The Aphex Exciter on a Muddy Stereo Mix

[@MarcosDSG-c3b]

4:19

[@DELLUEdotCOM]

Mark St.Germain thanks. I fuckin hate rambling

[@trevorUTG]

Just picked one of these up because of your comment in the other video about it taking a "farty" sounding DI bass and adding what you're missing from a cab. This is honestly one of my new favorite pieces of gear in my rack. Adds SO much bottom end into bass tracks, and don't even get me started on how fat this can make your kick drums sound. After watching this, i'll definitely be playing with it on some stereo mixes. Really great piece of equipment, for a steal of a price imo. Thanks for turning me on to this piece of gear.

[@creativesoundlab]

Fantastic comment. Glad to hear you love it. I have really loved mine and it's only one rack space.

[@barryhinselwood665]

Drums is also where it shines ... Chuck the Aphex in to an outboard compressor with sidechain to get all those Portishead style drums and Massive Attack loveliness :)

[@barryhinselwood665]

You're absolutely right (with your nice dreads) ... Most people need to understand that this is not a an effect that goes on your main mix buss, it's a warming device for mainly anything that needs a bit more bass expansion or higher end sparkle :)

[@ivanmay7890]

Linda Ronstadt used these

[@PaulyStax]

I used to have an older model, and we used to sell a lot of them to guys with big pa systems at the music stores I worked at. I liked it and used it for subtle enhancements as well and sounds cool on synth tracks. I also used to have a bbe 862, but didn't record with it (different enhancer i couldn't quite agree with).

[@jeepjorgecj7]

I am going to connect this apex exciter to my system, I have a question, I connect my compressor first and then the exciter or the exciter first and then the compressor, what do you suggest? thanks for your answer

[@IsawUupThere]

With pretty much every piece of analogue gear I can find a plugin that does the job for me well enough that I don't think I'm missing all that much. But I've never heard anything like the Aphex. RBass, Lowender, jesusonic HugeBooty, Sausage Fattener. All cool on their own, but also really different.

[@matthiaskrause1155]

Waves has a plugin for the Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter. It only has the 'high" part, however, and no frequency or threshold settings. Still a great plugin. It actually made me google if there is a hardware version available.

[@RickJando]

I wonder if this unit could enhance surf type guitar ? I need to hear this unit on clean sounds rather than distorted sounds.

[@stevemilani6334]

Which model of the Exciter is that?

[@lennoxwhite7443]

Would place this instrument before or after a cross over in a rack?

[@jawr1215]

Holy cow that's a powerful bit of kit!

[@creativesoundlab]

Yes, it totally is!

[@synesthetica]

Definitely very usable. I especially liked what it did to the low-end. Have you tried SPL Vitalizer?

[@creativesoundlab]

I have not yet tried SPL Vitalizer yet, but really digging what this Exciter can do.

[@synesthetica]

It is interesting that exciters got such a bad name. I've read so much negative comments about them, but I find them great especially for acoustic stuff.

[@synesthetica]

It is interesting that exciters got such a bad name. I've read so much negative comments about them, but I find them great especially for acoustic stuff.

[@creativesoundlab]

This is my first taste of a hardware one, and so far I could see the value in having one. Lots of power in a single rack space.

[@johnthecreative]

@@creativesoundlab Never tried the hardware units but based on plugins I've used, I'd say they do some different things and sound good together. No reason not to use both at the same time at different points in your signal chain. Sometimes I find my mix getting muddy based on things I do after I use an exciter so I actually need to bring in another exciter again. It's one of the drawbacks to real saturation, as it saturates but also makes things relatively muddier. Finding the right balance is difficult and trial and error, and will change drastically as you work. The advice to wait until the mastering or near-mastering stage to add exciters I think is solid advice. Otherwise you will go insane chasing your tail; and making readjustments that never end.

[@nunoharris]

Hi. Is this Aphex Exciter similar to the one used by Steve Harris of Iron Maiden? How much gain it provides ? Thanks

[@CompetitionDVD]

Got my 204 in 2011 and it comes to every DJ and FOH mixing gig with me. People ALWAYS comment on how good the sound is but they have no idea what’s making them say that. It’s like a secret tool!

[@creativesoundlab]

Very cool. I have a friend that uses one for small gigs to help make it feel big.

[@georgeflemming8852]

Where do you have it placed in your rack

[@dinmentor]

Ryan, any up to date review of the Aphex? Still use it etc?

[@Aleziss]

what is the difference between that gear and a parametric eq ? to me it seems to do the same thing... drive is the Q, frequency is the same and the amount is the gain or cut of a parametric EQ...

