Most indispensable Plugins for mixing

[Daniovan]

What are your fav plugins for mixing ?

IIEQPro (ddmf) I just love this eq
Kotelnikov GE (great compressor with fantastic features)
L3 multi-maximizer (Waves)
SPAN (Voxengo) Frequency analyzer

Although I have many other plugins I always end up using
those

That´s it

[Daniovan]

Anyone using tape sim, console sim or stereo width plugins or multiband comps, dynamic eqs ?

[lolilol1975]

I believe I've seen threads like that in the past, do a search.

[Pinknoise]

Tape sim rarely. Ferric TDS is good but I find the tone does'nt work on everything.Waves Kramer tape souds great but same thing, it has so much character I changes the sound a lot and does'nt fit everything.
What I do like is Kclip from Kazrog ! That I find very good on drums and master bus !

I like Sknote Strip for console emu. My favorite EQ is MautodynamicEQ from Melda. I have analyser, de-esser and eq in one and auto correction etc... lots of stuff in one plugin. Just bought C6 from waves. I used Xcomp but it's so ugly..lol ! For stereo width I'd use Melda Mstereospread Or Mstereoexpander wichever sounds best on the material.

[Obicere]

Tape sim etc.?

Today I'm using Ferric, NLS, EMI TG12345, VComp, VEQ4, VEQ3.

[reapercurious]

I've demoed probably every plugin i could get my hands on.

Reaplugs are all I need to mix. I prefer to keep it simple, and Reaper is just a blockbuster of a DAW that should be kept an insider secret since it probably does more harm to the market than even piracy does.

[beingmf]

Anything Acustica Audio.

[FKAB]

Originally Posted by Obicere

Tape sim etc.?

Today I'm using Ferric, NLS, EMI TG12345, VComp, VEQ4, VEQ3.

Do I need an Ilok for the TG12345? It's available for €69 here. I er "demo-d" it recently and it's the biz.

[Daniovan]

Originally Posted by FKAB

Do I need an Ilok for the TG12345? It's available for €69 here. I er "demo-d" it recently and it's the biz.

EMI TG12345 Channel Strip (Waves) ?

Waves is without i-Lok.

Reaper plugins work well on single tracks, but not my first choice on master track/bus.

[Win Conway]

While i actually hate recommending these A-holes, the Komplete FX from NI are my main stay.

[Magicbuss]

I do mainly rock recordings and mixes with live acoustic drums. Most of the following plugs get used on every mix.


EQ - lately I've been using Slick EQ GE and Nova GE
Track Comps - NI vintage comps (2A and 76)
Buss comp - The Glue
Delay - H Delay
Verb - Valhalla plate, Phoenixverb
Saturation - Reelbus, Satson, SDRR
Drums - Trigger 2, Drum Leveler, Auotalign (I mix lots of crappy drummers, recorded in crappy rooms, playing crappy drums)
Drum Samples - That Sound
Transient shaper - Transient master
Clipper - Gclip
Pitch correction - Melodyne
De-esser - Sibalance
VU Meter - Stereo Channel
Analyser - Span

[Magicbuss]

Originally Posted by Daniovan

Anyone using tape sim, console sim or stereo width plugins or multiband comps, dynamic eqs ?

Yes. I use all of those except MB comps. I cant get them to work for me so I use dynamic EQ instead. Similar results but much easier for me to wrap my head around.

Stereo widening tends to get used sparely and subtley but its often used on BGV's and/or hard panned guitars. I typically dont go beyond 110% width unless I want a crazy "outside" the speaker effect for a brief moment.

[serr]

Most indispensable for mixing as in most used/needed to make a mix?
A basic channel eq for cuts as needed: ReaEQ


Most indispensable as in no other version of the particular plugin is as good as this specific example?

Universal Audio's multiband comp.
This comes up more in restoration work than normal mixing but no other multiband I've used comes close.


I assume it was more the first thing meant. I could make a full mix with just ReaEQ available. It would be a stretch with no eq's no matter what else was there.

Didn't Fleetwood Mac decide they were going to make an album mix with no eq, just pure mic technique? They spent a lot of time working that out with different mics and placement and so forth. Then they finally used eq and mixed their album.

[mibo1022]

Originally Posted by serr

Didn't Fleetwood Mac decide they were going to make an album mix with no eq, just pure mic technique? They spent a lot of time working that out with different mics and placement and so forth. Then they finally used eq and mixed their album.

LOL! This sounds like most of my experimental projects. Work and work and work to do something a new way and then end up doing it the tried and true method anyways.

[serr]

Originally Posted by mibo1022

LOL! This sounds like most of my experimental projects. Work and work and work to do something a new way and then end up doing it the tried and true method anyways.

