Nebula Tape Saturation Shoot-out

[Ermz]

Hey guys,

Thanks to Plec for finally kicking my ass into gear and getting these programs. I've been running Nebula SSL saturation on my mixes for about a year now, with great benefit, so I thought to try the tape programs too, since he seems so fond of them.

Anyway, simple stuff here, not even sure I gain-staged correctly but I've got a 3-way shoot-out. This is the first time I've used the tape programs, and I literally just shoved them on the master bus, tweaked a little and then printed.

It's a mix I've got in progress - 3 different versions. Since people inevitably have predisposition bias, I've made it a blind shoot-out, but I will reveal the results in 3 days, so you don't have to wait long.

Mix A

Mix B

Mix C

Let us know which you like best, why, and any observations you might have in general. The last shoot-out comparing different outboard comps was great fun, so I expect the same here

The band is Memnoir: http://www.myspace.com/memnoir

Cheers!
Ermin.

 

[Jaekae]

mix A sounds the best, got more power and depth. (i suck at describe sound difference in english )

 

[Ermz]

I should mention that mix A is also the loudest, so if you're going to A/B fairly, it's worth lining them up in your DAW and dropping the volume of A until it sounds alike to the others!

 

[Williamn]

I should mention that mix A is also the loudest, so if you're going to A/B fairly, it's worth lining them up in your DAW and dropping the volume of A until it sounds alike to the others!

Sadly this just killed the shoot-out as people is most likely not gonna do it and instead just gonna go with the loudest.

Oh well, is it the R2R pack you are using ?
EDIT, cant listen now.. but gonna check it out later..

 

[jipchen]

Yep, +1 on file A sounding best. But it might just be louder.
I don't hear a difference between B and C to be honest.

edit: Haha, well.. I'll check it in Logic now.
edit2: Can't decide. They all sound good.

 

[kev]

These always drive me mad Ermz, for I can never make a clear cut decision- but this time there's some big difference (maybe my ears are getting better... lol).

I've been listening for 1/2 an hour. I did originally like the sound of how up front sounding mix A was, but after more listening to B & C I'm really preferring their smoother character, which is why I will pick B as the middle ground for my favourite I think.

Its keeping the up front aggression of your drums with a really nice smooth/gelling layer over the top that seems to give me the vibe of a very polished record. That said, it is affecting the snare slightly more than I would like. When I listen back to A after hearing B, it seems the glue is lost and the drums are out there a bit more by themselves. That detachment then pointed to a more demo-esque vibe for me. Maybe that's what is required for more of that "radio rock" sound though?

C seems to be significantly removing bottom end to my ears, so I'm not sure about that one really.

I'd order it:

B
A
C

Would you be able to post a version without nebula running over it please mate?

 

[Fama]

I voted A, but noticed it was a little louder and that might be the reason. Honestly, my ears suck, so I didn't really notice any differences (except for A being louder and thus better).

 

[cyril_v]

I had a toss up between B and C, ended up picking C though my vote should probably be ignored because I am listening through laptop speakers since it's a little early at the moment. Awesome track btw.

 

[Ashgarth]

Hard to decide between A and B, voted B, sounds smoother and more compact to me.

 

[Chris_P_Critter]

I voted B.

I have to check out Nebula - I've seen so many raving reviews of it.

 

[Ermz]

Some interesting impressions thus far!

Kev, one of those clips is without Nebula tape saturation running on it. The whole idea is to see whether the benefits of just using it on the master bus are noticeable enough to warrant using it. However they all have tons of SSL console saturation on them, along with other Nebula programs, and a fair bit of outboard too. It's not something I can remove without the entire mix falling apart.

 

[kev]

Ah sorry Ermz! Well, in that case I guess its quite obvious which one has the nebula tape processing omitted (he says ). I'll have to have a gander at some of these programs. As I remember, I bought nebula 2, which entitled me to a certain amount of downloadable goodies.

 

[jipchen]

Sorry to hijack your thread but would you recommend Nebula 3 or Nebula 3 Pro? Is it worth the extra dollars?
Edit: Nevermind.. obviously they promised to release an AU version since 2007. But never finished it. No Nebula then, fine.

 

[Josh M.]

Even after turning up B and C, I reckon A has the most clarity. B and C seem to have slightly less highs in them and sound more cloudy (only in tiny detail).

 

[Ermz]

Poll closes in about 3 hours, so get your last minute votes in!

 

[lolzgreg]

C
A
B

I didn't like B; I felt like there was something lacking in the drums and a bit of smearing of the highs.

 

[Ermz]

Alright guys, thanks for playing.

Here are the results:

C: Clean mix, no tape saturation.
B: Studer 30ips tape saturation on the master bus + tape booster 2dB, same level.
A: Studer 30 ips tape saturation on the master bus + tape booster 2dB, minus master bus limiter, and louder.

The reason behind including A was two-fold:

1) To see whether the tape 'transient soaking' abilities were enough to render the limiter on the master bus as unnecessary.
2) To see whether the level gain from the tape booster worked well.

All of the clips were running into Ozone 4. An instance of Waves L1 was used on C and B to help control and 'glue' the drum transients into the mix. L1 was omitted for clip A.

 

[Williamn]

Ah, Interesting .
Thanks for doing this.

 

[Uros]

Interesting results

 

[Plec]

Analog love!