Are Studio Plugins Becoming A Scam
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
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The manufacturers are exploiting the "gear lust" mindset. All young engineers and musicians have this. When you are insecure about your skills and abilities it's easy to fall into the trap of "if I only had this new thing it would make me good". Oddly, a Paul Stanley (KISS) interview I heard where he complained about working with people who only wanted to discuss equipment. That's when I realized what was happening.
It's TRUE, there are so many plugins that literally repackage what already exists in other plugins or DAWs. I have seen one company called Unison doing this and selling heavily over priced rehashed crap.
This!👍
Spot on.
I'll admit that I went through a plugin phase where I bought them like crazy. That said - I haven't bought more than 2 over the past year. The thing that gets me is the youtube reviews - some by very reputable mixing engineers (who seem to be getting paid by the plugin company - IMO) who play a track then turn the plugin on and play the track and go on and on about how amazing it sounds etc etc., meanwhile it sounds EXACTLY the same as when the plugin wasn't turned on to my ears. At first I thought maybe it was just me but now I believe it's mostly marketing.
alot of plugins suck but if u dont notice those bad plugins changing the music u got horrible ears bud those plugins are bad because they change the music in a bad way not that they dont do anything bro if u cant notice a change between compressors or anything esle then u need to train your ears
Warning, long comment coming below:
Just like you, I’m not that young anymore; I’ve been doing music for 35+ years now, I worked as a young intern in a local studio using 2” tape system, large format analog console, Atari’s for MIDI sequencer with Cubase V1.0, (even Pro24 and soundtrackers on Amiga before that), so I’ve known “old school” way to do it because we had no other way to do it at the time. And then we could get audio in computers, then virtual instruments and effects, etc… I moved to fully in the box now, and will even go full mobile with the new MacBook Pro 16” Max maxed out. I do believe in native systems. However, everytime I want to mix a session, I always think like an old school guy, thinking like: What kind of gear would have used if I would have done that fully out of the box?
Most of the time we would have a 32-48 channels console with Filters/EQ/Compressor, like a SSL Duality 48, or maybe the new Origin 48, and then we would have a rack full of our favorite outboard like 1176, LA2A, Pultec, Distressor and such… However, we wouldn’t have 100s of them, just a couple here and there. So when I’m mixing, I like to use the same “channel strip” plugin on all tracks (like SSL or even the new Waves EV2 that I just bought for $29), and then use few specific plugins here and there like the outboard I would have used out of the box. Sometimes, restrictions are a good way to be creative. I don’t believe in having 10 plugins per tracks to make micro-surgery, I think it makes the tracks “too clean” and therefore “sterile”. I know, it’s big words that might not mean anything, but that’s how I feel. I prefer to keep some imperfection and now use all plugins all the times everywhere, it keeps the music “alive”.
So having said that… how many plugins of those LA2A or 1176 do you need? Once you find a good one you like there’s no need for anything else. So once you have a good package of plugins such Komplete, Slate, maybe couple Waves and McDSP here and there, you set for a long time, like they did thousands of records on the same studio with the same analog console and outboard gear. I worked in a studio that had Waves Mercury, so I could try them. They might have what? 400 plugins now in Mercury, and I was maybe just using 10 or 15 top (SSL, Neve, API, MM, Maserati, Kramer and CLA). I wouldn’t need the other 350+ plugins in the bundle. Just like I wouldn’t need all plugins from Brainworx because I would probably just use couple of them. That’s why I prefer to skip some bundle or subscription and maybe just get some plugins here and there during Black Friday, discount periods, and be done with it. Instead of chasing more plugins all the time, just trying to learn what I have.
For creation tho, that’s another story, the more I get the better, because I often get inspired by a preset, or a sound, so I like to chase VST instruments, or Kontakt sample libraries. But for mixing effects, I don’t need much. I just got McDSP 6060 for $69, plenty of EQ and Compressor… I don’t need much more from McDSP now. Buying more plugins won’t make me a better sound engineer. I also know my limits.
TL;DR: So long story short, yeah, there’s no need to always chase for “more plugins”, but instead learn to use what we already have. If you use a DAW that come with a nice bundle (such Logic Pro), you can already do a lot just with the included plugins.
That totally makes sense . So many companies come out with plug-ins and upgrades. I agree with you. Just grab the ones that are conducive to your workspace or session template ! Thank u for ur insight !
It's like a cash grab and they take advantage of people who dont know any better. Nearly every new plugin I see today I think to My self "I made that exact same effect over 10 years ago". From Li-fi restoration to sythersizor sounds to Guitar effects, heard it all before and could do it all before a decade ago.
