MXXX: Replicating Waves OneKnob Phatter

[Annabanna]

This is probably the only single knob type plugin I ever use, but I find it quite useful on percussion in particular. I haven't had much luck trying to just replicate it by rolling off highs, boosting low mids, etc. I assume there's something else going on, but I'm not quite sure what. Multiband saturation maybe?

Anyone know exactly what's going on with that plug or taken a stab at recreating it in mxxx?

[mibby]

I haven't used it, but my first guess would be parallel processing. i.e. compress the snot out of a duplicate track and blend it in.

[Annabanna]

I haven't used it, but my first guess would be parallel processing. i.e. compress the snot out of a duplicate track and blend it in.

I hadn't really checked the dynamics since the spectrum shift is what immediately grabs attention. Will check for that. I'm not using it to tame percussion or anything like that. It just helps to add heft to anemic samples and get them to puch through more in the midrange.

[mibby]

Parallel processing can add density too. There's an Andrew Schepps tutorial somewhere about how he does his Vocal parallel bus to get the vocal to stand out in a dense mix. Basically, on the p-buss, he uses a Pultec EQ and shapes it tonally for what he's after (vocal in this case), compresses it hard with an LA-2A, then adds exactly the opposite EQ that he did in the first one to the compressed signal, then blends it in with the original. It works great to emphasize a frequency range on a track(s). Maybe that'll work?

[AGIGA]

I don't think there is something special going on in OneKnob Phatter. It seems to be just a broad low shelf (and some harmonics at -80dB and lower, with OneKnob Phatter at +10dB) .

Not even Waves is claiming any magic. From the manual:
A bass booster that provides a generous analog-style low shelf filter to fatten up any
source, OneKnob Phatter is OneKnob Brighter’s “heavier set” brother. For tracks that
seem too thin, Phatter is a quick way to add bottom, weight, and body to instruments,
drums, and vocals alike, to bring them just a bit closer in the mix.

[Annabanna]

I don't think there is something special going on in OneKnob Phatter. It seems to be just a broad low shelf (and some harmonics starting at -80dB) .

It's been my general impression that it's mainly EQ, but I think it's the harmonics part I hadn't quite worked out how to replicate.

[Annabanna]

Parallel processing can add density too. There's an Andrew Schepps tutorial somewhere about how he does his Vocal parallel bus to get the vocal to stand out in a dense mix. Basically, on the p-buss, he uses a Pultec EQ and shapes it tonally for what he's after (vocal in this case), compresses it hard with an LA-2A, then adds exactly the opposite EQ that he did in the first one to the compressed signal, then blends it in with the original. It works great to emphasize a frequency range on a track(s). Maybe that'll work?

Interesting. I've done parallel processing on lots of things, but I tend to use it more often on drums. I hadn't tried the opposite EQ thing. May have to try that.