What's wrong with presets anyway?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bulls Hit
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Bulls Hit

Well-known member
I've seen some disparaging references here recently to using plugin presets as if they're somehow unclean.

Some of the plugs on my uad card have fabulous presets. I'm using a couple on my drum tracks at the moment. I've fiddled with the knobs, adjusting attack, release, EQ frequencies whatever, and I can't get it to sound better than the presets.

Is it like going with a hooker, are presets really such a sin?
 
How does a preset know what your mix needs? There must be a million combinations of eq, etc, so how often are 2 mixes ever going to be the same? I can see the point of using them as a starting place, and then tweaking from there, but you can't really expect to set a preset and leave it at that, can you?
 
mx_mx said:
How does a preset know what your mix needs? There must be a million combinations of eq, etc, so how often are 2 mixes ever going to be the same? I can see the point of using them as a starting place, and then tweaking from there, but you can't really expect to set a preset and leave it at that, can you?
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You could, but it would be a damn miracle.
 
Yep, what these guys said. There's also another way to look at it:

What's wrong with a player piano? Nothing, until you want to hear something other than Camptown Races and Clare de Lune. Or at least heard them played with a slightly different style.

There is no difference between a signal processor and a musical instrument; netither one can really play itself very well, it takes a talented performer to get a great sound out of it.

Learn to actualy "play" (i.e. "use") the compressor or the parametric EQ or whatever and you'll quickly learn just how the canned presets can wind up sounding like those paper rolls in a player piano.

G.
 
Yep....nothing wrong sith using what works, and especially as a starting point. Some of the plugs I use have presets that are pretty good for starting points, and when just setting levels, I might just leave them alone, and do a mix, just to see. But my eq plugs have no presets.....just a high pass, bass boost, and brighten stuff, that throw levels in a general direction, but are almost useless. And most of the reverb ones are way too wet, but it gives you an idea of what is happening in that area, and is then easy to tweak.

But, after hearing your stuff, you have some really good sounds, so something is working, so go with it. Set em up, use em, and tweak em. :D
 
Presets make people lazy, ignorant and apathetic. Okay, maybe that's a little harsh...

In "the old days" you'd listen to a track and you'd *know* what it needed - EQ settings, which frequencies, how wide, how deep - Compressor settings, attack, release - I suppose the threshold would have to be figured on the fly to a point...

Presets change the sound. If the sound is *in the direction* of what you're looking for, you just lost out on the experience of getting it there yourself. You insure that you'll never know *how to do it yourself* on anything else except that particular plugin.

Call me a "purist" but that's a little like "paint by numbers" instead of painting. It doesn't make you a better engineer. It makes you a better "preset hunter."
 
Maybe we should have a Presets Mix Contest, where you are only allowed to use presets :p
 
mshilarious said:
Maybe we should have a Presets Mix Contest, where you are only allowed to use presets :p
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I'd win....I'm sure I have something that has a preset named "Really Good" or something.... :D
 
Dogman said:
I'd win....I'm sure I have something that has a preset named "Really Good" or something.... :D
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My "Most Excellent" preset would kick your preset's ass
 
Once you start recording the sounds you want right from the start, the idea of presets will seem pretty stupid for anything other than looking for that weird effect. I really only use presets when someone asks for "radio crackle" or something like it. Also, once you know how to use a compressor, you'll probably never use a preset. It just doesn't make any sense.
 
Perhaps the exception to the rule is reverbs, especially the room modeling ones. The presets still will need some tweaking, but they are still pretty handy.
 
The only time I use presets is when I get a new plug and I'm throwing it up on a bunch of stuff to see how it sounds. I'll find the "phat kick" preset and fiddle from there to see where the company figures a slammin kick is. Other than that, I never really use them. On reverbs and delays however, I will save my own presets of rooms I've fiddled with that I like.
 
Well, at the risk of seeming lazy, ignorant and apathetic, I must admit that I like presets. Not that I ever use them as is, but I do sometimes like them as a starting point. Sometimes.

Presets can also be helpful in demonstrating the capabilities of the plugin, showing off features or tricks that might not be discovered otherwise.
 
Presets are a vital tool for creating a consistent sound.. first you have to find what works in context of everything else you plan to put in the song, and be reasonably sure this will remain true of the majority of the material on your album. Once you've established this, it cuts out a ton of work from subsequent tracks, I don't call this lazy I call it smart, as it leaves you room to focus on being more creative. To clarify, I am talking about creating your own presets, not using ones that come packaged with plugins.
 
Ditto on Albert's comment.

Presets are a great place to start but almost never the best place to stay. When I get my hands on a new plug part of my routine is to go through the presets and see what the manufacturer had in mind. It usually makes for a good laugh, but I can also start to get a sense for the sweet spot of the plug as well as the extremes. Not always, though.

Then I slap the plug on just about anything I can get my hands on and tweak every control until the cows come home.

At that point the only purposes of a preset are to:
a) quickly copy and paste settings across tracks with a custom preset
b) save a little time getting things set close to where I want them then tweak... again, usually with a custom preset.
c) be lazy doing a rough mix

If you don't yet know how to make a plug work better in your mix than using the factory presets, by all means use them. But the only way to really learn how to use the plug is to fiddle with it and listen to what the controls do.

Take care,
Chris
 
I usually find 1 or two presets with a given plug that are useful. The big problem with presets is they become crutches for the lazy. They have educational value for beginners, but a lot of times the lesson is missed entirely, and they're just auditioned for something that comes halfway close to fitting, rather than analyzed to see how and why the manufacturer arrived at those settings and that description.
 
I'm more likely to use a preset on reverb and compressor type plugs, almost never with EQ. Usually I'll start with a preset and tweak.

I love some of the presets that came with Voxengo Crunchessor, especially the "snappy drums".

I probably rely on presets too much, but I'm an amateur.
 
Dogman said:
I'd win....I'm sure I have something that has a preset named "Really Good" or something.... :D
Click to expand...

Haha, you must have the plugs as me.

I agree that using presets on EQ is pretty pointless. What I was alluding to specifically is the uad Channel Strip plug. There's a couple of presets in there that just sound great on my drums tracks. I don't think I'd have got those sounds fiddling by myself
 
Compressor plug ins presets are interesting...

Ex: ELETRIC GUITAR .... attack (..ms), realese(...ms)...but, what kind of guitar sound?dirty,clean, sounding more on mid lows, mid highs...?Very important details that make you remember to forget presetes and take your own decisions.

BASS...who knows the attack, for example...it will change a lot dependind of style of music, bass frequency...

More about presets: the factory presets of my Line 6 POD was tottaly unuseable (for my taste).I detele all then,trust in my ears and change all then in the first day I bought my POD (´cause my guitar sound is in my hand and my head).

The best preset I know, nature and your mother gaves you: a pair of good (I hope,at least)ears. :) :) :)

And obviously good monitoring/phones and quality A/D conversors to make good decisions (eq,compression´parameters, etc, etc...)and don´t work in a "blind" way.

But I agree that rules can change to a begginer that don´t know almost nothing... then, maybe the presets could help.
 
aye so after all o' that it's just as I thought a good place to start & tweak from

I love to read production breakdowns of old tracks & see what the people behind the mixers & machines were doing back then

I also have the advantage of having a vintage 60s father in good working nick with a fair memory :D :D

have you tried it like this..................with that son???? "no"

tweak, tweak, twean, twean................................holy fuck dad.................

no books taught me these little things, at the end of all & every discussion it all mounts up to a big & getting ever larger musical picture that is a constant curve of learning

byeeeeeeeeeeee
 
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