cakes wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 12:06 pm

TylerDeadPine wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 11:45 am

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Mon Dec 01, 2025 11:45 pm The Pultec was fun ....

...I left the pultec on the bass track because it sounded good enough that I didn't want to patch in the Warm EQP I have (bought for live synth???).

I was watching a video with Marc Daniel Nelson and he was discussing his Pultecs (two for stereo). He basically installed them and just left a setting that he liked and never touched them again. They just sit on his mix bus and he just mixes into them. So, I found a setting that I like and I just saved it as a preset and add it to my mix bus and mix into it. I love how simple this is, and gets me quickly to a good, familiar spot.

I have used the Pultec kick trick with it, it's super nice. (Though, I use the Kirchhoff to tweak to fit now).

What I really liked about the Pultec plug was this one preset for hihats I was messing with - I recorded a hihat with a 451 during an overdub (don’t ask), worked very hard on mic placement, tried a few other sdcs and just barely chose the 451 over the KSM137 because of the sheen/cut the sound had.

Anyways, IIRC the Pultec preset just did the ‘pultec trick’ at 10k. I’ve tried using that on the midrange and treble bands before, but never on the top brass of a kit, and of course it worked wonderfully. Otherwise, I don’t like the Pultec trick and only use it to clean things up sometimes, and even then I’m just barely bring back what I attenuated.

Anyways, I kind of wanted to feature the hihat without being an asshole about it, and that 10k boost/cut made the hi hat sit much better while still fattening it up. I already had a Joemeek C2 (thanks mdc) being fed a stereo drum subgroup on my mixer and patched to an effects return for parallel compression, so even though adding a Fairchild to the hihat track helped it sit, it sounded better with the Pultec eq plugin and the parallel compression that was all happening via a mixer outside the box.

Btw, I thought a lot of the parallel compression presets sucked. You really don’t have to have the compressor sounding gross for that to work well.

So bonus points for making me rethink gear I already have. At some point I’ll get the 1176 and LA2A packages and see if they help me get a better feel for the Audioscape stuff I have, too. If anything, it just helps to look at something from a different angle. I still hate using the screen so much and find that its a terrible way to work.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 1:19 pm. I still hate using the screen so much and find that its a terrible way to work.

I find that the UA skeuomorphic GUI design (that tricks people int thinking it sounds more "Analog") tends to lead to more screen fatigue for me. Plugins like Fab Filter, Ozone, and other companies have crated their plugins with modern DAW recording in mind and the controls and layouts are just better. UA is big into tiny fake screw to control HF or Mix or other such basic shit and I hate it. In reaper I often will hit the UI button and just move the controls from there. Makes everything look llike Air Windows, but it works better than trying to force the faceplate of a 60 year old box to function on a screen. An LA2A has like 3 knobs and 2 switches, why does it take up the whole fucking screen, and why keep that one knob tiny? dumb

It's funny when the GUI of plugins is there to look so realistic, they leave a screw in a spot that's totally inconvenient. I don't mind skeumorphic designs, but please just make obvious choices for a digital context.

I like the newer brainworx GUIs, though I can see them looking outdated in about 5 years. They are really focused on the digital layout as well. I really like the customization of a color scheme. I use that a lot when using the same plugin on things, like the glue compressor. That's a really nice ssl-style bus compressor, I use it on say, vocal and guitar busses. I color one blue, the other green. Then I don't get confused, I can just notice the color and remember where I'm at. It's small, but nice feature.

cakes wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 2:18 pm It's funny when the GUI of plugins is there to look so realistic, they leave a screw in a spot that's totally inconvenient. I don't mind skeumorphic designs, but please just make obvious choices for a digital context.

I like the newer brainworx GUIs, though I can see them looking outdated in about 5 years. They are really focused on the digital layout as well. I really like the customization of a color scheme. I use that a lot when using the same plugin on things, like the glue compressor. That's a really nice ssl-style bus compressor, I use it on say, vocal and guitar busses. I color one blue, the other green. Then I don't get confused, I can just notice the color and remember where I'm at. It's small, but nice feature.

I have a few Brainworks channel strips. They sound good but again, little screws to turn, tiny little dots you have to click to "Pull" a knob out to engage HPF/LPF. I want all the functionality of a channel strip but just think laying it out like a real console is silly and fiddly. Really hurts my eyes to look at. Not fast to use. I wish "looks like real gear" would just go away in plugin land. On top of that, they have bad metering for the gate and comp and only to save the Look of a "real" console.

Speaking of UA being annoying, I got a $25 off
Coupon for buying a bundle that I haven’t been able to use once. Holiday bundles, lexicon, ampex, neve, it doesn’t work on anything. “ plug‑ins, bundles, even this month’s sale exclusives” my ass.

The most annoying this was that I got another plug in pack anyways because I wanted the 1176, LA2A, and Helios things. Assholes saw me coming

I went into a guitar store for the first time in forever to look at acoustic guitars. My wife and I were both looking for very different things. She ended up getting a Martin 000-15. Really beautiful, smaller guitar that sounds full and mild, very woody. All mahogany, made in the USA. Her talent is folk and she can sing like Joni Mitchell, that guitar is just perfect for her and compliments her Martin Tenor incredibly.

Me on the other hand, acoustic isn't really my thing, but I have a lot of fun playing folk songs with her and learning the basics of guitar that I kind of skipped over decades ago. I really suck at it, and I wasn't going to spend a lot on an acoustic, I just wanted something that sounds good and fun to play, practice guitar differently, and I could use in recordings for filler. My wife wanted me to get this cheaper Martin, because she's biased towards them. It sounded fine and all. We were trading in a Martin that she had that I just hated to play, it was made from composite and had a rough surface that made scratchy sounds when you strum and have a long-sleeve shirt on. It didn't sound great, it sounded kind of cold and brittle. Anyway, the cheaper Martins were all wood, made in Mexico. They sounded fine, just really mellow to me and they just weren't exciting to play. I ended up looking at an Alvarez and an Eastman grand auditorium. A little bigger, but I kinda liked the body. I couldn't really decide between them, the Eastman sounded more natural, where the Alvarez had a much better feel to play. The salesman said the Alvarez had a wood front, but composite back, however he had the masterwork version in a box in the back and got it for me to try. The comparison between the Eastman was pretty spot on, so it ended up being an easy choice, especially since the masterworks version was on sale because it was sitting in the back for so long.

I really like the guitar, though it's not perfect. It has an LR Braggs pickup system in it, which I've read is a pretty good pickup. I kinda wanted to avoid pickups to focus on a better guitar with a lower price, but I can't complain. The Alvarez sounds full and natural, has a nice gloss finish, some really simple inlays, and nice tuners. I had to move the strap button on the neck, though. It was in a really weird place that pitched the guitar forward and felt like I had to hold it up while playing, but now feels really good. I was worried that the lack of dot inlays on the frets would be an issue, but I didn't realize how much I didn't pay attention to them, the side inlays are more than enough.

The interesting thing about the Alvarez neck is that it's a v-shape. I really like it, makes using your thumb to mute strings a breeze.

I am personally, extremely offended

(The masterwork Alvarez guitars are good, glad you found something that fit you!)

TylerDeadPine wrote: Thu Dec 04, 2025 11:28 am I am personally, extremely offended

(The masterwork Alvarez guitars are good, glad you found something that fit you!)

Martin guy, huh?

For what it's worth, every Taylor we both played we hated.

cakes wrote: Thu Dec 04, 2025 12:19 pm For what it's worth, every Taylor we both played we hated.

Seconded. They sound weird.

LOL now you're in it. He works for Taylor. Somebody gonna get Canadian on your ass.