As an owner of a MBP, I must say that what you did with this video is so useful for me. There is no real "tutorial" or tricks about it and it's a very unique and special machine. So please I 'd really appreciate if you could make more videos about it because not all of its sections are easy to understand . THANK YOU
Clipping converters and limiting are almost the same thing. The big difference is in the timing (similar to compressor timing). Digital limiting can let transients through that clipping a converter will square off. Lookahead can smooth them. And adjusting release time changes the character of the distortion. That's basically it unless one or the other has some compression or "soft saturation" before the clipping/limiting. FWIW, there are plugins that do converter style clipping that sound great. One of the advantages of them, as opposed to actually clipping a converter, is oversampling. You wind up with more inaudible highs to avoid detectable aliasing than just running your session at 192.
Yo!!! I’m producing and partially mixing my own project and your videos have helped me more than you would believe! just wanted to say thanks so much! i think that if you keep putting out the videos that are as quality as these, you’ll be the top audio channel in no time fr, your stuff is not only top notch quality but you come at everything in such a humble and entertaining way! keep it up!
Really great! this explained clearly about how compression works, better than most other videos I have seen, and the whole thing is very musical, not just tech, great job. Thank you:)
That Neve master bus has been on literally every mix ive done since I bought it. was top priority when leaving a fantastic commercial studio i had been working in. Got it working w my dangerous compressor and its mind blowing the difference those 2 pieces of gear make. Unfortunately going into an apollo for now, but getting some tasty converters next month!
@@michaelperez5273 I'm a really big fan of the burl b2s. I really understand the argument of not wanting converters with that much sonic footprint, but they just sound so good. I'll likely go for the burls, the dangerous convert 2 also looks great
Is really great to see other audio engineers loving their work and appreciating all the tools of the trade and finding what they can do..! This Digital / analog and hybrid setup is so versatile now with many great products available. I have only recently patched in some fantastic analog equipment Ive had for years into my Masterbus, Adding energy into my mixes seems so effortless now... why I did'nt do this sooner I dont know... Discovering some great new dynamics software now, I can get satisfactory results purely ITB also (Yes, the combo is awesome!). Wanted to mention I got some heavy yet not destructive compression using just the Compression in Audacity.
My 2nd video i watched tonight from you, and i would like to say, you have one more subscriber sir! I really like the way you speak and play with gear... Cheers!
Greetings, This is yet another amazing video. I was wondering why people choose the Neve MBP over something like the Dangerous Music Compressor? I'm looking at upgrading my studio and adding some new outboard gear
Just taste probably. I love the MBP because of the included stereo enhancement. There’s a lot of ‘magic’ in that box for me. I’m sure others would say the same about other boxes. But this one will stick with me for a long time.
This is very interesting. I just started to use outboard compressor for the master bus and I'm deadly afraid of the red LEDs on my Apollo interface. This makes me wanna atleast "see" how it sounds when clipping a small amount. Thank you!
I'm always hesitant to hit the master bus with compression. I know some mastering engineers prefer to do it on their end. But this does sound great. Kudos.
I feel like master bus compression even when I’m the one mastering someone else’s work, is just part of the creative imprint of the mix. I always ask for whatever compression the mixer was using.
UBK fatso was my first comp. MBP was my second. Good to see the peanut butter and jelly in someone else's rack. I did hook my Fatso up to an external eq to change the gain settings and remove the low end which is nice. Do you use them in conjunction with each other? I hear a lot of engineers do not like the fatso on the 2 bus but love it for tracking. Hard to even out LR and I wish it had notched knobs.
Yeah, it’s rare that I use it on the tubus. When I do, I am matching the sides with white noise and getting it as close as I possibly can it’s just kind of a pain if those knobs float even when you don’t touch them. However, when it’s right, it’s very very right.
