DISTORTION Of REALITY ...Lo-Fi

[EricTheKid]

A question for all of you in regards to a retro-sounding/distortion plug that many of us own...


Has anyone used the PT plug "Lo-Fi" in order to add some analog character to clean/sterile sounding tracks in your sessions??


Let me first explain why I believe this question/challenge is pertinent... Charles spends the first 1/3 of his HdL article Distortion of Reality detailing a brief history of the recording industry's evolution away from tube and analog-based recording and towards digital recording systems. http://www.mixitlikearecord.com/ Essentially, this has brought us to our current state where we now have the ability to record extremely transparent/clean/distortion-free tracks... AND...now we can process our signals however we like. Please, examine Charles HdL article via the link for a more detailed explanation (you can also visit digi's website for more information on systems that can record with great transparency...as this is part of their recording philosophy...).

Well, what's so great about working this way, you might ask?

FLEXIBILITY! I can choose any plug-in or any piece of gear to color/distort/saturate my clean/sterile/distortion free digital audio tracks to my heart's content!

NOW...let me get to the chase, here... I have used PT's Lo-Fi plug-in to "dirty-up" some sterile-sounding midi tracks on a recent hip-hop project I was mixing. I was actually pleasently surpised with sound of the results (the instruments with the plug inserted on them did gain some extra, more-authentic-sounding "grainy" character). I believe this handy little plug may have other uses, as well, in other genres. But, without giving away other likely scenarios, I'd like to see what you guys think...???

Let me drop a few points before I wrap this up...

(1) Lo-Fi is FREE and packaged with all versions of Pro Tools

...it's been around forever...and, dare I say, forgotten??


(2) It has controls for NOISE, DISTORTION, & SATURATION

...could this be a viable plug, used alongside the likes of McDSP's AC1??


(3) It's designed "for retro sound processing" and it'll distort, for sure, baby!!

...I think this is something that many PT users desire...


So that's it. I'd like to hear what you all think. I can't afford McDsp's "Analog Channel" right now...but I'm not saying this can (or will) replace such a powerful plug as AC1 or AC2. I'd just like to explore creative uses for this plug that many of us own.


Can we add Lo-Fi to our arsenal of useful plugs for getting that classic analog sound from our tracks???


Looking forward to your input,

ETK

[Skwaidu]

Can we add Lo-Fi to our arsenal of useful plugs for getting that classic analog sound from our tracks???



I don't know if "we" can do it... But "I" and several colleagues I know have used it for ages and never stopped using it. :Yawn:

Aside the obvious "lo-fi", "Dirt" and "nasty" sounds it can produce, Lo-Fi often excels with the distortion and *especially* the saturation sliders used in the very first 0.1 increments...

One good use is to soften the transient of a pingy snare that you'd like to transform in to a lower- frequency "thwack".

...The only and big problem with that plug-in is that the sound differences even with the first few increments are pretty drastic, so it only has a couple of useable settings in this role. For variation the McDSP stuff, Tape-Head etc are a boon, but Lo-Fi *Definitely* has it uses! I've used it on shitloads of stuff, from "clean" lead vocals to bass, guitars, drums, you name it...

[PSN Big Al]

I would venture to say that any plug (brand "x" or "y") is useful
to you for your purposes if your ears deem it so.

I'm glad to see that you've discerned another use for this plug
that might not have been so obvious at first glance.

Me thinks I'm going to go play with it right now. :grin:

[Brendo]

it's NOT with EVERY version of PT.

Only factory bundles and the HD stuff I believe.

[EricTheKid]

Aside the obvious "lo-fi", "Dirt" and "nasty" sounds it can produce, Lo-Fi often excels with the distortion and *especially* the saturation sliders used in the very first 0.1 increments...

A good point, here (I was hoping someone would notice this). The plug is definitely sensitive, and I've found the distortion setting most useful in the very first increments, as well.

I do think that a lot of ppl overlook Digidesign's plug-ins, in mix situations, at times (as if they were somehow "cheap" or stripped down plugs, which they're not). I've been in the middle of shop talk at the studio and heard guys swear they won't touch anything without a known, brand name like Waves or Sony Oxford (...non-sense, in my opinion!). I know many of us don't have other options beyond Digi's factory installed plug-ins yet, in our project studios.

