Mixing Night Audio
Fancy introducing some colour back into your plugin life? This multi faceted processor could be just what you need, says Jon Musgrave
Although there are plenty of celeb-endorsed plugins about, these are typically created in collaboration with existing developers. Mixing Night Audio, headed up by producers Ken Lewis and Dom Rivinius, set about this process from scratch, aiming to tap into their own processing chains and settings. The team’s first plugin, 2021’s excellent GreenHAAS, is a multifaceted width enhancement processor and here we are roughly two years later checking out their latest offering. How time flies!
LOLCOMP is a user-friendly channel strip plugin that combines a choice of five compression-based channel strip chains with a 5-part effects section. Each chain has a clear targeted purpose and uses a single control to dial in the amount of processing, with auto gain makeup making level setting pretty straightforward.
In line with the gamified interface, each chain gets its own skin and avatar. At first, this may seem a bit lateral, but the five chains – Smiley, Panda, Kangaroo, Peacock and Dragon – do match their target task. Each mode is selected at the top, and below this, the central amount dial forms the centrepiece of the LOL design with input meter and input level to the left and gain reduction and output level to the right.
Back on the chain gang
We worked our way through the main chains, comparing their performance to the descriptions and are happy to report that each is suitably distinct. Smiley is a reasonably transparent chain that’s ideal for bringing up any instruments. We found the compression didn’t impart too many artefacts even when we tried trickier instruments such as acoustic piano.
Panda beefs up your bottom end using a combination of dynamics and harmonics and adds both depth and presence. We found this worked pretty well with a number of sounds including basslines. But where it really excels is 808s, with added harmonics, a nicely enhanced tail and plenty of sub. We’re not sure we’ve found another plugin that does this so effortlessly thus far.
There’s a lot of levity but make no mistake, under the hood this plugin is packed with quality processing
The third option (Kangaroo) is your punch setting. With a slightly slower attack and medium fast release, it’s designed for emphasising attack. It does this pretty well, and although not as extreme as some of the snappy outcomes you can achieve with certain compressors, for a one-knob design it provides a reliable option on kicks, snares, vocals, basses and more. Peacock, as the name implies, is a beautifying chain, and applies gentle compression and sweetening EQ. It works pretty well on submixes and buses. The final option (Dragon) is pretty aggressive saturation that responds both to the input level and the main dial, wit
