Artificial intelligence algorithms have become very reliable mixing and mastering assistants in recent times. Well, at the very least where obvious problems and mistakes in your balance and corrections are concerned. The higher your mix or master’s pedigree, the lesser the chance AI can do something truly useful for you. But just you wait ’till they teach AI the moves of Andy Wallace and Bob Katz! A whole industry will find itself out of business…

Sardonic predictions aside, we have a bit of wonderful news for you. Working with Focusrite, Sonible has freed up its Balancer AI-powered spectral balance assistant. Free as in you get to own it for life if you register a copy before April 13. Nifty!

Balancer mixes the AI way

So what’s in for you? Well, Balancer works not unlike the Mastering Assistant in iZotope Ozone. You pipe through an audio segment – the louder and more representative of the entirety of the song, the better – and, abra kadabra! A few seconds later, the mix balance has changed, perhaps for the better. Confident it may be, but the AI is open to taking hints. By loading profiles of different instruments or voices, you can help the algorithms adapt to your audio.

At its core, Balancer is based on the same AI behind other Sonible products like smart:comp, smart:EQ 2 and smart:EQ live. So it serves as a cool demo to showcase the technology’s potential by letting your ears be the judge. Not just that, but tools like Balancer make for an excellent learning experience. It’s like having a seasoned mix or mastering engineer take a listen to your stuff and immediately fix problems which may be obvious to them but happened to delude you. Besides, if you are a one-soul army producing your music from scratch ’till master, it’s so easy to get lost in the million little distractions and lose objective judgement. Let that AI teach you its ways, I say!

More information & download

• Sonible Balancer product page

Video

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Fluff from Riffs, Beards & Gear has worked with M L Sound Lab coproduce a completely free amp sim plugin called ROOTS. If you enjoy his YouTube channel, you’ll know he has great taste in high gain amps and this freebie is based on his own personal amp preferences. 

Amped ROOTS

The new hybrid amp simulation is called the 5034 Fluff, part of the Amped Roots Free package you can download here for free. It is based on Ryan “Fluff” Bruce’s favourite amp style and is certainly in the heavier high-gain territory. It’s tight and loud.

The package is currently available for Windows and Mac  or as a standalone in VST3 and AU plugin formats, with AAX due soon as well. And it sounds great! I’ve been playing with it all morning in Logic Pro X and it is certainly worth downloading.

Amped ROOTS Full License

If you enjoy the free version, then they also have a well priced Amped ROOTS Full License, incorporating 5034 Fluff  5151 Fluff, Freeman Fluff and Mega Fluff. You also get Fluff’s personal guitar cabinet as a loadable ML IR. So a nice cheap way of getting four new amp sims for your DAW setup.

Check out the video below two hear it all in action and follow the link below to get your free copy or order a full license.

RRP – Free  or Full Licence EUR 59.99 

More Information

• Product Page

Video

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Yes, Mark Agnesi giving away a new Epiphone guitar every day via the GibsonTV channel. Plus, you can donate money to charity for a chance to win some of Agnesi’s own gear too.

Epipiphone Give-away time!

Gibson Director of Brand Experience Mark Agnesi will pick a new Epiphone guitar on GibsonTV and give it away, with no purchase necessary. One freshly baked Epiphone guitar is being given away every day. You can also donate some money to charity to win a piece of Agnesi’s own guitar rig. The charity is MusiCares and donations are 100% tax deductible too.

You can check out last night’s episode in the video below, where Mark gives away an Epiphone Gold Top Les Paul Standard 2020 model. Mark says about the show:

“We wanted to create a show for GibsonTV that everyone could look forward to watching everyday while we’re all home. I’m going to give away a brand-new Epiphone guitar every weekday to one lucky viewer and we are going to raise money for MusiCares through the rig I use. Hopefully, we’ll have some fun while we’re all coming together to fight this virus.”

Win Agnesi’s Rig

Gibson has partnered with Marshall Amplification, Universal Audio, Fulltone, SoloDallas, R2R, Christian Benner and Dunlop & MXR Pedals. The Mark’s Music Rig has a combined value of over $13,000 and you can enter by donating $50 to Gibson Gives, you will then be allocated five entries. For each $50 increment donated, participants will receive a bonus five entries to win a prize.

The Gibson Gives charity starts accepting donations for Mark’s Music Rig contest on 6 April. The final draw to select the eight winner takes place on 30 April 30 at 3:00pm CT.

