Favorite plugins for post production and how do you use them ?

I've started using Melda plugins, especially some of the more "boring" ones. But I'll tell you what's not boring: slapping MAutoAlign on poorly miked drums so you can get past that phase alignment mini game at the beginning of every mixing session. MSpectralDynamics is a nice one for creating space between conflicting instruments without audibly neutering signals. MSoundFactory has a really nice Steinway, amongst other doohickeys. I think while melda tools are incredibly capable, they still need a little help in the preset dept. And most plugins are far from straightforward.

Supertone Clear is an AI/machine learning based noise reduction plugin for voice. It's pretty stunning how well it removes everything you don't want.

The new iZotope Ozone has a gulfoss like module that is some kind of magic fairy dust when used in low percentages.

Standard Clip is an excellent clipper. Good for squeezing out an extra few db by taming transient heavy sources.

Inspirata is a ridiculous convolution reverb for placing and even moving sources in realistic spaces.

I like using Lindell's 50 and 80 channel strips for a sort of "premix render" stage that happens before the heavy lifting mix. I just dial in broad strokes as if I'm capturing the band in a real studio with a nice console, print those tracks, then load it up in the final mixing template with everything already sitting nicely at default settings. In this stage, I also try to address foreseeable problems like phase issues, bleed issues, performance issues, and tuning.

Melodyne for tuning.
 
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I recently cancelled both my Slate and Plug-in Alliance subscriptions. Forgot I even had a subscription to Slate and I didn’t use them for over a year, at all.

I learned on Waves stuff and have most of them, after 6-7 years of learning, I use FAR less plug-ins these days and essentially treat Logic like a big SSL board with SSL Channel on each track and the SSL Comp on my master bus. I’m going to buy some of the Brainworx PA stuff, the Master Bus compressor namely.

The biggest suggestion about any of this stuff for home recording is good monitors that give you the full frequency range you’re working in. I used HS-5’s until 2 weeks ago and I’m heavily regretting not upgrading sooner. I feel like I have to go back and re-learn stuff I should know by now because of all the sonic information I’m able to hear now.

First thing I noticed after the change- Pressed Record in Logic, th click starts as normal, then the second the music starts that click drops in volume by 50% because it’s sharing the same frequency range as a bunch of other stuff in the mix. Never once heard that happen on those HS-5’s, so I can just imagine all the affect that is having on the tracks themselves.
 
blitzbis said:
Eventide Anthology XII
Click to expand...
^ This. I just wish they would update the UI to make it rescalable. I've been around as long as they have and my eyes...

Also as a very long time owner/user I've put a lot of miles on these:
Audioease Altiverb
Metric Halo Channel Strip
Antares Autotune
 
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NY Guitarist said:
^ This. I just wish they would update the UI to make it rescalable. I've been around as long as they have and my eyes...

Also as a very long time owner/user I've put a lot of miles on these:
Audioease Altiverb
Metric Halo Channel Strip
Antares Autotune
Click to expand...
Yea the Eventide stuff is fantastic. I go to the H9000 before the plugs tho and it’s hard to run out of algos there.
 
zedeloc said:
I've started using Melda plugins, especially some of the more "boring" ones. But I'll tell you what's not boring: slapping MAutoAlign on poorly miked drums so you can get past that phase alignment mini game at the beginning of every mixing session. MSpectralDynamics is a nice one for creating space between conflicting instruments without audibly neutering signals. MSoundFactory has a really nice Steinway, amongst other doohickeys. I think while melda tools are incredibly capable, they still need a little help in the preset dept. And most plugins are far from straightforward.

Supertone Clear is an AI/machine learning based noise reduction plugin for voice. It's pretty stunning how well it removes everything you don't want.

The new iZotope Ozone has a gulfoss like module that is some kind of magic fairy dust when used in low percentages.

Standard Clip is an excellent clipper. Good for squeezing out an extra few db by taming transient heavy sources.

Inspirata is a ridiculous convolution reverb for placing and even moving sources in realistic spaces.

I like using Lindell's 50 and 80 channel strips for a sort of "premix render" stage that happens before the heavy lifting mix. I just dial in broad strokes as if I'm capturing the band in a real studio with a nice console, print those tracks, then load it up in the final mixing template with everything already sitting nicely at default settings. In this stage, I also try to address foreseeable problems like phase issues, bleed issues, performance issues, and tuning.

Melodyne for tuning.
Click to expand...
Melda plugins are great in "backdoor" tasks as phase alignment, MS, etc.
 
Of all the plugins I have tried, these stand head and shoulders above the rest:

DMG Multiplicity - this is the most useful and versatile mixing tool I have ever used. If I could have only 1 third party plugin, it would be this.
Softube Weiss DS1 sounds insanely good.

An honourable mention goes to DMG EQuilibrium, only if you're the sort that doesn't mind using the advanced parameters in the axe.
 
Most of what I need I get out of the FabFilter suite. I still use the FG-Grey, mainly because I know it really well. I've found after doing my own recordings for like 20 years now that you get much better results from learning your tools really well rather than chasing plugins. No plugin is gonna make your s--t sound amazing if you don't know how to use it.

