Order Of Plugins/Mastering

Noah Nelson

New member
First Question(s):
In Logic, does the order that you put plugins in on a track make a difference? if your EQ is in your First Insert and Than your limiter is in your Second Insert, would that sound different than Having your limiter in the first insert and the EQ in the second? ...Or does it run all plugins on a track at the same time?
Second Question:
What Order would you (generally) put these plugins in:
-equalizer
-reverb
-Multiband Harmonic Exciter
-Multiband Dynamics
-Stereo Imaging
-Limiter
Third Question:
If Im using Ozone-Izotope, are all plugins used at the same time because they are on one insert?

Sorry for so many questions, but i want to learn!
 
Yes, order of plugins greatly affects the effect you hear.


I usually go like this: Compression-->EQ-->Time-based effect-->Reverb

I ALWAYS put reverb last; it's a time-based effect, and I want it affecting everything I've put on the track. I don't want a chorus to mess with the reverb, and I certainly don't want the reverb to be compressed.
 
-equalizer
-reverb
-Multiband Harmonic Exciter
-Multiband Dynamics
-Stereo Imaging
-Limiter
I don't know about izotope

In your list, I would probably put the eq first, then the multiband dynamics (since the second one will be affected by frequencies, you probably want to get the frequencies the way you want first - this is kind of true even with regular compressors if, for instance there's a big spike in the low band that you would EQ out, that could trigger gain reduction in an undesired way if the compressor comes first) - but then again, it's easy to imagine a situation where the compressor sounds better before the EQ.

Then, ask yourself if you really want to use the Harmonic Exciter, but if you do, I think I would put it next

Then the reverb, then the stereo, and finally, I think, the limiter - I'm assuming you're using the limiter really just to prevent clipping since you already have some dynamics work going on earlier in the chain.

just my opinion, and I really don't know what I'm talking about
 
What? Lol, you don't need to say "I don't know what I'm talking about" when much of your content makes complete sense. It discredits you. :)
 
this is very helpful! ..If all the effects you mentioned are on the same plugin, are there any you would do separately? i noticed your buddy said do reverb last, would timing be affected if they are all one plugin? i dont think so!
 
Timing is probably the wrong word.

Most DAW's have 'delay compensation' for how much time it takes a plugin to react. This also will have a bearing on your latency while listening to playback through the DAW itself. The more you tax your system with effects (VST and VSTi's) the longer the delay and possibility of dropouts if trying to use a lower buffer setting to keep latency down for tracking.

This has more to do with system ability than anything.
 
Perhaps he was confused when I said time-based effect? For instance, a phaser is a time based effect, as it basically duplicates the track, shifts the duplicated track's pitch slightly, and shifts the time of that track slightly as well. Or is that chorus? :confused:
 
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