Just a question about Plugins

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glowrak guy
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Re: Just a question about Plugins

Post by glowrak guy »

People have many different jobs in the music industry. A cover band has to keep adding
to it's sonic arsenal, to remain competitive. A film score composer has to be able
to score a wide range of film genre, and within that, a wide range of emotion driven
soundscapes. A jingle vocalist has to fit their voice in each varied mix. Songwriters
pitching tunes have to make that first 20 seconds sell the last 120. Hobbyist
composers are often seeking mixdown perfection, once they have the sounds they like.

Not everybody needs or desires multitudes of plugins and presets, but those that
do, usually have several good reasons. And commercial plugins are so cheap,
that a substantial sale price, is often seen as a 'no-brainer', or an impulse buy.
And excellent freeware keeps appearing. In my case, I have no time, skill, or inclination
to be a sound designer, and so I buy sale-priced plugins with large sound bundles.
I'm pretty good with effects, so my workflow is to pick some new sounds, in interesting combinations,
and give them something extra with the various effects chains I tinker with.

There are also plenty of people with modest plugin collections, but who are masters of
sound design and sampling, knowing how to create whatever they imagine, and still quick
to learn ever more. There's probably a large throng of master musicians,
whose playing skills are their first plugin, who let the studio engineers handle
the details, after they've nailed yet another great performance.
Be happy, and make music that makes you happy.
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rghvdberg
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Re: Just a question about Plugins

Post by rghvdberg »

Also.. It's fun. Kinda like collecting stamps, but more cool.
Besides almost all plugins are free. No reason not to install or compile them.
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magicalex
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Re: Just a question about Plugins

Post by magicalex »

I think a lot of the time it's because we're never 100% satisfied with the sound of our recordings and there's a hope that plugin X will be the magic dust that makes everything sound brilliant.
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sadko4u
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Re: Just a question about Plugins

Post by sadko4u »

According to what I heard from professional sound engineers, you don't need to have a huge amount of plugins. The better way is to have a limited number of plugins but having a knowledge how to use them.
It's like an instrument. If you don't know how a hammer does work, you'll never hammer in a nail. Many people download tons of plugins and presets for them thinking that the next tool 'with that preset' will be a magic pillow that will solve their problems. When all presets are tested and the person is not satisfied, what does this person do? Right, this person downloads new plugin instead of learning how to use all that he/she already has downloaded.
And I agree with this position: better to have not a huge amount of plugins but really know how they work and how to configure them rather than downloading gigabytes of plugins and having zero knowledge about what to do with them.
LSP (Linux Studio Plugins) Developer and Maintainer.
glowrak guy
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Re: Just a question about Plugins

Post by glowrak guy »

sadko4u wrote: better to have not a huge amount of plugins but really know how they work and how to configure them rather than downloading gigabytes of plugins and having zero knowledge about what to do with them.
The number of plugins in the computer has nothing to do with ones willingness to learn and work.

A lazy person is self-defeating. But using presets, or slightly edited versions, does not
directly equate with laziness. The depth of learning one chooses can be a business, lifestyle,
financial, or even a health issue.

The free market economy has determined that financial success in the plugin market
requires bundling hundreds if not thousands of presets. One's particular niche in the
music world, will determine a lot of the software/hardware collection, and even the current
niche is subject to change.

Fortunately, expert knowledge is readily available for those who want/need it.
as are great free and commercial softwares. Many feet, many shoes, many paths.
Cheers
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