I just read a very interesting article in the latest issue of Sound on Sound. It was written by a fellow who specializes in musical mixes for ice skaters. He points out that an ice arena is an audio space from hell - never thought about it before, but it certainly must be extremely challenging.
Prominent mention was made of MSpectralDynamics as one his most essential tools to deal with the difficulties of mixing for this environment. Quite a good read, if you happen to subscribe.
MSpectralDynamics - A Star on Ice
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- KVRist
- 463 posts since 17 Mar, 2018
I have been getting back this plugin again recently. Its so increible. I compared it wth the one fom plugin alliance...and whist the pa one was good, the melda was infinitely more configurable. It really is breathtaking being able to control a plugin with that mch depth.
To anybody who has perhaps just tried the plgin a couple of times but not integrated it into their daily workflow - keep coming back to it!
As with all melda plugins, there are a lot of controls which make it easy to set it up wrong. But as you get more familiar with spectral dynamics, it all makes a LOT of sense.
I have had the total bundle for a couple of years now. I have been an engineer for about 13 years...and im only just starting to get the most out of MXXX. im finally making the most out of the extra control, moduation, and my latest one - metering and visua feedback. These are the most advanced out there.
To anybody who has perhaps just tried the plgin a couple of times but not integrated it into their daily workflow - keep coming back to it!
As with all melda plugins, there are a lot of controls which make it easy to set it up wrong. But as you get more familiar with spectral dynamics, it all makes a LOT of sense.
I have had the total bundle for a couple of years now. I have been an engineer for about 13 years...and im only just starting to get the most out of MXXX. im finally making the most out of the extra control, moduation, and my latest one - metering and visua feedback. These are the most advanced out there.
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- KVRist
- 370 posts since 26 Sep, 2014
Currently, I'm trying to use Spectral Dynamics to separate the individual components of a prerecorded drum track, with kick, snare, and cymbal all on one track (that's what I'm stuck with on several songs that I recorded) For now, it's just the same beat, over and over again. So I want to re-record everything, using those beats as a BASIS for the rhythm section, but then compose more elaborate drums from there.
I have had some success in extracting the kick and snare, and using them as midi triggers. The cymbals/hi-hats have been tougher to isolate.
* For this purpose, the extracted kit pieces don't have to sound good...they just have to be suitable for transient detection by my DAW.
In short, Spectral Dynamics seems to have potential as a drum kit-piece isolater.
Has anyone else tried this? Any tips? Just to explain, I tried using noise elimination function, using Spectral Dynamics to remove kit pieces as if they were noise. With 3 kit pieces in the loops, I try to eliminate 2 of the 3 pieces to leave behind the 3rd piece. But isolating the hi-hats has been really tough. Any pointers?
I have had some success in extracting the kick and snare, and using them as midi triggers. The cymbals/hi-hats have been tougher to isolate.
* For this purpose, the extracted kit pieces don't have to sound good...they just have to be suitable for transient detection by my DAW.
In short, Spectral Dynamics seems to have potential as a drum kit-piece isolater.
Has anyone else tried this? Any tips? Just to explain, I tried using noise elimination function, using Spectral Dynamics to remove kit pieces as if they were noise. With 3 kit pieces in the loops, I try to eliminate 2 of the 3 pieces to leave behind the 3rd piece. But isolating the hi-hats has been really tough. Any pointers?
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MeldaProduction MeldaProduction https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=176122 - KVRAF
- 14019 posts since 15 Mar, 2008 from Czech republic
Thanks folks! 
sirmonkey: I don't think this will work really. You can potentially do that if the instruments are not playing at the same time, but otherwise there's no tech in the world that could do that, and probably won't be - once you mix multiple sources, some information just gets lost, a lot of it actually. Eventually this becomes an AI problem and unfortunately there's no AI that could handle so much yet and if you think about the fact that even humans cannot do that (you can say there's a hihat, but not actually hear detailed hihat), I fear it's unlikely that this will ever happen.
sirmonkey: I don't think this will work really. You can potentially do that if the instruments are not playing at the same time, but otherwise there's no tech in the world that could do that, and probably won't be - once you mix multiple sources, some information just gets lost, a lot of it actually. Eventually this becomes an AI problem and unfortunately there's no AI that could handle so much yet and if you think about the fact that even humans cannot do that (you can say there's a hihat, but not actually hear detailed hihat), I fear it's unlikely that this will ever happen.
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- KVRist
- 370 posts since 26 Sep, 2014
Actually, I'm making progress on this. Basically, I just need to extract the transients. Then I use Studio One's transient detection/groove panel to create midi notes. Even if some "erroneous" transients get detected, I can adjust Studio One's sensitivity setting to deal with that....sometimes. But I still feel like I can tweak Spectral Dynamics to be more accurate for this purpose. Hopefully I'll be able to report success soon!
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- KVRist
- 222 posts since 14 Nov, 2016 from Berliner Umland
@sirmonkey:
Accusonus Regroover is very usable in splitting drum loops to individual instrument tracks. It is kind of AI'ish with very good results with loops that have differentiated frequency spectra and few overlapping attack points within the same spectrum area.
If the loop is more convoluted you can manually correct the assignment of individual hits. The individual tracks then can be midified with every audio to midi tool. Or reused or remixed.
I think the Melda tools can support you doing the same process manually but are not prepared to do it automatically. Regroover is a big timesaver if you need to do such tasks more often. But in the end I suspect what it does is what you try to do. Splitting the spectrum and recognizing attacks in these spectral areas.
