As part of our weekly Podcast we run a regular feature Find Of The Week in which the hosts and guests feature something they have found that week which they think is useful, interesting or just enjoyable. Given the nature of the podcast and the typical subject matter these finds are usually something audio-related, but they don’t have to be. They can be anything from a TV show to jar of mayonnaise. In fact food has been such a regular candidate that we could have filled this article just with food-related finds!

As we get close to the end of 2023 Julian and Ashea have compiled a list of 12 favourite finds of the week. We’ve kept them audio-related but if you want to see some of the less typical finds we list them, with links, in the show notes in every podcast we publish.

On to the list:

3 Assistant Engineers From London Studios Talk About Their Roles - Karen Down’s SSL Video for Sound On Sound

In our podcast 3 Assistant Engineers From London Studios Talk About Their Roles Julian’s find was Karen Down’s SSL Video for Sound On Sound.

The SSL console is so important to the story of record production, but to really understand why it was so important you have to have a good idea of how it did what it did. Few people are better placed than Karen to explain what is was which made them special.

Things We Loved In February 2023 - GML Dynamic Range Controller

Each month we take a retrospective look at what happened in terms of new products and significant developments covered on the blog. In February’s podcast Mike Exeter spoke about the Dynamic Range Controller from George Massenburg Labs. It’s unlike conventional compressors and does present a learning curve to new users but if, like Mike, you take the time to get to grips with is it’s a very powerful tool.

The New Mac Pro - Goyo/Supertone Clear

Our discussion of the long awaited Mac Pro was interesting for all sorts of reasons. Nominated by Reid Caulfield something which has affected far more people’s daily workflow than that premium computer was Goyo. This remarkable noise reduction plugin was launched as a free beta and met with universal approval. It has now been launched as a paid for product, renamed as Supertone Clear

Fix It In The Mix - Hi Hat Bleed Trick

Though our finds are often products, in our podcast on Fixing It In The Mix, producer and engineer Gareth Nuttall brought a clever technique for minimising hi hat spill using polarity inversion. Find out how it works here.

Things We Loved In July 2023 - DADlink

In our round up of new stuff in July, James Richmond’s Find was a new way of linking DAD and Avid’s MTRX peripherals together at remarkably low latencies. We’ve been able to create large systems by linking units together for a long time but always with a compromise either in routing flexibility or latency. This system allows very large, very flexible systems to be built with virtually no latency at all. Not something everyone needs but an amazing achievement. Check it out in James’ article Why DADlink Matters In High Channel Count Systems.

How Arrangement Can Affect A Mix - Sonnox Voca

In our podcast on How Arrangement Can Affect A Mix, Ashea’s find was Sonnox’s new Voca plugin which provides a no-nonsense approach to improving that most important part of an arrangement by dealing with the timbre of the vocal without straying into tuning or time-based effects like reverb and delay. Keeping it simple but it really works. Find out more here.

Things We Loved In October - Eventide Micropitch Immersive

In our roundup of new products in October William Wittman, who has had a relationship with the people behind Eventide which spans decades, showed how they are still pushing boundaries with Micropitch Immersive. The possibilities presented by this are really exciting. The potential for a classic pitch detune thickening effect done in an immersive mix is something we really want to hear.

Analogue Methods In Digital Workflow - Techivation M De Esser

In our discussion with Dom Morley on analogue methods in digital workflow, we compared different techniques and approaches to mixing in and out of the box. A big part of the mixing and production process is making the right decisions, these can be macro decisions such as the choice of reverb and processing on a vocal or they can be micro (but still critical). The Techivation M De Esser, utilises intelligent algorithms to detect problematic sibilant frequencies, while maintaining the natural character of the vocal or audio source. taking the manual work out of deessing. This means less decision fatigue and more brain power spent on the creative process. This is not the only reason to love this plugin, in this episode Ashea explains why this is such a useful tool. Find out more here.

Making A Chart Hit With Super Hi - Sonible Smart Gate

They may not be the most exciting tools, but, similar to the Techivation M De Esser, Sonible’s Smart Gate is a plugin you don’t know you need until you try it. Ashea chose this as her find of the week for our chat with chart topping production duo Super-Hi (George Tizzard & Rick Parkhouse).  A.I can really be a producer's best friend, especially when it comes to time saving (without jeopardizing quality). You can hear what George and Rick had to say on A.I, the creative process & more, in this episode. Find out more here.

Atmos For Music - Sound Radix- AutoAlign 2

In our podcast looking at track widths in Atmos and how widths beyond 7.1.2 could be useful to Atmos Mixers mixing music, Nathaniel Reichman explained how, like many engineers in music and post Sound Radix’s AutoAlign 2 has become a staple in his workflow. This plugin received universal approval from the team. Absolutely killer!

The Future Of The Recording Studio - Sound On Digital Mix To Mobile

In our episode on the future of the recording studio, with guests, Ary & Iggy from Strongroom Studios. Julian explained how he uses this neat little solution using Sound On Digital’s Mix To Mobile software to stream audio directly from DAW to phone, and how useful that can be for quick mix referencing. 

Workflow Workflow Workflow - Acon Digital Dialogue Extract

At the end of our discussion on the importance of a good workflow. Russ explained how the new updates to Acon Digital's Dialogue Extract plugin uses the latest A.I modelling to extract dialogue from a noisy background, while maintaining the most natural sounding audio yet. The results speak for themselves!

There you have our pick of the finds of the week from the Production Expert Podcast. If you’re a regular listener, which was your favourite find of the week and if you’re not a regular listener, why not subscribe and join us every week?