Essential Utilities

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Len Sasso

           
 

STREAMLINE YOUR WORK FLOW WITH THESE MUST-HAVE APPLICATIONS

AudioFinder's tool set for searching is also robust. At the basic level, you enter a search term and hit Return to find all files in the current list with that term in their name. Type in another term, and have AudioFinder refine the search to file names containing or not containing that term. For more-flexible searching, use the formal syntax of Regular Expressions. For instance, “piano|bass|guitar” finds all files with either piano, bass, or guitar in their name.

AudioFinder offers a variety of handy instant processes, ranging from normalizing, cropping, splicing, and channel management to sampling-rate, bit-rate, and format conversion. It will even encode files in FLAC or MP3 format (using the free LAME encoder), and it supports ID3 tags.

The Warm-up

There's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all compressor, but for analog-tape-style warmth, PSPaudioware VintageWarmer 2 is hard to beat. Offering both single- and multiband compression with optional brickwall limiting, it is suitable for tracking, mixing, and mastering (see Web Clip 3). You get vintage VU metering and digital Pseudo Peak Metering (PPM), both with adjustable ballistics, and the meter bridge is available as a separate, free download. Surrounding VintageWarmer with a couple of these lets you simultaneously meter input, output, and gain reduction.

VintageWarmer comes with 29 factory presets: 17 mixing and mastering setups followed by 12 tracking presets for various instruments. A surefire strategy is to audition presets that evoke the task at hand, and then tweak one that's close to the sound you want. Notice that all the factory presets have Frequency Authentication Technique (FAT) turned off, which cuts CPU usage roughly in half; they all have brickwall limiting turned on; and they all have the Mix knob fully clockwise. Turning FAT on always improves sound quality; you may want compression without limiting; and backing down the Mix knob gives you parallel compression without the need for an additional bus for the dry signal.

FIG. 3: VintageWarmer 2’s controls are designed to emulate warm, analog-tape-style compression.

The most prominent knob, Drive, adjusts the input level within a range of ±24 dB (see Fig. 3). The presets assume an input normalized to 0 dB, so when you're feeding the plug-in signals below that level, start by adjusting the Drive knob accordingly. To preserve the signal level for A/B comparison and to keep a track or submix at the same level in the mix, make an opposite adjustment to the Output knob.

Adjust the filter settings next. In single-band mode, low- and high-shelving filters come first, followed by the compressor. The Low and High Adjust and Freq knobs set the filters' cutoff frequencies and amounts. In multiband mode, the Freq knobs set the crossover frequencies between low, mid, and high bands, and the Adjust knobs set low- and high-band prelimiter gains. Each band has its own compressor.

Finally, work with the Ceiling, Drive, Knee, Speed, and Release knobs and associated buttons. In both single- and multiband mode, Ceiling sets the limiter ceiling. The Knee knob controls where, below the ceiling, compression kicks in, and Drive and Knee together have the greatest impact on compression. Speed (suggesting the effects that tape speed has on tape saturation characteristics) simultaneously sets attack and release times, and Release adjusts the release time relative to the Speed setting. In multiband mode, Ceiling works in conjunction with separate back-panel controls for saturation and release time for each band.

When dialing in compression settings, it sometimes helps to examine before and after waveforms, and the donationware oscilloscope plug-in s(M)exoscope from Smartelectronix is perfect for that (see the sidebar “Little Gems”).

What Was That?

Whether you routinely transcribe recorded songs or only occasionally need to decipher a few chord voicings or a quick lick, Seventh String Software Transcribe 7.5 makes the job a lot easier. You start by opening an audio file or simply dragging it into Transcribe (most audio, including compressed formats, is supported). You then select individual chords or notes, and the utility presents you with a spectrogram of the frequency breakdown of the selected audio, conveniently aligned with a keyboard graphic.

Transcribe will also guess what notes and chords fit the spectrum. Notes are shown on the keyboard graphic as green (for in tune) or pink (for out of tune) dots whose size indicates their prominence in the spectrum. Chord spellings are shown as text. To see the overtones of any note on the keyboard, Shift-click above it in the spectrogram. That will help you deduce whether Transcribe's guesses are played notes or overtones.

The trick to using this application effectively is to home in on what you want to analyze, and it's a big help to learn, and perhaps augment, its extensive set of keyboard shortcuts. It's also helpful to have a keyboard synth or sampler at hand with a sound similar to the material you're trying to analyze. The manual, which is in the form of searchable help, gives lots of tips and tricks for organizing, marking up, and transcribing large files such as complete songs. For shorter clips, the process is quite straightforward.