Steven Slate FG-X Virtual Mastering Console DEMOS

[The-Zeronaut]

Lets first discuss the structure of these demos. Each set of demos has a mix, notated by the _MIX. This is the original mix that was used to process. Next is the FG_NUMBER_CG. The "NUMBER" is the number of db of gain used in the processor. "CG" stands for "Constant Gain" output, meaning that the output level is attenuated by the same number of db as was added in the gain section. The reason this CG mix always follows the original mix is because this gives you the BEST perception of how the processing of the FG-X affects the audio as compared to the original mix.

Most of the demos were processed to reach a reasonable RMS peak of -10 with the FG-X, and then were processed again and pushed even farther to reach what is unfortunately all too common RMS peaks of -8. Then we chose two peak limiters, the Waves L2 and UA Precision Limiter to match the apparent loudness of the FG-X processed masters for comparison.

Let it be said that every day I use plugins by both Waves and UAudio and I think these two dsp companies are absolute champions in the industry. The fact that I am using their limiters in this test is by no way a means of saying that they are bad, because they are not. However, I do wish to prove that the FG-X technology excels at the loudness game over the typical peak limiting process.

These four sets of demos come in three genres, rock, pop/r&b, and folk country. Everything is 16/44.1. Do no listen on laptop speakers, download these demos and do serious listening in your studios. We'll start with a very punchy rock mix.

MIX 1 PUNCHY ROCK MIX

This is the original mix.
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX1_MIX.wav

Now the mix is put through the FG_X with a gain setting of 6db. Then we used constant gain to pull the mix down 6db. The RMS peaks of this mix at full blast are about -10, but with this CG version, you can easily compare it to the original mix. Pay careful attention to the punch of the kick and snare, and the overall frequency response, and stereo width.
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX1_FGX_6_CG.wav

Here is the same mix above, with Constant Gain turned OFF, so the mix is full blast, ceiling of -.02, and the peak RMS values are at about -10 at the chorus sections.
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX1_FGX_6.wav

Now we push the mix harder with the FG-X. The gain is set to 7.5, and this is a very loud full blast master, watch your monitor levels. You will notice that even though the dynamic range is very small, there is still low end and upper mid punch.
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX1_FGX_7.5.wav

Now we use the UA Precision Limiter at a gain of 9 which was needed to match the apparent loudness of the previous demo to keep the comparison fair. The release is auto and the output is set to -.2 to match the FG-X. Again, this is to be compared with the FG 7.5 mix.
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX1_UA_9.wav

Last, we use the Waves L2 on autorelesae, ceiling -.2, all dithering and shaping off, and threshold of -9.
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX1_L2_9.wav


MIX2 is a pop/r&b mix. The problem with these kind of mixes is preserving the huge low end energy, which is very hard with peak limiters and even harder with straight clipping. The FG-X is able to optimize itself to keep this low end punch even at high gain settings. For these demos, pay careful attention to the sub low punch and clarity, a sub really helps.

first the mix:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX2_MIX.wav

now with 6.5 gain from FG-X with CONSTANT GAIN so it can be compared easily to the mix:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX2_FG_6.5_CG.wav

full blast with FG-X at 6.5, peaking at -8.8 RMS at the chorus
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX2_FG_6.5.wav

using the L2 at threshold of 8.5 to match apparent loudness:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX2_L2_8.5.wav

using the UA Limiter at 8 gain:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX2_UA_8.wav


MIX3 is another rock mix, with lots of punch in the drums and stereo seperation in the chorus.

first the mix:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX3_MIX.wav

FG-X with 6db gain, CONSTANT GAIN:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX3_FG_6_CG.wav

FG-X with 6db, full blast, peak RMS of -10
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX3_FG_6.wav

FG-X with 8 db of gain, now RMS peaks of -8.2 at the chorus, this is loud and at full blast:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX3_FG_8.wav

UA with 10 db of gain to try to match the apparent loudness of the previous demo:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX3_UA_10.wav

L2 with threshold at 10:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX3_L2_10.wav


MIX4 is a folk country mix with a nice round puffy kick drum and crisp snare dynamics.

first the mix:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX4_MIX.wav

FG-X with 8db of gain with CONSTANT GAIN:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX4_FG_8_CG.wav

FG-X with 8db of gain, full blast, hitting RMS of -9.5
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX4_FG_8.wav

UA Limiter at 8.5:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX4_UA_8.5.wav

L2 at 9:
www.slatedigital.com/demo/MIX4_L2_9.wav


NOTES:
- all songs copyright 2009 Steven Slate.
- do not listen on laptop speakers
- a/b at comfortable listening volumes
- a properly tuned room with good sub bass is a plus!

Please feel free to post any questions, I probably left something out of importance to you. Thanks,


Originally posted at gearlutz
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/4722864-post139.html

 

[greyskull]

woah.
that thing is good.
with all the other limiters; its like.. "where the fuck did the snare go"

 

[Morgan C]

I just a/b'd this with my usual mastering chain (highpass -> significant GClip -> saturation -> comp -> gclip -> elephant).

Was only on cheap computer speakers, so can't really judge yet, but my usual mastering chain could go louder, and also had significantly more highend/sparkle. Like, putting it on a loop that went between the two it sounded like a lowpass filter had just been removed. Although Slate's seemed to be more full. I don't know if Slate's was adding fullness or my mastering chain was taking it away though.

