#214: The Best FREE Plugins Every Producer Should Use

I am joined , as I mentioned in the intro there , by Tim Benson , aka R9 again , and we're not actually answering your questions in this episode . This is one that we put together because we thought it'd be good fun , so we're going to be diving deep , deep diving into our respective top three free plugins Tools .

Tim and I use ourselves in our productions to help you upgrade your mixes and music production without spending a penny . But before we do that , tim , welcome

back . And how are you .

A classic yes , track , um , and then I suddenly thought that it had a real moving , sort of like traveling vibe to the track , which had always sort of been in my mind while I was doing it and I've been looking at images and you know , sometimes you're trying to come up with a cover and and I actually found a few images that started to sort of go , ah

yeah , maybe trains maybe like moving that kind of thing .

So , yeah , it just pieced together really , but like , and it's funny , it's why I find , once you've got a title , you've got an image , you can kind of finish the track , sometimes get , you know , pull it all together makes more sense so yeah , it came together but carl is to blame I'd agree with that .

If I know I've got the artwork and all that stuff sorted out , then I'm like , oh , for whatever reason I find out I'm able to then finish the mix sooner . Maybe it's a psychological thing ?

You know , I don't know they've influenced so many people but they're not exactly sort of they don't shout it . They're quite sort of you know they don't come forward . They're kind of these sort of robots making music . It's kind of weird . It wasn't very glamorous , but yeah , you know , but it worked or works .

Alternatively , you can just click the send me a message link and just send , like , a text message with your question and , of course , give yourself a shout out as well , so who you are , if you've got something that you're releasing , you want to shout out on that .

With regards to that on the episode as well , do put that in there and you can find that in the episode description . So now that's out of the way . Digging in to the top three free plugins . So three from yourself , three from me , and I usually start with this , but I'll throw it over to you this time . Tim , you can start the ball rolling , as it were .

Start the ball rolling , okay , what's your first ?

Because if you want a chorus juno sounding chorus similar to the one on the Juno 106 or the Juno 60 or whatever , um , it may not be exactly the same , but who cares , it's great . It's great on synths , it's great on bass

. I kind of like some chorus on bass . Not everyone does , but I do . You know , I know there's a bit of dissension in the ranks between sort of stereooness on bass , but , like you know , yeah , um , maybe on your top bass , not your sub bass , it could be nice . Um , it works really well on guitars . Little bit on vocals .

Sometimes , if you're sending to vocals , um , I wouldn't insert it right across a vocal , but like , um , yeah , it's , it's just simple as well . Just like , how much width do you want ? And you know , there you go , kind of thing . How much chorus do you want ?

yeah like it , and there are a couple of different algorithms you can switch between , I think , one and two . I've never known what the difference is , but like you can have one and two together as well , but I sort of swap around until I go .

I have no idea why I just switch between the two and settle on one of them , but when you mentioned that in the build up to this , I realized I've got that and that particular plugin , uh , the chorus plugin , and I need to make better use of it . It's interesting you mentioned about bass , because as soon as you said that , obviously my eyebrow did raise .

But then when you mentioned that stereo , it goes back , I guess , to the conversations we've had before and I've had before on the podcast . There's no reason why you can't use it on bass , you know , because I guess there's a lot of discourse surrounding sub-bass , bass frequencies and the stereo placement of those particular frequencies .

But I mean , you wouldn't want to go wild , but at the end of the day , if it sounds all right , then maybe not sub-bass . I don't know .

But yeah , I , I I agree with you , though , with regards to sort of like the mid-range of bass as well and having those effects on there , specifically , if you're carving out carvings wrong word if you're creating a synth bass then , obviously the the sort of the sonic soundscape is is open to your interpretation , so I often do that very good it's great on synths

.

Again . It might have a bit more character than the kind of chorus that's just in your door . That I guess that's what you're going for a lot of the time with these , these free things , is . You might well find them in your DAW , but perhaps some of these have just got a little bit of character that is different than the ones in your DAW .

It's always worth going in there and having a look and see what's in there and disabling them and doing what you said , using your valhalla super massive um , yeah , a bit foreshadowing there , um , or the tau chorus , for example , and whipping those , whipping the one out of the patch or disabling it and then using one of those with similar settings to get a

different sound . I feel , overlooked , I find .

