I am trying to capture some of the vibe of a ep I did years ago and had mastered by one of the very expensive world class engineers/studios who has since died Using the same gear and my ears alone, I can get close, but maybe only 75% of that sound, if I had to put a number on it. I am not expecting 100%, but might as well try and see whats out there today.

So I am looking to explore some current plugin options and wondering if there are any that will analyze multiple songs, like an ep or full album to create a profile instead of only 1 song? In my head at least, I think finding a balance or average between them would be better than just one static snapshot of one section of one song

Thanks for any ideas!

 

If it is a sound of the transformer or tubes, the later could maybe be done but overall transformers and that spacey saturation is kinda hard to replicate with the eq, so weather the engineer(r.i.p.) used something, dont know. I would advise if you can, check mixanalog.com and try to figure out if any of the gear up there matches your sound and rather spend money on it(credits/plan) rather than buying some plugin.

If it is just for some project you need to get done with that is..

 

Thanks for the reply, but while that's an interesting service, it isn't what I am trying to achieve with this.

When I said I am using the same gear, I meant for the recording and mixing I did then and now, which gets me roughly 3/4's of the way there. I have no idea what equipment was used on the mastering, other than the studios list of equipment <see> millions of dollars in the studio build and gear. I don't expect any EQ match to replace this, but if there is one I can train with multiple songs, my hope is that it will add some of that "vibe" to the new songs and get me that much closer to what I am trying to achieve.

I did read here or somewhere else that there is such a plugin that will analyze multiple songs for an average, but at the time wasn't interested in using such a thing. Now, I cant for the life of me remember where I saw that

 

Was it maybe Sonible SmartEQ4 that you are trying to remember?

 

I looked at that one but they only mention a single song reference. Same with Izotope EQ match. Unless I am missing some feature not written on the websites

 

Ik Multimedia Master Match EQ/Master Match X is probably the closest thing to what you are looking for. I have never tried it but you can average up to 3 reference tracks.

Also, one trick to make any "match eq" average multiple tracks is to put different sections of favorite tracks together (like a medley), ideally a montage of several short sections of the same length.

 

Last edited: Dec 23, 2024 at 3:54 PM

Try looking into Firium EQ. Many moons ago, it claimed to do what you are asking of it.

 

Expose by Mastering the Mix does multiple songs, but I don't remember if it can average across songs. You can also just append all songs to a single file.

 

iZotope - Tonal Balance 2 -----> www.izotope.com/en/products/tonal-balance-control-2/features/tonal-balance-curves.html

Clearly view the tonal balance of your audio and compare against 12 target curves representing popular music genres.
Or, load an audio file to create a custom reference curve.

Drawn from analysis of decades of recorded audio across the spectrum of styles and genres, Tonal Balance Control 2 offers a set of 12 target curves that help give you fix balance issues in your sound, even in poor listening environments. Whether your style calls for massive low-end or brilliant highs, you'll always have a benchmark with genre curves from "rock" to "reggae" and more.

Load your own reference track to generate a unique curve: see the balance of your favorite songs, and fine tune your master to match their sound. Use the target curves to keep your music on track and help it translate to your audience!

Zplane - deCoda ----> https://products.zplane.de/products/decoda/

Learn and analyze any song with deCoda. Import an audio file and deCoda will tell you the key, the tempo and chords as well as identifying verse, chorus and other sections of the track.

Dive deeper with deCoda’s easy-to-use tools to help you really perfect playing a song. Bring the tempo down to hear nifty musicianship or change the key of the song to find one that’s more suited to your playing or singing style. An intuitive Focus EQ helps you identify parts of the song that you want to filter out or hear isolated.

 

Mastermatch https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/trmastermatchx/

 

Or you can create a composite profile from them and match/average them with something like Nugen SEQ-S or maybe a spectrum analyzer that can do the averages for you. Even when you get it right, I think it is only going to get the OP so far towards the actual goal.

 

I think common math applies here - if you put songs into tracks (and trim down accordingly), and then analyze the sum bus/master, you should get a pretty usable "combined" profile,

that said, I'm afraid you missed asking/chatting with your fellow deceased engineer on certain creative and mixing decisions, or "pre-mixed" stems to have a better idea on individual instrument busses and such...
it'll be impossible to get any closer than that "75%" you described - which I think is already a very decent result - maybe move forward from there? there's no need to mimic someone else' work

 

Sonible true:balance is a plugin that can analyze a whole list of tracks.

But can't you just play all tracks of your album at the same time and then use pro q or smart eq on the group to match or do I have a mistake in thinking?

 

Thanks to everybody for the suggestions and ideas!

Today I am demoed IK Mastermatch X. It appears you can use 3 songs as reference, but then you have to select which one to use as the target. I don't see any way to combine or "average" them into one. Also, it sounds a little aggressive compared to Izotopes EQ match of the same reference song. I also tried TDR's EQ, which sounded thin by comparison to those and requires quite a bit of manual adjustments to bring it back into good shape.

Firium EQ is from early 2000's and says it will "Learn the frequency response of one audio source and apply it to another for technical adjustment or creative effect". I cant find any info stating it will do what I am looking for.

Sonible true:balance - "When you want consistency across an entire project – go for the option of loading up to 8 reference tracks." but not sure if it combines them into one or is just a/b/c... type of selection process I will have to demo it next.

Expose - same as above.

Some of the other ideas mentioned I have tried, some not, more testing needed. El digital, I will have to try this one to see what these plugins spit out

Anyways, any other suggestions or ideas are welcomed!

 

The mathematical average or mean of two waves is the same as adding them (and halving amplitude).

From a purely technical aspect - why don't you layer all reference tracks and use that as a reference?

 

Unless you stretch all the tracks to align the transients (which could cause phase cancellations and buildups...), this would create too much peak information compared to the non-transient parts and alter the result a lot.

Sorry, I must have been misled by a youtuber who said that IK Match EQ could average up to 3 tracks

 

Last edited: Dec 24, 2024 at 5:22 PM

Voxengo curve eq.