released: SlickHDR

SlickHDR is a “Psychoaccoustic Dynamic Processor” which:

• balances the perceived global vs. local micro dynamics of any incoming audio.
• creates a rich in contrast, detailed and clearly perceived image which translates way better across different listening environments.
• provides a convenient workflow by simply adjusting three dynamic processors to show a roughly same load.
• offers further and detailed control about overall tone and release time behavior.

The stunning UI artwork and all renders were done by Patrick once again. Made with love in switzerland – as he said!

SlickHDR is a freeware VST audio plug-in for Windows x32 and you can download a copy right here: >>> DOWNLOAD <<<

Related Links

• SlickHDR – final teaser & release info
• that’s why they call me slick
• processing with High Dynamic Range (1)
• processing with High Dynamic Range (2)
• processing with High Dynamic Range (3)

SlickHDR – final teaser & release info

SlickHDR is a “Psychoaccoustic Dynamic Processor” which:

• balances the perceived global vs. local micro dynamics of any incoming audio.
• creates a rich in contrast, detailed and clearly perceived image which translates way better across different listening environments.
• provides a convenient workflow by simply adjusting three dynamic processors to show a roughly same load.
• offers further and detailed control about overall tone and release time behavior.

Technically speaking, SlickHDR contains a coupled network of three dynamic processors with two of them running in a “stateful saturation” configuration and one based on look-ahead processing.

Fixed amounts of the unprocessed signal are then injected into the network at several specific points and also mixed back into the networks output. Being networked, all processors are highly interacting with each other and this is utilized to cope with a wide variety of sound (sic!) to balance the perceived audio dynamic range.

The stunning UI artwork and render was done by Patrick once again. Made with love in switzerland – as he said.

SlickHDR will be available around end of January 2014 as a freeware VST audio plug-in for Windows x32.

interview series (9) – D.W. Fearn

Doug, when and how did you arrived in the music business?

I have had an interest in electronics ever since I was a kid growing up in the 1950s and 1960s. I built a crystal radio  receiver when I was 8 and my first audio amplifier (tubes, of course) when I was 10. I passed the test for an amateur radio license when I was 12 and that experience of communicating using Morse code was excellent training for  learning to hear. I built a lot of my own radio equipment, and experimented with my own designs.

The high school I attended had an FM broadcast station. Most of the sports and musical events were broadcast, and I learned about recording orchestras, marching bands, choirs, and plays. Friends asked me to record their bands, which was my first experience working with non-classical music.

Another major factor was that my father was a French horn player in the Philadelphia Orchestra. As a kid, I would attend concerts, rehearsals, and sometimes recording sessions and broadcasts. I learned a lot about acoustics by walking around the Academy of Music in Philadelphia during rehearsals.

It would seem logical that my musical exposure and my interest in electronics would combine to make the career in pro audio I have had for over 40 years now.

I was a studio owner for many years before starting the D.W. Fearn manufacturing business, which started in 1993.

NastyVCS – behind the scenes

Planning

When preparing the final bits of an upcoming plug-in release, other research and prototyping typically has already been done for other potentially upcoming projects. This usually is the time when the decision is made about the next project and the new plug-in gets outlined and planned in detail. In this case it was around 9 month ago in August 2009 when FerricTDS (our entry for the KVR DC ’09) finally went into the late beta testing stage. Since quite some time I had in my mind to improve the “Nasty” plug-in series package but to that time it had become finally clear that the next step would be to put it into one single and consistent “console strip” style plug-in.

NastyVCS – released today

NastyVCS - Virtual Console Strip

NastyVCS – I can has dynamics

The upcoming NastyVCS virtual console strip VST plug-in will feature three pristine and complementary tools to shape the audio dynamics. This allows a vast variety of different dynamic treatments and here is a very first and brief overview:

FerricTDS updates to 1.5

FerricTDS 1.5

After 3 month of bugfixing, improving and testing, version 1.5 of the award-winning tape dynamics simulator is finally available as of today. It features numerous fixes and additions and if you did not tried it yet don’t miss it now!

NastyVCS – virtual console strip

virtual console strip

I’m really proud to announce the NastyVCS virtual console strip which finally brings the beloved “nasty” signal coloration series onto the next level.

Build entirely new around an opto-electric style compression unit, NastyVCS offers everything you need to shape your channels dynamics and tone. It offers a dedicated input stage featuring crunchy pre-amp saturation and a brickwall safety limiter  in the output stage while everything is set up to work in zero latency and so to have it available for hassle free tracking and mixing. Two dedicated filters can be used in either the audio path or in the compressors sidechain which can be external as well.

FerricTDS 1.5 – public beta (closed)

The public beta for the upcoming FerricTDS 1.5 has been closed today – thanks for all the contributions! A final version will be released here somewhere in March.

favourite plug-in chain (currently) …

… simply is:

1. Sugar Bytes Thesys - step sequenzer