My Hybrid Mixing Setup... I record into the DAW (Studio One Pro 5) essentially using the DAW as my multitrack recorder(I can apply whatever preamps/compressors/EQ on the way in). I apply whatever plug-in effects I want in the DAW and mix... I then make 16 stereo Bus channels in the DAW and route the DAW tracks to them and send the busses out (via Antelope Goliath 32HD interface outputs) to 32 input channels of my Soundcraft Ghost Mixing Console (All of the Ghost channels are set at unity gain and the channel faders are at zero...since the mix levels come from the DAW busses, the console never changes making recall a breeze). On the Ghost, I route the 32 channels coming into the console to the console's 8 group busses as stereo pairs (Drums/Perc - Guitars/Bass - Instruments - Vocals) Each console group has an insert, so I can apply any outboard gear to each bus as I choose... the group busses on the console then feed the console Master Bus (which also has an insert). I route the Master Bus output from the console to my mastering chain (SSL Fusion with Neve MBP on the insert of the Fusion and then send the Fusion Output to a pair of Warm Audio EQP-WA's... After everything is adjusted to my liking I print the output of the mastering chain by sending it all back into the DAW and recording a stereo print track in the DAW. A little complicated but I get all the convenience of the DAW and all the analog goodness of the console and mastering chain without having to worry about recalling hundreds of console settings. This is what works for me,,, Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated!
Hi Bro! Thank you for the converter clipping hint. I get very nice results with my Apollo X8 and my Portico. Way better to drive the gain on the Portico into the converter.
While it would seem having outboard gear for this would make life easier, those of us without the financial fortitude for such novelties as this, can still get similar results with the software if you have the right plug-ins and knowledge of use! That being said, I look forward to the day when I can turn a knob on outboard equipment and not play around with 30 different selector knobs to get great mix results 🤣🥳👍😁 What are your reccomended audio field expanders??
I think the difference is that you can't really throw a plug-in on a mix (unless it's really begging for some compression) and play with knobs and get free lunch (improvement). And there's also the fact that whatever you're doing with a plug-in, a piece of hardware somewhere (in some mastering engineer's studio) will do it better (or would have done it better). On the other side of the coin, assuming your monitoring is good, your personal taste matters a lot and with the tools at hand (i.e., plug-ins) you can take the time to get it where you really like it in ways that a mastering engineer might not assume you wanted. So therefore design the mix with plug-ins and then take them off? Actually no, mostly not. Once you dial it in, it's kind of in. Why redo something that's already working for you? Only redo something if there's a problem, right? Otherwise you will lose some of that je ne sais quois you dialed in. For an improvement? Likely more of a lateral move. Plug-ins aren't that bad. But as I said, they won't do the lifting for you such that you can throw one on and tweak it and necessarily get an improvement. Hardware is much more likely to do that. With a plug-in, you're lost without a vision. Hardware sometimes can suggest things that you readily accept. So therefore attend mastering? No, because you don't know the tools intimately enough. Use your own tools that you know and be cognizant of the fact that mastering will be coming in. And don't skip mastering. You need it, not for the hardware, but for the second set of ears and monitors. Edit: the exceptions are maybe things like Gullfoss (to an extent, I bet it can improve things in an idiot-proof way) and Pro-MB (there isn't necessarily hardware that does what it does but like limiting it's probably something you don't want to be doing yourself on the master bus too much). And anyway, limiting/converter clipping is not something I would include in the "sauce-adding" processes I would do myself on the master bus. Just thinking mostly of compression, saturation and EQ. Limiting/clipping is mostly just adding loudness and can almost certainly be done better by mastering engineers, and doing too much of it ties their hands significantly, as I understand it.
@@dirkchurlish4074 I agree with you mostly. I would never master a project that I mixed. That was definitely one of many key things I learned in school. Also, when you're taught by pros on how to properly use plug-ins, I feel I can confidently get a really great mix in without hardware. Will it take me longer? Sure, I imagine it would. My problem at the moment is that I am left with the devices I can afford at the moment, which happens to be the software and some amazing plug-ins. One really nice perk of having industry pros as your instructors, they share some inside secrets.....some of those are the plug-ins they use when mixing and mastering 🤷♂️😁 One day, I will definitely purchase some hardware to make life easier, but for now as I save my pennies, I will spend the extra time to get great mixes with what I have available 🤷♂️ Thanks for the reply and I appreciate you position on the topic at hand.
quick question - I've heard that some manners of madness employed to push loudness includes clipping the A/D converters just a touch; granted those who mention doing this tend to be using absurdly high end conversion. But, when you were routing a mix through the MBP and back into to your system via an Apollo, would you ever push the MBP's output to just occasionally...just barely (maybe only once or twice and at the highest peaks of a song) allow the signal to kiss the red of the Apollo's inputs?
