The rule I've discovered is pretty simple.

If you have good voicing between harmony, melodies, rhythm, you will have a great layering and separation of melodic elements.
If you have a great layering of melodic elements, you don't need so much instruments for a decent orchestration
If you have a decent orchestration, you don't need so much process and plugins for mixing
If you have a decent mixing, you don't need so much process and plugins for mastering.

Unfortunately most people still don't understand that mixing and mastering starts from great layering and separation of melodic elements.

We just want to obtain expensive plugins because they constantly tell us what we need to get. Basicially we think that expensive plugins will solve our mixing and mastering issues. But it is delusion.

If UAD's plugins were so cheap, no one would care about them.

 

Last edited: Dec 8, 2023

At the end of the day, if the original idea itself is good, good mastering could improve it. If the idea isn't good, then no matter what tools you use, it won't sound good.

 

It's exactly that, overhyped marketing. There're round about 450 compressor plugin released and every single one of them is the greatest and bestest and you've never heard anything like this before - according to the marketing. And that's of course bullshit.

Simple truth is, we don't. We can probably use one compressor of each kind (VCA, FET, ...) but hardly 10 all in all.
There are some reasons why a different compressor doesn't make a difference in the end. One is they sound pretty similar right from the start, another one would be the difference just gets completely masked in the context. Take for instance a snare. Soloed it's an audible difference whether you apply a soft downward expander or a gate at -20dB but in context this level may not be audible anyways, so there'd be no difference at all.

 

after 25 years of plugin hoarding, i've reached the conclusion that we don't need plugins as much as plugins need us.

 

What are developers who chose to make a living in that way are supposed to say? We are selling re-invented wheels that are not rounder, but buy them anyway because we need to eat.

 

Another aspect is the fashionable market of plugins. Spring-summer, autum-winter plugins. Remember, this is AudioSEX!

 

Well, sex happens once every season for me, so this stands to reason...

 

plugis makes a huge difference on the sound.
maybe your monitoring system or room doesnt let you perceive that

 

You can use a Lamborghini to run in a loop forever or you can use an old bicycle to make miles, visit beautiful places and reach your destinations.

 

That is only true if the driver really sucks, if you have two high skilled driver the car actually matters a lot. And even tho a great driver can make an average car work, he still would be faster with a Porsche. The difference is the lap time doesn't lie, plugin developers and our ears do.

 

Until they reach the river, then only the one who can swim will cross.

 

You need to collect all the plugins, the one who collects all the plugins instantly becomes the best mixing engineer world has ever seen. All the best have done it so we are forced to do this tedious task

 

Serban who mixes top pop hits just uses a metric channelstrip EQ and Compressor from 2001 and their go to delay unit is an old echofarm vst for all his mixes, plugins are a lie

 

Is he the reason why modern music sounds so bad? A serbian guy with free plugins. Save the world and tell him about aliasing , how great fabfilter is and about the plugin that warms the mids but doesnt distort the lows

 

C'mon Serban, it's 2023 almost 2024 dude. Stop telling those stories to the kids in the room, they are actually believing it.

 

Back in the day, musicians could not afford many tools . . . we squeezed everything we could out of very little. Many of us, myself included, are lost is a sea of foamy . . . with little to show for it.

 

thats kinda my point these plugins for the most part are all super cars. it just depends on how and if we know how to drive them.

 

He is not agreeing with you. There is nothing you are going to "know how to do" that is going to make some stock DAW plugin sound better than a UAD or a Fabfilter, etc. There is 0 chance of it.

 

Developers need us rather than plugins do. Plugins are just beads for savage people who are ready to pay for them.

 

It's hard to disagree with you. But it's true if you work with a more or less experienced music collective. Enough rehearsals, real gigs. They can play, they know their gear and are able to make decent sounds from it. As a recording and mixing engineer you get ready songs from them. Or almost ready songs. There is an enormous amount of work that has been done before the studio.

If musicians aren't experienced it's a bit harder. But this is a rare case.

But if you use PC to create music from scratch this doesn't work at all. First you should get the sound which any recording and mixing engineer gets almost ready. Completely different circumstances and goals. That's why a bunch of other plugins is needed. Not big bunch. But a bit more than just a compressor and an EQ.