Essential tips, plugins and VST

[Gagarin Project 400]

What are essential tips and trics to have in mind while producing?

 

[Gagarin Project 400]

Auto-Mute

Having an auto-mute on your output bus is crucial to protect ears and monitors from the high volume signal.

Something like Ice9 works in case of disaster or loss of clock, etc. 

http://www.cerberusaudio.com/Software/Products/Ice9/

(thanks for Phase47 / Ascendant for this tip)

 

i guess same can be done with Brickwall Limiter

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/trbricklim/

(recommended by Makyo)

[neil (spatialize) 77]

good idea. 

 

making sure that your overall volume output is close to hand is very valuable.  i route everything out through a Mackie 1202 VLZ which has a handy monitor volume knob.

 

also making sure you dont produce too loudly too.  if it sounds good at a low volume it will sound great at a high volume.  producing too loud gives you a false confidence about how good the track actually is sometimes.

[via'on 8]

I love big knobs.

 

TC Electronic make a good passive volume knob :

I've been using it for 7 years, still handy and not much crackling. 

 

Otherwise, to answer your question, maybe me most important trick I know about mixing is "all is about balance" : balance between instruments levels, spectrum occupancy and spatialization. Set a priority list in your head and don't be afraid to cut useless frequencies. 

[neil (spatialize) 77]

wow thats a handy bit of gear 

[neil (spatialize) 77]

re what essential vsts to use etc, i would say that at least one good analogue synth emulation VST is essential.  Doesnt matter toooo much which one, as long as you have access to some decent synth goodness.

 

personally i have Arturia prophet V but i think the Mini moog VST could possibly be the best all round choice if you have to choose ONE.

[Phase47 24]

One thing, and this is more of a philosophical notion, and maybe too obvious, but that's to ruthlessly pare down your plugin collection to only those synths and effects that speak to you as an artist. Don't be taken in by the flavor of the month. Demo, demo, demo - and then keep only the ones that are essential to you in creating your work.

 

Trash the rest and don't look back

[unknown music 14]

When I become satisfied with an audio track arrangement or with an effect plugin, I render the individual tracks to audio files so that I always have material recorded as audio to fall back on for future situations. This saves CPU and buffer time and enables me to try out non-linear editing/playback behavior. If I need to make any changes, I can always regenerate it with new results. This is useful once projects reach a certain size and the arrangement begins to fall into place... the mixing and mastering begins.

[andorra 117]

I've been thinking to purchase U-HE Bazille Digital Modular Synthesis... I've been using the demo version for a while now and really like the sounds you can make with it!

 

https://www.u-he.com/cms/bazille

 

Anybody using it here? What are you're thoughts on it? It's quite pricey so I'm still thinking...

Does anybody have any discount coupons for U-HE to help me purchase it..? 

[andorra 117]

This seems nice.. Just came across to it. Maybe give it a try this weekend..

 

http://north-america.beyerdynamic.com/virtual-studio.html

 

"The plug-in virtually simulates real speaker systems (such as stereo or 5.1) in various environments (recording studio, concert halls, etc.) on your headphones.

Virtual Studio is offered for free, without any support or warranty."

[Lorn 74]

One thing, and this is more of a philosophical notion, and maybe too obvious, but that's to ruthlessly pare down your plugin collection to only those synths and effects that speak to you as an artist. Don't be taken in by the flavor of the month. Demo, demo, demo - and then keep only the ones that are essential to you in creating your work.

 

Trash the rest and don't look back

 

Probably the best advice anyone can receive with the addition of learn your DAW inside and out, like the back of your hand.

[neil (spatialize) 77]

Probably the best advice anyone can receive with the addition of learn your DAW inside and out, like the back of your hand.

 

yeah, agreed.

 

plus learn a handful of synths.....well.  learn them and use them consistently instead of scattering attention half heartedly across 20 different synths and not knowing any of them properly.  That approach pushes you towards using the presets which are designed to be big and brash and so don;t always sit well in a mix.  

 

maybe

 

1 x analogue emulation

1 x VA

1 x FM synth

1 x Digital synth

 

Should cover most things.