The Rig

•  A Marshall Origin 50 head and matching 4×12 cabinet worth $900
•  A second Marshall Origin 50 head and matching 4×12 cabinet worth $900
• Universal Audio Ox Box worth $1299
• Fulltone Tube Tape Echo worth $1699
• SoloDallas Schaffer Replica EX Tower worth $1299
• R2R Electric Amptop Rangemaster Clone worth $275
• Christian Benner one-of-kind custom hand painted leather jacket worth $2000
• Gibson Custom Shop limited edition pedalboard with all pedals provided by Dunlop/MXR  worth $4500

More Information

• GibsonTV
• Epiphone site

Video

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What’s a mastering compressor supposed all about? 2 channels – check! Transparent and versatile – check! Knobby – check! Developer Tone Projects is eager to set an example for one with the release of Unisum Mastering Compressor.

Among Unisum’s virtues are clean-sounding wideband compression, flexible multi-band detection and thorough control over parameters like knee and envelope. Adding to the typical compressor controls, opening the Advanced view reveals a formidable array of parameters to offer a dig under the hood.

Unisum is centered around a proprietary multi-band detection path with sidechain split over 3 frequency bands featuring parallel RMS and Peak detectors. Frequency-dependent Threshold, Ratio and Attack/Release settings can be set up as well, giving the option of multi-band compression.

Unisum Mastering Compressor

For character compression, Unisum features a secondary signal path with emulated transformer and tube saturation. These can give transformer crunch, tube warmth and can be combined with the Memory Effect setting to let Unisum act like an opto comp.

There is a lot going on about this compressor for sure. It’s best suited for the kind of engineer in need of an iron grip over dynamics. Not that the included presets can’t get one started quickly, but the amount of detailed control provided by Unisum is certainly overwhelming for someone less experienced. Tone Projects seems to have left no stone unturned when it comes to this compressor’s abilities and specifications. Indeed, a new mastering compressor standard may have been set with Unisum’s release.

Price and availability

Until May 1 2020, Unisum is priced USD 149 down from USD 199. 10% of your purchase goes to a COVID-19 relief fund, which is admirable. A free trial version is available for testing. Available formats include VST3 (32/64-bit), AAX, and AU for Windows and Mac computers.

More information

• Tone Projects website

Video

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Tone Projects has released Unisum, an impressive new mastering compressor plug-in for Mac and Windows. The developer says that Unisum is a highly tweakable compressor designed to give engineers precise control, in contrast to simplified, AI-based concepts. Let’s see what it can do.

Tone Projects Unisum

Unisum is the most ambitious project to date by Copenhagen-based developer Tone Projects. The company says that the compressor presents an alternative concept to automated processors, which have found their way into the world of mastering in recent years. The idea is to put the engineer back in charge and provide him with a tool for precise control over a mix. Adding depth and energy, controlling the stereo image, adding glue and shaping the attack and release are some of the things they have in mind. The high number of knobs gracing the virtual front plate is indicative of that – let’s explore.

The standard view has all the essential controls for the two channels, which can operate in stereo or mid-side modes: threshold, ratio (1:1-20:1), attack and release, as well as a variable knee and side chain high pass and emphasis filters. There’s also a mix knob per channel for parallel compression.

Multi-band detector

Open up the advanced panel, and you’ll see what they mean by precise control. The compressor’s most interesting feature is probably the multi-band detector. Unisum isn’t a true multi-band compressor, because the actual compression still happens in a single band without crossovers in the signal path. The detector, however, allows you to specify how the compressor reacts to three frequency bands, each with parallel RMS and peak detectors. There’s also a great deal of control over the transients, with level-dependent attack and release modifiers, a controllable memory effect, transient override and a parallel secondary envelope for smoothing. It’ll probably take a while to wrap your head around all of this and use it to its full potential, but Tone Projects clearly wasn’t kidding when they said “highest possible precision”.

According to Tone Projects, Unisum is designed to deliver clean compression with low distortion and almost no digital aliasing. But just in case you do want a bit of colouring, they’ve added the “HYGGE” mode, which adds some tube and transformer warmth.

Unisum does indeed look like a very detailed and capable mastering compressor and precision tool. In the hands of a knowledgable engineer, I’m sure it can deliver great results.

Price and availability

Tone Projects Unisum is now available from the developers website. Until May 1st, they have an introductory offer at USD 149, which is 25% off the regular price (USD 199). A free trial version is also available.

The plug-in is available for macOS (VST3, AU, AAX, 64 bit) and Windows (VST3 – 32/64 bit, AAX – 64 bit).

More information

• Developer’s page

Video

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