Very interesting how after uploading listening to this back in crappy speakers gave me such a different listening experience compared to id14 and headphone setup. Especially in the access analog vs analog obsession. I kinda swayed more towards the hardware on laptop and phone but went back to analog obsession on the TV 😅 Either way which was your favourite combo overall? 🤓
Just listening on regular speakers (not reference monitors), I preferred the Analog Obsession over the UAD. The UAD was a lot darker and seemed to bring out some undesirable low mids. The Access Analog sounded better to me for the same reason--the Mix Analog was very warm and solid in the low end, but I don't know that it suits this song. Maybe on a different song I would prefer that.
Just goes to show how difficult translation is in audio. This is what we're up against as what sounds good on your mixing environment can sound harsh or too much on another. And people wonder why everybody sticks mixes in their car, NS10's, laptop speakers, phone. It's a nightmare out there trying to get the right balance 😅
@@PaulThird It really is a challenge. I'm having some success with Sienna by Acustica Audio...flipping between some presets (mastering rooms, Bluetooth speakers, clubs, etc.) while listening in headphones gives me some idea of where I'm at. And of course, listening in my car and on AirPods and all that. I remember Tchad Blake saying in one of the Mixing with the Masters series that he didn't reference that album anywhere else, he just mixed it on his setup and it was good to go. I don't know if I could ever get to that point. I think he's been mixing on those speakers for years and years, though, and I guess when you are at that level you just start understanding how it's going to translate without having to actually listen to it on other systems to verify it.
@@PaulThird Interestingly enough, he’s stated in interviews that’s his ears aren’t actually that good and that he can’t tell the difference between a 192kbps MP3 and a WAV file. He is a very instinctive mixer and doesn’t get technical at all, or bogged down in the details of a mix. He has a knack when it comes to understanding what is actually worth listening for when working and effecting the character of sounds in a very pleasing way. Considering he spent most of his career and defined his sound sending line level signal into instrument level guitar pedals for character, he is the epitome of anything goes in context. Keep in mind he works with a mastering engineer. He’s more of a sound sculptor, a true artist of the mix.
Yeah I noticed that. It's the 1176LN. Wasn't as smooth as the rev A in the fastest settings but it does have a nice low mid weight to it. I started off with the UAD LN and after tweaking it to death I couldn't get the UAD to match that low mid analog thing. However as soon as I used high pass detector in the analog obsession it had it almost right out the block. The UAD revA (blue stripe) is UAD's best 1176 offering to my ears. Not keen on the black LN, much prefer analog obsessions fetish
@@PaulThird The high pass got it there ? I was just watching an old comparison vid, he said the plugin is more sensitive to the low end and is compressing more. Could it be on these units, the hardware is slow to respond to the low end (something else i was reading the other day about circuits and low frequencies), and isn't compressing the low end as much !? We always hear the low end disapear on plugins , and the hardware has heft. I wonder if this is the problem.
Remember that the hi pass detector filters out the detection so the low end isnt triggering the compression. Lots of hardware compression has filtering in the detection just via the circuitry. That's why a lot of timP compressors have the hpf detection at a certain setting by default, must be a circuitry thing
@@PaulThird Right ! I need to go do some experimenting lol. I mean, i use the sc hpf in plugins most of the time anyway, but i didn't think it was the same as what the hardware was doing. Cheers Paul ! Hope you're keeping well Edit : ah wait a minute. One of my favourite old plugin compressors was the Toneboosters compressor, and it always use to fool me because by default the sc hpf is on and set as high as 500hz. And i was always able to dial that plugin in well and it always gave me that hardware vibe. The guy behind Toneboosters is a really clever guy, maybe theres a reason he had the hpf on by default.
For me, this is the main reason I'd consider buying a hardware compressor. If you're compressing heavily then using hardware will improve vocal clarity in the finished product
You should do a video on the Klanghelm MJUC. Three terrific compressors in one. Cheap as chips. My go-to for vocals and guitar. Thanks for the detailed, objective content. Great work!
1176 -> LA2A is interesting! I mix a lot of podcasts and I like to do it the other way around for recorded speech. LA2A in limit mode to keep the dynamics from getting out of control, into the 1176 which does more ‘audible’ compression, I guess you could call it. I usually mix vocals a bit differently but I’ll give this a try!
