PSP Flare
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- In which I try Flare from PSP audioware and ask the question: why would I ever want to apply 70dB of gain reduction?
PSP Flare: www.pspaudiowa...
Music: "What Water Remembers" by Dan Worrall
Bandcamp link:
dan-worrall.ba...
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We feel extremely honored that you chose to review our product. Thank you for all the valuable feedback and comments.
andrew shepps "back bus"
Well done for getting the dry wet mix right ;)
I'd love a video on mix "glue", what to listen for, how to achieve it, etc. Possibly with a compressor comparison.
Seconded! Dan’s videos helped clarify buzzwords like ‘warmth’ and ‘analog modeled’, and i feel like ‘glue’ is another one of those overused marketing words that have a useful concept underneath them :)
You'd love a video that's already been beaten to death with a stick.
Thirded there’s a severe lack of good educational info online about the differences in mix bus compression settings.
I'd love a video on glue too. I think I understand it pretty well, like how it's achieved by counter pumping and IMD, but Dan always drops these gold nuggets that I see nowhere else.
Dan,you know what we want x4
I reckon developers panic before they watch one of Dan's Videos. I have to say though, there is nobody's opinion anywhere on the net I value more! Great job to both PSP Audio and Dan for giving us straight talking, and a very impressive sounding plug-in.
Wow, 6:33 that bypass A/B. When flare are ON immediately you can feel it as unity. That's such good glue. Good job Dan and PSP!
It's "working" , but considering how the depth of field and air were flattened it begs the Q of what he did it for.
actually u just hear it becomes louder
Same integrated loudness pre and post compression
I mostly noticed the reverb was brought out more when he turned it on
drums are happier when it's on
in my books videos from this (and fabfilters) channel are more significant in terms of quality than the largest share of youtube (and the internet in general, really), not limited to audio. An convincing metric for this is the fact, that I care to only watch these videos with proper headphones or speakers just for the sonic quality. Can't say the same for some music these days 🤔
Thank you so much Dan! I’ve been using your Haas delay comb filtering effect on guitars recently, but instead of a delay between 1-5ms, I’ve been using a 2nd microphone 1-3 feet from the amp. I can then nudge that signal if necessary to further tune it. You don’t get as strong of a null, but there are colours when you move the mic and/or region. Very cool effect that is mono compatible! You are the man!
Dynamic on the close mic, large diaphragm condenser in cardiod for the delay.
I bought this thinking it would be a good transparent vocal leveler; was very happily suprised. It sounds great, and to my ears - a very musical character. I also adore the interface, it’s simple, modern, and elegantly understated. I really enjoy working with it
I love PSP plugins, some of the best thought-out and useful options out there. Their Xenon limiter is on every mastering chain I use, and the Vintage Warmer is a solid gold classic.
The transparency shines, in that the plug in is much more noticeable when it is removed, rather than when it is applied!
One of your best demo tunes so far, I was vibing to it hard
REALLY nice guitar solo, Dan!
Sounds great Dan. Thank you 🙏. Mixing and mastering is as much an art as the artist who creates the song. It takes a team. Much appreciated.
Thank you for this video Dan, it was pleasure to hear and watch. Great source tracks, sound and thorough comments.
I like when the plugin-internal bypass buttons are right next to the other i/o controls, like wet gain, dry/wet mix and output gain, so that all features, that are important for a/b compares are in the same spot and I don't have to move the mouse a lot to get to places, since a/b-ing is often a process where you flip back and forth between various nearby settings a lot
Dear Dan: As always, Thanks for the Video.
also the full bypass effect is just huge, especially for the kit. Your lead playing reminds me of Andrew Latimore as well.
I like this company (and no, im not sponsored either lol). I have Lexicon PSP 42 and I really love it.
Thanks Dan !
. . . PSP is making some amazinig plugins . . . ! . . . The NobleQex really floored me . . . ! . . . and this Flow of Flare . . . ! . . . has me counting to see when I can add it to my toolbox . . . . ! . . . 🙂
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I can get the same sort of results with the Massenburg's DRC but the language on the UI with Flare is much easier to understand I must say lol. I am happy to have both
wow! Well done for using a not so balanced mix for the demo!