My first one is one that I've probably banged on before on the podcast about this and I'm fairly certain I got this as soon as it dropped and that is the Slate Digital Fresh Air about this and I fairly certain I got this as soon as it dropped and that is the slate digital fresh air tried to get a nice bit of reverb , as I say that maybe

in a bit of post-production , a dynamic high-frequency processor . So you've got two knobs basically with that one , the mid air and the high air , and it's got some great presets in there . But what I find with that is if you do use the presets , I find with with fresh air you you do use the presets . I find with fresh air you've got to be very careful .

I find they can be quite aggressive the presets with fresh air and also as well , there's a gain tool in it and that when you do use it , I find that gain staging is quite important , as it always is with fresh air , because it does add a lot of signal level to the sound , whatever you use it on . But things I use it on mainly claps and hi-hats .

So as soon as you put it on you will hear the difference and then dial it back . But I've known individuals use it on um vocals . I've never used on a vocal , even across a mix bus before never done that never done that but I've heard , uh , you can use it on a full , on a mix bus no , I don't know if I'd do that personally . Maybe I don't know .

I mean , it might be a bit of a rescue remedy at that point .

fest and everything is sort of like you know .

But in the right , I think you're , you've got it that kind of just pinpoint certain things to bring them out a little bit and maybe they haven't got enough , you know , to cut through or to sparkle in a mix , and it's really good for that yeah , agreed , agreed .

It doesn't add , like you know , sort of very obvious distortion or anything like that , certainly at the lower volumes , um it you can put it on virtually anything to add a bit of saturation . It's then got a sort of switch that goes from low , mid , well , low , neutral and high , and actually that doesn't work quite the way everyone thinks it does .

I think when you have it on low it doesn't affect the low frequencies and affects the frequencies above it . When it's on the mid frequency , I think it affects the low and the high , and then with the high it affects the mid and the low , something like that . It doesn't quite work

the way you think it does . I could be wrong , but I heard it explained that way . The thing that's nice now is the version they've got out has got automatic gain sort of compensation on it as well . So , it's really handy because you can say , even put it on your mix bus .

In fact it's a really great plug-in on a mix bus because you can just add in just subtly . You might even find it's like one or two or something , just like a really really low sort of number , but low settings . It still adds just enough saturation to just add some life to your mix . It's just really nice .

But yeah , but it's great on bass , it's good on , uh , vocal , it's good on sort of a little bit of cut on guitars , anything where you're just trying to get a little bit more presence out of something . Again , I suppose it's adding harmonic content in some way . But yeah , I like it .

It's subtle so you can , you know , use it without sort of turning everything to it into a sort of oversaturated mush really and making things sound distorted when you don't want to .

For example , I was using Logix Chromaglow just yesterday or the day before and then you've got which is a fantastic free plugin , but you've got all these other parameters in there that you can change and you're kind of like , oh man , I just want something that I can switch quickly , and that's what I really like about that .

And there are so many plugins , free plugins , like that . Another one the one you it's not one of the ones I was going to mention , but you signposted it to me last year was the what was it ? The sub , the sub filter ?

No , I I think actually all of the things I sort of use the most like sort of free ones do tend to have that simplicity of use that you just go , you know , I can dial in what I need with a few strokes and it's not complex .

But I think one great thing about it is that it's got dynamic EQ . So if you do want dynamic EQ I don't know , does the Cubase stock plug-in have ? I'm trying to think if Logic does dynamic EQ , I don't think it does . I could be wrong .

Obviously , like I said , the low and high cut , but the fact it's got the the dynamic eq element of it . So if you do have , uh , you're using a door that doesn't have that and if you want a dynamic eq , then you could reach for something like tdr nova , um , and again , I've used it on many , many a project and I like the interface .

If I'm using Nova EQ , it's usually broad strokes , I find . If I am using it versus anything really surgical strokes , I find if I am using it versus anything really surgical , yeah , I find I mean it's like why something like Pro-Q3 , which is obviously very expensive , but like FabFilter or whatever that I mean ?

As to the quality of it , it's really good and high quality . I mean a lot of us would be probably hard-pushed to tell the difference . You know , in terms of quality of it is really good and high quality . I mean a lot of us would be probably hard push to tell the difference .

You know , in terms of quality of sound , you know if you're boosting or cutting , it's sort of very smooth sounding . I tend to use actually frequency within Cubase , which is which is it built in and I just happen to like it works really well . But like um , uh , yeah , I , I didn't .

I , I didn't use dynamic eq at all until a few years ago , really wasn't really an option years ago , but I , I love it now it is really good yeah , great to have yeah it's .

But oftentimes I find that I I often dig into the bass and the kick and find out , well , what's good , what's the frequency buildup and going on here rather than go for the dynamic EQ . But no , I think it's great to have it available , particularly with mastering .

