Sonic Maximizers

[djslayerissick]

aaahhhhh yes, the sonic maximizer....

its better for live applications more than studio, especially for things that tend to get buried in the mix (vocals, electronic sounds, keys, effected bass)

like any other effect, you gotta try placing it in various spots in the signal chain. if you put the SM at the end of the chain, it will all have the SM sound no matter what you put before it.

it normally sounds really great using the SM between the source and the first connection in the chain (before the pre-amp, before any effects, etc.)
that way, a very present signal is hitting the rest of the chain, and the sheen of the SM is being altered by the rest of the chain.

also, if you have 2 guitarists, have one use an SM and one without it - it practically guarentees that both guitars will sound full, yet very different and distinct from each other - and when they hit those power chords together, it is a glorious thing.

[JES]

I also got one right when I first got into recording. It still lives in my rack. I went through the whole "better" button thing, and that was cool. Now I rarely use it. Tried it on an old cassette tape I was dumping to DAW last winter and I found it made everything way too edgy.

That said, I keep it around. While it may not be useful as a universal mixer-fixer-upper, I do like it as an effect for individual tracks, though I have only occasionally actually done it. I'm really psyched to try it on two guitars as djslayerissick suggested. That sounds like a great use.

I'd trade the hardware for the plugin in about 30 second, though.

Best,
--JES

[Kyle]

A friend of mine uses SM's to run his outboard effects through. He runs a signal out via the Aux Send, into a reverb, into an SM and then returns into channel faders for one more round of EQ. He loves the way it cleans up some of those murky reverbs. I don't use SM's anymore because of the whoe phase cancellation and the very unnatural "sheen" thing.

[jrick]

I use a maximizer for long term sessions working on abrasive electronic music even in the studio. other wise, as been stated previously, it is a LIVE tool for listening fatigue. Aural Exciter is the processor you may be looking for as far as studio aps.

I asked several mastering suites if my label should "sonic maximize" our material before sending it in, and all replied, "no, we will do the maximizing." Afterall, the Maximizer is not a compression or mastering processor.

HOWEVER, the maximizer is WIN WIN when in a live arena. Several of my performances have taken the cake simply because of the definition of the Maximized signal!

jrick.