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Post by jcoutu1 on Jul 23, 2019 8:17:12 GMT -6
Hey Guys, Let's say you've been recording analog for the past 15 years and you are switching to Pro Tools and are going to be mixing in the box. Which plugins would be your must buy purchases to get going? Don't tell me just use the stock plugins. Don't say, bro, use Logic instead, it's got everything. Blah, blah, blah.For me right now. - Wave Arts Mr. Noise - Was forgetting this babe. Thanks wiz ! This makes the blacks blacker.
- Fab Filter Mastering Bundle - Pro-Q3 is worth every cent. Super flexible. The dynamic section brings a whole new element. Pro-C2 gets used often for utility leveling. Pro-L2 locks in single channels for me (often on kick and snare and catching peaks on busses) and makes my masters as loud as they need to be. I mainly work in modern styles and can push DR5 without blinking an eye (if needed).
- Soundtoys Bundle - Effects galore. I think effects make or break a mix.
- PSP 2445 - Beast snare reverb.
- Trigger - Self explanatory.
- Waves R-bass - Adds fatness to kicks and bass. Just a dab'll do ya.
- Waves Aphex Exciter - Crack and cut on kick and snare.
- Waves API / SSL - Great utility eq's for shaping or bite. Compressors are good on the drum and 2-buss.
- Waves CLA Compressors - 76, 2a, 3a - All sound decent.
- Arouser - Love the saturation with this.
- Nimbus - Great, natural sounding reverb. Often I'm using this to just add a touch of air to things.
- bx_Stereomaker - Great for taking a lead part and adding a bit of stereo width. Really handy tool.
- bx_Control_V2 - I use this all the time for checking phase.
- Ampeg V4B - Demo'd this and needed to have it. Has that Ampeg tone to it. Can get grindy. Really cool sim.
- Sound Radix Auto Align - Great for lining up multi kick mics. Multi mic'd amps. Snares.
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Post by svart on Jul 23, 2019 8:26:00 GMT -6
Waves L1, C4, Rbass are must haves. Melodyne is a must-have but also infuriating at the same time. I use the SSL version of the 4K console EQ/Compression but I think Sonnox or Waves versions are probably almost identical.
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Post by Chad on Jul 23, 2019 9:38:38 GMT -6
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Post by ragan on Jul 23, 2019 10:09:31 GMT -6
Software go-tos for me:
FabFilter: ProQ3 ProDS ProL
Bx SSL E or G
Cytomic The Glue
Slate bundle or:
D16 Repeater/Soundtoys Echoboy PSP Vintage Warmer Liquidsonics Lustrous Plates one of the other Liquidsonics reverbs Softube FET Compressor something Pultec-y (PSP NobleQ for native on the cheap)
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Post by tasteliketape on Jul 23, 2019 10:14:34 GMT -6
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Post by spradingaling on Jul 23, 2019 10:47:40 GMT -6
Bx SSL E Bx Townhouse Waves API Bundle Waves C4 Waves CLA Compressor bundle The Soundtoys Bundle (at least Decapitator and Echoboy) Trigger Valhalla Vintage or Room Verb Waves L1 or L2 Ozone 8 Oakesound Soothe Some sort of Autotune plugin
Should be more than sufficient to make some music sound good.
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Post by brenta on Jul 23, 2019 10:56:51 GMT -6
If I were to do it over again maybe I would just get a Fabfilter bundle, the Soundtoys bundle, the Slate subscription, and a few TDR plugins. But I do think the UAD plugins smoke the Slate plugins sonically and I really dig the low-latency direct monitoring and DSP offload that UAD offers, and how easy it is to set up cue mixes. It's a great alternative to Pro Tools HD/Ultimate and having an analog console. There's still a few Waves plugins I use here and there--Abbey Road Plates and Aphex and RVox come to mind.
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Post by lpedrum on Jul 23, 2019 11:01:41 GMT -6
My must haves: Valhalla Vintage PSP Fetpressor Isotope RX Klanghelm MJUC
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Post by drbill on Jul 23, 2019 11:07:41 GMT -6
I'm using hardware inserts for most stuff, but there ARE some plugin Must Haves for me :
Soundtoys Decapitator Line6 EchoFarm - MUST HAVE LX480 verb Valhalla Delay FabFilter ProL
There's probably a handful more, but those are what immediately come to mind.
