In part 3 of this series by Nick Mitchell from KMR Audio looking at a selection of 500 Series modules all under £500 we looked at EQ modules for the Mix Engineer. In this last part we are going to look at Creative and Corrective Tools that come in 500 Series Modules.
This section covers a few useful tools for creatively fixing or creatively enhancing your audio,
Aphex Aural EXBB 500 Aural Exciter : £195 inc vat
The classic Aphex Aural exciter is now available in 500 series format, and includes the 'Big Bottom' mode, tastefully now called the EXBB! Often imitated never duplicated, need I say more..?
Little Labs VOG : £358 inc vat
The Little Labs Voice Of God Bass Resonance Tool was originally designed to help enhance vocals in voice over work, enabling the proximity effect without being so close to the mic. However since the original inception it has now become a favourite on Kick and Bass and many sub harmonic Synth textures.
Standard Audio Level-Or : £480 inc vat
The Standard Audio Level-Or is based upon the old Shure Level-Loc PA Limiter from the 1960's, which these days is used to add distortion, ultra compression and trashy grit to lifeless signals!
Serpent Audio Send N' Blend : £249 inc vat
The last unit in my round-up is a device from Serpent Audio, allowing parallel compression externally from an ITB mix. As many hardware compressors don't have a blend or mix function this little device allows you to parallel externally within your DAW software of choice without having to worry about delay compensation working correctly. A simple device, but very useful.
Empirical Labs DerrEsser EL-DS : £456 inc vat
The DerrEsser has 4 different modes, originally designed as a De-esser in the DS mode, but running it under HF Limit mode it works as a frequency compressor with the Highpass and Lowpass modes allowing precise monitoring of the frequencies not being affected by the VCA and dynamic/compressions circuits. Works great at just limiting the high frequencies as well as being a killer de-esser.
So that's some of my favourite sub £500 modules for the 500 series. All these products are always available to demo in your own space, which I feel is the only way to evaluate gear, and hopefully they may be useful to your creative needs!