Love how you cited the importance of an acoustically treated room almost immediately. People still don't understand the importance of that. They spend thousands on speakers and amps and plugins etc. And listen to them in a lousy room.
My philosophy is: it’s not about the gear, it’s about the 👂 and the environment it is conditioned to which to each 1 is what works for them, it is what it is.
@@Mope333 well if your room is treated (acoustically) that is sorted the best judge left to clear things (frequencies) out is your👂 sonically speaking like if u want to know something sounds like crap or what not 😆 ask your grandma or next to auntie that always drinks coffee and enjoy Netflix to come and have a listen for second opinion, although they may not have any experience in the field of audio technology or sound engineering naturally speaking humans can recognize sound correction very well. Hope that makes sense.🤪👍🏿
This is the absolute truth. I don’t use a DAW or plugins, but this applies to hardware as well. When I first got into music I found myself buying synthesizers and samplers all the time building this huge collection of gear but my music was not getting any better and I was getting overwhelmed learning all this gear. Once I got better I realized that if I just pick 3 or 4 pieces of gear I like and master them, I will get more out of that than a table full of stuff I barely know how to use.
Man I must have spent at least $8-10k on plugins in the last two years and I only use half of them not even that!... They need to stop making them look so pretty lol🙄
how can u spend that much....there's like 30 good plugins worth having and they are all 29 to 150 bucks ,,,,maybe 60 in average...? and I thought most people have them hacked anyways - people actually buy these?
@@levondarratt787 yeah I obviously haven't spent that much but I've definitely spent at least a few thousand as I have almost all the waves plugins but also alot of other very expensive ones. What I've learnt from my mistakes was the thought of expensive plugins will make your mix/vocals etc sound the best!..I've learnt the hard way, but hey it's all about learning ya👍
Loving the fact that you just don’t care what anyone thinks or says, thumbs up or down. The way your attitude should be! Big thumbs up to you and your no-nonsense channel.
straight truth! my mix is still 70% stock pluggins in ableton even though I've bought a lot of the pluggins I wanted. Glue compressor and Eq-8 just work for me.
All this info is spot on. Like he said, just learn to utilize what you have.l instead of having to learn all of these new plugins. Most plugins are just a new fresh layer of paint on something that already exists that was fine to begin with.
Yeah I’d say if the recording is good, you don’t need many plugins. My biggest mistake starting was putting a bunch of plugins on several channels that I really didn’t need. Now I just record good audio and gain stage and that’s 70% of the mix combined with leveling.
I’m from the old-school too. Been “somewhat“ of a plug-in junkie. Now I only buy plug-ins that do something I can’t do with what I already have. I don’t mix my own music so my purchases are more sounds and midi effects related. Now I’m on a quest to find and create favorite presets in the VST‘s I already own. My fellow music makers that may own Omnisphere or a Komplete bundle, for instance, you already have just about any sound that you’ve heard or want to hear. Scroll through your VST presets, make favorites. Tweak a few knobs until you like what you hear, save presets. Don’t let others fool you into thinking you need “this plug-in” to make a hit or something current. It’s not the plug-ins, but what’s in the heart of the person using them that matters most. 🎹
I will never stop searching for free or cheap plugins, found some free that are Bonkers like Vital synth. Im more into electronic music in Europe than Hip-Hop, but recent mixed and made a remix of two Hip-Hop tunes.
This is so right. I have all the plugins I need several times over. Had to spend hours creating lists by function just so I could keep track of what my choices are. Oh man, just the maintenance burden of knowing what you’ve got! You can end up using the same few just because it’s too much of a pain to keep track. Once you have the basic set of the functions you need (and increasingly the stock plugins with your DAW have you covered with god quality), you should really ask yourself what that shiny new one is TRULY going to give you that you don’t already have.
I have most of the big soft synths but I always use Sylenth, not because it's the best or most powerful but because I learned everything about it and can get any sound I want in seconds to minutes. Try sticking to 8 plugins a time and learn them as if it was real hardware and that's all you had in your studio. Engineers in the past only had one mixer and they would push it to it's limits because they had no choice. The hard part is finding the right plugins to stick too.
