Metric Halo Mixhead | The Most Overpriced, Overhyped & Pointless Plugin of 2024
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- Опубліковано 5 лип 2024
- Metric Halo Mixhead | The Most Overpriced, Overhyped & Pointless Plugin of 2024
Want to know how and why Serban Ghenea REALLY used the SPL machine head? ... Sorry, but your gonna be extremely underwhelmed :( .. its not even that much of a secret!
MSaturator Settings for other mixhead mixbus presets (deepest nulls)
I = INPUT, O = OUTPUT, F = FADER VOLUME
(remember to set analog to 0.1%)
AB 2BUS
I (-2.2) O (-0.6) F (0)
BAINZ.
I (-3.95) O (-0.1) F (0)
CA GLUEMY2BUS, CB MIXBUS FIXER, DE MIXBUS
I (-1.95) O (-1.1) F (0)
CA GLUEDMY2BUS2
I (0) O (-2.5) F (0.1)
MIX BUS MEAT
I (1.45) O (-4.7) F (-0.1)
JL MIX BUS.
I (-0.5) O (-2.35) F (0)
DS REAL EXPENSIVE ELMERS GLUE
(When output is pushed really far it enables a hard clipper so you need to enable MSaturators compander)
I (-3.1) O (0) F (-0.1)
Compander - 72% wet, attack & release to fastest, threshold (-55.2)
For HF adjust try a linear phase bell at 14.5khz with a Q of 0.6. Pretty much cancels it out
My name is Paul Third and I am a Scottish youtuber / audio engineer / mixing engineer / audio geek. I mostly cover audio engineering related content ranging from audio plugin shootouts / plugin comparisons (acustica audio plugins, universal audio etc etc) to actual analog vs digital / gear vs plugins plugin tests via access analog and mix analog. I even include ddmf plugindoctor tutorials in my plugin reviews so you can be your very own plugin tester and experiment and understand whats actually going on under the hood.
All of my content is produced in Presonus studio one 6 which is my main daw and in terms of my audio interface I record and monitor through a universal audio apollo x6 through topping dx7 pro+ dac/amp and use a Lauten Atlantis for all of my voice overs.
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📖 CHAPTERS
0:00 intro
0:36 What make believe Mixhead ACTUALLY is
2:26 how to get the main effect for FREE with Melda msaturator
3:48 but what about the HF adjust?
6:10 Wierd, wierd, WIERD!!
7:24 so what is the plugin actually doing to a master?
8:23 but does it null with a free saturation plugin?
9:27 but what about if you overly push it?
11:09 but what about the IPS settings!?
12:00 but what about plugin oversampling & aliasing?
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Also for those looking to recreate other mixhead mixbus presets (inc hard clipper when abusing the output) using MSaturator I've included settings in the description 👍
PS ensure that "stable volume" is OFF when listening to this. Dunno when YT brought this in but when it's on it raises the volume of the nulls 🤣🙈 (it's in the YT player settings)
*IMPORTANT* .. I didn't know that having the analog mode OFF in MSATURATOR was the cause of the high end roll off (that I used the internal oversampling to fix in the video). If you set the analog to 0.1% it makes the frequency response ruler flat. And guess what, you get a super deep null, even deeper than what I showed in the video (with analog mode off with x64 oversampling) So genuinely all you need to do with MSaturator is get the input right, set analog to 0.1% and you will deeply null Serbans preset (hf adjust to 0) like in the video, low cpu, no oversampling whatsoever required 🤓
See proof below
ua-cam.com/video/Ti7Cu28MONw/v-deo.html
Also for those looking to recreate other mixhead mixbus presets (inc hard clipper when abusing the output) using MSaturator I've included settings in the description 👍
FYI I had my MRI results back and no cancer!! 🎉 Just good ole liver disease and random benign cysts and tumours 😅
Thanks to everyone for their kind words leading up to the scan 🤜🤛
Hopefully the liver news is the… win… that you were hoping for 😬 Take care bro ❤️ (Interesting video!)
Glad your Ok! Keep challenging the bullshit!
This is the only time I'll ever be able to say this: Congrats on the liver disease! 🎉
Brilliant news (kinda!)... 🎉🎉🎉
I’m glad you’ve got your results back so quick Mr T.
Top news it’s not cancer and hopefully the other stuff is nowt to worry about too much. Genuinely happy for ya ✊🏼🥸👍🏼 FK YEAAAA
“Overpriced, Overhyped & Pointless” can be used to describe many pieces of equipment in the music creation process
With hardware you get a physical device to put in a rack, the software doesn't have to look like hardware it just does to make you think it's more "real".