[@Feels_Lucky]

we use this in chain after ultra drive to boost lows and upper bass on one ch, mid and high on the other, great price of kit to get more wobble out of your system and really crisp up the top end to get it sparkling. best 70 I ever spent

[@Michael-mp1iu]

This might be ridiculous, but I am interested in adding this to my humble AV setup. I admittedly listen to a lot of Spotify and experience tons of muddy sound. Is that even possible.... is it a bad idea? Thanks dude.

[@AndyLowe-net]

Would love to hear a comparisson between this and the Steven Slate VMR 'Revival' (which is free i believe) because they both use harmonics to boost lows and highs

[@creativesoundlab]

Gosh I've never used it. I would be curious too.

[@AndyLowe-net]

thats a software plug btw. it used to be free as a way of getting people to try the VMR series. I dunno if it still is free but worth checking out for sure

[@johnthecreative]

From what I understand Revival just does some boosting to certain frequencies via EQ right? So it sounds like you are boosting some EQ (which I use Pultec for) but is it really adding a lot of harmonics? I can't try it because I don't have ilok 2 but I saw a pro mixer mention it then pass up using it in favor of his Pultec and says he uses Pultec instead to do the same thing better. I've also never been impressed with any video of a Steven Slate plugin in action. Ever. Still waiting for him to impress me...

[@ValerioRosati]

I want to buy it after this video.... thanks man! I hope it will improve more and more my drums sound, maybe inserting it into the Kick and Snare signals! ;)

[@GeoZero]

I have a Aural Type C with Big Bottom, I think the first unit that came out with that, from 1990's. It still is a nice piece in the studio.

[@creativesoundlab]

Wow, I've never gotten to hear the originals. I hear that are fantastic.

[@GeoZero]

Funny thing is I tried selling it a few years back and no takers. Now everyone wants retro. I have all sorts of other stuff. BTW - great video!!

[@barryhinselwood665]

I've been using the Type-C since it was first released ... Chuck it on guitars that were set up properly with Guitar Rig (make sure when you record guitars through Daw plugins that you have all pickups active ... And all EQ knobs at full ... Because you CAN correct this with EQ later!) or Amplitube (same applies) and you get very nice warm distortions (if you know mic placement in both softwares) ... As usual with any hardware effect, less is more ... Overboard usage results in more to correct in mixdown :)

[@fabishakenbake1971]

This is pretty convincing.

[@ByronSamuelsIATOLA]

can this be used for a club DJ

[@thesuccessfulbarber]

No

[@Karizma231]

Definitely can be used, but you have to know how to use it properly

[@curtabogdan5830]

Congratulation !

[@underpressureman]

do you know the difference between this and the aphex exiter 204?

[@creativesoundlab]

This looks as if it's a newer version of the 204.

[@TheNorthernMist]

That was very helpful, thanks! Q: how do you set it up for live vocal performance? I have one but don't make too many adjustments just leave it in the gray marked areas.

[@panhandlegeardemos6837]

Pretty sweet tool! And they seem pretty reasonably priced units.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks, yeah, it's a very capable tone shaping tool. Can't wait to make a video about kick drum.

[@IsawUupThere]

Toms! You can record yourself hitting cardboard with a wet hot dog, run it through Aphex and you'll sound like John Bonham... well not quite. But almost!

[@rot_studios]

If I ever get this thing, that will be the first thing I'll try XD

[@jeffmorris1461]

Just got the Exciter , the 204 one, sort of by accident, anyway, going to run U87 into True P-Solo then to Aphex, out to recorder, I have 2 of those Warm EQ P units as well, nice. Hope I can find a use for this thing,,,LOL

[@flos3328]

Sounds good :) I find the aural exciter gives the mix a lot more.... liveliness? The Bass side of things was not as clean as I'd like to.

[@creativesoundlab]

Yeah, the bass side of things was def my mixing. Pry at the track level things could have been cleaned up, but I really liked what it could do.

[@anonymusum]

I would have told the band to change the arrangement and I would have used different mics on the toms instead of trying to save a mix that was ruined in the recording session.

[@johnthecreative]

You don't use exciters to improve tom sounds. It's more for stuff like cymbals, vocals, guitars. Stuff with lots of higher harmonics when those get washed out. I sometimes use the stock logic exciter on cymbals at around 9k which is where it needs some help sometimes and if you dial in the wrong frequency it sounds awful. An Aphex is like an exciter on steroids and better overall sound quality.

[@AudioReplica2023]

the drive knob is for when you gonna make a mix to listen while you in your car....driving. Get it. 😂 Oh im so stupid !!! lmfao!

[@jyun7360]

Doesn't sound right to my ears at all, don't understand why not use a really suitable gear to do the right thing.