Tag: music

Cableguys’ Snapback Introduction Sale (~Dec 2, $29)

Hi! This is Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer and music producer.

Long time no post…!

I was too busy studying English and doing other work. Unfortunately, I failed to achieve the score that I wanted on the TOEFL test. My plan was to apply to a Ph.D. program this year, but I may have overestimated my English ability…T.T..

But I think it is reasonable for graduate schools to have a high TOEFL score threshold. If someone studies in Korea, I think they may have a good command of Korean and need to be proficient in the language. From the opposite perspective, English speakers will think the same way.

So.. I have to study English harder than before..

By the way, today, I’ll introduce Cableguys’ new plugin, Snapback. (The plugin was provided by Plugin Boutique, and if you purchase by the links, I’ll get small commission from them.)

Purchase Snapback in Plugin Boutique

It’s a simple audio layering plugin. However, this plugin has great detection ability and adds many flavors to the sources.

It analyzes the input signal in real time, detects each transient with high precision, and triggers two types of layers: a pre-transient “Snapback” layer and a main transient layer. This allows users to enrich kicks, snares, claps, and percussive sounds without manually adjusting timing in the DAW.

By automating phase-accurate alignment and offering detailed controls such as pitch, timing shift, stereo width, filtering, and dynamics, Snapback makes drum enhancement faster and more musical than traditional manual layering.

Let’s find out more about it’s parameters.

In the analyzer, a blue audio signal appears in front of the main source, with a purple audio signal behind the blue signal. The blue one is ‘snapback’, and the purple one is ‘transient’. They can be adjusted using the parameters at the bottom of the plugin.

I presume that many people are already familiar with the attack, decay, pitch, and all related parameters. Thus I’ll not elaborate about whole things. However, shift parameters refer to ‘shift timing,’ which can be adjusted from -4 ms to 4 ms. Width can be adjusted from 0% to 200%, and dynamics from 0% to 100%. HP and LP means High pass and Low pass filter.

Snapback and transient presets are organized into several stylistic groups, each designed to emphasize a specific aspect of drum layering. So, you can instantly hear how different combinations affect the groove.

Purchase Snapback in Plugin Boutique

Overall, Snapback is a simple tool, but it solves one of the most time-consuming tasks in modern production: clean and precise drum layering.

Its transient detection, timing accuracy, and flexible controls make it a fast and musical solution for enhancing percussion in any genre. I think $29 is really affordable!

That’s all for today. See you in next post!

2025 Summer Virtual Instrument & Mixing/Mastering Plugin Sales Roundup (Part 1)

Hey there! I’m Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer and music producer.

I finally submitted a new paper yesterday after about a month and a half of work. It’s a pretty straightforward paper, but building the program took forever… ugh. It’s a tool for measuring crosstalk, THD, and stuff like that. I’ve released it on my GitHub [Link], but I’ll write a detailed post about the program later.

Also, the paper wasn’t that critical, but I’ve been so busy running around for listening experiments that I totally neglected this blog. I’ll get back to writing posts diligently until I find my next topic!

Today, I want to talk about summer plugin and virtual instrument sales. I probably should’ve done this earlier, but since these sales usually happen between June and July, I think we’re still good… right? Haha.

If you purchase through the links below via Plugin Boutique [Link], I get a small commission, which really helps me keep things going. So, let’s dive in!

1) IK Multimedia

Total VI MAX

Click image to purchase Total VI MAX at Plugin Boutique

You’ve probably heard of this one! I previously introduced Total Studio 4 Max , but Total VI MAX is the version that includes only virtual instruments.

Right now, it seems they’re focusing on virtual instrument sales. I’m guessing come July, they’ll shift to mixing/mastering effect plugins. Personally, I think IK Multimedia offers the best bang for your buck, so for beginners, I’d say just grab Total Studio when it’s on sale without overthinking it.

2) Universal Audio

UAD Summer Mixtape Bundle

Click image to purchase UAD Summer Mixtape Bundle at Plugin Boutique

Since the UADx (Native) versions came out, Universal Audio plugins have become super affordable. The Summer Mixtape Bundle, at about $100 for 10 plugins, is a fantastic deal for first-time buyers.

