So we're in the middle of audio post work on Day 419, a post-apocalyptic short film where the central character, a journalist, is thinking back to the horror of when it all started – the attacks, the chaos, and the atrocities that followed. In the flashback, she takes a harrowing trip back into the country after reporting on the chaos abroad, resorting to doing broadcasts with her shortwave radio after the grid goes down. The flashbacks are accomplished entirely via sound design during the almost peaceful visual of the opening scene, which implements novisual flashbacks. Only one problem: this idea came up during post, therefore we have zero audio in the can for this and none of us have any kind of shortwave radio broadcasting equipment or the license to use it if we did. I looked through my various array of distortion effects and came up with a few ideas that would get us in the ballpark, but it never really sat right with me. I did a little research and discovered Speakerphone 2, a product created by the convolution masterminds at Audio Ease who created the renowned reverb plugin, Altiverb. I already had respect for these guys, but what I found blew me away.
Speakerphone not only allowed us to create the sound of radio broadcasts with various forms of distortion and interference for each location, it also offered many usable sound effects that allowed us the ability to create an immersive soundscape within a single plugin. But even beyond that, it opened up a world of creative possibilities for me as an audio engineer and changed the way I think about what's feasible to do in post. Having done over 500 audio projects to date, finding a product that alters my decision-making paradigm does not happen very often these days! (For our more visual readers, Speakerphone does for audio essentially what Magic Bullet Looks does for visuals, giving a similar level of control over the different levels of the virtual audio chain that Looks gives to the virtual visual chain.)
Ease of Use
Speakerphone 2 is one of the most versatile, deep plugins I've ever seen, yet remarkably easy to use with an intelligent user interface, lots of well-organized presets, and a help option that will display information on any item you hover your mouse pointer over. A clear, easy to read manual and some great online videos will also help the beginner get familiar with it quickly. Speakerphone's modules and controls are all readily available on a rather large (for a plugin) footprint. This may seem a little daunting at first, but the logical layout and the way the modules interactively 'light up' only when activated will become second nature in no time.
Even some of the more in-depth functionality is made as easy to wield as possible. For example, if you want to set up Speakerphone to automatically alter the amount of GSM compression over time in a mocked up cell phone conversation, simply turn on the Multi LFO module (LFO stands for Low Frequency Oscillator – used to modulate settings back and forth). Drag one of the available LFO 'cables' to the Quality setting in the Telecom module, then select your oscillation shape and set the speed the way you want it. Then back on the Quality setting, you can set the high/low limits of the oscillation – the red overlaid graphic represents the range. I know this may sound a little bit complicated, but, believe it or not, it's actually more streamlined than most other audio apps I've used. After a little practice, the graphic representation of everything helps it flows nicely – and it's really useful in creating more-realistic effects.
Note the overall layout and the preset browser containing a categorized list of presets to the right of the main Speakerphone window. It pops up when you click on the preset name in the main Speakerphone window and stays open until you close it, making it easy to audition various presets very quickly. Also, in this image you can see the red 'cable' used to connect an LFO to a parameter – in this case the Quality setting in the Telecom module.
Depth of Options
Speakerphone 2 has tons of options and versatility. It all starts with the 'raw materials', so to speak: 400 speaker impulse responses, 23 microphones, 106 'Covers' (from blankets to car trunks), 53 rooms and outdoor spaces (taken primarily from the Altiverb library), 5 GB of ambiences and sound effects, and 12 DSP modules offering anything from the sound of old phonographs to cell phone data compression artifacts to more traditional effects, all organized by categories into over 500 presets to help get you started.
With all of that under your fingertips, it bears a bit of explanation as to each sections' use. So I'm going to show you each section of the plugin, along with at least a brief explanation of what it does, and cite some real-world uses. I'll start from the top (literally) of the plugin and work my way down.
In/Out Volume: As you may expect, these controls are used to set the input and output volumes for the plugin. It also allows you to pan your source audio (the audio coming from your track in your DAW – Desktop Audio Workstation – software) left or right to suit. Conveniently, there is an 'Auto Level' option for the input that automatically senses the volume setting needed to get the maximum effect from the plugin yet not overload the output into distortion. Turn it on and play a representative portion of your track through the plugin. Then, after Speakerphone has set the level, turn it off so the level doesn't keep changing throughout the course of playback. Please note this pertains primarily to tracks where the volume remains fairly consistent. If your track doesn't, either manually alter the volume of each segment to where it does, or leave Auto Level on and Speakerphone will level it out, to some extent, for you. Also, note the 'Limiter' option on the output. This does what it implies – it limits the output in such a way as to avoid digital distortion on the output. This can be useful as some of Speakerphone's settings can increase the volume pretty dramatically. However, the Limiter can also be detrimental – if your input volume is set too high, it can squash the output volume so much that it doesn't sound natural any more, and if pushed too much it can sound downright awful. So please be careful. In my opinion, it's better to set the output manually while listening to a representative section, then turn the Limiter on just for safety.
