Since sharing presets got such a big thing and so many people seem to rely on them, I'm going to kill the magic with the truth:
Don't want to repeat myself. I think you got message. Thanks for additions and critique.
Added by ahjteam:
Lets break down where presets are good and where they are not:
Stuff where presets are good as is:
- limiters, spectrum analyzers, delay compensation and other "set and forget" type plugins, can also include stuff like reverb, but they usually always sound better when tweaked a little
- presets are usually good if you make them yourself, so they are useful to you
Stuff where presets are a good starting point:
- synths. They give a very good starting point and you can quickly browse thru the sounds, but they still usually need quite a bit of tweaking.
- effects. By effect I mean stuff like modulation, not eq and compression.
- amp sims and other multi-process chains. unless your whole signal path and surrounding mix is entirely the same as on the original source tone, whole signal chains like pod presets are only good as construction pieces, but you usually have to tweak the settings a lot
Stuff where presets are not good at all:
- "everyday" plug ins that you need to tweak depending on the source, like dynamics, eq, delay
- anything that requires ears to make it work correctly, like pitch correction or amp sims
- usually the other plugins that were not listed here
And a quote from Ermz existing "noobie"-thread:
1. Avoid putting too much stock in presets.
The largest fascination we seem to have as a forum is to pester someone that rolls along with a good tone or mix with: 'woah, screenshots? presets? pictures? plz!'.
Whilst serving as a good document of what worked for that particular session, these are of little direct use to the wider community, who will undoubtedly have differing source tones and starting points. Read and understand that:
PRESETS ARE ONLY EVER ENTIRELY USEFUL ON THE ORIGINAL SOURCE.
Now, don't misinterpret this to mean that you have to disregard presets altogether. On the contrary, presets can be very useful if you know how to draw from them.
When you load up a preset, whether it be an amp sim tone, an EQ, or an entire channel strip preset you need to ask yourself one fundamental question:
Which of these settings can work for me, as a matter of standard procedure?
Don't look at the notch at 7kHz, the wide scoop around 300Hz or the high pass at 80hz as definite, discrete information. Don't write these down and use them yourself. What you need to do is look at each of these processes and ask yourself WHY it was done and how it altered the source tone. The important thing to draw from is not exactly, to every last detail, what these settings are, but why the processes were done, and how you can implement those same approaches in your own work.
That notch at 7kHz may have been done to tame the 'fizz' of a guitar cab. That fizz and the cab may be specific to the user and not you, but the idea you have to draw from is that if you run into a 4kHz fizz spike on your cab, you could try a similar notch to tame it.
The wide scoop at 300Hz may have been due to the user's room being small and having uncontrolled low mid frequencies. That may not apply to you, but what does apply is the idea that a wide scoop in those frequencies will provide an audibly 'clearer' sound, if you were to ever need it.
The high pass at 80hz may have been done to get rid of useless information below the tone. The important thing to draw from there is that a high pass was done, NOT what it was set to. In your case, and your mix, you may benefit from setting one at 150 or 170hz (if you roll the Bergstrand way). What you need to take from the process is that there is information that could be hurtful to your mix below or above your usable frequency content, and that you should filter it on a case by case basis.
These are just some examples of how you can alter the way you perceive this information in order to help you grow as an engineer, and enhance your arsenal of tools with new approaches, and not just predefined settings.
Presets are not going to make you a better engineer.
They're not going to give you THE Andy Sneap, Sturgis or who-ever sound! These guys are hard-working people with great ears, and there is no ear-calibrating-plugin released yet.
Presets are not the holy grail. They CAN give you an insight of what others are doing but you don't have their room, their chain, their ears, their gear and so on. So please understand them as something to start with... not to finish your mix.
Joey Sturgis and others don't get their guitarsound from presets but from good sessions. This is also true for every other aspect of recording. The source is what matters.