I think this one might be plugin of the year. Horses for courses
I think you missed the HF limiter on the plugin which can only be seen or tested with adjusting/sliding the frequency on the PD's Dynamic page. The transfer curve changes and getting more aggressive starting from 2kHz going higher, meaning the high frequency will always get soft-clipped first or more sensitive to high frequency which clearly suggesting it's not just a "simple" waveshaper behavior-wise. The HF-Adjust is there to compensate the lost high frequency, smart. We all know the Cubase's Magneto is not just a simple waveshaper because of the HF Limiter, read somewhere the hardware's DSP and Cubase's Magneto were designed by the same group of people, no ? correct me if i'm wrong.
But plugins are recieved linearly which means that they recieve music in the formation of acoustic sound. Which means that lower frequency energy will mostly always exceed the threshold first. Plugins recieve audio not how we see it in analysers (which is due to their default 4.5 db slope. Makes audio look balanced as it caters more for how humans perceive music) but that's not how plugins recieve audio. If you take the slope off you will see that high end energy is decreased A LOT. So they can say that they are trying to correct for this but in reality it's not affecting the nulls in realistic use because to get the clipper to interact with the higher frequencies you are still having to hit it very very hard. That's why they keep saying "it needs to hit its sweet spot".. But who the fuck is clipping the shit out of their mix that much just to encroach a bit of clipping in the high end.
That's why TDR limiter 6 makes mixhead look an absolute joke. It has compression, clipping (knee adjustment/multiband/lf), hf limiter, peak limiter. All seperate modules with high quality oversampling, look ahead etc. And you get to choose the order and exactly how everything is set. I got the GE edition for like £25 in a sale, retails around £40.
The issue they have with mixhead is that when I push a mix into it and I match the transfer curve at say 1khz, the high end difference still doesn't get any partials beyond like 70dbfs. In most mixes, when you take the slope off you'll see that 10-20khz can be as much as 25-40db lower than 80hz. If we take that from a clipping point of view, imagine just how low the threshold of the transfer curve would need to be lowered to engage clipping.
And I did tests on another like 7 or 8 mixbus presets and got similar nulls to the serban preset in the video.
The null is more affected by the hf adjust itself than any hf compression. It's all about thresholds and how much high end energy is needed to surpass the threshold, which in reality is a lot.
That's why tdr limiter 6 gives you a hf limiter with its own threshold so you can find the threshold for a set high frequency range, independent from the rest of the rest of the frequency range.
In some mixes in having to bring the hf limit threshold down a lot to get it to trigger. That's the issue with mixhead. It's meters are so vague you have no idea which frequencies are really triggering the clipping threshold and at what point.
Honestly, check out tdr limiter 6 and you'll be like... Wtf is mixhead $179
We got a huge amount of abuse for calling this plugin out....Good luck! 👍 😂
Who from?
@@PaulThird No idea....they went over the top with the insults though...had to block.💁♂️
Confirmation bias makes people do some stupid things. You did the right thing.
@@PaulThird Cheers Paul. Appreciate that.👍
@@StudioLife101Incredible how toxic the audio community can be, right?😮
I did buy this and I have been really enjoying it! However I always appreciate getting more insight into what stuff is actually doing. Clearly this plug isn’t super complicated or flashy, which I think was kinda obvious for anyone who’s been using it… but good for info like this to be out there. I still reckon (on sale) it’s a good buy. I like the simplicity. However I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s a secret sauce. Secret sauce is putting in the hours and finding your way.
How is it a good buy (on sale or not) when you can get basically identical results from a free plugin that actually has more flexibility than this one?
@@andyk9735 I'd point you to your use of the word 'basically'. Yet to see a video proving that you can get 'exactly' the same result from a free plugin. So there IS a point of difference. It also has an easy workflow, and is developed by a company that has great customer service. I have no doubt they'll take on a lot of this criticism and add features/expand on them. That meets my definition of a good buy.
I'd also add that any tool which helps you do a great mix is a good buy. Even if it's a scented candle lol.
But SERBAN!
😬
Arguably the best mixing engineer of this era but, yeah, why would anyone care what he thinks or uses?
It's less important what he uses, it's more important to undetstand how and why he uses it, which is very straight forward
On Reverb for 19k. lol.
After this video.. Be lucky to get £600 🤣
@@PaulThird😂😂😂 ps I hope very much your health results come out in your favor. Love your work.
Literally $1000 (if that) the day this plugin was released. And the bullshit hype train continues. Gotta love pro audio…
Gypsy Magic 🧿
Awesome, thanks for the video! I feel the same regarding Gold Clipper by Schwabe, maybe is something you can investigate about 😂
I second that
I third that
I Paul Third that.
I think Third might Paul it off.
Yes, PLEASE!
Well, it's safe to say this video performed. Happy to say I didn't even get the memo on the hype or the plugin... still watched the video and the Double-Gain-Knob had me chuckling.
To be fair, they’re pretty transparent about what’s it’s doing. ua-cam.com/video/0VtG5S5ia-U/v-deo.htmlsi=7YfsE96O5jdL3CpH
Yeah, he's pretty thorough in his explanation of what the plugin is in this video...
