Saturday, April 24, 2010

Toontracks EZ Mix review.


The problem....



I have spent what now seems to be a lifetime of learning how to use compressors, limiters, hi and low pass filters, EQ's and a very large host of other effects and audio tools. This was done with a goal in mind, and that goal is to get better sounding audio in my recordings. The hard part, which I am still contending with, is not just knowing how these tools work, but when and how to apply these tools to my tracks and my recordings. I thought I would spend the rest of my life “learning this as I go”, with both good and bad results. I simply want to have the tools that allow me to quickly and easily achieve the same types of sounds that the pro's get. Is that too much to ask for?



The solution!


One day last week I found just exactly what I have been looking for all along! With EZ Mix, a new product from Toontrack, I found myself getting the sounds that I have been knocking myself out for most of my life, and I am now getting them in seconds flat, time and time again, and with little to no effort at all.





EZ Mix is a powerful tool. EZ Mix is a life saver. Let me explain what I mean by those two statements. EZ Mix is a tool that gets your audio sounding as good as it can be, easily. EZ Mix can used as an “insert” in almost any type of audio track. You can open EZ Mix on an instrument track, drum busses, effect tracks, master fader tracks, or in any other type of creative way that you can come up with.



EZ Mix works on all types of tracks, mono and stereo, and on all sorts of mixing situations. EZ Mix has a very powerful set of audio effect and/or audio tool combinations that studio engineers most commonly use across (or on) certain types of tracks.

For example, you will find presets for vocal tracks, bass tracks, kick tracks, snare tracks, or even entire drum kit busses, master fader EQ'ing, and the list just goes on and on!

Each preset has a combination of tools and/or effects that are “set up” to best fit the type of track that you put it onto.One example would be a compressor, chorus/flanger, and EQ for a bass track, and dialed in just as the pros would have it for a bass track too! Toontrack has come up with a very simple multiple slider (or a multiple fader) system for raising or lowering the amount of the “blend, shape, and level” for each tool or effect contained within each preset. Using the preset browser found in Toontrack EZ Mix allows the user to audition each preset “on the fly” too.



Each preset in Toontrack EZ Mix is completley (and easily) tweakable, just so that the user can dial in just the perfect amount of each tool or effect in the presets for the perfect sound for our mixes. I was amazed at just how much better my digital tracks and my entire recordings improved with EZ Mix, and all with very little effort! It is really just like having a studio engineer in my apartment doing all of my audio conditioning!


EZ Mix downloaded off of the Toontrack website in seconds, up loaded in seconds and works flawlessly. My “new” laptop is a dog, but EZ Mix shows no signs of draining any vaulable resources at all! EZ Mix is just perfect! Toontrack said it best when they said “One Click, great sound”.

At a mere 69 dollars, this one tool will increase your audio to new heights, and will boost your level of sound, and confeidence!

Here is a cool link over to some videos from Toontrack at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68uX64h4V8M .


Saturday, April 10, 2010

Amplitube 3, speaker cab section

Hello, and welcome back to the Home Recording Weekly blog.

I have just finished part two, of at least three parts, featuring IK Multimedias' Amplitube 3. This second part deals with navigating the speaker cab section of the software.


Thanks for watching, and come back soon for the next instalment! Feel free to post any and all coments that you might have!