Bx sub filter we sort of explained so that it's just like it's very simple , but like it enables you to add sort of sub to say you've got a kick , or whatever , and like you can dial in some sort of sub frequencies , frequencies that you might think you don't need , but like it's surprising how just a little bit of weight in 20 , 30 , 40k .

You know , I mean you have to be really cautious with it , but that's a very simple plugin . I think from plugin alliance . I think that's where it comes from , but anyway , I think it comes as part of . They've got a free pack or a load of free plugins , some of which are good and some of which I don't know why you want them , but

like um , but that that that's a pretty great free plugin . But I will lob that off the list as we've covered it and I will put in my pla in in into number three super massive but yeah you equally mentioned earlier , but we didn't discuss . But like super massive is has got to be in there really Valhalla , super massive .

I mean I was saying to Mark earlier like uh , I don't really know how this works , but like you know , I mean it's just .

It's sort of it sits on that weird sort of point between what is an echo and a delay and a reverb , because obviously reverbs are sort of essentially just dense in echoes really .

But like it's just great when you want something that is massive and over-the-top and crazy and you know you're putting some , maybe you've got some effects in your track and you just want them to go on forever or whatever . You want those kind of things .

Or you want to throw on a vocal to go through it or um , you know , I mean it can be good on leads , on guitar and that sort of stuff . Like um , again , I think automation is quite useful with this one so that it doesn't take over the entire mix .

But I also like the fact that it's got a preset that's something I think it's called from benson or something like usa or something so that being my surname , I often choose this reverb . That's like got my my on it and I have no idea why , but it sounds massive and cool and I like the Benson reverb setting on it .

So like you do have to watch out , that it's not just taken over your entire track . I've done that we've got .

One thing I hate about Logic that , to be fair , it's a right pain in the ass . You're sat there because you can't see all your sends in one , in one view on your monitor , and then there's something that's just like poking out so much , and then I'm trying to work out why .

And it's because Logic decided to create an additional auxiliary send which is just like duplicating and sending out extra signal level .

I didn't mean this and you get this decay , that's sort of going on forever as your delay sends into your reverb or your reverb into your delay or something like that , and then you , you unpick it and figure out what's going on . But I mean , I , I I do think it's human error , but , like um , it's easy to do because I keep doing it .

It is in terms of its GUI , in terms of its setup . So you've got mid side encoding , decoding , and basically you could increase , decrease the mid , or you could increase , decrease the sides , and I find it's a fantastic tool . I don't really use it in mixing that much .

I can't remember the last time I used it in a mix , to be honest , unless somebody sends me a stem of a group , for example if it's drums or it's a synth group or something like that , but mainly in mastering . But I find with this plugin , again , it's kind of like fresh air . Very rarely do I go by more than like a 1 dB boost on the sides .

It's very , very limited , because also with this as well , if I remember rightly , because I've not actually seen it in there , but I don't think there is a gain knob on there or a mix , a dry , dry , wet knob on there .

But one thing I've done in mastering in the in the past if , in particular , if I've got a chorus or something and I just want to open out rear or a breakdown just slightly . I might automate the mid-side matrix and just have it like boost by 0.5 on the sides during , uh , during a breakdown or something like that .

But usually I go with a boost on the sides in the chorus just to open it out or during the breakdown and then then drop it back again , and that's really the only times I use it , but I do use it quite a lot for that reason . So it's a mid-side matrix , again , very simple . Tool two I'm fairly confident in my convictions here .

That is just two parameters of a mid and side boost or decrease with that one there , um . But word of warning , just be careful , you don't for my experience you don't want to do like wild boosts of the size of like three or four db , because then shit gets weird . Always check it with a uh , what is it ? I can't remember the name of it .

Now I use isotope uh , insight uh , to check the phase correlation . Can't remember what they're called . No , it's gone . Phase correlation meter . There we go . That's what I was looking for . Yeah , the scope sort of .

, so we've been through that . The other one and I did an episode on this is Vital . Now , technically , you can download and you have a free subscription . So maybe it's not technically a free plug-in .

There is a free subscription for vital because you can have paid subscriptions for vital right but that would be an honorable mention in terms of that's awesome , so it's amazing synth yeah oh , yeah . Yeah , I haven't only scratched the surface , but what I've seen so far , um , I think it's brilliant . And again , simplicity simplicity .

