Here’s my 10 favorite plugins
Here’s my 10 favorite plugins, in no particular order. I probably use
these plugins on darn near every mix I do.
Soundtoys EchoBoy – I’m a big fan of older analog delays. Echoboy has
all the flavors of vintage delays I have obsessed over. Echoplex,
Binson EchoRec, Memory Man… it really does sound, smell and operate
like those vintage units. I love dub reggae and I find this unit more
than any other delay plugin can cover all those dubby flavors of echo
and delay. Very fun plugin I’ve had for awhile.
Universal Audio Pultec EQ – Im getting more into Pultec-y sounds these
days, especially on rock instruments like bass guitar, electric
guitar, etc. Never been a fan of the user hostile blind interface,
like what is it actually doing? So I started putting a visual spectrum
analyzer after the Pultec to see what it does, and it’s kind of crazy.
It boosts then cuts but in uneven ways that leaves various curves,
almost all of them interesting and musical. Bass Guitar sounds awesome
with it.
Universal Audio 1176 FET Compressor – this sounds good on almost
anything, I use it alot as a “back buss”, which means I send various
things to it to give it more weight in a mix, usually a family of
things like all guitars or all background vocals. I also send and
return from snare tracks and use that smooshy dark color to add to
clean snare, essentially parallel compression.
Universal Audio LA-2A Compressor – my go to Vocal compressor, it has a
slight high end boost that allows vocals to cut through a mix without
a volume boost. Simple controls makes compression hard to mees up.
Waves Ren Eq – a delicious semi-colored eq, sounds wonderful on
cymbals and vocals, any band can go to any frequency, a mainstay for me for years.
Waves S1 Imager – stereo imager, always use on overheads to get proper
stereo image and perspective, centering snare image in overheads,
tightening spread. Stereo Imaging is huge in keeping large stereo elements in check.
Valhalla Vintage Verb – I really like reverb; good quality reverb, and
this plugin is my favorite reverb plugin. More of an emulation of past
hardware units, think Lexicon ish. The tails are delicious and the
interface is easy on the eyes. I like the longer hall and chamber
settings. Top Vocal reverb choice for sure. Valhalla makes amazing plugins.
Lindell 80 channel
I have had the pleasure of working with a vintage Neve recording
console a few times (looking at you, London Bridge!) and it left quite an impression. The Lindell 80 channel is my favorite Neve style plugin. The Red Knob gain is soharmonically rich and makes any signal thicker and more like tonesyou’d associate with 70s rock and roll. The compressor is subtle but
usable, there’s a little THD screwdriver knob that can turn this
plugin into a distortion pedal! I end using this on almost every
channel often times on the end of the chain as final gain boost.
Divine on electric guitars pushed a bit with red knob. Hard to imagine
life without it.
I also generally use the Lindell 80 Buss plug (similar vibe) on my
master bus into…
PlugIn Alliance Bx Townhouse Bus Compressor – a brilliant SSL style
Buss Compressor – Built in 1978 by the legendary Townhouse studio
engineers, this one-of-kind compressor was created using classic
console components supplied by Solid State Logic (SSL). Handmade in an
era when it was impossible to buy an external SSL buss compressor off
the shelf, this unique hardware unit was used heavily during the 80s
and beyond by some of the biggest names in rock, including Queen,
Sting, Muse, Oasis, Coldplay, Ozzy Osbourne, Phil Collins and many
more.
Then finally into…
PlugIn Alliance Bx True Peak limiter, a very transparent limiter to
catch extreme stray transients after all else. I try to use very little of buss compression so mastering has room to work.
Thats my Master Buss.
So those are the top ten plugin mainstays of my mix template.
