Craig840415
Joined: 05/01/12
Posts: 15
Loc: South Africa, Johannesburg
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Plugins & Presets vs Manually Setting Individual Effects
#1023601 - 11/12/12 07:58 AM
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Hey,
I wanted to get some opinions on this. We work with a producer / engineer
who has 30 years experience in the industry and she, like a real purist swears by manually
setting EQ and effects when mixing, and would probably cut off your hand if she saw you
reaching over for a program like EZmix, Isotope or Waves plugins and using the presets...
However for me, as a total noob who is more muso than engineer, I really like the idea of
having a couple of plugins and coming up with at least a basic recipe of presets etc to
set my mixes in the right direction, while I realise every mix is different and requires
different things, this would make life alot easier. So this begs the question/s, is it
possible to get a pro sounding mix by using just presets on plugins?
--------------------
Craig840415
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Jack Ruston
Joined: 21/12/05
Posts: 4066
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Re: Plugins & Presets vs Manually Setting Individual Effects
[Re: Craig840415]
#1023603 - 11/12/12 08:17 AM
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Well obviously it is if you had enough presets and time to go through them. But no, not
really. Presets are useful for creating your own default settings. Eg say you have an eq
which opens with all the bands switched off (like channel strip) or you want a high pass
filter on most things so have that activated etc etc. It makes sense when you only use a
particular plug in for a certain job. If you find you always set something the same then
by all means use a preset. They're obviously useful for effects. But the idea that you can
click on 'kick' 'snare' 'male vocal' etc is silly. They're totally dependent on the
source, the mic, the distance, any tracking processing etc.
-------------------- www.jackruston.com
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The Elf
active member
Joined: 14/08/01
Posts: 8164
Loc: Sheffield, UK
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Re: Plugins & Presets vs Manually Setting Individual Effects
[Re: Craig840415]
#1023604 - 11/12/12 08:37 AM
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Presets are fine as a starting point, but with something like a dynamics processor there's
really no way a preset is going to suffice without some tweaking to suit the material it
is processing, and an understanding of how it works. A 'pro' certainly wouldn't be relying
on prests to buid a mix and, unless you are *very* lucky, it is as likely as a lottery win
that the presets will suit all the material you throw at them.
Given the
small number of controls on such processors it hardly seems worth saving presets anyway -
I work from scratch pretty much every time. With something like a delay, reverb, etc.,
then there's more of an argument for presets.
--------------------
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
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Bossman
active member
Joined: 30/09/02
Posts: 1541
Loc: UK
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Re: Plugins & Presets vs Manually Setting Individual Effects
[Re: Craig840415]
#1023623 - 11/12/12 09:54 AM
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I often reach for a preset for auditioning reverbs, at least as a starting point. but for
EQ/dynamics I always start from scratch.
-------------------- www.Lozjackson.com
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sambrox
Joined: 20/12/08
Posts: 191
Loc: Denmark
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Re: Plugins & Presets vs Manually Setting Individual Effects
[Re: Bossman]
#1023627 - 11/12/12 10:05 AM
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Quote Bossman:
I often reach for
a preset for auditioning reverbs, at least as a starting point. but for EQ/dynamics I
always start from scratch.
+1
--------------------
http://www.soundcloud.com/sambrox
seedy.dk
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Zukan
Zukan
Joined: 12/09/03
Posts: 8515
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Re: Plugins & Presets vs Manually Setting Individual Effects
[Re: Craig840415]
#1023633 - 11/12/12 10:31 AM
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Prests can be of help especially when using reverb. Most users won't know what a plate is
so a preset with plate vocals might help the user a tad and help him/her/it to learn
summat. Personally, I delete all presets from every effects and dynamics I
have. I hate them.
-------------------- Samplecraze
Stretch That Note
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Richie Royale
Joined: 12/09/06
Posts: 3370
Loc: Bristol, England.
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Re: Plugins & Presets vs Manually Setting Individual Effects
[Re: Craig840415]
#1023662 - 11/12/12 12:30 PM
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I never use presets in a set and forget fashion, I always tweak any I have used, but it
can be a good starting point, especially on very complicated synths or multi-effects.
-------------------- http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale
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Craig840415
Joined: 05/01/12
Posts: 15
Loc: South Africa, Johannesburg
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Re: Plugins & Presets vs Manually Setting Individual Effects
[Re: Craig840415]
#1024056 - 13/12/12 07:26 AM
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Thanks for the advise everyone. Much appreciated.
--------------------
Craig840415
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