Review and Tutorial: Rancorsoft Super Angry Distortion

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
Today we're going to review a saturation plugin produced by Rancorsoft and called "Super Angry Distortion".

This plugin is obviously made to add to a sound (for example a drum or a vocal track) some grit, to add some sparkle if the track is a bit dull, or to obtain creative results, with a downsample that can be really extreme and that can let us get sounds chiptune-like, or made with a vintage computer soundcard.
What is interesting is that this plugin, instead of just boasting "digital tube modeling" etc, it just gives us four different types of distortion, and lets us mix and match them until we find the equilibrium we need.

The knobs are:

Coarse Downsample this is a very gritty distortion, that lets us reach very fast a "chiptune" effect

Fine Downsample this one is a more subtle one, which preserves the original sound more

Even Harmonics this is a harmonic exciter that boosts the even harmonics, the ones generated from a tube amplifier

Odd Harmonics this harmonic exciter, instead, boosts the odd harmonics, the ones created from an analog, non tube, amplifier.

Wet/Dry and Volume obviously doesn't need an explaination.


This plugin differs from the other distortion or saturation processors on the market for its flexiblity: while others are often made to add a subtle saturation, this vst lets us range from that same saturation to incredible levels of distortion, incorporating capabilities typical of a bit crusher and a versatile harmonic exciter.
I would work a little bit more on the ui, which looks a bit cheap, but other than that, we really suggest you to check this plugin out.


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Expander. What is it and how to use it? (free Vst Plugins included)

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's article!

Today we're going to talk about a topic that we have kinda overlooked in our analysis of the audio processors, because it's basically the other side of the coin of a Gate, but that actually deserves a deepening: the Expander.

An expander comes usually in the same plugin of a gate, and it is always a derivation of a compressor, that's why most of the controls will be the same: threshold, attack, release, knee and so on.

With the same controls, we can obtain different results:

Compressor: it attenuates the signal that surpasses a certain threshold, with a strenght that we can decide (e.g. is useful to attenuate the occasional peaks of a snare drum).

Gate: it attenuates the signal below a certain threshold, leaving the part of the signal above it untouched (e.g. is useful to eliminate the electric guitar background noise)

Expander: it raises the gain of the part of the sound that surpasses a certain threshold. Basically what it does is the opposite of a compressor (e.g. we have to restore some dynamic range from an overcompressed recording, or we have to make the main element of an audio track to pop out more compared to the others).

So the function of an expander is to make a sound to pop out more and restore some dynamic range, without necessarily attenuating the background sounds. 

How do we use it? It's simple: we must find the level which gets surpassed only by the element that we want to emphasize and put the threshold to that level, from there with the "expand" control we raise the gain to the desired level. Obviously we can also refine the setting deciding attack and release times.

Usually there is a Gate bundled on each DAW, but not always there's an Expander.

Here's a small selection of Free Vst Expanders for you to try!

DigitalfishPhones Floorfish one of the most celebrated free gate/expanders.

ReaGate the gate/expander from the Reaper serie, very simple and versatile.

Variety of Sound Prefix this is a processor which incorporates eq, phase alignment, gate and expander.


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Review and tutorial: Fabfilter Pro G

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
Today we continue our overlook on the Fabfilter product line, focusing on their Gate: the Fabfilter Pro G.
This plugin applies the Fabfilter typical interface (with a real time graphic peak analyzer) to a Gate/Expander module.
What is a Gate (click here for a dedicated article)? A Gate is basically a Compressor which lowers the gain not beyond a certain threshold (as a normal compressor would), but below it, and it is a tool created to eliminate background noise from distorted guitars, for example, or open air recordings, or even to remove mic bleeds from acoustic drumsets: only the sounds above the selected threshold will be heard.
Since it's basically a Compressor, most of the controls are also the same: Attack, Release, Threshold, Ratio, Knee and so on, but there is also an expert mode which lets us use advanced functions such as "sidechain mode", and Mid-Side processing.

This unit can be used as an Expander plugin too, using the "Upward" function.
This function is basically used to restore some dynamic range on some recording which has been overcompressed for example, or in every situation in which you have to raise the volume of only the peaks that surpass a certain threshold, leaving the rest unprocessed.

This is yet another fine plugin that helps us fine-tuning our sounds, thanks both to good graphic ui and to some controls which are rarely featured on others products.

