Essential Plugins For Music Production

[Grimarlon Varner]

EveryDigital Audio Workstation comes bundled with a ton of instrument and effect plugins. These default plugins are more than enough to get you started. More experience music producers however might want to take it one step further and invest in some essential plugins to improve their productions.

A great-sounding equalizer plugin is indispensable in the toolkit of every music producer. Finding frequencies to boost or cut becomes a breeze thanks to the built-in frequency analyzer. In addition, you can listen to each individual band by clicking on the small speaker symbol, ideal for tracking down those pesky resonances.

All Waves plugins come with a selection of presets and a powerful A/B function. This is ideal to compare attack and release times, which is difficult to hear for many beginning and intermediate producers. Waves plugins are also practically on sale pretty much 24/7 so keep an eye on their site. Most of the time, you can get this plugin (and many others) for as low as $29.

In addition to Reverb, Delay or Echo is another extremely important plugin for music producers and mix engineers. My go-to plugin for Delay is Echoboy by Soundtoys. Another famous plugin, used by every music producer out there, and for good reason. This plugin emulates many vintage echo devices like tape recorders, digital-delay units, and guitar pedals. Soundtoys is known for its authentic analog sound, and this plugin comes very close to the real deal.

Echoboy has everything a delay plugin needs like filtering, mono, dual, ping-pong and rhythm echoes, LFOs, saturation, and EQ. You can even make it groove by adjusting the Shuffle and Swing controls. And of course, you get that classic pitched tape delay effect by automating the delay times.

Ozone has everything you will likely need in order to deliver professional-sounding masters. It has plugins like exciters, stereo-imagers, dynamic EQ and limiters, to get the best out of your tracks. Ozone even has an Artificial Intelligence mastering assistant feature that suggests settings to optimize your track. Even scrolling through some presets gives you some useful insights into the mastering process.

Momentum is a great free sampler VST with slicing, stretching, key changes, rearranging, and composition tools. Users can apply 18 slice-specific effects, employ smart BPM and key stretching features, and access Big Fish Audio's extensive loop libraries - all within this subscription-free plugin. It's incredibly popular among hip-hop producers, and is a great alternative to Serato Sample.

Xfer Records OTT is a free plugin re-creation of an Ableton Live preset in the Multiband Compressor effect. It's an upwards/downwards compressor set-up used by many dubstep and electro producers. The sound of OTT is incredibly popular, and using the effect is one of the top techniques for making powerful sounding synth sounds.

Polyverse Wider 2 is a unique stereo widener plug-in is able to expand a fully mono signal to full stereo. It maintains mono compatibility, ensuring the widened signal remains in phase even when summed back to mono. The new version introduces features like the ability to exclude low frequencies from the widening effect and a mono button to check compatibility.

Spectrasonics Omnisphere is a hybrid synth that continues to be amongst the top VSTs. It has a massive library of built in sounds, giving you access to both incredibly powerful synth-only sounds as well as cinematic sounding layered patches. It is especially popular among hip hop producers.

U-he Diva is an analog modelling synth which excels at sounding incredibly fat and realistic. Giving you both Roland and Moog-esque modules, it allows great amounts of customization without losing its authentic feel. Diva is a popular choice especially among melodic house and techno producers. Get our preset packs for Diva here.

Nexus is a rompler which has incredibly solid sounds, perfect for mainstream EDM and Dance productions. It gives you very quick access to plenty of very useful patches which need almost no customization. It has been used by many professionals and after many years its popularity continues.

Repro is an amazing emulation of the classic Prophet 5 synthesizer with plenty of modern improvements, which is gaining a lot of popularity. Check out our preset pack for Repro here.

FabFilter's Total Bundle for desktop is a comprehensive set of professional-grade audio plug-ins, including EQ, reverb, compressor, and more. The plugins are acclaimed for their sonic capabilities and sleek user interfaces. Especially worth mentioning are the Pro-Q (Equalizer), Pro-L (Limiter), Pro-R (Reverb) and Pro-C (Compression), which made their way into countless music studios worldwide.