Try telling the marketing that though
It'd be curious to watch your breakdown of the Amek console 200 plug by BX.
Pleased to hear about your MRI results.
I kind of ignored this when it first came out as soon as I tested it for aliasing and discovered there was no oversampling. However, I was kind of intrigued because it was getting so many comments on gearspace so tested it a bit further both technically and by putting it on audio. I didn't go to the trouble that you have but couldn't find anything especially magical or groundbreaking about this plugin. Many people disagreed with me and I ended up leaving the thread when things got a bit nasty.
So, thanks for putting in all the work to test it properly and demonstrating that my suspicions were well founded.
That's why i never touch gearspace (still call it gearslutz cause it's never changed in its behaviour) with a bargepole. I've been sent links to loads of stuff that have supposedly mentioned my name and I'll never bother clicking it. Genuinely the most toxic place in audio where people would rather argue than looking at things objectively. Science is their cryptonite 🤣
@@PaulThirdyeah, I’ve ignored it for years but thought I’d dip a toe in the water as there have been a few things I wanted to discuss recently.
It’s not been universally bad but unfortunately it only takes a couple of people to ruin an otherwise sensible debate.
@@PaulThird hahah yeah couldn't agree more! People on Gearspace (bots?) still go on about crazy differences in sound by plugins or processes that have been proven in youtube videos to either be simple waveshaping or processes that make no difference/null (stacking clippers for instance). It's a good place to browse when you want to get amped about buying some hardware though lol - unless it's Warm Audio (which sounds incredible btw) - then it sounds like tinny garbage and plugins sound better! 🤣
@@user-bo8ex4ji7n Warm Audio does not sound incredible...unless there has been a change in definition of that word.
What about the hammerstein graph? Aliasing? If those two are the same thatd be the end of the story for sure, not that what it does is different enough to justify its existence already.
Do you think this could be replicable with ableton saturator? Considering that ableton saturator actually nulls oxford inflator 💀
Most likely
It does? How? Is there a video on this? 😮
Un Fkn Believable! Gon yer sel son, you've done us aw proud wi this one min. So glad to hear that you don't have cancer, thank fk. I hope you are getting help with the other things they found. Take care of yourself man.
🤜🤛
Well most tape machines and plugin emulations commonly boost and attenuate at 15K as a pre and de emphasis circuit to avoid Tape Hiss.
Wouldn't be surprised if the original SPL unit actual had a small 15k shelf attenuation and the UAD Studer has at 7.5 and 30ips btw.
HF Dip is due to pre-emphasis filters used (boost high end before distortion and cut back after), like on tape machines.
But they wouldn't be linear phase..
@@PaulThird Yes, that's correct
Good stuff. I haven't really tried out the free Melda saturator but I do like the convolution reverb. Its light on my old cpu. For free offerings Melda is wonderful, good software.
I have a deal on a new used much faster CPU still I may need a different interface. Its becoming an expensive and time spent proposition upgrading my rig and still keep my old gear. Its like there is a Goldilock's zone of interfaces that work with most things. This is a topic unto its self.
Soft knee wave shaper? Man I love FL studio for giving me that for free in fruity wave shaper and Maximus. Thank you
Basically, this went over my head. :D
Thanks for the video! I think you need to provide more detail about the delta signal - what actual level is it? And what does it sound like? If the delta signal is "the difference" wouldn't you expect it to be relatively small. For example, if you use a limiter with a delta function the audible delta can be quite tiny (e.g. transient peaks), yet the effect on the signal can still be clearly audible. Cheers!
Pretty sure I showed the delta in the video? Had no partials above -70dbfs. Think it's around -70 RMS
@@PaulThird Maybe I've misunderstood what you've done, but isn't the null bouncing between -36dB and -48dB around 10.50? It actually looks like there are some peaks that are jumping above -36dB? Wouldn't this create an audible difference?
Well how much of the null did you hear in the video? There could always be slight transient differences that will show on a daw fader but they are so fast in reality that they are imperceivable. That's why I like to utilise SPAN as well as it will show you an average over the entire spectrum which is more relative to what we actually perceive.
DAW fader meters are peak meters which show instantaneous amplitude of the signal which means that they don't take signal duration or average power into consideration. This means that they can't provide much information about how loud the signal will sound to the human ear.
Human perception is influenced by both the amplitude and duration of sound. RMS meters provide a better approximation of human perception and is why SPAN in average mode is showing you really what you are hearing
@@PaulThird "That's why I like to utilise SPAN as well" - but you didn't use SPAN (or did I miss something?). Also, isn't the null signal a difference, not an absolute signal. As an example, if you hard clip a transient a few dB the difference signal with be small but the effect becomes audible pretty quickly. Cheers!
Maybe you could measure the delta signal over say, 30 seconds of input and let us know the RMS or LUFS (M/ST/INT) values - to my eye the way the meter is bouncing around it looks higher than -70dB but it's hard to tell. Cheers!
