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10 Plugins I Can't Make Music Without

Music Production

By Alex EynstonePublished 4 years ago 10 min read
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Ok, I could make music without them – clickbait-y title, sorry. But it would make my studio sessions a little more difficult and a lot less personal if I didn’t have them.

As we get further and further into our own musical world, we start to reach for some of the same plugins over and over again when we’re creating.

It’s not necessarily that they’re the best plugins out there – it could be that they’re easy to use, have a simple interface, or have one feature that really improves your workflow.

Whatever the reason, we form solid relationships with these plugins over time, and they become an integral part of our music making process – so much so that it just wouldn’t feel the same without them.

I want to share the 10 plugins that I’ve been through hell with or have gotten to know well enough to love them. This is both a way to share my approach to using plugins and an appreciation post.

It’s also important to note that this is not a glamorous list. Most of them are basic plugins, native to Logic Pro X (my DAW of choice), and the third-party plugins aren’t anything overly complicated, unique or modern either.

They’re just plugins I use time and time again, for one reason or another, when I’m making music.

How we’ll do this:

For each plugin, I’ll (very) briefly explain what it is, why it made the list, how much it costs (if it’s not native), and links to get it. If you’re not using Logic, you’ll be able to find alternatives – I use Ableton a bit as well, so if I know of an equivalent, I’ll let you know.

This isn’t me reviewing plugins (I might do that in future), so I’m not going to go into all of their special features or anything – I just want to show you some of the plugins I use constantly, and to show you that they’re generally really basic.

Without further ado, let me present to you (in no particular order) 10 plugins that I can’t make music as easily without.

*The images below are screenshots from my DAW, so some of them might be outdated. Don’t let that fool you!*

**Just to be clear, I'm not getting any money to talk about these plugins (although I wish I was!) - I just use them and love them. I mean, most of them are free anyway!**

#1. PhatFX (was CamelPhat)

What it is: A multi-effect plugin with distortion units, filters, modulation and other cool shit. It is essentially CamelPhat rebranded, as Apple bought Camel Audio a while ago.

Why it made the list: I originally had this as CamelPhat 3 (I think) and I’ve been using it for quite a while now. In this Audio tutorial I watched some time ago, Audio talks about adding a small amount of distortion to his drum buss with this plugin (something he learned from The Upbeats) and I’ve been doing that ever since.

I use the same distortion trick for my bass buss and on individual elements that need a little bit of beef. I also use the notch filter a lot on basses and other sounds.

Another thing I love about this plugin is that it limits/clips the master, so it’s awesome for getting shit loud.

Cost: FREE! If you have Logic Pro X.

Alternatives: If you’re in Ableton, I would use the Saturator for the distortion/saturation part, and Auto Filter for the filter part.

#2. MSED by Voxengo

What it is: An “audio encoder-decoder” (that’s what Voxengo calls it) plugin for processing the mid and side signals separately (panning and gain). It does other stuff too, but I’m focusing on my uses for it.

Why it made the list: I have this on my master buss, for every project. I constantly switch between the mono and side signals to hear what’s going on and to make sure nothing weird is happening on the sides. It also gets a lot of use on individual tracks, allowing me to adjust the volume of the mid/side information, because sometimes things stick out too much or not enough.

I highly recommend this company. They’re the creators of Voxengo Span, which everyone uses, including me (it didn’t make the list because I also use the spectrum on Logic’s EQ a lot, so Span isn’t vital).

Cost: FREE!

Link: https://www.voxengo.com/product/msed/

#3. Bus Driver by Nomad Factory

What it is: As you can see in the image, it’s a vacuum tube compressor/limiter. I know it as a transient enhancer. As far as I know, it’s imitating old-school compressors, but I don’t know much about that side of things to be honest.

Why it made the list: I bought a Joe Ford tutorial a while ago and he used this to give his synthesised snare more snap and bring out the transient a lot more. That’s exactly what I use it for. There are a million compressors that can do this, but this is really basic, and it sounds really cool to me. Be careful not to lose too much body in your drums when you’re driving this thing round, though.

Cost: It says $9.99, though I’m not sure if that’s AUD or not. When I bought it, it was $19.99 USD, I think. It’s pretty cheap, anyway!

Link: https://www.kvraudio.com/product/bus-driver-by-nomad-factor

#4. AutoFilter

What it is: Straight out of Logic Pro X, it’s just a filter you can modulate.

Why it made the list: In my opinion, AutoFilter is nothing special, but it made the list because it is my go-to for modulation in basses and other sounds. Once I’ve done what I can inside the synth, I pretty much go straight to this if I need to get any more movement. It also has a distortion unit as well, so it can beef sounds up if needed.

I have this set up so that the default preset is modulating shit as soon as I drop it on my sound – I copied the settings from Reso in one of his videos and haven’t looked back. Of course, I tweak it afterwards, but it’s a cool starting point. Couple this with the notch filter in Phat FX and you’ve got some fuckin’ movement!

Cost: FREE! If you have Logic Pro X.

Alternatives: If you’re using Ableton, their Auto Filter will give you similar results. I’m not sure if it’s quite as detailed, but it’s got the essentials: filter and LFO.

#5. Pro Q 2 by FabFilter

What it is: The best fuckin’ EQ out there. From what I understand, it’s becoming the industry standard, or at least it’s extremely popular in electronic music production.