One word - Airwindows. I grew up using tape, outboard and old Akai's in the 80s and 90s, Airwindows plugins will give you mojo and attitude, if you know what you're doing... Start with his plugins, BussColors4 CStrip ToTape5 Logical4 SoftGate PyeWacket Mackity ... And don't be put off by the lack of a GUI, - use your ears, not your eyes... Love to ALL, feel no hate
@Selahl Tapes absolutely, I've thought the exact same thing myself. I'm not a fan of the third party AIR plugs that Akai currently use, I prefer Akai's own stock plugins tbh, - Airwindows would really be a good move if implemented.
Nice advice here... agree completely. But, I bought Valhalla delay because of it! "You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness."
Too late I’ve already spent a small fortune on plug-ins but honestly some of my favorites like Supermassive were free. And I just bought the new version of Logic for my M1 MacBook and the stock plugins absolutely destroy Ableton Live 9 that I had been using. Thx. 👍
Dude, you're right. I just came to my senses. I took a long time man. You have no idea how much I've spent over the last 15 years...well...you probably do know according to the subject of this video. Thanks for being too late to the party to help me. lol
My plugin habit got cured when I got my MPC and started creating mouse-free. I don't buy samples because it's so easy to make my own. Yes, hardware costs money but I've built my collection piece by piece over decades and none of it could be blown away without notice by an operating system upgrade.
There's no arguing with this video even if one wants to,as it is spot on... I'm a living proof of having a lot of plugins without knowing how to use them... Thank you so much.
It is amazing that this video post right after I have just purchased "10,001" plugins from Waves, Plugin Alliance, UAD, iZotope, Brainworks, T-Racks, Timeworks, and etc, etc, etc.
Used to do the same thing with VSTi. Always thought I needed 50 to get all the sound I would ever need, and spent more time playing with presets than actually making music. I've gotten rid of all but 3: VPS Avenger NI Kontakt and U-HE DIVA. Now if I can just decide out of the 35 Kontakt Libraries I really need, I can actually get some work done! Great video, and it really opened my eyes to just how much I can really live without.
Good video and advice. The best thing is having a great outboard channel strip/microphone preamp and a compressor after to ensure you get the best sound/signal coming into the box and once in the box the workflow and tweaks needed are minized dramatically. That alone eliminates the need for tons of plugins. I wish someone would have told me this years ago.
This is some good advice. Producers now a days think that having the best equipment will make you the best producer. When back in the day producers didn't have much to work with at all. Producers now a days are spoiled with the amount of plugins and equipment that we have now a days.
Coming from a headset and mic combo with no money for third party plugins and no knowledge of cracks, I can attest to the validity of your information. Learn how to set your input gain, learn how to position your microphone, learn how your daw works, learn what to listen for when your eqing, learn how to compress, learn how to use reverbs and delays, mix in mono, make it sound good at low volumes in mono, take a year doing this, then you’ll realize how much plugins you really need to make good music.
YES I AGREE . I JUST PAUSED MY ARCADE OUTPUT SUBSCRIPTION BECAUSE I WAS NOT USING IT LIKE I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO AND SPENT ALMOST $ 200 . I WISH IT WAS A RENT TO OWN SITUATION INSTEAD OR YOU GET TO KEEP A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF THE SOUNDS THAT YOU REALLY LIKE AFTER THE SUBSCRIPTION . I DESIDED TO LEARN HOW TO USE WHAT I ALREDY HAVE IN ALL THE DAWS AND PLUGINS I ALREADY OWN . THANKS FOR ALL YOU GREAT VIDEOS.
Thanks for the reminder. The stock plugins of Studio One (Pro version) are very very good for mix and mastering. Also the Plugin-Alliance have some nice vintage gear emulations vst if you don't own appolo sound card.
I have a couples of Cherry synths VST and a couple of others cheap ones, and maybe 100 free...and they sound amazing. A few days ago I got the free legal Korg DW-8000 VST, I got the real deal in the 90s.
Bruh you be on point I just decided last night I’m sticking with the Slate Digital plugs I was about to spend on Universal Audio plugs and SSL Native plugs but said you know what I have everything I need with the Slate just gonna learn to work with what I have!!!!!
