Happy Tuesday!
As promised/threatened, here is another email with usage ideas, inside information, and whatnot on our plug-ins.
El Juan Limiter
The El Juan is the first of our plug-ins using our proprietary licensing system. From now on, all our plug-ins will be using it and we’ll upgrade the original 5 too. Soon.
The El Juan started as a joke. A certain plug-in company changed their business model, switching over to subscription, which pissed a lot of people off. Dan was on Social Media, listening to the complaints, and posted something along the lines of “I’ll make a version of XXX and give it out for free if 1000 people like this post."
A few days later, Dan got to building the El Juan. The origin of the name you should be able to figure out.
The El Juan definitely excels at making things louder, and it does this by limiting and makeup gain. But it also has waveshaping.
Waveshaping
When you change the shape of a waveform, it adds additional complexity, in the form of additional harmonics. A simple sine wave goes in, waveshaping can add an octave to it, or thirds, or whatever you want, really. Waveshaping can add a bunch of sweetness or a bunch of garbage.
The “traditional” analog way to waveshape was to clip the waveform by overloading a component in a circuit or an entire device. Yes, saturation and distortion are forms of waveshaping. Digitally, one can apply math to replicate analog saturation and distortion, and that is waveshaping. Or, unlike the analog world, one can use math to add a very specific, controlled series of harmonics to a waveform.
A simple way to think of this: when I refer to waveshaping, I’m referring to math that adds a limited, very controlled set of harmonics. Saturation uses math to add more than one or two harmonics, and distortion adds tons more harmonics. Waveshaping - simple and a little. Saturation/Distortion - complex and a lot. The El Juan’s waveshaper adds some harmonics, which result in a richer, fuller sound. It doesn’t add saturation per se, it’s waveshaping, it’s adding some of the elements of saturation - the nice ones!
The El Juan has two different waveshaping options, which change the harmonic structure of the signal feeding through it, much the same as feeding the signal through a different console brand will affect the structure of the signal. And this gives you a hint as to how we use the El Juan. Like the PSC and the AIP, we almost always start the El Juan by flipping it around to the back and playing with waveshaping and input eq.
Here’s a video which shows a lot of the power of the El Juan.
The available settings are clearly marked and the effect will be obvious to your ear. Start back here, getting something that you like that fits your mix. Then, switch around to the front and use the limiter section to further process your sound.
Goofy Goofy Secret: the original marketing for El Juan was supposed to be like a Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western comic book. The Tale of El Juan was narrated by a robotic turtle named “Old Pedro.” However, when I was typing things out, I made a typo and wrote "Old Pedo.” I thought it was hilarious, so there was a running gag of Old Pedro and various other characters mispronouncing his name and Old Pedo, I mean Old Pedro, having to constantly correct it.
Again, I thought it was funny. But a few people found it less so... and somewhat insensitive, childish, stupid, tone-deaf, etc. So Old Pedro the Turtle got shelved and thus died one of the great marketing ideas in North American history.
Puff Puff mixPass
The Puff makes things apparently louder by using... waveshaping! The Puff Puff is basically a dedicated waveshaper. If something is already compressed and still not sitting there correctly, the Puff will make it a bit louder (and actually undo a bit of the compression by popping out the peaks a little bit).
How does waveshaping make things sound louder? It adds harmonics, and typically, when you add things in audio, there’s a power and loudness, unless things are out of phase. That’s a very simple way of explaining it. Try this: think of additional harmonics as adding density — the signal becomes thicker, richer, and our ears perceive it as louder. Note that the Puff makes things PERCEPTUALLY louder, but there isn’t much of a change on the meters. You don’t get a different LUF reading typically.
Quick Tip: Dan’s basic trick is if something sounds good, do the same thing again. Put a Puff Puff on a channel or a bus, and then add another one, Most of the time the result is a delight.
Both El Juan and Puff are designed as bus processors. That doesn’t mean they won’t work on a single channel, but our development thinking was that these are things you slap on a bus or across a mix. Both do similar things but in very different ways, and there’s also some redundancy. The El Juan also has waveshaping and the Puff also has a clipper on it.
Here’s a thing: You’ve slapped the El Juan across your mix bus, you’re doing some mighty fine limiting and things are sounding good, and you think, “Let’s add the Puff Puff to this and see if we can’t end the loudness wars once and for all.”
Where do you put the Puff? Before the El Juan or after? That’s a good question.
I’ve tried both, and I usually wind up with it after. So, once I limit things with El Juan, then I put the Puff on after it and play around with it a little more. I almost always swap the positions of the two, but generally, the Puff goes after.
Here’s a video where I’m using Puff and El Juan together. Some good ideas here.
Quick Safety Tip: Even though the Puff doesn’t typically change the meters, it doesn’t mean that putting it on last won’t clip your mix bus. One thing I do is have a True Peak meter on the bus after the Puff, and I make sure I’m keeping the true peak value at -1 or even -2, depending. We could have a whole ridiculous discussion of all this stuff and I assure you, we will, and soon.