It's very interesting, as I came to somewhat the same conclusion in the AO vs Analog Hardware test. Solo'd I thought that the Analog Hardware sounded more "natural", but I immediately thought, that this could be an advantage when hearing everything in a mix. I too, preferred the Analog Obsession Plugins in this instance, although on some occasions the high end was a bit to harsh for my taste, which seems perfectly solvable with automation or Dynamic EQ processing. It makes me wonder, if you had the Analog Obsession Plugins running in 4x Oversampling. What we perceived could have been artifacts. In case you didn't know it: If you click the "Analog Obsession" text, it turn red and oversampling is enabled. Cheers
i fuckin' love this content, man. analog obsession killing it! i did not prefer the UAD to the mixanalog stuff. guess i'm a big uad hater. eric valentine shot out some burls vs digi/avid converters in one of his videos. you'd definitely be interested in hearing that if you haven't already. i thought they enriched the midrange just a tiny bit. i wasn't blown away by them and would not spend my own money on them, but i doubt they affected anything negatively here. maybe it was the bluestripe adding the edginess. the aurora (n)'s on access analog i wasn't super keen on, if anything (based on my own triple loopback tests). dashing and eloquent hosting, as always! if this is you in a bad mood...well, you can hardly tell! cheers to you, man. thanks for all your videos. 0:50
I did a second test where I used the burls inputs and outputs more to control the levels, hitting it harder and I could hear more what it imprints to the signal. Could be the 1176 or teletronix too though but my guess is burls. The sound of the burls is extremely subjective. I could see times where it works better to the source and others where it doesn't. That would be a concern to me if I was using it for my only analog conversion. Id need to have 2 converters and pick which I liked.. But I'm a diva 😂😂
Love this, thank you! I am always telling people how grateful I am that I live in this age where you can learn for free (from guys like you, eg) and use free stuff that actually works completely legit. I mean, when you think about it, we have to do a BLIND test between a hi-end piece of gear and a free plugin cause the difference is not so obvious, isn't that crazy?? All the best from Croatia (sorry about the match :-/)
There was always gonna be a day when a young developer done it like this and included users in his development. Puts stuff into perspective. He still has a lot of work to do but I can see him doing really well for himself if he keeps honing his craft. As for Croatia.. Cant deny Modric. One of the all time greats 🤓
@@PaulThird yup, agreed about Tunca (the guy behind analog obsession), love his work and he has really progressed in the last year or so (his plugins had some bugs previously which steered some people away from him - not happening any more, afaik ).. And Modric really is something else, also, a really cool and humble person :)
So, without knowing the results, hearing the vocals in context instantly changed my opinion. 2 immediately sat in the mix and felt more glued in with everything. Can't say it would be the choice every time, but it just flat out worked. In solo, there was a little more excitement to 1, but 2 just did it for me (in context). Fascinating!
Hardware is definitely adding more grit. Analog Obsession is a little cleaner and... On this sources i actually preferred it as well! Hardware 1176 will work better on drums, probably.
It makes sense what you said about the transformers in the Mix Analog converters, because I heard a real solidity and warmth in that one versus the UAD. Not sure if that is best suited for this particular song, but it was noticeable.
Yeah that's why i worry for mix analog as they are relying on the burls which I'm finding hit and miss. On the fairchild I prefer it but it's an acquired taste per source. Very subjective. I would agree with the solidity but I'd personally replace warmth for colour. It's a bit much in the highs for me to class it as warmth. I'm trying to pinpoint what I hear but it's hard haha especially as there are 2 units at play here. I did another test where I hit the burls harder and used them more for levels. I feel they lose a bit of bottom and possibly add harmonics to the mids and highs. It's like it focuses on colouring / enhancing the high mids. I really dunno but I know it's adding something 😂
@@PaulThird That's entirely possible, I listened to it on the iLoud Micro Monitors which aren't bad but I can't hear that kind of detail on them. All I could tell was that the Mix Analog sounded way beefier, but not necessarily in a good way (for this song). What makes it even trickier is that none of these hardware units are going to sound exactly alike, even if they are the same revision. Differing states of (dis)repair, different replacement components used over the years, and all that stuff is going to make them slightly different anyway.
Was going to buy the 1176 and LA2A UAD bundles that are on sale now. But this video saved me the money. Analog Obsession is brilliant. I also preferred it in this example, but they're very close. Actually its insane that free stuff is so close to ridiculously expensive, mythical hardware.
Being honest on this track I'm gonna go for UAD as I prefer the revA and teletronix 2a. Bit more upfront for me. For what it's worth though I wish I had analog obsession when I was starting out haha would I spend the money to buy the UAD if it didn't come with the pcie card? Nah. Its just a luxury choice haha
@@PaulThird fair enough, I still think AO sounds better, but tastes and all that. I do like and use the UAD stuff I have, but lets face it, its expensive, will only work with the oversized dongle that is my Apollo (although a useful dongle indeed) and nowdays its being equalled (and bettered imo) by free stuff. Luckily its not 2012 anymore and UAD haven't realized that yet.
Gaps closing every year. It's to the point where it's 'whatever works for that mix' now. It's that close in terms of quality. Would I pay thousands for the gear.. No chance. Not in this lifetime
Best audio software channel on the net!!! Request: Please demo Acustica’s Brown before it’s intro period ends.. if you’re interested ;) My friend has the old military compressor in that suite (a Federal 864) and it’s quite a character piece. The EQ/console sampled is a Quad Eight which is another really interesting piece of audio history (that apparently sounds phenomenal). I’m dying to demo it just looking for the time :)
@@PaulThird Hey Paul....please do a comparison with the Blackbird vs. the Lindell 80. Ive been a HUGE fan of the Lindell but last night I spent about 2 hours demoing the BB N105 and I couldn't make up my mind.
Acustica uses wayyyyy too much CPU. I have a few of their plugins, and though I like they depth they give, I hate using them because they use too much CPU.