My recommended plugins:

  • Teletronix LA-2A Tube Compressor
  • UA 1176 Classic FET Compressor
  • Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection
  • Teletronix LA-3A Audio Leveler
  • Pultec Passive EQ Collection
  • Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb

These six are solid picks, and you can choose the rest based on your taste.

That said, after years of working with audio and music, I’ve noticed UAD plugins tend to have pretty aggressive saturation. They’re not like, “Wow, UAD is the best!!” for me, haha. Still, they add a punchy vibe to flat recordings or budget mics, so they’re great when used in the right context.

UAD Analog Classics Pro Bundle

Click image to purchase UAD Analog Classics Pro Bundle at Plugin Boutique

If you want even better value, the UAD Analog Classics Pro Bundle is the way to go. The LA-2A and 1176 series get used in projects all the time, so they’re super reliable.

3) Waves

Horizon

Click image to purchase Waves Horizon bundle at Every plugin

Waves isn’t quite the value king anymore with IK Multimedia’s crazy sales, but if you want something lightweight and industry-standard, Waves is still the go-to. You’ll likely find the best deal at EveryPlugin .

Waves’ update plan gets a lot of flak (I’m not a fan either). Switching from Intel to Mac Silicon cost me like $200, which was annoying, haha. That said, newer Mac OS updates don’t seem to cause major issues with older Waves plugin versions.

Horizon is the best value, and if you feel it’s not enough, grabbing the SSL 4000 Collection or API Collection should cover you. Waves’ SSL compressor is really well-made.

4) Eventide Audio

ShimmerVerb

Click image to purchase Eventide ShimmerVerb at Plugin Boutique

Blackhole

Click image to purchase Eventide Blackhole at Plugin Boutique

If you’re into ambient music, Eventide Audio’s ShimmerVerb and Blackhole are pretty much must-haves. They’re great for creating expansive vibes and are consistent bestsellers, so grabbing them during a sale like this is a smart move.

5) Mastering The Mix

EQ Excellence Bundle

Click image to purchase Bassroom and Mixroom bundle at Plugin Boutique

Mastering The Mix makes some really solid plugins, and I especially recommend their EQ series. Plugins like Bassroom and Mixroom visually show how frequencies pop out or sit back based on loudness, which makes tweaking super intuitive.

6) Native Instruments

Click image to purchase Komplete bundle at Native Instruments

Oops, this one’s got just one day left! I should’ve posted this sooner… sorry! Personally, I think getting the Standard version of Komplete is enough. Ultimate or Collector’s Editions feel a bit overkill, haha. You’ll barely use half the stuff in Standard as it is.

7) Synchro Arts

Revoice Pro 5

Click image to purchase Revoice Pro 5 at Plugin Boutique

VocAlign 6 Pro

Click image to purchase VocAlign 6 Pro at Plugin Boutique

Synchro Arts’ VocAlign Pro and Revoice Pro are pretty awesome. I reviewed them last Black Friday,

Synchro Arts Vocalign 6 & Revoice Pro 5: On Sale (40-50% Off, Until Dec. 1)

and they’re still on a 50% sale. If you don’t have a tuning program, I’d recommend Revoice Pro over Antares Auto-Tune or Celemony Melodyne.

8) BFD

BFD 3.5

Click image to purchase BFD 3.5 at Plugin Boutique

BFD London Sessions

Click image to purchase BFD London Sessions at Plugin Boutique

BFD’s expansion packs are on a crazy 70% sale right now—never seen a discount like this! Grab BFD 3.5 and the London Sessions kit, and you’re set for most genres. If you need more, snare add-ons or jazz kits are great options.

There’s probably more coming in July, but these are the standout sales right now. Some of these end today, so if you’re thinking about buying, act fast!

I’ve got a ton of topics in mind, so I’m not sure what the next post will be, but I’ll see you there!

FRISKETCH X Yeonjun Yoon | Um – Sound Directing for the June 14 Performance

Hello, I’m Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer.

Today, I’d like to share a quick recap of the performance I worked on as a sound director last Saturday.

Originally, the plan was to rent some basic speakers and gear for simultaneous recording. But things took a slight turn, so I ended up hauling my own audio interface (Antelope Orion Studio Synergy Core) to the venue… haha.

I also brought a boutique mic preamp, handcrafted in Japan, known for its clean sound. It felt like a perfect fit for recording the acoustic piano, so I decided to take it along.

For miking, I went with an unconventional setup. To avoid peaks, I positioned the mics slightly off the hammers, using different mics for the left and right channels (Peluso P87 and Charter Oak E700). With just a touch of EQ in post-production, the sound came out surprisingly great.

For the audience-facing ambience mics, I was a bit short on options, so I used a Peluso CEMC 6 and an M30 measurement mic. They have different directionality and characteristics, but the result was honestly pretty impressive. Now I’m wondering if I should grab another pair of each to make a proper set…

The main mics ran through the external preamp, while the ambience and vocal mics for narration went through the built-in preamp. The synthesizer was recorded via the artist’s audio interface as a mono line while simultaneously outputting.

In post-production, I widened the synth’s mono line using the UAD Precision Reflection Engine and Leapwing Audio StageOne 2 to enhance the stereo image.

For output, we rented Yamaha 400i speakers, commonly used for busking.

I didn’t get a chance to snap a photo of the audience mic setup… oops. The photos I do have were kindly taken by a friend I was working with. [photo]

Hauling all the cables and gear was a bit of a hassle, but the sound came together nicely, and I was pretty satisfied.

The final mix turned out better than expected, and both the artist and I were really pleased with it. I’d love to share it with you all, but I can’t just post it without permission. If the artist releases it on YouTube or as promotional content later, I’ll make sure to share it here.

Until next time, see you in my next post! 😊

Life Update (May 27, 2025)

Hey there! I’m Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer, music producer, and computer music researcher.

Lately, I’ve been living like a hermit… haha.

A while back, I think I mentioned grumbling about an “Editor Invited” status dragging on for over a month. Well, good news—it’s finally moved to “Under Review”! I’m keeping my fingers crossed because I really need this to wrap up soon so I can secure some thesis funding from my university to keep things afloat. The timeline’s tight, so I’m a bit on edge.

Oh, and I believe I once mentioned working on digitally recreating the SA-2A on this blog.

Here’s how that went down:

  1. Analog recording grind (plus building a recording program from scratch… ugh). That recording program UI still gives me nightmares. I built it with Qt Creator, and… let’s just say it was a few days of pure torment.
  2. Training with deep learning using CNN and RNN (LSTM) methods (which meant coding up some PyTorch for the training process…).
  3. Implementing the compressor with that training data (cue JUCE and Python code-building…).

And, well, it spectacularly flopped. 😭

Just looking at the spectrogram tells you all you need to know, right?

I built a recording program in C++, slogged through endless recording sessions, spent ages training the model, and then tried real-time processing with JUCE—only to realize real-time processing wasn’t happening, so I switched to Python. After pouring over a month into this, it feels like such a letdown.

The RNN (LSTM) approach might still have some potential with more time, but CNN? Total dead end. My original idea would take way too long to execute, so I’ve shelved it for now. That said, the program set itself isn’t half bad, so I’m planning to polish it up and eventually share it on GitHub.

Meanwhile, I’ve pivoted to experimenting with a new topic. For this, I’ve been measuring THD, crosstalk, and frequency response, and I wrote a Python program to store the data and generate graphs.

This one actually turned out pretty well! I’m thinking of sharing some of the code and distributing the program around the time I submit my next paper. It might need a bit more refinement before I consider selling it, though.

https://github.com/JYKlabs

Oops, this is starting to sound like a GitHub channel plug, isn’t it?

The first half of this year has been consumed by experiments and coding for my thesis, leaving me with barely any time to work on my own music. 😢 But I’ve got something in the works, and I’m determined to release at least one track next month. I really need to get into a groove and churn stuff out consistently instead of these sporadic bursts… sigh.

I’ve always been drawn to niche things—studying physics as a kid, making music, diving into audio engineering, and now coding for obscure projects. Guess I’m just wired to love the less mainstream stuff, haha.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to lately. With grad school graduation looming, I’m feeling a bit lost and anxious about what’s next. But I’m choosing to believe things will work out and keep pushing forward.

Catch you in the next post! 😊