Average effects number per channel?

[LBTM]

What's the average number of effect plugins you put on a channel?

 

[Nimvi]

Depends on how many mistakes the average recording engineer makes

Ideally I usually end up with VTM, VCC, an EQ and maybe a comp. Since life isn't perfect, I'll go with 5-6.

 

[bryan_kilco]

I'd say average about 4-6

 

[RedDog]

Depends on the channel. Saturation, compression, and eq are the norm. But not always.

 

[LBTM]

Depends on the channel. Saturation, compression, and eq are the norm. But not always.

It's (total_effects)/(number_of_channels) in the last 3 finished mixes you did

 

[RedDog]

Damn after the math, 1-2.

 

[Mashreef]

*depends on the instrument
*depends on the situation...

i would normally use Eq,Comp on everything..
i vote for 5-6

 

[Trevoire520]

Hmmm, differs from one channel to the next.

Overheads/cymbals tend to just have eq & saturation, so 2-3 plugs
Vocals I sometimes have to chuck everything & the kitchen sink at, loads of compression and saturation plugs, some eq, de-esser. It's not unusual for me to use all 10 slots by the time I'm finished.
Bass and guitars can be anywhere inbetween, same for drums.

So in short, it depends

 

[mva801]

Jesus if you need 5-6 plugins on EVERY track? You may be doing something wrong....

Obviously you'll have a few which have a lot going on, but on average, I have 1-2 plugins per track, sometimes zero.. Not counting VCC, which I just throw on everything in the first slot.

But then I'm lucky enough to do most my recording through a nice front end with outboard API eq's, so a lot of the time I don't have to do shit ITB. Have done whole records with 40+ tracks and less than 10 plugins....

If I'm working with no outboard gear, I'll inevitably have a few more eq/ comp plugs running, but nothing too crazy...

 

[Mashreef]

i use 2 or 3 eq sometimes....
no1. for cleaning up
no2. boosting
no3. shaping

so 5-6 is a normal thing.. because i always work with the plugins

 

[LBTM]

i use 2 or 3 eq sometimes....
no1. for cleaning up
no2. boosting
no3. shaping

i'm doing this too and I rename them to something like "120 high pass", "low-mid cut", "low pass". and then there goes the 2nd or 3rd eq for shaping. it's a good trick to keep track on what's every plugins purpose on the session without opening each one.

 

[Nimvi]

Jesus if you need 5-6 plugins on EVERY track? You may be doing something wrong....

Obviously you'll have a few which have a lot going on, but on average, I have 1-2 plugins per track, sometimes zero.. Not counting VCC, which I just throw on everything in the first slot.

But then I'm lucky enough to do most my recording through a nice front end with outboard API eq's, so a lot of the time I don't have to do shit ITB. Have done whole records with 40+ tracks and less than 10 plugins....

If I'm working with no outboard gear, I'll inevitably have a few more eq/ comp plugs running, but nothing too crazy...

Yea, you pretty much summed it up. If you have to work completely ITB with less-than-ideal recordings provided by others, you might need some extra horsepower. I consider VCC+Tape+EQ baseline for any track in most of my mixes. Compression is also constantly used. So that's already 3-4, and that's in a situation where there is absolutely nothing wrong with the tracks.

If you want to chain several compressors, add automations elements like an extra EQ to make room for vocals when they are active, or want to use a different EQ to boost than to cut, etc, you already sit at that 5-6 mark, if not higher. And that is still in a situation where the recordings are half-decent. Sure, some tracks may only need a highpass, but other tracks push the average right back up (vocal and bass channels always end up looking like a christmas tree here...).

So from that perspective, I don't think about 5-6 per track has to imply that you are doing something wrong. As long as you have a vision and are not just stacking up plugins, thinking "holy shit why does this sound so awful?" Been there...

 

[Melodeath]

Usually at least 4, and sometimes way more. I work completely ITB come mix time.
VTM, VCC, EQ, compression, maybe a trim/volume plug somewhere in there, etc. is basically the usual minimum.

 

[mva801]

Are most of you guys really compressing every single track?

 

[LBTM]

Are most of you guys really compressing every single track?

In metal mixes there's always compression, even something like 1:1.5, on every track. On lighter genres theres some automation here and there and far less compressing.

 

[Clockwork]

I said 3 to 4. Most tracks get EQ and maybe some verb. I tend to only compress shells, bass, and vox. I never compress guitars these days, usually just eq after reamping (and delay/verb on leads). I feel like excess compression is that fastest way to make your mix sound like shit. Vox get way more effects on them than everything else.

 

[Chris Lucas]

Usually 3-4. Not including VCC. Not everything gets compressed but everything def has eq. You can always shape a raw sound to better fit a mix imo. Some tracks have almost none like a ride and some have tons like bass and vox where I use multiple stages of comp and stuff.

 

[-Noodles-]

On the channels, I'll do surgical EQ and taming compression.
On the busses, I'll do musical EQ and effect-compression.

I have four stock effects busses (moving towards 5 though); Small Verb, Large Verb, Small Delay, Large Delay + new addition of Distortion.

Channels will usually have Logic EQ + MH CH, with busses having FabFilter Q and C.

 

[LBTM]

What will you use the distortion for? Also what distortion plugin do you usually use?

 

[Nimvi]

^ Parallel distortion can be really nice to add some grit to vocals or synths. Not necessarily all the time, but automated it's pretty cool. I also like to use it on delay at specific points of a song. A nasty distorted delay can really underline the last word of an important sentence.

For less-than-subtle stuff I currently really like Onqel's TSE808. With similar settings as you would use on a guitar, and a heavy highpass before or after it, it can create that evil telephone effect pretty well. Mix to taste.