What Are The Absolute Essentials?

[wagtunes]

Yep, a compressor is not simply a compressor. Some are better on vocals, others on separate drum sounds, and there are also buss compressors and mastering compressors. If you own Fabfilter Pro C2 or U-He Presswerk you should be good, as these contain all the most common types of compressors.
But if you really want to get into the details, there's also the emulations of analog compressors. They all have their own unique sound and charasterictics.

Neutron should already cover most of your needs, as it contains EQ, compression, transient shaping and saturation. Just experiment with different settings.

When you say saturation, you're referring to the Exciter, right? Because there is no "saturation" module in Neutron. Just wanted to clarify this.

[Reefius]

Yes, the exciter is for saturation.

[Pingafuego]

The Izotope Music Production Bundle 2 xgrade from any Izotope Advanced product is on sale now (if you own Neutron Advanced). You can find it @ timespace.com for $ 189.58 (or 147.41 euros, without VAT).

Also, Waves Diamond bundle is on sale for 188.50 (everyplugin.com), which is insane!!

[Liero]

Wagtunes - listening to your soundcloud tracks it feels to me like the foremost place for improvement isn't necessarily in mixing tools but maybe arrangement and just doubling down on the quality of the sound sources themselves? I kind of get the feeling as if a lot of the backing instrument sounds are from an old 90's Roland rompler or General MIDI synth or something. Just very, kind of, spartan and ultra-clean?

Maybe what I'm missing is some aliveness and even "mistakes" in the music to make things more interesting.

[wagtunes]

Wagtunes - listening to your soundcloud tracks it feels to me like the foremost place for improvement isn't necessarily in mixing tools but maybe arrangement and just doubling down on the quality of the sound sources themselves? I kind of get the feeling as if a lot of the backing instrument sounds are from an old 90's Roland rompler or General MIDI synth or something. Just very, kind of, spartan and ultra-clean?

Maybe what I'm missing is some aliveness and even "mistakes" in the music to make things more interesting.

I'll take that as a compliment because my early works were called much worse. Mistakes galore. Timing issues galore. Bad recordings. You name it. So if you think my stuff sounds ultra clean, nicest thing you could have said to me because that's what I was going for after all the ridicule I got for years.

So thank you.

[Liero]

Wagtunes - listening to your soundcloud tracks it feels to me like the foremost place for improvement isn't necessarily in mixing tools but maybe arrangement and just doubling down on the quality of the sound sources themselves? I kind of get the feeling as if a lot of the backing instrument sounds are from an old 90's Roland rompler or General MIDI synth or something. Just very, kind of, spartan and ultra-clean?

Maybe what I'm missing is some aliveness and even "mistakes" in the music to make things more interesting.

I'll take that as a compliment because my early works were called much worse. Mistakes galore. Timing issues galore. Bad recordings. You name it. So if you think my stuff sounds ultra clean, nicest thing you could have said to me because that's what I was going for after all the ridicule I got for years.

So thank you.

Well you make it sound as if I was trying to ridicule or bring you down, which most certainly was not my aim. Just my "first impression" 2c.

[wagtunes]

Wagtunes - listening to your soundcloud tracks it feels to me like the foremost place for improvement isn't necessarily in mixing tools but maybe arrangement and just doubling down on the quality of the sound sources themselves? I kind of get the feeling as if a lot of the backing instrument sounds are from an old 90's Roland rompler or General MIDI synth or something. Just very, kind of, spartan and ultra-clean?

Maybe what I'm missing is some aliveness and even "mistakes" in the music to make things more interesting.

I'll take that as a compliment because my early works were called much worse. Mistakes galore. Timing issues galore. Bad recordings. You name it. So if you think my stuff sounds ultra clean, nicest thing you could have said to me because that's what I was going for after all the ridicule I got for years.

So thank you.

Well you make it sound as if I was trying to ridicule or bring you down, which most certainly was not my aim. Just my "first impression" 2c.

Well it certainly didn't sound like a compliment but don't worry, I took it as one.

[Liero]

I was neither trying to compliment nor deride you - just offering what I would myself consider valuable information: how others perceive my music/mixes. (if you felt prickled by my comments you can take a stab back and criticize my stuff at http://www.stianstark.com)

EDIT: Might just be a cultural EU vs US difference, over here my prior comment wouldn't be seen as rude and that's how my brain is calibrated, so I apologize if you felt like it was.

[wagtunes]

I was neither trying to compliment nor deride you - just offering what I would myself consider valuable information: how others perceive my music/mixes. (if you felt prickled by my comments you can take a stab back and criticize my stuff at http://www.stianstark.com)

EDIT: Might just be a cultural EU vs US difference, over here my prior comment wouldn't be seen as rude and that's how my brain is calibrated, so I apologize if you felt like it was.