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Post by christopher on Jul 23, 2019 11:08:21 GMT -6
I don't know if the pro's really pile on as many plugins as they show in the videos? If they are being honest, then its all about piling on and on.
In that case, for ITB then the top (paid) pro's need (and hence a struggling pro would really need): - as many compressors as you could get from UA, wavs, Slate, ...including CLA / Rvox etc.. - all the de-essers etc.. - at least 8 different limiters - autotune or whatever - drum trigger - a nice reverb, a nice delay. - might as well throw some tape sims on while you are at it
Then on every track, pile them on and on, each plugin light and try to make it so it doesn't sound heavy handed. good luck!
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Post by drbill on Jul 23, 2019 11:38:52 GMT -6
If they are being honest, then its all about piling on and on. ! IME, the more plugs you pile on, the flatter and more 2D things become. My experience.
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Post by christopher on Jul 23, 2019 11:57:35 GMT -6
My experience too! Well in their case the video source tracks are always: great talent+good room+great mic+great preamp+(whatever else). So they start with a great, 3D sound. And then what I've seen is they'll run the plugins where its like the plugins aren't doing almost anything... Barely see the meters move, "ok that plugin is maxed out.. put another one on", same thing. So I think they are trying to save the sound from being destroyed by plugins? (or sell more plugins:D) But I don't know. I just use outboard
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Post by christopher on Jul 23, 2019 12:22:14 GMT -6
softube "saturation" is handy when you need to thicken up stock plugins, and when you can only work ITB. I'd use it very gently and in parallel/ filtered for just certain parts of the spectrum. At first it seems awesome, but a guitar pedal sounds better so keep that in mind.
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Post by mrholmes on Jul 23, 2019 13:00:58 GMT -6
Most of the time I use hardware plug-ins too. But a few software plugs are nice.
Saturation Mud, Dirt.
Slate Revival Slate VTM. Klanghelm MUJC Airwindows Bus-Colors4.
EQs
Logic Stock Deesser (WOW) EQ Brainworx SSL-E. Stock LogicX. Slates Custom EQ
Compression - Limiting
Some Airwindows compressors blow everything I know. They have a tone. Ozone Limiter.
Verb + Delay + Special FXs
Valhalla Vintage Verb Liquid Sonics7H Lexicon PCM 96 Liquid Sonics / Slate Verb Suite Classic. Great EMT 140 IRs for Space Designer.
Airwindows Wide. Modulation FXs Stock Logic.
Repeater Slate Bundle Stock Logic Tape Delay and Stereo Delay.
Mixing ITB I highly recommend using one hardware tool on the 2 BUS. Inserting it is a joke, it takes 5 minutes.
MH
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Post by mrholmes on Jul 23, 2019 14:41:03 GMT -6
I don't know if the pro's really pile on as many plugins as they show in the videos? If they are being honest, then its all about piling on and on. In that case, for ITB then the top (paid) pro's need (and hence a struggling pro would really need): - as many compressors as you could get from UA, wavs, Slate, ...including CLA / Rvox etc.. - all the de-essers etc.. - at least 8 different limiters - autotune or whatever - drum trigger - a nice reverb, a nice delay. - might as well throw some tape sims on while you are at it Then on every track, pile them on and on, each plugin light and try to make it so it doesn't sound heavy handed. good luck!
this one made my day special the last line is classic.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2019 15:11:29 GMT -6
Soundtoys bundle for sure. If anything, they significantly increase the fun part of mixing. At least get the Decapitator and the Echoboy (as mentioned).
Louder Than Liftoff Chop Shop plugin is just about my favorite thing ever right now. It's kind of mind blowing how something so simple can do so much cool stuff.
Valhalla Room. Beats the shit out of other room emulators I've tried (not many, so I'm no expert) and is dead simple to use.
The Empirical Labs Arouser is rad too. Big feature set, but still intuitive to use. Has been a good problem solver for me. Can do that room explosion thing too.