Great to hear you're results came back negative Paul, that must've been tough waiting to hear. Thank you for this and your other video's. I used to wonder why these plugin companies are ripping us off, but of course, it's simply about money and how far any particular company will go in terms of propaganda and sophistry to fool the unwary. I stopped buying plugins a while ago now, the low and medium hanging fruit in terms of what plugins can bring to the end result was all done some time ago. I guess a lot of what's left is shaving off time and optimising workflow, but most folks aren't bothered that much because they're not in a pro studio where time is very much money.
Good job, Paul!
You should try my preset - The Two ..it turns the plug in to the Hubble Telescope.
Are you on Mac now, Paul?
I have windows and mac
Good Day
Would you please test the DMG audio track comp .
Tested it years ago
@@PaulThird what did you make of it ?
@@thalentekhumalo4734 watch the video instead of asking for a text reply to something that he has answered at length in video format??? Such a lazy attitude. I'll help you anyway - he said it's great and I agree.
Knowledge wins again! Thank you Paul. Sonnox Oxford Inflator vs MSaturator for Soft Clipping?... Preference? ~
Msaturator due to oversampling and compander
I personally use tdr limiter 6 for 80% of my clipping duties
Fwiw you do get oversampling if you have the UAD powered version of it, and it's less taxing on the cpu. I wouldn't pay full price for it though. $30 to save on processor load sure, much more than that I'd look somewhere else to get that processing power back.
ETA there is always the softclip pro mode on standardCLIP which you can oversample on render.
Of course you also need the uad dsp which can get costly especially if you buy new.
And, Paul, could you do a compare with the new Kiive Audio V-Comp with Tim P Sta-Level? They come close, to my ears:)
I'll try that out cause I use Tim's on every mix.. But even arturia missed the ball on the sta level. I don't really trust Kive when it comes to compression but I'll do a private test
@@PaulThird Let me know:) I love Tim's but they kinda did a good job on this one...I still here more believable saturation on Tim's and Kivve kinda do the same trick..I still say Tim wins this one:)
*hear:)
Just did a test on drums...no chance..Tim blows them out of the park. On vocals, it doesn't seem to show a lot of difference, but that might be the material,. but on drums..man ..night and day. Nebula wins again, and with that I mean Tim wins..but don't forget Cupwise and Alex B...the Alex B Feel-Tek is my go-to female and mastering EQ.
@@mayzter8765 Not sure about that. V-Comp is quite a monster in triple release and modded. It beat absolutely everything i ever used before (DC8C, uad distressor, 1176...). I am gonna try the tim thing but i don't have a lot of hope in this.
Machine Head was 100% digital... no analogue ins / outs - essentially a hardware plugin! (So your suspicions re linear is most likely correct). Bottom line is ALL clippers are Waveshapers. I was disappointed with Soundtheory's long awaited "second" plugin Kraftur turning out to be a multiband Waveshaper - like Sonnox Inflator. Once again, you're basically buying a GUI with a free waveshaper under the hood! I've been replicating everything from Standard Clip to Schwabe Gold/Orange Clip with the free Melda waveshaper. Unfortunately the "free" Melda plugz don't give you access to oversampling. Thanks for saving us from the GAS demons re Serban's magic touch 😁 Glad to hear your MRI result was good!
That's odd regarding the oversampling. On the website it states oversampling included if you go onto the mfreebundle features. I'm using mxxx to load all my melda plugs but I can see that there is oversampling in the top right hand corner of MSaturator plugin. Is there something I'm missing with the mfreebundle?
Tons of bulls**t
You need to first use and understand deeply a plugin before shot all this sh*tty and useless comments.
Kraftur is a gem,but you guys are convinced that you can replicate all plugins in the world with free plugins.
That’s the difference from unknow people/youtubers and people who live and make real money with music.
@@PaulThirdIf you register the free bundle you get access to oversampling, modulators and presets. It's $17USD to do so at the moment.
@@d1str3ss0rexactly my man
@@d1str3ss0r Must be painful having your head shoved up your arse for that long...
Solid advice 👍🏼
You should release your plugin "Purple Burglar Alarm".
I love this kind of video. Love it ❤
Did you get the results back from the MRI, btw?
Just read the video description! So happy for you!!
tried it like once or twice and never found a use for it again lol. save your money people. good video
Ouuu your videos shakes the table and I love it!🤭 I already assumed there was nothing special about this plugin, but a lot of people are glorifying it.
I freaking love you for making content calling this stuff out.
I couldn't agree more with you 😂
Almost bought this!! this vid helps me see what it does to the signal
Paul Worrall III back at it!! ❤
Would you use Melda Saturator with this setting over Ozone's Maximizer bulit-soft clipping (and thus adding Maximizer later only for limiting)?
I use masterplan for that mixbus duty as it has clipping and limiting.
On tracks (kick, snare, toms, bass) I use various clippers. Mostly tdr limiter 6 as I like to use the peak limiter followed by the clipper. I like to share the load but I utilise hard clipping over soft clipping and on bass I'll utilise LF clip.
