Called Intelligent Transient Preservation, or ITP, it is claimed to let the user raise the average level of the mix - in other words, make it louder - without reducing the impact and liveliness of transients within it. The main selling point of Slate Digital's FGX mastering processor is a new approach to the second part of the process. Traditionally, one would use a peak limiter (in other words, a compressor with a very fast attack and release, and an infinite ratio setting) some engineers find it more forgiving to apply other forms of signal distortion such as tape‑style saturation, or simply to clip the input of an A‑D converter, but there is always a trade‑off between sound quality and the degree by which transients can be attenuated. The former are usually tackled using a conventional compressor, while there are various approaches to dealing with transients.

Making a mix louder usually involves both ironing out 'macro', or medium‑ to large‑scale dynamic contrasts - such as the gulf in level between a quiet verse and a busy chorus, or between a loud snare hit and the space after it - and taming 'micro‑dynamics', the momentary peaks that are often known as transients. Like it or not, we have to make our masters loud and, that being the case, we might as well do so in the way that causes least possible damage. But at the end of the day, we have to pay the bills, and it's a rare client who is happy to have his or her master half as loud as commercial releases in the same genre. We can point out until we're blue in the face that quieter mixes might actually sound better on the radio. We can complain about the loss of those dynamic contrasts we put so much effort into capturing in the first place. And for audio engineers, making mixes loud looms high on this list. There are some activities, like unblocking toilets or telling the children the cat has died, that everyone has to do, even though no‑one much likes doing them. The idea that loud digital masters can retain real dynamics seems like a contradiction in terms, but it's exactly what Slate Digital are claiming for their new mastering plug‑in.

Slate fgx 2 torrent