Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the number of plug-ins on my computer. When it comes to creating, instead of focusing on the creative process I test plug-ins, start messing around looking for sounds and end up wasting time.
What are your ways to find the final set of tools?

 

What kind of music are you making ?

 

I hear you.
I play around with sounds, especially Kontakt Libraries. I see what I use most when I write my own music. The rest gets deleted.
That's how I maintain my libs and plugins. Install, try out, keep or delete.

 

I find this to be the beauty of capitalism; slap a random sample/synth; random presets in random fx plugins; random combos of random plugins, get something trippy af; work my way out of that.

I have a folder (starts with "z" in the name so i know its the last) in which i have my core plugins, aimed for technical or fast results; For instruments I just stick with the ones i know (kontakt, serum, massive (the old one), cherry audio stuff)

 

I was the same way, go through your favorite plugins and soundbanks and save the presets you like in your daw. not in the plugin itself but as a presets in the Daw's plugin wrapper, then you can just put those sounds in an easily accessible folder. It will help keep your sound consistent and cuts down analysis paralysis.
or option two, just be ruthless and start deleting anything you haven't used in the past couple months, chances are you won't use them in the new few moths either.

 

The problem is to find the apropiate tool for what you want instead of trying and trying new sounds.
First you identify the idea, then you go for creating that sound.
May be create a list or a database could help to identify which tool can do the best on every situation.
If not ask chatgpt which tool recomend, and go ahead.

 

To me, there have been mainly two things which helped me to get out of this issue... at least most of the time.

1) Practice. Practice. Practice.
After spending very much time producing, I started to get the feeling, what certain plugins were doing. Some things will become you go-to's. I needed to practice a lot to gain self-confidence about them. Why should you try out several other plugins if you are sure, the one you are using is getting the job done? You spend a lot of time trying out, what works best for you. And - that is key, too - you have to get to the point, where using certain plugins is very intentional. With this attitude you avoid the rabbit hole of always searching for the "best sounding plugin". Finding the "best sounding plugin for track x y" becomes sort of obsolete, when "the best sound" is not your goal. You start to use plugins to be your answer to more specific questions. Some may have to do with problems (e.g. track is sounding too boomy/dull/etc). Some other scenarios may have to with more creative intentions. Or with workflow. Maybe you don't even need to find the right plugin to make your kick sound less boomy. Just shorten the tail of the waveform by hand. ... I repeat: With a lot of practice you gain self-confidence and intentionality about your plugin use.

2) Find ways to work with less plugins.
Maybe you are able to get some things outside-the-box. If you are spending hours and hours finding the right vst instrument (...still being frustrated with the results), maybe you can buy a hardware synth, experiment and learn by heart how to get sounds you are liking. It is about your music and your taste. Some other things have to do with workflow again. Instead of fiddling around with thousands of compressor and limiter plugins, just use the good old volume automation to get the flow of your tracks nice and steady. Same with de-essing. If you work with samples, a very common scenario is: just use another kick sample, instead of trying out trillions of all-kinds-of-plugins. Stay focused, think simple and straightforward - be intentional

 

It's going to cost you a day of your life but you can do what I did, take a song that you already mixed and start messing with it, change for example the compresor that you used on the vocal for all the compressors that you want to try, then select 1 or maximum 3 that you liked, the same applies to every kind of plugin, then if you enter into a difficult decision and can't decide you can try them with plugin doctor and see which one does what you want the most, in my case I ended up going with the slate virtual mix rack as my go to all-rounder because it added de kind of harmonic content that i was looking for

 

Lack of consistency comes from the lack of very clear definitions.

Define the use of all your tools in a very rational way. Then you are able to use them every single time in the same situation and manner.

The tools that can not be given such a definition, get uninstalled.

 

various.

most time I'm a one-man band on the borderline of black metal and crustpunk but I also do some electronic music on the borderline of triphop, sometimes in the aesthetics of vaporwave
some post-punk/new wave too.

 

Then, @Lieglein said it best :

Maybe a good starting point for you would be to :

- Focus on the genre you enjoy to produce the most
- Define the size of a project you would like to accomplish (single, EP, LP...)
- Take a strong and cohesive artistic direction
- Stick to it until you are done

I think that choosing how you want to introduce your music to others and how you want to be perceived by your peers and your audience will help you make that choice (cover art, name, style...)

