A MMultibandTransient Tutorial (sort of)

[Alphacodex]

I recently worked on a project with a very rhythmical bassline that just did not cut through the mix enough, so i decided to try a Transient Shaper. Usually my first goto plugin in this area is the SPL Transient Designer, but I just could not get what I wanted with it. So I decided to give the MMultibandTransient a try. I must admit that I already put this plugin aside unjustified, because I could not figure out how to set it up properly. So this time I spent a bit more time and got very good results, so I thought I share my approach here. Be aware that this is just the approach that worked great for me for that specific task, however I believe it could work for a lot of other tasks, too.

What I did is:
1) put MMultbandTransient into a insert slot of your DAW of course
2) In the "Advanced" section set the output mode to "Transients"
3) right-click in the band-section and select "Add Band" (in my case an upper band from 1kHz onward worked good for me)
4) now while playing your audio, sweep the resolution, until you clearly hear the transients of your material (the snappy-attacks of the instrument). If you set the resolution too low, you will only get clicks or pops, if you set it too high you will get more than just the attack phase of the instrument. Try to find the sweet spot inbetween those to extremes.
5) Set the mode of the upper band to S (Solo)
6) while still playing the audio move the divider between the two bands to further shape, what parts of your instrument should be attenuated.
7) You might need to fiddle around with steps 4 and 6, because both are interdependent.
Cancel Solo Mode of the upper band, and set output mode to normal again
9) then rise the attack control until the attenuation of the transients is high enough (do that "in the mix") not while solo-listening the instrument.

Done.

There might be cases where you also (or only) work on the lower band, but in my case the desired snappyness was achieved only by attenuating the upper band.

I'd be interested if that approach also works for you, or if you have more thoughts on using the Melda Transient Shaper.

Cheers,
Codex

[Moonwrist]

To me transient plugins are kind of new thing. I got the MmultibandTransient last year.

So far I mainly use it for drums if necessary.
I usually have an eq plugin first. I put a HPF to 1k and then try to find that transient hit with a narrow bell filter boost. Then I bypass the HPF and listen if the eq is enough. If not I add more boost or that was what I did before. Now I might put the transient plugin next and I already know the frequency range I need to focus.

I have also used the plugin in AcGtr tracks with varying results. Probably I need more practice.

[Alphacodex]

That approach with boosting the prominent transient frequency with an EQ only also works of course, however the benefit of the transient editor is that you only apply the volume boost to the transient, not the whole audio material. Together with the multiband approach, much more surgical edits are possible, because you can limit the processing in the time domain (transient only) as well as in the frequency domain (multiband). One caveat is of course, the material needs some distinct transients already or else the detection algorythm will not work properly.

Cheers,
Codex

[Moonwrist]

Yes you'r right.
That is just my old work method with only the eq plugin but I still use that to find the frequency I want to affect with the transient plugin. I think it is similar procedure than your step 6 but I just find it easier to do with the eq plugin.
For example if I find a good attack sound with the eq in 3k frequency region in snare track I start the transient plugin with a band from 2k to 4k.

And yes the material really matters. Those times I have had good result with the AcGtr track are played softly but most of the time those hard, loud, busy parts could benefit more from clearer attack.