I tried this plugin out myself and it's great. Not sure if I needed another comp/limiter but it does a good job. I'm a big fan of having OS settings between real-time vs rendering. I hope more developers continue that trend. It's slightly annoying to go into the plugins and enable higher OS when it's time to render (since my laptop is a bit underpowered).
You shouldn't really be rendering out something you haven't heard... if it sounds fine with 4x oversampling, you don't need 16x
I started out with that attitude. However let's assume you do hear the difference, but you're struggling to get the mix finished because your CPU is on its knees. It can be a useful option, when used properly.
@@BlackDiamondYoutub Oversampling will help and I don't think I need 64X OS but if it's available as an option when rendering to even just do 2X OS, I would like the option.
@marksaxon @DanWorrall in that case you're definitely right. I was simply saying if you haven't felt the need to use 16x in the mix (not considering CPU limitations) then I don't see why it should be used in the bounce. It makes a lot more sense the way you lay it out where you do see the need to, but are unable to in real time.
Always nice to see another video. I'd love to see your opinions/review of Master Plan by Musik Hack at some point if possible.
Honestly I was surprised how UNsubtle the difference was with oversampling. I was expecting it to be almost inaudible but it made a pretty big difference.
"Does not impart analog magick" but clean compression can definitely enhance the magick that's already there.
Hey Dan, could you talk about editting and recording your videos? How do you sync up your voiceover to what you are showing on screen? How do you pace your audio to work with your examples and how do you sync your audio examples with what we see on screen and finally, how do those all work together cohesively?
Am I overthinking your video production method?
I write the script, then record the voice over first. Then I can lay out my examples with the right timing and, when I capture the video, the voice over cues my actions so I don't have to keep looking away at a script. Whatever I'm doing in the plugin gets recorded in realtime to another Reaper track, so when I've finished capturing I can mix it all in Reaper and render a finished wav. Then I sync up my video clips with that in the video editor.
@@DanWorrall Is it not an AI voice? I thought it was for the longest time.
@@malaclypse1409 hi, and welcome back
@@DanWorrall So you have examples in your head or you arrange the examples you're going to use before hand?
Las ostias que suelta Dan son de campeonato...perfect video!
Thank you for giving me permission to worry, I haven't been since then!
The man, the myth, the legend!
Dan "The Bollocks" Worrall
I've tried this plugin demo three times in an Ableton 12 mix session I was working on and it keeps crashing Ableton,,,, bummer
I got this one! Still haven't used it properly, but now I want to give the bus approach a try instead of my usual SSL/MDE Stereo options.
One thing that I would love if you could follow up, though: about that section where you said you rarely use limiters in mixing, when do you actually want it? Also, does it apply to all limiting, even HF limiting (like the TDR Limiter module)? Would clipping also count? This somehow resonated with me because I resisted using limiters and clippers in mixing for the longest time, but now that I'm okay with it, it made a positive impact in the polish of my mixes. What would be your non-limiting approach for rogue peaks? A fast compressor with a high ratio? Gentle hard clipping?
Nice bit of guitar Dan
mellow great sounding compressor
Hi Dan! I love your videos! I have a question about voice compression that no one else seems to be covering on RUclips. I work in a dubbing studio, and I really want to learn how other people do natural voice compression. This is a topic that is not covered by anyone who works professionally with audio. The problem I'm having is that I get about 10 audio tracks of different characters, each voice actor was recorded at a different level, with different dynamic ranges and timbres, and I can't glue them into one natural sound. Also, I need to make sure breathing and other sounds aren't too loud, but at the same time quiet parts must be audible and loud parts should not blow listerens ears :) I understand that this could be done manually, by carefully adjusting each item's volume before compression (that is what I do now), but I don't have much time for that due to amount of work. What do you think? I would appreciate your insight. PS: I apologize if there are any mistakes in this message, since I'm Russian. PPS: I understand that this is a lot to cover, it's ok if you won't answer. Thank you!
the sound of this track reminds me a lot of chris christodoulou
Lets goo Dan!! Soundtheory Kraftur next please!!