- Adjustable range, hold time and knee settings

- Optional look-ahead time up to 10 ms

- Expert mode that offers highly customizable side chain options

- Mono, stereo or mid/side processing

- Up to four times linear-phase oversampling

- MIDI triggering: open the gate/expander with your MIDI keyboard

- External side chain option

- Separate dry/wet level settings

- MIDI Learn

- Undo/redo and A/B comparison

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"Horror" Preverb: what it is and how to create this effect

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
Today we're going to talk about the "Preverb" effect, a particular use of the Reverb effect that creates a typical "Horror" vibe (and that has been extensively used in many movies too, for example on "The Exorcist").
With the term "Preverb" we refer to a reversed reverb that happens before the actual sound that generates it, and this effect it's obtained in a rather clever way;

this explaination is about how to do it in the typical Cubase\Nuendo interface, but it can be done the same way with any DAW.

1) First we need to select the audio track we need to process (for example a vocal track, or a drum track), and click on Process->Reverse

2) Then we put a nice Reverb on our Track, with a long tail, and with the mix control set to 100% Wet.

3) Now we must export our reverbered track to apply the effect on the track permanently.

4) After that, we must import back the track on our project, and do Process->Reverse again, so that the sound will be straight, and only the Reverb will be reversed!

Now playing the track you will hear first the tail of the reverb, then the actual sound, and this will make a very sinister effect.


Hope this was helpful!


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Review and Tutorial: Fabfilter Pro Mb

Hello and welcome to this week's article!
Today we're going to talk about another Fabfilter product, the Multiband Compressor Fabfilter Pro Mb.
If you have read our Multiband Compression article you will already know that a Multiband Compressor is s tool that sets itself halfway between a Compressor and an Equalizer, because it lets you Compress frequences selectively, with the result of a gain attenuation (or expansion, since this unit works as an expander too) only in a certain frequency area and only when triggered, unlike an Equalizer that, once set, works continuously.
Multiband compressors usually come handy when dealing with a multi instrument track, for example in the Mastering Phase, since if we have to deal with a single instrument track often we can shape the tone with a traditional single band compressor and an equalizer, but some sound engineer likes to use a Multiband comp in the single tracks too, because this way the compression can be less invasive and more transparent, and can help us limiting the use of an Equalizer (remember, the more we intervene on a sound with an Eq, the farther we move it from the original sound, making it more and more digital).
This particular Multiband Compressor, the Pro Mb, is a Swiss Knife of useful tools: it has up to six bands that can be Compressed or Expanded, an internal Sidechain function that for example compresses a certain area when another area is activated, Mid Side Processing (which means that you can compress for example the low frequences set in the center of the mix and the high frequences of the cymbals panned on the extreme left and right leaving the central highs untouched), and a good Frequency Analyzer that lets us see in real time how we are affecting the track.
Overall this tool is another suggested plugin, because it lets us get rid of at least a couple of other plugins in our Vst chain, and we really hope that Fabfilter will create someday a handy Channel Strip with Gate, Eq, Comp (with analyzer) and Saturation  just to make us load One single plugin per channel!


- Up to six processing bands, freely placed anywhere in the spectrum, which can be easily snapped together to form a traditional crossover system

- Unique Dynamic Phase processing mode featuring zero latency, no static phase changes and no pre-ringing artifacts

- Fully customizable per band: threshold, range, attack, release, output gain, ratio, variable knee, lookahead (up to 20 ms), variable stereo linking, mid- or side-only processing, external side chain input, triggering on a separate frequency range

- Global dry/wet mix from 0% to 200% to easily scale the total effect of the plug-in

- Accurate and smooth real-time frequency analyzer with pre- and post-processing options and 'freeze' feature, with Precise output metering

- MIDI Learn


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Interview: Giuseppe Orlando, of OuterSound Studios

Giuseppe Orlando is a famous producer which has his studio (the OuterSound Studios) located in Rome.

The guy has played with many projects, from Novembre to Rosae Crucis to The Foreshadowing, and is considered to be an institution about rock and metal production.

Here's our interview:


GuitarNerdingBlog: Hello Giuseppe and welcome to Guitar Nerding Blog! Introduce yourself to our readers, tell us your story!

GiuseppeOrlando: Hi and thanks for the interview. I'm Giuseppe Orlando, producer at The Outersound studios and drummer of Novembre, The Foreshadowing and Airlines Of Terror. I started to play drums at 11 playing metal and studying all styles. I also played in several different projects like Abstracta , Ghouls , Rosae Crucis, Valkiria and others. I've always been an open minded guy so I tried to play the most kind of music in my life. The studio experience started in 96 in another studio called Random music house and after two years I've moved to Outersound.