Sometimes I'll use arboreal pimax for something a bit different if I want to add some extra shaving on the drum bus or something different on bass but I'm mostly using TDR limiter 6 due to its functionality
If it was ozone I would just use maximizers built in soft clipper. No point sharing the load with another plugin
@@PaulThird thank you SO MUCH for such a detailed response!! I really appreciate it!
Doesn't bother me cause I mix into it but remember to put it through the fundamental sweep in doctor as it's a non linear process. If it has too much non linearity it'll skew the linear test. I can't remember exactly what it's doing. I just mix into it and use it to get a decent level. I can get stuff loud without it sounding overly compressed and squashed. It has clipping before the limiting and I found that i was getting more perceived loudness than flatlines hybrid mode. Just sounds more up front. I did level matched AB's and I always chose masterplan
The calm is pretty handy as well on certain mixes. The extra features are as basic as it gets, I mean basic, but it's normally stuff I may do on the 2bus. Comp is quite nice if you want to add a bit of girth but can sometimes be a bit much in the low end.
I love people rediscovering the relatively basic 90s spl algos.. like guys just find a plugin from 2004-6 youll get the same thing.
this is why waves plugins still cook hard to this day.
Did you know that if you use a waveshaping plugin that allows you to import your own wavetables, you can essentially copy 1 for 1 any distortion or saturation hardware/plugin, this one included 💀😭
We are in a world now where you can create most plugins yourself.
@@PaulThirdi think most paid Melda plugins allow transfer curves to be imported. That's how I recreated the compression curves of compressors in MDynamics.
How do you do it though
@@PaulThird You enable the graph, then simply right-click on it. That opens up the advanced menu where you can choose all the bezier shapes etc.. one of the extra tabs there, all the way to the right, is called "Analyze audio". Click that one and you can load for instance a sine sweep (is my guess, haven't actually tried it). It's probably worth exploring. This would indeed let you "capture" the static transfer function of another compressor. Unfortunately, a lot of "good" compressors don't have a static transfer function but rather a somewhat moving target. Still, interesting to explore.
Oh the Melda rabbit hole... Lets not forget the machine learning approach for replicating curves.
Isn't this plugin made by Make Believe Studios? At least it's on brand
It says "powered by metric halo" so I don't know exactly how it works. Im gonna take a guess that it's a KIT plugins situation where they pay a 3rd party to code their plugins, Metric Halo being that 3rd party
It’s weird because Metric Halo usually does _really_ good stuff. This is just…odd.
Remember that the machine head hardware dsp that it's based on is 27 years old. I was 8 watching VHS tapes 🤣
@@PaulThird yeah which is why it’s a really weird choice for MH. Maybe BJ used to own one or something and was feeling nostalgic.
I downloaded the demo and my first thought was basic tape saturation plugin....lol! It didn't sound better than any of the IK tape sims and def not better than the Kive tape sim and no features.
But it has a gold skin!
All that being said , I still like it 😂 and the gui.
By all means enjoy. Nothing wrong with that.
This test is a lot like setting up two compressors with the gain matched and both thresholds above the point at which compression happens, then saying they null. Once the gain reduction kicks in, they absolutely won’t. You can’t really count on tests like this to be scientifically accurate because of the dynamic nature of sound (and dynamic action of MixHead). Once you hit the sweet spot of MixHead, you won’t be able to null mSaturator to it. And RMS levels going into it are important. Not so much peak/dBFS.
Full disclosure: I purchased MixHead and it’s a subtle effect but it’s very good. Audio is a game of nanometers-not inches- sometimes.
Well that's innacurate seeing as you can see the compression caused by the soft clipping starts around -12dbfs and it gradually increases to the threshold which is 0dbfs in Serbans preset. It was fed a mix with 0.2db max headroom and then another test with 4db additional gain added so 2 nulls
First example mix showcasing the sound of the compression of the curve. Second example showing compression and clipping.
If the second mix has an added 4db of input gain added, then thats exceeding the ceiling threshold by 3-4db on average.
I've included MSaturator settings for other mixbus presets (which decrease the clipping threshold) in the description, even one which can replicate the hard clipping when abusing the output in mixhead.
The "sweet spot" is a mirage as I'm yet to have somebody tell me what the "sweet spot" actually is.
Is it pushing needlessly into clipping to add aliasing on to your mixbus?.. Go nuts 🤣
@@PaulThird did you find that it changed with dynamics though? For example, were you able to null with various diff. RMS levels? Genuinely curious.
Paul! This is what made me a subscriber year or so back... Trashing gimmick plugins! Keep it coming!