I much prefer actual ratios to percentages for the ratio. Percentages are only acceptable when it's not a static ratio, and is being intelligently adjusted by some other metric. Even then, being able to see the effective ratio is still a must-have IMO.
A percentage is a ratio. What's the difference?
I'd like to see you try Dynamic Grading by Playfair Audio.
DMG Trackcomp 2 please.
Is this similar in concept to the APU loudness compressor you reviewed? How do they compare?
Very different. There's no LUFS type detection in Flare, it's just a standard compressor with some clever program dependency that keeps it relatively transparent and makes it very gluey.
Thanks Dan!
From the blurb i thought it would be in the realm of aptr sculpt. Wrong! Sounds lovely though
Tone Projects's Unisum still rules.
Testing this bad boy on vocals... kind of "El Rey" Compressor by Acustica but saving lots of CPU and of course lots of money
just... WOW!!!!! what a tool!!!! IT can be CLEAN if you want and DIRTY also and TRANSPARENT but also gluey... I'm sooo impressed
Wait a second... Down at the bottom there it looks like a sort of wet/dry control for blending an external sidechain signal with the internal sidechain signal. I am intrigued, I've seen internal/external toggle controls before but not a blend control. I would love a follow up exploring this in a bit more depth!
I have seen it in other compressors. U-He Presswork for example. I'll let you know if I find a good use for it...
*Presswerk
@@DanWorrall Yeah, that's my main curiosity about it, what it's actually useful for. Maybe for glue on a backing vocal bus when you want the BGs dipped a little by the lead vocal without sending the lead to the bg bus? I dunno there's probably a reason why toggles are much more common for this.
I guess you could patch a bandpass filtered signal to the sidechain inputs, then the blend would be like a gain compensated sidechain EQ.
Nice glue that doesn't draw attention to the compression. The character compressors then works have to work less hard and really be much more for just character or maybe "bounce". I definitely like oversampling options on any compressor. When many plugins alias a little bit... And then that aliasing passes through other processes that alias a little bit... All those practically inaudible little bits add up to a slightly bit crushed sound... And most of the time on most things.... That is a pet leave of mine .... One that subs nothing like analog distortion....
Hi, I wonder if you mix with hardware these days? I guess you grow up on Hardware - what are your opinions on the differences itb vs hardware soundwise? Thank you
I think plugins sound great and, in aggregate, better than hardware. If money was no object and I could build literally any studio I wanted, I would probably still mix mostly with plugins. I would spend all the money on monitoring and acoustics, and honestly consoles and racks full of hardware are a disaster from an acoustic point of view.
How does it compare to POWAIR?
Totally different. Powair can do loudness based gain riding, or compress micro dynamics without affecting macro dynamics, and has unusually clever auto gaining. Flare is a much more conventional compressor, just with a particularly gluey and forgiving character.
@@DanWorrall Ok understood!
I think solo got cut off loss the natural sound
I have to wonder if the controversy over the bypass is an enforcement of proper gain structuring, as in, if you've correctly dialed in your gains between plugins, the A>B switch would act as a bypass toggle with a 0dB threshold, and thence rather than being "setting 1 > setting 2" would read "Altered>Bypassed". but that's assuming "signal in = signal out" when used this way, which is not always the case
I think the controversy is about duplicating a control that (arguably) the DAW should be in charge of. The only reasonable argument I can think of is that it allows for the possibility you will accidentally leave it in bypass and fail to notice if the interface is closed.
@@DanWorrall true, I forgot about the latter case, though I've had times where my friend's left devices off (and as such visibly greyed out in the device chain) by accident until I said "that could do with a bit of X" and they realised they forgot to turn it back on, so it's not exactly a catch-all arguement. to err is human, afterall
@@DanWorrallHere's the magic though: even if you accidentally leave it in Bypass, you would still think there are changes happening when tweaking settings! And if you press the other bypass button, you would still think there was some compression happening! Please Dan tell me this happened to you through your career... When you tweak a bypassed plugin thinking there are changes... Because it happened to me a couple times...
