brandondrury

Such a good article Brandon.

Best of all, the question: "I have 200 plugins that all give you that extra 1%. When does my recording quality double? "

Have you noticed how all advertising revolves around "new and improved". If the last version wasn't good enough WHY DID YOU SELL IT TO ME.

And it begs the question you do, "HOW MUCH BETTER IS IT?"

Let me offer a small lesson in capitalism (not, of course, that you need it).

Product "A" sells well to ignorant customer base (The latter is what we are all part of);

Sales start to slow as novelty wears off. Sales exec|: "We need to make it "new" again. Add one grain of salt (so we're not lying) and tell the customer it's NEW (addtional ingredient) and IMPROVED (new salt makes it better).

Cost to capitlaist? Grain of salt on one line of type per box.

Cost to customer. Well, it's "New and improved" so we'll hike it a bit.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH/ GREEEEEEEEEEEEED.

Great article man, GOOD points!!

I totally hear you on this Brandon. I am a U/A guy as well. I don't have a ton of plugin's. I use 2 company of plugs - I have a UA2 solo card and have about 15 of their standard plugs which included the "old" version on the 1176 bundle, LA2A and a few others. I also have the Waves Silver bundle which has a bunch of standard plugs. That's all I use and honestly I use the U/A stuff 90% of the time and only use the Waves stuff when there is a plug in their bundle that I don't have in the U/A.

The thing about Universal Audio, is that they have great sounding plugs, everybody knows that already! however to purchase their plugs they are so fu**ing expensive I just cant justify it. Your right about the Apex plug. It is the "glue" that will make your mixes sound amazing!!! I tried the demo of it and it does make a difference but for $349 for that one plugin? That's way high in my opinion. Now waves has the same type of plug for $150. I have not tried that yet, but again, do I really need it? No!

It seems like you can get caught up in the "buy this plug and your production will sound amazing" thing. If you just learned proper mic placement and record stuff as good as possible "at the source" the need for all these "fixes" in the mix go away and mixing become much easier with a lot less hassle.

GREEEEEEEEEEEEED.

Shackman, I wouldn't go so far as to that particular word. In my view we have two options. We can begin the assassinations at the top or we can just be a little smarter about how we manage our own personal finances. Even if we could purge the 1,000 worst people on the planet, I suspect we'd still have Honey BBQ spiral Fritos. (I realize the UK isn't known for it's cuisine so maybe you don't have that problem. ) That bag of frito chips was staring me down at the grocery store yesterday. I maintained composure and skipped the purchase.

I think that's the point of my little blog here.

It seems like you can get caught up in the "buy this plug and your production will sound amazing" thing.

It's an issue of features vs benefit.

This car is made out of titanium and lasers. I immediately want it. The only problem is I've not actually to checked to see if titanium and lasers on my car is going to make my life any better. THAT is why I'm buying the damn thing.

We get caught up in the notions of this compressor having "way" more character than the old version of the same compressor. Ok. So which mix did I use it on? In a blind test few could tell.

For what it's worth, it's fairly easy to resist new and improved plugins like this 1176 bundle. Next month they'll release something I don't have. Recently they put out the VOG (voice of god) thing by Little Labs. That's something I've never owned. It could PROBABLY help every once in a while. That was tougher to resist. I don't think I've needed it sense.

Brandon

That's why I like Valhalla DSP. Just the other day I got an announcement that a new version was released of Valhalla Room with a new reverb algorithm and some nice tweaks. How much did it costs for me to upgrade? What a silly question, I bought Valhalla Room already! He was just giving me the heads up to download the latest version for free. And it's a **** reasonable price for the plugin. $50.

I'd really find it valuable for you to review his plugs since you have so many already you can make good comparisons. It's certainly way better than any free ambiance stuff I found.

I must say that I am quite a fan of my UAD compressors. I use them constantly, and they really sound and work great. Not a huge fan of Realverb as it's too complicated and I find it hard to get a sound that I actually like.

That being said, I'm a bit behind the technology curve, and somewhat intentionally. I picked up a UAD1 card with a bunch of compressors used for a stupid cheap price, which suits my budget and buying habits fine!

Unfortunately, UAD recently announced that since they are upgrading to 64 bit, they will be phasing out the UAD1 platform, and solely making UAD2 plugs (as I'm sure you know already). This is admittedly not a big deal if you already own a UAD2, but I'm hoping I can still get their Roland Space Echo plugin on UAD1 after the change happens, because I am WAY too cheap to upgrade to UAD2, and THEN pay for the Space Echo plug. Not gonna happen. I could literally buy a real Space Echo unit for the amount of money that would cost me, and I would rather have the real thing anyway!

