[Intro pricing extended] Available now: T-RackS Sunset Sound Studio Reverb

[Squids]

And to summarize a couple of important points for those who don't like reading some of the back and forth (and I do also suggest one does not skip the posts by someone who actually worked at Sunset Sound as those are gold)

Yes, he was great and we're lucky he came back to speak up because apparently someone called him a "shill" (I don't even know what that is! haha... is it bad? lol) and he deleted his first post because he was offended. Then, luckily, he decided to finally share some very interesting stuff! It bothered me that the personal attack activity was potentially going to stop us from getting a valuable post from someone with experience working at the studio. I've never met him before but I'm glad to have virtually met him now in here.

Some people think they have the right to behave any way they want, as if the first amendment in one country gives them global rights or rights in a privately owned and run forum! This isn't NAMM Smokey, there are rules! (that was for you Peter TBL refs... with NAMM thrown in for a laugh). Yeah, whether people who bring things down get banned or suspended or bow out or simply find a way to voice their opinion and constructive criticism in a respectful way, I think it's an improvement to the experience of being here.

[TheMaestro]

nvm

[Squids]

Oh by the way, I forgot to mention something about Jampoints for people who do buy other IK Multimedia products. We used to do "epointz" at esoundz.com (still do actually but it used to be a fun thing on KVR years ago that we did in our company forum). Then IK created Jampoints and I never really knew exactly how it worked so I asked out of curiosity how much one could save on the Sunset Sound Studio Reverb if they had enough Jampoints and apparently you can save up to $50 for a $149 purchase. So if you have enough Jampoints you can get it for $99. But, what I also found out is that the purchase itself will count as the full $149 toward new Jampoints (I believe you get 8% of your purchases back toward these Jampoints). I like these kind of reward systems. I actually do take advantage of them with Best Buy and other companies. So, obviously this is just something for people who have purchased a lot of IK products or plan to. You can save some more money it which might make a difference to you. Cool that you can use Jampoints on the discounted intro price as well. Some companies don't let you use two methods of discount on the same purchase but apparently in this case you can.

[jinotsuh]

apparently you can save up to $50 for a $149 purchase. So if you have enough Jampoints you can get it for $99.

Actually that is not correct, you can only use up to 30% of the cost in JamPoints, and obviously $50 is higher than 30% of $149.99. To be sure I just tried it out, the most Jampoints you can use is 45, which would bring the Pre-Order price to $104.99.

Only a small thing I know, but if you are after truth and accuracy . . . there you go

[Squids]

apparently you can save up to $50 for a $149 purchase. So if you have enough Jampoints you can get it for $99.

Actually that is not correct, you can only use up to 30% of the cost in JamPoints, and obviously 50 is higher than 30% of 149. To be sure I just tried it out, the most Jampoints you can use is 45, which would bring the Pre-Order price to $104.99.

Only a small thing, but if you are after accuracy . . . there you go

Ah ok you're right. Us musicians and math. But, it's in the ballpark anyway. Saving $45 on it can be nice.

Oh also, for what it's worth, I requested that the intro price at least be extended a little longer. When it goes back up to regular price it's gonna be a shock to some but this and other plug-ins like it are in the $200 and up range. Sure, some companies get aggressive with sales and sometimes IK does. But, I heard there might not even be a group buy this year for TR. I'm not saying there won't eventually be a "make me an offer I can't refuse" sale at some point down the line but it could be awhile. I haven't seen too many complaints about the price except in here though so I was thinking of you guys. Intro price plus jampoints discount if you happen to already own or want to get other IK products is maybe the best way to get it for the lowest price. I can't guarantee that my requests will be granted. Although at least I think Peter agrees with me that it would be nice if people have a little more time to get it at the lower price. We'll see!

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

JamPoints can be used to for up to 30% off. Details can be found at http://www.ikmultimedia.com/jampoints/ (including how JamPoints are earned and how many)

[jinotsuh]

Ah ok you're right. Us musicians and math. But, it's in the ballpark anyway. Saving $45 on it can be nice.

Indeed, a lot of people seem to dislike and or have trouble with IK's Gear Credits and Jampoints scheme, there always seems to be confusion and angst toward it. Personally I have never found it confusing, and the extra discount that can be gained whether it be through purchasing Gear Credits with JamPoints or more direct straight out JamPoints is much appreciated. (not to mention those group buys, amazing value to be had) I own everything T-Racks, Amplitube except for the Leslies (just don't do it for me) Syntronik, Sampletank, Lurssen, MODO Bass, passed on MODO Drums, I'm very happy with BFD3 and the gazzilion expansions I have for it, I may get MODO Drums down the track sometime who knows.

