clean mastering. And not at that price.

But hey, maybe check out the demo, though; I could be totally wrong.

I think you are.

For me it's quite the opposite: I really like the compressor and automix part of the plug in but the subbass synth never really worked for me, all it does is add distortion.

So I guess it's (as always) a matter of personal taste.

As far as I am concerned, I couldn't do any mastering without it.

--th

AKJ · Post by **AKJ** » Sat May 06, 2006 10:13 am

buzmaxi3 - and it's free

Jeuzel · Post by **Jeuzel** » Mon May 08, 2006 12:17 am

For mastering i use TLS Maximizer, freeware and the best i think.

scam_artist · Post by **scam_artist** » Mon May 08, 2006 12:27 am

MPl-1 is the best I've ever used, and I'm not just saying that because it's the new kid on the block. it still sounds smooth when others start to pump or distort

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Tue May 09, 2006 4:34 am

tahome wrote:
bduffy wrote:Dynasone??? I'm sorry, but there is no way I could recommend that plugin for serious mastering.[...]Don't get me wrong, I actually kind of like that plugin (love that "Subsynth"!), but not for clean mastering. And not at that price.

But hey, maybe check out the demo, though; I could be totally wrong.
I think you are.

For me it's quite the opposite: I really like the compressor and automix part of the plug in but the subbass synth never really worked for me, all it does is add distortion.

So I guess it's (as always) a matter of personal taste.

As far as I am concerned, I couldn't do any mastering without it.

--th

Yeah, I think I've had this discussion before. Despite the
power under the hood", I found it very compressed-sounding, and those controls are just so small...I'd be interested to hear something convincingly mastered with it. Actually: I found it effective on dance music - but I've always found you can get away with more compression on dance tracks. Maybe it's more electronica-oriented.

tahome · Post by **tahome** » Tue May 09, 2006 10:56 am

Agreed on the size of the Dynasone controls (same goes for Voxciter which I also use often for voiceovers), it's hard to adjust them properly. But I really like the sound of this thing and does a wonderful job on balancing the overall mix if you don't push it too hard. I wouldn't prepare a vinyl master without it - it holds some of the secrets for cutting it REALLY loud.

I do drum&bass and dance music and for that kind of music it is simply the best tool out there. I'm not sure how well it performs with acoustical recordings like guitar and piano but I'm not mastering this kind of music very often (we really don't use that many guitars in Germany and Switzerland, most people are more dance oriented here, ie. what the Americans would call "techno" even if techno is something different in Europe).

Cheers,
--th