Airwindows Air4: Free Mac/Windows/Linux/Pi CLAP/AU/VST3/VST2/LV2/Rack

I'm pleased and honored to bring you Air4, which extends Air3 in a way that can help people trying my Meter plugin, and unable to get good high frequencies without bombing the slew section with red 'overslew' spikes.

Back in the day, because of natural limitations of analog media and disc mastering, we didn't have extended treble, and yet there were still bright hit records. We more readily hear brightness when it's really upper-mids, but the really high stuff has special characteristics: first, it's harder to hear, and second, it conveys a spatial position in air. That position is 'CLOSE'. Within arm's reach, within a few inches, within a few millimeters… of your eardrum.

This is because air is lossy, but digital isn't. Digital loses nothing, it just adds various distortions while it goes (this is why oversampling fans get excited about that: the extra distortions are rarely nice). For that reason, it's easy to make digital sounds unrealistically 'close', and this characterizes nearly all digital mixing.

We see this in Airwindows Meter as massive red spikes. Because there's absolutely no flexibility or 'glue' to the highs, what happens is you get all the sonic cues of 'far too close to my ear' before you get the brightness lift you're expecting. Air3 only aggravates this: it's based on Kalman filtering, and it can boost ONLY that airy glitter, and then you've got that problem. Fine if you want that effect, but then you're also distorting.

Air is the control for doing that, and Gnd means 'ground' and is literally everything else, so you can also adjust levels with it. Then there's the new controls. DarkF means 'dark filter', and it's the same as the control in Sinew (remember that? you already have it, but I saw it as a tube-fuzz sort of thing). And Ratio is basically a dry/wet for just DarkF, just Sinew (which, when it was invented, didn't get one: really novel stuff often appears as a super minimal plugin first).

As seen in the video, if you adjust DarkF it produces a hard limit on the slews. It defaults to just over 0.5, which automatically stops 'red spikes' in the Slew section of Meter, no matter what treble boost you do. This'll be an aggressive sort of 'glue' for the highs, or a safety highs-restrictor if you want to not mess with the red spikes of brightness.

To use it the way I use it, maybe lower the DarkF a bit, and then sneak Ratio back from full crank. What'll happen is, the spikes will gradually creep up towards their original volume, forming a spread-out cloud rather than a hard clipped line, except they'll be quieter than they were. The idea is to find the loudness you want for these bright peaks, and then work out how wide a range they're to cover. Doing this gives you brightness, but without the brittle harshness of digital treble boosting.

I hope you like Air4! I'm working on ConsoleX every day now, and it'll get there. It's a LOT of work.

[KOSMIKFEADRECORDS]

I'm in tears.. this saved my project. Clients kept insisting on more polish.... 8 plugins later and delicate balancing I couldn't get loud enough... the AI limiter was pumping out artifacts... everything was squashed.. I tried your clippers and saturators.. almost worked..

Then I added air4 POST limiter... added a smidgen of air.. but when I added a bit of the floor we were clipping and suddenly THE EMOTION JUMP3D OUT. WE WERE LOUD AND CLOSE... no warbling.. no artifacts.. just smooth and dynamic and MAXED.

THANKS MASTER. We need you.

[leonaardegraeve]

I’m so happy i stayed to listen to the latest minutes of your What a profound human message! My expertise is on other fields, but you know what, I’m going to follow your humble example! Thanks for all you do, share and give!

[TheNewFlesh]

I've got a tendancy to mix too dark, especially if I neglect to reference other material. Air3 has been a lifesaver in that regard. Instead of fiddling with a high-shelf and risking being too heavy-handed with it, a slight boost of Air or a cut of Ground usually does the trick. Looking forward to experimenting with Air4.

Chris, you're a legend and thank you for all that you do!

[ThisGuyDude]

I used to have 4, 632, 842 plugins. It was overwhelming. I ended up resetting my computer and knocking them all off the box. I picked up a few choice pieces of outboard gear, and now only use Aiwindows and stock plugins. I'm genuinely more happy now and more productive

[metacouture]

Remarkable, in the dictionary sense of the word. No flattery meant. This, and the cards are great for fundraising. Audio finalization (called “mastering”), with presets for established peaks for various “genres, ” or literally, sound envelopes? This is Very popular, with extremely few reputable options under $1000s. The most generous are providing the basic, full app(s) with 50-250 free, essential pre-sets. Then there can be 5., 10. & 20.$ paid audio finalization preset packs by you, for your exclusive remuneration. It all seems an honorable way to be reaching the goals you mentioned. Thank you 🙏 for your work and have the best weekend possible!!! ~ stefan

[iwalkeverdeyazul]

Gracias Cris....es una enorme alegría y bendición tener a un genio de tan alto nivel haciendo estos complementos para el crecimiento ilimitado ...de conocimiento y calidad de audio....estoy maravillado y usando estas creaciones exquisitas...mis respetos y nuevamente agradecido de corazón y oidos por tu dedicación y altruismo para compartir y enseñarnos. Abrazo desde Argentina...tierra de Rock!

[Hordebarraged]

Wow! Thanks for this . Instant hit record rating achieved here!

[Jrel]

This looks amazing; can't wait to test it more!

[Projacked]

Okay....this is genius Chris. Super thanks for all the hard work.

[Mike_Benz_]

Very cool. Thanks again for all your hard work.

[IS-]

Chris, we all wish you many more years of much success and recognition for your work. Beyond that, a huge thank you as always.

[smugglersunion]

Hey just stumbled across this, and wanna say wow, thanks!!

[mediaamigos]

what an incredible tone-shaping tool. i'll use this on anything. you really pushed the sound around, yet most of those settings still sounded really appealing, and all perfectly suitable for different preferences.

i would love to see some jam sessions in the future too. thank you, and good health and happiness to you

[ThisGuyDude]

This is an incredible tool! Thank you so much Chris, I've been able to increase my patreon membership to the next tier. It's still not nearly enough, but I hope to increase more going forward. Air4 + Dubly3 + Discontinuity is a magic chain for the top end. Then, Meter helps to dial in all the deliciousness. You certainly are an inventive creator!

[lorenzocorrias]

This came out at the perfect time! I put it on a master that I was working on and it instantly made it better, thank you Chris!!

[GrensOost]

Chris reads minds, I needed this yesterday on a track with overwhelming overheads and PAM here it is. Genius. Love!!

[lucasturney]

I didn't expect you to drop Phife's name; his death was a sad turn. RIP
I miss Steve because he made me look like a soft-spoken humanist in comparison. Remember his Steely Dan rant? Savage... but accurate. 😂
As always, big thanks for all your hard work, Chris. 🙏

[popwa]

Thank you for your dazzling work, for me you are a legend in the audio world

[neoillogic]

Wow! Yet again and again I have to thank you!

[wearjammincicmusicstudio]

Perfect timing Chris :) I was just mastering a new track over the weekend using Meter and a few sneaky peaks were creeping though when I was trying to get that bit extra on top, but this had completely saved it today and it sounds great now! Thank you so much for all your work, I really dig your views and what you're working toward. Meter has been a big ear opener since it came out. I was horrified at a few of my tracks when I first put them through but when I put others from artists I really like through they came out really well (double horror) So I started working on the top end and realising just how bright I'd got used to working, now after a few weeks I've been able to dial that back and recalibrate my ears so to speak, and its a whole lot nicer and less fatiguing. Thanks again, you're a truly amazing chap creating superb plugins!!