Written By Dusan Zisic

INTRO

We are all aware of how much the audio production process was affected by the adoption of powerful computers and audio interfaces, together with an accompanying breakthrough in the software industry.

Almost everything has been transferred to the virtual realm, and there are practically no limitations on what we can do in our DAWs, with all sorts of high-quality plugins. We can have a nearly endless number of tracks, unlimited routing options, plenty of effects combined, etc. It all seems really cool, right?

COMPLEXITY VS EFFICIENCY

Of course, it’s cool. It has pushed our recording and mixing possibilities to the next level. It has allowed us to build more complex arrangements and to use various techniques to achieve the sound we want. But how does this increase in complexity influence our workflow?

Mixing engineers are facing more challenging and trickier tasks than ever before while trying to maintain high-quality results and a proper level of efficiency. In order to accomplish this, they need to have their sessions neatly organized, routines that help them stay focused, an in-depth understanding of techniques they use, and also very importantly, the right tools for the job.

THE RIGHT TOOLS

I recently had the opportunity to use several Sonimus products and must say they superbly fit the modern mixing industry. They accomplish this while also staying easy to learn, and (eventually) master. All their features are carefully designed so that they can be applied on almost any track, in almost every situation. Simplicity and flexibility have been brought together in the best possible manner, and they went the extra mile in the process. Sonimus introduced an incredibly accurate implementation of analog warmth and depth with their plugins, which have really improved my mixes overall.

It’s important to point out that Sonimus has covered each of the most important, fundamental stages of audio mixing: gain staging, equalization, and dynamics.

INITIAL MIX

How does this look in practice?

After importing the wave files and grouping tracks, my next step is to gain staging and dial in a quick rough mix. Ensuring everything is calibrated to the standard -18dBs level will allow us to get the most out of our plugins. (Check this post to find out more about gain staging.) I found Sonimus’s Satson to be a great tool for this task. Its VU meter makes adjusting the gain/gain staging a piece of cake. After this, Satson’s very musical high pass and low pass filters help me clean up the tracks during this early stage. I usually remove some amount of low end on every track except the kick. I even set filters on bass guitar at around 60Hz, guitars usually around 200Hz, and so on, just to unburden the bottom end while preserving the fundamentals and body of the instruments.

I will also filter the highs if I hear unwanted frequencies in that range, or if I want to push a specific instrument back in the mix. Engaging the LOUD option is often desired on the drum buss to add some extra punch and enhance both the lows and highs. Analog saturation (which can be switched off if desired) together with the emulated crosstalk will add just a bit of extra dimension and assists me in gluing the tracks together as perfectly as possible.

Sonimus’s Britson is the same kind of beast but brings a different kind of mojo. It’s more vintage sounding overall, adding a nice low end/low mid fullness to the mix. Britson’s character is a bit darker and tighter in the low end, in a beautiful way.

TONE SHAPING

After gain staging, initial cleaning, and setting basic levels, the next and most complex step is frequency equalization. Having good tools is crucial for this phase to run smoothly, but luckily Sonimus really shines here as well in my experience! SonEQ Pro is one of those plugins that I would put on every channel with no hesitation. It’s easy to use, and highly functional all-around EQ.

Creating a distinction between bottom end instruments is often very challenging, but its Pultec-style low band works magic when cleaning and sculpting this frequency range. The low mid-band is perfectly suited for finding and removing mud, but also for adding a natural-sounding body to specific instruments when needed. The high mid-band is great if a track needs more presence/forwardness, while the highly flexible high band helps to obtain increased definition and an extremely open high end.

The presence of some amount of analog saturation is a valuable addition, which elegantly enriches the sound. The gain independent drive knob often works wonders to enhance lower frequencies on basses and synths when needed.

This EQ seemingly just cannot sound bad!

Be careful not to disregard the free version of SonEQ, the predecessor of SonEQ Pro. I personally consider it the best free EQ plugin out there! Although it lacks some features of its bigger brother (not every band is parametric for one), SonEQ is easy to use, flexible, and still very capable of achieving top quality results.

However, if you are leaning toward something with a different, more Neve-like tonality, be sure to check Burnley 73, another Sonimus gem. It’s a straightforward, wonderfully designed, and ultra-musical EQ. While it only has 3 bands with fixed frequencies, a filter section, and a gain knob, this is more than enough to achieve a wide variety of results. Its gain knob, (the secret weapon of this EQ) will introduce beautiful sounding, 70s style solid-state saturation, enabling you to enrich the sound of a wide range of instruments and vocals. It’s rare to hear this level of authentic, rich tonality in the plugin world. 

DYNAMICS

Proper compression and limiting will often crank an already good mix to 11.

Following their theme of simplicity and flexibility, Sonimus introduced their TuCo compressor, a convenient plugin with cautiously thought-out features. I’ve found it to be a perfect tool to be put on nearly every track or even buss. Thanks to its smartly designed modes, it can be used in a number of different circumstances (slow attack comp for controlling drums, fast attack limiter for bass, fast attack comp for guitars, and so on). 3 stereo modes allow further variation when applying it on stereo tracks and busses, from keeping your left and right channels perfectly matched, to adding the subtle variation often found in hardware.

Like with some of the previous Sonimus products, a gain-independent drive knob was added as an extra touch to this plugin as well. It introduces a tube-like saturation that subtly beefs up the low end, while simultaneously adding a bit of “tube sparkle” up top. (You can learn more about TuCo Compressor here, and an additional comprehensive look at it is soon to be released.)

CONCLUSION

Mixing engineers deal with extremely complex tasks and demands nowadays. Furthermore, most tend to find their own ways and routines when solving problems. While experience is still king, having the right tools is often crucial when establishing a workflow that will efficiently bring desired results, time after time.

Sonimus did an excellent job providing us with such top quality tools. They obviously took into account all present requirements and obstacles, creating highly functional plugins that are easy to use and applicable in almost any situation. Also, they successfully included the best aspects from the analog world into their concept, while altering them to better serve a wider variety of applications. Truly a great set of mixing tools.