I never use my Izotope or waves plugins anymore. Cubase has greatly improved the quality and number of their stock plugins and that's what I use now. You mentioned 3 or four EQs and compressors and Cubase literally has 3 to four of each
What limiter do you use?
I think it’s a scam now. I’m done with plug ins. If I can’t make it with what I have ( I have a lot ) then I shouldn’t be doing this.
I am with you on this. I recently canceled a bunch of subscription based plugins that I had accumulated. I Honed in on the stuff I actually use and bought a handful on the Black Friday deals. I had amassed so many options that it was a detriment to my creativity not a boon. Started pushing myself to learn the tools I have better. If I need a sound of effect I learn how to do it with what I have. Even unsubscribed from quite a few channels that have devolved into marketing and reviews for plugins and new gear. Productivity has already improved.
I literally bought an old computer to put my hard drive that has all the plugins in it opposed to upgrading.. they made it to where if you do upgrade you have to literally upgrade everything...
This is actually not a bad attitude. There are enough plugins in, say, Logic, Cubase or Studio One to mix and even master a full record. Sure, they may have different qualities, sounds and features, but really, unless you are very specifically going for a very specific sound, stock DAW plugins can get you by. Spend that money instead on good instruments/libraries, good monitors and room treatment.
I have a tone of plugins and the only think I do is playing with them and not producing anything for a long time ....so true
I hardly make any music now - I have a lot of plugins and gear, and yes I don't use some of even my most expensive purchases and I'm constantly eyeing up new plugins. It seems most of my time is spent downloading new stuff/updates, or watching videos on the latest crap, instead of actually getting stuck in and getting creative. I'm like a studio maintainer now, instead of a musician. It is 100% detrimental, thanks for helping me identify this. Furthermore, I think my problem is a lack of confidence - it seems like every piece of new gear or software, or video on producing, has only served to increase my capacity for doubting my creative choices and erode my decision making ability! VERY interesting how it's been exploited and my reluctance to look it in the eye. A good friend pointed out this "gear lust" thing to me years ago, and how one would be better off mastering the limited tools you have at your disposal. But I didn't connect it to this flaw in my character, this underlying lack of confidence and self-belief. Time to take it seriously!
I agree with you... the mark up value for them is high, but on "Black Friday" deals you can get them insanely cheap makes you wonder what is the true value and most are somewhat mediocre...
Great topic 👏🏽
ESPECIALLY on Plugin Boutique!
I wonder how underpaid the devs are
Most important thing that I personally have found relating to plugs and mixing/recording in general is to take some time and make yourself some really good, well thought out templates. You figure out very quickly what your go-to plugins are when you have to choose your favorite ones for each particular track type and purpose.
That's very good advice. You nailed it.
I've been moving more and more towards hardware in my studio. It's less flexible in some ways but it lasts longer and in some cases sounds better. My latest purchase was a Lexicon 480 and what a revelation that was. Along with the Lexicon PCM multi FX units and some Eventide stuff I do more and more effects in hardware now. It saves CPU cycles, there are never any computer related issues to worry about, and allows for some flexibility during production. I'm seriously considering picking up a Bricasti as well just so I have several channels of reverb available in hardware plus different flavours. I've not bought a single plugin this Black Friday and I kind of don't miss it. There are some things I still use in software though (and like). Like piano libraries for example as well as some drum libraries etc. Those are always useful. But for processing I've moved to the Al Schmitt approach. Great microphone, great preamp, great AD stage and you're done. If you need to de-ess you re-record rather than process. Sounds better every time. For side chain (I do a lot of electronica) type stuff though that's still in the box but I have a couple of Summit Audio TLA 100A compressors that could feasibly do that. It's still easier to do this in the box though. I don't think plugins are a scam but I also don't think you need a million of them. One or two of each tool maybe makes the most sense if you're fully in the box and depending on what kind of music you make.
Theres is a never ending stream of companies comming out with repackaged plugins or bits of what's already in most DAWs with a over priced cost.
I’m very mixed on this. I do love real and analogue. I am also happy to have plugins that really mangle them sound. Companies like Sinevibes. Outside t the at it’s largely the bundled plug ins I got with logic. I make electronic music and there’s really only so many EQ I need. To change tone I also reprogram. I largely use effects to finish a mix and get the sounds to work when I can’t reprogram. The reprogramming of sounds is not a dissimilar getting the mic-ing correct. Get it right at source and you’ll gave less to do later.