Accusonus Regroover is very usable in splitting drum loops to individual instrument tracks. It is kind of AI'ish with very good results with loops that have differentiated frequency spectra and few overlapping attack points within the same spectrum area.
If the loop is more convoluted you can manually correct the assignment of individual hits. The individual tracks then can be midified with every audio to midi tool. Or reused or remixed.
I think the Melda tools can support you doing the same process manually but are not prepared to do it automatically. Regroover is a big timesaver if you need to do such tasks more often. But in the end I suspect what it does is what you try to do. Splitting the spectrum and recognizing attacks in these spectral areas.
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MeldaProduction MeldaProduction https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=176122
- KVRAF
- 14019 posts since 15 Mar, 2008 from Czech republic
sirmonkey: Actually for transients I'd recommend the transient/tonal crossover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLkLoE7WPZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLkLoE7WPZQ
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- KVRist
- 370 posts since 26 Sep, 2014
Wow, I didn't know that the tonal/transient crossover existed. Thanks for steering me to that...I will definitely give that a try.
Thanks also to Akeia for your suggestion. Actually, I have the Accusonus Regroover (Essential version). I actually got it for free when it was released. And it does do the job. However, it won't let you record the individual tracks in a DAW. You have to buy the $219 version for that. And I would have been pretty upset if I spent $100 for Essential, only to find out that recording into a DAW was disabled.
Hmmm, maybe Melda MRecorder might function as a workaround for this limitation.
I think that I will try both ideas.
Thanks again for the responses!
Thanks also to Akeia for your suggestion. Actually, I have the Accusonus Regroover (Essential version). I actually got it for free when it was released. And it does do the job. However, it won't let you record the individual tracks in a DAW. You have to buy the $219 version for that. And I would have been pretty upset if I spent $100 for Essential, only to find out that recording into a DAW was disabled.
Hmmm, maybe Melda MRecorder might function as a workaround for this limitation.
I think that I will try both ideas.
Thanks again for the responses!
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- KVRAF
- 2596 posts since 9 Jul, 2015 from UK
I tried to tell you this in November! He he.....sirmonkey wrote:Wow, I didn't know that the tonal/transient crossover existed. Thanks for steering me to that...I will definitely give that a try.
Thanks also to Akeia for your suggestion. Actually, I have the Accusonus Regroover (Essential version). I actually got it for free when it was released. And it does do the job. However, it won't let you record the individual tracks in a DAW. You have to buy the $219 version for that. And I would have been pretty upset if I spent $100 for Essential, only to find out that recording into a DAW was disabled.
Hmmm, maybe Melda MRecorder might function as a workaround for this limitation.
I think that I will try both ideas.
Thanks again for the responses!
OK, I understand fully what your trying to achieve.
So snares are a lot more tonal than hi hats. I would try to use the spectral crossovers before the detector to get better results.
Melda Production & United Plugins
Surface Studio = i7, 32gb, SSD.
Windows 11. Bitwig, Reaper, Live. MTotal.
Audiofuse, Adam Audio monitors + sub, iLoud MTM.
Polybrute, Summit, Pro 3, Tempest, Syntakt, AH2.
Ableton Push 2, Roli Seaboard Block.
Surface Studio = i7, 32gb, SSD.
Windows 11. Bitwig, Reaper, Live. MTotal.
Audiofuse, Adam Audio monitors + sub, iLoud MTM.
Polybrute, Summit, Pro 3, Tempest, Syntakt, AH2.
Ableton Push 2, Roli Seaboard Block.
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- KVRist
- 370 posts since 26 Sep, 2014
Hello again jmg!
Wow, good memory! I should look back at that post. Well, actually, I get a few things at least a little better now. I was trying to wrap my head around Spectral Dynamics, and could get it to work for some things, but was lost on other tasks. The results can be really random if you don't really understand all the controls.
I'm pretty sure that I didn't quite understand what you meant at the time. But the videos on cross-overs really taught me some very useful stuff (these came out in late 2017/early 2018).
Thanks for the advice. It took a while, but now I'm starting to get it!
Wow, good memory! I should look back at that post. Well, actually, I get a few things at least a little better now. I was trying to wrap my head around Spectral Dynamics, and could get it to work for some things, but was lost on other tasks. The results can be really random if you don't really understand all the controls.
I'm pretty sure that I didn't quite understand what you meant at the time. But the videos on cross-overs really taught me some very useful stuff (these came out in late 2017/early 2018).
Thanks for the advice. It took a while, but now I'm starting to get it!
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- KVRist
- 370 posts since 26 Sep, 2014
Oooops, I sort've hijacked the thread here.
So, getting back to Spectral Dynamics, it really works well on eliminating guitar hum on my tracks. While the gate on my guitar multi-effects pedal works pretty well, I don't want its threshold so low that it kills the tails of fading guitar notes & chords. And that often means letting a bit of guitar hum through. But fortunately, Spectral Dynamics listened to the hum, built a profile, and works well without any tone suck, and it doesn't kill the softer sounds. Two thumbs up!
So, getting back to Spectral Dynamics, it really works well on eliminating guitar hum on my tracks. While the gate on my guitar multi-effects pedal works pretty well, I don't want its threshold so low that it kills the tails of fading guitar notes & chords. And that often means letting a bit of guitar hum through. But fortunately, Spectral Dynamics listened to the hum, built a profile, and works well without any tone suck, and it doesn't kill the softer sounds. Two thumbs up!
