I guess that a lot of you can somewhat relate to my problem.....I find the production of music to be such an ocean of options that I tend to end up feeling it as tedious and annoying or I lose myself in minor details.
I would say that I feel by far the biggest enthusiasm during the composition of music while playing the instruments or mixing/mastering the music feel more like necessities in order to bring my idea into the real world. As I like Metal the most, I inevitably need to keep practicing guitar, which is also fun, but which takes away a lot of time which I would need to get better at mixing and mastering.

With regard to mixing and mastering, the sister site has proven to be both a blessing and a curse for me, as it offers so much greatness, but also a bit too much of it to really understand and analyze the use case of every plugin. I set up a new music computer just a month ago with the premise of only installing about 20 VSTs and now it's probably more than 100 again and I keep seeing YouTube videos or posts on the internet where people tell me that I "need" this or that plugin, because it will basically save the planet and the solar system. There's a certain humorous quality to the whole thing, because I know that it's a ridiculous problem, but I still haven't been able to escape it. I also get triggered every time when there is a new post on the sister site with 80+ thumbs up and people raving about the plugin's qualities :D . How have you managed to deal with this?

 

i stopped amassing plugins/packs a long time ago, every once in a while i try something but i end up deleting it.
i have (probably WE ALL have) everything we need to make whatever we want. just realise this when you can, and you'll be free.
stop watching youtube

 

I like to collect but I've paired what I actually use back to a handful.

 

I know it's tempting to download every plugin that appears but eventually you find you are using the same few favourites each time. In fact most daws come with almost all the stock plugins you need anyway. Best advice is, if you haven't used a plugin for 6 months then you probably never will so delete it.

My problem comes not from plugins but finding sounds. With only a few synths and/or libraries you have access to thousands of premade sounds, not to mention those you programme yourself. Trying to find a bass, pad, lead sound that fits perfectly with your track is way more time consuming and frustrating than deciding which plugin to use. Picking the wrong sound can kill a track.

 

As long as you keep coming to sites and forums like this you will always fall into the trap. These 'communities' always divert people from actually being creative towards mindless accumulation.

 

Pick the Waves suite and only use that for a couple years. Force yourself to do it. It's just a matter of mindset and will.

And people are going to argue all sorts of things, "do FabFilter, it's better... or SoundToys..." and on and on. But that's the disease talking.

Just install Waves. Done. That's it. Move on.

 

Speaking of Waves, I thought about that, but all the Waves plugins get installed at once, right? There is so much completely unnecessary stuff in the suite that it would be nice to be able to pick which of those plugins you want to install.

 

Concentrating on fundamentals so I can decide what I need and what makes sense and what not.

 

I just recently deleted around 80% of my installed plugins and started giving myself very strict parameters to work within (specific vsts, drum samples, etc). I have already noticed a huge increase in both my productivity and creativity. Previously, I had found myself wasting time going through every reverb or compressor trying to find the "right" one - when I should have just been learning how to properly use only one or two.

 

There you are debating and overthinking things. Install the Waves bundle. It has everything you realistically need now, or might need in the future. It's one package to install. DAW of choice + Waves suite = win for the next decade. It works in any DAW (even legit PT), so there are no excuses. Never come back here or to Z again.

You're welcome.

 

If you are on AbletonLive, you can use Live Enhancement Suite, it is a script that allows you to insert plugins via the mouse's right button instead via the ableton browser, then you can set up a menu with only the plugins you want to appear by right clicking. It worked wonders against my own decision paralysis. I still have the 150ish plugs installed in case I feel like using one of them but because is easier and faster to insert the ones on Live Enhancement Suite using only those plugs comes naturally without overthinking too much.

 

This!

A year of working exclusively with the Waves bundle worked exceptionally for me in terms of getting clarity on what I need in mixing sessions. From there, I now have a small list of about 20 plugins (some of them still Waves products) that I use on every project. It is a good idea to think of all the functionality and colors you need for a solid-sounding mix and to pick versatile products that can fit multiple requirements.

 

If you are running Windows, periodically reinstalling the entire system, daw, plugins, is pretty much a fact of life. When you do this, you can skip installing the plugins until later. Specifically, when you need them to open a project with them missing from it. You will end up installing so few things, because you will be only installing things as dictated by your actual usage history of them. You can even chose a different plugin substitute to use, rather than install yet another plugin just for one project.

I don't really worry about "option paralysis" much because of the number of plugins on the system. Where you can really waste time is not going with and correctly adjusting the first one you select, instead of trying out "more options". At that point, you are comparing plugins and mentally reviewing them; and you are no longer working on your track.

 

I have tons of plugins. I first go for my favorites, which cover me 90% of the time. If those don't sound right, I try another. I think it's good to have many plugins at your disposal since eventually you will find some limit to your favorite plugs.
HOWEVER, if this makes you less efficient and makes you start worrying about your choices then I don't think it's worth it.

 

This sounds about right. But it comes at the "cost" of the time it takes to practice and learn how to set them correctly. It should become a pretty rare occasion where you replace one plugin with another of the same type. They do the same things, but with different names or measurements for the same parameters. You only need to decide on a small core group of 3rd party plugins that you use most frequently, instead of the ones already in your DAW. You are only really looking at 5-6 main categories of plugin you always use. Finding out the most standard/widely accepted ones is as simple as asking around or doing some reading. Like you mention, for me, it's probably 90% Logic Stock, Fabfilter, Acon Digital Restoration Suite, Valhalla, and Waves, and a few analyzer plugins. Maybe something else gets swapped in later on.

 

The "only" problem is you must be disciplined for this. I am not, so I'm going for a large cut in options again. Believe me, most of us won't be productive with dozens of EQs and compressors.

 

All software is never finished. So clearly, you would rather horde new software than make music in whatever capacity that you do.But, how does having the new version of whatever or the newest over-hyped thing sprung on the market, make you a master at using them? Also, even if you had the money and you possessed the hardware equivalent of these tools, would still go out and buy multiple versions of the rack pieces?

If not, then you're clearly hoarding cuz the shit is free. You act like you've mastered guitar, all the vst classes, mastering itself , mixing itself, the computer hardware that makes your recording process possible. if you have, carry on. If you haven't get work.

P:S: This thread itself is another example of you avoiding work you clearly don't want to do. If I'm wrong get off here don't rebut me.

 

making music is a numbers game. people only have your mindset when they lack the experience. your only concern for the next 3 years would be to crunch hundreds of sketches and as many as possible full songs. you must be very honest in assessing your current skill set across these years and declare that song "finished" when you can't do anything to it with your skills (NOT according to your taste).

You will improve this way your skills: songwriting, arranging, sound selection and mixing. And then you'll slowly learn to have a vision and you will reach out for whatever tools needed to achieve your vision (NOT "endlessly trying out things until something works" anymore)

But again, is a numbers game. Experience comes with practice. Practice comes with making lots of new sketches, not by obsessing for months over a single song. Good luck!