Can you explain to me how hardware that can physically break or need maintenance last longer than a digital plugin that literallt lasts forever?
@Fifty Cycle that’s exactly why Mac is trash for music production
I get your point, but I'm pretty sure that some analog gear companies do the same thing, selling mostly-just-repackaged-old stuff.
I have my go to plugins but I am mainly interested in hardware. I smelt a while back I felt companies were cashing in. I really like the Solid State Logic Native Channel Strip. I use it all the time now.
@@levondarratt787 That's the one I use!!!
I totally agree. There are way too many plugins. At the end of the day you need a good Reverb, a channel strip, Compressor, Multiband Compressor, transitant shaper, a Brick wall Limiter, a good delay, saturating plugin, tape emulator, an exciter plugin, a de-esser. Then you add to this the essential toys: Chorus, Flanger, stereo enhancer, tremolo, pitch correction, distortion, phaser, pitch shifter etc.. Most of the best albums you listen to, were made on much less gear than what you have in your laptop. I like to use the minimum plugins in a mix. This forces me to make the necessary choices and rely on my ears instead of slapping tons of plugins everywhere and lose control of the mix. A professional mixer using only a daw's stock plugins will always sound better than an amateur with all the plugins in the world. Where I work, we use Pro Tools loaded with everything you can imagine, but at home I have Reaper with only a basic Waves bundle (Renaissance bundle). I often get better results on my home rig, and it isn't because my home rig is better, it is simply because that time I made better decisions. I eq'ed better, adjusted the compression better, chose a better reverb preset.. The decisions you make have 10 times more incidence on the mix than the tool you use. I like to use the Renaissance Channel Strip. It has all the essential features a channel strip needs. There are more powerful channel strips out there but this one is economical on DSP and sounds clean. But mostly, I know it through and through, I know how to compress a snare with it, a bass drum, how to side chain it etc.. I instantly know how to handle it and get good results. Mixing, is interacting with what you hear through the speakers. It is a process that you go into, each time not knowing exactly what will come out of it. The best mixers have a clear mental image of how things must sound according to each style of music. As they work, they instinctively tune in to that image bit by bit until they reach it. They will go far enough so to leave space in the dynamic and frequency ranges for the mastering process to occur. They simply know what they are doing. Mixing is an art form, because two people using the same tools and the same set of rules, will reach totally different results, one being objectively awesome and the other one being very bad.
Brilliant comments Barry, for me as a non-professional it is so easy to become distracted from the creativity and obsessed with the next great thing - a waste of time and energy!
good point, wrong question. as you acknowledge, we're the main problem, not the plugin makers.
also I think there are two things going on: one is the hope that some new plugin gives you a sound you can't get otherwise. that's mostly BS but easy to fall for. but there are also constant advances and refinements: better sound quality, better UIs (better workflows like scaling, layout, visualisations and even style), and sometimes, genuinely new and exciting algorithms. even if you don't actually need them, there is an excitement of being part of this growth and evolution, to know what's going on and what else might be possible next.
so I think it can be both: pointless gear lust sometimes, but also genuinely looking for something that will suit you better and/or is more efficient, or genuinely new.
Most songs that were recorded and mixed throughout the decades were all done using just 1 channel strip for each track and that's it. Not a hundred different eq & compressor plugins (That's just insane) 😆
Yeah but much higher quality and sound than most plugins.
@@TheHungryPigeon That's still not a good reason to collect and rebuy hundreds of eq & compressors plugins from these companies (That's crazy) 😆
Depends on what DAW people use. I used Reason which has a very realistic emulsion of a pro mixer and has lo and hi pass and master compressor. They reason for extra compensation or EQ devices is the loudness war. Tracks today are alot louder that back in your day.
"insane" has become the norm ever since the Loudness Wars began
I’ve been through plug-ins for years guys . Just get console 1 from softube and their ssl-9000k and be done with it guys . It should tc of 90% of your mixing. If your mix still sounds bad it’s ur fault no plug-in can improve it . It’s like trying to drive a Ferrari with no skills
LOL - I totally agree! The music industry is just like the cosmetics industry. "You won't sound/look great unless you buy our products". I have acquired so many plugins with DAW and gear purchases over the years and I hate digging through them all. I am currently reviewing them and I hope to pare it down to 10-15 plugins that I absolutely need and 'hiding' the rest so I don't get distracted. The best recordings in the history weren't made with 20-30 different compressors, EQs, etc. Just a few good units and knowing how to use them goes a long way...
