So I have a bit of trouble sometimes getting that high end sparkle or polish on my finished track.

What would you guys recommend as maybe a plugin or a technique to add that very high end, talking barely audible but present anyway, sound to your mixes? Either in the mixing or mastering stage.

Thanks

 

First thing is the production: you need enough top end contents without lowpass filtering everything at the beginning: cymbals, vocal air, distorted guitars, synths and sound design (ear candy) etc...

Then there's mixing. Use some top end exciter like:

Slate Digital Fresh Air
Black Salt Audio Oxygen
AudioThing Type A

 

Check this Dave Pensado trick on vocals:

 

Sure

Excellent, yes I don't tend to low pass much at all but I'm finding something I'm doing is maybe masking the high end somewhat.

That's exactly the sort of plugins I was looking for anyway thanks.

I seem to remember Aubrey Whitfield (check her Instagram out for some really good pro mixing/mastering tips if you don't know her) talking about similar plugins in the past.

 

Will have a look into this now man, thanks

This is getting into advanced stuff, sidechaining compression and EQ, I'm just getting into this after 20 years doing it...
Amazing how much left there is to learn even when you've been at it so long

 

Last edited: Oct 8, 2024

Sparkle, like most other things, is foremost a question of sound choice/recording. If you have 20 dull sounds where should the sparkle come from?
If you have sounds with the potential to sparkle, it's a matter of mix, if it hadn't been applied in the mix, it's a matter of mastering (been there, done that).
Any EQ or (parallel) saturation will do. Matter of taste.

 

UAD TAPE

 

Assuming the source material is nofadadc

 

Last edited: Oct 8, 2024

"Is this a mixing or mastering issue?"

Yes

 

Eiosis Air EQ is suggested by Jaycen Joshua in the MWTM video of him and Dave Pensado, since Pensado's trick is posted above. Maybe you can find a clip of that one on YT also. If you just really mean "air band" then most people will answer with Maag EQ4, but the Maag Magnum-K from Plugin Alliance also has the famous "air band" in parallel, but also with a compressor unit on each side. You can link all the parameters on each side, but you can leave them unlinked also.

The UAD tape comment may have been meant as a joke, but the convertors in the Apollos add a bit of this to nearly anything you record through them. It's prominent enough where if you know what to listen for; you can often blind ID someone's interface as being an Apollo.

 

Stock EQ boost Hi

if it doesn't sound as you like then change the sound.

 

dont sleep on clariphonic

my favourite thought is UAD Avalon EQ from the channel strip

 

Parallel processing!

Some options for this:

• Dynamic high-frequency noise triggering
• Addition of isolated high-frequency transients
• Saturation of the treble band
• Parallel compression
• Highpassed reverb

It all depends on what exactly you want to achieve. "Sparkle" is not defined anywhere and depends on the context.

 

Znaptiq intensity

or fabfilter saturn will sparkle to your taste or as mentioned Slates fresh air

 

Most have already been mentioned, adding TB Pro EQ - the different ways you can manipulate the top end are crazy. FF Saturn is another one, or Wavefactory Spectre. Some of the acustica EQ's are worth looking into as well. Coral is one of them, but theres some others that have great hi bands.

Def easier to add in the mix / production process. Dont be afraid to add a layer. If you think the song is done, and you are mixing and find your self struggling to get that air, just layer the hat, or add a nice sparkly pad under everything etc etc.

 

I wouldn't recommend any of these as "sparkle" and high end stuff isn't a one-move/one-plugin deal—tho Type A would be my pick of the three—but I definitely wouldn't touch this piece of shit by BSA, not unless he's taken care of all the weird under-the-hood garbage. He wasn't exactly receptive to critiques last year, even when approached in a professional fashion. Dunno though, that was a while back, so maybe the plugin has been reworked and is now amazing and maybe he's no longer an asshole. There's no shortage of exciters out there though... or shortage of any plugin in 2024.

