SH Spotlight Compression & limiting in recording, mixing & mastering process: What is it? The good, bad, the ugly

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Patrick M, Jan 30, 2002.

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  1. +1 I don't think it's free any longer, at least with v1.5, but hey, it's only like $11 bucks or something like that. It's many times worth the price!

    I emailed Terry and told him me and others were doing, asking him if I was on the right track. He said, "Close." But he couldn't reveal his secret sauce.

    So, I just hung up my spurs and started using his plugin. His results are simply better, and it's incredibly easy to use.

    I imagine that one day the masses will catch on to this and start using it on the regular. Right now I have a laundry list of albums I want to "remaster." I'll finally be able to listen to STP on my main rig without my ears bleeding! The same with Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Travis, later Midnight Oil, and a whole slew of others.

    CAVEAT: This product does not remove clipping. If it's clipped, too bad, so sad. But if it's just dynamically compromised, without clipping, a splendid time is guaranteed for all.

    (in my experience even the best de-clippers don't work, because you're getting rid of information inherent in the original file, thus you'll always end up with lossy audio.)
     
  2. Curveboy

    Curveboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    I must be doing something wrong because I can't get it to work in Audacity...placed the dll file in the plug ins, but when I run it I get a bunch of error codes then it just creates a blank audio file.

    Ack!
     
  3. tlake6659

    tlake6659 Senior Member

    Location:
    NJ
    Is Relife better than Audacity's clip fix function?
     
  4. Make sure you have the latest audacity. Put the dll into the plugins like you did. Then restart the machine and/or audactiy. Maybe you've already done these steps. I'm just guessing here. There's no reason it shouldn't work. What's your OS? Is it the demo version or the paid version?

    Audacity's clip function is a totally different animal, and a crude one at that. You'll lose audio with the de-clipper; moreover, the de-clipper will not recover transients and peaks in your audio file that is already there; you just don't see them. It's like removing the veil of compression that was used in the studio, leaving you with what is very close to the original wav.
     
  5. DannyC

    DannyC Forum Resident

    Could the first few pages of this thread simply be mass posted to every artist, engineer, record company suit - with a post it note saying "people care"
     
  6. Curveboy

    Curveboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    Thanks...I think I worked it out...need a .WAV and I was using an apple lossless file...I'll have to fiddle with it when I have more time.
     
  7. zonka

    zonka Forum Resident

    Location:
    Peoria, AZ USA
    I was looking at his site, excited to purchase, and there was a note that it only works on 32-bit machines. I'm running 64-bit Windows 7. Does anyone know if there is a workaround?
    Thanks
     
  8. I have a 64 bit machine, but I'm using 32 bit Audacity. Might that be the work around?
     
  9. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    However, also to go back to the 1950's we also need to go back to live, little or no overdubbing, and full track 15 or 30 IPS and this also requires musicians and engineers who are real professionals. This is not today's reality. Nobody knows that level of togetherness, of discipline, of professionalism and craft but very few, Steve being one. Digital is something I can live without if it died tomorrow.
     
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  10. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    "In mastering music starting from the tape era, compression/limiting was used to keep the volume louder than the surface noise of the record”
    Just to be sure, it is not possible for analog compressor to ‘raise' the quit passage like Pro-Tools do, is it?
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2018
  11. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    It can, if you want it to do that.
     
    yasujiro likes this.
  12. yasujiro

    yasujiro Senior Member

    Location:
    tokyo
    Is it a basic function that anyone could use? I mean, is it easy to make a sort of brickwalled sound of these days with vintage compressor?
     
  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    No, you need a digital thing to really brickwall something. An analog compressor when used conservatively is not noticeable. When used full gangbusters on, it's like a special effect, like the sound of the Wings/Venus & Mars album or ELO's "Hold On Tight" or whatever.

    But the analog optical compressor will never sound terrible like the digital versions no matter how hard it is pushed (Raspberries "Go All The Way"). It will always sound musical and pleasant.
     
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