Oh, now you put this out...right after everyone is satiated from the huge Black Friday/Cyber Monday plugins sales....I see what you're doing...lol. Enjoyed the rant.
Like Native Instruments, I would like to see the Absynth updated.
I think this is a good inner dialogue to have as a conscious prosumer. Its caused me to stop investing money into a bottomless pit and perhaps investing into something more worth wild (8U Rack, Furman 1U, klark technik pultec eq)
Also, click funnels and aggressive marketing for complete courses about anything related to music production. Reality is : you need a DAW, native plugins, and experience over time. It's always a pleasure to try plugins and discover new ways of mixing or making music, but that time is almost always better invested in getting things done. Almost, because some brands are really pushing forward with their plugins, and it's worth it to just use those
The best reason I see for having lots of plug,ins is really being able to open a session some one else has plug ins on and being able to accommodate the same plu ins that are on that session.
Me too. That’s why I’ve grabbed “industry standard” ones like Soundtoys, Fabfilter, Arturia, Spectrasonics. . . I passed on Soothe2 this time around though 😭. I also refuse to use anything by Waves.
Believe it or not many top mixers use just a channel strip and send to delay and reverb channels when necessary. Sometimes the material you’re mixing is recorded well that you only need to set the levels, pans, and do corrective EQ then the mix is done.
Metric Halo Channelstrip 3 is from 2012 and still holding on strong for many mixing projects.
@@__orangejulius I know, I also refuse to use anything from Waves, they bleed you every year with the excuse you're paying for a maintenance plan.
"Im going to be your temporary momma for today" is the best quote spoken on youtube. make it a shirt lol
I've changed from plugins to external analog gear - some "vintage" - in either rack mount or 500 series. In addition, I've gone to analog mixer for more EQ's and preamps. I'm not trying to recreate a $200,000 console or a multi-million dollar studio, but I do now have "MY" sound. There are few plugins that I use and I stopped all subscription services. And no... there's no value in subscription unless you are using them each and every day. Besides you may like one at waves and one at slate so why pay subscription for other plugins you will not use.
Great video and wisdom in the truth of too much can bring diminished returns. You start to have creative overload or creative paralysis because you have too many options. Even on recording and redubs I limited the amount of times I do it because back in the day we used tape and had very limited amounts of it to record or redub. This way I get right the first or second time.
Excellent guidance, people on the internet keep showing those shiny plugins all the times and we see them we just get our self caught up in a loop wasting our money, and at the end of the day we never use them.
Hallelujah brother. Thank you for sharing your time and opinion with us. Much appreciated.
Funny...I used to own a big studio...
API LegacyPlus 48 channels with all the gear you want... Do you know how many
boutique brands were putting out " new"
Eq, compressors, limiters, Mic Pres, digital fx, tube-this and tube-that every year at AES ? Too many ! But as it was impossible to buy them all since one unit cost twice the price of ANY top complete collection of the best new plugins available today, well... You got your answer. Plugins are bloody cheap.
And cheaper than we know. New technologies make new plugins' emulation quite good and even if it is not 100% the same, we tend to forget some facts...
Real gear breaks down. Tubes, opamps,
PSU, switches, connectors, they can fail
anytime....
Unless they are brand new, no 2 units of the same sounds exactly the same.
One $ 3000 Tube Tech sounds great.
One track at the time.
A top plugin emulation at $ 200 sounds pretty good also... 10... or 20 tracks at the time... $ 10 per track... VS $ 3000.
Does the hardware sounds 300 times better ?
So go ahead and buy all the good plugins out there and enjoy the ride. It costs nothing. The real question is :
Does hardware gear a must nowadays ?
😉
Great video. I enjoy plugs ins. I'm a Slate subscription member, and I have a I have a few from a variety of other vendors. I enjoy using them and they're beautiful. But, I'm SO SICK of new plugins I can hardly stand it, and have been for a long time now. It's actually turned me off from recording and mixing because it all seems like a huge hussle to me. I think 80% of the "new" is a new GUI and we're tricked into thinking it's better. The overwhelming quantity is such a distraction. Great video!
Thank you mom ;-)! You're absolutely right. I've been searching this topic since not many people talk about it. Let us found the Plugaholics Anonymous.