Preset: Click the current preset name to bring up the preset browser. Select a category and then a preset. Also, you can store up to 10 'snapshots' of your settings within each preset, essentially giving you 10 complete sub-presets per preset. You can also go between dry (non-effected) and wet (100% effected) settings or anywhere in between with the Dry/Wet slider. All of this gives you lots of room to play with different settings, save a number of options into different slots, and compare them all during playback. Or, if you need different settings for different sections of your track, save them to separate slots and automate between the various snapshots. Most DAW software will allow you to record your moves and play them back the same way every time.
Speaker: In the image below, you can see the Speaker section below the In, Out, and Preset sections of Speakerphone. This is the heart of Speakerphone, where you select the type of speaker you want your audio to be heard through. Click on the various icons to find the category that suits you: record players, horns, toys, TV sets, computers, headphones, answering machines, the various guitar amps/cabinets, radios, megaphones, walkie talkies, telephones, cell phones, and other miscellaneous speakers. Then click on a speaker model to listen to your audio coming through that speaker/device.
From this image, you can get a feel of how speaker selection is made. Also not the In, Out, and Preset sections across the top portion of Speakerphone's layout.
Distortion: This is a DSP (Digital Signal Processing) module where you can add distortion to your track, creating anything from general fuzziness to realistic guitar pedal distortion with built-in pre-EQ.
Mic: Make your audio sound as if it's being recorded through one of 23 different microphones, from expensive studio classics to common everyday mics.
Room: Choose from a nice sampling of spaces to play your audio back in, from a bathroom to a stadium. This plugin isn't even supposed to really be a reverb plugin, but these spaces are from Audio Ease's own Altiverb library and are top-notch to be sure. This is a convolution reverb, which means that the sound of each space was captured from an actual physical location in the real world, and comes complete with a picture of the location from which each was sampled.
Cover: A clever idea! Adding a cover lets you put a barrier between your speaker/device and the listener. Throw an actress into the trunk of a car – or at least her dialog track anyway – or make a cartoon voice of a mouse sound like it's coming from underneath a plate after being captured.
EQ: If you've done much audio work at all, you're familiar with Equalization (EQ for short). This process allows you to shape the tonal character of your sound by boosting or attenuating certain frequencies you specify. This EQ displays each 'band' separately, which is a little different from most graphic representations of EQ. Most have all of the bands represented in a single graph so you can see the overall 'EQ curve' you are creating while tweaking the settings of multiple bands. I suspect Audio Ease decided on this layout to make it very easy to see what is happening to each band, especially when automating one or more bands either directly or with an LFO. The display method didn't really matter much to me one way or the other, but then I didn't do any heavy EQ automation within the plugin.
The row of processors below speaker selections includes distortion, mic, room, cover, and EQ.
Crush: This reduces the bit rate and/or sample rate of the audio playback, allowing you to recreate a variety of low-fi effects like 8-bit video game sound or the low-quality sound of a walkie talkie transmission, etc. - very cool.
Gate: This is a simple noise gate that either mutes or attenuates the signal when it's volume falls below the threshold. Normally, this is a basic, effective means of making background noise less noticeable if fancier noise reduction software isn't available or if the level of noise is too great for said software to be very effective. In Speakerphone though, where added background noise is usually the order of the day, you can use this gate to re-create the 'ducking' or 'gating' effects often heard in live broadcasts, etc.
Compressor: This reduces the volume of a track when it exceeds the threshold. Depending on how it is set up, it can either make a track sound fuller and more even, or it can completely squash anything coming through it (almost like a limiter set to extreme settings). There are many articles you can find on how and why to set compressors certain ways. Suffice to say that, if used properly, it is a powerful sound-shaping tool, and it's nice to have this utility here.
Gramophone: This is a record player effects simulator, complete with wow and pitch effects to simulate irregularities in the shape of the record, RPM settings, and controls that allow you to set the density and volume of the crackles and ticks in the mix.
Leslie: Leslie speaker cabinets generate that classic pulsing sound, particularly for tone wheel organs such as the Hammond B3, etc. On the inside of a Leslie speaker, there is a rotating horn speaker for mid to high frequencies and a rotating woofer for the low frequencies. Though designed specifically for organ tracks, it's a blast to experiment with running other types of of sounds through this module as well. Nothing says freaky like a voice track put through a Leslie, especially if you “trash it out” first with some of the other Speakerphone modules.
The second row of processors contains goodies like bit-crushing, a noise gate, dynamics compression, record player noise emulation, and a Leslie rotating speaker simulator.
Mod: This module lets you choose between tremolo, chorus, phaser, flanger, and vibrato, useful for all kinds of effects, from subtle thickening to psychedelic inside-out type effects.
Telecom: This is a very fun, and in my experience unique, module that facilitates authentic simulations of cell phone connections by utilizing actual telecommunication industry data compression like GSM and others. All of the audio artifacts we're accustomed to dealing with are there, like repetitions, that liquid-like character that a bad connection sometimes imparts, etc. In addition, this module lets you create synthetic voice effects and robot-like effects.
