On 95% of recent banging music, I would clearly go for the processed version. Sometimes the processed version is way better than the original, sometimes the original sounds a bit better, clearer. Strictly speaking, from an audiophile point of view, most the tracks sound somehow different. Songs which did not go through dynamics processing sound a bit more full, but nothing extravagant. The more butchered at the mastering stage a track was, the more obvious this effect is.Įditors note (given how over compressed everything is ala “Justice” this could be a godsend for achieving a normal sounding electro set) When a song hits after a break, it hits, when previously- it just went on. The different parts are well balanced and have more relative volume. Many over mastered tracks have some contrast added and really do sound better than the original. This translates well on a big system so you really need a sub or big speakers to enjoy what PN does to your music. The processing has evolved since version 1.0, and is now a bit more bass heavy. On the various tracks I tried PN on, the end result taken track by track is really good most of the time when doing an A/B. The input volume of the compressor is set by the average volume of the track. If the track average volume looks bad enough, then its run through an compressor. The track will have its overall gain adjusted with a gentle IRC limiter. If the dynamics of a selected song are correct then nothing is done. To do an A/B test in Traktor, load both tracks, turn on the auto-gain, loop the tracks, phase them, and use the crossfader. Here is a sample clipped track, and then the result when ran through PN:
I then did an A/B listening test with Traktor, and there sure was some harshness removed. I tried to clip to death a good track, run it through PN, and then watch for the clipped peaks in Logic, but since other processing has been done, it wasn’t very obvious. Some of my Beatport MP3s had more than 2000 clipped peaks according to PN! There are usually from 10 to 50 in any recent track. Trying to use the auto gain function of Traktor with tracks adjusted in Platinum Notes often show a slight disagreement, and sometimes a large one. The results are very good and every track is spot on volume wise so you can forget about your gain knob. Platinum Notes on the other hand can work on MP3, m4a, wav or aiff. There are some apps that do that already, like MP3gain, but only works with mp3 and can take a lot of time. Your faders then have the same range, and there is no embarrassment when suddenly dropping a track that’s too loud or too soft. It is very useful to have your tracks ready to play at the same apparent volume.
#Platinum notes software
So, does it work as advertised? I’ve tried the software on numerous tracks, like Beatport MP3, ripped CDs, and on various musical genres, from pumping techno to disco.