Yeah , I mean , if we go into vsts , like you know , there are quite a few of those around um , and I mean it's tricky , isn't it , because there are a billion and one sort of sort of you know analog synths , sort of you know uh out there , sort of free ones , uh like vitals , like sort of isn't vital , a um , a wavetable synth , really isn't that ?

yes , yeah , yeah so like serum sort of thing yeah um , but I think , yeah , it stands alone in sort of really , you know , outside of a paid option like serum . I think it's it's one of the best . Yeah , that's really good .

Um , yeah , and I was going to mention there's a couple of sort of things like um , well , deals actually , where you can get free , sort of a whole series of things like the weight waves I know waves are so it can be a little bit um divisive at moments , but like , um , what waves , if you can cope with them . Being attached to the company .

Um have give you nine essential plugins for free , which includes vcomp and veq3 , which are really good , compressor and eq , and like there's quite a lot of other stuff . You get an fn synth in there called flow or something you know I mean for free .

You know I guess you have to sort of download the waves app and sign up into something like that , but like it's , you know that's really good . An isotope do a similar sort of thing . You have to have the isotope app , I think .

And like they've got an eq , the isotope , sort of ozone 11 eq , I think something like that , yeah which is just free um , which is a pretty high , functioning , high quality eq um . They've got isotope vinyl , which is a really cool little vinyl sort of um plug-in , sort of mimics vinyl record sort of sound . That's really good .

And they've got like the imager which I use a lot , actually just a really simple imager just to widen things out a little bit .

Um , and the doubler as part of that , and the doubler is really good on vocals sometimes or any sort of mono sort of source , because you , uh , you know and and the image is good like that because it's got a stereoizer so it can make things a bit broader if it's a mono source . So , yeah , you know , they're kind of just useful tools , aren't they ?

So I I would say they're really great , like those kind of little things for for nothing . And um , the chow tape was my last one , which is uh , I've not heard of that one before the chow is that c-h-o-w am I ?

yes , c-h-o-w yeah take chow tape model yeah , looking at it up now yeah , and it's quite a boring looking plug-in in some ways and look sort of you know amazing on the gui .

But like it , yeah , it does some really kind of cool things , from saturation to weird wobbliness , you know , all that kind of to sort of glitchiness , to all sorts of different tape style effects and yeah , I thought it was pretty good for nothing yeah yeah , I'm looking at it here .

Um , you know , tape emulation , um , within cubase I mean , I've got like stuff in my door that goes like , you know , we'll do a bit of tape saturation or something like that , but it doesn't really like copy , the kind of like sort of different uh properties of tape where it gets a bit sort of chewed and garbled and all those sorts of things , which is the

more lo-fi kind of side of it , which is quite nice . I like that kind of exploring you can do that with vinyl , can't you ?

But you know , um don't want the 1930s setting on the vinyl . Whatever it is , I've forgotten it goes quite , it goes quite old .

Leaders from the organization which are no longer free , and it was the baby audio comeback kid uh , yeah it's a delay plugin but a really nice delay , isn't it ?

but being on the UAD mailing list is quite good for that reason because you do get these random campaigns where you'll get a really high quality free plugin from UAD , which , in turn , I then went on and bought more , so it did work from a marketing perspective for them but most definitely I think it's worth to know if you've got a particular company that you

like their plugins , it's probably worth being at least following them on social media just to keep an eye out , and in watering holes online , because people will post when shit's being given away for free and jumping on that .

It's one that uh should be in the honorable mention list or in the top three , and it's a challenge to you as well . Folks listening , choose one of the three free plugins that we've mentioned and use it in a project and let us know how you get on . Again , you can click that link in the episode description .

It'd be uh interesting to know your thoughts and opinions and what we've mentioned , because you might not agree with what we've mentioned . You know , you might not . Um tim , thank you very much .

Yeah , but I , I , as of yet , I'm sort of busy working on working with drew night actually at the moment , on a release of his , a track of his which is , I think , it's going to be a great track , so I'm really looking forward to finishing that for him and working on a couple of other projects for clients .

At the moment , like , but yeah , no , at some point there will be some more aisle nine probably by the time this comes out , there'll be another , another single , but like yeah , night trains is the last one at the moment , but like yeah . I'm trying to hit them every , every month really , and not not drop any any months .

I've made it so far , I think through the year I'm trying to do the yeah , sort of , and I dropped an album , so I'm feeling like I've been doing all right yeah , you do well , mate .

If we do have any releases when this drops , I will put links to them in the episode description . So always check there , because this is recording on the 16th of September , so between now and the release date we might actually get something else .