Mastering with Gullfoss

If you're struggling to get your mixes to translate into the real world, Gullfoss might be the solution. It'll certainly clean things up in a hurry! Try it for free, or get it for 30% off until April 28 at www.soundtheor...
Sponsored by Soundtheory!
About Spectre Sound Studios:
I'm Glenn Fricker, engineer here at Spectre Sound Studios. I love making records, and after doing it for sixteen years, I want to pass on what I've learned. On my channel you can find tutorials on how to record guitar, bass, real drums and vocals. There's reviews and demos of tube amps, amp sims, drums, mics, preamps, outboard gear, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and plugin effects.
We've covered Moon on the Water, played Bias FX, given you the absolute best in Stupid Musician Texts, ranted & raved about bass guitar, and this channel is where The Eagle has Landed.
Everything you've wanted to learn about recording Hard Rock & Heavy Metal can be found right here on this channel!
I also respond to your comments & questions: The best make it into the SMG Viewer's Comments series of videos. Loads of fun, lots of laughs.
Thanks for checking out my channel & please subscribe!

[@OleVinny]

This thing is great as a pair of golden ears too. 1) Put it on whatever source 2) listen if it improves things, if it does; 3) try and figure out why and learn to apply it without Gullfoss. That way you don't outsource your skills to an automated unit and get lazy. I've noticed that when you EQ/compress the source, trying to bring it close to what Gullfoss does, there's a point where adding it doesn't make something better anymore.

[@sigil_theband1953]

I've had Gulfoss for about a year now, it's amazing. It just brings any mix to life.

[@Axeon]

Decided to try this thing out on my most recent mix in place of my usual mastering EQ and HOLY CRAP does this thing make a difference! I think that's the fastest I've ever purchased something.

[@tacticalribeye9583]

Nailed it!

[@cary3428]

I’ve owned for about six months.I use just before the limiter when mastering and as a handy tool to visually examine what it’s doing on an individual track. It’s worth every penny to me.

[@RiffsAndBeards]

Why you showing everyone the secrets Glenn

[@terrykawve8532]

"Glenn's Secret Sauce to Success"

[@glurp2661]

Bc why not

[@elimontoya8626]

Don't carry the secrets to the grave. Humanity will have nothing but shit-sounding music in the future.

[@purplepudding9144]

@@elimontoya8626 hold ur secrets till u succeed THEN show them...dont tell everyone ur seceret before no one knows u a youtuber released all scream teqniques and fucked himself over not making music with it FIRST. Make money with ur hobbies or at least try to make 10$ a year from it somehow if its not the plan

[@lames_jahey9734]

No gatekeep da secretz

[@CaseySabol]

Dude there's actually one other important feature you didn't cover: the high pass and low pass filter lines that you can drag in from the sides so that you can tell the plugin not to mess with the upper and lower extremities. I find that useful because I like what Recover is doing in the low end but my mix didn't need it in the high end, so I just drag that low pass over a little bit and bam.

[@insertanynameyouwant5311]

wow had no idea, since you know that much, do you think it should be the last plugin in master chain or before something?

[@dooshnukem32]

@@insertanynameyouwant5311 Preference is always a factor, so results may vary, but I would start with it just before the final limiter. EQ boosts can cause dB boosts, better to make sure the limiter still catches it if it happens.

[@joelybarish4618]

that extreme high end rise is a sure sign of a newb. "looking pretty good,?!?!!?" Jesus man you know you don't EQ with your eyes

[@charleshoward448]

Even if you're worried about falling into some kind of preset box, you could look at what Gullfoss does to a song to learn new and better ways to clean things up; then you could do the same things manually while adding your own personal touch. Still a super useful plugin, even if you don't just throw it on there straight-up.

[@2hyp627]

Any one else kept thinking Geoff Tate’s vocal was about to come in?

[@getstew]

That guitar tone was very Ratt.

[@everyinchtheanimal]

I’m just glad it didnt

[@digitaldroo]

I don't believe in love.

[@TheAxe4Ever]

@@everyinchtheanimal Hmm....not sure why not. At his prime he was untouchable. He had a unique voice. Especially by todays cookie cutter vocals on most music. Nothing original in metal today.

