Best plug to add 'hair' to a track

[philbrown]

OK, it's distortion but I'm not talking about Nine Inch Nails or bit-crushing type stuff. Say you've got a whispery lead vocal that's good, but just a little too wimpy sounding for the track. What plugs to you reach for to add just that little bit of hair without it actually sounding distorted? So far my favorite for that is Magnetic from Nomad factory. The original version of Magnetic seems to work better for me than Magnetic II (I own both). I own gobs of plugs but haven't found many that do this gracefully. Some comps get in the ballpark but usually don't work if you just want the hair without the compression.

Any favorites you guys can recommend?

[Little Known]

Run a parallel track through a gtr amp simulator. Adjust to taste. I'd pick an Orange or Marshall simulation.

[philbrown]

Run a parallel track through a gtr amp simulator. Adjust to taste. I'd pick an Orange or Marshall simulation.

Great idea! For some reason parallel processing never occurred to me. That definitely opens up some possibilities for plugs that are a bit too much on their own. Thanks!

[stephentayler]

SoundToys Devil-Loc is wonderful - check it out

http://www.soundtoys.com/product/Devil-Loc%20Deluxe

It can be used in so many different ways....

Cheers

Stephen

[philbrown]

SoundToys Devil-Loc is wonderful - check it out

http://www.soundtoys.com/product/Devil-Loc%20Deluxe

It can be used in so many different ways....

Cheers

Stephen

Sounds great Stephen, thanks! A little of it goes a long way in this application, but it sounds really good and is exactly what I was talking about (when applied sparingly). Wish it was a bit cheaper but I may buy it anyway. Soundtoys rocks as usual.

[Michael Canavan]

Nomad Factory Puls Tec EQ. <- this is subtle, but A/B with a mild EQ setting and the "modeling" that Nomad do on this one adds some generally much appreciated color.

PSP Vintage Warmer- a limiter, compressor, but dirty, another goto for this sort of thing for me.

[philbrown]

Nomad Factory Puls Tec EQ. <- this is subtle, but A/B with a mild EQ setting and the "modeling" that Nomad do on this one adds some generally much appreciated color.

PSP Vintage Warmer- a limiter, compressor, but dirty, another goto for this sort of thing for me.

Man, how could Vintagewarmer not be mentioned?? I used to use the controls on the back a lot too to adjust for color. Geez, you forget about stuff you already own in favor of the new shiny ones. Another one for color is the UAD Fairchild and whoever makes the various versions - think I have 3 and ditto on the Pultec knockoffs. Nice to have choices!

The UAD Trident EQ adds a nice subtle transformer-like color just being instantiated with no EQ changes. Worth mentioning. Ditto for their Harrison EQ and a shade subtler yet maybe. I'd call it 'sheen'. Adjectives baby. The UAD Fatso tends to get the dark side of 'color' and 'hair' but seems like it can get muddy pretty easily.

I'm still liking Magnetic for this 'hair' sort of thing, and it has a lot of choices of flavors. I'm not sure about 'Body' vs 'Lush' vs 'Warm' as far as the technicalities and adjectives but it doesn't take long to twist a few knobs and check some options to get it in the right direction. Still seems easier to dial in V1 vs V2 to me, but maybe I'm just more used the 1st version.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I suppose it's important to mention that Devil-loc is only 32 bit at the moment. Just sayin...

[Phil O]

Also check out the Stillwell stuff, Phil. I seem to recall a plugin they had with adjustable non-linearity. I don't have it, but it was one of the demos I looked at at one point. I bought their Rocket Compressor and the sound quality is quite good. BTW, I think they have demos for all their plugins.

Phil

[philbrown]

Also check out the Stillwell stuff, Phil. I seem to recall a plugin they had with adjustable non-linearity. I don't have it, but it was one of the demos I looked at at one point. I bought their Rocket Compressor and the sound quality is quite good. BTW, I think they have demos for all their plugins.

Phil

Phil to Phil, come in, over? LOL Sounds like a Firesign Theater thing.
I'm an avid Stillwell guy. He's actually a friend of a bass player I played many years 6 nights a week with, but I've never hooked up with him on that. But man, can that guy write a plug-in. Good prices too. Stillwell=Aces.
I couldn't make friends with that one you're talking about with the non-linear curves (Bad Bus Mojo?), it's too over the top for me. But I love The Rocket, Major Tom and the Vibe EQ and use them all the time. I'm presently making friends with the Bombardier Buss compressor which is quite a handful to learn but is very cool. Does 'sweet'n'clean' very well.

[daniel.sneed]

That's just what I like in Alloy. Many different *airs* to tweak.
And subtle enough to retain original performance feeling.

[mikehalloran]

I like Alloy.

[crduval]

I like the UAD Pultec Pro for subtle warmup - I really love it on guitars.

Devil-loc is great too, but its not really subtle! I like it on drums and recently I used it when recording my 11 year old son (he was rapping to a karaoke track of "Payphone") to give his voice some presence and a little grit. Sounded great!


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[dix]

I suppose it's important to mention that Devil-loc is only 32 bit at the moment. Just sayin...

+1 for Devil Lock. If you push Slate Digital's VTM into the red its great for a touch of overdrive that doesn't sound like an effect. VTM is 64bit.

[philbrown]

I like Alloy.

Here's a link for those like me that never heard of Alloy:
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/alloy/