One luxury "problem" is: I am i.e. convinced that I need and will use those two plug-ins from that company. For the same price I get their whole bundle of 25 instruments and 45 audio plug-ins that I will surely try out and look at lovingly but most likely never really use. But for (money-) economic reasons I buy them and spend three days to download the stuff, two days to install it and make it work and another week to check it all out. So this is not very (time-) economic. I could have written and recorded two songs in the same time. But it is very seductive since the plugs are very very cheap compared to the hardware units, they look good and they mostly sound good. But whenever I click on my inserts and the list of a category won't fit the 32"-screen anymore, I have to clean up and push some plugs into their respective "unused"-folders. Am I guilty of being stupid? I think so. But it's fun anyway...;-)
p.s.: a benefit of this philosophy is that I don't see those plugs anymore, but I have them in stock just in case a customer brings me a session with some of those toys in there...
Got all the plug ins I’ll ever need. The only thing I go for these days are quality virtual instruments & sampled sound libraries, such as anything from spitfire audio etc.
Totally agree with you sir..
Thanks for your all very very valuable thoughts...
Lot of respect sir☺️
From Pakistan 🇵🇰
Barry, I think your "Bingo" moment was when you said that too many plugins, or really too many options, cause you to get "stuck in your creativity" and "slow you down". I know people who cannot get a song off the ground because of endless options, tweaks, sound sculpting tools... People seem to forget the greatest artists of all time did not have anything close to what a tweaker in his bedroom can grab for under 1K. So, what did they have? Good musicians, good composers, good arrangers, and fabulous 1-take dudes who mastered their instruments. Go listen to Rush's "A Farewell to Kings" 1977. They practice it for 2 months and laid it down in under 4 days. It sounds incredible. And no plugins.
I wouldn’t doubt some companies are just finding already developed algorithms and code to create delays, reverb, modulation.. etc.
I think you could easily apply this to guitar pedal companies as well. I’ve amassed a sizable collection of pedals.. and i do my best trying to find something useful to the music i record.. also pedals that have some unique quality.
Plugins … look for companies doing something new and interesting.
I really feel depends heavily on what type of music you’re planning to create.
If you’re recording rock, metal, country, jazz.. blues.. I doubt you need endless plugins. Now if you’re doing scores or sounds for games, movies, videos.. you might want plugins that crush, destroy, can really manipulate the signal.. create these massive atmospheric worlds..
Mostly agree. I tend to use regularly less than 1/4 of the plug ins I own. But once in a while, those funky ‘different’’ ones are just the thing!
What has helped me a lot is that I see plug-ins as tools to either solve a problem or to make my workflow better. Saves me from buying a lot of stuff I just won’t use and keeps me focused to squeeze as much as I can from every plug-in I have.
I use Logic Pro X. I have quite a few plugins from Arturia and some virtual instruments from U-He. However, most of the time I just use the plugins included with Logic (they are quite extensive) and they are totally up to doing the job. I am somewhat of a minimalist, though, in my plugin use believening that less is more most of the time.
You are spot on Barry. Thank you for saying what really needs to be said about the plugin industry. We don't need more, we need better.
Yes Barry, you have too many plugins. Comparatively I have few, and that’s by design. I look at how my mixes are coming up short, then buy accordingly, but with restraint. For example,I realized I needed an optical compressor, so I bought one la2a and one la3a. That’s all I need in that area.
Easy answer.. YES!!!
Good presentation ..it’s wisdom to suggest people need to be discriminatory in choosing effects etc ..same with the avalanche of Kontakt libraries 👏👏🙏🙏🏿🙏🦄
About that Waves SSL plug-in… Paul Third did a great test comparing it to the old one. Turns out it’s almost 100% the same thing… Not the way I would like the plug-ins to be „updated”.
A conversation I've had in my head a long time ago! Good points sir! However, don't be surprised when the plugin gremlins show up in your DAW! lol!
Spot on. Many companies make small tweaks and rebrand it with a new skin. My complaint now is there are tool kits available so everyone can make these plugs ins. This is why there are dozens and dozens of companies offering plugins.
barry you blew my mind when saying these things just like the tube-tech cl1b which even tho they are on the mark 2 version they still haven't done a good job with it maybe it's hard to emulate the behaviour of an opto compressor for the softube guys, as you just said we want quality not quantity.
This is true. Both plug-in versions sound nothing like the hardware. They actually pump. Which is definitely not what the hardware does!
