9
Engine because it layers well with a touch of Lift or Open from
the Focus Engine.
What sets Presence apart from all the other bands on the
Clariphonic is its ability to radically alter how audible a sound is
in a mix without actually pulling it upwards. Instead, it pulls
things straight towards you; it makes elements more present by
enhancing their ability to cut thru the mix without changing
the underlying, fundamental timbre. This is a potent weapon in
the fight for space in a harmonically dense mix.
When you want your snare or hats to have more bite, when
you want acoustic guitars to cut through even while tucking
them deep into the mix, this band may be a magic bullet for
you. Likewise, Presence is the ultimate eq for vocals that have
beautiful tone and texture but are simply too ‘soft’ to make it
to the front of the mix without overwhelming the song. Try it
on a vocal tracked thru a 58, the transformation is crazy.
On the flipside, in our almost-universally-digital world of
recordings, Presence is the most risky filter to engage, because if
your 4k-6k region has any harshness or brittleness whatsoever
this band will let you know in no uncertain terms. If you like
what this shelf does to your sound’s behavior but don’t like the
way it draws out aspects of the tone that are less than stellar,
my advice is to follow up with some frequency-dependent
compression. Fast attack, fast release, sidechain keyed to the
area that’s giving you trouble; 1-3db reduction should be more
than enough to mitigate the issue, and if you use a softening
comp like an opto/tube flavor (or anything that saturates
nicely) you may even like the mellower results better than the
initial sound.
Sheen
Sheen is gloss, it is vintage air and a light coat of polish.
Sheen is the first band that I’d say gives you a sound that is
generally associated with ‘expensive’. This is also the one I tend
to reach for when I want to take an LDC with a modest
amount of top and add just a touch of the vintage Neumann