- Skwaidu, thanks for the examples. Good stuff, man! Appreciate the input.

- Big Al, good luck with it. Have you used the plug at all, previously?

- Brendo, thanks for the clarification on that.

Talk to you all more soon,

ETK

[PSN Big Al]

- Big Al, good luck with it. Have you used the plug at all, previously?

Not much, and now I know why...I don't own it! lol

I had a demo once, way back when. But I did kind of write it
off as a an audio trashing effect, mostly because of the intent
suggested by the name, and by the nature of what it did when
only turning it up a little (more than has been mentioned here
as useful).

I will revisit it when I have the opportunity!

[EricTheKid]

Yeah, that's a bummer, Al! :Confused: ...It seems I've made the assumption in my original post that everybody and their cousin owns this plug (this may not be the case). But, from what I can tell, I believe Digidesign includes the Di-Fi package (with Lo-Fi bundled inside) with most systems.

One thing I wanted to also mention is that I want to give this a try in digital summing which you Mike and Charles talked about in recent episode(s) on PSN (show #52 if I remember correctly).

It's understandable that many people complain about the sterile sound you end up with when you perform digital summing. Again, (and partly because I don't have other viable options) I'd like to try adding subtle bits of distortion on each track that I sum in this fashion. The goal would be to see if I can add some analog character (thus, emulating an analog console) when summing digitally in Pro Tools.

I've yet to perform this test, but I'll keep you updated of my results!

All for now,

ETK

[PSN Big Al]

Maybe you could post an audio example of your experiment?

[EricTheKid]

An audio assignment, if you will... I'll see what I can come up with, Al!! :)

- Eric

[Shan]

...I believe this handy little plug may have other uses, as well, in other genres. But, without giving away other likely scenarios, I'd like to see what you guys think...???

I have used this plug-in on some of my delays in a mix to dumb them down a bit. It did the job very well.

...I can't afford McDsp's "Analog Channel" right now...

The next gen of saturation plug-ins will definitely be based on dynamic and time-variant convolution. These type of plug-ins are starting to come out of the shops. And now that we have this amazing CPU power of the 4 core and 8 core computers, we'll be able to use a ton of these in a mix.

Though I havent tested it yet, you might want to check out Nebula 2 Free. (http://www.acusticaudio.com/) I've been hearing good things about it's analog channel saturation IR which is based on dynamic convolution.

Also, you might want to give iZotope Vinyl (http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/vinyl/) a try. It will give you some great lo-fi sounds for your Hip Hop mixes. And it's free.

And as mentioned earlier, check out the Massey Tape-Head Saturation plug-in. (http://www.masseyplugins.com/index_v2.html?page=tapehead) Another great plug-in...and it's free.

I also like ColorTone Pro and ColorTone Free (http://www.tritonedigital.com/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=35&osCsid=b6c957fdc844d923643f6124d7001d0c)... but, unfortunately at this point in time, they are useless on my Quad running PT 7.1. In my opinion, it's time for the boys to get rid of the pluggo dependency that it needs to have installed in order for these plug-ins to operate.

Hope that helps.

Shane

[EricTheKid]

Thanks for the info, Shane. Real good stuff, there. I'm definitely gonna check those free plugs via your links!

[Shan]

And since we are talking saturation and lo-fi here, another thing I have done is to add a track of noise to a mix. :icon_eek: What the...?:grin: I have some noise floor samples I took from an SSL board with the outboard patched in and add it to some of my ITB mixes. This may sound overboard and extreme but sometimes the sparse and quiet parts of an arrangement are way to clean without out that very faint hiss and noise going on. After all, it's Rock and Hip Hop we're dealing with. Pristine perfectly clean tracks just dont cut it with those styles of music in my opinion.

Lo-fi, noise, hiss, saturation, distortion etc definitely has it's place no matter how subtle.

Shane

[Shan]

Thought I would add something I just learnt today in the world of lo-fi since we're on the subject.

I just finished co-producing/engineering a very talented Canadian rock band. Their first single is being tracked and promoted to Canadian radio.