 

ALso don;t go crazy with the amount of software you put on your computer.  Learn what you have first and when you start to feel that you are missing a certain timbre, then seek out the plug-in for that sound.  But really you can do a lot with very little.

 

And then when you've got a decent, well grooved system with gear you know, just make music with that for a few years.  You can't spend your life on a learning curve.  

[Lorn 74]

 

And then when you've got a decent, well grooved system with gear you know, just make music with that for a few years.  You can't spend your life on a learning curve.  

 

That make music for a few years is probably the single greatest obstacle for most people to get better. Mastery requires hard, time intense patience. No matter what field you are interested in. Let go of ego. Let the music itself guide you.

[neil (spatialize) 77]

persistence, determination. 

 

mastery of any skill requires it.

 

encouragement along the way helps too and so forums like these are invaluable. I learnt so much from the producers on psymusic.co.uk on the media production forum.  Really helps to smooth the way.

[Lorn 74]

persistence, determination. 

 

mastery of any skill requires it.

 

encouragement along the way helps too and so forums like these are invaluable. I learnt so much from the producers on psymusic.co.uk on the media production forum.  Really helps to smooth the way.

 

I've never visited psymusic forum. Thanks I'll check them out!

[neil (spatialize) 77]

It's got a more psy trance flavour. I.e lots of threads on kick and bass.

[Lorn 74]

 

1 x analogue emulation

1 x VA

1 x FM synth

1 x Digital synth

 

Should cover most things.

 

 

 

So does anyone have a list of the major synth vst's that fall into these categories?

[neil (spatialize) 77]

So does anyone have a list of the major synth vst's that fall into these categories?

 

there's a million answers to this but here;s a few ideas

 

analog emulation - arturia minimoog or imposcar software

decent little analog for the studio - novation bass station

 

VA - Sylenth software - novation supernova

 

digital synth - korg kronos (hardware beast) or perhaps a korg m1 software synth

 

fm synth - FM8 software

 

 

and omnisphere for everything in between

 

 

you could do most things with that lot

[Lorn 74]

there's a million answers to this but here;s a few ideas

 

analog emulation - arturia minimoog or imposcar software

decent little analog for the studio - novation bass station

 

VA - Sylenth software - novation supernova

 

digital synth - korg kronos (hardware beast) or perhaps a korg m1 software synth

 

fm synth - FM8 software

 

 

and omnisphere for everything in between

 

 

you could do most things with that lot

 

Well I use Omnisphere and Diva. My mind is a bit small and focusing/learning more than that is mind numbing.

[neil (spatialize) 77]

Good plan to restrict what you use. :-)

 

Having too many synths means that you're always learning instead of just making music. And anyway omnisphere has great digital synth sounds, fm and VA. And you've got the excellent diva for your analogue.

 

You could do everything for a very long time with those 2 synths.

[Lorn 74]

You could do everything for a very long time with those 2 synths.

 

Here is to a very long time to come!

[andorra 117]

Soundtoys Little Plate reverb for free thru November 22 if anyone is interested!

 

http://www.soundtoys.com/product/little-plate/

[Gagarin Project 400]

i am not sure if i posted this before, but in 2013 psyamb has published a nice collection of tips and tricks from many producers

good read

 

http://psy-amb.blogspot.fr/2013/03/psychill-tutorial-tips-and-tricks-part-1.html

http://psy-amb.blogspot.fr/2013/03/psychill-tutorial-tips-and-tricks-part-2.html

[andorra 117]

i am not sure if i posted this before, but in 2013 psyamb has published a nice collection of tips and tricks from many producers

good read

 

http://psy-amb.blogspot.fr/2013/03/psychill-tutorial-tips-and-tricks-part-1.html

http://psy-amb.blogspot.fr/2013/03/psychill-tutorial-tips-and-tricks-part-2.html

 

Good read! Thanks for sharing

[Psilopylot 9]

Haven't seen it mentioned so here's Paulstretch, software for stretching audio to extreme measures while staying in tune with the original. Great for experimentation and pads.

 

http://hypermammut.sourceforge.net/paulstretch/