TIPS & TRICKS for plug-ins

CapacityWKS.

New member
I switch from pro-tools to logic 9 about two years ago and have got the basics down, enough to record and have fun.

But, seeing all those different plug-ins, can get a bit daunting.

So, if you have tips or tricks, that have yielded great results with certain plug-ins, please post them in here.

You can add screen shots, by pressing "command" + "Shift" + "4" and then you can zoom in around the plug-in, so everyone can see it clearly.

Thanks a bunch.
 
(forgot attachments the first time, see post below)
 

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It took me years of using Logic 8 and 9 to realise this existed;

Compressor extras.png

pressing this nifty little arrow opens up a drop down menu which gives you some very useful features such as frequency conscious compression, parallel compression in the plugin, and adding output distortion which makes it sound much nicer

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That is awesome, i loved the FET preset titled live drums and i realize it was probably the soft distortion. [edit] also the same thing applies to delay, there is a tab in the corner that opens tape saturation. If you turn off the delay it can be used as a tape plugin.
 
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also the same thing applies to delay, there is a tab in the corner that opens tape saturation. If you turn off the delay it can be used as a tape plugin.

i found myself using the extra menu on the tape delay today to do the opposite! delay designer is cool but a lot of hassle for a quick delay but the tape saturation was muddying up the vocals so i opened the extra tab and turned the tape saturation all the way down. suddenly, super clean delay :)

i did then try it the other way on a drum buss and turned the tape saturation up :D
 
awesome! Glad I can be of some use on this site as I have learned so much from everyone!
 
seeing as i had this happen again to me the other day (despite the fact i should've learned the first time! Doh!) i thought i should share this just incase anyone ever falls into the same trap;

every now and then, to get an idea of how the track will sound louder or just to boost the volume for a very quick listen on my MBP speakers, i put the Adaptive Limiter on the main output. as you amy be aware, the adaptive limiter creates a lot of latency which is fine on the output but as a bus or track plugin is a nightmare.

so, i was re-recorded some drums the other day. i was in a rush as i only had a 30 minute break to get it done so slung some mics up, got rough levels, hit record, and then went to listen to it back. now, my drumming is ok; not great, not bad, but the drums were sooooo out of time! i thought "i'll do another take", deleted the tracks, did another take, same problem. the drums were perfectly in time with themselves but well out of time with the rest of the track.....

and then i realised that the adaptive limiter was on the output. it was bypassed by it was still adding latency.

long story short; if you do put the adaptive limiter on the output for whatever reason, if you plan to record anymore to the track don't leave it on, don't bypass it, just completely take it off the output.

this is the second time i've made this mistake. please heed my warning and don't fall into the same trap i did :(
 
That is awesome, i loved the FET preset titled live drums and i realize it was probably the soft distortion. [edit] also the same thing applies to delay, there is a tab in the corner that opens tape saturation. If you turn off the delay it can be used as a tape plugin.

holy shitballs. i'm rather familiar with logic but I havent used the tape dly plugin enough to notice the dropdown menu. This in conjunction with the soft clip on the compressor can yield some PHAT results. I've been liking the "opto circuit" on overheads and bass. i usually use a longer release w the opto.
thanks for the tape tip!
 
I got used to the multipressor by working with an electronic-style piece. Quite useful and smooth. I highly recommend experimenting with it.
Gain plugin (under utility) has polarity inversion, the stereo Gain has a mono mode and stereo swap.
Pedalboard (amps and pedals) has extra routing internally, if you add the MIXER to the board. I find the spring box, boutique style, to be extremely useful for a lot of things.
I almost always use the multimeter (metering) on the 2bus for the goniometer, pk & rms level and correlation meters. check it out with some of your favorite tunes
The DeEsser (dynamics) is a little confusing but experimentation is key.
Honestly the only 3 out of the dynamics I use often are the compressor, deesser and multipressor. I use other plugs for gates n more characteristic compressors.
BTW, 2 free plugs, Vlad Sound Molot and Audio Damage Rough Rider. I highly recommend to any logic user. The molot currently doesnt have a super cool, spiffy, realistic, uber, spanky GUI but its got faders for everything and the Dry/Wet is backwards. Super versatile. The Rough Rider is a dirty sumbetch. I love it.

Space Designer is AMAZING. Especially if you can find some Impulse Responses (IRs) of some legendary gear presets.
 
Found some free plugins that were just fun as hell to mess around with. KingDubby Delay sounded pretty cool on backing vocals. Channel2 and Channel 3 both sounded cool as preamp emulators. W1 Limiter was pretty clean, made it easy to get a loud mix. For buss groups, I've tried using Channel2 into the W1, then eq. Made the mix more pleasing to my ears.

Anyone else have any free AU plugins that have yielded good results?
 
The one thing I can't believe with all the versions there have been of Logic is that there is not a correctly implemented downward expander (you know; threshold, ratio, range & (importantly) rate controls). The Logic Expander plugin seems to be an upward expander which doesn't help with creating fade-outs of sine waves under kicks - using a gate just chops the sound under the threshold to the determined attenuation value.
I reckon if E-Magic was still the development company it would have been included in V8.
Does anyone know of an AU format expander plugin that is not Protools-specific?
Cheers all
Dags
 
Anyone else have any free AU plugins that have yielded good results?

The Massey Tapehead is well worth a download. I love it on drum busses and sometimes on distorted guitars. I also use the Brainworx Cleansweep a fair amount (it's totally free but you have to register with the plugin alliance and register it). I went through a stage of trying all the free plugs that looked cool and when i moved over to my new MBP i ditched all the ones that i just didn't use to tidy things up a bit.

Although not free, the Stillwell plugs are awesome; free to try for an unlimited amount of time, and dirt cheap to buy if/when you're ready to do so.

And Dags, i wish i could suggest something but i've never seen a downward expander plugin for free for logic. tbf, i only found two free noise gates and they were both awful in comparison to logics built in one. The closest thing i've gotten to creating a kinda faded out sinewave under a kick was using the standard gate but setting the hysteresis to -20 and then playing with the release time. it's not ideal and it's not perfect but it did help fade it out rather than just chop it off.
 
And Dags, i wish i could suggest something but i've never seen a downward expander plugin for free for logic. tbf, i only found two free noise gates and they were both awful in comparison to logics built in one. The closest thing i've gotten to creating a kinda faded out sinewave under a kick was using the standard gate but setting the hysteresis to -20 and then playing with the release time. it's not ideal and it's not perfect but it did help fade it out rather than just chop it off.

Thanks mate. Looks like I keep doing the manual fade on one sample and copy-paste it to thousands of others!
 
Here is a tip for isolation on toms and kick without the sound of a gate. First duplicate the track that you want to work with.
One Track 1 put a LPF with a gentle slope starting at around 500 hz.
On track 2 put a HPF with the same slope starting at around 500 hz.
Now Gate track 1, I only do around 8db of gain reduction on the gate.
Gate track 2 with a sidechain on track 1, on this track you can have a much faster release time and more gain reduction as it is predominantly attack.
After you can bounce the tracks together or work with them independently.
Putting a little bit of envelope on the high frequency track can be cool.
Hope this helps you guys!
 
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