No, not at all. I simply took it as a criticism or, if you like, a critique of my music. On a technical level, if we're going to be totally robotic about this, you found issues with it. Too clean. Dull sounds. Or however you phrased it. No "mistakes" or I guess what you probably meant was some raw dirtiness to make it sound more "real" and less computer generated. However you want to paint your comments, they weren't "compliments" in the traditional sense. Well, where I come from, if something isn't a compliment it's a criticism. And there's nothing wrong with that. My music gets criticized all the time. In this case, however, I took this criticism as a compliment because this is the first time anybody ever said my music was too clean. So to me, even though I took it to mean a criticism, I took it as a compliment.

In any case, I am neither upset or bothered by it. For that matter, I don't get upset or bothered by what people think of my music anymore anyway. Not after 40 years of "Your music sucks. Take up another hobby." I just let it all roll off my back.

[Liero]

Not after 40 years of "Your music sucks. Take up another hobby."

Wow, really? That sounds harsh. Well, compliments on sticking to it!

[BRBWaffles]

The original question is a bit confusing. You're asking what the absolute essentials are, but it already looks like you have that idea covered. If you want to know where else you might want to be directing your money, I'd suggest reverbs.

With a few more esoteric exceptions, pretty much every effect plugin that isn't an EQ, a compressor, a limiter, a saturator, or a reverb can be replicated with a little bit of leg work. You don't need delay plugins to create delay effects, for example. But the one exception that is likely used the most frequently is reverb. Reverb isn't something you can hack together in a pinch with extra tracks and filters, and it's almost always needed.

I tell my clients to save their money for decent reverbs. These days, nearly every tool you could reasonably need to complete a mix is available online for free, and additional goodies for flavour are often very cheap and high quality. Klanghelm is a good example. But, before all of that, get a reverb that sounds good to you. If the free ones sound fine to you, sure, use them. But typically reverbs tend to scale well with price, unless it's Pro-R. I don't care what anyone says, Pro-R is not worth Fabfilter's asking price. But most reverbs actually are worth their MSRP.

[wagtunes]

The original question is a bit confusing. You're asking what the absolute essentials are, but it already looks like you have that idea covered. If you want to know where else you might want to be directing your money, I'd suggest reverbs.

With a few more esoteric exceptions, pretty much every effect plugin that isn't an EQ, a compressor, a limiter, a saturator, or a reverb can be replicated with a little bit of leg work. You don't need delay plugins to create delay effects, for example. But the one exception that is likely used the most frequently is reverb. Reverb isn't something you can hack together in a pinch with extra tracks and filters, and it's almost always needed.

I tell my clients to save their money for decent reverbs. These days, nearly every tool you could reasonably need to complete a mix is available online for free, and additional goodies for flavour are often very cheap and high quality. Klanghelm is a good example. But, before all of that, get a reverb that sounds good to you. If the free ones sound fine to you, sure, use them. But typically reverbs tend to scale well with price, unless it's Pro-R. I don't care what anyone says, Pro-R is not worth Fabfilter's asking price. But most reverbs actually are worth their MSRP.

Reverbs I have covered. I have QL Spaces for the impulse stuff and Valhalla for the other reverbs.

[BRBWaffles]

Reverbs I have covered. I have QL Spaces for the impulse stuff and Valhalla for the other reverbs.

In that case, we're definitely outside of the meat and potatoes of mixing. I don't think there's much more to add to the list. One recommendation for a plugin that I think is incredibly unique, and some people regard it as indispensable, is the FG-X by Slate Digital. Unlike the other 95% of Slate's catalog, that plugin is actually one of a kind and quite effective at what it does.

[wagtunes]

Reverbs I have covered. I have QL Spaces for the impulse stuff and Valhalla for the other reverbs.

In that case, we're definitely outside of the meat and potatoes of mixing. I don't think there's much more to add to the list. One recommendation for a plugin that I think is incredibly unique, and some people regard it as indispensable, is the FG-X by Slate Digital. Unlike the other 95% of Slate's catalog, that plugin is actually one of a kind and quite effective at what it does.

Okay, I'll bite. What does it do?

[ghettosynth]

Reverbs I have covered. I have QL Spaces for the impulse stuff and Valhalla for the other reverbs.

In that case, we're definitely outside of the meat and potatoes of mixing. I don't think there's much more to add to the list. One recommendation for a plugin that I think is incredibly unique, and some people regard it as indispensable, is the FG-X by Slate Digital. Unlike the other 95% of Slate's catalog, that plugin is actually one of a kind and quite effective at what it does.

Okay, I'll bite. What does it do?

It's (yet another) mastering limiter++. It purports to handle transients intelligently in a particular frequency dependent manner. I don't know if version 2 has been released, it wasn't as of 2015. FGX has been around for a few years now.

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/thre ... -x.636063/

(Note here they are talking about Ozone 5, the latest Ozone does not
have a reverb module)

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