[@tinkerwithstuff]

@@TheAxe4Ever cookie cutter vocals?

[@DearBands]

Gullfoss... it's awesome. Can definitely make our mixes sound better but can also tell us a bit about our mixes! Great video, Glenn! 😎🤘

[@CrushingAxes]

I installed this plugin a few weeks ago but didn't have a chance to try, everytime I check a review it sounds awesome.

[@benkrafty7742]

Before applying gullfoss: there’s a blanket on your speaker After applying gullfoss: someone stole the blanket

[@TheAxe4Ever]

Nice! The subtle way it eq’s and tightens the mix makes all the difference in the world!

[@jloiben12]

Gulfoss is a really nice plugin. It is part of a family of plugins that are all really useful. However, I like Izotope’s sculptor module in Neutron more. They both do that thing well but sculptor gives you more control. Anyways, this is a good demo and is appreciated

[@Emily_M81]

You were correct - "sidechain functionality, which means that you can now export stems with your Gullfoss settings" thanks for sharing!

[@sandersonstunes]

The side chain feature would be used similarly to Soothe 2. I've used a more basic process for making room for vocals against guitars. By sending the guitars to 2 busses and adding a cross over around 1K then side chain compressing the top end of the guitars by a couple DB of reduction only when the vocals come in allowed more clarity in the vocals. It's a lot more routing than using a smart EQ but it had a similar effect. My process also doesn't have the exact negative notching for a more natural sound.

[@mattkirshner4896]

On it brother!!! Already re mastering old stuff!!! WOoooHoooo!!

[@NexusLives]

Sold. Thanks Glenn. I'm loving Flatline too, so thanks for bringing that to my attention as well.

[@bmc2266]

That song definitively have some good old Carcass influences! Great vibe!!

[@Guitarplayer7253]

I heard I don't believe in love by Queensryche

[@bmc2266]

@@Guitarplayer7253 Of course!

[@SteveOnotsky]

It's subtle in its improvements. Very cool.

[@TheFuneralFrog]

wow that 2nd mix really benefitted well from gullfoss, shit opened right up

[@keithsquawk]

Brings out where the ride cymbal is being hit. Subtle but makes a huge difference to the overall sound.

[@PooNinja]

Master master smart EQ that I’ve been after master master promised only highs ( gets the lows and mids too)

[@Stashammett]

That's a good one :D

[@aagamanpant936]

Love you Glenn🖤

[@timothythompson7750]

THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE, is a fucking game changer. Glenn thank you much for this.

[@Marshallangelo]

Hell yeah I love SMG and I love Gulfoss! Great video I didn’t know I needed!

[@denverrandy7143]

"Recovery" on the drum shoot-out single was great,took a great mix and suprisingly made it a little cleaner and tighter.Very cool software.thanks Glenn👍🤘

[@thill47]

Hi Glen Have tried it and i am impressed.

[@ZethKeeper]

Saw Andrew Huan talking about this plugin a few month back, picked it up the same day. Love it.

[@mo-draws]

Like Gullfoss a lot. btw you can also enter the values in case the sliders are not responding the way you like :) Just click on the parameter you wanna change and type numbers in. Done.

[@wrede4447]

I do the same thing on my master track, but using multiple instances of the free TDR Nova, targeting the sides or the mid channels (high end for the sides, bass and mids on the mid channel). But using Gullfoss would probably save you a lot of CPU and will make your chain look much cleaner, and sound cleaner too since it looks like it uses 50 bands at once. With TDR nova, you're stuck with 4 bands per instance.

[@resington]

Great plugin!

[@drakonyanazkar]

It's good to mention that you fed the software some really well mixed recordings so it could do its thing. You already had great tones and all of that. The software had to do the final touches and still needed you there to tell how much of what.

