![]() ConclusionĪdding an aural exciter to your mixing arsenal can make a big difference in your production. If you overcook the exciter, you won’t run the risk of overbearing gain, but you will run the risk of sharpening the mix to an uncomfortable degree. Finding the right balance may prove difficult. Still, exciters might add that little push to further clarify your mix. Mixing with EQ can get most mix elements where you want them without resorting to using an aural exciter. As with any effect or technique, one runs the risk of overdoing it. Don’t get too excitedĪural exciters can certainly enhance the presence and clarity of a song, but with great excitement comes great responsibility. The compressor brings the punch while the exciter brings out the presence. This pairing allows higher frequencies to shine through while not overpowering the rest of the mix. Most commonly, aural exciters are used in conjunction with compressors. Just like with any effect, exciters work even better when paired with other mixing techniques. With the proper implementation, an exciter can deepen bass tones, making them appear louder without increasing their amplitude. Exciters can do more than just clarify high frequencies, though. ![]() As such, aural exciters are especially useful for bringing vocals to the front of a mix. On the contrary, small amounts of distortion actually help certain frequencies cut through. One might think intuitively that any kind of distortion would do the exact opposite of clarifying. What makes exciters so surprisingly useful is their ability to clarify mix elements, specifically those with higher frequencies. This digital plugin looks and acts identically as the analog system developed decades ago. Perhaps the most commonly used exciter today is the Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter plugin. While some still use the original Aphex Aural Exciter today, other forms of exciters now exist as well. All of this modulation results in increased brightness and presence to mix elements or the entire mix. In a way, then, the exciter also acts as an equalizer, but for more specific scenarios. In addition to distorting audio, however, an exciter also shifts phase and adds synthesized harmonics to specific frequency bands. Primarily, an aural exciter acts as a distortion effect. It can be hard to classify exciters because they do more than just one thing. The original exciter was developed by Aphex Electronics in the 1970s. Here we’ll explore one of these such tools: the aural exciter. But there are still some lesser known mixing techniques out there, some of which can make a huge impact on a mix. In fact Valve Exciter also has a section inside tube emulation with distortion, while Cosmos seems to have more parameters for the tuning of the various sections.By this point, we’ve gone over just about all of the most common tools in the engineer’s toolkit: EQ, compression, automation, reverb, the list goes on. Not to mention the difference in price and specifications of the various products. ![]() We are of the opinion that it is advisable to have at least two or more for different needs. This comparison is not meant to be a ranking, but only a demonstration of the various plug-ins. The first is more "warm" but less open, excellent on the snare but a little less on the Rhodes, while the second is decidedly more marked on the highs, highlighting the guitar. A distinctly different sound instead we listen to it with Valve Exciter and Aphex Vintage Exciter. Probably a bit excessive for drums but certainly more interesting for Rhodes and electric guitar. In both demos we immediately notice how Cosmos and Clarisonix sound more or less similar, very sharp and bright. We used Scarbee Vintage Keys for the Rhodes, Logic Pro X drummer and a sampled Epiphone for a custom library. Let's listen to the two demos, the first with battery e Rhodes plan, the second with electric guitars. However, we tried to equalize, where possible, the various parameters on the different plug-ins, focusing more on the Exciter effect than on the Bottom / Low end. Such as Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter does not have a section for controlling the low frequencies. It must be said that the following plug-ins, although belonging to the same type of effect, have potentially different purposes and therefore also different specifications. The four plug-ins in comparison are therefore the following: After doing a demo for Valve Exciter's AudioThing, waiting for a full review, we decided to do a little test comparing this plug-in with other Exciters, also called Harmonic Enhancer or Aural Exciter.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |