ESSENTIAL Bundle HD / TDM Plug-Ins

This ESSENTIAL Bundle features the HD / TDM versions of Sonnox's Oxford EQ, Dynamics, Reverb, and SuprEsser plug-ins. It gives you the right blend of high-end digital signal processing tools used on countless hit records ” essential ingredients to polish your Pro Tools mixes ” and packaged at a great price.

Sonnox Oxford EQ
The Oxford EQ HD / TDM plug-in is based on the OXF-R3 EQ section, and is a fully functional 5-band application with selectable shelf settings on LF and HF sections made for use in a Pro Tools setup. Additionally, separate variable slope low-pass and high-pass filters are provided. The EQ plug-in also features 4 different selectable EQ types that cover most of the EQ styles currently popular amongst professional users, including some legacy styles which are renowned for their artistic capability. The use of novel coefficient generation and intelligent processing design provides unparalleled performance that surpasses analog EQ in both sound quality and artistic freedom. This software plug-in may well provide all the EQ you ever needed.

Sonnox Oxford Dynamics Plug-In
The Oxford Dynamics HD/TDM plug-in is modeled on the extremely flexible and capable unit used in Sony's OXF-R3 professional mixing console. Resulting from many years of research into professional dynamics applications, the Oxford Dynamics plug-in offers you separate Compress, Limit, Expand, Gate, and side chain EQ functions, with full independent control of all parameters. Features such as selectable time constant curves and variable soft compress functions allow the user to confidently tackle all common uses of compression, from subtle unobtrusive level control and mastering functions to the production of great artistic effects. The use of a feed-forward architecture with logarithmic sidechain processing, making use of look-ahead techniques, ensures exemplary sonic characteristics and dynamic accuracy, with an artistic capability simply unavailable from other single units ” analog or digital. This highly sophisticated and professional product has the power and flexibility to obviate the need for many of the separate applications most users keep for specific uses.

Sonnox Oxford Reverb Plug-In
The Oxford Reverb HD / TDM plug-in is a highly flexible stereo reverberation generator for Pro Tools, designed to complement existing Sonnox Oxford applications in providing you with the highest technical and sonic performance, coupled with artistic and creative versatility. As well as providing stunning presets, the user has full control over all of its many parameters, including a very comprehensive early reflections section, and integrated 5-band EQ. The Sonnox Oxford Reverb allows you to create virtual spaces freely, depending on artistic need, ranging from dry reflection ambiences, room and hall simulations, sound effects, all the way to wide open reverberant spaces with a very large range of possible texture and spatial character.

Oxford SuprEsser Plug-In
The Oxford SuprEsser is both a highly-featured professional De-Esser and a Dynamic EQ. There is a simple mode for quick fixes, but also an advanced mode for increased functionality and fine-tuning. The combination of an intuitive FFT display and three listen modes enables the user to easily see and hear exactly where the problem frequencies are, allowing the rapid reduction or removal of the offending audio. As well as being able to trigger the full-band compression, only the offending frequencies can be carefully carved out. Since the SuprEsser can operate at all frequencies, 'plosives' and other annoyances can also be removed effortlessly, making it more than a simple De-Esser. Additional features include Automatic Level Tracking, Linear Phase Filtering and a Wet/Dry blend control for final balancing.

The Oxford SuprEsser is a simple and intuitive De-Esser plugin, with access to a much more sophisticated frequency specific compressor, giving you complete control over aggressive frequencies wherever they may be in the audio spectrum. With the Oxford SuprEsser you can take out unwanted frequency peaks as and when they occur ” unlike applying a fixed EQ to the whole channel.

As a De-Esser, the Oxford SuprEsser is designed for the treatment of sibilance and fricatives in vocals, and the treatment of unwanted whistles and 'spirant' artifacts associated with wind instruments. However, it can equally be applied to removing low-end 'plosives' and thuds from over-close vocal work, without affecting components nearby in the frequency spectrum, keeping the low-end in tact. For the most natural sounding results, the SuprEsser de-esses only the frequency band you set ” so you won't end up with an over-de-essed lisp-like voice with all the top end gone.

Detailed visual feedback is provided thanks to the highly intuitive graphical display, allowing quick identification of the frequencies that need treatment and where to set the threshold. The threshold level and peak hold levels of the user-definable band are shown on the graph, alongside the FFT display of the narrow band signal, which includes retention of the peak level and the frequency containing the most energy.

At the heart of the Oxford SuprEsser is an enhanced version of the compressor section of the Oxford Dynamics plug-in, which is renowned amongst professional users for delivering precise and transparent control of peaks. Around this is built a pair of crossover filters to make the compressor react only to the defined frequency band. These linear phase filters are modelled on the filters from the Oxford EQ, making the SuprEsser useful for precise mastering work as well as mixing work.

Three listen modes allow the user to listen to the mix, the output of the band-pass filter (Inside) or the output of the band-reject filter (Outside).

Careful thought has been put into making the Oxford SuprEsser an extremely easy digital signal processor to use. The screen shot above shows the plug-in as it appears when first activated. Once the frequency band has been defined, simply lower the threshold fader until the gain reduction meter starts to kick in. The plug-in then automatically tracks the general signal level and the threshold follows accordingly so that it gives the same relative amount of gain reduction as the signal level rises or falls. This is perfect for vocals where, for example, a vocalist is louder in the chorus than the verse, but you want to apply the same relative amount of de-essing, and not over de-ess in the chorus. This Auto Level Tracking mode lets the SuprEsser do all the hard work. It can also be switched off for a fixed threshold.

In its default mode of operation, the Oxford SuprEsser feeds the defined Band signal to the compressor to affect only this narrow band signal. The result is that the compressor reacts only to specific frequency components when they reach a specific threshold, and applies compression only to these specific frequency components, leaving the rest of the spectrum untouched. Wide can also be selected to allow full-band compression reacting to only specific frequencies or any combination of Band and Wide defining when the compressor reacts and what it compresses (narrow or wide/full-band).

The Oxford SuprEsser plug-in comes complete with many presets to act as good starting points. Alternatively, the advanced section gives full access to all controls for precise correction, or even creative use.