What are your favorite “glue” plug-in’s?

[DrMEM]

Where are you guys inserting your tape sims?

[do_androids_dream]

Eventide Omnipressor.. magic. Also Variety Of Sound Slick HDR and various Airwindows plugins.

[Googly Smythe]

Where are you guys inserting your tape sims?

Wouldn't you like to know!

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Where are you guys inserting your tape sims?

Wouldn't you like to know!

[foosnark]

I think of it less as glue, and more as bringing out the subtleties... sort of like a fill light in photography.

Toneboosters EQ4 sometimes does that nicely, sometimes Presswerk. I'm not a master at mastering, but I'll usually try a few different things to see what makes it all sound better.

[wagtunes]

You know, somebody asked a question that wasn't answered but I'm going to take it a step further.

I have absolutely no formal training as far as taking all your individual tracks and feeding them into your output buss and then throwing all your "mixing/mastering" stuff on at the end. So I just wing the whole process. Have no clue if it's right or wrong. And it isn't the same for each song. I'll vary it a lot.

Sometimes it's this...

Multiband Compressor
Limiter

Sometimes it's this...

Tape Emulation
Limiter

Sometimes it's this...

EQ
Compressor
Tape Emulation
Cuttertone
Limiter

And so on.

I always put the limiter at the end because I don't want anything going into the red.

It's simplistic and probably totally amateurish but that's what I do.

So, here's my question.

What does YOUR FX chain look like? What's standard for you? Or do you have no standard? Do you do what I do?

I have yet to find a video that actually goes into FX chains in any kind of depth explaining what goes where and why.

So where DOES the tape sim go? For that matter, where does EVERYTHING go?

[Obsolete236871]

Most of the Variety of Sound Plugins have a great glueing factor.

[SMH]

Don't know if it counts as 'glue' but I use Psp VintageWarmer2 on almost everything.

[plexuss]

[snip]
I have yet to find a video that actually goes into FX chains in any kind of depth explaining what goes where and why. So where DOES the tape sim go? For that matter, where does EVERYTHING go?

Good point. I should do a video about this.

Your approach is fine. Whatever you want to do because in the end the music is all that matters - how you got there is your own personal approach. If we all did the same thing then the risk is all music would sound the same. The whole point of all THIS is that it's fun, creative and the end results gratifying.

In terms of "where should things go?" - it comes down to, again, your own approach. Some people have a fixed chain for various things and other people just wing it with a clean slate and build up plugin choices as they go with no consistency.

The "limiter at the end" makes sense is probably has the most consistency between people. It's there to help mitigate issues with digital audio, which is what we are all working with presumably. Even with analogue you need to manage the full scale but analogue media has "built in" limiting (to some degree).

Of course in fully analogue chain, there is less opportunity to swap out tools and so most people with hardware have a fixed or slightly changing chain. Unless they are rich and have a giant selection of hardware to choose from and the ability to patch things together.

So... for me, when it comes to analogue modelled plugins, I typically put them in place in the way I would if I had the hardware. I have some experience with hardware and audio engineering (and physics and electronics) and so I think in those terms about what makes sense. Maybe its not the "right" way or the "best" way, but it's "may" way. I did it my way.

The proof is in the pudding - the final sound. If you don't like it, figure out what you don't like and what tools to use to fix it. No matter the placement.

[wagtunes]

[snip]
I have yet to find a video that actually goes into FX chains in any kind of depth explaining what goes where and why. So where DOES the tape sim go? For that matter, where does EVERYTHING go?

Good point. I should do a video about this.

Your approach is fine. Whatever you want to do because in the end the music is all that matters - how you got there is your own personal approach. If we all did the same thing then the risk is all music would sound the same. The whole point of all THIS is that it's fun, creative and the end results gratifying.

In terms of "where should things go?" - it comes down to, again, your own approach. Some people have a fixed chain for various things and other people just wing it with a clean slate and build up plugin choices as they go with no consistency.

The "limiter at the end" makes sense is probably has the most consistency between people. It's there to help mitigate issues with digital audio, which is what we are all working with presumably. Even with analogue you need to manage the full scale but analogue media has "built in" limiting (to some degree).

Of course in fully analogue chain, there is less opportunity to swap out tools and so most people with hardware have a fixed or slightly changing chain. Unless they are rich and have a giant selection of hardware to choose from and the ability to patch things together.

So... for me, when it comes to analogue modelled plugins, I typically put them in place in the way I would if I had the hardware. I have some experience with hardware and audio engineering (and physics and electronics) and so I think in those terms about what makes sense. Maybe its not the "right" way or the "best" way, but it's "may" way. I did it my way.

The proof is in the pudding - the final sound. If you don't like it, figure out what you don't like and what tools to use to fix it. No matter the placement.

Thanks. I'll look for that video.

[foosnark]

What does YOUR FX chain look like? What's standard for you? Or do you have no standard? Do you do what I do?

My standard is: in my DAW project (the full setup for a recording) I have a limiter (Barricade 4) as the last plugin. TB EQ4 is right before that, but bypassed by default; it's there to remind me to think about overall sculpting a bit. Other groups or channels in the mix might get some compression or limiting (or transient designers or whatever) for their own reasons, as needed.

My goal there is to use a decent amount of the available dynamic range and not to screw it up, more than it is to get particularly loud or "glue" everything yet.

And then when I have this recording, I work with it in Sound Forge Pro -- doing start/end cleanup as needed, applying destructive edits using its own non-realtime dynamics and EQ tools, and sometimes other plugins. I get it to a "close enough" state and leave it alone.

And then, if I decide it's album worthy and deserves extra effort: I'll go back into Sound Forge Pro again and use its dynamics tools, RMS-based normalization, peak repair etc. and/or Presswerk or other tools to make each song conform to a general standard and sound a little bit better.

[Russell Grand]

Where are you guys inserting your tape sims?

Wouldn't you like to know!

[Russell Grand]

Where are you guys inserting your tape sims?

Wouldn't you like to know!

[Armagibbon]

I always put the limiter at the end because I don't want anything going into the red.

It's simplistic and probably totally amateurish but that's what I do.

So, here's my question.

What does YOUR FX chain look like? What's standard for you? Or do you have no standard? Do you do what I do?

I have yet to find a video that actually goes into FX chains in any kind of depth explaining what goes where and why.

So where DOES the tape sim go? For that matter, where does EVERYTHING go?

Hey if you feel like tryin some new habits... only put limiters and clippers on your sums. Never the 2bus. Gets you to think bout the peaks and balance before you sum it all right? Catch the overs where you got more control and wont color as much. Good practice.

Limiter on your 2bus if you gotta do crazy shit and dont want your speakers dead sure... but dont print it like that.

[rod_zero]

Imagine you are using tape in a hardware studio, where does it go?

Right after the preamp or sources, where you record the initial sound source, before eq and compression.

In fact when I use tape sims I just put them in every channel and freeze immediately.

Also, first effect in the bus chain.