@@StarskiYall wooooooow i was gonna say that bro that it pump, so i am not crazy or something, even when i use a fast release i still can hear that gating effect that it does aka pumping at low compression of 4-5 db. so nowadays i compared the vcl-4 combined with the softube harmonics with the cl1b hardware slow attack and fast release setting and got the same result with the cl1b hadware so the studio even sold the hardware thereafter at how close it was thereafter i learned that the tube-tech cl2b doesn't use the tubes in their compression path, they only use one before the input as a preamp and one after the output so raising the tubetech usually would slightly drive the tube which sadly the softube plugin didn't emulate this behavior, i have learned thereafter using the hardware that an opto compressor never compresses a signal the same way it always compresses it differently compared to an fet and vca compressor which are easier to emulate an opto is trickier. my setting are fuse audio vcl-4 at ratio of 4 and softube harmonics with the modern algo with the saturation amount at 5.8, the hardware the vcl-4 plugin is emulated on use the same style of circuitry as the tube-tech for the compression the tube-tech just let you control the attack and release characteristics and has a tube on the output and a preamp tube before the input.
Once I started using Logic full time, I found myself using a ton of their built in FX and Instruments. I too have a ton of Waves, misc one-offs, various instruments from Native Instruments and independent companies. It does begin to be too much. I stopped my Slate subscription because I didn’t need any of it except for the FG-X. I think I’ll buy just that one. It really comes down to accurate recordings and less gimmicks. Like you said, you only need a few good compressors, couple of EQ’s, etc. Great video!!
I have the NI ones because of Komplete, but they are actually useful. It is not like there is a Komplete option where I can have all the instruments but no effects. Replika XT is great, to be honest. Many creative uses. No, I would not get it for $70 separately, and I am sure many NI users are on the same philosophy.
When I got a new macbook I made the consious choice not to install a lot of plugins. Instead I deepdived into Logic Pros own plugins. And boy, a lot of them are amazing.
I try to know the mechanics of the ones that I like instead of just browsing through the presets. Compressors, Vintage EQs, Reverb and Delay are top notch. It improved my knowledge, my workflow and the size of my wallet.
Really agree on the update part. Simple example with Slate: VCC has been around forever, how hard would it be to add a 9K option? Same with their Neve and SSL EQ, add a couple different modes to them.
Felt like Ive wasted my money on purchasing 3 different compressors from waves this black friday. I was overwhelmed with so much great offers show on my fee. I'm new to purchasing plugins as Im transitioning from cracks to owning one. Those compressors wasnt that bad, but after I bought Novatron plugin from house of kush which is a great compressors that covers most types of compressors from fet to vca to tube plus has a saturation switch too, it easily became my go to. wish I knew it earlier. Ill be wiser next time. Thanks for this video
I would say vendor diversity is a key. Getting a compressor from SSL (like the famous glue), another from PA, something from Fab will give you options and noticeable differences. Getting the emulation of the same hardware from different vendors, or all the compressors from just one vendor are probably not money best spent.
@@AdamElteto yes. it's been 6mos since I posted this comment and Ive collected few comps and eqs from different vendors since then by searching which emulation of some famous unit is the best sounding or preferred by most people and I think I have enough already. But now I kinda realize that all the money I spent on these plugins can already buy me at least 1 real analog unit. lol.
I agree with you ! i started with channel strip on a analog mixing deck with external delay and reverb and i was able to do the job, i got plugins cause i work in a DAW and i find myself using the same plugins chain on all projects .When you stick on the same setup you start to be more creative cause you learn you stuff deeper . We don't need another so call vintage emulation plugin ;-) !
Totally agree, I went from ableton live with a midi controller and 100s of vsts to some old 80s outboard effects reverbs, delay, few compressors, reel to reel, Roland space echo etc having a much more enjoyable experience and now just using Ableton as the recorder
I was with you all the way up to “Temporary Mama”, which just so happens to be the name of my newest song…
Reminds me of the story of the guy who got a big advance and built a beautiful studio. After it was finally built he spent so much time tuning reverbs that when the record co. realized he had not recorded any music yet they dropped him. Just make some music, don't be afraid.
I almost went down that rabbit hole. I quickly realized It won't make me a better engineer.
A friend of mine he realized he actually has doubles of many of the plugins he has! He kept trying to get me into that.
I only use what comes with my software in studio one pro4.
I agree, tbh I find myself searching through long lists of plugins to find the one I use all the time. I’m thinking I might slim down my plugins folder to the ones I actually use.
"Do I need another compressor plugin"
Yes. What are you saying? To imply otherwise would be crazy talk sir. Crazy talk.
I uninstalled 90 percent of my plugins a couple of years ago. I’ve just kept a handful like the slate bundle the SSL natives and the stock logic plugs. Plenty.
Hype, addiction and wallet itching. Only recently I've started sweeping away plugins I'm not using or that at some point in time I bought for whatever reason. It's just nonsense having such amount of them. For me personally, it always ends up being the same 10 tools. There's a couple nice videos out there about "the only plugins I kept" or something along those lines, recommend watching!