I had a talk with the radio tracker today and was shocked during part of our conversation. Alot of the radio stations were requesting 320 kps mps versions of the single to be played over the radio and not the 16/44k cd or audio file. :icon_eek: :icon_eek: I was told all the reasons why etc but my jaw dropped.

Seems like the final listening format even on radio is becoming mp3 more than ever these days.

Now that's lo-fi. :icon_eek:

Shane

[5down1up]

its the radio stations BIG secret :icon_eek: but most of them over here stream mp3 nowadays.

i like the lofi plug as well ... its my 9inchNail plugin.
emulating tape saturation etc. with it ? i think its just to extreme for tasks like that.

i tried the massey as well ( nice ), the phoenix i do own ( love it ) and the mcdsps are very cool as well ( dont have em ).

[EricTheKid]

Maybe you could post an audio example of your experiment?

Audio example(s) of my experiment have been completed!!

What format do you prefer for listening on your end, Big Al??

I have three 20 second sound files. (1) Clean, unprocessed tracks (2) Tracks processed through Lo-Fi with a bit of saturation applied (3) Tracks slightly overdriven through a NEVE VR72 analog console

I'll be anxious to see what you think. I was (again) very pleased with the results, here.

More to come,

ETK

[PSN Big Al]

[B]What format do you prefer for listening on your end, Big Al??

Put them up as uncompressed wav files. If you can put them
up somwhere that everyone here can access that would be
cool as well.

[Shan]

Put them up as uncompressed wav files. If you can put them
up somwhere that everyone here can access that would be
cool as well.

I'd suggest a lossless audio format such as FLAC, (http://flac.sourceforge.net/) Monkey's Audio, (http://www.monkeysaudio.com/) or even the WMA Lossless (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/codecs/audio.aspx#WindowsMediaAudio9Lossless) format(you can bounce to this format right in PT) or Apple Lossless. (http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Apple+Lossless&i=37879,00.asp)

It will save upload/download time and bandwidth as the files will be smaller but you wont lose any quality. They are all 100% lossless codecs. The decompressed audio and original audio are identical. I've done many tests with these gems.

Lossless audio compression defined. (http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=lossless+compression&i=46333,00.asp) For those who might be new to it.

Shane

[Brendo]

Yeah, that's a bummer, Al! :Confused: ...It seems I've made the assumption in my original post that everybody and their cousin owns this plug (this may not be the case). But, from what I can tell, I believe Digidesign includes the Di-Fi package (with Lo-Fi bundled inside) with most systems.

See my post.

Only HD and Factory Bundles.

[Brendo]

put them up on megaupload so we can all access.

[EricTheKid]

Put them up as uncompressed wav files. If you can put them
up somwhere that everyone here can access that would be
cool as well.

Alright guys, I will get on this. I'll post again to let you all know when the files are up and available for download (and for ALL of your ears :icon_eek:)!

Peace,

Eric

[EricTheKid]

Here is where you can here the results of my (Lo Fi versus NEVE VR 76) audio experiment:

Click here to link to my server (http://idisk.mac.com/lofiplug/Music/)

username: lofiplug
(use all lowercase letters)

password: NEVEVR76
(use all UPPERCASE letters)

And here's the basics of what you need to know about the test -

* 4 instruments can be heard in the un-processed "Bypassed" wav file (as well as in the other files): Kick, Claps, Bassoon, & Flute

* The only plug-in used was Lo-Fi and I slowly turned up the "Saturation" setting until I heard it take effect, I didn't do anything to drastic, didn't touch any other settings

* On the "NEVE" wav file each track was sent to it's own channel, I pushed each respective track until the board started to saturate/distort and then I left the fader and bounced that track


I did my best to keep the playing field as level as possible for a true comparison. Talk to you more soon, ETK

[EricTheKid]

Some Background Info...

The first wav file in the test is a broken down version of the tracks that were given to me (by the artist) to mix. The original session had 16 audio files that the artist had recorded at home. He used a midi controller to trigger samples in Reason.

He describes the music to me as "Albanian Hip-Hop". It's quite interesting and has some great European instruments (granted, this version is a significantly slimmer mix with only a few elements left in for comparison's sake).

He wanted the sound of analog processing on his tracks to give them some extra character and attitude. He also mentioned that he had the NEVE in mind for his tracks because of it's reputation for getting a characteristic analog sound.