The Magic Box, Part 1

When I first started working with rappers I remember guys saying “man I just run EVERYTHING through this and it makes everything sound sweet!”

At that time it was the BBE sonic maximizer, then there was the aural exciter, the TC Finalizer held that position for many years, and now I’ve lost track of what the “magic box” to run everything through is.

What is the deal with these? What makes them so special? Do they really do what everybody says?

Well they definitely do SOMETHING. In my opinion most of them do one thing VERY well: change everything a LITTLE bit. In some cases (like the finalizer) they change things A LOT.

Think about it, you’ve been listening to your mix for hours and hours, and suddenly you run it through something that mikes it a little brighter, a little louder, and a bit more even. Of COURSE you’ll love that.

Unfortunately what most of these devices do is decrease your dynamics (removes punch) and change in some way the overall curve of your mix. Personally I’ve worked very hard on my mixes and I’ve been somewhat shocked how when I apply some of these ‘magic boxes’ to my mixes they take the life right out of them!

There are however two devices which I personally feel ARE magic and are totally worth running everything through.

The first one is a high end A/D converter.

No matter what, your sound will go through an A/D converter. For most of us we use whatever M-Audio or MOTU converter that is built into our audio interface. These are all fine, and they will pass your sound into the computer decently. However, they lack the fine subtle detail that you get from a higher end converter. They take a pretty accurate picture of your sound, but not down to the last detail.

So what is to be gained from using a high end converter such as an Apogee or Pyramid? Well, have you ever seen a digital picture that’s small blown up too big? It looks ‘pixel-y’. What were nice smooth lines when the picture was small are now harsh and jagged. It’s the same thing with a low end vs. a high end A/D converter.

When you work with your sound in the computer you are blowing it up and changing it in different ways as you increase your volume, add EQ etc. What were nice smooth lines with a standard A/D converter are now ragged and exposed.

A high end A/D converter takes a very detailed and accurate picture of your sound, so when you blow it up it will still sound smooth. And that is why I run EVERYTHING through a high end converter. In my case I use an Apogee, but there are others out there that still sound great.

So the fancy A/D converter is what I run everything through on the front end, stay tuned for part two where I go into what I use on the back end…