Mixing Toms with the Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter (Tip)

Feb 17, 2014

Tricks of the Mix: Find out how to bring that extra something to your mix using Waves plugins, brought to you by Waves Artists, Product Specialists and enthusiasts like yourself.

I used to do this mixing with the Aphex Aural Exciter hardware, and it works just as well with the plugin. I set the toms using the RS56 Passive EQ or some other EQ with a ton of mids and lows and not too much top. I then use the Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter as I would with parallel compression, but as a parallel EQ. Using an aux track I set the Aphex Exciter for the clarity and punch that I want, and I slide it in to taste. This works better than adding it to the toms directly (as an insert) – try it and you'll see what I mean. It adds all that a drummer would love, without killing the mix when the thunder happens. Thanks to Waves for making this plugin sound and act like the hardware!

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