I must say that I am quite a fan of my UAD compressors.

Me, too. That's why $300 for "new" and "improved" is steep. When you already have some of the best compressor plugins, a $300 upgrade had better do something SIGNIFICANT. I'm not necessarily saying the new plugs aren't good. They are a step up. However, they still ain't the real thing (for whatever that's worth) so that puts us in no man's land. A lot of cash and not a lot of tangible benefit.

Brandon

Thanks for the heads up
When your poor, just getting new shoe-laces changes how good everything is.

Yeah I'm kind of feeling left out in the UAD upgrade to the UAD-2. For me, it is an expensive upgrade that cannot be justified right now. My 2 UAD-1 cards still work and are going strong with the plugs I have on them. Those are good plugs (I didn't get them all), they do make an easy difference in the outcome of a mix.

True hardware has a longer life than the computer stuff. I hate the thought that the thousands I may have in UAD at this point is going to roll over to zero dollars eventually, unlike truly good hardware.

I was reminded of another software issue when I needed to use a plugin made by some company that has a ridiculous copy protection scheme. If you change hardware or the OS, the plug must always be reauthorized and there are limited authorizations available. I've had to request authorization resets twice now over many years. What happens if they go out of business? This is a copy protection scheme I'm not buying into anymore.

At least the UAD-1 cards work and those are truly high quality plugs. I won't buy into the advertising hype though, not at all. It has to work for me at the bottom line and not be some pie in the sky dream. If I cannot get something to work for me either I'm not ready for it, or it just isn't what I need.

Would I do UAD-2 in the future? Yes. It would be the quality of the plugins that would have me going in that direction.

Yeah I'm kind of feeling left out in the UAD upgrade to the UAD-2

\
It does stink that the UAD-1 users don't have access to the same plugins. On the other hand, I think a few plugins will only run between 4-10 instances on the UAD-2 Quad. (Massive Passive and Fatso come to mind). So if you are running at 1/4 speed, you pretty much get one instance. That puts you in hardware territory. Bla!

Brandon

"[One thing is for sure. Buying "hot", "new" plugins every 10 minutes is a pain in the wallet and I'm not sure if it's really all that easier on the ears.]" Brando, it's a f-**kn pain in the i-Lock as well. I've been considering the UAD-2 Quad for a few months now. I go back and forth... It's probably one of the few plugs that will move into the future well. ie 64 bit arcitecture and Pro Tools AAX bullshit. Waves Mercury seemed like a great thing at only 4,950.00 (TDM) It seems a hell of a lot better at 3,200.00 I'm greatfull and so is my wife that I don't suscribe to the "get it now- you need it" , My favorite, " Its a Must Have" for every engineer/mixer !! How much cabbage has Avid raked in the last 2 years from all of the folks that are trying ther f---n hardest to make a liveing and need to present an "up to date" apperence to our (could be) clients. And worse yet, The newer guys that take the word of a sales man with regards to what they should purchase. I better shut up. Somethig is worng with my key pad, it cant seem to spell anythig rite Any way I do like the Waves plugs quite a bit. I still mix like shit. But thats just how it is. for anyone that made it this far in my pointless rant, I have a 1175 and 5 fiths, Its practicly almost never been used, Its the solid state- all tube version. Well actually I think one of the fiths may have been cracked. Happy happy to all, Jojo

Well the object is, to not go on a buying spree on these things. Me personally? I have everything I need. The cool thing about UAD is, I can try the demo before I buy it if I feel I need it. Same with the other plugs that offer a trial.

One day, I noticed that whenever I bought something that was "new" and a "necessity", that I'd STILL keep using the plugs that worked the best for me. So I was wasting money. I don't like to waste money EVER. For most things, I'm so tight I squeak...for other things, I don't even look at the amount. If I need something, I get it. If I WANT something, I usually pass on it.

Unlike most people, I could literally list every plug that I use simply because I have my own rig of "go to's". Nothing is going to touch them any time soon and even if something does, I already have somethng that does the same thing. If someone came up to me and told me I had to lose all the software I had except for necessities, I'd be left with Sonar and the plugs that come with it (which are fantastic and as good as any of the big names out there, trust me!), my UAD go to's, a few waves plugs, ARC, 2 PSP plugs and 3 old DX plugs that I just can't part with.

As a matter of fact, I'd be happy with ARC, Sonar X1 and all it has in it without anything else really. The X1 Pro Channel plugs are out of this world. At the end of the day, a decent engineer is going to have decent results without a huge amount of plugs if you really think about it.