Legendary songs (that are still getting played on the radio today) did not have endless plugins. Those songs recorded by real musicians capturing that timeless emotion and sound while being recorded on a single mixing board.
i agree! perhaps sticking to 64 and getting rid of your 32 may help. i go thru mine now and then and ask whether i'll ever use that one again. thanks,
During this Black Friday sale I only bought one: Sonnox Oxford Inflator.
That's it. I am more than happy with the 15 plugins I know inside out. One EQ is enough, for example FabFilter Pro Q3. Or one 1176 etc
Msaturator should give you an equal effect
Yup, stock DAW channel strip or maybe a 3rd party channel strip, and a decent suite for mastering. You can of course use the mastering suite on the tracks, too. A lot of the plugins give you a quick and easy preset for a certain colored sound, which is fine if that is what you are looking for.
Like you I too have fallen into the plugin trap. Many many I've never used but purchased anyway thinking they would help my mixes. Unfortunately I have very few because I'm always busy looking for more gear and plugins. Addiction may be only part of the plugin story. A fellow RUclipsr by the name of Paul Third has been looking into some of these plugins and finding that at least a few of them may indeed not be exactly what they are sold to be. Understanding the details of signal analysis can be quite complicated but some of what he is finding is basic and disturbing. I definitely won't be buying any more plugins without understanding exactly how they work and testing to see what they are doing to the signal.
The answer is definitely yes, so many of these plugins literally just repackage the exact same divices that are either in most DAWs already or other plugins. They are often overpriced and take advantage of new producer's who dont know how much things cost or what they can get.
wish you'd published this reminder *before* black friday! ok i only spent about $80, so could have been worse...
The same goes for mimicking an instrument or an era or an artist. I find the stock plugins in Fairlight are wonderful.
Unfortunately it seems like it is. Because reverb can’t still match the Hardware units even the cheap analog ones there is a depth that the plugs can’t achieve
Agreed
For my professional gig, I try to keep the number of plug-ins down to a minimum. New gear wakes up your senses and your critical analysis. But it's what you know that you make the best decisions with.
Ever understood plugin addiction or where it come. I will pray for yal
..
Right, I know.
I have gone back to getting what I want upfront and using very little junk on the mix.
well said: it's quality not quantity.
And never underestimate the visual bias of the GUI. Plenty of plugins add a fraction of a dB just switching them on.
Close your eyes or blank out your screen and *listen*.
Always make sure the company has a demo/trial version of their plugin.
The funny thing is some of my best plugins i've picked up lately were free ones that were created for windows xp ! . There are some great free plugins out there my bought purchases are becoming less frequent now.
You have to respect your videos they are full of truth. keep the videos coming I appreciate your experience and time you spend to educate us
I needed to watch this video today, just got yourself a new subscriber. I use UAD but going to use to moto of less is more. I have what I think is my main plugins, now it's time to get use to using those. I don't want to continue on this rabbit hole 😂
How easy would it be for a plugin manufacturer to reuse existing plugin code for say... several compressor plugins? They could slap a new GUI skin on it over and over again and call each one an emulation of some famous piece of hardware. No one would even know. This seems necessary to create the illusion of value by pumping out new products endlessly, especially for subscription models. On the other hand, look at a company like FabFilter... No subscription and they only have like 15 plugins on their roster. They update them occasionally, but they actually add new features and functions.
I've decided to attempt to break free of option paralysis and the at times snake oil that sometimes finds it's way to certain plugin manufacturers.
My goal is to moving forward only invest in plugins that cannot be replicated easily with hardware. Hardware doesn't have ilok, doesn't require paid upgrades, just repair at times which I am capable of doing myself the vast majority of the time.
Being told I have to spend sometime as much as I paid for a plugin just to be able to install it through the main program or even an operating system update is kinda a tough pill to swallow. In 5 years of updates I could buy a reasonably well made hardware version of what the plugin emulates.
I'd rather see more rent to own models of plugin sales, or at least more reasonable and less frequent payment for updates.
Very informative video. I've never asked myself this question
Many dollars later....yes they are. Use the stock stuff unless it's a saturation you can't get.
I like real, talk I am subscribing right away ..
Quality not Quantity ✊🏿✊🏽✊✊🏻
#FACTS
i am still mixing with stock plugins I never needed a 3rd party plugins , for me they are not necessary . main key reach the sound you are looking through learning your mistakes through time . that's how you improve your mix. I agree with you 100% plugins are like a scam .
