New Software Review: Slam XL by Beatskillz

With Slam XL, Beatskillz provides easy access to a slew of tools for fattening your mix bus (and any other tracks). Should it find a home in your arsenal?

Slam XL is a new channel and bus “fattener” from Beatskillz, owned by Beatfactory Academy, one of the top music production and sound engineering schools in the world.

It is based on Beatskillz’ best-selling Slam Pro plug-in, and offers controls for EQ, saturation, compression, limiting, and stereo expansion in one intuitive interface.

Designed to deliver professional results quickly and easily, Slam XL offers simple controls and a wide array of presets designed by the pros at Beatskillz. We put Slam XL to the test with five common mixing tasks—continue reading to see how it performed.

Features

Slam XL is broken up into six sections. On the left, you’ll see familiar controls for a three-band parametric EQ. Fine-tune the frequency response of your tracks with Q, gain, and frequency controls for each band. Clean up the low-end with a 12 dB slope high-pass filter, selectable at 30, 50, or 100 Hz.

You can monitor your levels using the intuitive three-way meter in the center section, with input levels on the left side, output levels on the right side, and gain reduction in the center. Adjust your levels using the input and output knobs at the bottom of the device, and dial in the perfect amount of processing with the wet/dry mix knob.

Add everything from subtle analog saturation to full-on tube distortion using the Saturation module in the center section. There are six different saturation types to choose from, each modeled after a different analog signal processor for authentic tone.

You can quickly add compression to tracks with four simple controls: threshold, ratio, attack, and release—designed to add punch to transients, balance dynamic performances, and add glue to busses. There is also a one-knob limiter on offer to quickly increase loudness on your mix bus or even individual tracks.

In addition, you can add width and depth to tracks with the three-band stereo expander. Simply select your crossover points and pan the low, mid, and high frequencies to the middle or sides of the stereo spectrum.

In Use

Starting with the drums, I used Slam XL’s EQ section to add some thump to the kick at 120 Hz, some snap to the snare at 1.5 kHz, and some sizzle to the cymbals at 10 kHz. I used saturation setting 2 at 50% to add a little grit, and added some glue to the kit with a small amount of slow attack/fast release compression. I used the stereo expander to make frequencies below 200 Hz mono, and add width to frequencies above 8 kHz.

I took a similar approach to the bass, adding some lows at 80 Hz, cutting quite a bit of mud at 500 Hz, and adding a significant boost at 10 kHz to bring out the detail in the strings. I maxed the saturation knob on setting 3 to add some subtle harmonic enhancement. I found that settings 1-3 were much more subtle, while settings 4-6 created more notable distortion. I used super-fast attack and release times on the compressor with a ratio of 4:1 to apply moderate compression. This balanced the dynamics and brought out the attack of the pick.

For the guitars, I used the EQ to cut a little mud around 200 Hz, add a little bark around 500 Hz, and add a little sparkle around 12 kHz. I added a healthy dose of saturation on setting 4 to emulate the classic sound of analog tape machines, and used moderately fast attack and release times on the compressor to emphasize the chord stabs.

For the synth, I used the EQ to cut everything below 200 Hz, added a little bite around 2.5 kHz to help the melody cut through the guitars, and a healthy dose of 10 kHZ for air. I added some analog grit with the saturation knob at 50% on setting 2—just to try a different setting. I squeezed the synth with a small amount of soft, gentle compression, and then used the stereo expander to make everything below 500 Hz mono, and spread everything above 5 kHz to the sides.

For the mix bus, I kept things simple with a few subtle EQ boosts, some gentle bus compression, and a little bit of saturation setting 6 to emulate the sound of tape. I also used the stereo expander to make everything below 80 Hz mono and add a subtle spread to frequencies above 8 kHz.

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To Be Critical

The first thing I noticed about Slam XL is the amount of clicks it took me to dial in the sound I wanted. The default patch loads with every module bypassed and the wet/dry controls set to 50/50. After spending a few moments wondering why I wasn’t hearing any changes, I engaged each module, set the mix knob to 100% wet, and saved a new default patch so I wouldn’t have to waste time repeating this process whenever I load a new instance of the plug-in.

Once I started experimenting with the EQ, I realized there is no crossover between the three bands. The bass band ranges from 50 – 200 Hz, the mid band covers 500 Hz – 4 kHz, and the top band overs from 5 – 15 kHz, making it difficult to hone in on certain frequencies. I also noticed that the default Q position for each band is set to 5, which causes notable resonant peaks when boosting signals. Since Slam XL is designed as a bus processor, I dropped the Q value down to 1 on each band for a more gentle sound and saved a new default patch (again). There are also no options for shelf EQ shapes, which is kind of disappointing since you’re already limited to 50 Hz – 15 kHz.

The saturation section offers six analog-modeled algorithms for different sounds, ranging from the subtle to the extreme. Unfortunately, there’s no information on exactly which devices were modeled. I was able to determine that setting 4 emulates the sound of analog tape, setting 5 models the sound of a FET circuit, and setting 6 simulates the sound of analog tubes. I assume that settings 1- 3 model common analog transistors and transformers.

I also had a hard time dialing in the right amount of compression. I found it was difficult to see how much I was actually compressing, as the LED meter has no labels. To make matters worse, the amount of compression varies drastically at the extremities of the attack and release settings. With the slowest attack and fastest release, I found it almost impossible to apply gain reduction, even with the input and threshold controls pegged.

Ditto for the limiter. The one-knob controls are convenient, but there’s no way to meter the amount of limiting, or even see when the limiter is engaging. There’s also no way to adjust the output ceiling, knee setting, or attack and release times.

The stereo expander was useful, but it’s more of a Mid/Side processor as there’s no phase processing or stereo enhancement happening. And finally, there’s also no way to re-order the modules. Each signal follows the same signal chain of EQ, saturation, and compression.

Summing it Up

While Slam XL’s limited controls keep it from being an effective all-in-one channel strip, it does offer an impressive saturation section. If you’re in the market for a versatile saturation device to fatten up your busses, Slam XL offers six different options to choose from. While the additional features are handy to have at the ready, you probably already have plug-ins that offer more flexible options for EQ and dynamics processing.

Slam XL is currently available for purchase on the Beatskillz website for $149, with discounts available for owners of Beatskillz’ previous Slam series plug-ins, Slam Dawg and Slam Pro. You can also check out Slam XL for yourself with a free fully-functional trial.

Brad Pack is an award-winning audio engineer and writer based in Chicago, IL. He currently owns and operates Punchy Kick, a professional mixing and mastering studio that specializes in pop punk, emo, punk, grunge, and alternative music.

He has been helping artists connect with fans through emotionally resonant mixes, cohesive masters, and insightful guidance for over 10 years. Check out his website PunchyKick.com or say hi on Instagram @PunchyKick.

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