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What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? #288965 03/22/15 01:34 PM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Aug 2009 Posts: 2,848 Derry,Ireland musiclover OP Veteran
OP musiclover Veteran Joined: Aug 2009 Posts: 2,848 Derry,Ireland	Hi folks, I am always amazed when listening to some of my favourite country artists how smooth their finished recording is, to be honest the loudness impresses me too, and how everything fits so nicely together. Just wondering from the point of view of plugins what kind do you usually use on each track on the mix, whether inserts or sends, or it usually better to have as little plugins as possible applied when dealing with realtracks? Probably what I am asking is, though each song can be different is there usually a set standard of plugins such as reverb sends, or compression that are generally used when mixing country music, especially realtracks vocals etc? I do have ozone and some of the presets do bring up the finished mix a lot as regards mastering but overall I find my mixes are a a million miles off from what I would like them to sound. Thanks for any pointers. Musiclover Last edited by musiclover; 03/22/15 01:34 PM. Musiclover My music https://www.youtube.com/user/donegalprideofall Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2024, Cubase 13, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? musiclover #289018 03/22/15 06:27 PM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA R rockstar_not Veteran
rockstar_not Veteran R Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA	1. High pass filter, with cutoff set by ear. I also use the built-in filter on my vocal mic. That's it. That's the only plugin I use on every track, in my template, etc. I don't do country all that often - but I think you'll find this basic plugin, EQ 'trick' pretty commonplace. One instrument where you wouldn't necessarily expect the cutoff to be set fairly high is acoustic guitar. But for rhythm acoustic, you can set the cutoff way higher than expected if there are other instruments also providing a rhythm bed like acoustic piano. Try going at 1kHz and above while you are listening to your whole mix. My Songs, photos, writing,etc. My Sound Cloud

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? musiclover #289045 03/23/15 02:37 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 9,326 Middlesex, NC Guitarhacker Veteran
Guitarhacker Veteran Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 9,326 Middlesex, NC	Most often, I leave the track FX bin empty. I will use the FX in the buss more often than not. For example if I have 5 vocal tracks the tracks themselves are often un-effected..... but they all get sent to a buss where the fx are plugged into the FX bin. I will only use a plug in when I think it is needed. Less is more. Generally: Drums: I use a custom Para-Q to accentuate Piano: I use a custom Para-Q to brighten Bass: I use a custom Para-Q to fatten and punch These are to put some spark into the BB/RB raw tracks that can sound a bit drab in their natural state. From there, it's simply a matter of listening to the tracks and deciding what, if anything, they need. Never add any FX just because someone told you that you need this or that you read in a book where the writer said it's a "good idea" to do this or that to a given track. Mostly, you will be working with 3 things. Compression, EQ, and reverb. Proper understanding of these and what they do is essential to a good mix. Getting a good mix that sounds professional is a combination of how well you can use those 3 plugs PLUS the balance in the mix which involves the levels, automation, and the quality of the recordings of the original tracks. When all those things come together, you have some professional sounding work on your hands. Ozone kinda makes the plug in thing easier. With it's presets, and all the modules in one place, getting that part close is easier. However, you still need to know and understand the inner workings of what happens when you crank a knob one direction of the other. It's easier to screw things up with Ozone than it is to perfect them. With my projects, I insert Ozone in the master buss right from the beginning of the project. That way, as I add tracks and when I use EQ in a track, the relationship between the new EQ and the Ozone EQ is co-dependent and I can adjust as I need as I progress through the project. Essentially, I am doing my final mixing as I record each new track, from the POV of EQ, and reverbs, and compression. If you do it the other way around, as I have done in the past...adding Ozone in the last final mix stage, you will often have to go back into the various tracks to adjust and tweak the EQ and compression, and reverb levels in them since they are mixed a bit heavy. The way I do this avoids that problem. Of course, both ways are perfectly acceptable. Bring this topic up in a recording forum and you can easily start WW3. As far as how smooth and professional sounding a major artist's music sounds......they have the best live musicians, they record in an acoustically treated room, they have engineers who have forgotten more than you and I will probably ever know about sound, and they send the final product to a professional mastering house where again..... they have the best folks in the business, mastering on the top of the line gear in treated mastering rooms.... Kinda hard to get that level of quality of sound in our bedroom and living room home studios. It's possible to get closer than ever before because of the advances in technology that we have at our fingertips.... However.... having said all that...... The biggest part of this equation is US.... and what we know, and how we can apply what we know, to get the most professional sound possible given the circumstances we work in. That expertise doesn't happen overnight. It takes time and dedication, and a willingness to work hard and learn. Quote: I do have ozone and some of the presets do bring up the finished mix a lot as regards mastering but overall I find my mixes are a a million miles off from what I would like them to sound. A thought and some questions on that statement. Ozone, to me, is a useful tool. It's called a mastering suite, and it polishes the mix up a bit and makes it sparkle. Nothing wrong with that. However... If you're using a preset and perhaps tweaking it a bit, is that really mastering or simply providing some ear candy.... some polish? As far as the mixes being a "million miles off"..... is it truly the mix that is the issue, or is it the tracks are not expressing what you were hearing in your head? Both are solvable problems but neither one is an easy fix. See my final signature line. Last edited by Guitarhacker; 03/23/15 02:47 AM. You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? musiclover #289103 03/23/15 08:18 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Dec 2011 Posts: 14,083 GA USA Janice & Bud Veteran
Janice & Bud Veteran Joined: Dec 2011 Posts: 14,083 GA USA	- I use the EMT 140 plate reverb sim for nearly all of my tracks that need reverb. It is included in Ozone's Nectar 2 and is a heckuva reverb -- one that a lot of bands have used for their sole reverb. If needed I will also use Nectar's compression, EQ, delay, etc., modules. Although Nectar 2 is primarily for vocals it's many effects modules are quick and detailed enough for general use. I have a custom template for drums, one for acoustic bass, one for electric bass, one for acoustic guitar, etc. - For vocals I have several custom Nectar 2 templates that I use depending on the situation and I will typically modify them a bit each time. - On electric guitar RT's that allow it I render the track using the Direct Input option and then add my own amp sim/stomp box from Logic Pro. After the mix is very close to finished and never before I use Ozone 6 for mastering. I start with my own template and modify based on what I hear. And a huge FWIW! Last edited by Janice & Bud; 03/23/15 08:19 AM. J&B Videos J&B Soundcloud J&B Website

