Owner’s Manual
©2010 Antares Audio Technologies. All rights reserved. Certified Isinglass-free™ Antares®, Auto-Tune®, AVOX®, and Harmony Engine® are registered trademarks of Antares Audio Technologies. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
The Obligatory Legal Mumbo-Jumbo The Antares® Mic Mod™ EFX software and this User’s Manual are protected by copyright law. Making copies, adaptations, or derivative works without the prior written authorization of Antares Audio Technologies, is prohibited by law and constitutes a punishable violation of the law. Mic Mod EFX License Agreement Antares Audio Technologies grants you a non-transferable, non-exclusive license to use Mic Mod EFX under the terms and conditions stated in this agreement.
Term of the Agreement This agreement is effective until terminated by you or Antares. You may terminate the agreement at any time by notifying Antares and destroying all copies of the manual, and erasing Mic Mod EFX from all machine-readable media, whether on-line or on archival copies. In the event of breach of any of the terms of this agreement, you shall pay the attorney’s fees of Antares that are reasonably necessary to enforce the agreement plus resulting damages.
Contents Chapter 1 Getting Started 3 Installing and Authorizing Technical Support Chapter 2 Introducing Mic Mod EFX 5 About the Technology So What Exactly Does It Do? Chapter 3 Using Mic Mod EFX 7 Live or Mixdown Signal Flow Controls Input Section 7 Source Mic Section 8 Modeled Mic Section 10 Tube Saturation 12 Output Level 12 Chapter 4 The Modeled Microphones 13 Mic Model Files Customizing Mic Menus Automation Chapter 5 Realistic Expectations 15 Choice of Input Microphone Micropho
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1 Welcome! On behalf of everyone at Antares Audio Technologies, we’d like to offer both our thanks and congratulations on your decision to purchase Antares Mic Mod EFX, the world’s only classic microphone modeler. Before you proceed any farther, we’d like to strongly encourage you to register and authorize your copy of Mic Mod EFX. (You can skip ahead to the Authorization and Installation instructions in the next chapter. We’ll wait.
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3 Chapter 1: Getting Started Installing Mic Mod EFX Mic Mod EFX is designed to work with a wide variety of digital audio applications. Please refer to your host application’s user manual for more information on installing and using plug-ins. (Although in most cases, simply double-clicking Mic Mod EFX installer and following the resulting directions will be all you need to do.) Authorizing Mic Mod EFX Authorization is the process by which Mic Mod EFX is allowed to permanently run on your computer.
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5 Chapter 2: Introducing Mic Mod EFX A modern reincarnation of Antares’ renowned Microphone Modeler plug-in, Mic Mod EFX lets any reasonable quality microphone sound like any of a variety of historical classic and rare exotic microphones. Using our patented Spectral Shaping Tool™ technology, we’ve created precise digital models that reproduce the subtle sonic characteristics that make each microphone unique.
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7 Chapter 3: Using Mic Mod EFX Live or Mixdown? Mic Mod EFX functions equally well processing audio during its original performance or later during the mixdown process. However, if you have the choice (which you typically will for everything but a live stage performance), we strongly recommend using Mic Mod EFX as an insert effect during mixdown. This will allow you to experiment with mic choice and various mic settings while auditioning their effect in the context of the entire mix.
8 Source Mic Section The Source Mic section is where you specify the mic and the settings that were (or will be) used to capture the input sound. The purpose of these selections is to remove the effect of the source microphone, resulting in the signal that would have been recorded by an ideal instrumentation microphone with no proximity effect. Source Mic Menu The Source Mic pop-up menu is used to select a specific model of mic.
9 NOTE: The purpose of the Pattern selection is to neutralize the varying frequency characteristics that result from each of the available pattern settings, with the assumption that the audio was recorded on axis (i.e., from the front of the microphone). Since Mic Mod EFX has no way of knowing the actual placement of the signal source, it does not attempt to simulate off-axis performance.
10 Modeled Mic Section Here’s where the fun really starts. The Modeled Mic section is where you select the mic (and its settings) whose characteristics you want to apply to your audio. Modeled Mic Menu The Modeled Mic pop-up menu is used to select your desired mic. In some cases a mic will have a second listing with “(w)” appended to the mic’s name. This indicates that the mic we modeled was supplied with a windscreen and this is the model of the mic with the windscreen attached.
11 but instead models the actual filter performance of each modeled mic. In other words, a stated cut-off frequency is only as accurate as the filter on the actual mic. ANOTHER NOTE: Although it’s always best to let your ears be your guide, if your audio was recorded with the source mic’s low-cut filter turned on, in most cases it will be best to turn on the modeled mic’s low-cut filter as well. (After all, there was presumably some reason that someone chose to use that filter in the first place.
12 Tube Saturation The Tube Saturation section is based on Antares’ renowned WARM Tube Saturation Generator and is designed to model the “warmth” that is typical of a high-quality tube pre-amp. The amount of tube saturation effect applied to your audio is controlled by the Tube Saturation Drive control in combination with the Input Gain control. The Drive control determines the amplification factor of the modeled tube pre-amp with the numeric display indicating the amplification in dB.