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Post by Guitar on Jul 23, 2019 15:26:50 GMT -6
• Softube Tape - run it on all your (my) inputs to "track to tape" on everything. I started on drums only then moved to every channel. • Klanghelm MJUC plus RVox - vocal compressor • Exponential Audio Nimbus, R4, Eventide Tverb, Abbey Road or Soundtoys Plates- Reverbs, possibly an IR reverb also. • 1176 from UAD and/or Arturia. Or the one in the Waves Scheps Omni Channel • dbx compressor from Arturia and/or Native Instruments VC160 • SSL Channel from Brainworx. Console N also for Neve strip. • API EQs from UAD. • Ampeg bass amps from UAD and/or Plugin Alliance • H Delay, UAD Precision Delay (free), Echoboy • Waves Sibilance De-Esser. Works as well as Pro DS but I got it for free, Pro DS is much more expensive. • Fabfilter Pro Q3. I have tried to find a cheaper alternative but I simply can't find anything this good. • SoundToys SieQ, PSP E27, UAD Neve 1073 and Helios - character EQs • If you need a channel / individual track limiter I like the bx_Limiter a lot • Decapitator I guess for crunch. • bx Bassdude, Waves PRS Supermodels, Positive Grid Bias 2, that ought to cover your guitar amp needs, add some Own Hammer IR packs. • Grab the Arturia V Collection for a drum machine, and all the keyboard sounds you might generally need. More than you need, really. • Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering, UAD Chandler Curve Bender, Elysia Museq, bx Digital V3 - take your pick for master bus EQ • might look at the bx Dangerous BAX EQ also, just started using this for broad strokes • elysia mpressor for character compression • UAD SSL bus compressor, or the Townhouse as an alternate, TDR Kotelnikov as a clean/cheap option. Cytomic Glue works OK if you don't have UAD. • Newfangled Audio Elevate Limiter bundle I haven't found anything better. Used to use Pro-L. • SIR Standard Clip Pro if you need to clip for loudness or saturation. • BX Control V2 for stereo widening, mono-maker, and metering of final loudness.
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Post by chessparov on Jul 23, 2019 15:46:01 GMT -6
For a technophobe like me, I hope to advance to just a simple UA Arrow type device, with the included UA plugins. Then supplement with some of the cool freebies... Chris
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Post by Guitar on Jul 23, 2019 16:04:20 GMT -6
For a technophobe like me, I hope to advance to just a simple UA Arrow type device, with the included UA plugins. Then supplement with some of the cool freebies... Chris Cool freebie: Luftikus EQ I think it's even better than the $ Maag EQ4 and it's modeled after the same hardware. Love this one.
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Post by chessparov on Jul 23, 2019 16:55:04 GMT -6
Thanks! I'm working through the MultitrackStudio included plugs, right now-which are quite nice. Definitely good enough for high quality demos. Chris
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Post by Guitar on Jul 23, 2019 16:59:11 GMT -6
Thanks! I'm working through the MultitrackStudio included plugs, right now-which are quite nice. Definitely good enough for high quality demos. Chris The free Melda and TDR bundles are both worth checking out as well
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Post by drbill on Jul 23, 2019 18:54:10 GMT -6
Louder Than Liftoff Chop Shop plugin is just about my favorite thing ever right now. It's kind of mind blowing how something so simple can do so much cool stuff. . Oops! Yeah, I knew I would forget something. This is a plugin that I can use with abandon - and do. It's not heavy handed, does pretty much exactly what the hardware does - due to both being uber transparent - and is a mega versatile tool for me. HPF and LPF ing most everything in the mix. Or at least 60% of stuff.... I only wish it had trim and polarity tagged on to it. Would save an insert for me.
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Post by subspace on Jul 24, 2019 0:08:53 GMT -6
Hey Guys, Let's say you've been recording analog for the past 15 years and you are switching to Pro Tools and are going to be mixing in the box. Which plugins would be your must buy purchases to get going? Don't tell me just use the stock plugins. Don't say, bro, use Logic instead, it's got everything. Blah, blah, blah.For me right now. - Wave Arts Mr. Noise - Was forgetting this babe. Thanks wiz !
