Spice Up Your Track With a Sonic Enhancer

Some 'secret' tools used in contemporary music production can make any track sound powerful and full of spark. For example, Sonic Enhancer plugins tickle that little bit of Magic out of specific frequencies you will have difficulty producing with basic EQs and compressors. They are powerful in the high and low frequencies that often lose impact in the mixing process. Read the following blog and learn how to spice up your track with a Sonic Enhancer!

Infected Mushroom Pusher

"Waves Audio" has been teaming up with many musicians, producers, and audio engineers over the past few years. Consequently, this resulted in some genuinely outstanding audio processing solutions, which found their place in many professional and home studios. They created unique equalizers, reverb units, and special processing tools like the one I will discuss in the following tutorial. A recently presented plugin effect by Waves Audio in collaboration with Infected Mushroom bears the name "Pusher. "It is labeled an innovative multiband sonic enhancer and limiter/clipper that delivers Infected Mushroom's "secret miThis. This plugin incorporates more than a few awesome-sounding audio processing effects.

Pusher Demonstration

In the following tutorial, I will demonstrate the mentioned plugin in 3 different situations in my mix. Firstly, I will use it on the master bus to boost, brighten, and enhance the whole mix. Secondly, on my drums to make it more punchy. Finally, I will use it on the synthesizer sound to sonically enhance the main musical line of this track. Before we start, I would like to say a few words about the main parameters within "Pusher ".  

Main Parameters

Low – Enhance low frequencies and choose where the processing begins based on note or frequency.

Body, High – Enhance the mid and high frequencies.

Magic – Excite and boost the dynamics of all frequencies at once.

Stereo Image – Widen the stereo image of higher frequencies

Push – Push your mix to the max by clipping or limiting. Use when mastering.

 

Practical Examples

So, after the initial introduction, let's move to the practical examples. I have made a short loop using SoundBridge, and it sounds like a peaking part of the fully finished track. Using the "IMPusher, "I will show you how it can sound even better.  

 

Master Bus

First, I will place IMPusher on the master bus within Soundbridge and show you how you can quickly boost the overall loudness of your track by using the "Push "parameter. The "Push" is a limiter with 2 modes. The first is "Clip," which does not smash the transients too much and adds subtle saturation. In addition, the other wall is a classic brick wall limiter. Let's hear how the track sounds without and with it.

~Master bus without Push

~Master bus with Push  

Magic Processor

After this, I will engage the "Magic "processor, an exciter. It is possible to set the dynamic punch amount as well as to focus frequencies by sliding the parameters around the big knob. Let's hear how it sounds without and with it.

~Master bus without Magic

~Master bus with Magic  

Drum Bus

In order to show you a few more features of this plugin, I will switch to a new instance of the IMPusher, which I placed on my drum bus. The goal is to make the drums sound more punchy, and you will hear that in the following 2 audio examples.

~Drum bus without Magic

~Drum bus with Magic  

Synth Bus

Lastly, I will show you how to make your synth sound wider and more present by placing the Pusher on the synth bus track. Let's hear how the synth group sounds without and with Pusher. I think you will instantly hear the stereo spread, the dynamic enhancement, and a subtle boost of mid-range frequencies thanks to the "Body "processor.

~Synth bus without the Pusher

~Synth bus with the Pusher

Finally, after placing 3 instances of IMPusher on drum, synth, and master bus, let's hear how the whole mix sounds.