UBK KuSh Clariphonic / Bax eq

[Aisle 6]

I have not heard these yet, but my impression of the Clariphonic EQ is that the unit is quite subtle and needs to be pushed to get broad results. When I watched the video, I even recall UBK stating as much...maybe I read this into it. Isn't it a parallel processing device, which by it's very nature would make it subtle.

[Audio X]

Originally Posted by ROCKER STUDIOS

So I must be loosing my hearing Because I read all the reviews on the UBK KuSh Clariphonic and got 1 after 4 weeks It really did not live up to my Expectations
(Im not hear to slam gear) It did do good things to the top end but I found I had to push it a lot to hear (The magic) so I traded it in for a Bax EQ and once again
Im not that Happy .It dose bring life to a mix but I find myself pushing it to 6db to get their is it me

I'm betting there's something else at play.

I rarely have to use more than +/- 1/2 dB shelf on the Bax.

6dB just seems over the top that you would need that much lift on any buss.
No experience with the Clarifonic...

[narcoman]

That does sound very much like there are some other issues going on. I have the clariphonic here and it doesn't take much to really help. Using it very successfully this past week for a new TV series score. Lovely bit of kit.

[otobianki74]

Originally Posted by ROCKER STUDIOS

So I must be loosing my hearing Because I read all the reviews on the UBK KuSh Clariphonic and got 1 after 4 weeks It really did not live up to my Expectations
(Im not hear to slam gear) It did do good things to the top end but I found I had to push it a lot to hear (The magic) so I traded it in for a Bax EQ and once again
Im not that Happy .It dose bring life to a mix but I find myself pushing it to 6db to get their is it me(My old Ears) or any one else have the same outcome. I just dont get that felling like I do when I put my Retro 2a3 in on the 2buss (Magic)
Frustrated now Im sending the Bax back Maybe the Retro ruined me

have you had a hearing test recently? I don't mean to be facetious.

happy holidays!

oto

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

I have a fairly good Room and im using Focals Twin's and some Good Headphones for back up Not that I don't hear a Difference its Just ? I dont know have to refer back to the retro 2a3 when i put that into Bypass the Mix i thought was good sounds weak and thin guess for me It is much more of a (Magic Box) as in adds
Depth, Width, Air /over all 2" tape saturation sounding . Like i said may just be Me / maybe ill try another Pultec type EQ to go with the Retro// A-designs Maybe

PS also wondering on the Bax the filters are not very aggressive ether hate to compare it to a plug but McDSP filter is what im used to and seem to I don't know Filter MORE

Im sure both units are good just not working for me

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

Originally Posted by otobianki74

have you had a hearing test recently? I don't mean to be facetious.

happy holidays!

oto

I Know Right

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

Originally Posted by otobianki74

have you had a hearing test recently? I don't mean to be facetious.

happy holidays!

oto

Im sure they are Slightly Damaged from 39 years of playing guitar
But they are not that bad that I cant hear the LOVE from a U33 I see Rodney has done some work for you great guy

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

So playing around with the Bax it dose bring to life a mix adds Air and Defines the Bass but it still very suttle For for me and my ears definitely a Mastering Tool / although I was able to get a good sound at +3 Bass and +2 highs witch was better than the last mix I was +6/+5 anyways its a good PC just not for me

[isawsasquatch]

I've got the Clariophonic as well as the Retro 2a3. The Retro is definitely has a more obvious boost, but it's the subtlety of the Clariophonic that makes it so great. I often find myself making adjustments to it via headphones, just to really hear the tippy-top end (my racks are off-axis of the mix position so it's tough to hear subtle tweaks to the HF). It's also worth switching to the mode that plays just the boost, so you can "tune" your ears to what and where to listen when you're making adjustments.

[otobianki74]

Originally Posted by ROCKER STUDIOS

Im sure they are Slightly Damaged from 39 years of playing guitar
But they are not that bad that I cant hear the LOVE from a U33 I see Rodney has done some work for you great guy

keep them ears plugged in excessively loud situations. protect what you got left!

btw, yes, rodney is the man. he built me a lovely mini rack of modded pm1000s! good guy who knows his stuff. would love to own a u33 one day.

[RCM - Ronan]

I have been messing with the Clariphonic DSP the last couple of days and it only takes a very small amount to make some dramatic changes with a couple of the settings.

