Pump Up the Elements In Your Mix

Music producers use different audio plugins to achieve dynamics. There are many options when discussing compressors, dynamic equalizers, expanders, etc. Still, occasionally, an active processor plugin pops up and quickly becomes a game changer. One of those processors is the Inflator by Sonnox.  

Inflator by Sonnox

The Inflator is a unique and powerful plugin that increases loudness without sacrificing sonic quality or dynamic range. It is capable of adding power and presence to your mix. Furthermore, it is perfect for helping the vocals cut through the mix. When driven harder, Inflator delivers tube-like musical warmth and provides the 'sonic glue' you need to gel your mix together! Here are some quotations from some of today's top sound engineers: "Inflator is a rare Plugin…I can't live without it. It simply makes everything sound better..." "Just the right amount of Inflator will breathe life into anything you run through!  

Use It on Any Audio Material!

You can use it on any audio material, from individual instruments to mix buses, and it has also been beneficial in the mastering process. Let's start by dropping a new instance of it on the kick drum channel, which is part of a short sequence I have previously made in Soundbridge, and listen to how it sounds unprocessed. 

~Kick Drum - Unprocessed

The Parameters

As you can see, it looks like a simple plugin with few parameters to control, but don't let that discourage you. In its base, it is a loudness maximize, but besides that, it has more functions and psychoacoustic effects on the sound source. It gives you a very straightforward way of improving gain, and it just lifts the stuff in the mix. Let us look at its parameters.

Input: Sets the input level to the Inflator process. For full-level input signals, maximum peak input is obtained with the fader set to 0dB. Further gain beyond is provided to boost the lower level program to full modulation and enable the Inflator to be deliberately overdriven to produce distortion effects.

Effect Fader - Sets the amount of the overall Inflator effect applied to the program from 0% to 100%.

Curve Fader - Modifies the processing characteristics and sonic effect of the Inflator.

Clip 0dB - When this button is selected, internal processing levels are restricted to the equivalent of the average digital maximum. When de-selected, internal processing may develop and process signals beyond the equivalent of digital maximum.

Band Split - Selects processing on the direct full band signal or invokes a band splitting function that processes the signal separately in the LF, MF, and HF spectral regions.

In - This switches the Inflator process in and out for comparison purposes.

Output Fader - sets the output level to allow adjustment of the signal level after processing.  

Audio Examples

Once we covered its parameters, let us move to audio examples. As I mentioned above, I will first use the kick drum. As you can see from the picture below, I have pushed the effect to the maximum while balancing the input and the output. Besides that, I selected the Clip 0 Db option to avoid clipping. With settings like this, the kick drum became more massive and tighter. Additionally, you can hear some warm saturation.

~Kick Drum - Processed with Inflator

After this example, I will add an instance of the Inflator on the master before the limiter to maximize the mix's loudness. Here, the change in the original state of the parameters will be less dramatic than with the kick drum, but you will surely be able to hear the difference before and after the processing with the Inflator.

~Full Mix- Unprocessed

~Full Mix-Processed with Inflator