I discovered something when shooting out my own hardware against plugins... good recordings, vocals for instance, usually get to "hair-splitting" (especially in context of music). Bad recordings (because it's never the artist!) often yield more obvious differences between hardware and software emulations. Maybe next hardware/software shootout you could try a little "stress test"?... oooh soft to dramatic belting eeee! A female vocalist jumping from chest to head tone sort of thing.
I personally don't like Burl converters for mixing with hardware, so I agree with you. I did prefer the hardware in the blind tests, as it sounded more ALIVE than the plugins. I won't speak on the "harshness" that I may have heard in the hardware tests. lol I'm going to stick with my opinion. Good video, as usual. Peace.
analog obsession did an OUTSTANDING job.. beats "access analog" by a mile right there.And when I say by a mile I mean: less analogue-grittyness and character - but beautiful clarity - and oh boy does the vocal still pop out beautifully and fit into the mix. Either you fucked up something or I will go gett the analog obsession plugins as soon as they make them aax.
Imho the strong side of Analog Obsession are EQs and saturators. Apart from his excellent Kolin vari-mu (rivals my hardware Vari-mu) and Buster SE I'm not a fan of his compressor line. But the EQs are on a totally different level. Masbax is a wonderful sounding BAX eq while Merica (Api) and Treq (Trident 80b) are very nice tone shapers. Great stuff! People often have prejudice agains freeware, but I've found freebies that sound better than most high $ commercial stuff. There are a few guys who code with real passion and make awesome plugins.
There’s a huge difference in how up front the vocal sounds in the mix, on my phone speakers. The mix analog sounds more upfront, UAD sounds like it’s losing too much projection. Although, UAD vox sounds better than analog obsession, something about the high mids sounding more open. It’s somehow about high mid ‘transient’ detail, from best to not so good, hardware>UAD>Analog Obsession. My observation.
After I mix all my music down with nebula and acustica audio...and my own gear...on the masterbus.....the Fetish...is perminant on final master bus...its just as such a warm, open but punchy sound...man...that fetish...is secret weapon on mixbus and drums
Hi Paul, what did you use to tame the harness please? I know the video is 1 year old, do you think Tunka fixed it? I haven't played with AO for a while
Any harshness I have in a mix I use soothe to tame it
Год назад
@@PaulThird ha ok thanks because I didn't recognized the plugin you showed that looked like an unknown AO plugin or something :) thanks for your answer
@@PaulThird I'ma start at the 50 mark and dial back from there. I wish the highend wasn't like that though. Its a dope comp though. Do you know of "Free" FIRE OPTO Plug.. I'm looking for something really nice on Vocals.
Thanks for this supercool shootout! I think the hardware sounded a lot better than the Analog Obession plugins (smoother). And I'm impressed how good the UAD plugins sound! :-)
I hear the analog obsession and access analog shootout different on every system I play it on 😂 headphone eq is a pain in the arse as I have to switch sonarworks off during the blind tests. I go back and forth with it on terms of which I prefer on system to system. Interesting though as somebody commented the opposite feeling that the analog obsession smoothed out the plosives more. This is why I do these tests as the subjectivity from listener to listener is fascinating to me.. I need another hobby 🙈😂
Any " decent" plugin will do the job. In a real mix situation, there are so many different parameters involved in the digital processing of a recorded track that unless you do constant A/B comparisons between the hundreds vesions of any of those emulations propositions and carefully match the exact settings, in the end you will get the work done in your ways... No need to pay for expensive plugins unless you go to specific tools like Izotope's line of " fixing" tools...
@@PaulThird I know...Last week I had to clean up a badly recorded voice with hiss and ventilation noise... I go myself some Waves plugins for $25 that did the job. After looking for some tutorials on RUclips, I realized those Waves plugins were quite " old" and used to be " hot " and very expensive when they came out. Turns out they still are as good as then...Right ? And we have reached a plateau in the digital specs... It has been a while that 44,1/48/96- 24/32 are industry standards. 64 bits is also well established as OS... My point is I am not sure paying the release price of any plugins makes $ sense while older cheaper alternatives are doing a great job....
The z-noise is quite good. It's just the latency that's annoying so I have to print ir to a track if I'm using it. The NS1 is alright but adds in too many artifacts for me. Not smooth enough. I use spl deverb now and rx de-noise together on my voice overs. Much better results for you. Waves stuff is still good if you gain stage it correctly and use higher sample rates. It's really only the aliasing that seems to be the main issue in my tests
Yeah it's wierd. I couldn't get a previous version of Fetish to load a month or so ago, and this week it worked. Think it's the install files maybe but lala works fine with me 🤷♂️
Wonder when he'll feel that he's at a point where he goes paid. Or do you think he'll just stick with the patreon? Over 3 grand a month. Doing very well for himself!
There seemed to me to be a distortion on the free plugins in the first test that just didn't seem to break up in as smooth a way as analogue gear tends to. This, to me anyway, seemed to make it pretty obvious which one was which. That doesn't mean that the plugins weren't great sounding. Just that there seemed to be something noticeably different.
