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Tips for a Brighter Mix with Aphex Aural Exciter

May 26, 2021 | 83,149 Views

Learn how to add instant brightness and sheen to dull-sounding vocals, drums, guitars and full mixes, without adding harshness, using the Aphex Aural Exciter plugin.

Based on an extremely rare and sought-after audio processor from the mid 70's, the Waves Aphex Aural Exciter plugin meticulously recreates all the tube-based harmonic exciter character from the original unit. If you are looking for a plugin that effortlessly breathes beautiful sounding brilliance and top-end presence into tracks, look no further.

In this video you will hear how Aphex Exciter quickly adds brightness, interest and air to dark-sounding vocals, guitars, and drums.

We also show you how to set up Aphex’s MIX and AX modes, in order to use Aphex either as a direct insert on a track, or as a parallel process in a send/return effects chain.

Quickly listen to the audio examples in this video:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 0:15 Aphex brightening a full mix
  • 0:52 What is the Aphex Aural Exciter?
  • 1:13 What’s the difference between harmonic exciters and EQ?
  • 1:50 Vocal example
  • 2:16 Acoustic guitar example
  • 2:42 Drum bus example
  • 3:04 Electric guitar example
  • 3:59 How to use the Aphex Aural Exciter plugin in a mix
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