[@alanjamesh.zamorano1677]

I'm concerned with the meters on red lol

[@Rudergr]

That peaking is on the snare top fader you can get some extra pop and snap if you peak your snare a bit since it's such a sharp transient use peaking distortion to your advantage but don't over use it

[@dooshnukem32]

^this. Purposely clipping (distorting) drum transients is a great way to get some extra perceived loudness or oomph out of the drums without having to clamp down so hard with compression or limiting. Many DAWs come with a plugin that will let you clip those transients without slamming the channel (Soft Clipper in Cubase, for instance). Works wonders for bringing out more of the drum tones as well since compression/limiting won't be crushing the overall output as much.

[@CreativeMindsAudio]

The gulfloss mix is so much more airy and tight. I felt like i can hear the snare better and the “ah” of the reverb stood out more so it sounded a lot bigger. Plus waay less muddy. Heard a lot of hype around this plugin, you may have just convinced me to buy yet another thing.

[@RichWarrenOFC]

GLENN-N-N-N! I'm a multi instrumentalist and solo artist mainly in hip hop but metal/prog was my first love. I'm branching more and more into the production and mixing side to add more real flavor back to music thanks to using a lot of YOUR techniques. I'm a big fan of Fabfilter plugins for mixing and mastering and recently discovered that using a Hughes and Kettner GM36 directly to a UA 6176 has offered the sweetest tones I've EVER heard out of my system. I'd really love to hear some opinions on the 6176 and perhaps this method of recording instruments/vocals. KCUF uoY nnelG and rock on! Love your videos sir!

[@thenyquileconomist5747]

Am I the only one who thought that the riff at around 8:10 sounds a lot like Corporeal Jigsore Qundary by Carcass? Kickass either way!

[@Madchris8828]

Gullfoss sounds like an old-school Role playing game villian.

[@cryptout]

Great demo!

[@Raanraals]

Given that it's named after the Icelandic waterfall, I think it's pronounced more like "Gootl-foss".

[@ATthemusician]

Mastodon pronounced gullfoss how it's spelled in "Island" so I can't change my opinion at this point

[@Vinterloft]

The Nordic (minus Finland) *u* is like a very short and slightly tighter-lipped *oo* . The pressure is also at the start of the word not between gull and foss. In Norwegian it simply means 'golden waterfall'.

[@craytonbuchanan]

Really digging this song! Sounds like something off of Operation: Mindcrime! Keep up the great work Glenn!!!

[@Bcwilderness]

i use izo ms dynamic eq into a clipper post fader does it well and lets elements pop and trick the brain into a more interesting place in stereo, im not sure if more of the world are listening to music on headphones these days i know early mornings when checking my work i do, these tools help all the same

[@adamstrachn]

Really like this plugin Glenn. Played around with the trial awhile back. I picked up Soothe 2 first because it was on sale. Definitely going to pick this up soon. You ever try Soothe 2 or Smart EQ by Sonible? I'd love to hear/see your opinions on such things. Thanks for another great video buddy. Just picked up the 🐓 Blocker plugin & side chained it like in Trey's vid. Great work brother. Amazing tool for heavy modern music. It's been a very noticeable difference in the recording

[@21stcenturymetal31]

That hair line is receding faster than the waters of Sun Moon Lake. However cool video lol

[@jeremymark6530]

Good morning GLENN!!!!!

[@TerenceKearns]

Gullfoss is great. I use it on half my mixes. Sometimes it makes all the difference.

[@TheFuneralFrog]

Gullfoss is good, try GW Mixcentric, its a one knob plugin and honestly I use it on just about every mix I do, it just makes things work, try it out if you have waves!

[@jameshisted]

'tame' makes it sound pretty 70's. Interested.

[@TheFuneralFrog]

I love that bass tone! care to show what's going on there?

[@MyNameIsBucket]

New strings.

[@jamielailey4594]

Aurora DSP Mammoth would be my guess... it's a sick plugin

[@DouglasComical]

@@jamielailey4594 that or Parallax

[@BrunoNeureiter]

I searched for this video and it was out 2 days ago 😳😳😳🔥

[@MrNEWDY]

can we get a breakdown of that mindcrime style mix???? I am actually working on a cover of eyes of a stranger with some friends and would like to see how you got the guitar and bass sounding so close, yet being fuller than the original, almost like a veil was lifted off the original mix.

