How many plugins on avg do you use per track in a mix?

[iownrocknroll]

if we are counting things like eq, gate, compressors.....everything gets at least 1 then.

i'm a huge fan of eq on every track....you don't need 200hz and below on electric guitars, you don't need about 3khz on bass or 6hkz on drums or below 400hz on OH

 

[Mindset]

That's a very well-reasoned point of view.

I don't really disagree with it, but I do have one big caveat that I'd like to wrap around it. This caveat is going to draw a LOT of boo's from the audience I'm sure. I'll just have to deal with it .

It's one thing to take great tracks and make them sound even better through extreme creative processing. It's another thing altogether to try and take marginal tracks and make them sound great through extreme corrective processing. I personally think the philosophy you describe is great for the former, but a disaster for the latter.

If one can lay and mix great tracks as a minimalist, and then lay on the black boxes to take them to the next level a la Brian Eno or Alan Parsons or (insert your favorite mixing producer here), that's great. If one needs to lay on the extreme processing just to get their tracks to be of pro-level "listening quality", then I think the black boxes are acting more like mother's little helpers to the engineer and are really cramping their engineering abilities and mixes, and not making them better.

To put a Zen-like twist on it, it's not until one *does not need* to use extreme processing to get a good-sounding mix that they should open themselves up to the possibility of doing so.

There's another thread around here somewhere where a guy is saying that his mixes just are not up to snuff and is wondering what toys he should spend money on next to make his mixes sound better. He lists in detail what he already has; nothing to write home about, it's entry-level gear for the most part, with a few brands mixed in there that many in these forums would hold their noses around.

I haven't responded to that thread directly, but I keep thinking that thread over.I keep settling on the same conclusive thought that he should just save his money for a while. The fact is that Brian Eno or Alan Parsons - or whoever you plugged in as your favorite mixing producer a few paragraphs ago - could take his gear list and his room the way it is and make a Grammy-nominated album with it. Not just because of the cache of their names, but because they are good engineers.

Not only is this guy's gear not the problem with the quality of his mixes, better gear - or adding more plugs to his signal chain - is not the solution to them either. Additionally, if he were ready to truely take advantage of more/better gear, the very first indication of that readiness is he'd be able to identify exactly where the gear is holding him back and would know what to get next.

To bring this all back to the point of this thread, if one needs to use a carload of plug-ins just to make a listenable mix, they probably should go back to basics and learn how to do it without the plugs first. If, however, they have reached that level of competency (a level I am never quite convinced I can consistantly hit myself yet) and wish to lay on the plugs as a form of creative sound shaping above and beyond that, then sure, they should go wild with it.

IMHO and all that legalese.

G.

You are the shit G. One day I will be quoting you to some students.

 

[BushmasterM4]

if we are counting things like eq, gate, compressors.....everything gets at least 1 then.

i'm a huge fan of eq on every track....you don't need 200hz and below on electric guitars, you don't need about 3khz on bass or 6hkz on drums or below 400hz on OH

Yep. I agree at least one. You have to have a HPF on every track, its just common since. You will run out of space !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Monkey Allen]

Most used plug would be eq...Sonitus eq

I'd use 1-4, usually just one or 2.

 

[nzausrec]

Why would you not use eq due to some moral principle for not having to use plug ins? Eq is pretty much vital to create space in your mixes, and before that, can also bring out the best of the instrument itself.

 

[Monkey Allen]

If you record them all really well (which for the home recordist must be rare) then you probably may not even need to use eq

 

[nzausrec]

“If each instrument has a full-range sound you are guaranteed a mushy, indistinct mess with absolutely no clarity or definition. But by making instruments sound “bad” in solo, with a narrow bandwidth, they will work extremely well in the final mix. Cutting unnecessary frequencies and centering each instrument’s energy in the area where they musically contribute most to the mix will focus the listener’s attention on each part—without distracting them from the others.”
— Charles Dye

....................

 

[Andish]

I use less plugins in individual tracks, mostly group the back vocals, percussion, and sometimes toms, then insert plugins in the master group buss. i find it better to insert plugins in a lead vocal track, bass guitar and tracks that do really need a plugin.

 

[fokuzx3]

so many that my computer freezes up when i attempt a playback....then i bought better equipment

I still use at least 5 effects per track, and probably the same effects (stomp/veq/vcomp) for most tracks

 

[Waltz Mastering]

I'll mix a project or 2 a month and use on most tracks just one plug (a channel strip or eq).

Pretty much always use outboard tube or fet compression on vocals and busses.

 

[bkkornaker]

I always have my SSL4000 channel strip plug in on every track i mix. I almost always use the EQ from it, and 80% of the time ill use the compressor from it.

Anything aside form that.......any other additional plug-in is minimal to none. Maybe a plug-in such as Reverb/modulation/pitch correction when called for......

my vote was 1-4 maximum.

 

[hardwire666]

I went with 1-4 like many others. The only thing I ever mic are vocals. So, for guitars, bass, and drums I have a decent amount of work to do. ESP. since I favor a heavy sound. But, I only use them when I need them if it sounds good then I leave it be. Leaving "mastering" plug-ins behind was the best move I ever made.

 

[Jack_Jones]

???....??.....!?

For a whole song, across all tracks my bread and butter is:

-Compression
-Stereo Delay (maybe 2 or 3 types of settings)
-EQ (maybe 2 or 3 types)
-Sometimes a bit or clip distortion

Everything else is situational. I'm not really a fan of reverb plugins and I don't like De-esser much, but that's just me.