Slate VTM (tape emulation) test - KsE Numbered Days

[Nolly]

Hey guys,

I started this cover a couple of weeks back and thought it'd be a good occasion to try out Slate's VTM tape emulator on the master chain. If anyone would like to do vocals for this I'd be up for finishing off the rest of the track.

I just slapped VTM on the master chain rather than activating it on 16 mixer tracks as per the optimal usage. Here it is with:

http://soundcloud.com/nolly/kse-numbered-days

And without:

[Mattayus]

yeah man after going back and forth you can hear some of that saturation going on, especially on the overheads, nice clip dude!

[Drew]

Is that the only difference between those two tracks? Maybe it's the Soundcloud encoding, but the stereo imaging seems a bit more artificial and the guitars are missing some punch and midrange girth in the Soundcloud version. The other one sounds clearer and more articulate to my ears, and while I agree with Mattayus that the compression and slight grit that you're hearing in the brass on the Soundcloud version is kind of cool, in every other way I prefer the version without.

[eleven59]

Originally Posted by Drew

Is that the only difference between those two tracks? Maybe it's the Soundcloud encoding, but the stereo imaging seems a bit more artificial and the guitars are missing some punch and midrange girth in the Soundcloud version. The other one sounds clearer and more articulate to my ears, and while I agree with Mattayus that the compression and slight grit that you're hearing in the brass on the Soundcloud version is kind of cool, in every other way I prefer the version without.

It's probably a little bit the soundcloud encoding, as well as combining with the plugin to smooth out the highs. The high end on the "without" track is much more crisp bright, while the "with" track is more smooth. I personally prefer the smooth sound, as it'll cause less ear fatigue and everything blends better. The "without" track is benefitting from the psychoacoustics of "brighter is better". Presented with two tracks side by side, most people will pick the one that sounds brighter, louder, etc. on first listen.

[Mattayus]

Originally Posted by Drew

Is that the only difference between those two tracks? Maybe it's the Soundcloud encoding, but the stereo imaging seems a bit more artificial and the guitars are missing some punch and midrange girth in the Soundcloud version. The other one sounds clearer and more articulate to my ears, and while I agree with Mattayus that the compression and slight grit that you're hearing in the brass on the Soundcloud version is kind of cool, in every other way I prefer the version without.

Probably too much harmonic excitement from the plug-in which is making the mix have some blurry qualities. I agree that the mix without the plug-in has every instrument sitting in its pocket a bit tighter, but is a little colder sounding as a result. I think somewhere between the two would be a desirable balance, or, perhaps only using this sort of tape-emulation on various instrument busses (namely drums and vocals) rather than on the master bus of the entire mix.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by eleven59

It's probably a little bit the soundcloud encoding, as well as combining with the plugin to smooth out the highs. The high end on the "without" track is much more crisp bright, while the "with" track is more smooth. I personally prefer the smooth sound, as it'll cause less ear fatigue and everything blends better. The "without" track is benefitting from the psychoacoustics of "brighter is better". Presented with two tracks side by side, most people will pick the one that sounds brighter, louder, etc. on first listen.

Listen again, this isn't psychoacoustics. The difference in the high end, IMO, is MUCH more subtle than the difference in the low mids, and there's a huge change in clarity, not just in the highs, but across the entire spectrum.

Again, I'm wondering if it's just soundcloud raping this, but there's a lot more going on than a slight change in the high end, IMO.

[Nolly]

Interesting comments, I will say that I probably did over-egg the tape saturation a little but the effect can be a lot more subtle (or more savage) depending on how you set it up. Personally I'm extremely impressed by VTM and just purchased it!