[JeromyReno]

I haven't used the bax, but I love my clariphonic. It is pretty subtle and I feel like its not doing much until I bypass it and all the sparkle and shine goes away.

I wouldn't get one to repair a track, just polish it.

[mu6gr8]

Dangerous Bax EQ was designed to be transparent. Think of it as a tool that can help an already good source sound even better, without any added noise or coloration.

[gergface21]

I find that the Clariphonic is much more dramatic than initial boosting and waiting to hear changes may suggest. If I take the Clariphonic out and listen to the difference, the change becomes much more obvious. I do often boost Shimmer (~19k) and silk (~39k) quite dramatically though with fantastic results.

[gogar]

Make sure the button on the far right hand side of the BAX is lit up.




I like BAX a lot, and in my head if I need more than +1 or 2 dB on my mix buss, then I should look back further in my mix to get where I want to go.

[nlc201]

So what was the problem with simply putting the Retro that you like so much on the 2 buss? You feel you have to add more gear to that or just use something different?

[Slug1]

Originally Posted by gogar

Make sure the button on the far right hand side of the BAX is lit up.




I like BAX a lot, and in my head if I need more than +1 or 2 dB on my mix buss, then I should look back further in my mix to get where I want to go.

Happy Bax owner here too. I don't think I've ever had to push it 6db in a mix buss situation and never in a mastering situation. Your room might be eating highs.

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

Originally Posted by nlc201

So what was the problem with simply putting the Retro that you like so much on the 2 buss? You feel you have to add more gear to that or just use something different?

No problem with the Retro on the 2Buss It lives their Nail>Retro is working fine on the 2Buss. I was just looking for another tool to compliment the chain //

[Bryce]

Originally Posted by Audio X

I'm betting there's something else at play.

Agreed.

With the chicken head knobs of the Clariphonic's Clarity (top end) section at 12 o'clock, you should have definitely been able to easily hear what it's doing on pretty much any of the four settings, with the possible exception of Silk (the highest filter). The Focus (midrange) section should be even easier to hear.

How do you have these wired in?

dB

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

Originally Posted by Bryce

Agreed.

With the chicken head knobs of the Clariphonic's Clarity (top end) section at 12 o'clock, you should have definitely been able to easily hear what it's doing on pretty much any of the four settings, with the possible exception of Silk (the highest filter). The Focus (midrange) section should be even easier to hear.

How do you have these wired in?

dB

I did hear it I mixed a 10 song CD with it on the 2buss the whole time around 10 O clock both knobs .I can really hear it working at 2-3 o'clock But was afraid to print at that level .Once again Im not bashing this Gear just was not for me at this time

[Bryce]

Originally Posted by ROCKER STUDIOS

I did hear it I mixed a 10 song CD with it on the 2buss the whole time around 10 O clock both knobs .I can really hear it working at 2-3 o'clock But was afraid to print at that level .Once again Im not bashing this Gear just was not for me at this time

Cool. I was just responding to your "I found I had to push it a lot to hear (The magic)" comment. The Clari typically does not need to be pushed to be heard...depending on what one wants to do with it, of course.

If you get a chance to try a Clari again, maybe try it a touch hotter than 10 o'clock, but not as much as 2-3. For me, 11-11:30 is the sweet spot with the settings I gravitate towards.

dB

[work2do]

My issue with the Clariphonic is that if I use it at the very end of a session I have to push it more to hear it work. When I come back the next day on fresh ears it's usually over the top and I have to tone it down.

[u b k]

As with a lot of things on the 'subtle' tip, the Clariphonic is easier to hear when you've gotten used to it and then it's taken away.

So until you get acclimated to what the thing does, this is what I suggest in the manual: dial it in until you hear it clearly and it sounds ok, then cut it in half.

Now get on with things and don't think about the Clariphonic. Then, after 10 or 15 minutes of mixing, bypass it.

You will feel the drop in energy right away, the loss will be obvious, and when you kick it back in, the feeling will come right back.

Over time, it gets easier to hear. The thing about this eq is that, because of the parallel topology, it doesn't behave like any other eq you own, so the way your ear is used to tuning into the corners of the shelves won't work. It takes time to learn its sound, especially at subtle boosts, but imho that's where the true magic of the piece lives.


Gregory Scott - ubk

[Silver Sonya]

GOOD THINGS ARE SUBTLE.

