The plugins in this video are just my personal opinions, so let me know which indie plugins you love in the comments section.
If you’re looking for the ultimate creative effects plugin, this is a great option. It has 9 different modules including time stretching, distortion, noise generation, frequency response filtering, phase effects, digital distortion, volume modulation, panning, and mid-side imaging - all of which can be modulated with an LFO.
Each effect can be frequency-specific, triggered by the audio, side-chained, and more.
Additionally, the preset section makes getting into the plugin easy, since they’re really well-designed.
Let’s take a listen to it processing some audio.
Newfangled Audio makes some awesome plugins, and their new Invigorate plugin is no exception - it combines compression, limiting, and overdrive. We can determine how much we want of each effect within the main window, as well as the level going into these effects, before controlling them below.
The incoming level is detected with this attack and release, and we can exclude lows from that detection. The overdrive and compression can be shaped on the right and an emphasis de-emphasis EQ is at the bottom.
Let’s take a listen to how this plugin quickly and aggressively affects the dynamic range and harmonic content.
This plugin combines reverb and delay in a really creative way - on the left, we get a delay matrix, where we can enter in the taps we want, as well as change their timing, introduce modulation, reverse the taps, and more. On the right, we reverb with variable characters.
Up top we can change the reverb length, and below we can introduce pre-delay, high-frequency reflections, and more.
Lastly in the middle, we can sync the ducker to the BPM, to duck the effect whenever a transient hits. We can also change the levels of both effects, and the overall wet/dry with the matrix in the middle.
Let’s take a listen.
PSP has made some really great plugins over the years - their VintageWarmer probably being their most popular, but the InfiniStrip they came out with recently deserves a lot more attention. With it, we can multiple pre-amps, gates, compressors, EQs, and more, all emulating vintage analog equipment.
Impressively, the plugin introduces no latency, meaning your DAW won’t have to compensate for time changes - which can have an adverse effect on your transients.
There are a lot of presets to get you started as well, so definitely worth checking out.
Let’s take a listen to it.
Metaplugin is a really interesting one - it’s a plugin wrapper that lets you introduce unique routing, as well as linear phase and oversampling to an entire signal chain. In this example, you’ll notice I created a parallel send with 2 processors, but with the crossover tool, I could do more.
It separates the frequencies into 4 bands, meaning I can process each range separately.
Let’s take a listen to this plugin and the crossover module being used on a mix.
This is one of my favorite plugins for creative imaging - it modulates the signal between the left and right channels using the BPM or set milliseconds as the timing. We can control the effect’s intensity, the wave type, the wave’s shape, and when in the time window the processing occurs.
We can add some distortion to the effect, as well as what aspects of the signal are being affected by the processing. Lastly, in the advanced section, we can change introduce phase and stereo offsets, and swing to the timing.
Let’s take a listen to it.
At first, this tape plugin by ToneBoosters seems pretty simple, we have a drive function, some taper memory, time and amplitude modulation, compression, noise, and tape speed. But if we change to the recorder window, we get access to a lot more distortion, compression, and artifact options.
To the right, we can introduce an emphasis EQ, flanging, and an Echo or delay . Let’s take a listen to the plugin being enabled.
This limiter has a really transparent sound, and lots of flexibility - in the mode section we get 12 different algorithms, and in the settings, we can control these even more. We can change the channel linking, limiter knee, various timings, how it affects transients, and more.
Let’s take a listen to the plugin limiting our signal with the gain compensated for, and notice how we can still hear a lot of detail.
Limitless is a multi-band limiter that lets us emphasize or de-emphasize frequency ranges before limiting. As we lower the threshold, we get automatic makeup gain - below we can change the algorithm from aggressive to smooth, or create a custom one using the manual settings.
On the right side, we can see what our LUFS is as well as introduce clipping to make it even louder. I found this is a great plugin if I need a master to be loud, but I want to retain the clarity as much as possible.
Let’s take a listen.
This is a great plugin for creating a classic or lo-fi sound - the tube section lets us choose between 2 tube types, as well as alter the drive, bias, and tone or frequency response. To the right, we can introduce cabinet or speaker impulse responses and simple EQ.
Filtering is available at the bottom, and in the master output section, we can change the input, the mix, and if clipping is present.
Let’s take a listen, and let me know if you’d try this plugin out on one of your mixes.
There are 8 unique value-points inside the Sage Audio membership, so let’s go over each one so you can decide if it’s the right fit for you.
1. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
2. 1-on-1 Mentorship
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
4. Sage Audio University™ (SAU) — (Mixing and Mastering Education Platform)
5. Mixing and Mastering Competitions
6. Community
7. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content, Including:
8. 700+ Video Catalog