@@thesoundmajors9097 I think that's still gonna be the case with me I'm just gonna grab what I feel will be essentials though so I'm narrowing down.... Gonna do the 6 plugs for 699 in my sights are, Little Labs VOG, Avalon 737, EMT 140, SSL E Channel Strip, SSL G Bus Compressor, Galaxy Echo Delay should fill in the gaps and need anything else.... I have an Satellite Octo
I’ve been on this kick too for the last few years. Spoiler alert: I’ve gotten older. So lately I’ve been enjoying manuals ,creating templates and sticking to what works for me. Less is more.
....Bro, I thought about it just yesterday. Its all about whats in the producer's mind, finger tips and of course room. Some arrangements need little as possible. Right on point!!
lol I needed this. I was going back and forth about either Omnisphere or Arturia V collection 8,, or the MircroFreak, while already having Ableton's Operator. Thanks for posting this. You make great videos!
I have both. Never really use Omnisphere, unless it's for the choirs that are amazing. Arturia is a vintage/analog beast so if that's your style then Arturia is probably you're best bet!
Me too! I keep reminding myself to master operator, wavetable, analog first before buying another plugin (someone selling used Komplete 10 Ultimate for USD370 and it's tempting). But if I buy that, my music production become slowed because there are so many options of sound and I end up only playing random sound but not making music lol
I also always think, old school music like MJ didn’t have plugins and it all sounds amazing. So I try to listen to that type of music religiously and learn the basics.
I think you're on point. I started using Waves plugins back in 2001 or so and some of them are still my favourites for certain jobs. (C1 I'm looking at you!) Only thing I got recently that I really felt brought me forward was the stuff from Analog Obsession (it's free, you can support them via Patreon). That's some "warm" right there! Their preamp model "TUBA"? Fire! Fire I say! Their "BlackVibe" Fender style clean amp model goes on any vintage synth or pad! The "Buster" compressor ... oh my! I put their stuff on and I'm instantly lucky. Not happy, but ecstatic! Sorry, that evovled into kind of a AO fanboy rant, but ... well. For EQing I usually go for Waves' REQ or Q, but one time I had a problem with some really harsh guitar frequencies that only the T-RackS 5 EQual could solve, so I hold that one in very high regard. One of my goto delays is the TAL Dub II. It has a drive and modulation for the wet signal that makes everything wide af. But since I love the Valhalla Supermassive, I'll check out the Valhalla Delay. So, thanks for the recommendation.
Every plugin has its place and time. And the inspiration that comes with it is priceless. You DON'T NEED them but you will surely benefit if you make use of it till you find it boring then get another one and another one...
I really love how you break down the difference between how effective each plugin is towards a desired goal! Very on point information that gets straight to the point had to sub mad quick, plus I enjoy your personality!
I like WAVES plug-ins. In sampling libraries I like SpitFire and Komplete Ultimate 13. My mixer is tascam model 24. My first monitor M-Audio BX5. Now ill upgrade to Adam audio S2v and A77x Bundle. Thanks so much for your videos.
Absolutely right. I’ve been doing this 20+ years and I tell those who I mentor to find a “platform” build a personal toolbox and get to know those plugins inside and out (quality before quantity) I also tell them to mix with their ears and to trust the process as In it’s not going to sound perfect 👌 don’t over mix anything as your ears are a race against the clock ⏰ on every element. Our ears lie to us the longer we spend on something the worse you will make it sound, when you have it right let it be right; don’t try to squeeze that extra juice or “It can sound a little bit better” mentality will ruin your mixes. Trust your knowledge and listen to this man, he knows his stuff. Improve your work instead of trying to find that unicorn plug-in that don’t exist.