Very Nice! I loved this. The UAD plugin sure is versatile. The Analog obsession plugin surprised me. I liked the MA better than the AA because it was more present, but that's because I usually mix pop vocals and I'm aiming for a more present sound. Great vid
It ruins your life when you know to listen for it. Can't remember what it was, possibly careless whisper by wham came on the radio and I was like dammmnnnn de-ess that shit brother 😂 I think it was that but I may be wrong
Which hardware units or software plugins are so good that you find even need good performances or good ears to record and mix high quality, professional tracks? 😂 Just having a laugh.... Thanks for the video!
Tbh I can't even remember what track this was haha I used to have a pretty much perfect memory for my videos but when I got to 100+ it was pretty much game over 🤣
@@PaulThird woops... Typo ruined my gag! I meant which plugins and hardware is so good that you don't even need good performances or good ears to make a great record
you are the man, but comparision among analog obs and the best blue stripe digital emulation it's like a footy match between Italy and Scotland. Analog Obs and Scotland are very very good, that free plugin sounds suprising, but the blue stripe is one of the best UAD's product. Ok, it's subjective, but damn, it sounds unbelivable even against hardware. And I am sad for Scotland, would have been nice against Italy in final))) we will have to beat England then. Anyway thanks for the video, the comparision is very interesting as usual.
I much prefer rev A (blue stripe) Over LN (black). I would always pick UAD rev A for 1176 duties. I actually use that same revA for the rear bus compression 🤓
@@PaulThird damn, I can't post here screenshot of my rear bus 😄 I do the same. I copied the settings from Andrew Scheps, but he uses the blackface. I just changed it with the blue. I also have a BUSS in my template, which is a "mono New York parallel compression", with the blue stripe as well. I use at least 4 blue stripes in my mixes, it's so versatile and well sounding, just like the real thing.
Lala analog obsession version it's not the latest one .... the latest version sounds much better , he has fixed the problem with release to the latest version
The one in the photo isn't the one I used. That was just one I found from Google. Pretty sure it's the most recent as it was the first la2a on his patreon list 🤷♂️
The guy who programmed the ao plugins is a fucking ghost the plugins destroys the real hatdware ive heard that he used to ba a acoustica audio nebula library developer
![How To ACTUALLY Use LA2A and 1176 On Vocals [FREE LA2A Inside]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ze3Ct2Jk1DA/mqdefault.jpg)
Very interesting how after uploading listening to this back in crappy speakers gave me such a different listening experience compared to id14 and headphone setup. Especially in the access analog vs analog obsession. I kinda swayed more towards the hardware on laptop and phone but went back to analog obsession on the TV 😅
Either way which was your favourite combo overall? 🤓
Just listening on regular speakers (not reference monitors), I preferred the Analog Obsession over the UAD. The UAD was a lot darker and seemed to bring out some undesirable low mids. The Access Analog sounded better to me for the same reason--the Mix Analog was very warm and solid in the low end, but I don't know that it suits this song. Maybe on a different song I would prefer that.
Just goes to show how difficult translation is in audio. This is what we're up against as what sounds good on your mixing environment can sound harsh or too much on another. And people wonder why everybody sticks mixes in their car, NS10's, laptop speakers, phone. It's a nightmare out there trying to get the right balance 😅
@@PaulThird It really is a challenge. I'm having some success with Sienna by Acustica Audio...flipping between some presets (mastering rooms, Bluetooth speakers, clubs, etc.) while listening in headphones gives me some idea of where I'm at. And of course, listening in my car and on AirPods and all that.
I remember Tchad Blake saying in one of the Mixing with the Masters series that he didn't reference that album anywhere else, he just mixed it on his setup and it was good to go. I don't know if I could ever get to that point. I think he's been mixing on those speakers for years and years, though, and I guess when you are at that level you just start understanding how it's going to translate without having to actually listen to it on other systems to verify it.
Yeah that's golden ears at play there 👂
@@PaulThird Interestingly enough, he’s stated in interviews that’s his ears aren’t actually that good and that he can’t tell the difference between a 192kbps MP3 and a WAV file. He is a very instinctive mixer and doesn’t get technical at all, or bogged down in the details of a mix. He has a knack when it comes to understanding what is actually worth listening for when working and effecting the character of sounds in a very pleasing way. Considering he spent most of his career and defined his sound sending line level signal into instrument level guitar pedals for character, he is the epitome of anything goes in context. Keep in mind he works with a mastering engineer. He’s more of a sound sculptor, a true artist of the mix.
Analog Obsession really handled the plosives much smoother than the real thing it seems! More to my taste anyways. Another great video Paul.
Yeah I noticed that. It's the 1176LN. Wasn't as smooth as the rev A in the fastest settings but it does have a nice low mid weight to it. I started off with the UAD LN and after tweaking it to death I couldn't get the UAD to match that low mid analog thing. However as soon as I used high pass detector in the analog obsession it had it almost right out the block.
The UAD revA (blue stripe) is UAD's best 1176 offering to my ears. Not keen on the black LN, much prefer analog obsessions fetish
@@PaulThird The high pass got it there ? I was just watching an old comparison vid, he said the plugin is more sensitive to the low end and is compressing more. Could it be on these units, the hardware is slow to respond to the low end (something else i was reading the other day about circuits and low frequencies), and isn't compressing the low end as much !? We always hear the low end disapear on plugins , and the hardware has heft. I wonder if this is the problem.
