The Pretender, and the Exciter...

MichaelAlan · Post by **MichaelAlan** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:22 pm

My copy of The Pretender by Jackson Browne (vinyl) states on the back that it was mixed at Sound Factory with "Aphex Aural Exciter". Does anyone advertise they gear they used on a record anymore?

Mike

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 7:10 pm

Awesome

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 12:07 am

When the Aphex first came out, you had to license the use of it and put a credit on your record. Many, many records from the late seventies had "Mixed using the Aphex Aural Exciter" on the back of them. Sort of like Q Sound or Dolby NR.

I have actually played the piano at Sunset Sound Factory (the Jackson Browne piano) and it's the loudest, brightest-sounding piano I've ever heard. It's totally THE sound from all those records: "Doctor My Eyes," "The Pretender," etc. There's nothing specific about those recordings that make the piano sound like that. It just does.

Val Garay did those records, didn't he? What a badass that guy was back then.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:06 am

*listens to "Trouble At Madam Dong's" again*

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:07 am

*decides to listen to "Christmas With Korla Pandit" instead*

thesimulacre · Post by **thesimulacre** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:11 am

*silently plots new marketing scheme*

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 2:06 am

cgarges wrote:When the Aphex first came out, you had to license the use of it and put a credit on your record. Many, many records from the late seventies had "Mixed using the Aphex Aural Exciter" on the back of them. Sort of like Q Sound or Dolby NR.

I have actually played the piano at Sunset Sound Factory (the Jackson Browne piano) and it's the loudest, brightest-sounding piano I've ever heard. It's totally THE sound from all those records: "Doctor My Eyes," "The Pretender," etc. There's nothing specific about those recordings that make the piano sound like that. It just does.

Val Garay did those records, didn't he? What a badass that guy was back then.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

The studio's couldn't even buy the units. They had to be rented from Aphex.

MichaelAlan · Post by **MichaelAlan** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 9:04 am

cgarges wrote:When the Aphex first came out, you had to license the use of it and put a credit on your record. Many, many records from the late seventies had "Mixed using the Aphex Aural Exciter" on the back of them. Sort of like Q Sound or Dolby NR.

I have actually played the piano at Sunset Sound Factory (the Jackson Browne piano) and it's the loudest, brightest-sounding piano I've ever heard. It's totally THE sound from all those records: "Doctor My Eyes," "The Pretender," etc. There's nothing specific about those recordings that make the piano sound like that. It just does.

Val Garay did those records, didn't he? What a badass that guy was back then.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I remember you mentioning this in a thread years ago. I think it is just as awesome now though. I love those songs.

Does anyone here even use the exciter anymore? The first studio I ever walked into had one. The owner showed it off... but we didn't use it.

The Pretender was John Haeny. Can't say for Val Garay on the Saturate record, but the production is way different between the two.

Mike

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 9:15 am

MichaelAlan wrote:Does anyone here even use the exciter anymore?

I actually used one on a mix last week. I hardly ever use them, but a few years ago, I did a session with a producer who had mixed a bunch of hits in the 70s and 80s (David Bowie, Yes, Carli Simon) and he had me use one on that project. He showed me some cool things, so every once in a while, I'll sneak it in if something needs help. Sometimes used in small amounts, they can really help something like a vocal or a snare drum poke out of a dense mix without being louder.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

RoyMatthews · Post by **RoyMatthews** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 9:27 am

I used to use it occasionally on an aux send and send stuff to it that needed just that little extra spice.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 11:09 am

"Relax, you guys..."

apropos of nothing · Post by **apropos of nothing** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 12:21 pm

You brought'er, you aural exciter!

Roboburger · Post by **Roboburger** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 10:36 am

I saw them in the broadcast racks for the FM stations at the Radio company I worked at. The hiphop station was heavily limited and then run through the Aphex before going to the broadcast relay network. From my understanding of the laws, stations program RMS output can only average so much, so the output is brick-walled, and then a little bit of aphex after that puts a little synthetic life back in... I laughed out loud the day I saw that in the rack. Holy cow- all mixes get sent through an old APHEX processor!

Another reason that Satellite radio probably sounds better to trained ears. I don't know, but I would imagine that cuts get broadcast on satellite straight from the disc without going through any analog processing in the chain.

MichaelAlan · Post by **MichaelAlan** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:56 am

apropos of nothing wrote:You brought'er, you aural exciter!

Normally have to pay for that....

Or...get paid for it....

tonewoods · Post by **tonewoods** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:30 pm

"Many, many records from the late seventies had "Mixed using the Aphex Aural Exciter" on the back of them."

Didn't the box originally rent by the minute??

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The Pretender, and the Exciter...

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