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Old 11-10-2019, 02:14 PM   #1
read
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Default if we can settle down with one Daw, can't we settle down with One EQ, Reverb, delay?

if we can settle down with one Daw, can't we settle down with One EQ, Reverb, delay?

is that something that wouldn't make sense? to settle down with one EQ for example?
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Old 11-10-2019, 03:14 PM   #2
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I personally use Reaper native plugins except for a very few select 3rd party things which are mostly instruments. ReaEQ and ReaComp are all I need for anything.
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Old 11-10-2019, 03:29 PM   #3
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Default Yes, but it depends.

-If you are just talking about a transparent EQ to fix problems with resonances and such and shaping to get frequency balance/reduce clashes/fit instruments in the mix, then I think one good EQ would be fine for most tasks.(Especially for electronic music I would think, but I could wrong about that because I record mostly real instruments and mix those). I will add that a dynamic EQ is very good at transparently solving intermittent resonances without affecting the track when the resonance is absent and so I would want one of those available.
-However, some plugins try to emulate analog gear and therefore purposely impart a "sound" or character to it or have features similar to hardware. If you are one that likes to use those different flavors, you would want more, think of a painter who has more colors and types of canvas to choose from.
-I think the same goes for reverbs and delays. If they are good plugs they may well handle a large majority of tasks, especially if you are skilled at using them. However, different reverbs definitely have their strengths and weakness and so will impart different characteristics (bright, smooth, good at early reflections etc).
-So in my opinion I think any skilled mixer could get good results from limiting the plugs to just a few. It just depends how you like to work,if you like to have different flavors and interfaces to work with, or just stick to one and focus more on the getting the right sound source and using good technique. Maybe a person that tends to get sidetracked with endless tinkering would do better to purposely limit their choices in order to get something done!
I am guessing most people have more plugin choices than they need.
Happy mixing.
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Old 11-10-2019, 04:04 PM   #4
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Because take my money I want new and shiny.
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Old 11-10-2019, 04:32 PM   #5
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Because take my money I want new and shiny.
'
haha
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Old 11-10-2019, 06:22 PM   #6
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Because take my money I want new and shiny.
But make sure it sounds exactly like something old and outdated. And actually, now that I think about it, it would probably sound better if there was some rust on the GUI.
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Old 11-10-2019, 06:46 PM   #7
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But make sure it sounds exactly like something old and outdated. And actually, now that I think about it, it would probably sound better if there was some rust on the GUI.
Good point.

Take my money I want old and rusty.
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Old 11-11-2019, 02:52 AM   #8
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Once you get used to actually hearing WHAT plugins do, you will find there are subtle to major differences in the way various plugins do stuff.
Especially reverbs and compressors in my experience.
EQs not so much, more a case of the overall "vibe" of the eq.

I have umpteen compressors & limiters and use a pretty large selection of them, depending on what I am trying to do.
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Old 11-11-2019, 09:13 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by read View Post
if we can settle down with one Daw, can't we settle down with One EQ, Reverb, delay?
I try to adhere to this as much as possible, having settled on small-ish selection of plugins to cover most purposes.

That said, I've got plenty of additional plugins for cases when they're the only (and/or the fastest) means to get a specific sound or do some job.

For that matter, I can't seem to settle on just one DAW either. Or rather, can't uninstall the DAWs/versions I've used most in last two decades, due to having started many unfinished ideas in them, and wanting to retain access to those ideas. And the same goes for plugins which are used by those old projects.

The times I've had to transfer projects from one DAW to another, or do full reinstalls of my DAW computers, have been painful reminders about how much wiser it would have been to only ever use a small number of crossplatform, cross-DAW plugins.
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Old 11-11-2019, 09:37 AM   #10
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if we can settle down with one Daw, can't we settle down with One EQ, Reverb, delay?

is that something that wouldn't make sense? to settle down with one EQ for example?
You certainly should be able to do so and get good consistent results, much as an artist can be great with a limited palette of colours.
OTOH many of us take inspiration from a lot of different shiny toys (kerching!), especially if we have catholic tastes in music.

Easy to end up being less creative at times because you are too busy faffing about with relative minutiae. You can have too many options. 1st world problems of too much choice!
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Old 11-11-2019, 09:54 AM   #11
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I'm sure people who are serious about "production" choose and use a very limited number plug-ins. They know what works for them and they are familiar with it.


Hobbyists often like to "play around".


And then there's basic economics (supply and demand). If you're buying hardware effects (or expensive plug-ins) you aren't going to buy "extras". But if they are free the demand is essentially unlimited.


The 1st issue is economics too - If you want to get a lot of production done you have t be economic with your time (even if you're not getting paid).
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Old 11-11-2019, 12:02 PM   #12
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Something that I noticed when switching over to Reaper (and I'm sure it's the same for any new DAW)....

