IK and Gavin Lurssen set to unveil revolutionary mastering product at NAMM 2016

[blueman]

When companies keep using terms like 'revolutionary' it does involuntarily generate rolling of eyes for me.. it actually sets the expectation even higher when it's presented like this - more chance of being disappointed.

Yep

[Nimrod7]

I agree with most of the comments but let's see the positives also.

I was having Amplitude 2 boxed version, can't even remember how many year back I brought it. I recently wanted to reinstall it, and I just have to install Amplitude 4 custom shop and all of the amplitude 2 amps were available for me immediately. Didn't pay anything. Free.

I didn't have the same luck with other products, from smaller devs. One of them didn't even provided the original installer and wanted me to update for a cost. He is claimed that the product was EOL.

Also their T-racks stuff if I am not mistaken they are comparable and ever exceeding the quality of similar emulations from Waves and UAD. And they don't require DSP, WUP, plus they are hell cheaper.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

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[chris.r]

will be funny this time if it really IS revolutionary though.

+1

[Compyfox]

I mean Arc was. It helped home users with average or less than average rooms, be able to do a more accurate mix.

In all honesty - ARC "as is" wasn't revolutionary at all. The concept of "correcting speakers with filters" was out for quite a while a this point (especially in hardware form). What made it "revolutionary" was the accessibility and the simplified process. Instead of spending a fortune on doing similar with hardware, you got a piece of software and a mic (which can be used for more things than just analysis).

Same with other "revolutionary concepts" in recent years - the "console emulations" for example:
Again, not a new concept - but massively dumbed down and accessible.

Dynamic EQ? Talk about it, make it simple to use... Mid/Side? Bundle it with almost every other tool, make it accessible. Both of them suddenly revolutionary and people won't live without it.


Boom, there you have it - marketing at it's best. However, once you take a closer look under the hood, especially if you're a bit knowledgeable in this area, things start to fall apart...



What I do consider to be "revolutionary", is unlocking limitations from a certain engine (think: Android and Latency), though this can also be shrugged off as "source programmers ignoring that area, while other devs found workarounds". I mean... look at video game consoles - the first games usually run slow and with crap graphics on a new engine (think Playstation 1 and Square Enix as prime), while 3-4 years later at the near end of it's life-cycle, we saw every bit of possibility tickled out of this limited engine.

If we want to see a real revolution, then it's providing plugins at a fair cost while being low on desired resources (CPU/ASIO usage, HDD space, etc). As of this moment, T-Racks alone uses up like what... 450MB download, extracted about 1,2GB while each plugin eats anything between 8MB to 20MB (Slate Digital is worse, here the plugins eat up to 50MB, but this is also due to C/P schemes)? And with each update the same thing over and over again?

But I think, we're long past this point - since the ultimate excuse is "PC hardware advances so fast, just upgrade and stay with the times". And here is, where the independent developers really shine...




And... I just bumped this thread yet again.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

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[Saukar30]

I'm just curious to see what's so groundbreaking. I don't hold personal resentment towards companies. Life is too short for all of that. Business is business. If I don't like it, I don't buy it... Or if it's costs more than my insurance m definitely not buying lol.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

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[JJ_Jettflow]

Mastering involves the use of extremely high-end audiophile hardware (speakers, amp, cables, etc) being placed in a listening environment that has been tuned to be as acoustically perfect as possible. The music is then manipulated by an experienced mastering engineer with very accurate eqs, compressors and various other audio tools to correct the music and to make a coherent collection out of a set of mixes that may vary considerably from one to another.

The idea is that if the music is listened through a very accurate sound system in a near-perfect environment, then someone with the proper skills will be able to detect the problems and be able to correct them....but it only works if the person knows what to listen for and how to fix it and these are highly specialized skills that take years to develop.

I do not think that this is something that be achieved at home and trying is a waste of time and money.

That is mastering in the time of record labels and cds, fast forward to digital age and post cds era-- something still needs to be done tweaking a full mix to enhance and safe to play-- mastering, which can be done at home. Different goals- same process.

