What's Iceland's Most Famous Waterfall Got to Do With Saving Your Mixes?

Published: Thu, 05/03/18

Tourists are so hot for Iceland right now it's exhausting.

Whenever somebody excitedly tells me they're going, I tell them,

Don't. It's overpriced and full of tourists.

It's a combination of a joke and a warning. I tell them: if you're going, treat my country well. There are too many idiot tourists out there with no regard for the nature they trod upon. Don't be one of them.

When they inevitably end up going - because the flights are so cheap and they don't realize that it's incredibly expensive to stay there - they all end up at this big waterfall called Gullfoss.

Take a look:

It's beautiful and all, but I've taken so many people here that I would die perfectly happy if I never needed to see this place ever again.

However, imagine my surprise at NAMM last January when I ran into the name Gullfoss on the trade show floor. I round the corner and in big block letters this booth emblazoned with the words GULLFOSS grabs my attention. If there's anything I was NOT expecting to see at NAMM, it was the name of this waterfall.

So naturally, I had to investigate.

Turns out, the guys at Soundtheory had spent the last ten years programming an incredible automatic EQ plug-in they named Gullfoss.

They named the plug-in Gullfoss because of the sound the waterfall makes. When you stand close and listen to the thunderous roar of the water crashing down the cliffs, it sounds like the white noise of all the different frequencies put together.

So because I was Icelandic and entitled, I asked for a review copy.

Since then, I think I've used Gullfoss on all of my mixes. It cleans up the muddiness, tightens the low-end and opens up all my mixes in the highs. It's become my secret weapon on the mix bus and it's been really helpful during mastering as well.

The only downside is that the plug-in doesn't come with any presets, so beginners really need to rely on their ears through extensive A/B comparisons to make sure they're making their mixes sound better. But using your ears is what you should be doing anyway, so it's hardly that big of a problem.

I highly recommend it to anyone looking to level up the frequency balance of their mixes. Best of all, Gullfoss does it all automatically for you!

Download the demo here.

If you like the plug-in and want to buy the full version, the guys over at Soundtheory gave me an exclusive 30% off code for you because you're a subscriber.

Just use the code audioissues30 when you check out to get 30% off Gullfoss. The code only works for the next couple weeks so make sure you use it before then.

Enjoy!

Björgvin