GNB: Tell us about your career. We know you've been playing in many projects during the last few years, and the most important one is obviously Novembre, which according to the Wikipedia page are currently on hold, and The Foreshadowing.
Which are your career highlights? Which are the artists that influenced you the most? Is it there still some collaboration that you wish you would do?

GO: I have played with many bands and I did lots of concerts in every kind of club, but of course the highlights are the tours and the festivals. As Novembre we toured europe with band like Opeth, Katatonia, Moonspell and Kreator and played in several european important festivals like Summer breeze and Wave gothic Threffen. With The Foreshadowing instead, we recently toured USA and Canada with Marduk, Moonspell, Inquisition and Deathwolf and Europe with Swallow the Sun and Antimatter. With Airlines Of Terror we shared the stage with Decapitated, Rotten Sound and Dark Tranquillity.

All great experiences!! I've been influenced by many different kinds of artists, from 80's Pop/Dark music to Terrorizer, Yes, Slayer, King Crimson, Paradise Lost, Voivod, Dream Theatre and many others but as a drummer I would say Sean Reinert not only for technique but also for his "fusion" (not the musical genre) state of mind. His work on Human by Death was absolutely innovative. I don't have a real wish of collaboration with other bands except for Slayer Ahahaha.

GNB: What do you think about the actual music business? What are your thoughts about underground and mainstream music scene nowadays?

GO: The music business nowadays is in a deep crisis. Everything is online and the only bands that are continuing to sell are the bigger ones, even if much less than before. You can see it in the festivals, headliners are always the same. The scene does not grow in terms of "Making money", and many labels ask you money to "cooproduce" your albums because they don't want to risk too much. Of course there are exceptions but the way is much harder than 20 years ago. Underground scene is cool, there are lots of good bands and maybe this is the category that benefit the most from the digital world. It's the new tape trading and you can spread your music all over the world. The problem is Inflation and the falling demand due to internet.

GNB:  What do you think about the digital music distribution? What about the file sharing? How do you think the music business will evolve in the future?

GO: Digital distribution is a thing that brings few money only to few people and file sharing is already dead because of the streaming. I think streaming is the present and the future by now, I just hope that someone will find the way to bring the music sellable again because this is the point. New computers doesn't have cd players, so why should I buy cds? Everything is in the mobile right now, so what should I buy?

GNB: Tell us some funny story: which one has been your best/funniest experience as a musician? And your worst one?

GO: There are lot of funny moments in the life of a band but maybe the funniest are in the backstage with other bands. I remember an italian small tour with Labyrinth, Domine, Centurion and White skull where we passed 2 hours telling jokes, I was dying with laughter!!! Or in Amsterdam where we were smoking a not lightened cigaret but soaked with popper. All our faces were red and we couldn't watch to each other faces ahahaha. Worst moments have to be forgotten!!

GNB: Since many readers of our blog are mainly interested in the technical side of the guitar world, can you tell us something about your studio and live equipment? Can you tell us something about the last recordings you've done?

GO: In the studio I usually use my Premier Signa, I lover her!!! It's very versatile!! Live set up depends…. Ufip Cymbals for both studio and live. Sm 57, Audix i5, Akg D112 , Akg 414. Neumann U87. Pre Api 512c. Inward connection and Tla. Last recording are on the way. The new Airlines Of Terror is done and the new The Foreshadowing is in work in progress. Very different styles, for Airlines I used a piccolo snare and the goal was to have a fast attack drums. Even Cymbals mikes were closer than usual and the bass drum was triggered. Different from the new Foreshadowing where I used bigger sizes for toms, real bassdrum and a deep snare.

GNB: Tell us something about you recording studio (Outer Sound Studios): which Daw do you use? What are your favourite vst plugins? Do you use hardware outboards or you prefer to mix in the box?

GO: I use Protools Hd 2 in a MacPro but I also have a Protools Hd3 in a Powermac G5. I mainly use Waves but I also like Fabfilter and the ChannelStrip from Metric Halo, also Pt plugs are very good. It also depends on what you have to do. Sometimes you put your "everwinning" plug on a track and it doesn't work. I prefer to mix in the box because is total recall. Even if I use outboards I would record the processed signal in the box. I recently used a couple of Distressor for the Airlines mix.

GNB: Let's talk about guitar tone: what is your favourite way to get a good guitar tone? Do you use vst amp simulators or you prefer to mic a cabinet? Have you got any tip to share?