Guilty as charged. I have the H delay that I got for free. I’ve opened it and tested it and never used it again. Valhalla is my go to for reverb and delay.over the past year I’ve been buying and downloading too many plugins. Making up for lost time because I was super broke for years. Still broke just not as badly. I hate subscriptions but I did sub to plug-in alliance. I got a low end bundle that had more synths than anything else and bought my must haves with their rebate coupon. I have to say while many in this particular bundle besides the synths are useless for me(Too many bass and guitar amps for what I do) but their master desk plug-in is so good. Use it on every mix/ Master now. I’m planning on buying it eventually. I’ve bought a bunch of synth plugins over the past year that I need to start to use more often and learn though. I’m working on an 11 year old Mac Pro that I upgraded last year but I run into major cpu headroom problems with plugins. Some of my go to plugins are because they don’t kill my computer. I’m always looking for cpu friendly plugins that also sound good.You mention Baby Audio and while I LOVE their new Spaced Out delay I can’t use it because of the toll on my cpu. Tried the demo but was ready to buy. Thanks for the good content. Bottom line is learn to use you tools. You can make and mix dope tracks on your phone or iPad at this point if you know how to use the tools.
I agree ....but check this out...after using logics eq ...after a while i realized that ikmultimedia equal is way better ...in regards to artifacts ...theres just some things you gotta go get
Nicely done sir ... If you collect all these tools( PLugins & outboard gear) you're eventually fall into option paralysis ... KNow your tools and how to apply them to the most important thing which is the Song and Performance ... Thanks for sharing some truths .... cheers
Super good advice man. Unless you are trying to zero in on an exact replica of something, the amount of creativity possible with a DAW and some modest gear right now is unreal. It’s the same thing like how many options we have now to cook bangin food just by going to your local supermarket. If you got the knowledge and the skills and the taste you can do so much.
Plugins don’t make up for lack of practice. But it definitely helps to purchase a few good ones that you know you’re going to use often (EQ for example).
This is helpful! Just started a year ago and I thought having the most expensive plugins will make my sound better. Yoire right -- work with what you you have. Appreciate the tips man!
I have a producer friend who just have to get everything he sees, man, he says he just love having them even if he doesn't use them. In my opinion that's just greed, and he doesn't even now how to use them properly, because he doesn't spend time to learn them. He just like to brag about how many plugins he has.
Haha ha THANK YOU MAN. After watching your video , I wanted to buy any plugins that comes to mind, Comp, eq, reverb etc. I wanted to buy them all. Thanks
Expensive typically means better but if you aren't to a certain skill level it's best to use what you have (stock plugins for example) before investing in other things; that and just learning how eq, compression, etc works.
I definitely feel that "stock plug-ins" story.....I did some dope mixes using only Pro-Tools stock plug-ins before (Pro-Tools 5 LE)....i like the bottom line of this video...learn how to use the plug-ins. Most Def! and yes WAVES is the BEST 100%!
Fabfilter, Plugin Alliance and iZotope are my go to plug-ins. I like using the UAD mic-pre emulations going into the box but I don’t use UAD plug-ins in the DAW because I use three studio systems (production, mobile, and main studio systems) and I like the portability of my plug-ins...👍🏽👊🏽
All I use is First off sonarworks reference 4 (bedroom producers like me will love this plug in) Fresh air Shaper box 2 Fab filter pro q 3 (on everything instrument including vocals) Drip Rc 20 (💓💓💓 is my heart right there I use Nexus 2 vst and rc 20 on that is fucking fye) And wider Those are the only 3rd party plugins I use on beats vocals I mostly use stock FL plugins
That good knowledge bro.....something I always tell new producers regarding their sound as well. Learn your gear and how it works best for you to get the most out of your recordings. God bless
Respect for your verbiage cause my wife was ready to hit me wit tha chop cause I ran up a Bill over 2 months that totaled over $600 & a lot of samples are somewhat worthless & same sounding.
true . waves got some dope cheap ones tho. and slate got a subscription for like $10 a month i think. but u still gotta put in time and learn to use em right. one love
The other day I loaded up MDrummer, a rather expensive (yet still underrated) drumming instrument onto an old track. Replaced the old drumkit with a Drump Empire kit. Holy balls it was a huge improvement. Yet I hadn't used MDrummer in 12 months. I have more plugins than tracks to use them on LOL!
I try not to double up on pluggins. I try to get pluggins that can have multiple functions, low cpu and are medium to expensive and have a name you can be confident in. Get pluggins you need, the ones you want can be bought later when the price goes down. I try to stay away from cheap pluggins that seem to make my logic crash. Like I say you get what you pay for, certain pluggins are expensive for a reason. Like the pimp said in "Hustle & Flow", " You want quality you gon have to pay for that".
