Discovering the UltraFat Compression Preset in Bitwig Studio

Tutorial | Jun 08, 2021

In this video I introduce a new preset called UltraFat that I created in Bitwig Studios. It's an expander that pushes up sound that is above a certain threshold to 0 dB. I use 3 compressors in an FX3 container, and a limiter at the end. I also have a noise and low-fi function, as well as a cross-over knob. I demonstrate how it works by playing a drum loop, and show how it can be used to normalize sound levels. The preset is available to download on my Patreon page, and also on YouTube's community section.

You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon

Questions & Answers #

Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

What is the UltraFat preset? #

The UltraFat preset is a unique sounding preset in Bitwig Studios that utilizes a compressor, an FX3 container with three compressors, a limiter, and a noise function. The compressor is used to push up audio material that is above the threshold until it reaches the ceiling. Additionally, the preset has a low-fi function that uses the DJQ to bring in only the mid-bands slowly, and a cross or X knob to change the cross over frequencies of the FX3.

How does the UltraFat preset work? #

The UltraFat preset works by utilizing a compressor to push up audio material that is above the threshold until it reaches the ceiling. Additionally, the FX3 container with three compressors is used to level out each band to 0 dB. Then, a limiter is used to push everything into a limiter if desired, and a noise function is used to bring in a vinyl noise and then ring modulate without audio signal. The low-fi function uses the DJQ to bring in only the mid-bands slowly, and the X knob is used to change the cross over frequencies of the FX3.

