Professional Analog Mastering.
Professional Analog Mastering.
226K+ subscribers
I used the Weiss EQ1 to cut the lows, dip some low mids, and remove a nasal resonance.
Then I boosted the vocal’s 3rd formant, cut a little bit of sibilance, and introduced a little air with a high shelf.
On my free chain, I used Mequalizer by Melda Audio - it’s included in a huge bundle of free plugins from that company.
Since it’s fully parametric, I was able to copy the filters from the EQ1 just about exactly.
The interface was a little difficult since you have to open this secondary window to control the parameters, but that’s me trying to find an issue, to be honest.
Softube’s recreation of the Weiss EQ1 costs $549, but I’m really not hearing a huge difference. I know the EQ1 can introduce dynamic filters, whereas Mequalizer can’t, but that is something you can get with other free EQs.
Let’s take a listen to the 2 EQs back to back on a vocal. The vocal take is dry, no outboard gear other than the recording interface, no tuning, or any pre-processing, so this should give us a good idea of what the plugins are doing.
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For the longest time, you couldn’t find a free tuner that worked well - autotune was pretty much the only option.
Fortunately, there are a couple of free tuners now that actually sound good.
For the paid plugin, I’ll use Slate Digital’s Metatune and dial in some natural-sounding settings.
Nothing too aggressive, just some support for it.
I’ll match those settings with the free plugin Spoton by Sixth Sample. The only thing I couldn’t emulate was the dynamic time setting, but other than that, it works and sounds just about the same - which is impressive considering Metatune is a $200 plugin.
Just like with the EQ, I’m not preferring one over the other - they both tune the vocal with minimal artifacts.
So let’s take a listen.
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This is where it started to get tricky - the Weiss De-esser is very flexible, making it pretty easy to attenuate the exact frequency range I want, with precise attack and release times, and a controllable range which comes in handy more than you’d think.
The free plugin T-De-Esser is great, but lacks a lot of this control. That said, trying to get similar behavior was difficult.
After attenuating a few dB with each matching them as closely as possible, the Weiss De-esser sounded a lot smoother. Again, that’s because of the variable attack and release settings, and probably some distortion happening behind the scenes with the T-De-Esser.
Free de-essers aren’t too common, so maybe this will improve in the future.
The Weiss de-esser is part of a bundle, so I’ll cover the cost when we cover the next plugin
For now, let’s compare the 2.
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For the paid plugin chain, I’m using the Weiss DS1 Mk3 - it comes with variations, including the previously used De-esser, but they’re all using this compressor’s functionality and code - which costs $549.
For the free chain, Mcompressor by Melda Audio is a great substitute.
I could almost match the behavior of the DS1, with a few caveats.
The release time was a little tricky, given the average function’s creation of basically 2 release times. Before the average setting the quick release is used - anything after it, the long is used.
But the Mcompressor’s RMS function mixed with a slightly longer release had a similar effect.
Otherwise, I was able to get identical thresholds, ratios, knees, attack times and make up gain.
I’m sure the amount of harmonic distortion is different - the DS1 has some very dense harmonics that form during compression.
But, they don’t sound drastically different. The DS1 sounds a little fuller, a bit more present, but that’s it.
Let’s listen to them back to back.
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I don’t always use Soothe 2, but the de-honk preset definitely helps clear some of the nasal mids.
Also, it’s expensive, costing about $200, so it’s worth seeing if it can be replaced by a free alternative.
Unfortunately, this plugin doesn’t have any alternative that’s too similar, so I opted for using this ToneBooster’s equalizer, which includes dynamic bands that I could center over the nasal resonances.
Technically, it’s not free; it has a demo that never expires, and doesn’t hold back any functions other than saving presets, but that’s not too big of a deal considering how versatile it is.
Although these bands don’t change frequency like with Soothe 2, it still made a noticable difference in the mids.
After hearing them, I don’t have a preference between the 2, but I’ll admit Soothe 2 is definitely more convenient.
Let’s take a listen.
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Before I add some reverb at the end of the chain, I’m going to shape the overall frequency response a little.
Sweet Spot by Pulsar is a great plugin with a lot of interesting features, but the primary reason to use it is for the EQ section. When tone-shaping a vocal, I really just want to boost the fundamental range and add some clarity with a boost to around 2kHz. This plugin costs an oddly specific $274, which is a lot if you’ll likely just use a couple filters.
So a good free alternative is this Poortec EQ by Analog Obsession.
That said, this is where I noticed the biggest issue. For whatever reason, Poortec is causing the vocal to peak at -6dB, roughly 3dB higher than the paid plugin chain.
This means any bus compression or processing during mastering would read this incorrect peak and process accordingly - not something you want.
I checked the LUFS, and they’re the same, so let’s listen to these 2 plugins back to back. The meter says different, but their gain staging is nearly identical.
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Oxford Reverb is an undeniably great plugin - unfortunately, it’s still priced ridiculously high at over $300.
Magic 7 by Wave Alchemy uses impulse responses from the Bricasti M7 - a phenomenal algorithmic reverb unit.
Although Oxford Reverb gave me a lot of control over the early reflections, the modulation, the frequency response, and a lot more, I still enjoyed Magic 7.
It may not sound as good, but it’s a lot closer than you’d expect given Oxford Reverb’s price tag.
I will say that if you’re really particular about your reverb, then there’s no competition. Oxford Reverb is probably the most in-depth reverb plugin out there; however, if you just want to achieve good-sounding reverb quickly, I’d recommend the free alternative.
Let’s take a listen to the full chains of each. Their loudnesses are nearly identical, within 0.1 LUFS, so only the plugins should be contributing to any differences you notice.