This recently updated tool promises to add enhancement to tracks or mixes, but in a different way to classic enhancers of old. We take a listen…
Audio terminology rarely changes through the years. The classic enhancer box has been around since the 1970s, employing psychoacoustics to bolster the top end of dull recordings. Its development stemmed from the common problem of HF loss arising from multiple tape passes, where conventional EQ couldn’t boost what wasn’t there.
The second generation of MIA Laboratories’ 358 Enhancer breaks with tradition to give us their take on enhancement which actually offers spectral shaping as its main flavour. Rather than imbuing the signal with extra harmonic content, the approach is to provide four frequency bands of lift to achieve wide-band or selective improvements. Between the four bands are sweepable crossover points which are reminiscent of those found on older outboard crossovers intended for multi-way speaker systems. Each band is bypassable- a near essential feature, especially when applying boosts to the top and bottom. A large output attenuator also lets the user compensate by up to 24dB on the way out to negate the big overloads that would result with big boosts.
The 358 Enhancer MkII Features
This is the second generation of MIA Laboratories’ novel blue plugin that is neither enhancer in the classic sense, nor EQ in as much as its bands don’t offer any control to apply cut. That said, as conventional enhancers only add to the signal, so too does the 358 Enhancer MkII. Terminology aside, 358 Enhancer MkII has clearly been designed with simplicity in mind
This unique product is perhaps best described by MIA Laboratories themselves:
“[The 358 Enhancer MkII is a] single-stage, ‘straight-path’ audio enhancer process, allowing control of the Low, Mid-Low, Mid-High and High frequency balance on the master, as well as on individual tracks. It can be used in many applications requiring from slight to more drastic frequency balance correction.”
The plugin also features:
Internal multiband phase processing, for more dynamic, realistic frequency content
Detection stage based on the analog envelope detector circuit
Tunable crossover frequencies
Hear It For Yourself
If your mix or individual track has any good stuff that needs a lift, it lets you zone in in a novel way that encourages you to experiment with the crossover controls. The plugin will work best for broad tonal enhancement which is different to using a conventional EQ. In the video you can hear the 358 Enhancer MkII in action for yourself. You can try the 358 Enhancer MkII free for 14 days. If you decide to buy, right now you can get it for €79.00 instead of the usual €99.00. How will you use it?