PLUGIN WEEK 2023: The world’s top names in production use NUGEN Audio’s award-winning mixing, mastering, and audio analysis tools
Paragon ST
Paragon ST is a true convolution reverb with the flexibility and control of a classic algorithmic reverb. We’ve used the same reverb technology as the original multi-channel Paragon and packed it full of new controls for music producers, including modulation, stereo width and more.
Via re-synthesis, Paragon ST offers full control of the decay, room size and brightness of reverbs modelled on recordings of real spaces. There’s no time-stretching, which means no artefacts.
Unlike a traditional convolution reverb, Paragon ST doesn’t use a static Impulse Response, allowing far wider scope for transformation. Paragon ST’s reverb decay and room size can be set significantly longer, larger, shorter and smaller than that of the original IR space, without introducing artefacts as a result of stretching or removing samples.
Furthermore, the mic distance control allows you to adjust early reverb reflections to give an impression that the sound source is closer to or further away from the listener, without affecting the overall sound of the space.
The IR library isn’t too big, or too small, it’s just right. No more keeping an IR saved for every possible configuration of every possible space - with Paragon ST, all you need is a select few, which can be tweaked to create almost limitless combinations of spaces.
Using state of the art technology developed alongside the University of York’s Dr. Jez Wells, Impulse Responses are analyzed and re-synthesized to create new authentic spaces.
Paragon ST’s IR panel also allows you to seamlessly tweak the frequency response of real spaces, by EQing the reverb model itself and altering the frequency-dependent decay rate.
Whether you’re giving natural ambience to drums or vocals recorded in a dead room, or pushing guitars and synths far beyond realistic reverb into something fantastical, Paragon ST’s authentic IRs are perfect for adding depth to a mix.
Add excitement and musicality with the new modulation control and tempo-locked pre-delay, and fine-tune the placement of individual elements using the new mic distance and stereo width controls.
MasterCheck
MasterCheck is the complete optimisation solution for today’s delivery services, a plug-in providing the tools to make sure your music reaches the listener as intended. Streaming apps, download stores and podcasts all use data compression, loudness normalisation or both. These processes can affect your track in undesirable ways: your loud, punchy mix could end up quiet and flat, or suffer clipping and distortion.
MasterCheck reveals these problems ahead of time, and enables you to deliver masters perfectly tuned for specific playout systems.
MasterCheck demonstrates the effects of loudness normalisation so you can find the sweet spot between perceived loudness and dynamics, and allows you to hear artefacts introduced by the encoding process ahead of time. You can quickly find the point where these processes will start to negatively impact the music, putting you back in control.
All major online services encode your music, using different specs and formats depending on the playback device, the connection speed, or even whether the user is a “basic” or “premium” customer. Hot mixes can introduce True Peak overs that will clip on playback. MasterCheck detects these errors, and you’ll be able to hear obvious frequency masking and other artefacts.
Via the 'External ref' function, MasterCheck allows you to A/B with reference material in order to check differences in loudness, PLR and True Peak measurements. If you wish, you can use 'Offset to match' to match the loudness for a direct comparison.
'Offset to match' can also be used to remove loudness from an FX chain. This can be useful for evaluating the impact of signal processing, without being influenced by the 'feel good factor' of increased loudness.