No, its the same procedure professionals or semi pros use even today. It has nothing about the format or the times. No amount of technology is going to be able to replace the skill needed properly master music. But I guess if you are one of these "artists" that slap of bunch of construction loops together and call it a song, then home mastering is more than enough.

[JJ_Jettflow]

Are you sure the "EQ matching" was in Har-Bal first or Ozone? I saw EQ matching in Ozone 3 and that was in 2008. FYI, Har Bal is far from a "one knob" deal as well. While it has a couple of features that are automated, for the great part, it is a full function mastering plugin that the engineer has complete control over all eqing, compression, etc.

The first release of Har-Bal was 2003 and it's (as far as I can remember) also the first plugin with such a spectrum matching feature. Today there are of course more tools available. Also Voxengo CurveEQ has such matching feature.

But it still a poor feature. Never found any acceptable results from any of the matching EQ stuff.

i use them all the time in reverse to "make space" - melda auto EQ is amazing for this purpose to helo instruments sit better together.

To take the eq print of a song and actually seriously use that in mastering? No thanks.. it never works IMO

FWIW, steinberg did it first many years ago.. I can't remember the name of the plugin, just on the tip of my tongue, but I am positive it was them,

Never used it then on a mix, never used it since. But match eq's CAN be really useful in the actual mix process, one example which i explained above. IMO!

That's a great idea. Never ever would have thought to do that. Gonna try this out for sure.

[do_androids_dream]

That is mastering in the time of record labels and cds, fast forward to digital age and post cds era-- something still needs to be done tweaking a full mix to enhance and safe to play-- mastering, which can be done at home. Different goals- same process.

Sorry, but this statement has no truth in it at all. I can't see how you think there's a relationship between distribution formats and the practice of mastering (unless we're talking vinyl but then that's purely technical considerations). You could argue the ROLE of mastering engineers has changed and evolved over the years but the core skill needed has never changed (and never will for that matter).

[antithesist]

Are you sure the "EQ matching" was in Har-Bal first or Ozone? I saw EQ matching in Ozone 3 and that was in 2008. FYI, Har Bal is far from a "one knob" deal as well. While it has a couple of features that are automated, for the great part, it is a full function mastering plugin that the engineer has complete control over all eqing, compression, etc.

The first release of Har-Bal was 2003 and it's (as far as I can remember) also the first plugin with such a spectrum matching feature. Today there are of course more tools available. Also Voxengo CurveEQ has such matching feature.

But it still a poor feature. Never found any acceptable results from any of the matching EQ stuff.

i use them all the time in reverse to "make space" - melda auto EQ is amazing for this purpose to helo instruments sit better together.

To take the eq print of a song and actually seriously use that in mastering? No thanks.. it never works IMO

FWIW, steinberg did it first many years ago.. I can't remember the name of the plugin, just on the tip of my tongue, but I am positive it was them,

Never used it then on a mix, never used it since. But match eq's CAN be really useful in the actual mix process, one example which i explained above. IMO!

Free Filter... as I posted.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

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[antithesist]

Good discussions!

Like it or not for us, IK is one of 20 or so top-tier stables out of over 100 total software brands here as far as investment, including in no particular order: Avid, MOTU, Spectrasonics, UVI, GRM, SSL, Sonnox, Waves, Eventide, Soundtoys, NI, Lexicon, Exponential, Apple, Slate, DMG, Relab, Plugin Alliance, McDSP... those are all at around $500 up to nearly double that.

IK is a solid second-stringer in our work... rarely first choice, but often second.

So, we put up with what one of my partners calls "the Italian guys that make foot switches for turning music pages on your ipad," which I guess is actually kind of revolutionary.

[antithesist]

sorry i made that post as soon as i saw match eq mentioned, before i read the topic further. That's the one! spectral design.

I remember i had magneto too with the serial dongle. Ahhh, memories.

No problem...

lol... right, I think I still have a giant Time Bandit dongle around here somewhere.