Everyone's got advice, but I'll just add that, before anything, you should make sure you have enough high end content in your tracks initially to boost or hype—or, in the immortal words of Al Swearengen, "I trust you know two percent of nothing is fucking nothing."

 

it's a thing of mid-side processing, that high-end sparkle deserves some proper width, that's why it sounds so rich

 

Honestly, the more I think about it I think I would say that if you are looking to add or get "sparkle" or "air" with a finalizing or master buss plug-in you have probably done something wrong; it should already be there so I'm going to revise my answer and say this is fundamentally a mixing (and arrangement!!) issue. If you're trying to get your high end right in mastering you're applying a Band-Aid-- although it can be done. Mastering effects everything so if you really only needed that sparkle on the instruments you're going to be affecting what you did to the vocals and vice versa, and etc.-- it's a bunch of dominoes. Have it right before it goes to mastering or at least as close as you can get it.

(also keep in mind that I break my own rules and advice on a very regular basis.)

 

plugins can do it but hardware does it in a better way. far more ear pleasing, doesn't add harshness
almost every hardware unit im about to mention i have the plugin version as well but they don't sound the same. not to say they aren't usable but they don't sound anything like the real units

500 series clariphonic's...i have the plugin, but they don't sound the same
massive passive, again the plugin doesn't sound the same especially in the lows and highs
dolby361... plugin versions don't come remotely close...
sontec, won't have mine until january but i have a clone and again, don't sound the same
avalon 747, the last high shelf is the 32k, wide q but 32k none the less. the plugin doesn't sound like my old trusty with a broken fader lol
maag eq4.. plugin isn't bad, i'll admit.. but the hardware just sounds better but thats a plugin that's 90% there imo
adesigns hammer, again the plugin doesn't do justice
wes ngTubeeq, no plugin version but has been my goto for beautiful air on masters for the last 3-4 months that i've owned it. i almost always find myself adding a nice wideband at 18k if the song already sounds good, if its dark 28k(wide) an actually pushing into it... the last song i just did i used 28k +6db(was a dark record but i wanted an openness to it that i knew the ng could add

when i submitted the master one of the first questions was how did i get such an open and wide sound... the ngtubeeq in m/s was the answer but of course i didn't tell them, they're the client, keep sending stuff my way since you obviously liked it

now 1 plugin that does a good job imho...wavesfactory spectre, does a damn good job but use it sparingly or it can get harsh lol
try to stay away from exciters if you don't want the material getting harsh.. adding any good tape sim while mixing really helps too. i have a pair of zulu's and 542's next to each other in a 500rack to audition side by side so i can make my decision. both work extremely well.
1 more master and im going to sleep its already 4am

 

Somehow my explanation with not well known tips&tricks got scrambled.
Will not type it again.

Short:
A piano player who starts a new song every time he has finished playing a song will never achieve anything.
Lots of totally false recommendations on youtube, like: make a song every day.

Choose a favourite main instrument, perfectly produced, and rebuild that single instrument from scratch until it sounds perfect. Tip: do not do drum instruments. Use a tonal midrange instrument.
Do not start something else, until you have achieved the goal.

Tip: if it does not sound equally good on all different monitoring setups at normal, very low and loud volume, then do not fall into the trap to tell yourself, that this was a matter of a certain plugin or mastering.
Compression and multiband compression are basic tools for edm, but DO NOT use it, until the instrument plus chorus/dlys/revs sounds almost there.
Only then start adding compression, because only then you will hear what the transients and low level signals really need.

In general we can anly succeed with patience, persistance and endless tries to achieve what we personally deem perfection.

Building sounds from scratch with a good synth probably is the easiest way.

And always pay utmost attention to the midrange and the transients (forget all the nonsense about bass: a good bass, just like treble or sparkle, will be made with ease, almost automatically, once you know how to make the midrange, transients and FXs sound correct).

Do not be shy to monitor in mono, mid/side, transient/body in solo.
Use good headphones, too.

Good luck!

 

Last edited: Oct 10, 2024