stock plugins for mixing

[bryced87]

Someone advised me to have these stock plugins enabled while mixing. I would get your input as well.

1. EQ 7 band

2. Compressor

3. BF76 Peak Limiter

4. Stereo Width

Is that all I need?

I also have been told that I should have an Aux track as a Sub Mix routed to the main Master Fader.

I've seen some mix without this.

Just was curious if there is a right or wrong way to mix.

[bashville]

It would be good for you to sit down with an experienced mixer and ask a lot of questions. Maybe you can find some demo sessions online and study the signal path.

Here is a good book:

http://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets.../dp/0240815807

I would say don't put any plugs in the chain until you hear a reason for needing them. Experience will tell you when you need them.

Good luck

[bryced87]

Originally Posted by bashville

It would be good for you to sit down with an experienced mixer and ask a lot of questions. Maybe you can find some demo sessions online and study the signal path.

Here is a good book:

http://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets.../dp/0240815807

I would say don't put any plugs in the chain until you hear a reason for needing them. Experience will tell you when you need them.

Good luck

as per my original post the person that advised me this is an experienced mixer and he said "you always use these plugins in this order." To me he's not very experienced

[Wall2Wall]

Originally Posted by bryced87

as per my original post the person that advised me this is an experienced mixer and he said "you always use these plugins in this order." To me he's not very experienced

Invest in yourself. Go book a few sessions with a "real" experienced engineer at a "real" studio. Ask questions, watch what he does, get instant feedback, etc. 1 real session will put you light years ahead of just asking questions online for months.

[albee1952]

Some good advice already so let me approach it a little different. Saying YOU should always do XYZ is silly(kind of like coloring by numbers, it makes a picture, but it sure isn't art) Some things that I ALWAYS do(that you might try and like or hate):

Use EQ(usually EQ III 7 band) to remove useless low frequency stuff(IOW, high-pass). I high-pass vocals(125-160 Hz, depending on the voice), acoustic guitar at 80-90Hz(assuming standard tuning) and EQ out any "ugly" frequencies(aka "subtractive EQ"). Most of my EQ use is for cutting frequencies I DON'T want, with very little boosting.

I use compressors on things that I feel NEED compression. That OFTEN includes vocals, bass guitar and acoustic guitar(notice I said OFTEN and not ALWAYS), and yes, I use BF76 for much of this)

I USUALLY use a touch of reverb to simulate a room for my drums, another reverb to give acoustic instruments some "space"(bring the reverb down till I can't hear it, then bring it back up just a little).

I ALWAYS use SMACK! and Waves Puigtech EQ1A on my lead vox, but that's because it works with my projects and compliments my recording chain. You may need something quite different, depending on your chain, singers, mix style, genre.......

I ALWAYS mix each song for that song, and NOT because of any other song(I figure each song deserves to be treated like its "special")

If a project will go to mastering(which I ALWAYS encourage), then I ALWAYS use NOTHING on the master(what to use there is up to the mastering engineer, not me)

As for which plugins, I do use BF76 on most vocals, acoustic and bass and EQ III is my "go to" EQ for 80% of my work(despite owning tons of plugins). Re stereo wideners, I NEVER use them on a mix, but often use them on reverbs.

Last words, you need to find what works for you, and that MIGHT be what I use, or it might be totally different. You need to experiment and find/define YOUR mix style

[VRW]

Actually there is less left to add to all the good stuff been posted already.
Anyway there are a few plugins I would recommend to put on the Master Bus additionally.

1) Samplemagic Magic A/B
https://www.samplemagic.com/details/184/magic-ab
...this one is really really helpful and so much worth the money.
For mixing just put back the volume of the reference songs for about 4-5dB
or as much as seems to be reasonable as to your own material.
For mastering applications of course leave it like it is.
2) HOFA 4U Meter, Fader&M/S Pan
http://hofa-plugins.de/en/plugins/4u/
...these are for free yet great quality, means, do not color the sound at all, no loss of sound quality!
However you only need 1 of the 3 plugins which is the 4U Meter, Fader&M/S Pan on the master bus.
With this one you can check the level (overall as well as for the individual channel), Mono compatibility,
phase and various sophisticated pan stuff.
3) a good frequency analyser
...this is an useable one for free which is the BlueCat Audio FreqAnalyst
http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products...ry_0_Freeware/
Btw there is a lot more useable stuff in this free plugin bundle like EQs, Modulations, Gain/Trim etc.!
...however I personally prefer to use the HOFA IQ-Analyser V2
as this one again adds absolutely no unwanted coloration to your sound/mix, offers phase controls for
the whole frequency range of your music and great reference utilities. And it is one of the most accurate
analyzers on the market. Highly recommended and really worth the money!
http://hofa-plugins.de/en/plugins/iq-analyser/