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? musiclover #289141 03/23/15 12:43 PM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Aug 2009 Posts: 2,848 Derry,Ireland musiclover OP Veteran
OP musiclover Veteran Joined: Aug 2009 Posts: 2,848 Derry,Ireland	Thank you all very much for your very helpful replies, definitely a lot of food for thought in all the replies. I hope to try out some of the ideas that you have given me. Probably if I ever do get one of my songs to sound good mix wise a bit of luck will be involved as well. Just trying out the Behringer truth 2030 monitors for the first time since I got them a few months ago, so hopefully that might help as well. Thanks very much again. Musiclover Musiclover My music https://www.youtube.com/user/donegalprideofall Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2024, Cubase 13, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? musiclover #289146 03/23/15 12:50 PM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 20,821 Hamlin NY MarioD Veteran
MarioD Veteran Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 20,821 Hamlin NY	I suggest that you subscribe to The Recording Revolution: http://therecordingrevolution.com/blog/ Graham provides a ton of information and tips on plugins as well as other recording techniques. I want my last spoken words to be "I hid a million dollars under the........................" 64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? musiclover #289147 03/23/15 12:50 PM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 11,694 Florida floyd jane Veteran
floyd jane Veteran Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 11,694 Florida	Hi, musiclover... I think your question has been a bit misinterpreted... I don't think you were asking "is there a plugin you use on every track?".. but "what is a typical plugin for the tracks that you do use?"... What DAW are you using? Knowing that, folks might be able to suggest plugins that come with the DAW... for example, I use Presonus Studio One Professional. It has a preset FX chain defined called "S1 Drumgroup" which is designed specifically for something like what RealDrums are - all the drums in a single track. It includes a multiband compressor (as herb noted) and an EQ. Often, that is all I have on my drum track - it adds some nice "pop". The bass track depends on which RealTrack bass and what type of song. But typically, I little compression and a little EQ - a bump at the low end and a notch drop around 500Hz. Acoustic guitars - Most often, I don't do much to them - maybe add an EQ plugin to cut out some lows. I typically leave the reverb that BIAB applies to them. I seldom add a reverb to any RealTracks other than what "comes with it". Pianos - I do remove the BIAB reverb from the pianos - it always seems excessive to me (you can add it back in your DAW if you need to). I also leave the piano centered in most mixes. The piano to one side always sounds unnatural to me. Electric guitars - sort of depends on the song and the sounds you are looking for, but usually you can't go wrong just leaving them exactly as they come out of BIAB. It is easy to mess stuff up by adding plugins to RealTracks. They work well as is, generally speaking. Do a mix using RealTracks as they come out of BIAB and post it in the Showcase explaining exactly that and ask "What needs tweaking?" There is a lot of experience here that could give suggestions from there. The best thing to do is learn a step at a time. There is no "one size fits all".... 150+ Songs produced using BIAB RealTracks And 50 more... and some more...

