Infected Mushroom is a highly underrated mix finisher. Some people avoid using it for anything other than quick demo masters because they don’t understand the “voodoo” under the hood.
It is particularly good at pushing a mix to high volumes with minimal artifacts/distortion.
In order to better understand it myself, I took a look at its behavior through a spectrum analyzer using a 1khz sine wave and pink noise. Here’s the “gist” of what the tools do so far as I can tell:
LOW = Boost @ user selected frequency. (Not a low shelf.)
BODY = Tilt EQ with pivot ~1k. Results in max 2db tilt with +2db @ 100hz to -2db @ 10khz. Appears to have a lowpass/highpass filter so effect isn’t too extreme at the ends. Only tilts in one direction.
MAGIC = Wide 2db boost @ 750hz, plus adds a single 1st order EVEN harmonic and consecutive ODD harmonics even with turned all the way down to 0.
FOCUS = Boost @ 2750hz (up to 4db) Requires “magic” to be enabled.
DYN. PUNCH = Compression (details unknown.) Requires “magic” to be enabled.
HIGH = High shelf boost at 5k+
STEREO IMAGE: Requires “magic” to be enabled.
PUSH = Clipper/Limiter. Specific details unknown.
Notes:
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There may be some M/S processing going on somewhere(?), whether in PUSH or in DYN. PUNCH. I’m not sure. There is a little bit of voodoo magic in the processing that I can’t figure out.
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I don’t know if the “STEREO ENHANCE” is any different from S1 or the stereo in AR TG Mastering Chain, but I am curious.
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Tip: The max output of the plugin will always be -0.1db… So if you need -1dB simply set it to -0.9. I do believe it’s a TruePeak limiter.
If anyone else knows more specific details about the inner workings of this tool, please share! I understand the idea of “just use your ears” but it’s helpful to know what’s going on under the hood and the manual doesn’t reveal all the secrets.