Why it made the list: Well… it’s the best fuckin’ EQ out there. No, but really, I gave this a spot because I am overly surgical when it comes to EQing sounds (like, not in a good way) and any of the Pro Q versions allow for lots and lots and lots of EQ bands, so you can pretty much go to town on cleaning up your sounds.

On top of that, it sounds amazing, it does an insane amount of cool shit and doesn’t seem to fuck up your sounds when high-passing them – right on! I use it every project, without fail. I can’t recommend it enough.

Honestly, all the FabFilter plugins should be on this list and I use a lot of them, but I use the EQ the most.

Cost: Usually around $179 USD (for the newest version), but they have sales and stuff, or you can get it in one of their bundles. Worth it.

Link: https://www.fabfilter.com/products/pro-q-3-equalizer-plug-in

What it is: A dynamic processor that lets you fuck around with attack and release/sustain of a signal. Essentially, it’s a transient shaper.

Why it made the list: I know I already use Bus Driver for getting snap out of my snares, but I don’t think it and Enveloper are interchangeable – not all the time, anyway. For me, there’s more control with Enveloper, especially if a sound needs more release or I need to dial in how much of the sound I want to be affected by the increased attack. I mostly use this for drum hits and other percussive sounds to boost the attack and tighten up the tails.

There’s nothing special about it as a transient shaper, but it’s there, I trust it, and I’ve never had any issues with it, so I use it constantly.

Cost: FREE! If you have Logic Pro X.

Alternatives: I would recommend Native Instruments’ Transient Master. I have that too, and if I wasn’t using Logic, that would be my go-to.

#7. MAutoPan by Melda Production

What it is: If you haven’t already guessed… it’s an auto panner!

Why it made the list: Honestly, for no reason other than that Logic doesn’t have a built-in auto panner and I find a use for one a lot – like, a weird amount. Also, this one is free, and the Melda stuff is pretty good in my experience.

The plugin has some cool stuff, but I really only use it for its basic function. Generally, it gets dropped onto sounds that haven’t really found their place in the mix. Sometimes I think it’s nice to let some sounds wander a bit. I also use it a lot for bass fills and hats to keep things interesting.

It’s not a plugin that’s irreplaceable, but it’s the only auto panner I’ve got, and I really like to use it.

Cost: FREE!

Link: https://www.meldaproduction.com/MAutopan

#8. Space Designer

What it is: One of Logic’s built-in reverb effects – probably the coolest.

Why it made the list: As is the case with most of these plugins, there’s a lot you can do with this, but, again, I don’t take full advantage of it. I don’t load my own impulse responses into it, and I don’t really twist many knobs on the interface – I mostly use this for the presets.

There are heaps of different presets and they’re all different. You can completely change the space your sound or track is in by simply switching presets. Obviously, there are lots of opportunities to use reverb in your track, but I specifically use this plugin for my drum and bass busses, because they’re generally the most important elements in my tracks and it’s fun to see the different rooms, halls, etc. you can put them in.

Cost: FREE! If you have Logic Pro X.

Alternatives: Every DAW has an acceptable reverb plugin, but if you’re looking for a convolution reverb effect like Space Designer, there would be plenty of cool ones out there, including a section in Izotope’s Trash 2 (which almost made this list for distortion).

#9. Ozone Imager by Izotope

What it is: A stereo imager which allows you to split the signal into multiple bands so you can affect each band differently.

Why it made the list: I’m almost always needing to fuck about with widening or narrowing sounds (especially in the high end) and this is the perfect plugin to do that, because you can home in on specific frequency ranges. One of the coolest things about it is the Stereoize bit, which can turn mono signals into stereo signals. It also leaves the mono signal completely unaffected, so when you collapse your track to mono, things haven’t turned to shit!

Cost: I think this is a free version, but the one I’m talking about is part of the mastering plugin. The link below is to the newest version of Ozone.

Link: https://www.izotope.com/en/products/ozone/features/imager.html

#10. Gain

What it is: Logic’s gain plugin. Do I really need to explain it any further?

Why it made the list: Because I use it about one hundred times in every track. It’s on the master and every individual track. By the time I get down to mixing, the gain plugin becomes my best friend. I use this instead of faders a lot of the time for setting and automating volume, because it helps to keep the project clean.

It’s the simplest, most replaceable plugin ever, but also my most loyal friend who’s always in my “recently used” and ready die for me if need be.

Cost: FREE! If you have Logic Pro X.

Alternatives: Your DAW’s gain/utility plugin.

And I think that about sums it up!

As promised, this list is very unspectacular, but that’s the reality of music production for me! I don’t have a lot of fancy tricks and I don’t have a lot of fancy plugins (although I’m excited to get Pro Q 3). To me, knowing how to use the basics and having them readily accessible is one of the most important parts of me getting shit done.

If you’re interested in seeing how some of these plugins and others work in the context of a piece of music, you can check out the post that breaks down my composition Wind Up. I go into detail about how it came together and what I did to process the elements.

Cheers! 🙂

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About the Creator

Alex Eynstone

Music Producer | Composer | Coach.

I make music, write about things I care about & help independent artists build an online presence.

The Awakened Creative Co - theawakenedcreative.co

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