In my experience, when you stop using presets and starts learning how to use a few selected tools, you enjoy the experimenting process a lot more and creativity comes along naturally with the skills learned.
I have a lot of fun making music nowadays and I am free of the impostor syndrome whereas I had a sense of dread of being lost when I started.

Set a goal so you can be able to achieve it, doing things step by step is a good way to stop feeling overwhelmed.
You probably tried enough stuff already so stop download new plugins, delete the things you don't need, focus on the tools you like, you will find your own signature sound and workflow along the way.

Hopefully you'll make some great music that you had fun producing

 

Buy all your plugins. It's amazing how you can cut right down when you have to buy them. Beyond that, if I haven't used a plugin on the past four productions, it's gone. I'll keep it on an SSD if I need it, but it's not installed.

I don't miss what I don't have, and it forces me to be more creative.

 

Later than the plugin selection you have the pomodoro technique, and other fake limits of time, like work 20 mins, 5 rest.
You can know the tools with time and patience, but also could be some kind of procrastination?
Having a deadline for projects also could help to make faster decisitions.

 

what helped me to speed up my workflow is to use reaper, where i can save my whole chain as a track template, with preamp, eq and compressor+ reverb sometimes. i also deleted all my shitty plugs, only use the 4 vertigo sound ones plug cinematic reverb.

 

This covers it. Just to add, when you reinstall Windows on your computer; don't reinstall your old plugins until you open a project that needs them. Your own usage history will show you what you really do not use. Only do the obvious stuff before that, like Fabfilter, or your UVI or PA subscription, etc. Kontakt. Serum. Valhalla. Stuff like that, you will know to do them. Any of this straggler stuff, wait until a project calls for it; because you'll never reinstall them.

A buddy of mine was recmmending I watch this for a while, and I recently got around to it. It's Protools based, but it's pretty nice look into template building: PureMix Michael Brauer The Evolution From Analog to Digital Brauerize Tutorial.

It's about how he replicated his setup at a physical studio (Electric Lady NYC) within a template, and all the calibration to get everything as close as possible. it's worth a watch.

 

Last edited: Feb 22, 2024

The second you have a project where you actually care about it sounding good you'll quickly start to realise what you don't like and uninstall them. I'm doing a podcast now and the little music bits are a good excuse to try out all the random things I've accumulated over the years. I'm learning pretty quickly what is junk and what I really like.

 

I do basically this same test, when I am trying out a plugin. I would guess over 3/4 get deleted immediately. The ones that survive that test still do not merit keeping yet; and I think these are the ones people accumulate. They all sort of do the same things as other plugins, or the workflow sucks, or there is some limitation that isn't there with another plugin, or you just have a go to plugin that is better. Those are the hardest to delete, because there is nothing really wrong with them. They are by no means, junk. You just don't need them installed.

I love BlueCat Audio Patchwork. I have a folder on my external drive called /Unused Plugins. They were installed and I finally got sick of looking at them in my plugin menus. I get rid of them and send them to the boneyard. But I can open almost every single one in Patchwork if I really have to.

 

Personally I focus on few tools or one that got my ass covered for most stuff, then start organizing sounds, previewing, picking favorites, digging for inspiration, get few great sound banks, limit myself with that palette of sounds and just try to make most music with it.

 

Last edited: Feb 25, 2024

Don't allow product-overwhelm into your life by holding on to only the plugs you actually need and use. Some of the best producers I know are all like that, they couldn't care less what new shiny thing has just come out or whatever, they just know what they need and exactly how to use it to get what they need.

The same plugin could be useless to another producer or considered old trash, but to them it's pure gold because they know what to do with it in the context of their music and workflow.

You can't just allow an unlimited number of new things into your life every day and expect to have that kind of relationship with your favorites. Doesn't mean you never look at new stuff, but you should be a grump about it and throw cranky tantrums whenever there's something to update or upgrade. Fuck that, you have music to write. Too easy to become a completely sterile plugin collector who collects "future potential maybe" which never will turn into anything, it's dead on arrival since you're only collecting and not using anything nearly enough to learn about it in-depth.

 

delete all plugins and use the ones in your daw...when you get the feeling you miss something...dig DEEPER INTO YOUR DAW...if you then get the feeling you miss something, try fabfilter (and so on).