or the Listen button. On the Left side of the plug- Spiff has presets for rhythm section instruments, submix Spiff was very useful musically adding
in is the large Depth control knob and above it, vocals, and mastering. punch. I wanted to try the snare bottom preset
cut and boost settings. Four knobs below control
on an individual track, and it was really cool. You
Sensitivity, Decay, Sharpness, and a second IN USE: could almost see the snares. By adjusting the mix
Decay for focus on low or hi frequencies. Spiff has I was familiar with Soothe, but I’m a manual guy, percentage in parallel, I could bring out the subtle
stereo and mid/side modes along with a stereo so I checked it out. I began my explorations with nuances that gave the groove more depth and
link processing percentage and balance between a doubled stereo acoustic guitar track. Starting in feel. Think Jeff Porcaro or Steve Gadd. There are
mid and side processing. There’s a mix control for cut mode, I was able to take out some of the room some very creative things you can do. On a tight
parallel processing, an output trim, and an internal while keeping the guitars full-sounding. There are rhythm electric part, I tried the Aquarium preset
bypass. Lastly is the Delta button that solos just presets for pick noise, and it was refreshing to run into EchoBoy, which resulted in a fantastic new
the processing, and useful for hearing exactly through them. Checking the Delta, I was able to synth-like sound to my track. This thing is cool.
what the plug-in is doing. Advanced controls are hear what part of the audio was being processed. available for Resolution, Oversampling, Window, I switched to boost mode and was able to add I have several Transient shapers, but this plug-
and Phase modes. The Spiff interface has three a really cool percussive attitude to the acoustics. in is very special. On keys and synths, it’s an
screen sizes, small, medium, and large. Spiff
excellent shaping tool in both cut and boost
comes as a download with iLok authorization for On bass, it was easy to bring out the attack (boost) modes. Finally, since Spiff was designed initially
one license with two activations of that license. or make it more synth-like (cut). Next on a drum with vocals in mind, I pulled up a female vocal
that was energetic but still had some mouth
noise issues. Starting with the Delta mode, it
was easy to find the culprit and actually funny to
hear just spit, and various mouth noises like lip
smacking soloed. After targeting the offenders, I
was able to easily remove them and then brought
a little back in, via the parallel mode (mix) for
energy. I did want to see how it held up on the
Master Bus. There are a couple presets that
are cool, and if your track needed a little more
energy, Spiff brings out transients in the mix in
a pleasing way without increasing RMS level.
TAKE AWAY:
I love this plug-in. As a guitar player, there are a
lot of creative applications for it on acoustic and
electric. If you are doing EDM stuff, you can get
some beautiful creative effects for builds and
breakdowns, using automation. For lead vocals,
it can save the day and is also very useful on a
BGV bus where there is a lot of mouth noise. With
Vocals, I found putting Spiff pre-compression
helped me get the vocal up in the mix with clear
annunciation minus the offensive sounds. It’s an
all-around useful tool, and I recommend you give
it a try.
$179.00
oeksound.com
Michael Hodge
Record Producer, Writer, Studio musician,
Staff Guitarist at Lakewood Church Houston TX.
Owner of Gman Productions film music
MichaelHodge.com
August 2019
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