![]() While they can’t do everything, proper implementation of aural exciters can bring vocals up front, add depth to bass frequencies, and add overall clarity, brightness, and presence to your mixes. ConclusionĪdding an aural exciter to your mixing arsenal can make a big difference in your production. If you overcook the exciter, you won’t run the risk of overbearing gain, but you will run the risk of sharpening the mix to an uncomfortable degree. Finding the right balance may prove difficult. Still, exciters might add that little push to further clarify your mix. Mixing with EQ can get most mix elements where you want them without resorting to using an aural exciter. As with any effect or technique, one runs the risk of overdoing it. Don’t get too excitedĪural exciters can certainly enhance the presence and clarity of a song, but with great excitement comes great responsibility. The compressor brings the punch while the exciter brings out the presence. This pairing allows higher frequencies to shine through while not overpowering the rest of the mix. Most commonly, aural exciters are used in conjunction with compressors. Just like with any effect, exciters work even better when paired with other mixing techniques. ![]() With the proper implementation, an exciter can deepen bass tones, making them appear louder without increasing their amplitude. Exciters can do more than just clarify high frequencies, though. As such, aural exciters are especially useful for bringing vocals to the front of a mix. Officially called the Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter, the new plugin is based on one of the two original tube-powered prototype units developed by Aphex. On the contrary, small amounts of distortion actually help certain frequencies cut through. One might think intuitively that any kind of distortion would do the exact opposite of clarifying. What makes exciters so surprisingly useful is their ability to clarify mix elements, specifically those with higher frequencies. This digital plugin looks and acts identically as the analog system developed decades ago. Perhaps the most commonly used exciter today is the Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter plugin. While some still use the original Aphex Aural Exciter today, other forms of exciters now exist as well. All of this modulation results in increased brightness and presence to mix elements or the entire mix. In a way, then, the exciter also acts as an equalizer, but for more specific scenarios. In addition to distorting audio, however, an exciter also shifts phase and adds synthesized harmonics to specific frequency bands. Primarily, an aural exciter acts as a distortion effect. It can be hard to classify exciters because they do more than just one thing. The original exciter was developed by Aphex Electronics in the 1970s. Here we’ll explore one of these such tools: the aural exciter. But there are still some lesser known mixing techniques out there, some of which can make a huge impact on a mix. They’ve been wonderful to work with, and we’re looking forward to more projects in the future.By this point, we’ve gone over just about all of the most common tools in the engineer’s toolkit: EQ, compression, automation, reverb, the list goes on. “I can’t think of better hands to entrust emulating that sound to than to the people at Waves. “The original Aphex model 402 is a part of recording history, with a sound that’s uniquely its own,” says Aphex CEO David Wiener (EDITORS NOTE: hehehehe WEINER). Highly regarded for its ability to increase and enhance presence, brightness, and detail on vocal tracks and masters alike, the Aural Exciter was even credited as a hardware “session player” on popular albums by the likes of Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor. The Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter modeled plug-in delivers all the unique character of the rare hardware unit, with all the advantages of software.Ī true groundbreaker at the time, the original Aural Exciter traveled from studio to studio as an exclusive (and expensive) rental unit, bringing its distinctive sound to select sessions by leading recording artists. Officially called the Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter®, the new plug-in is based on one of the two original tube-powered prototype units developed by Aphex during the mid-seventies. WavesAudio, in association with Aphex, has announced the release of their modeled plug-in version of the original Aphex Aural Exciter®. Waves has released a plug-in version of this legendary piece of hardware. We used to use the hardware version of this and we aptly named the “Lewinsky” and if you don’t get the joke, you’re probably a better person for it.
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