For The Beat Heads... Plugins, Save Money: Sonnox Inflator = Voxengo Varisaturator (210.00 vs 70.00)

From The mouth of Mau (08/03/08)...

"Some people say what Sonnox Inflator does is magic, and the technology is patented. Its not patented, but it sounds good almost magical. All it is doing is adding digital saturation to the signal to produce harmonics, which we know from the analog world, when used in moderation can sweeten a sound.

But it costs 210.00

Well you can get the same affect with even more control and value style harmonics, with voxengo's Varisaturator for 70.00

Save money! I have included screenshots to show you the frequency generated by these two plugins, they do the same thing, they sound the same when the valve saturation is bypassed. Anyone that disagrees - I've given you the proof.

Picture 1 is with Inflator on

Picture 2 is with Varisaturator on

http://www.voxengo.com/product/varisaturator/

Add this too vocals for that "air" or sheen, it can also make your mixes brighter and more pronounced when used correctly, warm as well if you need. Note, the effect is subtle, but worth it. Varisaturator is very good on bass with the valve saturation, and on a drum set, adding that analog feel (sonnox does the same).

Also, Voxengo plugs do not need dongles :-)

For those using protools, well, sonnox or analog channel would be the best bet. But for those using Sonar, Logic, Nuendo/Cubase, Reaper, EnergyXt2, Tracktion, DP6, varisaturator kicks ass and will save you money!"

Daily Dose Of Dope ... N.W.A. - Fuck The Police

Now how could I not post the original song that spawned so many different versions after I put up Jay Dee's for the "Daily Dose Of Dilla". The story goes that Dr. Dre and Easy E were riding around in a Suzuki Sidekick (snicker... remember how we all thought those were the dopest vehicles until they started flipping over?) shooting a paintball gun out the window and got pulled over by the police. After the stop they went and recorded the song. Who would have thought that the police stop would spawn a song with a message so resonant that the F.B.I. would take notice enough to make a public statement. Anyway peep...

Daily Dose Of Dilla - Jay Dee - Fuck The Police

I actually heard this song for the first time on the radio. Crazy, right? It was only the first verse but I could not get that flute from the beginning of the song out of my head. I actually got in trouble at work because I must have spent the first half hour trying to track down the name of the song and how I could get my hands on it. Listen to the way he flipped the samples.

Peep This... New Jay Smooth!!!! - Jumpoff Street Battle: Biden Vs. Palin

I'm pretty sure this was inspired by the World Series Of Hip Hop battle last week. Classic tongue in cheek humor from my boy! Peep...

"Imagining if Biden and Palin fought it out with a Jumpoff-style emcee battle.


Shoutout to http://www.jumpoff.tv and my old friend Mazzi from Soul Purpose

BTW I expect Palin to do a little better than this in the actual debate, I have a feeling this setting will work better for her than the interviews."

For The Beat Heads...Mixing Tip: Saturation & Harmonics

From the mouth of Mau...

"All,

I'll keep it short and simple...

A digital mix/track when done well is extremely clean & quiet, almost "thin" sounding. This is not a bad thing, but it is when you compare it to an analog mix.

Analog on the other hand, actually is dirty, but dirty with harmonics that often enhance the body of the sound. These harmonics are introduced due to the components used, noise reduction circuitry, valves, etc. Often handmade, analog units may have a different sound when comparing two of the same units by the same manufacturer. This also, is not a bad thing.

In my previous email I explained that you should experiment with saturation on the mix bus to get that analog sound, and no, you do not need an expensive plugin. Grab a saturator, and try mixing through it (put it on the master bus before you start mixing). I like the Voxengo VariSaturator, for its price point and functionality mostly. But I've included a picture of what saturation does to a sine wave for the visual people.

Remember, the effect is very subtle, but these are the things that separate great engineers, producers, from the beginners. Also, when enhancing audio, apply the enhancement in small doses, tweak it until it "feels good" not just "sounds right".

The plugin at the top right (inspector) shows the signal without saturation, below (bottom right) is the signal with saturation. Varisaturator is on the left. The sound is just a somewhat dull constant beep, but, with the saturation, that "extra something" is there.

Imagine it over the whole mix :-)

Good read as well (mix bus saturation is mentioned at bottom)

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb07/articles/insidetrack_0207.htm "

Daily Dose Of Dope - Gang Starr feat Nice & Smooth - DWYCK

I took a big fat "L" last night while watching VH1's "100 Best Hip Hop Songs" with the wife. We were having a conversation about how late in Hip Hop's time line I got into it (in comparison to her much earlier involvement) and how this particular song I had heard dozens of time before but did not know the name of the song until a few months ago. "Boo!" (as my man's Mau would say) on my part. Me being a self proclaimed "Hip Hop Know It All" that I am, I continued to further embarras myself by not being able to recite NOT ONE DAG BLASTED LYRIC from the song (a la Da Band's failure to recite "Juicy" - http://www.helium.com/items/231595-tv-show-reviews-making-the-band-2 ). The only thing I could remember was the drums. So in an attempt to regain my dignity, I present to you "DWYCK"...

Daily Dose of Dilla... Slum Village - Climax

This song (well the video actually) was my official introduction to Slum Village. I somehow stumbled onto a video from their then label mate Spontaneous. I was impressed enough by his video that I started to seek out more of his music. I found his label site and started to look around and found this video. The song pretty much obliterated damn near everything I had ever heard before and changed the way I listened to music. This was all spurred on by the fact that I was learning how to be a DJ at the time that I saw this and 80% of my life's priorities at the time revolved around music. Any who, hope you enjoy the song and video (peep all the cameos!) as much as I did. Peep..