Downloaded, installed & quickly uninstalled. Who & what is this plugin meant for?

All of the limited & curated reviews so far are a lot of talk & explanation. Where are the detailed usage examples for us to determine if this is useful for any given genre(s).

So far there seems to be more hype than substance.

If anyone has more detailed & positive information for this software, please enlighten us all.

Happy tracking!

For those wanting something to try the plugin on. Telefunken live multitrack session of Nicole Zuraitis performing Night In Tunisia.

 

Last edited: Feb 14, 2021

Whilst he's being mentioned:

Kind of interesting there is a plugin with his name...and that it has compression!
Because he says in the above interview that they never used compression or EQ to make a record!
Just the correct mics in correct positions.

 

Thanks for the reply. Slightly more in depth use where you could actually imagine where it could be used.

I am hearing & seeing nothing that can't be accomplished with existing plugins alone or, in combination (FX chains).

Warmth & detail using quality channels strips (SSL, Lindell, etc..).
Reverb & delay from free as well as retail variants alone or, in combination.
Saturation from driving channel strips, compression or, saturation plugins.

Any experienced mixer knows what to select for processing and where to apply it. Even for quick demos.

I just cannot get around the hype of the special "Al Schmitt processing" or, lack there of.
This is one of the things that turned me away from Waves.

 

It lasted about ten minutes on my machine. It looks like an attempt to deliver 'Al Schmitt-type presets'. Given that I have no idea who Al Schmitt is, and have no interest in the kind of music he makes, I probably wasn't the target audience. Even so, I can't for the life of me think of a reason why you'd want to make plug-ins that have less flexibility and give the user less control rather than giving you more flexibility and more control.

I suppose the idea is that 'lacking any skill at all, you too can sound like Al Schmitt', but surely only a sucker is going to fall for something like that?

 

"worked with everyone from Paul McCartney to Ray Charles to Steely Dan and has won more Grammy Awards than any other engineer or mixer in the history of record making."
Also, doesn't use compression or EQ to make a record.
So the plugin is just another plugin with mutiband compression, some verb, and some saturation.
It just happens to have his name on it, is how I see it.

 

I see it would be more helpful to at least know how to split a vocal across 3 channels to do some mutiband processing, rather than this example.
I think I started laughing at all this in the early mid '00s, when every new plugin was just doing a number of techniques under a few buttons, which anyone with experience knows how to do properly and with more versatility, and in affect is robbing the newbies of the real technique.
I'm all for time-saving devices, when time is money, but so many plugins now are laughable to me.
And as I said in my first comment above, the guy whose name is on this says in the interview with Andrew that he didn't use compression and he also explains why he didn't use eq on the overall mix.
He just relied on mics and placement. And implies he still does.
So why is his name on a plugin...? And why does it have compression?
One guess...

 

Hey, I'm an actual genuine boomer and I still have no interest in any of those musicians. (OK, I do have a soft spot for Ray.) But I'm genuinely surprised that engineers get Grammy Awards. Do the actual engineers get an award, or does the record get the award and the engineer just claims it by virtue of having worked on the record?

OK, I looked it up. It used to just go to the artist. Now everyone and his mother gets a share. Which probably explains why people like Phil Spector doesn't get one for any of his world changing records, but since 2000 or so, everybody, right down to the guy who rolls the artist's joints and chops his lines gets a production credit.

 

You are both right & wrong. I do not discount the ease-of-use factor for the lazy & those new to the mixing process looking for quick shortcuts. The problem with the so called "noobs" using a plugin like this is lost learning opportunities.

 

How about Duke Ellington? Al recorded Billy and the whole band with only 8 channels! It's in the above video.
I was lucky enough to see Ray and his orchestra. I've worked with a lot of names too, but Ray and Prince were the best performances ever.

IE. somebody born as a result of the second world war? Although I think this term now apples even to people born in the '60s too.
Yeah, poor old Phil Spector. Shame he fucked up. Although we all still respect the sound he created.