@@TransistorLSD if you haven't done that you're not an audio engineer. It's extra fun when you do it in a live show, especially if its the EQ you're trying to use to cure the feedback...
@@DanWorrall Hell yeah. Something to remember for the rest of your life. 😅
Came here expecting a SONY PSP video, left with more audio engineering knowledge 👍
Guitar is waaay too loud in the mix…
At school nearly 40 years ago now, all the kids would say “hoah!” every time they discovered a falsehood. It was an open declaration of calling out bullshit. I couldn’t wait to say “hoah!” and finally be elevated in my social standing from outcast to someone all the other kids wanted to play with. Unfortunately i never really got my timing correct. I’d either say “hoah!”, and the subject in question was actually factual which would damage my credibility and further cement my desperately unwanted position in the social hierarchy, or I would say it after someone else had already said it which would lead to extreme ridicule and social isolation. So now finally after watching this video all these years later I can finally say “hoah!”
Dan's version of "Tocak - Blame" guitar sound and vibe
Wow. A-B test of the 4 busses shows off the plugin’s capabillities, but also your integrity. Each bus was make-up gained perfect.
this channel has become gospel truth of plugins for me. engineering served like the good, old, practical physics.
That PSP ‘weakness’ to make outrageous compressors is their hallmark, actually. I recall the very first product of theirs 20+ years ago was the same. It sounded good and it was safe for those with little to no technical knowledge and I think that’s a very good thing.
That's some tasty lead guitar right there Dan ! Thanks for your work ! Real useful :)
Not really. And one note was completely off😂
@@patriziomameli9812 I'm always surprised how people can go out of their way to comment platitude .. Should be use to it by now ✌
I want to know which note he means...
@@patriziomameli9812 Listened 3 times.. They say "third time's a charm". Luckily for you, I can give you my thanks for not wasting my time twice.
PS: What a rad lead gtr performance right there Dan!
@@DanWorrallthe ones @12:32 🤪
hmmmm. I think I would still reach for Kotelnikov over this.
Beautiful example of gluemix!! Thanks Dan.
Like in advance cos I know super dope videos are always delivered
That compressor sounds lovely on bass. Also good glueing!
. . . Sir Dan . . . ! . . . Brilliantly Cheeky as Ever . . . ! . . . !?@y@?! . . . ! . . . This Blessing of an Epic Dan Worrall Episode for the PSP Flare . . . ! . . . Right On Time . . . ! . . . Setting Off the Flare on my Mixes Tonight . . . ! . . . You Justly Made my Final Decision Very Easy . . . ! . . . This One is a Must Have for me . . . ! . . . 🙂
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Nice solo
Thanks for this.
Fun anecdote... my buddy pulled out his old mid-2000's production pc from a closet and it booted right up, complete with all the 20 year old Cubase and plugins. For nostalgia's sake, we threw a song's stems in it and attempted our best mix with all the old plugs. Sounds absolutely fine. 27 tracks, a bunch of plugins, 67% cpu usage on a old Amd Athlon with two cores.
It sounds better than ever because WE got better at mixing heh!
Moral to the story is... we've been spoiled with extremely powerful tech for a while now. And that OLD, ancient PSP Vintage Warmer still sounds brilliant.
Love the videos, but would love them more if the audio wasn’t always terrible Muzak.
One thing I haven't seen covered much online is minimum phase crossovers in MB vs shelving filters in EQ as far as a means of shelving boosts or cuts (so, band gain in the case of MB). Are there advantages/disadvantages either way?
Have you ever done a detailed video of klanghelm's DC8C3? Id like to see how it compares to TDR's Molot.
As always your videos are well received and always (for the most part) make me laugh somewhere in the video 🎯👍 thanks Dan 🫡
A good reviewer shows the plugin or hardware on the extreme aswell as the subtle settings. Well done Dan! always looking forward to your next vid! 🙂
As always, I learn something. As always, THANK YOU.
Dan can you do a video of sub busses. I was interested to hear you have an everything except drum and bass sub.
I really really love the hammond sound in the mix! Would you mind sharing what you're using to get it? I've been looking for a great hammond emulation for quite a while!