Now that you've uploaded "MIXHEAD NULLS ON VARIOUS MIXBUS PRESETS (inc hard clipping & HF adjust using linear phase eq)" and deleted it's safe to assume that you'll give us another heads up video about how you won't talk about plugins again? :D
It's okay though. We love you
Thought about it but can't be fucked as I made a mistake with text and I couldn't be arsed redoing it so just put the MSaturator settings in the description
Forgive me if I've totally misunderstood. Here's the thing I don't understand: is good music dependant on good melody and good arrangement, or is good music dependant on good production? Or put another way, are people buying music because it has been produced to within an inch of its life or because the melody and arrangement resonates with them. Of course, I'm not suggesting that production is not important; but to all intents and purposes, most music is produced well enough without needing secret sauce, isn't it?
If a track is well produced it'll practically mix itself. From the perspective of industry mixers in my circle, their job is to respect the rough and simply make it 5-10% "better". Get it in a place where it can be loud without crapping out and translate to tons of different systems.
I had an experience with one mixer where he had a vocal that he would normally polish and clean up, but he knew the artist intentionally wanted a rougher vocal sound, so his job was to maintain that aesthetic but improve things in a way that the artist still felt that there was an improvement.
At that industry level mixing is quite a fine art. Less broad moves and personality, more subtleties and respect of the artists/producers vision.
If you have a terrible production with terrible recordings then you are up against it. No matter what you do, you'll always struggle to make it sound amazing. Shit in, shit out. That's what I'm taught
IMHO good music is mainly dependant on good melody and arrangement. The production is just the last mile to help bringing it across. For a masterpiece, probably both is important. I like the example of "Take On Me": the first incarnation flopped. They completely reproduced it in order to make the hit we know nowadays. This tells me, even if the first version was a the same great song, it did't work and in the end, the production made it happen. But anyway, what matters are creative decisions and not a certain piece of gear.
@@matiasmoulin2126 so maybe secret sauce does matter 😉
The reasons aside - People are “buying music”? Nowadays? … ;)
@@breitbanddesign Good point - when I say "buy" I include streaming in that.
Spot on Paul. I didn’t even get into the weeds with Doctor with my demo. The aliasing immediately stood out, and there was no oversampling available. I A/B’ed against Oxford Inflator, and without even confirming it was in fact a wave shaper, they just sounded so close, I didn’t see any point in purchasing, since the tool I already have, did the job close enough for me not to care.
EDIT: which is a bit disappointing coming from these guys. I really like their Sontec MES432
Glad to hear you don’t have cancer as well. Always a good reminder to look after yourself and get check ups when something feels/looks off
Try Relab's Maselec and thank me later 😊
I got their Sontec to nearly (close enough) null with ProQ3
Since this plugin people are trying to sell the hardware for over 16k lol... the hardware has a AES in and out... so the plugin will not be much different and it isn't doing much at all lol... enjoying spending 16K you morrons hahaha
You can literally recreate any plugin (close enough). Just use whatever gets you there the fastest.
I can't help but think you're missing something here, Paul. I've been running my own tests but I cannot get them anywhere near to a null. I'm using the same MSaturator settings (Soft1, no analog noise, no OS), matched up the transfer curves in Doctor, but no cigar. I used the 15 ips setting with the HF at zero. I never liked the Inflator (even before you pulled the curtain on it), that is indeed nothing more than a waveshaper (a well-tuned one, but a waveshaper nonetheless), but the Mixhead sounds completely different. How many songs did you test this on? I'd love to know if I'm wrong but this is just not coming together. Surely we're using the same plugins (lol)? Anyway, love you long time man, never stop making videos.
I found out how to fix that high end roll off. Set analog to 0.1%. You won't need any oversampling to fix the high end roll off as long as the analog is engaged, even if it's 0.1% it'll be completely flat in frequency response
Just ensure that the input is correct in the daw, ensure your output is compensated so levels are absolutely bang on and you'll get a super deep null. Signal will properly drop off
@@PaulThird Absolutely remarkable Mr Third! It does indeed!😃It's a shame you deleted your previous reply, that had some good info as well! Anyways, I have been running tests all day involving several waveshapers and the Melda is the one that performed the best at approximating the Mixhead. The result? The Mixhead is marginally better at retaining transient information (I used an uptempo punk rock song). Is that -30 dB level of difference worth $180 (or the $160 price difference in comparison to MSaturatorMB)? No way on god's good earth. Conclusion? Never change, Paul. And thank you. (I don't know if you've heard but the developer came up with the exact excuse you mention in the video exactly as you've foretold -
Tried it meself thought it was nothing too special like the rest of Metric Halo's stuff. I'd be interested to see what you thought of Schwabe digital's Gold Clip Paul.
I'm not gonna buy it because of the price, but i would love to know if I'm missing out. Great idea!
@@marvinroggon3168 the intro price was $99 and they ran that 'til only a few days ago
check out the "Audio Clippers free vs paid" by mixphantom... he debunked the Gold Clip with Melda too!
@@marvinroggon3168 It beat out K-Clip for me which I had been using for awhile, but the difference was really small.