The Soundtoys 5 Bundle enables you to create luscious reverberation (SuperPlate), amazing distortion (Decapitator, Radiator, Devil-Loc), singature echo (EchoBoy, PrimalTap), great vocal effects (Little AlterBoy), and reverse shimmer delay (Crystallizer). It also takes modulation to new heights with beat-synced rhythmic effects from PanMan, Tremolator, FilterFreak, and PhaseMistress.

The Waves Diamond Bundle includes 76 audio mixing and mastering plugins, covering dynamics, EQ, reverb, pitch correction, spatial imaging, and much more. It's great for various studio applications, including tracking, mixing, mastering, sound design, and audio restoration. It encompasses the huge selection of plugins from Waves Platinum, Restoration, and Transform bundles, as well as additional tools like V-Comp, L3 Multimaximizer, NLS Non-Linear Summer.

Blackhole gives you plenty of control, with the possibility to create your own signature sounds. Includes a set of 50 presets which can be a starting point for explorations - from rooms to huge spaces.

ValhallaPlate is an algorithmic plate reverb plugin with 12 original algorithms which imitates the sounds of hardware plate reverbs - and pushes the boundaries of what a plate reverb can do.

Auto-Tune Pro X stands out as the industry's most sophisticated pitch correction effect, boasting innovative Throat Modeling and Formant Correction controls for unparalleled vocal optimization. Its redesigned Graph Mode, Auto Mode for real-time correction, an exclusive collection of artist presets, as well as the new Presets Manager fast-track your creative process when recording and mixing vocals.

Melodyne gives you the ability to bring out all the musical details in your recordings and edit them note by note - something you cannot do in any other software. It analyses the audio in a sophisticated manner and goes deep into your samples to recognize the scales, notes and chords that are played, as well as the tempo and tonal character.

iZotope Nectar 3's exceptional sound quality and user-friendly design make it a highly recommended tool for enhancing vocals in various genres. It encompasses plenty of advanced tools designed for vocal processing (EQ, Pitch, Dimension, Compressor, Reverb, De-esser and much more). The recent update also includes an innovative AI Vocal Assistant for automatic processing.

FabFilter Saturn 2 is a powerful distortion and saturation plugin inspired by vintage sounds of tubes, tape, transformers, and guitar amps. With 28 distortion styles, Saturn 2 allows users to achieve everything from subtle warmth to wild multiband guitar amp effects. The multiband design with per-band controls for dynamics, drive, mix, feedback, tone, and level provides a huge amount of control over the sound.

Addictive Drums 2 provides incredibly high quality studio recorded drum samples with an easy to use and program interface - allowing you to write very realistic drum patterns.

SSD5 is a plugin from Steven Slate which gives you plenty of well-recorded drumkits which you can easily program in piano roll or map to your MIDI controller or drumkit.

Soothe removes harshness, reduces sibilance in vocals, as well as treats uneven tonal balance in recordings. It removes mud, boominess as well as treats the proximity effect.

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Aspiring music producers are often overwhelmed by the vast array of plugins available for music production. Think about it, in 20-30 years ago, there were only a handful of plugins that were available. Most sound like crap, but we used and made the best we could from them.

Today, with so many options to choose from, it can be challenging to determine which plugins are essential for beginners. In this article, we will explore the top 10 must have VST plugins for music producers in 2024 as well tag toss in some extras

Saturn 2 is designed to produce vintage sounds that resemble tubes, tape, transformers, and guitar amps. It features 28 distortion styles that enable users to achieve varying degrees of warmth and saturation, as well as multi-band guitar amp effects.

Valhalla VintageVerb is a popular reverb plugin known for its vintage-inspired algorithms. It offers a wide range of reverb effects, from classic spring and plate reverbs to lush halls and rooms. With its simple yet powerful interface, Valhalla VintageVerb is an excellent choice for adding depth and dimension to your mix.

Soundtoys Decapitator is a must-have plugin for adding analog warmth and saturation to your tracks. It emulates the sound of classic analog gear, allowing you to add grit, harmonics, and color to your sounds. With its versatile controls, Soundtoys Decapitator can enhance everything from drums and guitars to vocals and synths.

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