13 Chapter 4: The Microphone Model Files Your copy of Mic Mod EFX comes with a collection of mic models that is automatically installed along with the plug-in. These mics will appear in the Source Mic and Modeled Mic menus. The Microphone Model Files These model files are found in a folder named “Antares Models.” On Macintosh systems, this folder is located in the Application Support folder inside the Library folder.
14 Unfortunately, there is no easy way around this. Simply be aware of it and be prepared to update your automation settings if you rearrange the mics in your menus.
15 Chapter 5: Realistic Expectations (or, Mic Mod EFX Meets the Space-Time Continuum) Although Mic Mod EFX seems in many ways to be almost magic, it is, in fact, simply very clever science. And as such, it remains subject to those pesky laws of physics. To get the maximum satisfaction out of Mic Mod EFX, it is important to have realistic expectations of exactly what it can and can’t do.
16 Polar Pattern Selection Mic Mod EFX can’t recover information that was not recorded as part of the original signal. For example, if the original audio was recorded with a highly directional pattern (hence picking up little room tone), you can’t set the modeled mic to Omni and expect the room tone that would have been recorded if the original was set to Omni suddenly to appear. You can however, simulate that effect with some judicious use of reverb or an environmental simulator.
17 Chapter 6: Get Creative Up to this point, all of the instructions in this manual have focused on how to use Mic Mod EFX for its primary purpose: making one mic sound as accurately as possible like another. But don’t let that limit you. We’ve purposely given the controls wide ranges to allow you to move beyond what might be considered useful for strict modeling. Try some of the following: • • • • • • Select a Source Mic that doesn’t match your physical mic.
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19 Chapter 7: Mic Models Appendix Listed below are the modeled mics (both source and model) included with Mic Mod EFX, along with brief descriptions of each one. PLEASE NOTE: All trademarks appearing below are the property of their respective owners.
20 Alesis C 3000 Large Diaphragm Condenser General purpose C 4000 B Dual-Diaphragm Condenser Solid state version of the SolidTube, general purpose The Tube Large Diaphragm Condenser Known for a dark, intimate sound Solidtube Large diaphragm tube mic Solid state tube mic good for general applications Perception 120 Large-diaphragm Cardioid Condenser General purpose studio and stage mic Perception 220 Large-diaphragm Cardioid Condenser General purpose studio and stage mic AM61 Large Diaphragm C
21 Audix D1 Small dynamic Used for instruments, primarily drums D4 Dynamic Kick drum, acoustic bass, piano, sax OM2 Dynamic Hand held vocal OM3-xb Dynamic General purpose OM5 Dynamic Vocals OM6 Small dynamic Durable stage vocal mic CX111 Large diaphragm condenser Good for vocal and instrument recording SCX1 Small diaphragm condenser Small and consistent multipurpose mic B&K 4007 Large Diaphragm Prepolarized Condenser Close-micing drums, percussion, brass Behringer Ultravoice XM8500 Sma
22 Brauner VM1 Large Diaphragm Tube Condenser w/Class A amp Reference recording Valvet Large diaphragm tube condenser Precise and natural studio mic Equitek E100 Condenser Vocal, instrument, drum overheads Equitek E200 Condenser Vocal, orchestra, acoustic guitar, kick drum Equitek E350 Servo Condenser Vocal, piano, overhead, acoustic guitar, amps C400S Large Diaphragm Condenser General Studio VSM1 Single Valve Condenser Vocal, strings, guitar 95Ni Dynamic Vocal, instrument amps Coles 4038
23 Lawson L47MP Large Diaphragm Tube Condenser Vocals, acoustic guitar, strings, piano, choir, orchestra, sax Manley Labs Reference Gold Large Diaphragm Tube Condenser Ultra high quality recording Marshall MXL 2001P Large diaphragm condenser Used for instrument recording MXL 2003 Large diaphragm condenser Used for instrument recording MicroTech Gefell Gefell UMT 800 Large Diaphragm Condenser Close-miced vocals, horns, ensembles Neumann Large Diaphragm Tube Condenser A classic vocal mic.
24 Rode NT1 Large Diaphragm Condenser Vocals, instruments NT2 Large Diaphragm Condenser Vocals, acoustic guitar, winds, piano NTV Large Diaphragm Tube Condenser Vocal, general studio Royer R-121 Ribbon Electric guitar, overhead drums, orchestral, choral, room micing Sennheiser MD421 Large Diaphragm Dynamic Drums, vocals guitar, amps MD441 Large Diaphragm Dynamic Designed to simulate the sound of a condenser mic for vocal, sax E609 Large Diaphragm Dynamic Live performance guitar amp and drum
25 Sony C800G Large Diaphragm Tube Condenser Vocals: studio and post-production C37P Tube Condenser General purpose C48 Large Diaphragm FET Condenser Vocals, guitar Soundelux U95S Medium diaphragm tube condenser Multipurpose microphone Tannoy Large Vintage Ribbon Large ribbon microphone Classic broadcast mic Small Vintage Ribbon Small ribbon microphone Classic broadcast mic Telefunken U-47 Large Diaphragm Tube Condenser An extremely rare vintage version of the U-47 from the days when Telefunk
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