How can I #

Transcription #

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

[00:00.000] Welcome back to another video, and before we start this video, I want to give you a
[00:15.620] disclaimer.
[00:16.620] In this preset, I show you in this video is only available for my Patreons, so we need
[00:21.140] a Patreon subscription to download this.
[00:24.980] Okay, so in this video, it's about the preset called UltraFat, and I discovered this
[00:31.200] the last weeks, because someone asked me about the SP4 or 4 compression algorithm.
[00:38.760] It's kind of a hidden secret how it works, and I try to discover or explore how I can
[00:44.440] achieve something like this in Bitwig, and I discovered something else, which I really
[00:49.360] like, and I'll put this into a preset you can download, and it's called UltraFat.
[00:56.280] And I show you how this looks here in Bitwig Studios, where you can see for yourself.
[01:03.120] So this is the preset here, in the bottom left, and usually when you have a compressor,
[01:13.720] it's like you have a threshold, I have a threshold to here.
[01:17.960] And everything above this threshold is pushed down, but in my case, it's pushed up, and
[01:25.080] it's pushed up until you reach the ceiling with your auto material.
[01:28.520] So every peak that it's above the threshold here is pushed up until you are at 0 dB.
[01:35.400] And this is, yeah, kind of an expander, I think, or maybe it's also a bit of a unique
[01:42.520] sounding preset, so I use also this compressor, I just told you about, in FX3 container.
[01:53.200] So I have basically three compressors inside FX3, leveling out each band to 0 dB.
[02:01.360] And then after this container, I have also, again, this compressor, bringing everything
[02:07.040] down to 0 dB again.
[02:09.640] And we have here a limiter at the end, so you can push everything into a limiter.
[02:13.960] If you want to have it even more fat, even more louder, even less dynamics.
[02:21.560] And there's also a noise function where you can bring in a vinyl noise, which is then
[02:26.320] ring modulated without audio signal.
[02:28.960] And there's a low-fi function here, which is utilizing the DJQ, bringing in only the
[02:36.360] mid-bands slowly.
[02:39.560] And then it's also a cross or X knob, where you can change the yet cross over frequencies
[02:46.920] of the FX3, basically, all two cross overs at the same time.
[02:52.400] You can push it together or you can bring it, make it more wider, basically.
[02:58.840] So you can play around with this to find the sweet spot for your sound material.
[03:03.440] But yeah, this is my initial drum break, I show you how it sounds dry.
[03:15.520] So it's a normal drum break and it sounds kind of dull, it's not leveled out, it's not
[03:22.760] normalized.
[03:23.760] So you can see here is a lot of space between the peaks and the 0 dB line.
[03:29.760] And it maybe also needs some EQing.
[03:34.800] So you can see here it's heavy on the low end.
[03:41.080] So you can maybe add here some EQ to give it some air.
[03:46.520] But this time we just want to use the Ultra Factor, you can see how this works.
[03:50.440] So again, I switched this on.
[03:59.160] So now you can see it's pretty much leveled out here, we have a straight line.
[04:08.240] We don't surpass here or exceed the 0 dB, or we actually don't go into the red at all.
[04:16.680] It's perfectly fine.
[04:19.400] And then if you want to make it more fat or louder, then you can play around with attack
[04:27.960] and decay settings.
[04:50.440] So you can go from, I want to just level out everything to, I will completely want
[04:56.920] to destroy this drum loop.
[05:00.200] And there's also your low fire button, this is how it sounds.
[05:20.160] So basically the threshold I only use to raise the threshold above the noise level, so
[05:27.160] I don't bring in the noise into the calculation of the loudness levels.
[05:33.040] So basically just use this to only use the peaks here of the kick and the snare and
[05:39.400] the hi-ads to make it louder basically.
[05:43.560] And there's also your noise button which brings in a vinyl noise.
[05:53.560] So
[06:21.560] and then you can drive everything into a limiter if you want.
[06:49.960] And there's a volume button at the end so you can be cautious with this because you
[06:55.560] can drive it into the red here.
[06:57.680] It's basically a volume tool at the end so it can change everything loudness wise.
[07:08.440] Okay, so let's try this preset out on some different drum loops.
[07:13.280] So I have here an Apache break.
[07:28.480] Maybe let's do this, make this break up much, much quieter so you can see it's still
[07:34.600] raising the volume.
[08:03.320] So this preset basically tries to normalize all your audio material automatically while
[08:09.520] also containing or trying to level out the frequency spectrum.
[08:39.480] Maybe we bounce this here out so you can see the difference in.
[09:02.800] You can see this is much, much louder, this one is exactly 0 dB.
[09:08.080] So everything is nice and loud and peaky and it's not like it's crushed to death.
[09:14.320] It's more like the volume is just raised and you can decide by using the limiter if you
[09:19.080] want the limiter, the dynamic range even more or if you want to be a bit more loose on
[09:28.280] the compression you have with the gaysetting, so you can also maybe go full on.
[09:46.840] bounce this out, you can see now I feel like a break wall if you want but you don't
[09:53.000] need to do that.
[09:54.000] This is also a practical example you have like multiple bass sounds from different sample
[09:58.760] packs and everyone has a different loudness and different balance spectrum balance, different
[10:06.440] intensity or dynamic range and then you put it all together and it sounds like it's
[10:12.840] just put together.
[10:14.680] So you maybe use your ultra fat on this one.
[10:25.240] So right everything has different loudness levels here, maybe go for small fades everywhere
[10:35.400] then you put this on here and maybe go with the gaysetting all the way down.
[10:57.520] So you get the nice even loudness, I think it's better than just putting a limiter on
[11:04.760] it and just compress everything with this one here, there's at least a calculation between
[11:11.600] the distance of the highest peak and the ceiling and then the volume is raised so it's
[11:16.640] not like limiting, I think it sounds a bit different but you can try it out for yourself
[11:23.000] so maybe join this here so and bounce this down so you can see difference here.
[11:33.680] So right you get from this, you go to this where everything is nice even loud, the frequency
[11:39.600] is balanced nicely and then you can go on and process this even more or put it into
[11:46.400] the sample or something like this.
[11:49.080] So this is the preset in short, the vinyl noise is realized here with the FX grid and
[11:57.200] a sample and it's just mixed in and also I'm using the ring modulation here I think
[12:05.200] AMRM, you know, switch between AM and RM and also change the the blend here, how much
[12:15.960] you bring it in, if you want to have more noise then you can probably just try to hear
[12:20.640] the blend up but I think this is just enough here.
[12:26.760] Yeah, then the compressor itself, you can dissect this then when you download the preset
[12:37.440] but the preset itself or the compressor preset itself is in this FX 3 here as you can
[12:42.960] see for each band and this then levels out the frequency spectrum.
[12:51.200] The DJQ is then here for the low-by effect, I also used this, it's the same concept like
[12:59.120] I did on the SP404 preset and then you have a limiter and a tool.
[13:04.760] So it's not super complicated, the complicated part is basically here to compressor where
[13:10.080] I try to get this thing going in a certain direction.
[13:15.680] I found it quite nice to have, it's maybe not the realest compressor ever.
[13:23.360] It's more like a kind of a unique polarity compressor, me trying to find a solution to
[13:31.400] something and discover something else which I think sounds quite nice or unique so you
[13:36.880] can play around with this, have some fun, maybe give me some feedback if you have something
[13:42.920] you would do differently or you don't like at all then I can change it and update the
[13:47.920] preset along the way.
[13:50.760] So that's basically it, you can download the preset on my Patreon page, the link is there.
[13:58.840] Also if you're a YouTube member you can download also this one in the community section
[14:03.480] here on YouTube and have some fun and give you some feedback of course.
[14:07.280] So thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video, there's I think a new video
[14:13.280] coming tomorrow, kind of in tutorial so useful for everyone, okay.
[14:19.880] Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video, bye.