Producer David Bendeth and Boz Digital Labs teamed together to offer the +10dB Channel Strip and bundle. This is a plug-in processor modeled on the famed ADR F769X-R Vocal Stresser. Although the original British hardware unit was a single-channel processor, the +10dB plug-in emulation can be used as a stereo or mono instance in AAX, VST, and AU in MAC and PC host DAW systems. The bundle also includes separate +10dB Compressor and +10dB Equalizer sections as plug-ins; both also very useful as well.
The original ADR F769X-R Vocal Stresser unit combined the hardware ADR F760X-RS limiter, compressor, gate and expander, with a semi-parametric four-band equalizer. The equalizer can be connected before, after or in the side-chain of the limiter/compressor.
Like the original units, the sounds possible with +10dB are bold, powerful and not subtle. When placed on stereo room drum tracks I had recorded in Pro Tools 11 HD, I found the +10dB to be explosive and sound similar to what is possible with the hardware unit. The Boz Digital Labs +10dB plug-in bundle sells for $199.
Barry Rudolph is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs, and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and loves teaching audio engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. barryrudolph.com