😳
So Mixhead is basically The Inflator with a slightly different character?
Inflator is also a basic waveshaper so yes
True talk
That sucks, i liked some metric halo stuff. Good subhaemonic generator
Ok Melda strikes again. I use almost exclusively the whole melda bundle and I have zero desire for any other plugins because they go so deep. I recently realized that they did fit based transient/tonal splitting many years before anyone else did fancy marketing campaigns about that.
Melda are great but they have a distinct sound. sometimes you want different color.
Standard clip soft clip pro :)
Thank you Paul for enlightening people. It is a really good thing in modern days of corporate BS and hype.
Damn you are good, Paul 💙💛
Oh snap!
Important video not just regarding this plugin but in general. Thank you
Nostalgia seeing a paul third plug-in bust 😂
This is a new classic!
Thanks for sharing this! 👍
What has Metric Halo got to do with this plugin? I might be missing something here...
They distribute it
@@AlexNiedt Well, it sells on the Metric Halo webshop, alongside Metric´s own plugins and Sontec. But the plugin maker is Make Believe Studios, not Metric Halo I believe. There are plugin manufacturers that sell through Shopify etc. For instance Heavyocity, Kiive etc. So it means that they are Shopify plugins now? Hummm, don´t think so...
Your name should be Paul The Best. ❤
Glad to hear your results are good. You are providing such a valuable service here, slaying the dragons. I had heard the hype obout this one, so am delighted to hear that it is another fake sauce plugin, because it is even more money saved and no need to waste time on it. It does make me wonder how many of these type of plugins I have invested in over the years, believing the hype, and still have. Maybe you could update us with a short list of actually useful plugins, because your meticulous analysis and logic is invaluable, and helps keep me focussed on what is worth spending time on. I am trying to ban myself buying any more nonsense plugins, it's funny how the latest and greatest always provide a draw though.
It’s pricey, but here’s why I keep buying their plugins when there’s other companies that make the same things for cheaper: 1- workflow is everything. If a plug-in does a few things well that I always do for every session with 0 fat, then it goes to the top of my list. THIS CANNOT BE UNDERSTATED FOR ME. 2- this company is one of the absolute best at long term support. I’m down to about 4 companies that I trust for this. 3- it’s not some giant company, it’s a handful of people, and I’ll support that every single chance I get. No lies weee told by them regarding this plug-in. The dude sounds like this was something he was genuinely proud of, for himself, and I believe him. People are excited about it. I don’t think anybody here is out to get people.
I would like to agree with you but charging $179.. Different ball game. £30 plugin at best. If he charged £30 for it I genuinely wouldn't have even blinked an eye at it.
@PaulThird I DO love the plug!!! And the SG setting on top of my finished master definitely add that sprinkle of dust I like. But for 179...NOPE!!! You're spot on about the price point!!
I'm with Paul on this one. Nobody is shitting on the guy for making a plugin that isn't super complicated/littered with features, but charging 180 bucks for something this basic, that you can get from a free plugin, is a douche move in my book. If you're happy to pay $180 for a dumbed down version of a free VST, power to you, but that's a hard pass from me.
nice, i feel like an idiot now for buying 🙃
Now that's the old Paul third I was missing. Giving it to me straight man.
Great video! Just what I needed!
🤓🤓🤓
Remember to check out my audio podcast with Ed Thorne as we document our mixing journeys
Love you bro and your channel. Dan W. twin
paul ...you can never measure , the Voodoo whats inside...........
Nah but I can inaudibly null it 🤣
@@PaulThird 🤪😅
The ilok gives it a special warm sound
There he is, that's the stuff!
Cant they see that analog saturation is not digital saturation. No matter what algorithmic plugs are created its not going to change.
Cracked it, tried it, removed it (try for you buy)...Try Nevermore Magnetics Quantam or Anvil...game changers..for the Nebual heads:)
And I bought both and more from them..
Just reported you for being naughty! Nah did I f*ck, I cracked it too. Feel like I fell for the hype now tho.. 😅
Whats going on with the plugin industry? $1 today then next $180? Somethings not right. Same with Izotope, Native Instruments, you name it.
If they can afford to sell it so cheap whatever that plugin is, why dont they keep low prices for the whole year?, bundles that cost over $2000 then sell it for $200?.
II think that price for $2000 is so inflated, thats really stealing. they sell it to you sometimes for $200 because that's actually the real price you should be paying in the first place.
Great! After the UA-cam channel StudioLife another review that's honest. When reading the Gearpsace thread about this plugin (over 1000 comments about a wave shaper with low bump) I often had to laugh about the "magic" that people described. I mean the name "Make Believe" is honest at least....
Metric Halo have responded on the 'slutz ... apparently you're just using it wrong: 'that video clearly doesn't hit the processor in the way that triggers the processing that the wave shaper doesn't match (which is the "thing" that MixHead does)' 🤭(they're definitely secretly raging !)