Remember that the hi pass detector filters out the detection so the low end isnt triggering the compression. Lots of hardware compression has filtering in the detection just via the circuitry. That's why a lot of timP compressors have the hpf detection at a certain setting by default, must be a circuitry thing
@@PaulThird Right ! I need to go do some experimenting lol. I mean, i use the sc hpf in plugins most of the time anyway, but i didn't think it was the same as what the hardware was doing.
Cheers Paul ! Hope you're keeping well
Edit : ah wait a minute. One of my favourite old plugin compressors was the Toneboosters compressor, and it always use to fool me because by default the sc hpf is on and set as high as 500hz. And i was always able to dial that plugin in well and it always gave me that hardware vibe.
The guy behind Toneboosters is a really clever guy, maybe theres a reason he had the hpf on by default.
wow, the free ones are really close to the hardware... thats so interesting! a very good news for me since i dig their UIs too
It's gave me the push to try out more of his stuff 🤓 I'll start including more where possible
The hardware gives you more constant almost static volume. It's easier to follow the vocal without disruption. (Test A)
For me, this is the main reason I'd consider buying a hardware compressor. If you're compressing heavily then using hardware will improve vocal clarity in the finished product
You should do a video on the Klanghelm MJUC. Three terrific compressors in one. Cheap as chips. My go-to for vocals and guitar. Thanks for the detailed, objective content. Great work!
Covered it in the vocal leveller shootout 🤓
@@PaulThird Sweet. Will check that out 👍👍
1176 -> LA2A is interesting! I mix a lot of podcasts and I like to do it the other way around for recorded speech. LA2A in limit mode to keep the dynamics from getting out of control, into the 1176 which does more ‘audible’ compression, I guess you could call it. I usually mix vocals a bit differently but I’ll give this a try!
Never fails me 🤓
I picked analog obsession over the hardware, and then again over the UAD! I love it!
🤓🤓
It's very interesting, as I came to somewhat the same conclusion in the AO vs Analog Hardware test. Solo'd I thought that the Analog Hardware sounded more "natural", but I immediately thought, that this could be an advantage when hearing everything in a mix. I too, preferred the Analog Obsession Plugins in this instance, although on some occasions the high end was a bit to harsh for my taste, which seems perfectly solvable with automation or Dynamic EQ processing.
It makes me wonder, if you had the Analog Obsession Plugins running in 4x Oversampling. What we perceived could have been artifacts. In case you didn't know it: If you click the "Analog Obsession" text, it turn red and oversampling is enabled.
Cheers
If I recall right I did have the oversampling on in the AO.. I think haha 😅
actually you can solve the HF issue with the build in sidechain.. at least thats what I do.. back off HF with -3dB and its spot on in my mixes.
8:37 still listening to this UAD vs mix analog, unbelivable.
i fuckin' love this content, man. analog obsession killing it! i did not prefer the UAD to the mixanalog stuff. guess i'm a big uad hater. eric valentine shot out some burls vs digi/avid converters in one of his videos. you'd definitely be interested in hearing that if you haven't already. i thought they enriched the midrange just a tiny bit. i wasn't blown away by them and would not spend my own money on them, but i doubt they affected anything negatively here. maybe it was the bluestripe adding the edginess. the aurora (n)'s on access analog i wasn't super keen on, if anything (based on my own triple loopback tests). dashing and eloquent hosting, as always! if this is you in a bad mood...well, you can hardly tell! cheers to you, man. thanks for all your videos. 0:50
I did a second test where I used the burls inputs and outputs more to control the levels, hitting it harder and I could hear more what it imprints to the signal.
Could be the 1176 or teletronix too though but my guess is burls. The sound of the burls is extremely subjective. I could see times where it works better to the source and others where it doesn't. That would be a concern to me if I was using it for my only analog conversion. Id need to have 2 converters and pick which I liked.. But I'm a diva 😂😂
@@PaulThird FVOAH 👍ruclips.net/video/NDBL2LZOLe4/видео.html&ab_channel=raniverhestraeten
I Love Analogue Obsession plugins. Really great considering the price! Another great free source would be Airwindows. Great video mate. :-)
Airwindows is a rabbit hole I don't think I'm ready for haha 😅😅
Been waiting for analog obsession comparisons with paid one. More please!
If it fits the shootouts I'll definitely include them 🤓
Love this, thank you! I am always telling people how grateful I am that I live in this age where you can learn for free (from guys like you, eg) and use free stuff that actually works completely legit. I mean, when you think about it, we have to do a BLIND test between a hi-end piece of gear and a free plugin cause the difference is not so obvious, isn't that crazy?? All the best from Croatia (sorry about the match :-/)
There was always gonna be a day when a young developer done it like this and included users in his development. Puts stuff into perspective. He still has a lot of work to do but I can see him doing really well for himself if he keeps honing his craft.
As for Croatia.. Cant deny Modric. One of the all time greats 🤓
@@PaulThird yup, agreed about Tunca (the guy behind analog obsession), love his work and he has really progressed in the last year or so (his plugins had some bugs previously which steered some people away from him - not happening any more, afaik )..
