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Post by drumsound on Jul 18, 2022 10:15:11 GMT -6
When I (finally) did my upgrade I became aware that HEAT was now included in Pro Tools. I have had a few instances lately that I'm getting a mix together, sitting there thinking I'm clueless. Knowing that generally things sound good but there's something lacking. I'll spend a little time with the bus comp, and RND 5424 and it will get better, but I still will feel it's a little off.
Then I'll activate HEAT and the depth of the mix will start to appear. I almost reminds me of the film bit where the camera shows a photo and then it's moved and you see the actual scene of the photo.
It's really simple, There's a Drive and Tone knob. I noticed myself often moving the drive off center to the left and the tone often one click right, to add a touch of brightness back.
After a stopped yesterday I wen hunting and found a video of Dave Hill talking about it. I didn't realize that he was even part of HEAT, but it seems like he's the main guy. He explained that moving the Drive to the left is more of a tape type vibe and to the right more of a console/transformer drive. I was a hardcore tape guy for quite a long time. My studio is called Oxide Lounge... I find it interesting that I kept choosing that characteristic, even without knowing that's what it was.
In the mix window you can add a HEAT 'control' to the channel strips which just has a bypass, and pre button. I found that helpful on the mix I was doing yesterday because I took it off the drum KNEE mic, because it was adding too much bloat. I experimented with putting tracks into PRE mode, and there's a slight glitch when engaging that which I'm not happy about. I can hear the difference and I think I left the vocal in PRE mode.
I'm curious to what people are are using HEAT and how.
Here's the Dave Hill video I found yesterday. It's a bit meandering, but really good.
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Post by svart on Jul 18, 2022 10:56:24 GMT -6
I don't use heat because I don't use protools. I do use tape emulators on busses to get a little of similar nonlinear distortion that heat adds.
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Post by notneeson on Jul 18, 2022 11:26:02 GMT -6
I liked HEAT back when is was newer, haven’t messed with it in a while but I should. But yes, the Dave Hill connection is pretty encouraging. I think a little goes a long way.
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Post by drumsound on Jul 18, 2022 11:56:13 GMT -6
I liked HEAT back when is was newer, haven’t messed with it in a while but I should. But yes, the Dave Hill connection is pretty encouraging. I think a little goes a long way. Totally agree. And in the video Hill describes it as meant to just be a little. He talks about how Phoenix, the Cransong plugin, would be too much on every track. So, HEAT is designed to be more subtle. I've usually been one click left of center for drive, just a bit of tape style tone, and usually one click on the bright/right with tone. |
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Post by drumsound on Jul 18, 2022 13:10:59 GMT -6
UPDATE: On the current mix, I have all channels using HEAT set PRE and I dig it.
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Post by drbill on Jul 18, 2022 13:41:49 GMT -6
UPDATE: On the current mix, I have all channels using HEAT set PRE and I dig it. <thumbsup>. I would think that if it's a tape and/or console emulation, you'd always use it on PRE during a mix. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2022 15:13:42 GMT -6
I'm a huge fan of the same distortion on everything and then you can add different distortion for different textures to other stuff. Analog itb almost. Dave Hill's Crane Song Phoenix is also really good sounding despite being ancient. If he made a compressor plug, man it would be awesome.
I use U-he Satin on every raw track that hasn't hit tape already and on the 2 bus. Sounds great and you can turn the noise down lower than the recording. Everything sounds better through it and you can set it to not have a lot of color. |
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Jul 18, 2022 15:20:38 GMT -6
Oh Dave, when you live in Superior WI you need HEAT 355 days a year. Seriously though if you have been there you understand Dave a bit more.