I put Serbans preset on a full mix with 0.2db max headroom. Showed in the null that it was causing distortion and peak compression. Then matched it with MSaturator and the saturation and peak compression nearly completely disappeared from the delta. Then intentionally added 4db of input gain to that same mix. So we essentially have 4db of pure clipping at parts. Then did another null.
Its marketed as a mix bus processor. I put a full mix through it to near clipping point (which is what Serban is doing), and then added 4db of additional input gain to showcase the difference when introducing pure clipping to the source.
How can I use it wrong when it's their preset and I'm feeding it a mix with basically no headroom 🤣
John's Hanes made it clear that they weren't pushing into it for affect. It's intended to be very subtle. I used it in the way it was intended and then pushed it into for affect.
This is why I dont touch gearslutz/gearspace/gearwasteoftime with a bargepole.
I've arrived! Everything Paul said I understood! Praise him! Not you Paul.. the big man... well done again PT
Tried it, was cack.
One of the key purposes of a plugin is to help you achieve a sound you like quickly and easily. Just because you can recreate the effect using a couple of free plugins doesn't mean you'll actually do that in a real mix.
This is true to some extent, but in most modern DAWs you can save plugin groups and macros anyway, so you'd only have to assemble it once.
I also think that much of the point of these 'debunk' videos is to show that once the mystique is shattered, people aren't that bothered about using it anyway.
All I did was load MSaturator and dial in the input... It's that simple. You would do that in a mix, cause that's all you do in mixhead, it's the exact same process
@@PaulThird so every preset is exactly the same on the mix machine? I thought there was a high frequency eq and a ceiling to clip into? Didn’t realize it was just one setting.
High frequency eq that is linear phase and up at 15k. To add any audible difference with that I'm not entirely sure how much you would need to boost or attenuate but it's a pretty pointless feature.
To adjust the threshold/ceiling of clipping you use the output in MSaturator just like you would mixhead.
So use input and output just like you would mixhead, you'll get the same results
Its just a very standard waveshaping algorithm. Remember that the spl machine head was released in 1997. Waves renaissance plugins wouldn't be released for another 9 years. We are talking very very early days of audio dsp. Made sense at that time but in 2024, you just need a waveshaper, that's all.
@@PaulThird so this guy must be lying?
ua-cam.com/video/0VtG5S5ia-U/v-deo.htmlsi=6wNJph1iGrT-TOak
Metric halo? I haven’t heard about that company for well over a decade! They were badass back in the day for their channel strip plugin when no one was doing quality clean easy to use digital channel strips. These days it is outdated. I guess they gotta make new stuff at some point to stay relevant and in business. Sadly they missed the mark here it seems. Thanks for your detailed in-depth look at this plugin i’ve never heard of and will now avoid. Always love seeing videos like this before i hear about the hype.
Also as far as aliasing is concerned I’m less concerned with that these days as i still use decapitator as my go to saturation plugin and it has aliasing, just still sounds great!
Oh great to hear you don’t have cancer!
i actually cackled at 8:40 when the entire song vanished
Nice analysis. Its good to know I dont need to bother looking into this at all.
MWaveshaperMB now comes with an MFlator device, so you can take advantage of Melda oversampling and other standard goodies. I like asymmetric + multiband mode on bass.
Its actually not "a" waveshaper; its two waveshapers :P
right now, i won't soy about pro audio stuff unless Zoom finally decided to make 8 pre 32 bit interface (even though 24 bit nowadays is obviously more than enough and some factors might defeat the whole purpose of having 32 bit in the first place such as noise problems from poorly grounded and wired electricity)
Zoom has an 8pre 32bit float interface... the F8N Pro
Great video Paul! It's good to know that this plugin is just a basic waveshaper, I even didn't have time to check out the demo. Funny to see how many youtubers fell into the trap of thinking that it's a real "Serban's secret sauce" and now they are closer to his mixing quality 😂 It seems some guys are just naive and others well paid by Metric Halo..
🫡👍🏾🫡
I’ve been bamboozled 😢
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻💪🏻
I defended BB Tubes in your comments back when it came out. I said "I don't care if it's just loudness bias, it sounds good." I've come around on that nonsense since then, thankfully. However, I'm still pretty gullible and susceptible to pro audio marketing. I'm glad you're still blasting the truth out there. Maybe more people like me will start to think critically.
lol I knew it
lol
Audio Plugin space has become what crpyto was like in 2016-17. Lots of bs projects and shameless money grabs.
At this point, I don't think anyone can come out with a new "game changing" plugin. It's all been done. Especially with a clipper/saturator, there's just not much to it.
no it’s not „all been done“. there are new cool plugins every now and then.
I think with the help of AI they will be able to replicate some hardware 100% in the near future. Get ready for that
@@huberttorzewskithree body tech just released a suite of ai modeled emulations
Paul, thanks for doing God’s work. Excellent video.
i instantly distrust anything that uses the Ghenea marketing tool.