[@JesHill]

Downloaded and tried the Live version, simply because the other one is not working/present. Impressed even with Live, so I guess I'll have to read the instructions ;-)

[@matthew_thefallen]

Fatastic!!!🙌🙌 Love the shirt too!👍👍

[@RockyH.]

I'm like #501 I love the cool like numbers....501 like my favorite jeans!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@MarcoPrimeau]

The thing with this is if you have a dark sounding instrument let's say under a bright drum sound, if the drum stop playing the dark instrument will suddenly become bright. Not always what you want.. ;)

[@UncleBenjs]

You haven't tried it, have you? because that doesn't happen

[@MarcoPrimeau]

@@UncleBenjs interesting..

[@microcolossal2295]

Interesting plugin

[@matthewbarry7795]

Glenn i would LOVE to see you on nail the mix, is that something you would like to do? I remember you mentionning nail the mix on your show a few years ago and its thanks to you that i signed up! Cheers from France!

[@DankoHidalgo]

I infinitely doubt that would ever happen, at least if he keeps mixing like he does now; his mixes sound too artificial and overprocessed.

[@croogytude]

@@DankoHidalgo hey look who’s back. Have you come to teach us how to process drums?

[@nikolasaguilera3496]

GReat video!!!! you should analyze the ones from sonible!!! Artificial Intelligence plugins for the mastering!!!

[@rayray2012]

I’d be interested to see how this compares to Izotope’s Ozone elements 9, which has a mastering assistant.

[@savagetofu1]

I was about to ask this question as well. But... fer advanced. I normally defer to not buy right away... too many options

[@rayray2012]

@@savagetofu1 same. I’ve been using elements since last summer. I think it offers a good starting point for EQing for those like me that have little to no experience with master EQing. You definitely have to play with it after the assistant does its thing to fine tune things

[@savagetofu1]

Ya. Mastering assistant, has helped considerably. It’s really the only plug-in I use. I’m not sure this plug-in does anything differently. I’m a sucker for buying stuff today... that I’ll use the heck out of two years from now.

[@Marshallangelo]

Doesn’t even compare, I have full Ozone 9 and I’ll use both on a master. Most of Ozone is static dynamic changes while Gulfoss is changing every second based on what you tell it.

[@gdel5104]

Gullfoss its awesome, try Soothe 2 as well

[@EllencyOfficial]

that's crazy

[@EmilKleinGearAndBeer]

Like number 11. Hell yeah!

[@jedigarrett142]

The mix reminds me of tool Glenn

[@allendean9807]

Where would i use this in my master bus? This plug in, plus comp, plus limiting?

[@07banditss]

Nice and early today!

[@BitDraftAudio]

i thought we´re not puttig a ton of plugins on the Mix Bus and fix the Problems where they appear.

[@SpectreSoundStudios]

Read your name & there’s the answer

[@Daniel1987H]

I would be very interested how it compares to Neutron 3's Sculpting feature. Do you know that, Glen?

[@RJW14]

What's the song you're mastering here? really liking it.

[@Bbh4535]

So this is what people expected the sonic maximizer to be? But for your entire mix?

[@Anvilshock]

"cool stuff cool stuff cool stuff all you need is an iLok" OFFS

[@tyronegordon8985]

It's really weird that you don't know what sidechaining is, it'll allow you to use another tracks audio output to control or modulate parameters on the plugin

[@joebisbey4521]

I’m curious about comparison with Sonnox Oxford Inflator and Slate Fresh Air

[@tinkerwithstuff]

Aren't those kind of magic tools bad w.r.t. people learning to understand how to make a mix that's not muddy in the first place, becoming reliant on such intransparent magic?

[@thirdhemisphere]

Nah, in your examples of the full mix it just pumps trying to average spectral changes. This works completely against having actual arrangement and different instruments with different timbres. Spectral dynamics are much better suited to evening out individual parts such as differences in bass strings, vocal sibilance, etc. It could be beneficial to use it as a second pair of ears to suggest some possible changes for your mix/master, though.

[@donnas8408]

What can Gullfloss do that CLARO can’t do?