Not every plugin is designed the same way and although the outcome might be more or less the same (no casual listener can tell you what compressor or EQ was used on that one thing), it's the fun of getting there that makes my job interesting.

For some plugs I might have to spend a lot of time tweaking to get where I need to be, where with others, it's a mouse click or a preset.

I bought many an LP because I liked the cover. Maybe that has something to do with it.
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Old 11-11-2019, 04:12 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by DVDdoug View Post
I'm sure people who are serious about "production" choose and use a very limited number plug-ins. They know what works for them and they are familiar with it.
Just like the hobbyists, there are some who do that, and there are some who like to have, and use, everything!

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Old 11-11-2019, 04:14 PM   #14
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Easy to end up being less creative at times because you are too busy faffing about with relative minutiae. You can have too many options. 1st world problems of too much choice!
It can work the other way, too. Rather than spending a long time trying to get a set of generalist tools to produce the sound you want, you can reach for the tone box that does it with a slight twist of a knob or push of a button.
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Old 11-11-2019, 04:46 PM   #15
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It can work the other way, too. Rather than spending a long time trying to get a set of generalist tools to produce the sound you want, you can reach for the tone box that does it with a slight twist of a knob or push of a button.
Of course I agree, but then having a limited toolset can be a little like necessity as the mother of invention. Those happy accidents attempting to make one interesting thing out of another then become less likely.
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Old 11-11-2019, 11:10 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by DVDdoug View Post
I'm sure people who are serious about "production" choose and use a very limited number plug-ins. They know what works for them and they are familiar with it.
Many professional mixers/producers have videos on their workflow, just watch a few of those and you will find that your assumption is wrong. Someone like Dave Pensado has just about everything that is available on the market installed on his system

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The 1st issue is economics too - If you want to get a lot of production done you have t be economic with your time (even if you're not getting paid).
This is the exact reason why professionals use a lot of plugins; they use a plugin as a preset. Again, look at some of those videos and you will see that if they want a certain effect somewhere, they reach for a plugin that they know will deliver THAT particular effect fast with minimum tweaking.
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Old 11-12-2019, 06:23 PM   #17
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It's not really that we "can" settle on a daw and more that we "have to". Each daw has their strengths and weaknesses and if people could just use each daw for what it's best at, they would.

Reaper for example isn't so good with selection, but if I select some tracks in Pro Tools, I can't do anything with them in Reaper, so there's no point in having both. I can put three different plugins on the same track, though, and it works just fine.

For example, some EQs have a low CPU load but offer minimal features while others have lot's of features, but a higher CPU load, so I'd pick the low one except for the cases where I need those advanced features.
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Old 11-13-2019, 02:52 AM   #18
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It depends... If you want to get to a specific sound you'll probably have a better chance of getting there by having access to a wide variety of tools, but you could also lean in to the plugins you have and let their capabilities inform you of how your mix will sound. But picking the right tool for the job will always be a better option, if you know what you are doing.

But you "can" settle on one type of plugin for the task in the sense that you can make a decent sounding mix with only a couple of plugins.
Historically even the biggest studios only had a handful of different compressors, EQs and Reverbs and they didn't have unlimited instances of these effects like we do today. These studios were also limited by, mics, recordings channels, room acoustics and even air density, which meant that different studios had different characteristics and often had a certain sound to them. So Abbey Road recordings would sound different to Electric Ladyland. Motown recordings were particularly characteristic because they basically used the exact same setup, effect chain, mic positions and musicians on all recordings. All of that made the recordings especially recognizable, but you would never be able to get a modern pop sound out of that studio and equipment.

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Old 11-13-2019, 06:37 PM   #19
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I've nothing against a "less is more" approach. But for me personally I have specifically gone out of my way to build up a collection of third party plugins specifically because I'm into getting a sound modelled on analogue gear such as tape, vinyl, tubes etc. If that's not your thing I'm sure Reaper's plugins will suffice.
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Old 11-14-2019, 08:24 AM   #20
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I've nothing against a "less is more" approach. But for me personally I have specifically gone out of my way to build up a collection of third party plugins specifically because I'm into getting a sound modelled on analogue gear such as tape, vinyl, tubes etc. If that's not your thing I'm sure Reaper's plugins will suffice.
Hmm, no reason such a set up cannot be both all analogue emulation AND working on the "less is more" principle. After all in the analogue days that gear was sometimes big, heavy and expensive. Producers had to work with what they could afford and fit in the studio.
The less is more concept and settling for the DAWs FX alone are somewhat different things.
I am with you that you should get the emulations you really want though, as budget allows, but also that you should really get to know how to use the plugins, not just try presets.
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