The WOW Thing
The original WOW thing was a cheap plastic box you could slap on your computer speakers to get things a little wider sounding for, I don’t know, more drama when playing Legend of Zelda. Eventually, the WOW thing found its way onto the guitar tracks of a number of famous albums in the 90s and suddenly it’s a must have guitar secret. And to be honest, it’s great for that. But at its heart, it’s a psychoacoustic processor that uses delay and phase shift to fool your ears into thinking things are outside of the geometry of your speakers.
The WOW gently gets rid of everything below about 1kHz - the more you turn up WOW, the more this frequency cut happens. Hence, the WOW thing by default makes things brighter. And this is where the misnamed TrueBass control comes in, it adds back bass. Actually, it invents bass. It’s not TrueBass at all. All the real bass on the track died in a horrible filtering accident earlier in the signal flow. And this is what I love about the WOW Thing: it’s a great bass/low end enhancer.
I use the True Bass on kicks, bass — anything where I want something kind of big, low and pillowy, rather than something super tight down there. It works great for this. Also, you can’t go wrong putting the WOW thing on reverb returns.
Here’s a video I did a few months back in which I stem mixed a song using only The WOW Thing. There’s a ton of ideas in this video on how to use it to get more bass, more motion, overload it for additional harmonics...!
Pumpkin Spice Latte
This is a surprisingly complex little plug-in disguised as a seasonal beverage.
Pumpkin Spice was designed to be an all-in-one, a mini-channel strip that could get something rough and chewy out of a vocal track. Of course, people are using it all over the place, not just on vocals. I like it especially, a friend of mine swears by it on brass, and it does work.
There are limiters and compressors all over the place on the Pumpkin Spice, and they’re all interactive with the rest of the controls so that you don’t really know they’re there. You can slap this sucker on a raw vocal track and you’d be surprised by how much things will get under control without touching a knob.
Pumpkin Spice is a quick idea tool. Throw it on a track, play around and get some ideas. Perhaps execute the ideas using more adjustable plug-ins, like swapping out the reverb for something with more adjustments, but often it sounds so good as it is, we just leave it on the track.
Fun Usage: Set the delay time to under 5ms or so. Crank up the feedback and you’ll get crazy comb filtering, a “stuck flanger” effect. Change the delay time to shift the resonance up and down. Then, automate that delay time every now and then to wake everyone up. Fun stuff!
That’s it for this Tuesday. See you next week... on Monday.
Warm regards,
Luke
Happy Monday!
We started our Black Friday Sale today. And we added plug-in bundles, which people have been asking for. SO... 40% off plug-ins and up to 60% off on bundles!
Kim Deal
A few weeks ago I wrote about albums by older guys. I was in some sort of search for meaning, I suppose.
On November 22nd, former Pixie and Breeder Kim Deal, at age 63, released her first "real" solo album, 'Nobody Loves You More'. It's simply wonderful. Might be the best album of the year.
Kim had released a few things on her own in the past decade, things she recorded on eight-track tape — she's an analog kinda gal, but finally hunkered down in Florida, learned Pro-Tools (by bugging her friend, engineer/producer Steve Albini for lessons over the phone) and got to it.
Most of 'Nobody Loves You More' was recorded by Steve Albini, with Kim producing, along with a crackerjack bunch of players ranging from rock musicians to jazzers, to string players, and more. The record is lush, quirky, and ever-interesting. Songs evolve from sparse, punky Americana into a cha cha, or there's a pedal steel, or strings. It's all over the map, but it's held together by melody and Ms Deal's fascinating voice. It takes a bit to get used to — she sounds like an animated cartoon character played by a chain-smoking alcoholic, but it's the perfect voice to deliver the pain and magic of this album.
The record is full of pain. She lost her mom to Alzheimer's, and then, following in quick succession, her dad, her aunt, and her uncle — within one year. And then she lost Steve Albini — he died after 'A Good Time Pushed', the last thing he ever recorded.
But while it's a painful record, it's not sad. There's something gorgeous and content about it, triumphant and wise. And Ms. Deal has a great sense of humor, which comes out in the lyrics and the scatological arrangements. It's such a good record, and so worth a listen. In a fair and decent world, it would sweep the Grammy's.
But it won't. Because it's not something built to fit an algorithm and tweaked to within an inch of its life — there's not even autotune on it. It doesn't have guest rappers, songs written by fourteen people, or Max Martin anywhere near it. Kim has about 7,000 subscribers on YouTube. This music wasn't written with data science and AI pitching in on the lyrics. It's not statistically constructed to increase engagement. It ain't fucking "content."
It's a record by someone doubling down on the one thing all of us can double down on: being one's self. Unapologetically screwed up, vulnerable, perhaps a bit pissed-off, but playing your own damn game.
'Nobody Loves You More'
Some things on YouTube:
A short one this week. Have a lovely time - the holidays are upon us. Love love love.
Warm regards,
Luke
Happy Monday!
If you’re in the US, still working on your taxes or did you get them done?
TAXMAN
I remember hearing this song for the very first time. I had just bought my very first record, which was Revolver, by The Beatles. George Harrison’s song Taxman was the lead-off track. It began out with some strange noises (analog tape decks ramping up to speed) and a weird count-in, and then BANG!
I made a special version of Taxman for you all.