So for me, it's get the print as good as I can while maintaining the source sounds and then mixing it after with whatever works for the song. If I didn't get another plug for the rest of my life, I really wouldn't care.

Now samples....that's another story as I sincerely believe I may have one of the biggest and most complete sample libraries on the planet. I've always been obsessed with them starting with those sound effect discs that came out years ago. I buy them any time I see them and have sampled every drum kit that has come through my studio since I started doing this stuff. I have discs and discs full of these things. I even had quite a few DAT tapes full of various samples that I have since backed up to disc. I don't think I'll ever stop doing that. Especially now with Drumagog and programs like it, I can do multi-samples and just turn it into a gog or run the multi-samples through a sampler. It's nice to have someone say "hey, can you get the sound of Eddie Van Halen on Jump?" and answer "like this?" Or have someone ask for specific drum piece sizes or brands, cymbals or even "hey, listen to this cd, can you get these sounds?" and pretty much build a kit in an hour. But, this is a horse of a different color.

Originally Posted by Danny Danzi

, I'd be left with Sonar and the plugs that come with it (which are fantastic and as good as any of the big names out there, trust me!), my UAD go to's, a few waves plugs, ARC, 2 PSP plugs and 3 old DX plugs that I just can't part with.

Not to take anything out of context,,,, But I can't say that about acid. If I'd use any of the plug-ins it comes with it'd be like mixing in the 18th century
The Dynamics thing, for compression and limiting slips alot, and just seems so detached. Or the distortion, sounds like what IBM was trying to get out of silicon back in the 1800s. And the reverb oo man if a church was built out of silly putty, that's what the reverb would sound like.

If I was in your situation, where I'd only be allowed a hand-ful of plug-ins. I would kill myself if I didn't have fabfilter stuff

Originally Posted by dudermn

Not to take anything out of context,,,, But I can't say that about acid. If I'd use any of the plug-ins it comes with it'd be like mixing in the 18th century
The Dynamics thing, for compression and limiting slips alot, and just seems so detached. Or the distortion, sounds like what IBM was trying to get out of silicon back in the 1800s. And the reverb oo man if a church was built out of silly putty, that's what the reverb would sound like.

If I was in your situation, where I'd only be allowed a hand-ful of plug-ins. I would kill myself if I didn't have fabfilter stuff

LOL!! Priceless reply there! Totally cracked me up...thanks for that.

It's the cold hard truth.
Maybe Acid 8 will have some better native stuff. That's probably why their stalling it for soooo long

"New & Improved" and marketing is a double edged sword. 'Got to have it' things that sell stir up the production/ creation of other 'Got to have it' things ... and some times, you got to have!

I'm also a UAD user who jumped in at UAD2. I wish I had all my plugin money and coupons back for a fresh start ... because I could make some much better purchases today. But then, what couldn't we say that about?

Starting out on Acid not that many years ago, I since gave up drugs .... oops, I mean Sony Acid and moved to Cubase. I don't really regret the time and money I spent on Acid, as much of it served me well to learn Cubase a lot faster, and I can still run it Rewired from time to time for certain things it does more efficiently than Cubase.

The last couple of years I've been moving to a hybrid setup, first with midi modules when I realized what great deals there were on all that old E-mu, Ensoniq and Roland gear ... and that unlike software, you could pretty easily sell on what you found wanting. I've wanted that 'golden chain' for a long time, a good mic or two, preamp and ADC. Bit by bit, I've acquired each of those. Recently I got an Allen&Heath ZED R16, which I'm just getting my head around ... but I love. Now all those UAD compressors and EQs placed on Cubase group channels for subs, routed out through the A&H channels for mixing seem 10 times as useful as they did ITB ... because I really hear them better with the elusive 'pleasing analog harmonic distortion' coming out of the board.

I thought I was done ... but of course now I'd like one really good mix bus compressor and eq ... and probably tomorrow if they were foolish enough to send me any more plastic, it would be straight to the web to order an A-Designs Hammer and Nail ... or maybe an Obsidian and a Vari-Mu?

I'm rambling, but I've come to the opinion that similarly to the go to plug ins that you always seem to repeatedly use no matter what others are around, that one chain of quality hardware can make those plugins all the more useful. I'm just getting into it, but I'd swear recording a mix down out of the ZED R16 is sounding better than anything I've ever managed to render in Cubase. And beyond imagining that compressor and EQ I'm saving for ... since I don't think the plastic is coming in the mail ... I'm already dreaming of a Burl B2 Bomber.

But who knows what might be out there by the time I could afford it!

Prado