Adjustable mic spill and/or channel crosstalk plugin

Feature Requests
1

Waves broke new ground with plugins like NLS, CLA Hub and Studio 3.

I appreciate the classic Dorrough and now Studio 3 plugins, but individually recorded tracks can lack acoustic realism of a group session, in the final product.

How about a plugin based on NLS, or perhaps a new Abbey Road Hub - featuring adjustable mic spill and/or channel crosstalk, that approximates a live session console recording, to route through Studio 3 ?

That could be some fun kit.

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2

Thatā€™s an interesting concept. I can kind of see it working with virtual and DI recorded instruments and maybe really dry mic sources. The only thing I think may cause some issues here is the already present ambience of the space a microphoned source was recorded in.

But maybe itā€™s not intended for that?!? It still is an interesting concept.

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3

Simon:

Thank you for giving the idea fair consideration. I think that your point regarding already embedded ambience in a mic based recording is relevant too.

Perhaps the ambient recording you mention could be processed like a standard overdub track with console cross talk applied, but without adding additional mic spill treatment to it.

Iā€™d recently downloaded and examined some ā€˜originalā€™ tracks from ā€˜Mix The Musicā€™ and noticed how basic some of the original session recordings sounded, regarding various engineering technique and processing we take for granted today.

Mic spill, channel crosstalk and room ambience all seem to play a defining role in the production of those classic recordings and I wonder if a new Mic Spill/Console Cross Talk plugin might also add similar interest to our own mix.

Stay well and thanks again,
Michael

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4

I have to say that, while Iā€™m one of the few that donā€™t mind a tiny bit of noise or buzz in my mix, I be never really been big on crosstalk, even back in my mixing console/tape days.

While I think noise can make a track more cohesive, I found that crosstalk can narrow the stereo field a bit and excessive crosstalk can cause ā€œghostingā€. Which is not so great if you need to output clean stems. Which is often enough in my case. But donā€™t let me detract from the appeal it has to you.

I do want to add though, that productions are different than what they were 20 years ago. Because of the digital and DIY nature of many mixes, have a different aesthetic now. So emulating a 20 year old aesthetic could also ā€œdateā€ the mix, for better or worse. :thinking:

But hey, modern music is rampant with that lofi 80s VHS sound. So clearly there is no right or wrong way.

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Simon, thank you again for sharing your insight and encouragement.

As a side note, when I mentioned ā€˜classicā€™ recordings, I had the pre/post Beatles era in mind and perhaps I should have been more clear.

Well, if Waves does revise NLS with Mic Spill, Crosstalk, etc., or perhaps bring the Abbey Road Hub with Mic Spill, etc. to market, we certainly will have some new sonic features to add to the mix.

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6

To be honest, I think it would still be relevant up to 2000 - 2010, so if done well enough itā€™s scope would b quite wide.

Personally Iā€™d like to see NLS with more consoles, API & Focusrite, for example.

There are a very, very small number of Focusrite consoles still operating to day. Itā€™s only a matter of time before the last one dies. So I kind of look at emulating as quite an important way of preserving a bit of music history before itā€™s gone and making it available for everyone.

Your idea kind of approaches that kind of thing too. :thinking:

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