My first post is nicely illustrated by this image.
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| Selection of Plugs |
Why is this important you may ask? Well when you have a client in the studio, yeah, they will expect a great end result but nowadays the thing that sets a studio or a freelance professional apart from the guy in his bedroom is the client experience.
A case in point
One of my favourite plugin collections is the Sonnox range, I have had the privilege to work on one of the original 80s R3 consoles which looked like it was a control panel from the starship enterprise but the plugins, my god! yes they sound awesome but they look an embarrassment its 2013 not 1980, I know they are reminiscent of the old console etc but if i pull them up in front of a client in a modern studio I can see that questioning look appear on their face. I wish they would spruce up the UI (I don't know if its just me who thinks that?) A £1000 elite package should be something to show off proudly! |
| Sonnox limiter |
Anyway where to begin...
The Fabfillter range of plugins
Individual plugins about £80-130
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| Fab Filters Saturn |
Yep the whole range! They look absolutely gorgeous, sound amazing and are packed full of neat features. Most have MS processing which once you start using is an amazing tool. The EQ has a FFT analyser similar to the inbuilt logic one but its a lot more useful, allowing you to see the signal both before and after your EQ curve. They have put a lot of thought into the features that really help an engineer day to day. The aesthetic design and the workflow of these plugins are absolutely fantastic, they put them in another league. It has become my "go to" range of plugins.
I cant call this a criticism its more of an opinion splitter - these plugins are clinical, what do i mean by this you ask? I find them very uncoloured, they do the job you want them to very well, offering great visual feedback and useful controls but they don't offer their own tone. Usually I fall in love with a plugin because of the colour it imparts to a mix, its own character but these plugins I have fallen in love with for their workflow and ability to let me get the job done. Yes you can add character to the sound with their multiband distortion plugin Saturn which is amazing but you are the one dialling in that tone. A kind of plus point to this is that it doesn't flatter the users results, It makes you feel like you are making decisions and doing something, not just abusing presets.
I wouldn't say the range is a bargain but the bang for buck is definitely there and its a purchase you wont regret. I would say I could live with just this range of plugins but while they provide amazingly creative tools the range is currently missing a reverb plug...
I cant call this a criticism its more of an opinion splitter - these plugins are clinical, what do i mean by this you ask? I find them very uncoloured, they do the job you want them to very well, offering great visual feedback and useful controls but they don't offer their own tone. Usually I fall in love with a plugin because of the colour it imparts to a mix, its own character but these plugins I have fallen in love with for their workflow and ability to let me get the job done. Yes you can add character to the sound with their multiband distortion plugin Saturn which is amazing but you are the one dialling in that tone. A kind of plus point to this is that it doesn't flatter the users results, It makes you feel like you are making decisions and doing something, not just abusing presets.
I wouldn't say the range is a bargain but the bang for buck is definitely there and its a purchase you wont regret. I would say I could live with just this range of plugins but while they provide amazingly creative tools the range is currently missing a reverb plug...
Which Brings me smoothly onto...
Valhalla DSP
$50 each (currently £32)
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| Valhalla DSP's VintageVerb |
Having worked with Lex480's, Bricastis and hardware plates I have become a self proclaimed reverb addict. I have tirelessly tried to find something that compares in the box collecting a massive library of IR's and quite a few algorithmic reverb plugins including the lexicon LXP range (MXP is a bit out of my budget) but here ladies and gentleman is the answer! Just wow!
Valhalla DSP is a one man band, Sean Costello formed the company in 2007 to pursue his love of DSP and quite obviously from the range, reverb! The range has a simplistic minimalist look but the interface is inspired by research carried out by NASA into UI design!
His newest plugin (pictured above) is possibly my favourite the Vintage verb, its based on the lexicon algorithms from the 70s, through 80s, to present day with controls that give you options more extreme than the original hardware, like insane 70 second decays, all the dials are smooth enough to be nicely automated giving some great results, checkout this video if you want to see someone really pushing its limits www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbHymi-5gDo
Valhalla Room is another great plugin in the range and is a great choice for electronic dance music, experimental music and sound design. Its based more on the Eventide style reverbs to my ear and appears less coloured.
Uber Mod is a modulation and delay plugin thats quite fun and can produce such warped sounds that it just has to be played with before you realise how flexible it really is.
Shimmer is a gorgeous plugin, its a reverb that adds selected pitch shifted notes into the tail, it is an interesting effect similar to the Strymon Blue sky guitar pedal. Not to sound camp but it adds a kind of magical sparkling noise. When recording the new album for the Natives we used a Strymon Blue sky guitar pedal all over the guitars and it is something quite unique! I haven't heard another plugin capable of this shimmer effect.
Sean also offers a free plugin FreqEcho it is a reverb with a pitch shifting tail, its quite interesting to add to the end of phrases, unfortunately this one is still only 32bit.
Every plugin mentioned above is the same $50 what a bargain!!!
Dada Life Sausage Fattener
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| This plugin never fails to get a cheeky smile! |
I would suggest going to valhalla DSP's website where sean offers trial versions of all his plugins and try comparing the quality of results and the flexibility of an algorithmic reverb to your current setup. If you fancy beefing up that bass line go buy the sausage fattener its only £20 which i think is a bargain. The FabFilter range is absolutely amazing. If you need a whole plugin range and your starting off i would recommend it but if you already have a bundle you use i would maybe go and watch a few of their videos and see if the workflow is something you are akin to.
If you have any recommendations for plugins I should try let me know.
Writing playlist:
Fade ft. Maiday - Jakwob
Angel - Sepultra
Treading Paper - Thrice
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