My Top 7 Plugins I Use on Every Mix

This is a very hard thing to do as I have other favorite plugins that I literally can do without but for the sake of this post I will only name a few. I find myself using these plugins a lot in my mixes simply because I like what they do.

This doesn’t mean you need to have these plugins but you can if you like them. Each of them excel in certain areas, which is why I love using them. Please don’t be carried away by the fanciness of these plugins because I believe that most stock plugins can do similar things or even excel in certain areas. Okay, enough of the ranting. Here we go.

1. Clariphonic by Kush Audio

This is one of the best EQ plugins out there. The clariphonic DSP gives me that pristine high frequencies that I love using on my mix bus, vocals, synth and percussions and any other instruments that needs that focused mid range and clarity in the top end. I always and I mean always use this plugin on my mixbus with focus set to lift and diffuse and I gently crank the gain to where its at the sweet spot.

For the clarity section I set it to shimmer and crank the gain up to taste. This helps me add that sweet top end to all my mixes. I have been using the mid-side function lately by adding air to the sides and midrange to the middle. Experiment with this wonderful plugin and you wont regret.

1. Decapitator by Soundtoys:

When I need color, warmth, saturation, tone I reach out for decapitator. The people at soundtoys don’t make anything that isn’t great, and that is 100% true. This unit brings the sound of classic analog to our modern day digital recordings. In addition to the tone control, drive, punish, low cut and so on, It has five style buttons which are emulations of five hardware gears.

A – Ampex 350( Tape drive Preamp)

E – Chandler/EMI TG

N – Neve 1057

P – Thermionic Culture (Pentode Tube)

T – Thermionic Culture (Triode Tube)

Because they are different and unique in what they do, I normally choose which one will work best for the track I’m working on. The Low pass and high pass filter, tone, drive, resonance switch(thump) on the low cut and steep on the high cut are all part of the components that makes decapitator a game changer.

These features help you shape your sound to taste. The drive is where the magic begins, the more you crank it the more saturation you get and you different sound based on the style you choose. The punish button simply means to punish a sound, it gives you a higher level of distortion when enabled by adding 20db of gain to your signal and you can always use the mix knob to blend to taste.

Decapitator is your friend when you want to add that analog vibe, color, or if you want to distort a sound. It helps instruments cut through the mix easily and it sound really good.

3.MJUC by Klanghelm

Don’t let the price of this plugin fool you, as it sounds better than or similar to plugins that are 10 times its price. The sweet thing about it is that it has three different tube compressors that are full of character. I often use this compressor plugin on vocals, bass, snare, synth, drum buss or basically anything you could think of.

There is no limit to what you can do. Play around with this plugin and get quality compression out of it.

4. Omega N by Kush Audio

Since I don’t currently have a Neve preamp or any of those good expensive gear, I use this plugin to give my tracks that warmth, color or saturation that you get from analog preamps. This plugin is based on the transformer section of a neve preamp. The Omega N tames that sizzling top end frequencies in your sound, warms up the sound and smoothens the low end.

I don’t know what is going on under the hood but when I use it, but I love what I hear and I commit to it. It crosses you over from digital to analog if that’s what you are looking for. I always use it on vocals, synths, hi-hats, strings, pads almost on everything I do. This is the second Kush audio plugin in this post, that’s to tell you that those guys are great at what they do.

5. H-EQ by Waves

1. This is a versatile and a very musical eq with five different virtual analogue designs. whether you are cutting or boosting you will still end up with a nice sound if done right. You have five bands (bell & shelves) to choose from and you can also choose anyone of the seven different EQ types which represents both analog and digital EQ.

I use the UK vintage 1 and digital 2 especially when I am using this plugin to subtract unwanted frequencies because I can set the Q to where I want it. And for boosting and every other uses I choose any of the filters.

This EQ is very musical and its hard to get a bad sound from it. If you need a parametric EQ and analog EQ at once, then get this plugin is for. Its called a hybrid for a reason.

6. (VCC, VTM , VMR, FG X) by Slate Digital

I know this doesn’t sound fair because these plugins are all different, but I did that just because I love almost everything slate digital makes and it will be a long list of my favorite plugins if I have to pick each of these plugins.

Starting with the VCC, you can hear the subtle impact these console emulation plugin does when you engage it and drive it to where you want it. It glues the elements of an individual track together by giving you a more focused sound, and if driven harder to where you are almost slamming it, you get a natural compression that is different from what you get from a compressor. Using this just makes you happy and gives that feeling that you are up to something.

VTM is a tape emulation that always finds it way on my mix buss on almost every mix and also on individual tracks. The moment I bypass it I notice what it is doing and I just turn it back on. You have options to control your settings which is really awesome.

VMR the plugins in the VMR bundles are just awesome, I love the sound you can get from the FG-S and FG-N, the Custom Series Eq. They cut and boost frequencies in a very unique and smooth way. Everything from Revival, FG-Bomber, the Tube-Pres, The Monster, to the various compressors are just awesome. Let me stop here because I can go on and on. Demo it and see if you like them.

FG X: Last but not least is the FG-X. This is the limiter I use most of the time during mastering. It does its job and gives you a way of adding back any punch or transients you might have lost during limiting.

Mixing is an art that requires both the creative and technical skills. It is knowing what you want to achieve and how to find and use the right tools to achieve what you want. I use these plugins because I like what they give me, and how they help me get my desired result.

I wont tell you not to go buy plugins, just make sure you already know how to use the stock plugins in your DAW and you have a need for the plugins you want to buy. Because I tell you that you might end buying some plugins and only use them ones after you’ve installed them, so save some money in your pocket. Demo them and buy them if you like them and can afford them.

As you can see in the list above that these are different kinds of plugins that have different uses, and sometimes they might not even do the job I want done, which leads me to fetching for the right tools (plugins).

I hope you enjoyed this article, please share your favorite plugins with me and why you like them. And don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list and get some valuable stuff that will help you grow as a mixer and music producer.