Sure. I had a few different types of Apollo’s through the years and some converters acted differently than others when pushed. That said check it out and blend to taste
@@RecordingStudioLoser thank you! I am really considering trying to get my hands on an MBP and my budget would dictate using my existing x8 to do just this into the foreseeable future. I really appreciate your videos and perspectives. Cheers!
@@sadkin9186 Its an icredible little unit. If you do go with it. Keep in mind it will last you far longer than the interface itself. So dont let that be your determining factor. When you do decide to jump in though... click that an affiliate link! lol
I haven't noticed that. I run a medium to slow attack most of the time. So transients still sneak through. In come really congested tunes I'll pull the mix back.. best of both worlds.
@@RecordingStudioLoser Oh Ok gotcha! I just got mine yesterday but was noticing as I pushed up the gain the Gain reduction meter was increasing. Am I crazy?
@@RecordingStudioLoser It was my bad, I was using the gain knob wrong lol. This unit is incredible! Thank you for the rad vid on how to properly use it!
Great song/video man. I was looking at this gear but will opt for 500 series and maybe buy this next year to run my 2 bus+ into. What was the genesis of your youtube name??
Thanks man! If you can find them used they are tanks. The name - I watch a lot of RU-vid and I was tired of watching the “rockstar” vibe. That just wasn’t my experience whatsoever. I wanted to be the opposite of that. I figure what’s the opposite of rockstar. ...loser. And it stuck.
Thanks again Jeremy, quick question, as far as a plugins, I have a PuigChild [Fairchild] on my master bus, running it around 1 threshold, and I usually run it after the Abby Road mastering plug. Would it be over kill to have that many sources of compression on the Master Bus?
I used to have Apollo’s and did it. Give it a try. I would try it it dry. And the. With some “emulations” on. And see what you like and what you don’t.
Yes. I really like it. It can get very loud. So be careful there trying to balance everything. The variable phase shift is very helpful. I helps immensely.
Bro I have a question I have a wa73 non eq version I was thinking about selling, but I’m hearing keep it and get another one and use it on my mix bus for coloration even tho it’s the non eq version. Is that a good idea or just get rid of it?
@@STMENTNETWORK i do own a pair of 1073 wich i run the mix through it. Sounds really big and fat. But thats not the main use.. It wont shine in the context. Imo.
@@futurebeats898 I just got a bae 1073 and use it as a mic pre as it’s suppose to be used and never looked back. I just got better at mixing instead of trying to add analog gear to mask a bad mix
If the plug-in is as good as the hardware then it really doesn’t matter. What makes the difference then is are you looking to clip some converters and the investment standpoint. Most high level gear will sell for almost what you paid for it if not a bit more in some cases. And resale becomes a valid piece of the puzzle. Lots of moving parts. I’m good either way.
@@RecordingStudioLoser please give it a try. The only limiter i ever tried that sounds so amazing. There is also an eq in the plugin that adds only bands that are pleasant to the human ear. Let us know when you tried Elevate.
Digital clipping doesn't sound good. You would blow up the interface. Why not just stay out of the box and Master it on outboard gear or digitally controlled analog mastering gear. Wes, Bettermixer...just saying.
That’s true. But we aren’t digital clipping anywhere. That’s the point Burls and some other converters have transformers or some form of iron before the DAC so your clipping transformers.
Ok so you adding color and just hitting the transformers. Yeah, that's definitely not clipping. You are driving the input transformer harder and the Neve is adding texture and some saturation. Its own character which even the most" transparent" peice of gear has its own color. Cool stuff nice toys to play with I hope you add some, "el barrato", el cheapo versions for the morals smiling. I find a bit here a bit there makes you sound more you or more the way you want it to.