Delay: Essentially, this is an echo effect that, like all of Speakerphone's time-based effects, lets you sync the echos to a DAW's beat or let it run free of it. This effect can be very useful in expanding the apparent size of the space you're creating by adding a little 'pre-delay' before the reverb in the Room module kicks in. It can also be used to simulate the slapback of sound that occurs when sound is bouncing between buildings in a street scene or in a gymnasium.
Radio Tuning: This module was a life-saver for us while doing audio post for Day 419. As its name implies, this module adds various forms of radio interference/noises to your signal. Like a real radio, the more dialed in you are on Speakerphone's 'tuner', the better the sound quality. Moving the 'dial' horizontally and/or vertically evokes the kind of results you may expect in the real world, from adding subtle amounts of noise to making your track completely unrecognizable. A horizontal movement will add distortion and noise, while a vertical one changes the frequency of inter-modulation side tones. When combined with the band selector popup, you can achieve a number of different types of effects, making the result as realistic as anything short of actually broadcasting you signal and re-recording it in another location to get the proper types of noise, etc. Results become even more compelling when you modulate the settings with a couple of LFO's or actually automate (or 'animate' for you video guys) the settings manually.
Multi LFO: This is the control center for these LFO's I keep mentioning (four of them in all), as well as two Envelope Followers (I'll call them ENV's from here on). As mentioned before, LFO's are very useful to create effects with more of a 'real' or 'human' feel to them because they alter the value of any parameter(s) they are connected to over time, within a designated range. (For our After Effects video folks, this is very similar to using the “Wiggler” in AE.) These values are changed in an oscillating pattern of which you set the speed and shape. An ENV is connected to a parameter in the same fashion but alters the values of the connected parameter(s) based on the volume of the audio. So, if you wanted some bit-crushing type distortion to get worse when your actor's voice gets louder, simply connect ENV1 to the bit depth parameter in the Crush module, tweak the settings a bit, and you got it. If you want to really decimate your audio, connect ENV2 to the sample rate parameter and hit both at the same time. LFO's and ENV's can be connected to multiple parameters simultaneously, which can come in handy. Disconnect an LFO or ENV from a parameter by right clicking (or CTRL clicking) the parameter and selecting “off”. Mastering this modules functionality takes a little practice, but it's well worth it. It takes an already amazing set of tools to another level.
The Mod, Telecom, Delay, Radio Tuning, and Multi LFO modules give you lots of options for sculpting your audio... or mangling it.
Sample Bay: This module is like a 60-track sample playback machine added to all the great effects of Speakerphone 2. You can build environments for the speakers here. Several gigabytes of samples and music are installed with Speakerphone, plus you can drag and drop to/from any window or track in your DAW program. Five tables of 12 samples are accessible at a time for playback via mouse clicks or MIDI. Many of the ambience samples loop, so simply turn them on, set their volume and panning, and you're done. The samples are well-organized into categories, from extras like knobs and closing car doors to ambiences and music, and are usable outside of Speakerphone as well. You can either set a table of samples to be inserted into the audio signal before the speaker and DSP effects mentioned above (“Pre”) or after (“Post”), selected via a convenient drop-down list at the top-right of each table.
The Sample Bay module contains five tables, each of which keeps up to 12 samples at the ready. Use samples installed with Speakerphone in tandem with your own or those from other libraries. Create custom tables to keep all of your favorites in one spot.
Performance
Even with all of the things you can do with Speakerphone 2, the best thing about it is that it actually does what it says it does, and it does it well. Everything sounds stunningly authentic, from the speakers to the spaces to the DSP modules. It just plain works, which is saying a lot in a world where digital processing continues to sound more like real-world hardware but often times still falls short. In several months of heavy use on numerous projects, I never had it crash or freeze. Even with many of the modules turned on and a long reverb selected in the Room module, the plugin didn't use too much CPU power. In fact, in my setup for scene 1 of Day 419, I had 52 (mostly stereo) tracks of audio, 11 instances of Speakerphone plus several other plugins running, and numerous channel EQ's turned on, and was “pushing” the CPU only to about 20% capacity on a Windows 7 PC with a 3GHz Intel i7 and only 6GB of RAM. For everything Speakerphone does, that's pretty efficient, I'd say.
Value
Though a little pricier than some audio plugins you may be considering, if you have need of what Speakerphone can do, you don't have the hardware available to pull it off practically, and you don't want to be pulling your hair out trying to make a number of other processors work together to make it sound realistic, this plugin is absolutely invaluable. No question.
Final Comments If you can't already tell, I was thoroughly impressed with this software. If you have any need for “practical” audio such as putting an actor's voice through a cell phone, making a song play through a radio or phonograph in an adjacent room, or any number of other audio source/environment tricks in post, Speakerphone 2 deserves top consideration for the job.
Ease
of Use
10.0
Depth
of Options
10.0
Performance
10.0
Value
vs. Cost
10.0
Overall Score
9.8
John Howard has been perfecting sound as an audio engineer for over 10 years. When he's not reviewing gear and software for Microfilmmaker Magazine, he's in the studio recording vocalists and bands, as well as doing post for TV shows and films, through his audio post/recording company, Oakwood Sound Design.
So we're in the middle of audio post work on 
