Dangerous Music S&M

For years engineers have been wondering what kind of secret processes have allowed certain big-name mastering houses to deliver better, louder and more refined sounding tracks.  The secret weapon is analog sum and difference processing and the Dangerous Music S&M delivers its power to any engineer looking for an edge.

Your mix is perfect, but the vocal is too soft?  You nailed it, but on second listening, the drum overheads are too bright?  Want to add bottom to the guitars on the sides without adding mud to the bass and kick in the middle?  De-ess that vocal without making the keyboards dull?  Got a great mix but everything is panned too hard?

We say it isn’t over, even after it’s over.  The Dangerous S&M separates any stereo track into a center and side matrix so you have previously unattainable control over the entire stereo field.

• Unprecedented control of your mixes
• Separately process the center & the sides of stereo pairs
• Powerful stereo image width control
• Insert loop for analog outboard processing

The Dangerous Music S&M is an analog sum and difference (mid-side) processor designed to allow engineers unprecedented control over their stereo information. The potential of what the S&M can do is only limited by one’s outboard collection and imagination.  The avenues for crafting sound through inserting compression, limiting, EQ, de-essing and other types of processing are virtually endless.

Mastering engineers will enjoy the fact that S&M allows them to save seemingly unsalvageable tracks by altering vocal levels without remixing, by fixing overly wide or narrow stereo fields, or by de-essing aggressive cymbals while leaving the center of the mix untouched.

The mixing engineer can use the Dangerous Music S&M to extract the snare drum from a washy overhead pair, enhance the width of anemic stereo synths, or custom design the stereo image of the mix without altering the tonal content.

Other fun and useful things to do in the mix room include aggressively limiting the center of a drum overhead pair while leaving the sides open and sparkling, without collapsing the width of the image... or how about running some reverb and effects returns through S&M and opening up the width control?  In surround widening the rear channels creates impressive soundstage and depth, all done with cutting edge analog circuitry and without trickery.

Assembled by hand using the highest quality components and a no-compromise attitude the Dangerous Music S&M is the missing stereo link for any serious mixing or mastering engineer.

• 100% analog signal path
• Incredibly clean and quiet
• Repeatable controls

Specifications (preliminary):

• Nominal operating level: +4dBu
• THD+Noise in audio band: 0.003%
• IMD 60Hz, 4kHz, 4:1: 0.004%
• Maximum level: +22dBu
• Dynamic Range: >114dB
• Sum/Minus channel separation: > 78dB
• Minus channel level accuracy: 0.02dB
• Warranty: Two years parts and labor, subject to inspection. Does not include damage incurred through abusive operation or modifications/attempted repair by unauthorized technicians.