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? floyd jane #289153 03/23/15 01:59 PM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: May 2000 Posts: 21,641 Mi., USA rharv Veteran
rharv Veteran Joined: May 2000 Posts: 21,641 Mi., USA	Drums: Multicompressor and EQ (or just compressor and EQ) almost always end up on drum tracks. When said tracks are separate for each drum, this may vary wildly including enhancers and such. Usually drums get their own reverb since the 'universal' settings in a buss for all tracks often does not fit well. Bass - Find the right bottom frequency and cut below, and above to narrow it, also a boost around 2kHz on bass makes it present and real. The string noise/buzz/fret noise all get a little help here. As Mac used to say; a solo'd bass track should sound like someone is working on a buick.. Acoustic guitars get various treatments here depending on the track. Could be just EQ/Reverb or sometimes enhancer, compression, or amp sim may come into play. Pianos - I often separate the two piano tracks so I can better define where they sit in a mix. May work better to have the right channel at 3 o'clock ad the left channel at 1 o'clock if the piano is meant to be off to one side in a mix. This is hard for some people to grasp (the ones that say 'just use the pan on the stereo track' .. there's a difference, which may be why floyd jane commented it seems weird if not centered) Electric guitars - depends on track, but buss reverb, eq, even a different amp sim is sometimes used here. Vocals: Almost always compression and EQ range defined (bottom cut), maybe slight tuning, reverb and additional EQ .. sometimes preamp emulators or tube emulators. Rarely enhance/exciter in moderation. There are so many tools, it's a lot of the fun experimenting. When mixing try to give each part it's place both in panning and the EQ range it focuses on. Try to keep bass drum and bass guitar out of each others way. Try to not allow electric guitar bottom end to muddy things. Think about the vocal first and keep it clear; make everything else work around it (this is the problem with guitar players trying to mix - grin) Lots to think about but always fun. Make your sound your own! .. I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? musiclover #289175 03/23/15 03:44 PM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA R rockstar_not Veteran
rockstar_not Veteran R Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA	Take a look at any reputable mixing desk and you will get an idea of what mixing engineers have sort of demanded as 'the basics' for per channel needs. You will almost undoubtedly find: 1. High pass filter, with adjustable cutoff on fancier desks. 2. Parametric EQ of some flavor, including shelving capability on fancier desks. 3. Phase inversion switch More 'fancy' strips will include some basic compression, some of which have become famous. I also have a bus setup for delay and behind that for reverb. These are post fader btw. But the only thing I absolutely use on EVERY channel is the high pass filter with the adjustable cutoff, setting the cutoff by ear in the mix, not through soloing the channel. This single practice cleaned up my mixes more than any other. If you get a chance to listen to professionally made 'stems' you will hear the impact of this right away on more tracks than you can imagine. It's tip #3 in this list of EQ tips from Sound on Sound magazine: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec08/articles/eq.htm If you get the frequency content right, it's kind of cool how everything else that's 'decoration' (delay, chorus, reverb, etc.) also works better. My Songs, photos, writing,etc. My Sound Cloud

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? musiclover #289222 03/24/15 03:10 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2010 Posts: 5,139 Florida 90 dB Veteran
90 dB Veteran Joined: Apr 2010 Posts: 5,139 Florida	This thread might be a good candidate for a Sticky. Lots of good info here that would benefit people new to recording, vis-à-vis band In A Box. Actually, I just like saying "vis-à-vis". Regards, Bob Dyslectics Untie! https://90dbband.bandcamp.com/ https://soundcloud.com/90-db https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm_3mpivKYV7T7XFJmXL-GA

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? musiclover #289225 03/24/15 03:24 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 9,326 Middlesex, NC Guitarhacker Veteran
Guitarhacker Veteran Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 9,326 Middlesex, NC	Quote: Probably if I ever do get one of my songs to sound good mix wise a bit of luck will be involved as well. NOPE!!! Luck should not be a part of it. Not intentionally anyway. Not if you want consistency in your results. This following paragraph sums up how you get consistently good results and luck isn't involved. Quote: Mostly, you will be working with 3 things. Compression, EQ, and reverb. Proper understanding of these and what they do is essential to a good mix. Getting a good mix that sounds professional is a combination of how well you can use those 3 plugs PLUS the balance in the mix which involves the levels, automation, and the quality of the recordings of the original tracks. When all those things come together, you have some professional sounding work on your hands. You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.

Re: What plugins do you mainly use on each track in a mix? Guitarhacker #289243 03/24/15 05:35 AM Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
Joined: Jun 2012 Posts: 18,378 Melbourne, Australia AudioTrack Veteran
AudioTrack Veteran Joined: Jun 2012 Posts: 18,378 Melbourne, Australia	All great information above. Yes, this could be made a 'sticky'. BIAB & RB2024 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones

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