Hi people,
I was very fascinated when I first found out that engineers use plugins not for the actual thing the plugin was intended for, I think I first heard about it when Andrew Scheps was talking about using the Puigchild but without engaging compression, just for the color when you let the signal run through it.

So, a minute ago I stumbled upon this old gearslutz thread: https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/1099863-quot-alternative-quot-plugin-tricks.html

And after a while I actually became a little mad because there were only so few responses and people willing to share their ideas, while on the other hand I realized that this is one of the few things that could make ITB mixing get the edge over it's analog counterpart.
We should research and systematize this shit right here, who is with me?

So one trick I just remembered from watching Warren Huarth is when you use a pultec to boost vocals in the harsh 1-3khz range, then compress so the previous eq basically acts as a filter for the side chain (duh, since we've just EQ'd the original signal) and then insert another pultec and attenuate at the same frequency you've boosted.

Also, the Auto Tune on Instruments idea mentioned in the gearslutz thread can get pushed further very much so, I feel like it's almost a noobtrap at this point to not use Auto Tune for instruments because Antares literally has a mode just for instruments.

 

If you record yourself talking into an empty paper towel tube and put phase and distortion effects you will sound like darth vador

 

Have I told you lately that I love you?

 

You can do that using the sidechain eq in Fabfilter Pro-C 2. Super helpful if you have some syllables out of control happening in a certain range and sound more natural than a multiband compressor, at least in my experience.

 

Much love for you, but the pants stay on.

 

Best trick I've found has nothing to do with software OR hardware. If you've lost the high frequencies recently in your hearing, boil up some extra virgin olive oil (hotter than warm but not boiling. Add it to a syringe with NO needle. Tilt your head to one side and allow some to dribble in to your ear for approximately 5 minutes. Use a towel to lay on as you tilt your other ear to do that side. Another 5 minutes later tilt your head back the other side.
Any build up of ear wax you have over time just falls right out and the effects are amazing. Your ears might even hurt for an hour or two as you adjust to getting back all those lost frequencies.

Make sure before EVER dong this process you do not have perforated ear drums.

I use THIS :-
https://vidawines.co.uk/product/ext...tZqYWSpsraJXzQoD8m39KtNucJkkEo2QaAokBEALw_wcB

 

Last edited: Dec 24, 2021

I actually had the idea of using Melodyne with a drum sequence the other day, it sounded beautifully weird. I also learned the Pigments trick this week, of just engaging the Arp/Sequencer section of the plugin and let the other plugin in the fx chain reproduce the midi generated on Pigments.

 

This one.
Also on topic of tricks and FabFilter plugins.

 

The Dan Worall video reminds me of this one preset I've made. Not sure if this can be considered as trick, but here's a Fabfilter Saturn 2 preset that I've made just to add subtle movement and saturation to mostly synth sound. It can also be used for other thing but the transient will trigger the saturation, so the input level of the audio matters. I've made 3 sliders for DRIVE, MOVEMENT (LFO speed) and MIX, change the saturation type or anything else to taste.

 

Last edited: Dec 24, 2021

And keep it inside them

 

you can use apple logic tape delay with even 0ms delay and just use its saturation clipping filter side

 

i did that with the very first version of antares mic mod; i had no use for the mic model stuff (non legit copy) but it was the only plug-in in these days with some kind of tube distortion, mono, so you had to use two, but it was a joy to distort sub basses with it.

when i was talking about that in public at least one other person said he is doing the same, and eventually more people in other places were also talking the same - and then they made their "tube" plug-in because of that.

i´ve also been using northpole hosted by pluggo hosted by cubase to implement it as "highpass northpole". and as stereo filter of course (it was mono back then.)

cant think of more real examples now, but abuse is always part of the plan.

 

secret weapon of mastering engineers : a fully cranked metal zone gtr pedal , after the limiter.

 

I like to duplicate every channel, add a spectral dynamics processor to each and then sidechain everything to itself and in between other elements, so there's always ample space for basically any sound I might add.

 

Using a pitch correction plugin on synth toms (or kicks if you play them using a keyboard), 808 toms are endless fun for this, just sequence a "bassline" sounding tom rhythm and go to town on the 'tune, force it to a scale, whatever. Fast retune is great.

 

One I remember learning from Warren Huart (PLAP) was to use a De-esser on Guitars to remove the harshness although a bit boring sorry but still very useful

 

bob c does the 902 thing, everyone else copied it after him

 

Bobby Owinski - 101 Mixing Tricks
Maarten Vorwerk - The ultimate Handbook to become a successful Dance Music Producer

Those two books can be downloaded at Libgen and are a compilation of tips, mixed quality.

So, I remember another trick but you need high end converters for them. Basically just clip them... and done. Lol.
But in all seriousness, Converter clipping is, from following all the Mastering podcasts, apparently irreplaceable in getting the edge.

I recall one engineer who often inserts bx_dyneq and is in love with a frequency dependent transient designer from Sonnox/Oxford but I'm not sure what it was called again.
The Sonnox Plugin, Boz Transgressor and Masterlab DynaQ are plugins worth taking a look if you want to expand your Mastering Horizon, because as you can see there are so many ways to intertwine and fine tune dynamics and and EQ and they all seem to be pretty promising in getting good results quickly where you'd usually choke. Surfer EQ would be in the same ballpark, theoretically, altough I never ended up using it.

 

Last edited: Dec 26, 2021

I use Soothe 2 for masking frequencies issue, with the sidechain function, the same way you would use Trackspacer but with a way more transparant result. It's great for exemple when you got a voice to put on a full mixed/mastered beat, but work also great for mixing a drum session with different mic position or avoid the classic bass/kick clashing without the pumping effect.
Not sure if it's a real "trick" cause it was probably the main reason they put this function, but this plugin is often saw as just an automatic cleaning tool and this function can be overlooked.

Also, with Melodyne, I use it as a sort of spectral sampler (if that's a thing), for exemple, I will put an monophonic acapella and use the polyphonic algorythme, and it will give me the voice with its different harmonics, like a chord. From that, I can delete some part of a "chord" and use only one harmonic of a monophonic voice as a sound source. It's great to create texture or synth that fit the track or a source for a new track. You can get some interesting melody to, or get some nice result when you change the chord, it change the voice in a different way than formant function can do.

 

you can use fab filter pro q to replicate EQ curves of high end studio gear. It gets quite close