There was an awful Beatles cartoon series in the late 60s. The voices all suck (except for Ringo), the animation is awful, but the music is good. Especially if you swap in better versions of the song... and then run the audio through the El Juan Limiter
It still blows my mind. Damn! That’s PRODUCTION. Guitar solos by Paul McCartney, by the way. The whole album is great.
WOW, man
It has been all WOW WOW WOW Thing at Korneff Headquarters for the past few weeks. Finally, I got a WOW Thing video done. I used it in some non-typical ways — it definitely isn’t a plug-in that only does big guitars. There are a few hacks in the video too, as well as Luke ADHD moments.
Watch the Wow Thing video here.
By the way, the introductory low price goes away April 19th.
Breaking Rules with Moving Coils
The WOW Thing became a thing when engineer Randy Staub used it on Metallica’s Black Album. He also used a Shure SM7 on the hi-hats. Not the usual thing you see.
The SM7 was Michael Jackson’s main vocal mic. Kind of a strange choice, especially since that mic is relatively insensitive and MJ used to make all sorts of weird little noises. Or maybe that was why they used an SM7.
Dan’s go-to acoustic guitar mic is an AKG D160. The Beatles loved this one, too. Luke's go-to acoustic guitar mic was the AKG D224.
Sometimes, actually very often, a moving coil is a better choice than a condenser.
Here’s why you should use Moving Coil microphones.
We love your comments and questions. Please feel free to write us, we love hearing from you.
Happy April 15th!
Warm regards,
The guys at Korneff
PS.. we have a new plug-in coming out soon. I used it on the music on that Taxman cartoon. The voice acting and cartoon soundtrack went through the El Juan, but the Beatles song went through something else. Any ideas as to what? Send us your guesses!
As a challenge, I’ve been remixing songs using just one of our plug-ins. This week I remixed with the WOW.
The video is a bit long, because I explain a lot and have too much fun, but the video is chapter marked and I wrote some quick takeaways below.
Key Takeaways
- The WOW Thing adds a lot of brightness and clarity. Plan accordingly.
- The more you crank up WOW, the more stereo-recorded tracks or submixed things will gain ambiance and reverb. More WOW = More Wet.
- Plan your bottom end a bit. TrueBass has a bunch of different low and low mid frequencies to pick from, so spread things out down there. Don’t add TrueBass to the drums and the bass and guitars and keyboards all at the same frequency. Layer things down there. Like lasagna.
- Don’t ignore the potential for saturation. Overload the WOW Thing (or really any of our plug-ins) and you’ll get saturation. Saturation will add subtle compression and some high harmonics to help a track to stand out without using a compressor or an EQ.
Happy Monday!
First: watch this before you read on any further:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIZD9WFpWZo
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I want to be reincarnated as a high school girl in a sundress and sandals, rocking out to Fugazi.
This thing is so damn HUMAN. This clip embodies the fun and camaraderie of rocking out in the band. Playing in a band. Remember: you don’t “serious" music, you play music.
Lead singer is a killer. She has a sincerity about spelling out how she’s going to do what she wants with her life.
Drummer is a killer, too. I wrote more about why he’s good and what is the takeaway if you’re recording/producing.
TV Themes and Songs
TV themes have gotten REALLY short. This has to be a byproduct of Instagram and TikTok and I don’t think I like it. I remember tv theme songs that were fabulous songs, like this and this.
However, some of these short themes are wickedly good as well as wickedly short.
Two of my faves, Better Call Saul and The Lincoln Lawyer.
Great little, distinctive bits of production/writing.
Perhaps think about getting good at making music like this.
Why are these things so effective?
1) There’s something familiar about them. When we think we’ve heard something before but we’re not sure, our brain tends to lock in on that: It's like a puzzle.
2) Cool sonics and sounds that are interesting. Both of these are using non-standard instrumentation, and again, our brain likes to puzzle out, “What is that?"
3) Strong moods that sum up the show. You can tell from the themes that 'Better Call Saul' is set in the West and has a sense of humor, and that 'The Lincoln Lawyer' is slick and mysterious.
Remember: our brains love questions and a sense of what comes next. Think about that next time you’re writing music or producing something.
AND... I couldn’t help it. I downloaded the themes off Netflix and they sounded AWFUL, like this...
SO I confess... I ran them through our new WOW Thing and then through the El Juan Limiter and they sounded much better! Here’s a before and after I made...
Cutting Vocals
We kinda touched on this a few weeks ago, that vocals need to be thinned out somewhat in the mix to get them to sit right (and easily).
The problem is standing too close to the damn mic. BACK UP.
Click here for more thoughts on this.
The struggle against our eventual robot overlords continues
Another AI product aimed at making creative work fast, cheap and coincidentally, uncreative?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tL5X8kuuGs
Contrast that crap to the Cleveland School of Rock Video we started with and be glad you’re not a robot.
At your request
You can now see back issues of New Monday online here: https://korneffaudio.com/new-monday-newsletter/
We are experimenting with the format a bit. Do you like long emails with a lot in them, or shorter emails with links that lead off to other content, so you can choose what interests you? Please let us know what you like.
Dan and Luke