Presets are created in a totally different environment to yours. Maybe it will work in your mix but let's compare it to cooking: Making your own Blognese with a good receipt (aka help/learning from this forum and other resources) will (or should) taste better than the ready-made shit. At least you will learn from just DOING it and next time you hopefully learned from the mistakes you did the first time. Best of it all: You can give your sauce any flavour you want. Awesome, hu?
Don't rely on presets just because they worked in someone elses session. I'm a guitar player myself and just to let you know: UBER GUITARSOUND COMES FROM THE HANDS. Not a preset.
Presets will not make up for bad gear/sessions. If you recorded your $50 guitar through a behringer micpre don't expect THE Andy Sneap c4 settings on your cracked Waves pack to magicaly shape your sound. It does not. No other preset will do.
Don't want to repeat myself. I think you got message. Thanks for additions and critique.
Added by ahjteam:
Lets break down where presets are good and where they are not:
Stuff where presets are good as is:
- limiters, spectrum analyzers, delay compensation and other "set and forget" type plugins, can also include stuff like reverb, but they usually always sound better when tweaked a little
- presets are usually good if you make them yourself, so they are useful to you
Stuff where presets are a good starting point:
- synths. They give a very good starting point and you can quickly browse thru the sounds, but they still usually need quite a bit of tweaking.
- effects. By effect I mean stuff like modulation, not eq and compression.
- amp sims and other multi-process chains. unless your whole signal path and surrounding mix is entirely the same as on the original source tone, whole signal chains like pod presets are only good as construction pieces, but you usually have to tweak the settings a lot
Stuff where presets are not good at all:
- "everyday" plug ins that you need to tweak depending on the source, like dynamics, eq, delay
- anything that requires ears to make it work correctly, like pitch correction or amp sims
- usually the other plugins that were not listed here
And a quote from Ermz existing "noobie"-thread:
1. Avoid putting too much stock in presets.
The largest fascination we seem to have as a forum is to pester someone that rolls along with a good tone or mix with: 'woah, screenshots? presets? pictures? plz!'.
Whilst serving as a good document of what worked for that particular session, these are of little direct use to the wider community, who will undoubtedly have differing source tones and starting points. Read and understand that:
PRESETS ARE ONLY EVER ENTIRELY USEFUL ON THE ORIGINAL SOURCE.
Now, don't misinterpret this to mean that you have to disregard presets altogether. On the contrary, presets can be very useful if you know how to draw from them.
When you load up a preset, whether it be an amp sim tone, an EQ, or an entire channel strip preset you need to ask yourself one fundamental question:
Which of these settings can work for me, as a matter of standard procedure?
Don't look at the notch at 7kHz, the wide scoop around 300Hz or the high pass at 80hz as definite, discrete information. Don't write these down and use them yourself. What you need to do is look at each of these processes and ask yourself WHY it was done and how it altered the source tone. The important thing to draw from is not exactly, to every last detail, what these settings are, but why the processes were done, and how you can implement those same approaches in your own work.
That notch at 7kHz may have been done to tame the 'fizz' of a guitar cab. That fizz and the cab may be specific to the user and not you, but the idea you have to draw from is that if you run into a 4kHz fizz spike on your cab, you could try a similar notch to tame it.
The wide scoop at 300Hz may have been due to the user's room being small and having uncontrolled low mid frequencies. That may not apply to you, but what does apply is the idea that a wide scoop in those frequencies will provide an audibly 'clearer' sound, if you were to ever need it.
The high pass at 80hz may have been done to get rid of useless information below the tone. The important thing to draw from there is that a high pass was done, NOT what it was set to. In your case, and your mix, you may benefit from setting one at 150 or 170hz (if you roll the Bergstrand way). What you need to take from the process is that there is information that could be hurtful to your mix below or above your usable frequency content, and that you should filter it on a case by case basis.
These are just some examples of how you can alter the way you perceive this information in order to help you grow as an engineer, and enhance your arsenal of tools with new approaches, and not just predefined settings.
