"It's more about skills than plugins" demystify attempt (a VO track produced using paid vs. free plugins)

[Foliasound]

Hey, KVRians,

I recently recorded a tutorial about producing a thick, loud commercial/ad ready VO track (yes, I did hundreds of these for tv and multimedia) and decided go further and try to debunk a myth:

"hey, no matter what plugins you use, It's all about skills!".

I strongly believe in that myself, yet I'm using top paid tools in my everyday work. I'm also having some free plugs, so it was a no brainer to compare paid vs free results on something relatively simple. And, well, I was quite (quite? totally!) surprised with the result (taking into account that I know my paid plugins way better than the free ones).

Hope you find a minute to take a look and tell me what you think about the principles and results of my experiment (and the tutorial itself):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o_lfzNJnY4

[jochicago]

There are tons of excellent free plugins. Plugins are tools and tools DO matter, and if we pick correctly we can get the job done with plugins that didn't cost any money, but are still great plugins.

I learned something from your video. I was impressed by how effective the Sonible Smart EQ was. The sound from that was very nice. I'm adding that to my shopping list.

I don't want to be negative here but I did not like the result, what you did after Smart EQ sounds over-processed to me (harsh, artificial sound). And I realize that it's easy to say these things just critiquing from the couch. So since you made the source file available, I did a quick session to illustrate my version of this VO using free plugins:
https://clyp.it/du4yked0

I didn't want to spend too long on EQ but I think it sounds fair. Tools:
2 layers of Kotelnikov, for compression and limiting (final output around -11 LUFS)
Nova for EQ
Nova for de-essing
Free Ozone Imager 2 for excitement
A tiny touch of OrilRiver for density

I would have wanted this brighter, but taming the harshness of this mic was the hardest part and I abandoned efforts once I got it good enough. I was fine using Nova for EQ, and Kotelnikov is so easy to get good results as a compressor, but being out of my normal tools was a pain when it came to dealing with harshness and esses, and where I wasted the most time trying to make the free tools work. But I'm also not experienced with all the free tools, and I'm sure if I needed to find free tools to deharsh there's something out there to get the job done.

I think overall the point is that this stuff can definitely be done with free tools, when there are amazing tools like Kotelnikov and Nova that happen to be free. And this is without taking into account all the paid plugins that at some point have been made available for free as part of a promo, like some Acustica Audio stuff that could have been used here, or Izotope Elements stuff. These days there are plenty of pro-grade tools available at no cost.

Perhaps what matters most is knowing your plugins, whether paid or free.

[Erisian]

I rely on free plugins simply because of low funds so I am very experienced with them. It's really cool that somebody who is used to top commercial plugins posted this. Thank you.

[MogwaiBoy]

Absolutely.

Read some of those Sound on Sound articles about pro producers / mix engineers and they are almost exclusively using stock plugins and Waves, even their cramping EQs and alias-monster channel strips, on hit songs that sound exquisite.

And here's me, a total hobbyist just having fun with my silly bands and projects, using Crave EQ or Pro-Q because I'm a snob and I think Waves sucks.

But I get it - *I* suck.

And even a humble, meagre tool in the hands of an expert is going to build something pretty awesome. It's their ears, experience and intuition that matter in the end - software and hardware are just servants to those things.

Waves still suck though.

[Ploki]

i mean, yeah absolutely. but what fun is that?


However, the paid version here sounds noticeably better even on my crappy AKG K271. have to check tomorrow in studio. I listened to it without looking at A/B and i can pick em out easily.

Cool video! I skipped most of it. Gave it a like tho

[fcamp]

Of course it is about skills, but also about experience and memory. An experienced engineer will do it with cheap plugins because he knows what it is supposed to sound like and will tweak until he hears it. If you don't have those previous sounds in your head, it is more complicated.

[VariKusBrainZ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2g5qbvb7F4

[Foliasound]

There are tons of excellent free plugins. Plugins are tools and tools DO matter, and if we pick correctly we can get the job done with plugins that didn't cost any money, but are still great plugins.

I learned something from your video. I was impressed by how effective the Sonible Smart EQ was. The sound from that was very nice. I'm adding that to my shopping list.

I don't want to be negative here but I did not like the result, what you did after Smart EQ sounds over-processed to me (harsh, artificial sound). And I realize that it's easy to say these things just critiquing from the couch. So since you made the source file available, I did a quick session to illustrate my version of this VO using free plugins:
https://clyp.it/du4yked0

I didn't want to spend too long on EQ but I think it sounds fair. Tools:
2 layers of Kotelnikov, for compression and limiting (final output around -11 LUFS)
Nova for EQ
Nova for de-essing
Free Ozone Imager 2 for excitement
A tiny touch of OrilRiver for density

I would have wanted this brighter, but taming the harshness of this mic was the hardest part and I abandoned efforts once I got it good enough. I was fine using Nova for EQ, and Kotelnikov is so easy to get good results as a compressor, but being out of my normal tools was a pain when it came to dealing with harshness and esses, and where I wasted the most time trying to make the free tools work. But I'm also not experienced with all the free tools, and I'm sure if I needed to find free tools to deharsh there's something out there to get the job done.

I think overall the point is that this stuff can definitely be done with free tools, when there are amazing tools like Kotelnikov and Nova that happen to be free. And this is without taking into account all the paid plugins that at some point have been made available for free as part of a promo, like some Acustica Audio stuff that could have been used here, or Izotope Elements stuff. These days there are plenty of pro-grade tools available at no cost.

Perhaps what matters most is knowing your plugins, whether paid or free.

Hey man, thanks for the try, more things to compare! I believe that mixing it this, that or the other way is a matter of personal taste and your client expectations. If I did it your way - my tv/ad clients wouldn't probably accept it. Yes, it's pumped up, artificial, but that's the way it was meant to be. If it was about a documentary, I would lean towards your tone!

[rod_zero]

SO many producers use stock plug ins, and I have go back to almost that only using a couple of third party stuff.

[Tj Shredder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2g5qbvb7F4

What a tutorial, I learned painting in 2 and a half minutes...