What plugin can i not live without? EQ and comp

nialldoran

nialldoran

Member
Jun 11, 2010
548
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16
Belfast, N.Ireland
Hey guys i've been noticing my mixing (and tracking) stepping up alot recently, and i've noticed stuff in mixes i've never caught before, so now would be a good time to get some new tools

i haven't ever settled on a go to compressor or EQ, is there anything i need to own?

i have rencomp, renEQ and Q10 but usually use stock PT plugins when tracking, the studio i work in has some cool stuff i really like the ff d3 compressor and bomb factory pultec EQ stuff but haven't ventured really far,

open to anything at all, as its such a massive market a point in the right direction would be great
 
Ok, here we go...

Heat (always miss it when I can't use it)
Cranesong phoenix (live in my bass track)
Kush audio UBK-1 (room mic (also using it on room mic when I mix on ssl with ton of outboard so that say something I guess), lead vox)
Massey L2007 (drum bus sometimes, always in my stereo bus)
Rencomp
C1sc
Filterbank
 
brilliant really like the look of that kush and i hadn't known about it so thanks for that, definitely gonna try it out and see if i like it this week, also loving the L2007 at the minute, got my mix to a really good place last night on an album i was finishing,

heat also looks like something worth using as our three suites are all PT based,
thanks man
 
Honestly for eq I find the stock digi eq is fine, though I do find myself using the Softube trident on alot of stuff (gtr, bass, kick, snare)

For comps I use the CLA 76 loads, but I'm trying to get more out of the box with compression these days.
 
My favorite eq is the fab filter Pro Q for most tasks, for color Eq I use the waves V series the most often followed by the duende native channel strip eq, I have also been loving the NI Massive Passive that I picked up recently. For compression I like the duende comp, brainworx vertigo and the waves Api 2500.

Im extremely curious about the UBK comp plugin but Im kind of waiting to see how the new slate comps come out. In my view if he can get VCC and VTM so right, its tough to imagine the comps not being a couple steps ahead of what others have out there. Ive also toyed with the idea of getting a dbx 160 variant or splurging on a chameleon labs 7720 but i just dont think it will suit my workflow.
 
I mostly use the stock PT equalizer and V-EQ. For compressors I always end up with either Waves SSL, CLA-76 or CLA-2A(love it).
 
nialldoran said:
brilliant really like the look of that kush and i hadn't known about it so thanks for that, definitely gonna try it out and see if i like it this week, also loving the L2007 at the minute, got my mix to a really good place last night on an album i was finishing,

heat also looks like something worth using as our three suites are all PT based,
thanks man
Click to expand...

The Kush audio ubk-1 is a really deep comp. Really simplistic to use but you can do more thing with it than it look like.
It's not designed to be an hardware emulation. You can get really close to what a distressor or a fatso can bring with specific use, but the hardware still sound different.
On the other side, this plug can do some thing compression wise that are simply not possible in the hardware word (hardware have 26db of headroom over zero dbvu, this have 100 db or something). It can be really subtle or like world war III. It's really a tone shaping tool that allow you to create movement in your mix. You can push thing upfront or more back...
And he work in a really musical way (Greg tuned the compression curve like he did with the ubk fatso: by ear).

The L2007 is a really great comp. My defacto standard on the 2bus for a year now. Different sound than a L2 but both are great.
What make the L2007 so special for me is the loud preset.
Jaycen Joshua mentioned it at Pensado's Place, and he was right.
What the loud preset do is of course bring your level up, but it also add the midrange you need for get this loudness perception (midrange = loud).
Since then, I tend to also use the L2007 on my drum bus.

Hope that help...
 
Brilliant glad to hear some love for the digi stock EQ as i never heard anything wrong with it,didn't know if i was missing something, i'm guna demo eQuality this week on a project but it seems to be loved by everyone who owns it, so i'll probably buy it, absolute bargain if its as good as everyone says,

really interested in getting a great transparent comp, and one with flavor like the UBK-1
thanks again guys getting pointed in the direction of some great stuff i never checked out thoroughly before
niall

EDIT:
Mikaël-ange;10593777 said:
It's really a tone shaping tool that allow you to create movement in your mix. You can push thing upfront or more back...
And he work in a really musical way (Greg tuned the compression curve like he did with the ubk fatso: by ear).

What make the L2007 so special for me is the loud preset.
Jaycen Joshua mentioned it at Pensado's Place, and he was right.
What the loud preset do is of course bring your level up, but it also add the midrange you need for get this loudness perception (midrange = loud).
Since then, I tend to also use the L2007 on my drum bus.

Hope that help...
Click to expand...

Yeah when watching the UBK videos i really noticed this, can't wait to try it out this week and i completely agree with the L2007 thing, the loud setting is great, its just a loudness perception thing that i really love similar to the oxford inflator or the dynamic perception knob on FG-X
 
i've been really keen to try some UAD for a while am i right in thinking i can't use them without hardware? What do people think about the eQuilibrium vs eQuality? is it worth the extra money i've heard nothing but good things about both in the last week since i became aware of DMG with the release of eQuilibrium
 
nialldoran said:
i've been really keen to try some UAD for a while am i right in thinking i can't use them without hardware? What do people think about the eQuilibrium vs eQuality? is it worth the extra money i've heard nothing but good things about both in the last week since i became aware of DMG with the release of eQuilibrium
Click to expand...

Yep, the UAD plugs need DSP hardware to run them. I have a UA Apollo Duo. I used the Waves CLA classic compressors for quite a while before I got the Apollo, and was pretty happy with them until I got the UA 1176 bundle. IMHO they are in a total different world. They sound completely different. The Waves are cool, but have very little coloration to them which is cool if that's what you're after. The new LA2A plug ins are fantastic if you're looking to warm anything up with tons of coloration. They really bring the heat in a very musical and hardware kind of way.

As for DMG and EQ's, just try them out and see if they are to your liking. You're going to find people that think they are the best plug ins ever made, and some prefer Fab Filter etc... There are a ton of very good EQs out there, I think you just have to find the right ones for you. If the stock PT EQs work great for you, why change?

Good luck!
 
thanks for the comments matt i appreciate it,i suppose for graphic eq's i'm looking for something with a little bit more functionality like mid/side which the digi stock doesnt have, and then looking for something with colour too like waves v or the softube trident all mentioned in this thread, im really excited to demo alot of these, some great advice guys
 
I've tried some of the massey stuff at the studio and as i said the L2007 was my favourite, but i rencently removed all the demos i had from my personal laptop as it was causing FG-X to not open and it was only since the CT5 update, i'd love to buy it as i loved it but i hate the thought of it stopping another plug in from working that ill use on all my projects in the final stages,
 
Thanks LBTM i've used that before and i really liked it when i was working on PC's, amazing for being free, probably would've been worth mentioning that i'm now based entirely on MacOsx and Protools, maybe starting off in PC land and harvesting all the free VST's is partly why i don't know where to go for my commercial buying now haha
 
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