Most plugins are abandonware. Once released nothing happens, sure some get upgraded but most hardly get updated. If so its the framework that host the plugin, so it may run under a new os. Abandomware, something you wanna rent? Something you want to buy? Not in the end of the day.
Im very selective when buying a new plugin when my stock plugins is not enough. You can get a long way with todays stock plugin on most major daw, dont be fooled buying a lot of plugins because you think you dont have enough. When I need to buy a new plugin I usually compare with my stock plugins if I already can get the same result, if not then I think it´s worth buying the plugin. A good example is Vallhalla Reverb, no daw has such great sounding reverb in stock.
Sometimes quality IS quantity. Having the right cheaper tool beats having the wrong "higher quality" tool every time. What makes a plugin higher quality anyway? Is it that it really sounds like an analog unit? I haven't heard a single one that really does, but even if it does, is analog always higher quality? What is "quality" sound anyway? Does quality sound always equal a pleasing or interesting artistic effect? I think quality = A quality; an aspect of sound or character, it's unique flavor. A choice and putting together of those characters and using them the way you see fit, is the art we are talking about here. The more choices the better I say. Doesn't mean you have to use them all or audition them all every time.
Thumbs up for the short length of the video. On point. Finally!
It depends, on the apple side of things I almost don't need them because logic pro jhas such built in
Like that kid Fineas proved that basically you buy a Mac buy logic pro for $200 and it's all you need
However I use bitwig on both Mac and Linux
I totally agree, i decided to cancel subscription Avid, Slate and focus on Harrisson Mixbuss 32C and use what in there. In case i need to buy whats optional so be it, but i´m fed up with the plugin circus
Mixing engineers are a modest people and they will blame the gear for the success even when it's all their credit.
was thinking about this the other day when waves started spamming me with another SSL strip
I Think the best way is to learn your stock plugins first and then decide what you like and dislike about it… you don’t need a 1000 plugins…. i went down that rabbithole myself and now I’m trying to climp back and just use my Midas F 32 console and my outboard gear…. I know that I can do so much more in the box… but I find myself doing too much thinking and tweaking, looking for the “right” plug-in and therefore killing my mixes i the process…. You know…. Spending too much time searching your browser instead of making music…..
"Are power tools a scam?" is the same question.
Marketers will always try to get customers into a cycle of upgrades in any tech sector.
Doesn’t mean we have to participate
I’ve realized for the most part mix with stock and then integrate other plugins that I like for various like some inspire me simply because of the GUI... I like wave platinum + but everything else waves I’m getting away from. I don’t know if I believe hardware gear has such a unique sound. I think those are marketing ploys. I do think you need to invest in a solid preamp... I struggled until I broke down and purchased an Avalon..
Hey, I would pay for a "Barry Johns celebrity line plugin"!
Well said Barry, I needed to hear this today especially with all these sales going on.
People need to ask themselves if there was no flashy GUI, would they still buy them? Honestly, these old consoles that you can get for a few hundred bucks are probably the best investment you can make. They are 16-24 channels of discounted preamps that sound as good if not better than what people have in built in pre's and sometimes stand alone pres, you get EQ, and you get hands on experience. You can use one or two EQ plugins for surgical work and then use the console for color. I buy plugins now and again but it is true, I have barely used half I purchased. Make sure you need the ones you do even if they only cost 30$. Unlike hardware that will always hold sometype of value, plugins will never hold their value. Even talking UAD stuff, it is their hardware that carries and maintains the value over the transfer of their plugins.
I was using a lot more plugins when I started but today my chain is more like a Strip, ProQ 3 some extra Comp if needed, deeser on vox and most of the time a studer 800 add some verb/Delay and a SSL G comp on the 2Bus and I'm 90% done. Once you have your Goto plugins and a stable machine you should be carefull what you put in your DAW. Will it REALY help you and if you don't use it sell it and stop wasting time with endless plug list a mile long.
You just saved me a hundred bucks today, thank you 👍
yup, you always use the same one, and some others for sound design wise, i changed my attention in to hardware these days and try to use less software, it still gives that sound thats not possible with plugins..
Not sure what you mean by a LOT of plugins, but after I sold my UAD hardware and plugins about 10 years ago, today I have less than fifty and I'm pretty well covered in all the areas I can think of and then some. I have begun to rationalize buy ing plugins similar to buying the actual hardware(although the plugin version is usually much cheaper).
One thing I know for sure is that if we would go analog, we would buy the stuff we actually need.
It's wise to follow this mentality in the digital world as well