Time to sell some beats with your tracks using these essential plugins.Slow only the lows, mids or highs with the Band split â generate deep bass movement, fatten midrange percussion, or flip your top-end on its head.
I am so happy I got these all loaded up on my new M1 Max MacBook Pro now. Those are my 19 essential plugins for music producers. Cassette by WavesfactoryĪnother great sounding tape plugin I use. It’s not M1 compatible yet, but it also works with Rosetta. It basically sounds exactly like the classic Triton. This plugin is dope for those of you who are a little more old school.
If you put it on your hi hat, for example, it’ll stereo spread it and make it nice and wide. The Ozone 9 imager is something I use in almost every session I do. It’s not M1 compatible yet, but you can use it with Rosetta. I use this a lot for its great stutter effects. This is a classic plugin and it’s extremely fun to use. I use this one quite a bit, especially when I am doing mixes. This plugin is perfect for getting out those harsh frequencies. From the title, you know what it’s emulating – the legendary Memorymoog. It pitches it down and you can mix the dry/wet. You put a sample through it and it plays it in halftime. For those who produce in FL Studio, it’s very similar to gross beat. HalfTime by CableguysĪnother staple of mine is HalfTime. Lately I’ve been using the stock reverb plugin a lot in Ableton 11, but VintageVerb is another amazing plugin for reverb. This is one of the best sounding reverb plugins. You get pianos, strings, drums, synths, guitars, violins, and more.
If you don’t have the budget for Omnisphere, you can load up a bunch of free libraries into this plugin and they sound great. Spitfire LABS is another must have plugin and it’s free. There are synth basses and real recorded electric basses.
Trilian is another plugin that Spectrasonics recently updated for the M1 chip. Spectrasonics recently updated Omnisphere for the M1 chip on Apple Computers and it runs flawlessly. On my old computer it would be a little laggy sometimes because there is so much going on under the hood. Omnishpere has been a staple for a while now. And this is not something you can easily replicate with another plugin or EQ. It creates a curve based on the human ear and adjusts your audio to more pleasing frequencies in real time. Gullfoss is absolutely a simple plugin to use and it goes on every track that I do. I know a lot of music theory and I continue to study as the years go on, but Scaler 2 is still an awesome plugin and a definite must have. It’s a phenomenal plugin if you ever feel stuck or want to get some inspiration for new ideas. If you need a little help with music theory, Scaler 2 will give you chord ideas, melody ideas, and more. It’s a super transparent sounding limiter. I put it at the end of my mastering chain. I use Pro-L 2 on almost every master track. Definitely one of the 19 essential plugins for music producers. It’s very user friendly and graphically intuitive. I often use the Ableton stock EQ, but this plugin is great because there is so much you can do with it. This is your new must have plugin for drums.
When you run your drum loops through this, it’s going to make it sound better. There is visual feedback on the animations seen through its interface. Punch, saturate, sub, air and clip are the 5 elements of KNOCK. It will make your beats slap and it’s easy to use. If you make any kind of beats with drums of any kind, KNOCK plugin created by myself will become your go to for drum processing.
If you run something through RC-20 and mess with the knobs, you’re likely to come up with something great. It has what I would call a timeless sound to it. It sounds phenomenal and everyone is using it. They make incredible plugins and this one has become a staple in the music industry. Most music producers are familiar with XLN Audio. RC-20 Retro Color by XLN AudioĪnother go to of mine is RC-20. This is one plugin I don’t think I could live without. Sketch Cassette is definitely a must have. Dropouts to the sound will make it choppy and it sounds so warm and good. With the age knob you can go between new and worn. If I am trying to gritty or dirty up a loop I load up into my DAW, this is my go to. This is version two and it’s super powerful for getting a dirty sound. I have been using Sketch Cassette for a couple years now. These are the 19 essential plugins for music producers.