Plugin Deals and Discussion Thread

colourofsound

After my initial posting of the Waves SSL plugin deal this thread has evolved.

So, discuss and inform relating to studio plugins and cheap deals!

Snap

bought!

cheers for that heads up.

Sucker for a sale, I really am. Looks good though

timmysoft

I got it instantly, its a pretty powerful tool on most things! Great quality, i'll certainly be using it a lot more than the waves V4 channel strip that was my previous "go to"

octatonic

It is worth owning but IMHO virtually all the other SSL style plugins (Slate, UAD and SSL's own plugins) sound better.
For £20 though it is a no-brainer.
I paid £350 for the SSL bundle when it was released, and that was half price at the time.

IMC1980

Thanks for the heads up! I'll grab this later.

spark240

Got really excited....then realised I already had it as part of a pack !

wave100

Don't need any more plugs - got it anyway!

IMC1980

Picked it up last night, any sources/instruments that it is really well suited to? I hope the do this with all the SSL plugs in that collection...

octatonic

IMC1980 said:

Picked it up last night, any sources/instruments that it is really well suited to? I hope the do this with all the SSL plugs in that collection...

I don't tend to use the E channel compressor that much.
The EQ sounds nice on toms, acoustic guitars and backing vocals.

If you do use the compressor then I would suggest starting with compressor before EQ.

colourofsound

IMC1980 said:

Picked it up last night, any sources/instruments that it is really well suited to? I hope the do this with all the SSL plugs in that collection...

Drums! Stick it on your drum buss. EQ before comp. +3 at 50hz, -6 at 500hz, +3 at 3k (shelf). Put the comp at about 2:1, medium release, and then adjust threshold to taste... 

IMC1980

Thanks both, I will try it out on those sources among others!

joeyowen

I got it

Usual pain in the ass with Waves Central but it sounds great otherwise.  Thanks for the heads up

PolarityMan

octatonic said:

IMC1980 said:

Picked it up last night, any sources/instruments that it is really well suited to? I hope the do this with all the SSL plugs in that collection...

I don't tend to use the E channel compressor that much.
The EQ sounds nice on toms, acoustic guitars and backing vocals.

If you do use the compressor then I would suggest starting with compressor before EQ.

Why is that? I'm hardy the worlds best mixer but I would always at least high pass before going into a compressor otherwise you end up with the compressor working too much on the lows . I understand that applying compression is going to change the apparent EQ but if I dont like the result I usually apply a second EQ post compression just to do small tweaks. This could all just be working arounf me not being able to use a compressor properly of course!

colourofsound

PolarityMan said:

octatonic said:

IMC1980 said:

Picked it up last night, any sources/instruments that it is really well suited to? I hope the do this with all the SSL plugs in that collection...

I don't tend to use the E channel compressor that much.
The EQ sounds nice on toms, acoustic guitars and backing vocals.

If you do use the compressor then I would suggest starting with compressor before EQ.

Why is that? I'm hardy the worlds best mixer but I would always at least high pass before going into a compressor otherwise you end up with the compressor working too much on the lows . I understand that applying compression is going to change the apparent EQ but if I dont like the result I usually apply a second EQ post compression just to do small tweaks. This could all just be working arounf me not being able to use a compressor properly of course!

+1 to this. I've always EQ'd first to make the compressor work on just the parts that need it. Otherwise the low end pumps the shit out of it and you end up over-compressing your highs as a result. Side-chaining/multiband is another option.

Danny1969

I EQ before compression myself but a lot of guys go the other way. I've mixed many many a track with that SSL channel strip just by chucking the CLA presets on everything .... lazy as fuck but if you set the input gain right and you've tracked in a bog standard mic'ing way the presets work incredibly well  

guitarfishbay

I tend to start with broadband compression before EQ. I find I do less EQing that way. 

I'll only EQ before compression if there's an actual problem with the way the compressor is reacting to the material. 

With lows I sometimes think a sidechain is better than Pre EQ as you don't neuter all your low energy, if it's a resonance issue some static EQ can work pretty well afterwards in addition with a milder high pass. 

It always depends I guess

PolarityMan

Danny1969 said:

I EQ before compression myself but a lot of guys go the other way. I've mixed many many a track with that SSL channel strip just by chucking the CLA presets on everything .... lazy as fuck but if you set the input gain right and you've tracked in a bog standard mic'ing way the presets work incredibly well  

That relies presumably on being decent at engineerings too

I have tried mixing via presets but I think my tracking is a bit too all over the place (although I am pretty pleased with the drum mic'ing on our bands last album, especialy when you consider it uses less than £300 worth of mics).

Drew_TNBD

I usually EQ before and after compression - compression can bring out the highs a bit too much, and too much low-end going into a compressor can make it pump too much. I'll also stack compressors, so instead of having one doing a lot of compression, I'll have two or even three doing little bits here and there.

guitarfishbay

The problem with a more complex EQ Comp EQ chain is if you revisit the first EQ later the comp might react differently and then that means the later EQ settings might be wrong too. The more EQs you add the more potential phase problems you can run into.

If I do that chain I'll try to leave the first EQ as just tidying up what the comp sees so ideally it'll be left alone and any further EQ happens later.

I try to keep comp staging simple too for the same reason. If it doesn't need staging I'll just do it all on one comp then automate instead of the second comp. But this is more a self learning point - in the past I think I've tried to use compression in place of automation when automation would've been preferable. The more I learn the more I appreciate just how good the people who work on great albums are and how relatively crap I am!

IMC1980

Danny1969 said:

I EQ before compression myself but a lot of guys go the other way. I've mixed many many a track with that SSL channel strip just by chucking the CLA presets on everything .... lazy as fuck but if you set the input gain right and you've tracked in a bog standard mic'ing way the presets work incredibly well  

I tried the CLA Guitar Amp 1 preset last night on a guitar track and it was pretty impressive. I think I added a bit of 800hz to it, but it didn't take much tweaking at all.

PolarityMan

Drew_TNBD said:

I usually EQ before and after compression - compression can bring out the highs a bit too much, and too much low-end going into a compressor can make it pump too much. I'll also stack compressors, so instead of having one doing a lot of compression, I'll have two or even three doing little bits here and there.

When you stack what is your process, is it something like well this individual track needs it peaks tamed a bit as its pokey so you put a bit of compression on that track, then later on in that track's bus you do a little more to affect the whole bus etc or is it multiple compressors on a single track?

I still find hearing subtle compression tricky sometimes so I think I have a tendency to go for fewer compressors doing more...and prob still ruin it sometimes