And Modric really is something else, also, a really cool and humble person :)
So, without knowing the results, hearing the vocals in context instantly changed my opinion. 2 immediately sat in the mix and felt more glued in with everything. Can't say it would be the choice every time, but it just flat out worked.
In solo, there was a little more excitement to 1, but 2 just did it for me (in context). Fascinating!
🤓🤓
Hardware is definitely adding more grit. Analog Obsession is a little cleaner and... On this sources i actually preferred it as well! Hardware 1176 will work better on drums, probably.
🤓🤓
i mix primarily drums.. and still often prefer the AO ... a fact I love.. and I currently use a LOT of AO plugins. They just work.
It makes sense what you said about the transformers in the Mix Analog converters, because I heard a real solidity and warmth in that one versus the UAD. Not sure if that is best suited for this particular song, but it was noticeable.
Yeah that's why i worry for mix analog as they are relying on the burls which I'm finding hit and miss. On the fairchild I prefer it but it's an acquired taste per source. Very subjective.
I would agree with the solidity but I'd personally replace warmth for colour. It's a bit much in the highs for me to class it as warmth.
I'm trying to pinpoint what I hear but it's hard haha especially as there are 2 units at play here. I did another test where I hit the burls harder and used them more for levels. I feel they lose a bit of bottom and possibly add harmonics to the mids and highs. It's like it focuses on colouring / enhancing the high mids. I really dunno but I know it's adding something 😂
@@PaulThird That's entirely possible, I listened to it on the iLoud Micro Monitors which aren't bad but I can't hear that kind of detail on them. All I could tell was that the Mix Analog sounded way beefier, but not necessarily in a good way (for this song).
What makes it even trickier is that none of these hardware units are going to sound exactly alike, even if they are the same revision. Differing states of (dis)repair, different replacement components used over the years, and all that stuff is going to make them slightly different anyway.
Was going to buy the 1176 and LA2A UAD bundles that are on sale now. But this video saved me the money.
Analog Obsession is brilliant. I also preferred it in this example, but they're very close.
Actually its insane that free stuff is so close to ridiculously expensive, mythical hardware.
Being honest on this track I'm gonna go for UAD as I prefer the revA and teletronix 2a. Bit more upfront for me. For what it's worth though I wish I had analog obsession when I was starting out haha
would I spend the money to buy the UAD if it didn't come with the pcie card? Nah. Its just a luxury choice haha
@@PaulThird fair enough, I still think AO sounds better, but tastes and all that. I do like and use the UAD stuff I have, but lets face it, its expensive, will only work with the oversized dongle that is my Apollo (although a useful dongle indeed) and nowdays its being equalled (and bettered imo) by free stuff. Luckily its not 2012 anymore and UAD haven't realized that yet.
Gaps closing every year. It's to the point where it's 'whatever works for that mix' now. It's that close in terms of quality.
Would I pay thousands for the gear.. No chance. Not in this lifetime
@@PaulThird agree 100%
Best audio software channel on the net!!! Request: Please demo Acustica’s Brown before it’s intro period ends.. if you’re interested ;) My friend has the old military compressor in that suite (a Federal 864) and it’s quite a character piece. The EQ/console sampled is a Quad Eight which is another really interesting piece of audio history (that apparently sounds phenomenal). I’m dying to demo it just looking for the time :)
When does the into price end? Was gonna do the blackbird 8078 eq next week with the brown the week after.
@@PaulThird oooh, it should still be going then. They usually do 4 weeks of intro pricing. Looking forward!
@@PaulThird Hey Paul....please do a comparison with the Blackbird vs. the Lindell 80. Ive been a HUGE fan of the Lindell but last night I spent about 2 hours demoing the BB N105 and I couldn't make up my mind.
The blackbird comparison is coming soon but not including the Lindell unfortunately. 2 different neves
Acustica uses wayyyyy too much CPU. I have a few of their plugins, and though I like they depth they give, I hate using them because they use too much CPU.
I discovered something when shooting out my own hardware against plugins... good recordings, vocals for instance, usually get to "hair-splitting" (especially in context of music). Bad recordings (because it's never the artist!) often yield more obvious differences between hardware and software emulations. Maybe next hardware/software shootout you could try a little "stress test"?... oooh soft to dramatic belting eeee! A female vocalist jumping from chest to head tone sort of thing.
It's finding those troubled tracks that would be the difficulty
Funny I also preferred analog obsession to the hardware. I also have the Stam SA2a hardware which I love
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The Scotland game's on? Ah, it's always good to meet an optimist. [runs away]
I was just happy they were in a tournament to be honest 😂
Hey another greeaaaaaat emulation is Tim Petherick's N4 library. Closest I've found to my F revision hardware 1176.
I was gonna include him but couldn't for reasons I can't discuss haha 🤐
@@PaulThird nooooo :(( i've been waiting for tim p comparison since forever
Yo I'm so glad you did this I'm looking for good 1176s and your comparisons are great
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I personally don't like Burl converters for mixing with hardware, so I agree with you. I did prefer the hardware in the blind tests, as it sounded more ALIVE than the plugins. I won't speak on the "harshness" that I may have heard in the hardware tests. lol I'm going to stick with my opinion. Good video, as usual. Peace.