Arturia B3
@@DanWorrall Thanks a ton!!!!
Seems super similar to Fir Comp
sounds good to me i'll try it for sure!
I've all but done with all these buss comps and sims..... saturation and clipper plugins now, especially the acustica plugins.
Idk man, sand4 is sounding pretty amazing, and so is wine (I'm using the mini version of that for advice/euphemise, full version of that plug is too cpu hungry)
On the A/B testing, is the organ leslie slowing down when compressors are bypassed? Or does the "glue gun" compression just psychoacoustically make it sound like the tremelo becomes more intense?
EDIT: On a second listen, the leslie activity doesn't actually seem to follow the compressors. My mistake.
The organ is a good part to listen to however, its very static in terms of dynamics with the compression bypassed, but starts to breathe and swell in level in between guitar phrases when its back on.
So many plugins out there but not a single one can replicate the "Stereo Chorus" effect from Korg Hardware workstations
Have you tried "MDE-X", from Korg themselves?
I disagree about percentages, in this case (compression ratio), but more as a general matter. They strike me as wholly arbitrary and useless, especially in cases in which an arbitrary standard replaces well-defined, easy-to-grasp standards like MIDI-value levels or decibels or frequency (or compression ratio). Novices to compressors learn quickly about ratios or they do not learn to use compressors. We do a user no favor by dropping a percentage of what the compressor can do, with some unstated weighting scheme to boot. That function's values will be untranslatable to another compressor in such a case.
Percentages provide no helpful information without a way to translate them back to actual measurements in play. If we have that information, the percentage simply adds a calculation to our workload, where we have some use for the measurement data beyond internal reference. Yet developers do this all the time, to no good purpose. I have a hard time thinking of a way I would find a percentage expression of a music-app data point to be preferable to another standard. I mean, at minimum, give me the MIDI-control values rather than percentages - something, anything, I might use for more than putting a number on the value, in a special case where I need to manipulate or to reproduce an effect on a sound. At least that's how I feel about it.
It is odd, veering into another subject in the video, that PSP does not offer oversampling in this application. It would not be a new thing for the developer to include oversampling. Unless I misremember, they use it in other plug-ins. Maybe they just push the oversampling by default for this one? Strange, but if it sounds good and my grass-fed machine can run the software, I suppose it will do as it is.
Thanks for the music and thoughts, as always.
A percentage is just another way to represent a ratio. You would still be able to calculate how much gain reduction to expect just as easily. I think you're just used to the convention! But percentage would scale much better IMO, as I love those low ratios on buses. And it's easier to understand when you do over compression: 120% compression makes more sense than those weird negative ratios, right?
Can I ask why you rarely use limiters? given they are super transparent sounding (well the good ones) and incredibly good at gaining headroom, and being very precise with the dynamic ceiling on all your instuments which for me becomes important when managing large numbers of channels, I probably the opposite to you as I rarely use compressors. Is there some issue that makes you dislike their sound?
I don't worry about headroom because I mix with enough that I rarely get a red light anywhere, and my goal is not a loud mix, it's a good mix. Limiters have limited creative uses, pun intended. You can use them to get fat sausage bass, or a certain type of fat solid drum transient, but that's about it. Compression however, is way more fun. When the ratio is lower you can set the threshold lower as well, so it digs deeper into the dynamics and rides the signal more of the time. And you can use that to shape the sound in cool and interesting ways.
@DanWorrall yeah I suppose there isn't much creative use, but good at managing dynamics in a mix (in my opinion) if you are using sounds with already fairly controlled dynamics, I guess if you're working with live recorded stuff there is more need, the only time I might is for groove on percussion, most sound libraries etc seem to be fairly controlled already so I guess that why I'm not using them that much. And of course like most things in production there is personal preference. I guess no one can deny the magic of compression on live drums
Percentage for ratio is just dumb, halfway would be 2:1, and 4:1 would be 100%.
2:1 at halfway is exactly what I want, but 100% would be infinity to 1, and 4:1 would be approx 70%
@Mitko, you're thinking in a linear way, but a lot of sliders are logarithmic nowadays.