Brainworx – Ultimate Mastering Control
By Paul Lavigne
| Posted in Music Technology
Recently I had to master a very heavy project. Some of the songs needed some serious treatment working on the mid/side. That’s when I came across Brainworx plug ins. They are a suite of plug ins in Native or TDM format designed to work on the mid/side section of a stereo track and clearly they have been designed by someone who understands what mastering is all about!
Bx_Digital is a mid/side EQ based on their bx1 and bx2 units. Bx_Hybrid which is a Stereo EQ or a dual mono EQ in that it allows you to affect the left and right channel separately. Bx DynEQ is a dynamic EQ working on the mid/side. Bx_Control is a Mid/Side matrix but allows widening of the sound or making it mono.
They are great!! They are extremely transparent and precise. I love the fact that in all of them you can decide at what frequency to start the stereo separation. For me, Hybrid and Digital stand out and being able to work on all 4 sides of the stereo field (L/R/Mid/Side) with just 2 plug ins has made my job extremely easy. A lot of features are so relevant to the job like when selecting a frequency in Hybrid will automatically solo it allowing us to sweep to find the desired frequency very quickly!
The cherry on the cake is that unlike many plug ins working in Mid/Side is that the sound always come out from both speakers so when we solo one we don’t end up with the sound on just one channel! If you’re looking for excellent plug ins for mastering these could probably be the first you should choose!!
About Paul Lavigne
I have been involved in live and studio sound engineering since 2004. During this time I absorbed myself in the recording, production, mixing and mastering of projects from Punk to Hip Hop, from Metal to classical and electronic music. I even ran a record company of experimental music for a few years.
The reason I do all this? It’s because I love sound and the tools to create these sounds whether it is a plug in or a piece of outboard or a microphone, whatever the tools to get the sound I’m after. I love to share this passion for sound and hopefully you will too reading these blogs.
Tags: Brainworx, EQ, M/S mastering, M/S matrix, mastering