Creative sound design with mix correction pluginsThe music production world is awash with mix correction plugins, with many using ground-breaking AI that can take a less-than-stellar vocal recording from dud to ‘dude!’ with the click of a button. Elsewhere, de-reverb and stem separation software can pull active sonic elements from a finished track. However, have you ever wondered if they could be used in less corrective and more creative ways? Long answer short: they sure can.

READ MORE: 12 best stem separation software for vocals, ranked

You can use a variety of correction plugins as part of the sound design process. While many will yield crunchy and funky lo-fi artefacts, others can elicit unexpected — and extremely useful — results.
This tutorial heads into experimental territory so be sure to don your cleanest lab coat. You may want to have a few beakers of your favourite spirits on hand as well to encourage out-of-the-box thinking. And don’t worry: if you make a mess, just fix it with the same plugin!
Lossy melodies with stem separation
Stem separation is a popular and powerful type of correction software that splits a piece of audio up into its constituent parts — drums, bass, vocals — and lets you work them individually. RipX DAW Pro from Hit’n’Mix does one better, turning the stems into malleable audio that you can adjust on a per-note basis. What happens if you feed it just a single instrument, like a marimba line with baked-in delay effects?
Start by loading your audio into RipX DAW Pro. It will do its thing, analyzing the audio and then separating it out into individual notes. Move the pieces of audio up and down the piano roll to create a new melody, deleting unnecessary ones as you go. There are a number of pitch effects as well, such as Pitch to Scale, Quantize Pitch and Flatten Pitch. Play around with these until you end up with something you like. Finally, bounce it out and import it into your main DAW project.
While RipX DAW Pro does have a Repair section to reduce artefacts, you can ignore this for this technique. After all, swimmy, low-bit MP3 effects are gaining popularity thanks to plugins such Goodhertz Lossy and Lese Codec. It’s an extreme effect but could be just what your next lo-fi creation needs.

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Transient enhancing with de-reverb
De-reverb plugins are a handy way to remove room sound from vocals, particularly recordings for interviews and podcasts. However, there’s no rule saying they can’t be used on other types of material.
In this example, the De-reverb module from iZotope’s RX 10 Elements does its best to clean up the reverb from a noisy tambourine loop. By tweaking the controls, you can emphasise the transient attack of the tambourine — the portion when the hand strikes the skin — and bring out some lo-fi artefacts in the process.
First, click the Learn button and let the in-built AI listen to the signal. Next, bring up the Reduction slider and adjust the different frequency bands in the Reverb Profile until you’ve brought out the strike of the tambourine. Engage the Enhance dry signal button for a more pronounced effect. Try lowering the Artifact smoothing slider to bring out lo-fi goodness. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!

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Transient smoothing with de-click
In the same way that de-reverb can remove the sustain portion of a signal, so can de-clicking take away the transient. Here, RX 10 Elements De-click from iZoptope is confusing the attack potion of a clave in a loop with a click and doing its best to wipe it away.
Start by placing De-click on the track you want to affect. It’s a pretty simple plugin; just bring up the Sensitivity slider until the transient is suitably smooshed. Try using the Click widening control and changing the algorithm for different results.
For an extreme lo-fi effect, try strapping De-click across an entire drum bus.

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Psychedelic drums with vocal processing plugins
Designed to correct pitch imperfections, vocal processing plugins can work wonders on the human voice. But can they be used on non-vocal material? Percussion sounds tend to not have much pitch information — sounds like the perfect opportunity for experimentation.
While full-on pitch correction like Auto-Tune might not have too much of an effect, there are plenty more plugins in Antares’ Auto-Tune Unlimited suite that do, such as Choir.
Auto-Tune Choir, as the name suggests, is a vocal multiplier. Instead of voices, try running percussion through it, like this conga loop. Turning up the Choir Size to 32 voices creates a psychedelic and tightly delayed drum line. Use the controls in the Variation section – Vibrato, Pitch and Timing – to further tweak out the drums. Results are sure to be unique and unexpected.

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Drum loop tightening with drum removal technology
It may seem paradoxical but slapping a drum removal plugin onto a drum bus can result in some surprisingly useful results. Tightening, levelling and punch-ifying are all possible with judicious use of the technology.
Zynaptiq’s Unmix::Drums is a top-quality plugin for removing or reducing the level of drums in mixed stems. When you put it on a drum bus or percussion loop, as in this example, you can make some interesting adjustments.
Start with the big Drum Level control in the middle and fine-tune it until you have a nice balance of punch and room sound. Use the Attack and Release controls to affect the transient and tail. In the Fine-Tune area, bring up the Bass Synth slider to add power back to the kick drum, if necessary. Finally, engage the compressor and limiter functions at the top for extra punch.

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