This is sounding real good Andrew… Excellent clarity, can distinguish all the parts, but it gels really nicely too.
Intrigued by your gain-staging comment. I use the Izotope Ozone suite on pretty much everything for the past few years since I first picked it up, and my impression (without any kind of deep dive, mind you) is that the component parts seem to “understand their place” in the gain-stage chain and I rarely have to make any adjustments from one component handing off to the next. I kinda thought that was one of the main objectives of an integrated channel-strip plug, to take some of that guesswork out of the deal. I’ve not heard of the Scheps before now, is there not some similar approach taken in its design?
And when you used it on individual tracks as well as on the 2, how does that get set up? Drop one instance on each track and the pick and choose which components you want to use depending on the instruments and so forth? (I also went in for the Izotope Alloy which I use on many individual tracks; it’s intended for that mostly, whereas Ozone almost always only on the 2 bus. Although once in awhile I’ll grab just one of the components, e.g. tape saturation, to use alone.)
Very nice, I hope you post what you consider the “finished” version so that we can see just what you like to get out of that last 5%…
There is no single plugin that does all of these things. The Saphira is the only plugin that with proportional distortion ratios based on even and odd order harmonics. I do not believe there is plugin with accurate modeling of 3 compressor schematics with linked output attenuation and automatic re-blancing of the makeup gain. This is the only plugin where the architecture of the single chain can fold to a 5.1 surround sound effects bus from directly inside the UI window.
It has a very “analogue” feel to the plugin, meaning that the harder you push the gain, the more it rounds off the transients. I did things very quickly, so I didn’t really understand this fully until well into the mix. I think if I took more time to explore the “sweet spot” with the input and output gain, I might have been able to be more purposeful with the way I shaped the transients in the mix.
And when you used it on individual tracks as well as on the 2, how does that get set up? Drop one instance on each track and the pick and choose which components you want to use depending on the instruments and so forth?
You’ve got it - That’s pretty much it.
Hmmm… not sure I’m inclined to invest the time… we’ll see
Wow, that was quick - did you use the Omni Channel?
Yeah, there are lots of “do it all” plugin channel strips out there, but this one has a number of unique features.
Andrew, have you tried the other Scheps plugins? I think the Waves Scheps 1073 attempt was weak. I like both the Slate and Kush versions better. I like the SoundToys one better too.
I do like the Scheps Parallel Particles though! Thoughts?
No, I haven’t tried any of the others. I didn’t try the 1073 because I have the Slate version, and Parallel Particles just never really appealed to me… Especially because I can turn any plugin into a parallel process using the mix knob that Reaper has on every plugin by default.
I totally get that. It is kind of gimmicky. And when I use it, I’m almost always using a single one of the four features. I use the ‘Thick’ here and there…but it came free in the Mercury bundle. I wouldn’t have bought it by itself.
Sounds pretty well balanced eq and compression wise. A couple of things that kinda sound a little strange to me:
the mix stays “left channel heavy” for a long time before we hear some action over to the right. Perhaps some ambience or even delays over there sent from the left guitar might balance things out a bit.
the harmony vocal is really loud and kind of takes over from the lead vocal.
the lead vocal really needs some tuning for it to sit in the mix better
Wow, what a great vibe. Love this. late to the party, been very busy. Melody line is like na na na in a sassy way. ha ha If it makes you feel better. Just try to sit still listening to this. Wanted to crank this up but I have a three week ear ringing thangy. good stuff buddy…it is glued together nicely
Thanks Paul - I’m actually really happy with how this mix came together - particularly the HUGE low end it has - I was going for an indie rock/dance crossover thing, which I’d never really tried before, and it actually sort of worked!.. I wasn’t intending to finish it properly, but at @Chordwainer Dave’s prompting, and after listening to it on a few different systems, I may just do that!
…just goes to show, it’s always good to change things up and try something different every now & then!
