Top 3 must have plug ins you'd recommend to a new starter

[harbinger]

I've been teaching myself production on Logic the past few months, but don't really have any clue about what plug ins are good. I'm assuming that most people use at least some plug ins as opposed to purely working on the DAW's own software. Anyway, I'd like to know what 3 must have plug ins you would recommend to someone who's just getting into production... the ones that you see as essential for producing dubstep and just music in general. What do your chosen plug ins do and why would you recommend them so highly?

[soronery]

id recommend learning the stock plugins inside and out before buying any external ones

one of the big issues i see wit new producers is they got out and acquire a daw with every product they can get there hands on and are then spoilt for choice without ever learning too much of anything

so stock plugins if youre learning a daw from scratch imo

then you can fill in the gaps once you know what youre missing in tersm of sounds you want to make

[NinjaEdit]

1. Massive
2. ValhallaRoom
3. Stock instruments and effects

That's what I use. I probably wouldn't use ValhallaRoom if I had Ableton Live 9's convolution reverb.

[smalltock]

ZynAddSubFX

[forbidden]

1. Massive
2. ValhallaRoom

3. FabFilter Pro-Q 2

(assuming you are referring to strictly 3rd party stuff)

[nowaysj]

Good monitors
Room treatment
Time

[3za]

Good monitors
Room treatment
Time

Almost

Technical skills
Auditory skills
Time

or

Delay
Gain
LFO

[nowaysj]

Good monitors
Room treatment
Time

Almost

Technical skills
Auditory skills
Time

Technical skills and Auditory skills come with Time. Hard to develop though, if you're not hearing your audio correctly, thus quality monitors and room treatment.

PAR

[3za]

Nah they're taught, like someone told you what a sidechain gate is how to set it up how to use it.
If you just spent all your time fucking about, you will still learn technical skills, but at a much slower/incomplete level.

Proper ear training is essential to getting really fucking good at sound design, and mixing, and you can't get to that level just fucking about.

Use your time wisely. (you can't become awesome just reading books, and doing ear training CD's

You can get to learn your shit monitoring, when doing ref. (all the gear no idea/skill).

[_Agu_]

I've been teaching myself production on Logic the past few months

I started with FL Studio + cracked version of every possible Waves/NI plugin I could have thought of at the time, then moved to Reason and now after 3-4 years I'm on Logic without any 3rd party stuff. Had a few moments when I thought i might buy some extra plugins, but there's so many choices and no absolute need for anything so i'm still here with ES2 and other stock plugins.

My advice is to at least not to buy any super expensive effects. Channel/Linear phase eq in Logic has already the same stuff as Pro-Q. Same could be said for the stock compressor and for the most Waves 300-400$ compressors. There's no real fm synth in Logic, so if you have a need for one, FM8 is a good choice, it's -50% at the moment.

[bibbyj]

I don;t know logic at all, but the reputation of it's stock plugins is pretty good. From the few DAWS I've seen and used, these usually seem to be absent, or just plain crap

1. A good Transient designer, such as SPL's :

http://spl.info/en/products/analog-code ... ption.html

A simple piece of kit that works wonders on most sound design, but can be considered essential for drums, heres a nice tut on using one:

http://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how ... audio-1083

2. An accurate FFT Analyser
Plenty of both free and paid ones available, so hit up google, and before anyone chimes up about you should only mix with your ears, yes you should mix with your ears, but using a visual representation as Confirmation that your on the right path can be very useful, especially for beginners.

3. Finally after you've fully explored your stock plugins, is there anything that really stands out as not being quite up to what you want from it, washy sound, not enough modulation options, no side-chain etc. these are the plugins that you should start looking for alternatives too.

Oh and as an alternative to NI Massive, why not take a look at XFer Serum:

https://www.xferrecords.com/products/serum/

Hope this helps

Jim.

[3za]

I know Logic

Transient shaper = Enveloper

freq analyser = analyzer switch in channel eq

[Crimsonghost]

1. Money

2. Hoes

3. Clothes

[nowaysj]

If you've got the money and the hoes, who needs the clothes?

[Crimsonghost]

But its all a "brotha" knows!

[3za]

Bass
Space
And Jah

[Crimsonghost]

Im beginning to feel like no one listens to biggie.

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

But biggie is over rated

[test_recordings]

Just get (free vst) 1) synth, 2) reverb, and 3) sample editor like Audacity.

You can make tracks with that

[3za]

Just get (free vst) 1) synth, 2) reverb, and 3) sample editor like Audacity.

Your DAW should already have them.