Jacob Mattos

Hey all, one thing I've noticed is that esses sound different (and worse/lispier) when the volume is low. Anyone else have this same perception, and why is that? What are your go-to de-essers? I've tried BSA's DSR, XVox Pro's De-esser (in the vocal chain), Izotope RX-11 De-ess, and iZotope Nectar 4 DeEsser with really no luck.

New comment 6h ago

Jacob Mattos

0 likes • 6h

@Robert Johnson I’m happy to follow you and share as I can! Feel free to message me. This community is chock full of knowledgeable folks, posting is best to get who is on at the time :).

Jacob Mattos

0 likes • 6h

@Robert Johnson I’m staying here brother. You’ll break through in no time!!

Rob Mayzes

⭐

6d •

General discussion

Unpopular (Audio) Opinions

Kevin McCloskey posted this in The Reverse Engineer community and it was a super interesting thread... so posting here too! Comment below with you biggest unpopular audio opinions... don't hold back 😈 I'll start with a couple: 1) Most gear preferences in the industry are baseless and random. People just follow the crowd and are easily influenced into think things sound "better". 2) Seemingly in contrast to the above... anything other than an SM57 on a snare is a waste of time. We're so used to this sound that it immediately sounds "right" to us.

New comment 1d ago

Jacob Mattos

4 likes • 6d

A few of my unpopular audio opinions, surrounding plugins: 1) AU2 plugins are made for Mac. I actually do use them most of the time but I know which versions I need to go VST with, as some AU versions didn’t get the attention they need in development and crash (cough - synchroarts) 2) UAD plugins are industry best and you need them for a pro sound. It’s true some UAD plugins are awesome. I love their classic analog eq and compressors, but that’s just a handful. I find UAD to be very cpu intensive and I usually otherwise grab other plugins for the job. Needless to say I will not renew my spark membership. I have most perpetual licenses for the ones I love anyway, and I don’t currently have a UAD Apollo interface. 3) You can do everything with stock plugins. It’s sort of true. You can and I did stick to my ableton plugins for almost a full year (10 months). It was a good experience and learning effort. Ableton has some really great stuff! Now that I have a push 3 I’m happy to be familiar for standalone workflows. Nonetheless, I like to go to my aftermarket plugins for the character they provide or their ease of use user interface. I have over 1k in aftermarket plugins so I kinda need to use what I paid for too. But I should reduce some of my options, ha!

Jacob Mattos

2 likes • 4d

@Ralph Galetti truths! Sometimes the workflow is the saving grace on some plugins, but I still reach for stock stuff in my workflow all the time too.

Matt Mackinnon

8d •

Support requests

Kontakt 8 in the modern studio

I started off my music journey with the free stuff that Native Instruments gave some 10+ years ago. I didn't buy the thousand+ dollar Komplete software back then, and after playing and getting nowhere I gave up and did other things. Now ive been making music for the past couple of years. I do own some Native Instruments software purchased, and even a S61 keyboard. But most of my music seems to come from other plugins from Arturia, SoundPaint, AAS, UVI I have looked at the deal with Native Instruments that will likely end real soon is quite good for Komplete15 as I have some of the apps. Funnily they give you a better discount for owning a cheap A series keyboard and nothing with the S. I look at what the Komplete offers and mostly it's a bunch of Kontakt libraries and some synths that I already own. ( like Massive and Massive X, FM8 ). so it seems rather pointless to buy that as I don't really need the sounds that come with Standard. Where I am more interested is with the one program that I don't have that seems to be a central part. Kontakt. I have the play version that works with a bunch of the free libraries and function. What does the FULL version bring to the table that would be worth while? The software regularly goes for $380cdn but if I can get a promotion for $99 it might be worthwhile if it does something worthwhile. I am interested in moving towards writing more symphonic music and adding orchestra sounds into my music. I know that to get serous I will need to purchase some of the better libraries that are out there. Most of them I think will run on play but I am not totally sure, I have heard there are lots of free libraries for Kontakt that require the full license but I don't know if that has really changed or if they are worth the cost of the software. Any help is appreciated.

New comment 5d ago

Jacob Mattos

3 likes • 7d

Hey @Matt Mackinnon to be honest, I'm not too familiar with Native (or Izotope). I have some of their free stuff and got a few things including kontakt 8. I've barely used it and didn't really like the user interface (UI) 😂. But I really commented to share about choosing instrument plugins - I recommend demoing them. Most demos are free. I can load them right into a project and mess around, try the UI and see if I like the sounds and experience, or not. Every instrument is unique and worth exploring, in my opinion. Just like sample packs, instrument plugins are a part of your sound, choose wisely but feel free to explore! If the demo is too big in file size, check out demo videos and Reddit on comparisons. I did an exploration on instruments a few years ago and ended up really enjoying some of the following. These are my main instrument plugins today for midi, and some are MPE for my Push 3 and ROLI Seablock M. I will also recommend making your own instruments using your DAW sampler and drum racks, meticulously choosing your samples and designing their sounds - how original (and fun)! But sound design is an art of it's own ❤️‍🔥. At any rate, ,maybe there is a new instrument here worth your time exploring in a demo?! - Modo Bass by IK Multimedia (I think it's free?) - Fingers Bass by Waves (maybe free?) - Equator by ROLI (MPE) (bought some cool expansions) - ROLI Studio (came with ROLI Seablock M) (also bought more expansions) - Analog Lab (Free Version, but now have Analog Lab V + some expansions) - DecentSampler by Decidedly (Free) - LABS by Spitfire Audio / Splice Instrument (both free but not sure LABS is still avail) - Mariana by Moog - The Instrument 2 by Phil Speiser - LoFi Keys by Karanyi Sounds (Free?) - SKY Keys by S.K.Y. Studios ($25?) - SudioVerse Instruments by Waves (Free version is very limited, but I have Waves complete subscription and now it is really awesome) - XO by XLN (Drums) (plus some expansions) - Addictive Drums 2 by XLN (plus some expansions)