If you were starting from scratch what plugs would you buy?

[BarneyBarry]

The new Neutron 4 is a great tool for mixing, especially unmasking

[huzzam]

honestly, just:
* some good reverbs ~ Valhalla Vintage covers a lot of ground
* a good, flexible saturator ~ Decapitator is easy, Saturn is deep
* a dynamic eq ~ start w/ Nova EQ (free) from Tokyo Dawn; Pro-Q is the upgrade
* creative manglers ~ Unfiltered Audio Triad is my current jam
* VIs to suit my compositional style ~ start with Spitfire's free Labs & Symphony Orchestra
* don't sleep on free stuff from Klanghelm, Tokyo Dawn, Valhalla, Analog Obsession (if you're outside Pro Tools), Softube

& then: learn the stock comps & EQs (etc) really well. Learn to "make" a tape delay from dig delay + saturation + mod + filters.



And most of all: arrange your songs well, treat your room decently, and mic your instruments well.

[junkgear]

LiquidSonics for reverb.
Eventide for delay.
Avid for compression and limiting.
Avid EQs are fine too.
Avid for saturation / color

I do like Slate, but if we are starting over, I could probably do without.

[off the wall]

UAD, Waves, SoundToys.

[b mcgibney]

Really close to pulling the pin on the Ozone Mix and Master Bundle. Ozone 10 advanced, Neutron4,Nectar 3 plus, Neoverb,,Tonal Balance etc

https://www.izotope.com/en/shop/mix-...-advanced.html

Reviews seem pretty positive

Brian

[Eric Seaberg]

Glad someone mentioned the SSL Bundle. We have SSL consoles and the plugins are TRULY authentic!! My personal system also has Fabfilter as well as Waves Horizon, but have really fallen back to stock Avid along with the SSLs. Great, workable combinations.

[paul_g]

Because we used Waves in School, I opted to stick with the Waves bundle.

I've streamlined my workflow, so the Renaissance EQ and Comp seem to fit the bill.

I'm not terribly fond of the Reverbs that come with the Platinum Bundle, I may seek better reverbs elsewhere.

[nsureit]

If I started over, I would use the heck out of Pro Tools stock plug-ins. Learn everything I can about them. Then, I'd have a foundation of knowledge from which I could assess third party plug-ins and determine if they would improve my workflow and mixes. I bought way too many early in the game.

When I first started using Pro Tools, I bought a bunch of third party stuff thinking they were superior to stock AVID plug-ins. Now, I know more about how plug-ins integrate with Pro Tools, their affect upon the CPU, how they may be redundant, and so forth.

I guess what I'm trying to say is to first learn how plug-ins work in the mix, then carefully evaluate new plug-ins and buy the ones that do unique things that you can't replicate with the stock devices.

[LDS]

^^^ This ^^^

I would probably do a lot of things differently if I were to do it all over again. Like just sticking to stock plugins and grinding away with them day after day. It is amazing how constant and consistent repetition with the same tools forces you to focus on your engineering skills.

If I were just buying new stuff after a bunch of time away, I'd feel very comfortable tackling the vast majority of stuff with only Fab C and Pro Q, and Stratus.

[AL X]

I'd have to go with Metric Halo's Production Bundle. Eight plugs that cover nearly all my processing needs without an unreasonable amount of machine overhead.

The bundle doesn't include a timing/key/phrasing tool so Melodyne fills that spot.