BBE Sonic Maximiser

Allan Thompson · Post by **Allan Thompson** » 16 Dec 2006 1:20 pm

Anybody use one of these for mixing and if so what did you think ?

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 16 Dec 2006 1:41 pm

I used to occasionally use an enhancer for mixing, but I'd much rather use a nice mastering EQ (my current fave is a vintage Nightpro).
Some years ago I bought a whole bunch of gear from a music store tag sale, and I got to A-B 5 or 6 different brands of enhancers- BBE, Aphex, etc. Surprisingly, the best sounding one was a very early model Behringer...
These days I will use an enhancer when tracking on stereo keyboards, for example. It really helps open up a dry or thin sounding patch. Judicious application to a Nashville style High-strung guitar also helps get that "pitched high-hat" sound.

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 16 Dec 2006 7:08 pm

Hey Mark--

I often have a NightPro on 2mix, too...

I have a couple of BBE 862's--never use them on a mix, mostly of toms and hard to define electric guitar stuff... When they work, they work well--when they don't, they suck...

Allan Thompson · Post by **Allan Thompson** » 17 Dec 2006 9:24 am

Thanks Mark and John for your replies, I see they offer a plugin version for computer recording. Anybody tried one of these.

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 18 Dec 2006 10:43 am

As with most plugin--OK, but not as good as the hardware...

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 18 Dec 2006 11:18 am

There is a small half rack space unit like this in a pawn shop near my house..they want $25.00.It's a white color.

Bryan Daste · Post by **Bryan Daste** » 18 Dec 2006 1:31 pm

I haven't used a Sonic Maximizer, but I did use a similar effect (in plugin form) called the Aural Exciter. I didn't find much use for it in mixing, butI used it extensively for audio restoration. At the time I was mixing a Spanish-language video countdown show every week, and the record companies would send the most awful-sounding ninth generation tapes to the production company. Anything I couldn't replace with the actual CD audio was run through the Aural Exciter to brighten it up some. This worked better than just adding EQ, because EQ brought the tape hiss up too much.

My old guitarist also used a hardware Aural Exciter on his amp to brighten it up a bit. Worked well.

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Sierra "HJ Custom" D-10, Peavey Session 500, Goodrich L10k<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Bryan Daste on 18 December 2006 at 01:32 PM.]</p></FONT>