Case in point: I still pay for Pro Tools, as much as I hate the pricing model, because it's the tool that matches my workflow and the one I know better than any other.
 
after a lot of testing and buying too many plugins (more addictive than IRs 😄

on guitars i use:
Crave EQ for most EQ duties, Pro-q3 sometimes too

Tokyo dawn labs TDR Nova GE (although there's a free version too) for dynamic eq, controlling the low mids build up/chugs, did a video on this on my channel if interested

ddmf MagicDeathEye compressor on guitars and busses (nice compression and adds something to the tone) otherwise dmg trackcomp depending on what I'm after

softube tape for added warmth/character, smoothing high end

kazrog true iron for character

seventh heaven professional for reverb if needed
valhalla delay or replika xt for delays should i want to add that

i have some channel strip plugins as well (lindell / sonimus) might try them out again at some point
 
Call me a party pooper, but exactly what does all of this (useful) plug-in info have to do with AFX3?

Perhaps The Lounge would be more appropriate?
 
I use Valhalla reverbs as well as Valhalla Delay. Years ago, I bought Echoboy and it is still amazing. I can get all of those delays with the Axe, but the device-specific presets just make it so easy to add and Echoplex or Space Echo.
 
Toontrack -Ez Mix, SD3, EzBass/Keys
Softube-Console 1-Tape-Harmonic
Soundtoys-any and all
T-Racks5- Gbuss/Neve73
Izotope - Ozone9
Gullfoss
Steven Slate - whatever
Mcdsp
Presonus Native

To be honest, if I had only one company to choose from it would be Presonus, everything else is just ice cream.
 
aziz said:
For me, it’s the little things: click at the left side of the window creates a low cut node, and right side a high cut, everywhere else a normal eq node. You can click a node a listen to just the area that the node affects in solo. Big ui scalable to any screen size, the analyzer graph is good and clear, and the tone match: I use it on every mix to see how far I'm off a "regular" good bass/mid/treble balance. I've fed the plugin a few playlists of music and saved their eq averages as an eq target. Then I can compare my mixes to suitable genre averages. "Modern stuff, pop, old rock", etc. It instantly tells me to drop the lows 10db, I can either let it act as a master EQ for tone match or go back and tweak my individual tracks that are most "off", usually its the bass that's too loud and muddy. "What do you mean I exploded your car stereo?"

On top of that it has dynamic eq features but I'm too caveman for that. I just like things loud.

Here's a short video of the UI:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed answer. Really appreciate it
 
There are a lot of good mixing tools. IMHO, it's more about figuring out what works for you and making it simple and straightforward than anything else. But, take that with a grain of salt - I don't really mix anymore. If I went back to it, I'd basically want one good channel strip, one saturator that was lightweight enough to run oversampled on every channel, and a handful of more effect-y effects probably based a bit on whimsy. I'd be really specifically interested in an API style channel strip plugin. But...I'm also not trying to get mixing work, so...meh.

For post, which I'm taking to mean Mastering, these are some of my favorites:

EQ: Pro-Q3. It's just the best EQ interface for my brain. There are a handful of other ones that are also good, but I haven't seen a good reason to change from demoing them. I'm really tempted to try the newer sontec plugin, but most of the "this looks like something fancy" plugins I've tried are...disappointing. I used to like the bx Dangerous Bax EQ until I realized that Pro-Q3 could exactly replicate what I liked about it with more control. Pulsar Massive is kinda cool, but I don't use it much. I'd be tempted to start looking at Pultec style EQs except that I think Kelvin does that job better.

Compression: Tone Projects Unisum. It's the single most tunable wideband compressor out there. I also like Kotelnikov and FIRComp for simpler things and Pro-MB for the rare occasions I need either a multiband comp or a wideband upward compressor (yes, it can do that).

Louder-izers: There's a lot of variety, and they all do similar-ish things. The big difference to me seems to be in the character of the distortion, which mostly has to do with the release behaviors that vary greatly from one to the other (and between modes). My go-tos are Pro-L2, StandardClip, Ozone 10 Maximizer (just that plugin, most of the rest of Ozone is meh), and TDR Limiter6 GE. Pro-L2 is the most flexible (or I just grok it the best), but the Ozone one does a very particular flavor of very mild distortion that I can't get any other way without buying drastically outdated hardware (it's worth the price of Ozone Advanced to me just for the limiter and TBC as a sanity check).

Saturation/Distortion: Tone Projects Kelvin; hands down. Saturation, at least in the realm of "box tone", is actually kinda hard for digital stuff. It's not because digital stuff can't distort right but because the vast majority of them do way too much. Kelvin is easy to reign in. It also works great as a vibe-y EQ (see my Pultec comment, above).

Utility stuff: the new TDR filter bundle is fantastic....when you need those tools. I think Arbiter is probably my favorite de-esser and is at least in contention for my favorite HF limiter. Matt Lane DrMS is fantastic if someone really screwed up the stereo image and a remix isn't in the cards. Perception AB is IMHO a necessity. PluginDoctor largely to save money on plugins and diagnose certain kinds of issues.

Meters: TC Clarity M for level, TBC and TDR Prism for frequency response. Everything else I use is built into Wavelab.
 
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