Another plugin which is not a must but can be useful on the masterbus is the IK Multimedia T-RackS
Custom Shop TR Meter plug which offers a lot information in one single plugin (level, loudness RMS+
perceived, phase, correlation and a small spectrum analyzer). You additionally get an EQ plugin with this one.
You can get it all for free, only will have to register at IK Multimedia.
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/trcs/

There of course are a lot more plugins out there which do the same, some for free, others not yet worth the money.
A widley used one for example is the Waves Dorrough Meter http://www.waves.com/plugins/dorrough-stereo
as well as the Waves WLM Loudness Meter http://www.waves.com/plugins/wlm-lou...ck-start-guide or some Flux stuff etc.
http://www.fluxhome.com

Anyway. The free stuff I have posted above is good enough to be used professionally as well and may be quite helpful
for mixing your material.
As mentioned by all others already there are a lot different approaches to what to put on the master bus and what not.
If you do not want to use any dynamic plugin (compressor or limiter), you at least could put an additional eq on your
master bus for subtle final tuning.
Btw I personally finally have ended up using a limiter on the master BUT set in a way that it ONLY keeps the signal from
peaking, NOT continously pushing it. But again, thats up to everyone himself what to use/if to use certain stuff.

And as all the others have mentioned already it all depends on the music, the song, the particular signal if you need to
use any processing and if yes, which kinda of and how much of it.
I would highly recommend to get the Magic AB plugin, put it on the master and listen to reference music a lot (don´t
forget to push back the volume of the reference track otherwise you will be chasing unreachable/unreasonable goals ).
This finally will give you a natural feel for how things should sound, when things do sound well and accurately by the time.
You then will know if to tweak and how to tweak signals by the time automatically.
And if you do not want to get the Magic AB plugin, just pull some reference tracks into Pro Tools and listen to it consistenty
(adjusting its volume again!).

Another thing, as you are using PT11 why not using the Avid Channel Strip instead of EQ3/Dynamics3? To me personally it
does sound better and you have everything you could need in just 1 single professional plugin.
You then can decide which processing to engage while working on the signal. Just as a suggestion.
The Avid Channel Strip could be a useful plugin on your master bus as well as again you can decide what to use within the
plugin itself. Does it need a little EQ? Engage it. Try a little compression on the master? Just engage it, try it, take or leave it.
There for sure are more effective plugins out there for the master bus but if you only use stock plugins why not trying the
Avid Channel Strip? Its a pretty cool plugin imo.

Finally, if setting up plugins on the master bus and using Magic AB it does make sense to put any processing first, then the
Magic AB plugin and after the Magic AB all the metering and analyzer stuff. By doing so you additionally can check the frequency
range, the phase/correlation stuff, the levels and how the reference tracks sound in Mono compared to your own material as well.
Especially the frequency range check and the Mono compatibility/how the reference songs do sound in Mono I do use a lot and it
gives me a lot useful information for my own stuff at the end of the day.

Thats been not less rather a long story not short again. I am aware of that.
Anyway I hope I can give you some additional inspiration and help with it.
Wishing you the best of success and have fun with your work,

VRW

[mesaone]

There's no "always" for what processing is needed, or for what order processing is needed. Sure, throw an EQ3 on each channel, but you won't always need it. Same with the compression.

[bryced87]

so if you don't always need an EQ or compression then what else is there? Can you mix without any plugins on the master fader?

[mesaone]

Yeah, you most certainly can. Some people mix into a limiter, others don't. Sometimes a bus compressor, sometimes not. And sometimes an instrument doesn't need EQ. And you may find that you don't always want compression on this or that or the other. More processing doesn't mean more professional.

[bryced87]

but what plugins do you put on the Master Fader? Now I'm really confused. I've been told to have the same plugins for every song on the master fader and to have a sub mix routed to the master fader