- Fab Filter Mastering Bundle
- Soundtoys Bundle
- PSP 2445
- Trigger
- Waves R-bass
- Waves Aphex Exciter
- Waves API / SSL
- Waves CLA Compressors
- Arouser
- Nimbus
- bx_Stereomaker
- bx_Control_V2
- Ampeg V4B
IK Tape Machine Collection Waves CLA MixHub That gets me real comfortable, real quick.
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Post by mrholmes on Jul 24, 2019 2:56:40 GMT -6
BTW if we talk about must haves... How dare I was to think the Valhalla Plate is just "another" Plate Plug in. Sean must be crazy - in a positive way!
Changing the plates material it changes the plates dynamic behavior too. That sounds sweet special if you like some old school sound feeling, like I do.
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Post by gouge on Jul 24, 2019 6:08:34 GMT -6
i'm currently exploring fully itb mixing. other than comp/eq/delay/reverb a lot of the plugs I use do things only plugs can do. 2 plugs on the to try list are Softube 1176 and Lindell 354e
Tools and Channels
BX Cleansweep - first plg on every channel BX Meter - I use this to check levels between plugs, on busses etc. Waves Vocal Rider - amazing plug on vocals or for controlling instruments that get too loud. Waves Tune - amazing Waves Z-Noise - holly shit has this saved me. tip is to use the listen function then apply a high shelf in the eq to taste. Izotope neutron - I use this to test ideas and get some ai input with regards the spectrum analysis Izotope Ozone - I master with this Airwindows Purest Gain - I use this to drive plugin inputs or add / reduce reaper channel gain. this has replaced reaper gain knobs for me. Airwindows Paul Dither - on every channel GoodHertz Midside Matrix - midside for stereo miking or adjusting mix width SPL Deverb - for fixing bad tracking choices. Elysia Niveau Filter - kind of a tilt eq but more.
EQ
Boz Hoser - 4 band para eq. sounds great. has very handy shelfs great on e guitars and vocals TDR Vos eq - does anything eq. lpf is excellent and it adds air and sheen. I like it on acoustic instruments. tip is turn off the auto makep gain if using for mixing. Lindel TE-100 - stuff sounds great just running through this eq. excellent buss and mastering eq Acustica Coral2 - great warmth when driven. buss eq Acustica Basstard - great warmth when driven. buss eq. I use it in series with coral GoodHertz tilt shift - this thing has some really cool presets for changing sounds. does mike emulation which is cool
Compressor
Drawmer s73 - brighter compressor that works anywhere especially on vocal with the mix knob or for adding ambience and sparkle to acoustic instruments. I should prob try the multiband version. Klanghelm MJUC - works everywhere. great compressor. sounds fantastic. this and an 1176 will cover everything. Stillwell Major Tom - dbx style compressor. adds punch and brings things slightly forward. drums, vocals etc. Waves CLA76 - adds splat, bite, brightness and everything you expect and 1176 to do. I find it too noisey so I turn off the analogue stuff. I like it but onto the softbe version next Waves API2500 - great buss comp. can be transparent or slamming and adds sparkle Sonic Anomaly S.LA.X - great for smoothing out stuff. TDR Kotelnikov - transparent flexible comp that also can do ssl type stuff if pushed.
Distortion
Klanghelm IVGI2 - fantastic distortion for cleaner mixes. there is an in-out meter function that gives this an edge for gain staging. used on acoustic guitar it smoothes out the transients. Softube Saturation knob - adds bite to stuff or helps cut through the mix like vocals or snare.
Tape
Airwindows To Tape 5 - only tape thing I've used that sounded like tape.
Reverb
Liqud Sonics Seventh Heaven - awesome real sounding reverbs. Softtube TSAR 1R - awesome outboard rack sounding reverbs TAL Reverb ii - thick reverbs to big and lush.
Delay
Airwindows Purest Echo - clean delay JS Delay with Stereo bounce - clean stereo delay
Effects
Stillwell Ozzifier - add voices to thicken stuff like BV.
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