Looking forward to this reverb being released, but I'll wait for a demo first, because I feel it might be a bit more 'specialized' because of what it is as apposed to a 'ordinary' reverb. Had my finger on the trigger when first word came out, but didn't pull it, must be getting old, which I am, just turn 56 and not in the best of health, but still enjoying what I can.

Anyway, bring it on, and the Amplitube Satriani pack, I pre-ordered that, looking forward to it as well.

[digitalboytn]

What is the "real name" of "Teneyetus"... the person who said that they worked at Sunset Sound ?

He sounded like DK's alter ego in his posts

[Meffy]

I think it would be a serious violation of privacy for one person to give out someone else's personal information without consent. You could ask them directly, via PM, and they might or might not reply. They'd be under no obligation to respond.

[Squids]

What is the "real name" of "Teneyetus"... the person who said that they worked at Sunset Sound ?

He sounded like DK's alter ego in his posts

You accusing me of being a sock-puppet? haha. No, it's definitely not me. I do now know the guy's real name because I wanted to meet him after reading his awesome post so I talked to him in PM. But, as Meffy points out, it would not be my place to say his name. That's up to him. He's worked at the studio a lot and has some interesting knowledge to share! Seems like a nice guy too so I hope people appreciate him and make him feel welcome here. Otherwise it'd be your loss. He knows a lot more than I do in terms of what has been done with gear use and signal paths at the studio in various sessions. I'm always researching that kind of stuff with people I know or meet who have worked at the studio... and that does include engineers who have worked with Van Halen, Beach Boys and other greats so I'm collecting all kinds of info (and making presets) to benefit anyone who's into the educational side and also... likes those kinds of free extras. Presets like that can be a great starting point in music making. When I read Teneyetus's post my "preset meter" went off in my head. I kept thinking what he was saying would be great to show in a chain within T-RackS! So, maybe we'll do that.

By the way, I also have no idea what a Teneyetus even is. If I did have an alter ego here (which I never have in 18 years and mods can confirm that probably) it would be a name I understand... like Octopus or Dave or Dave the Octopus... actually that would be too easy to figure out. Hmmm... I don't know actually what I would call myself. I better just be Squids then! If you don't believe me I'm gonna laugh and probably spit out my drink.

[Squids]

Looking forward to this reverb being released, but I'll wait for a demo first, because I feel it might be a bit more 'specialized' because of what it is as apposed to a 'ordinary' reverb. Had my finger on the trigger when first word came out, but didn't pull it, must be getting old, which I am, just turn 56 and not in the best of health, but still enjoying what I can.

Anyway, bring it on, and the Amplitube Satriani pack, I pre-ordered that, looking forward to it as well.

That's not old! I'm not far behind ya. But, I wish you better health.

Regarding the reverb being specialized... I'm glad you brought that up actually because recently I was thinking of the reverbs I typically use in a session which are more often algorithm-based. I did recently use Altiverb in 5.1 to recreate a concert hall ambience because it was a concert Blu-Ray (my own concert from my solo group... and I've got two more concert videos to mix now so I'll probably use it for that as well!). It was great!

Now, after spending so much time at Sunset Sound and in my studio listening to every room there and every chamber, plate and spring in the context of tracks from my own songs I can say that I've personally changed my mind, at least to a significant degree, on what my "go to" reverbs will be from now on. The biggest revelation for me was actually the chambers. Up until recently I don't think I've ever used one in a music production or mix. Maybe I have... I must have but... well, I might have with this project I was doing with Alan Parsons possibly or maybe it was something with Ocean Way or EpiK DrumS with Ken Scott. Possibly more with sampling than in an actual song. I forget (I'm getting old! hahahaha woops... we're not old man! 50 is the new 30!). In any case, for certain things especially vocals I'm starting to get into chambers and plates. It just sounds so smooth, rich and organic. Plus, I suppose in my mind, I'm getting spoiled working at Sunset Sound and at some point they're gonna say to me "Ok you've done enough of your demo experiments, Dave. We've got actual paying clients to deal with here so buzz off!!!" (They're really nice to me I'm just kidding... but still... I don't even live in LA to be able to record there let alone the ability to use the studio as much as I would do work on album after album there). So, for me, SSSR is kind of like my surrogate studio experience there. But, this is after falling more in love with the studio. If you've never been there then it must be different... although it's easy to get excited when you just read about it or see the pictures. There must be some reason why all of these artists recorded there! It sounds great! That's one reason.

Anyway, I think you're doing the right thing. Always good to try something out when you can and then you'll know when you have it if it's something you'd use. I agree it's good to buy only things you'll really use... I don't actually end up doing that myself! I buy everything I think I want to have "just in case" but it's ok because I do earn a living in the music business and those are just the cost of doing business. Instead of buying trinkets and clothes and whatnot I buy gear and software. It's fun to collect the virtual (and real hardware when possible) gear.