- c

[ROCKER STUDIOS]

Originally Posted by u b k

As with a lot of things on the 'subtle' tip, the Clariphonic is easier to hear when you've gotten used to it and then it's taken away.

So until you get acclimated to what the thing does, this is what I suggest in the manual: dial it in until you hear it clearly and it sounds ok, then cut it in half.

Now get on with things and don't think about the Clariphonic. Then, after 10 or 15 minutes of mixing, bypass it.

You will feel the drop in energy right away, the loss will be obvious, and when you kick it back in, the feeling will come right back.

Over time, it gets easier to hear. The thing about this eq is that, because of the parallel topology, it doesn't behave like any other eq you own, so the way your ear is used to tuning into the corners of the shelves won't work. It takes time to learn its sound, especially at subtle boosts, but imho that's where the true magic of the piece lives.


Gregory Scott - ubk

I can see that I threw in the Towel to quick It never sounded bad. I just headed in a diff Direction. It would be nice if the Knobs where stepped.

[unfiltered420]

Originally Posted by Silver Sonya

GOOD THINGS ARE SUBTLE.

- c

Simple is the better word. Subtle is only good when you have the option of drastic changes. When a piece of gear only does subtle, you have to question the value of it.

[Silver Sonya]

Originally Posted by unfiltered420

Simple is the better word. Subtle is only good when you have the option of drastic changes. When a piece of gear only does subtle, you have to question the value of it.

We disagree.

I've posted about this before, but I think this notion --- things are only valuable if they can be used in an extreme way --- is one of the weirdest, most fallacious, least welcome changes in the post-internet audio world. It is an idea that has taken hold in the last ten years and it is very prevalent here on GS.

To me, it's plum wrong.

The stuff I love is subtle, period. That's where its true beauty lies.

My wife is a wine expert and the aesthetic principles of great audio are often very much similar to wine-tasting. You savor the different hues and the fine nuances and gradations.

You don't ever value wine for how extreme it can get. Not if you really love wine, you don't.

- c

[unfiltered420]

Originally Posted by Silver Sonya

My wife is a wine expert and the aesthetic principles of great audio are often very much similar to wine-tasting. You savor the different hues and the fine nuances and gradations.

You don't ever value wine for how extreme it can get. Not if you really love wine, you don't.

- c

I'm glad you brought that up, wine tasting and professional audio/audiophilia are extremely similar. People will spend absurd amounts of money for both audio gear and wine that have very little intrinsic value as compared to drastically cheaper versions that are just as good.

Case in point: In blind taste tests, Trader Joe's two buck chuck, or Charles Shaw wine that costs $2 a bottle, consistently wins over these absurdly priced wines not just in the general public, but among professional wine tasters. When the Bricasti m7 samples were mixed up with the Behringer V-verb on a thread on this forum, owners of the Bricasti could not tell the difference. One cost $100, the other $6000.

When I hear a piece of gear that only does subtle, I ask myself is this really worth it? The answer over and over is no.When designing gear, Bob Moog took the view that every parameter should have a much wider range than most would ever use or think useful. Not because the sound was better, but if you don't have the option of drastic changes, then the subtle changes aren't appreciated.

Subtle is good, I love subtle changes, depending on your definition of subtle, but the perfect gear IMO is something like the Massive Passive. It goes from barely audible like the Clariphonic, to the extreme, like a Moog filter.

[Silver Sonya]

I see what you're saying and there's plenty of stuff that I use outside of its normal tolerances because it's more fun. Who cares what a Level-Loc sounds like when it's used timidly? Nobody, that's who. So, yeah, I get it.

But still as a culture, we value this too highly these days. Joel Hamilton calls it "cowboy engineering."

I'm against it as a default.

I don't agree that wine-tasting is the land of self-hypnosis or any of that stuff, so... can't go with you there. And I don't know what thread you're talking about, but the Bricasti M7 completely rules and is one of my favorite things in the world. I've been doing this professionally for 15 years now and its value and sonic refinement is very obvious to me. But I use one nearly every day.

Anyway, as I said, we disagree. Which is fine.

The Clariphonic and the BAX, btw, both go into a range of extreme that is nearly ear-piercing, so anyone who cannot discern their effects truly should consider a hearing test. Not saying this in a snobby/condescending way, I mean it medically.

- c