Jimi Hendrix Meets El Juan

Cutting to the chase, here’s the video I made about using the EL Juan Limiter to improve the sound of a live recording of Jimi Hendrix playing Johnny B Goode.

My friend Steve had an 8-track (remember those in Grandpa’s basement? Or perhaps your own?) of Hendrix in the West and he always played it at parties at his house. I could listen to this album for hours.

Originally I just wanted to get a decent-sounding version with some video of the actual performance up on YouTube, but then I decided to run the audio through our El Juan Limiter and the results were so good (and so quickly achieved) that I thought I would make a video out of it for you all.

The video ended up taking HOURS because I kept screwing up and restarting and on and on and on...

Here’s the big takeaway: Dan and I use our plug-in backwards. Very often we start off on the back panel, making some moves that affect the entirety of the plug-in’s response, and then we go to the front panel and make specific tweaks.

THis actually makes total sense. Imagine you’re going to do an analog mix. Before you put in a single EQ or compressor, the first thing you’re going to do is choose the console on which you’d like to mix. Big warm Neve? Punchy API? Snappy, crunchy SSL? Same thing with our plug-ins. There are controls that affect the whole enchilada, and they’re usually on the back.