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Now that you're comparing UAD and hardware to free plugins, have you heard of the Tokyo Dawn Labs (TDR) plugins? Some of them are free.
Yeah but it's just about comparing in the right context 🤓
analog obsession did an OUTSTANDING job.. beats "access analog" by a mile right there.And when I say by a mile I mean: less analogue-grittyness and character - but beautiful clarity - and oh boy does the vocal still pop out beautifully and fit into the mix. Either you fucked up something or I will go gett the analog obsession plugins as soon as they make them aax.
Trust me.. Nothing fucked up 😉
@@PaulThird I'll take your word for it :D
Imho the strong side of Analog Obsession are EQs and saturators. Apart from his excellent Kolin vari-mu (rivals my hardware Vari-mu) and Buster SE I'm not a fan of his compressor line. But the EQs are on a totally different level. Masbax is a wonderful sounding BAX eq while Merica (Api) and Treq (Trident 80b) are very nice tone shapers. Great stuff! People often have prejudice agains freeware, but I've found freebies that sound better than most high $ commercial stuff. There are a few guys who code with real passion and make awesome plugins.
Tunca is one of the good guys out there
UAD for me my dude!! Great comparison 💪
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Nice one !!!... So digital gives more options... I get it... thanks Paul !!!
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I fucking love this channel
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There’s a huge difference in how up front the vocal sounds in the mix, on my phone speakers. The mix analog sounds more upfront, UAD sounds like it’s losing too much projection. Although, UAD vox sounds better than analog obsession, something about the high mids sounding more open. It’s somehow about high mid ‘transient’ detail, from best to not so good, hardware>UAD>Analog Obsession. My observation.
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I'm exceedingly interested to know what kind of processing you were doing after the fetish on the vocal? was it like a dynamic eq around 3k,5k?
Pretty sure it's nothing. I normally tend not to have plugins going after whatever im shooting out
I always hope I'm preferring the plug-ins in these shootouts, but I prefer the hardware every time here.
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In the end you can’t even tell a big difference, and I use hardware and plugins as well
After I mix all my music down with nebula and acustica audio...and my own gear...on the masterbus.....the Fetish...is perminant on final master bus...its just as such a warm, open but punchy sound...man...that fetish...is secret weapon on mixbus and drums
I preferred AO over the others every time! It's just so slick!!!!
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Hi Paul, what did you use to tame the harness please? I know the video is 1 year old, do you think Tunka fixed it? I haven't played with AO for a while
Any harshness I have in a mix I use soothe to tame it
@@PaulThird ha ok thanks because I didn't recognized the plugin you showed that looked like an unknown AO plugin or something :) thanks for your answer
Analog Obsession is KILLING IT!!!
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Great work Paul - Many thanks!
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YO THIRD.. I'm trying to get the best from this AO LA... The highs are cray! : ) What are the settings you have ? -100 % away from FLAT Lol ?
Can't remember tbh but I know I dialed it back quite a bit
@@PaulThird I'ma start at the 50 mark and dial back from there. I wish the highend wasn't like that though. Its a dope comp though. Do you know of "Free" FIRE OPTO Plug.. I'm looking for something really nice on Vocals.
Have you listened to Stillwell Rocket? 1176 sweetness.
Never tried it but I remember seeing a dan Worral video about it 🤓
Thanks, great as always !
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good comparison!🙂
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Thanks for this supercool shootout! I think the hardware sounded a lot better than the Analog Obession plugins (smoother). And I'm impressed how good the UAD plugins sound! :-)
I hear the analog obsession and access analog shootout different on every system I play it on 😂 headphone eq is a pain in the arse as I have to switch sonarworks off during the blind tests. I go back and forth with it on terms of which I prefer on system to system.
Interesting though as somebody commented the opposite feeling that the analog obsession smoothed out the plosives more.
This is why I do these tests as the subjectivity from listener to listener is fascinating to me.. I need another hobby 🙈😂
I freakin LOVE AO.
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Any " decent" plugin will do the job.
In a real mix situation, there are so many
different parameters involved in the digital processing of a recorded track that unless you do constant A/B comparisons between the hundreds vesions of any of those emulations
propositions and carefully match the exact settings, in the end you will get the work done in your ways...
No need to pay for expensive plugins unless you go to specific tools like Izotope's line of " fixing" tools...
Yeah I'm still Gutted I can't afford izotope rx8 😭
@@PaulThird I know...Last week I had to clean up a badly recorded voice with hiss and ventilation noise...
I go myself some Waves plugins for $25
that did the job. After looking for some tutorials on RUclips, I realized those Waves plugins were quite " old" and used to be " hot " and very expensive
when they came out. Turns out they still are as good as then...Right ? And we have reached a plateau in the digital
specs... It has been a while that 44,1/48/96- 24/32 are industry standards. 64 bits is also well established as OS...
My point is I am not sure paying the release price of any plugins makes $ sense while older cheaper alternatives are doing a great job....