[@RandyHanley]

What program or hardware do you use to feed your sound to your computer along with your video? the sound is great! Are you sending the audio through your HDMI feed with your camera, or audio later, and syncing it up?

[@JaFoste_Studio]

Ok, so does this REPLACE your eqs, or do you use it in addition to any eqs you have?

[@grahamtaylor6883]

You forgot the Boost button, which is not a volume control. It controls the low mids/bass verses upper end relationship.

[@Mixedbyjojo355]

Its a tilt slope

[@peterthegreat86]

Hi Glenn, awesome video as always but one thing, when you sidechain your voice against the music it gets kind of annoying after a while making it hard to hear the differences :)

[@luismaza5640]

Hey Glenn have you tried oeksound soothe? It’s great to clean the audio, after using it you eq to reach your desire sound. To me it’s been a life saver the last couple of months

[@JaianMusicPortfolio]

Difference between this EQ and Hornet 31 in your guy's opinion?

[@gyro1488]

love the bald head tribute to Davie504

[@RJW14]

What's up bald Slapper?

[@EasyHeat]

Hey Glenn, Have you tried the Okensound Soothe plugin? I first heard about it watching Hugh's interview with Eric Vanentine, and he praised it highly. Seems to work within a similar concept maybe? Keep being awesome! Cheers.

[@DingusMcBrungus]

So it's basically a fancy exciter? The bypass on and off sounds pretty much the same as turning on and off an exciter

[@ATthemusician]

Ocean geyser, Gullfoss, Heimaey 73...

[@lusiouse]

i would like to see if you put a dynamic EQ right in front of that and gave it the same general eq shape would it more flatten the Gullfoss out??

[@JHRS]

(Off topic) Where are you sourcing those bad-assed Robotech shirts from?!? Especially the TNG ones! GAH, Robotech was my JAM back in the day!!

[@Anvilshock]

Huh. Sounds like a side-chained spectral ducker working on a copy of the original, with the individual thresholds set so that the result approaches something between pink and white noise, biased by the human hearing curve. But cooler.

[@StephenAvery93]

I decided to give this a try! Do you recommend to use this in ADDITION TO or INSTEAD OF a multiband compressor in mastering?

[@1verzhn]

Awesome glenn. Would it be a final mastering? Or would i use it in conjunction with bx masterdesk

[@gregnipp7549]

Should this go on the stereo out buss or master? Before or after Sonarworks?

[@h1de]

On the master before sonarworks but don't forget to turn off sonarworks once you render. Reasons: sonarworks is just room correction not "track correction". If you put it after sonarworks it's gonna try to compensate for sonarworks eq.

[@gregnipp7549]

@@h1de Thanks!

[@h1de]

@@gregnipp7549 no problemo 😁👍

[@DarrenCampbellmusic]

But does it increase you overall gain?? What I mean is, if you have the plugin activated, does that boost your gain higher to clipping?

[@sanjacobs6261]

iLok? Ah, great, that saved me some money today.

[@RaftelStudios]

Hi GLEN GLEN glen GLEN glen GLEEENNN glen glen. How would you use it on a top down mix ?? CHEERS FROM GREECE

[@NeZversSounds]

11:17 .... sound like the House of Kush.

[@mitkothemacedonian]

Why does that song remind me of Operation mindcrime theme?

[@BeanDogStudios]

That's super cool. Do you know of any plugins for mastering for vinyl?

[@DouglasComical]

Glenn, love ya man, but could you not talk right as you’re switching on and off plugins? It’s hard to hear the changes

[@RJW14]

You know you've watched too much SMG when you're looking at product demos for pieces of gear you're interested in and call out a producer on their guitar signals being basically squished cubes in their DAW instead of a normal guitar signal.

[@TheGurner1]

How to use this now I've got it? Can I put it after my usual mastering chain before the limiter? Need to add some fatness and tame brash HH's ;-)

[@Mixedbyjojo355]

This thing will balance the mix so it does not have any coloration or appealing curve! Its best at the start of the chain so you feed the other following processors with a “good balanced mix” !! Hope you get it!