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Post by drumsound on Jul 18, 2022 15:22:15 GMT -6
UPDATE: On the current mix, I have all channels using HEAT set PRE and I dig it. <thumbsup>. I would think that if it's a tape and/or console emulation, you'd always use it on PRE during a mix. That was actually why I tried it that way. Post seems to make sense on the console side, like output transformers, I suppose. I'm a huge fan of the same distortion on everything and then you can add different distortion for different textures to other stuff. Analog itb almost. Dave Hill's Crane Song Phoenix is also really good sounding despite being ancient. If he made a compressor plug, man it would be awesome.
I use U-he Satin on every raw track that hasn't hit tape already and on the 2 bus. Sounds great and you can turn the noise down lower than the recording. Everything sounds better through it and you can set it to not have a lot of color. I'm sure a Dave Hill compressor plugin would be really good (and really expensive). I have a piece he designed for another company (or so I'm told) and it's great. I always wanted to try the Tracker. |
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Post by drumsound on Jul 18, 2022 15:24:07 GMT -6
Oh Dave, when you live in Superior WI you need HEAT 355 days a year. Seriously though if you have been there you understand Dave a bit more. This I do not doubt. |
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Post by Johnkenn on Jul 18, 2022 23:18:58 GMT -6
I played around with it when that update came out. It's one of those things where it could definitely be mis-used. I've just avoided it since so it wouldn't throw a monkey wrench in decision making.
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Post by drumsound on Jul 19, 2022 9:07:46 GMT -6
I played around with it when that update came out. It's one of those things where it could definitely be mis-used. I've just avoided it since so it wouldn't throw a monkey wrench in decision making. I can see that. What I'm getting is a nice front to back depth added to the mix. |
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Post by viciousbliss on Jul 20, 2022 11:49:09 GMT -6
I started using it again. With being able to hear things a lot better with VSX, it's more of an asset than a liability.
It really does a great job making things more cohesive and full.
Still using Satin on a lot of individual tracks too.
If things are recorded decently, I can get away with Phoenix instead of Satin.
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moze
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Post by moze on Jul 20, 2022 20:08:33 GMT -6
I started using it again. With being able to hear things a lot better with VSX, it's more of an asset than a liability. It really does a great job making things more cohesive and full. Still using Satin on a lot of individual tracks too. If things are recorded decently, I can get away with Phoenix instead of Satin. I started using it again after getting VSX as well. I like it on everything except big 808 and hip hop kick. Helps glue everything together. |
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Post by Vincent R. on Jul 23, 2022 5:52:07 GMT -6
I just kind of turn heat on and leave it. It does something nice.
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Post by drumsound on Jul 23, 2022 10:05:42 GMT -6
I just kind of turn heat on and leave it. It does something nice. It really does. Dave Hill is kind of a magic guy. I didn't realize until I started investigating what HEAT was actually doing that I found out he was involved. Then it clicked. One thing that blew my mind is that the sound I gravitated to with HEAT, without knowing how it worked, was the tape side. I was a 2" guy for YEARS and even as removed from that as I am, my ear must still want that. |
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Post by Ward on Jul 23, 2022 10:39:32 GMT -6
Distortion by any other name would sound just as sweet!
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Jul 23, 2022 10:47:56 GMT -6
Distortion by any other name would sound just as sweet! Repeat after me “ My name is Ward and I like distortion” Of Course I’m the guy who just started buying up Yamaha AD8HRs because a couple of live clients hate distortion, but you know what? The 8 ch of Dan Alexander sound great into one! |
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Post by smashlord on Jul 23, 2022 10:50:21 GMT -6
I've only used it on one mix, but remember thinking it added something nice. TBH, I forget it's there and is the only reason I don't use it more!
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Post by copperx on Aug 5, 2022 20:12:05 GMT -6
For those that wish they could have a similar plugin to Phoenix or HEAT, but don't have Pro Tools, there's Aroma. www.ploytec.com/aroma/It sounds wonderful, but the interface leaves a lot to be desired, and it's riddled with bugs. However, it's basically the same. There's also Hornet Harmonics, which is pretty much the same. Airwindows has Pafnuty. I believe that's the same thing that the HEDD converters do. |
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