The z-noise is quite good. It's just the latency that's annoying so I have to print ir to a track if I'm using it.
The NS1 is alright but adds in too many artifacts for me. Not smooth enough. I use spl deverb now and rx de-noise together on my voice overs. Much better results for you.
Waves stuff is still good if you gain stage it correctly and use higher sample rates. It's really only the aliasing that seems to be the main issue in my tests
I have to use patchwork to use his plugins and LaLa doesn't work in my pro tools DAW. His other plugins do work though
Yeah it's wierd. I couldn't get a previous version of Fetish to load a month or so ago, and this week it worked. Think it's the install files maybe but lala works fine with me 🤷♂️
Definitely prefer the hardware everytime personally.
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Analog Obsession rules. The overall sound is smoother, more musical!
Wonder when he'll feel that he's at a point where he goes paid. Or do you think he'll just stick with the patreon? Over 3 grand a month. Doing very well for himself!
@@PaulThird he actually has been selling plugins but I think he decided that this kind of payment is better for him
There seemed to me to be a distortion on the free plugins in the first test that just didn't seem to break up in as smooth a way as analogue gear tends to. This, to me anyway, seemed to make it pretty obvious which one was which. That doesn't mean that the plugins weren't great sounding. Just that there seemed to be something noticeably different.
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Very Nice! I loved this. The UAD plugin sure is versatile. The Analog obsession plugin surprised me. I liked the MA better than the AA because it was more present, but that's because I usually mix pop vocals and I'm aiming for a more present sound. Great vid
Analog Obsession lovelly!
11:28 the sibilance is what I dislike the most in vocals. Can't unhear it since I learned what sibilance is.
It ruins your life when you know to listen for it. Can't remember what it was, possibly careless whisper by wham came on the radio and I was like dammmnnnn de-ess that shit brother 😂
I think it was that but I may be wrong
Fab duponts lesson on 1176 also taught me how subtle and distracting it can be.
@@stanleyc6225 )))))))))))
Which hardware units or software plugins are so good that you find even need good performances or good ears to record and mix high quality, professional tracks? 😂 Just having a laugh.... Thanks for the video!
Tbh I can't even remember what track this was haha I used to have a pretty much perfect memory for my videos but when I got to 100+ it was pretty much game over 🤣
@@PaulThird woops... Typo ruined my gag! I meant which plugins and hardware is so good that you don't even need good performances or good ears to make a great record
you are the man, but comparision among analog obs and the best blue stripe digital emulation it's like a footy match between Italy and Scotland. Analog Obs and Scotland are very very good, that free plugin sounds suprising, but the blue stripe is one of the best UAD's product. Ok, it's subjective, but damn, it sounds unbelivable even against hardware. And I am sad for Scotland, would have been nice against Italy in final))) we will have to beat England then. Anyway thanks for the video, the comparision is very interesting as usual.
I much prefer rev A (blue stripe) Over LN (black). I would always pick UAD rev A for 1176 duties. I actually use that same revA for the rear bus compression 🤓
@@PaulThird damn, I can't post here screenshot of my rear bus 😄 I do the same. I copied the settings from Andrew Scheps, but he uses the blackface. I just changed it with the blue. I also have a BUSS in my template, which is a "mono New York parallel compression", with the blue stripe as well. I use at least 4 blue stripes in my mixes, it's so versatile and well sounding, just like the real thing.
No Tim p?? What gives Paul tres. 😉
I'd already done Tim's opto vs the analog access la2a so I thought I'd try something different 🤓
Lala analog obsession version it's
not the latest one .... the latest version sounds much better , he has fixed the problem with release to the latest version
The one in the photo isn't the one I used. That was just one I found from Google. Pretty sure it's the most recent as it was the first la2a on his patreon list 🤷♂️
@@PaulThird nice, what is your opinion if you compare lala?I like your work a lot!
When I compared it to waves it battered it in my opinion. Quite comfortably
@@PaulThird Yes I think same ...thnx and all the best!
wow AO BY FAR
man.....LALA is the shhhhh.....sounds about 80% like a real teletronix LA2A...for FREE!!!
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uad sounds better than mixanalog that’s absolutely crazy
Dunno if it's cause its their own blue stripe hardware clone and not a genuine urei 🤔
@@PaulThird yea but I tried the mixanalog studer by myself its still awesome. The 1176 too.
I really didn't wanted to like the hardware but every time blind tested I like the analog more F###
Always gonna be that chance in the blind test. You like what you like 🤓 however 5 grands worth of difference though? Haha 😅
@@PaulThird Heee nope, thanks, I stick to the plugin thanks ;)
Where is AA TimP?
I asked Tim but I think one of them is in the process of being updated .. Cant remember which
@@PaulThird wow! You mean that U76 or OPTO32 Will be updated?
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The guy who programmed the ao plugins is a fucking ghost the plugins destroys the real hatdware ive heard that he used to ba a acoustica audio nebula library developer
That's interesting. Never heard that one
xd
i could have told you not to bother with the Scotland game. They suffered there usual plucky defeat and out before the pubs close.
Modric.. Different class
@@PaulThird you've always got Wales to cheer on Saturday.
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