 

[Slate]

the FG-X can go as loud as infinity but thats not the point.. match the level of the FG-X examples and then post our mastered demos, I'd be curious to hear them... if you have more hi end sparkle, then this is not true to the original mix, since the FG-X does not add any more sparkle or any extra artifacts. If you listen to the FG-X CG versions which are level matched to the original mixes and therefore easy to A/B, you'll hear there is no added top end to the FG-X version.. thats the point.. its an entirely transparent process that can alter the punch only if you want it to. I'm going to assume that your mastering process added top end. Either way, I appreciate you checking out the demos, I'm sure your master sounds great.

 

[Kazrog]

Sounds amazing, Steven! This may be the cure for the common mastering limiter. Lately I've been starting to hate every mastering limiter plugin on the market to some degree, because none of them sound as good as simply turning up my speakers - until now!

The Trigger plugin looks great, too. Will we have a release date for these soon?

 

[MetalJonesy]

Sounds amazing, Steven! This may be the cure for the common mastering limiter. Lately I've been starting to hate every mastering limiter plugin on the market to some degree, because none of them sound as good as simply turning up my speakers - until now!

The Trigger plugin looks great, too. Will we have a release date for these soon?

yeah any release dates/prices on each plugin?

 

[Morgan C]

the FG-X can go as loud as infinity but thats not the point.. match the level of the FG-X examples and then post our mastered demos, I'd be curious to hear them... if you have more hi end sparkle, then this is not true to the original mix, since the FG-X does not add any more sparkle or any extra artifacts. If you listen to the FG-X CG versions which are level matched to the original mixes and therefore easy to A/B, you'll hear there is no added top end to the FG-X version.. thats the point.. its an entirely transparent process that can alter the punch only if you want it to. I'm going to assume that your mastering process added top end. Either way, I appreciate you checking out the demos, I'm sure your master sounds great.

I had before only done it on cheaper speakers, I tried replicating this and couldn't. Not sure about the added highend, but even with GClip and saturation, my master lost all the punch from the snare (not as bad as the other limiters here, but still bad), and a bit from the kick.

FG-X kept the punch a lot better. There are still minor things (pushing anything this loud is going to generate SOME artifacts), but it seems undoubtedly better for retaining the punch of drums. Very interested in how much this'll be and when it's coming out.

 

[Slate]

the good news is, that even since those posted demos, we've refined the algorithm to make the process even more transparent.

You'll also find with the FG-X, that the increased punch and clarity gives the mix more apparent loudness, so you don't have to push it as hard. I hope that this plugin HELPS the loudness wars.. we'll see. It will surely make masters sound better then what is currently available.

I'll make sure we try to do some sneap specials for all the Slate Digital stuff...

 

[nwright]

I think it's safe to say you've found a forum a bit more receptive than the clusterfuck of a thread over at Gearslutz. this plugin has my attention.

 

[greyskull]

I think it's safe to say you've found a forum a bit more receptive than the clusterfuck of a thread over at Gearslutz. this plugin has my attention.

yes indeed.
the womb is even more nasty; someones got it in for steve.
I think he's a legend and a stand up guy that makes GREAT products.

 

[Slate]

You haven't made it to the top until there are at least a few haters! The gearslutz thread got quite comical, I actually enjoyed it. My staff didn't.

I love pro audio and I'm passionate about our products. I really love the sneap forum because its one of the few forums where people actually share advice including plugin patches and screenshots, everyone stands behind their work by posting mixes, and the discussion is often humorous. Its one of the only forums I continually read and post on and don't have any third party staff members posting as a company rep.

I really look forward to the FG-X and think it will be a great addition to many people's audio arsenals.

 

[greyskull]

haha absolutely Steve; I'm itching to get my Hands on Fg-x and Maybe platinum when Fg comes out.
Also VERY interested in your H/w comp; Dragon is it? like the 1176ish look, is it based on that design at all? what is the Gain reduction type? Fet ?opto? do ya got a dealer lined up for the uk? and what sort of dosh are we talking for it??

 

[kev]

Thats sounding tip top that. I see its going to be $249.

 

[AdamWathan]

Price and release dates please! Dying for both of these plugins man.

 

[LeSedna]

Hum that sounds actually really well. It's incredible how the snare and kick seem to "live" still, even if it's smashed to death.

 

[Erkan]

Haven't listened to any clips due to the fact that it's late but judging by the responses here it definately seems to be worth investing in. Now, if I only had the spare cash ... hmm, we'll see.

Edit: You've done a good job advertising your stuff so far. I'm already feeling like I want to buy the FG-X even though I haven't even heard the clips yet haha. Man, I'm a whore... =/

 

[Aaron Smith]

Is TRIGGER going to allow me to use my own samples, or will it only work exclusively with Slate samples? It looks like it functions extremely well, and I like the AMG integration, but I would never buy it if I can only use Slate samples...

 

[PostMortem1666]

Is TRIGGER going to allow me to use my own samples, or will it only work exclusively with Slate samples? It looks like it functions extremely well, and I like the AMG integration, but I would never buy it if I can only use Slate samples...

+1. I have been wondering the same thing.

 

[AdamWathan]

It can use other samples, I'm positive I read that on GS. Even if I didn't read it there I guarantee it can, there's no way it would even be worth trying to sell otherwise.

 

[digitaldeath]

We need an ETA on Trigger and if it's RTAS from day one!