Many of mine as well. :P

You know what though, the parameter modulation in Reaper opens up a world of science-project type approaches that can end up being pretty clever.

I wasn't even thinking of this in the above answer but I could use that for any compression I needed and truly dial up an entire mix with just ReaEQ.

[FKAB]

Originally Posted by serr

Most indispensable for mixing as in most used/needed to make a mix?
A basic channel eq for cuts as needed: ReaEQ


Most indispensable as in no other version of the particular plugin is as good as this specific example?

Universal Audio's multiband comp.
This comes up more in restoration work than normal mixing but no other multiband I've used comes close.


I assume it was more the first thing meant. I could make a full mix with just ReaEQ available. It would be a stretch with no eq's no matter what else was there.

Didn't Fleetwood Mac decide they were going to make an album mix with no eq, just pure mic technique? They spent a lot of time working that out with different mics and placement and so forth. Then they finally used eq and mixed their album.

Slightly OT and then again not. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q-scxybnp0

[bladerunner]

Waves Audiotrack. EQ, (great) comp and gate. With parameter modulation thrown in I think I could do my mixing with just that..

[bladerunner]

Originally Posted by Daniovan

Anyone using tape sim, console sim or stereo width plugins or multiband comps, dynamic eqs ?

I ditched messing around with tape/console sims a long time back. I just look for unique vibe plugins these days. My current fav is Waves Tonecentric - fantastic for adding density and vibe in small doses across tracks and busses.

Waves S1 is also a secret weapon (regarding stereo width) - try out the shuffler slider to rotate the phase of lower frequencies - can give a flat sounding track a nice 3d quality.

Dynamic eq I'm using more and more - usually Waves C1.

[ChristopherT]

DMG - EQ's / De essor / Limitless for mastering
Klanghelm MJUC for great sounding flexible compression

I can do everything with these and the basic Reaper plugs.

[Daniovan]

Originally Posted by bladerunner

I ditched messing around with tape/console sims a long time back. I just look for unique vibe plugins these days. My current fav is Waves Tonecentric - fantastic for adding density and vibe in small doses across tracks and busses.

Waves S1 is also a secret weapon (regarding stereo width) - try out the shuffler slider to rotate the phase of lower frequencies - can give a flat sounding track a nice 3d quality.

Dynamic eq I'm using more and more - usually Waves C1.

Sounds interesting. Rotating the phase of lower frequencies!?. As for lower frequencies I make a mix mono below 200 Hz, that´s important for me so far

[crunchyoverseas]

I've recently got Neutron for Mixing and Ozone for Mastering, I'm just using elements which is the stripped down version. I got both on sale for $80.

I use it to get my baseline and then I can do detail edits from there...REALLY cuts down on my eq'ing time. I can get there, but it just takes me a lot more time by ear.

Another thing that saves me time though is having quality inputs. My bass player usese the D-out on his darkglass head and it sounds like butter coming in through just a Steinberg UR44. The Yamaha Pre's on that thing are pretty clear. Some point I'll upgrade to the Neve version that came out this year.

The vocalist is a SM58 into the steinberg with Nectar 2.

I'm using IK multimedia Amplitube 4 Jet City 20 emulation for sketch tracks, but I'll be using Two Notes Engineering Captor so I can use my actual Jet City 20 rig eventually. But cant comment on it yet, but that is future gear.

[crunchyoverseas]

Forgot to mention drums...I'm using a Yamaha DTX 522K into reaper triggering EZDrummer 2 Big Drums. Sounds so good...

[RDBOIS]

I'm not sure what "... for mixing" means?

Is this once all the tracks are clean, processed and ready to get tossed together for shaping the song or does 'mixing' include every step post tracking?

In any case, while I would agree with the statement above that Rea-stock plugins are sufficient to make a decent mix I would have to say that a 'good channel strip' can be very helpful. This is more a question of facilitating and optimizing the work flow.

The quality of my mixes improved once I went from having to go back and forth from one plugin to the next to having that ability to make small changes quickly within one single plugin. This is because I could hear the result of my decisions rapidly while I was mixing.

The Scheps Omni Channel by Waves is an example of a functional channel strip and it is rather low on CPU so you can put it on many tracks. It has saturation, gate, EQ, a dynamic compression EQ (very useful), a compressor that has a switch for VCA, FET, OPTO (on the fly), both stereo and mono including MID-SIDE processing and a rather simple limiter. I'm not saying that this WAVES product is better than other channel strips. Only that a functional channel strip can be useful, especially for people who don't have years of experience and have had the time to fully personalize their workflow.

It is like having a friend while to you to figure out stuff...

[Mordi]

All of FabFilter's plugins are excellent. Especially Pro-Q 2.