I definitely think Al was worth the Grammys, but this plugin doesn't necessarily deserve his name!

 

this is Leapwing trying to copy Waves artist plugs and make some $$$,

i thought it sucked.... nah, DELETE

 

I've just been playing with it.
I do like the echo chambers. Shame they aren't editable.
But this is because the plugin is designed (very well, I might add) to be an insert effect used as a finalizer/sweetener, just for touching up individual tracks or sub groups.
It's definitely not designed to be your go-to eq, mb compresssion, or reverb unit.
I can see how it is a good learning tool for people new to the trade, due to it's settings.
Air on the bass profile at 5K; the 5, 8, or 10K for the drums/snare, are all textbook choices.
I wasn't sure about the low end choice on the bass profile though.
But you don't have to use all of it I guess.

If the echo chambers are THE Capitol Records ones somehow (maybe they are, I haven't looked into it yet) this would be cool.
If not, they should try and clone that somehow as its own plugin.

So on the whole my verdict is that this is a useful plugin, okay cpu usage (haven't used it on every channell yet though!), and I can't really fault it for what it is if I am to try and remain objective.
And now I think there's probably no point in us grumbling about the fact they just used his name to sell it.
As Al said in the video above, he knows how to do things that nobody will ever have the chance to do again. Technology has changed.
He has true knowledge, and perhaps some of this is encapsulated in the settings of this plugin.
I just worry that people don't want to learn the ways and are happy to believe that 'a' plugin will make everything better, when just a bit of knowledge can make these types of products less relevant.
Yes, we can use Actions in Photoshop to batch process photos. Maybe a bad analogy, but with music I've always felt that I like to be hands-on with every step of my production rather than using plugins that, whilst useful, restrict me from exactly what I want to do and involve that I have to analyse them with plugin doctor to know what they are actually doing in the background.

 

About these knob-tweaker-noobs that you mentioned ... I'm feeling nervous...
How long do I have to spend "tweaking my knob" before I can say I'm getting the hang of it?
If I haven't gone blind yet, am I still a noob?

 

Not at all. another way to look at it is riding a bike or a horse. You must learn to balance yourself in the saddle, pay attention to your surroundings, control direction & motion. All without falling on your face or skinning your knees.

 

Warren Huart, Leapwing and Al Schmitt in a video conference plugging this thing. Basically Al is like: "Well they had the idea and I gave my input"…

 

Thanks @5teezo. That was interesting. At least they are honest about it!
All of that video, even the demo in the second part, felt really forced or something.
I want to know about "all the work" that went into the echo section.
And all I could get is that they may have looked at a Pultec that Al uses, or something.
I mean, they are implying that they did what was supposedly done with the Pensado plugin.
But somehow I'm not so sure.
I don't know why.
I think Warren shot himself in the foot going on about what Al is known for...especially since it's different to what this plugin is about really!

I managed to get a student to buy it! Haha. It's his first 3rd party plugin. So I'll be able to play with it a bit more.
He already knows all his stock Live plugins, and he had money to burn! The best type of student! lol.
And he likes the old Al recordings, and Jazz, so Al's name sold it instantly. No surprise. But he's 19...
I think it may be a good tool for learning. We'll see.
At £86 it seems pretty well priced.
i just want to know what/if they actually modelled things or not, and what they were.

 

I call it BS. Al never using EQ or compression.
I have seen footage of him in the studio where he was using compression and the needle was moving.
I have heard a lot of his records and some tracks sound obviously compressed and eq`ed.
I respect him but he can sell these stories to newbies who also believe in seven dwarfs.

 

You're so smart.
Btw, "record", not "mix".

 

Are you ...talking to me?
Are ... YOU ..talkin' to ..ME?...

Don't mess with me or I'll tweak your ****ing knobs off.
Or twiddle them off. Whatever it takes.

On another note (pardon the pun) I do NOT want to sound like Al Schmitt.
He sounds terrible!

 

Last edited: Feb 14, 2021