GO: I like to use amps but the guitar player have to be good first. Also the guitar as to be good! I remember when I did Mare Nostrum from Stormlord, the guy had 6 guitars but only one was very defined on top to do the thrashy parts. For that session we used a Mesa Dual Rectifier with a double stack. 2 sm 57 in one cab , different cones, and a third 57 in the second cab. I mainly use sm57 on guitars and I've tried many settings in my life. I'm recently using one 57 straight to the cone and one off axis in the same cone. i5 from Audix is also cool but all depends. I also did good guitars with one 57. Of course I use simulators, O really like some of them for some specific stuff. I still use Line6 Ampfarm sometimes to give more definition. Unfortunately they lack of dynamic sometimes.

GNB: Do you have any advice for the guys that wish to open a recording studio on their own, or to become mixing or mastering engineers?

GO: Use your ears but keep in mind that there are some technical rules to respect.

Try not to use drums libraries only!

Mike your drums, put new drum heads and beware the phase problems. then you can mix the real layer with the fake one to bring more power.

Lead the band to play well because cohesion is half of the job to have a powerful record.

GNB: The interview is over! Tell us about your latest works, projects and tours! Thank you very much and we hope to see you soon live!

GO: Yes, as I was saying before the new Airlines Of Terror is done and I hope that it will be out in spring. You can hear the song UFO=TESLA in the Brutal Beatings Compilation by Sickdrummer at
http://www.sickdrummermagazine.com/index.php/features/brutal-beatings-e-comp/brutal-beatings-xvi. The new The Foreshadowing is being recording and I think it will be out in late spring, but I'm not sure. There are some tour arrangements and festivals in sight but anything is confirmed yet. Thanx for the interview!!!!

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The Minimal Mixing Approach Part 2/2

CLICK HERE TO READ PART 1/2 OF THIS ARTICLE!


Rhythm Guitars: proceeding with our minimal mixing project, started from the base of the song, the rhythm section, it's time to take a look to the rhythm guitars.
We can record two guitar tracks (microphoning the amplifier or using vst amp simulators for example) and pan them one 80% left and one 80% right, in order to give some "wall of sound" effect; then we can route them into a stereo group track and from there do some equalization in order to clean up the sound a little bit and move it more on its place in the mix.
Obviously eq varies from guitar track to guitar track (see the dedicated articles), but the idea is to use a low pass filter to take out the excessively fizzy frequences (for example the ones above 10/12khz) and a high pass for the subsonics (up to 50 to 100hz). From there we can just use a spectrum analyzer (or just our erars) to see if there are resonances to tame, and finally we can shape the tone to our taste (for example boosting the top end, or scooping out some mids).
If unavoidable, we can use a multiband compressor just to tame the low end (which means compressing only the area from 50 to 250hz), if the palm muting produces too many lows but we can't fix it with the eq.

Lead Guitars: This track usually gets kept in the center, and it should be treated like a vocal track, with effects (such as Delay, for example), and it should be compressed in order to keep it stable with volume. The eq should be more "mid-oriented" (which means that it could benefit from a wide boost around 2khz) in order to make the solo to stand out more from the other guitars.

Vocals: Another track that is usually kept dead center. Vocals need a good compression, for example a 8:1 ratio with a fast attack, but it could be even higher for rock/metal: we need to keep it stable or it will drown among the other instruments. The ideal is to acquire the vocal tracks as natural as possible and as good sounding as possible, since the more we touch the eq (other than filtering out the unnecessary lows, for example below the 50hz), the less it will sound natural. For the effects, check out the next section.

Fx tracks: Now that we have all of our tracks ready, it's time to put some icing on the cake: some effect.
We should create a couple of Fx Tracks: one for Reverb and one for Delay (actually we would need more than one reverb and one delay with different settings in order to be perfect for each instrument, but this is the minimal mixing approach, so we're gonna keep it minimal).
We must take the reverb track, set it quite short since its purpose it's to make it feel like the whole album is recorded in the same room at the same time (not in a cathedral), and high pass everything above 500hz or 1000hz, in order to not engulf the lows with resonances, and send it to the snare, toms and cymbal tracks, adjusting the amount to the point that you have to notice it only when you solo the track.
Now we must create a Delay track, set a very short delay just to thicken the sound and send it to the vocal tracks and the lead guitar tracks (always with moderation).
Now, if we feel that the vocals needs some more thickening or that the sound is still too dry we can send (after the Delay) some Reverb too.

Now that our minimal mix is ready, to we can move to the Minimal Mastering Chain and complete our tutorial on how to create a song with as few moves as possible!


CLICK HERE TO READ PART 1/2 OF THIS ARTICLE!


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