The reason I wanted to write though is because I too had this idea at first that it was perhaps an esoteric specialty plug-in and for that it would still be cool. But, now to me it's kind of a staple piece I may find myself using in every rock production I do. I think it's my favorite reverb plug-in I own and I've got quite a few. Will it stay that way and actually be used in every mix I do? That, in all honesty, remains to be seen and proven. So far I think that's very likely. It's a very musical and adds some magic character to the mix. And, if you think about it, this sort of "mojo" element is why a lot of us like to use a Neve or some tube EQ or compressor or a tape saturation plug-in (those are amazing in the T-RackS series btw). It all depends on the song and style.

[Squids]

The other thing I'm interested in doing more of, and this was something Song Shark brought up, is putting instruments together in a virtual room. I rarely use room reverbs. If I have a room sound in my song it's probably because there was a big room where the drums were recorded... but maybe the other instruments were overdubbed in a dry room, ISO booth or DI. They get their own ambient treatment anyway usually (depends) but what I rarely do, if ever, is make a conscious effort to try to put them in the same "room" as the drums (if the drums have a distinct room sound in the song... sometimes they're more dry and in that case it's not as important).

As I've said before, my own studio's live room is not that ambient. But, a lot of drummers I work with like Nick D'Virgilio who records his drums for me in the great huge studio over at Sweetwater because that's where he is and Marco Minnemann who records his drums in his home studio (which is medium ambience, a bit more than my studio which is tighter) I just get what I get and go from there. Sometimes there's a huge drum sound. I've even recorded drums at Genesis' studio where Phil Collins was recorded in that stone room which is extremely ambient. I did an album called "Dimensionaut" with Phil''s son Simon Collins in a similar sounding room in Canada (although I didn't mix it I just produced it. We had Nick Davis, Genesis and XTC's producer/engineer mix it). But, I am ready with great mics and mic pres (including a lot of API and Neve and even at least one custom Sunset Sound mic pre!!!) to do more drums HERE in my studio. When I start doing more of that I'll have a very controllable "dry" drum sound to work with and that might be the ideal time to try out this idea of putting the drums, guitar and keys at least plus any acoustic instruments all in the same "virtual room" by bussing them to one of the live rooms in the Sunset Sound Studio Reverb. Either that or putting it as an insert on each channel and printing it. I don't know yet. I've always wanted to mess around with that. And, of course, I always could have with Altiverb so it's not like "All of a sudden I can". I'm not saying that. I'm saying that all of a sudden I'm motivated to do it because I really like the sounds I'm hearing in SSSR. I dream of recording all the instruments and drums AT Sunset Sound in the first place so I'm curious to see how I can make recordings sound close to that on my typical Progrock shoe string budget! I pay monthly rent for my studio so the per hour time is wonderfully low here. It would be even lower if I had a home studio but I don't. Main difference is I can crank it here 24/7 and that's how I like it.

Anyway, more food for thought if you think you might want to try something similar. By all means, if any of you guys want to share applications you think it could be fun to try please post about it. I got so caught up in excitement about the chambers and plates that it was actually Song Shark's post that got me back to thinking about how I might start using these room sounds. Plus, the other thing I never thought I'd use (and this deserves a separate post to get into detail) is the ISO BOOTHS! That's more subtle but there are some interesting things about that I've noticed. I need to mess with it more but adding that to a vocal or acoustic guitar gives it a kind of "air" and extra pre-delay effect. I might start using that as well. Cool to have in there. I would never go buy a plug-in to recreate the sound of an ISO Booth! haha. But, since it's in there anyway it could actually be quite useful to me and other people in the end.

[Squids]

To clarify one thing, I do often put instruments and drums in the same "Hall" reverb with the usual aux sends going to one reverb together. That's commonly done by me and others. But, I meant I don't often put them in a room reverb meant to simulate the sound of everyone recording together at the same time in the same space (as opposed to a hall which is usually meant to give it all a shared space in a larger than life or element of live concert vibe... less intimate and less "together in a room" sounding).

I've done recordings where we WERE physically all in the same room at the same time (and those can be awesome... at the sacrifice of isolation if someone messes anything up in the "band take"). But, not so much emulating it after the fact with plug-ins. Like I said, you have to have the right material to start with such as drums and instruments that aren't already too ambient so you're not piling too much on and getting a mushy mess it can work. Now that I have this and I'm excited I could potentially do new song sessions with that goal in mind... and if it turns out to work well then I'll do more of it because it's a very cost effective way to go.

[TheMaestro]

We get it now. You've convinced yourself that this plugin is ok.

[Squids]

We get it now. You've convinced yourself that this plugin is ok.

Whatever you say! You're The Maestro!


I love it when people say "we" as if they speak for others.