Diemel Productions Top 10 Signal Processing Plugins

July 21, 2010 by Aaron Diemel
Filed under Blog, Plug-ins, Pro Tools, Software

What are the best audio processing plugins?

Audio engineers, music producers, DJ's, re-mixers, you name it we all rely on software plugins to give us that polished sound. In today's music production environment there are questions we must ask and choices we must make. What plugin format does my DAW require? What plugins should I invest in? What plugins will compliment my workflow? What plugin does (insertnamehere) producer use to get those phat beats? and the list goes on. Plugins come in many different shapes and sizes.

The first and probably most important question is what plugin format does my DAW require? Today's popular plugin formats include TDM, RTAS, VST, CoreAudio, MAS and DirectX. The majority of my work is performed in Pro Tools on both LE and HD systems so I use TDM, RTAS and VST plugins. I should mention that in order to use a VST plugin with Pro Tools you need the VST>RTAS wrapper from FXpansion. Today I present the top 10 plugins I use on every production session in no particular order.

	Izotope Ozone 4 Mastering Suite Ozone 4 combines seven essential mastering processors into one complete system, letting you give your mixes a finished, full and professional sound. Ozone's critically acclaimed IRC™ Loudness Maximizer gives you commercial volume and fullness without distorting or coloring your mix. An eight band Paragraphic EQ combines linear phase precision with the warmth and character of analog equalizers and even lets you intelligently match your mix to reference tracks. Innovative Multiband Dynamics, Harmonic Exciter and Stereo Imaging tools add depth and polish.
	Waves Renaissance Bass Renaissance Bass delivers Waves patented MaxxBass® psycho-acoustic technology using simplified controls for quick, intuitive operation. You can specify the frequency cutoff point where the process begins, the Intensity of the artificial harmonics added to the signal, and output attenuation. There's also a button to choose whether the original bass frequencies below the cutoff point are retained or discarded. Again, Renaissance Bass works surprisingly well despite its apparent inflexibility.
	Native Instruments FastFX Native Instruments FastFX is the ultimate effects processor for intense audio annihilation featuring a modular signal path of various effects including granular effects, a freeze looper, slicer, gate, delay and filter. The very cool part is these different effects can be chained in any order. FastFX is part of the Native Instruments Electronic Instruments XT Collection powered by Reaktor.
	Massey Plugins Inc L2007 The L2007 is a free mastering-grade look-ahead brickwall limiter. Don't let the free price tag fool you this is a quality plugin that really provides great results. I use the L2007 on my drum buss and synth buss to keep my levels in check. The L2007 makes mixes sound richer and thicker, effortlessly. Just tweak the threshold knob — It's like magic!
	Air Vintage Filter Pro Tools 8 comes with some exciting new plugins. The Vintage Filter gets used so much in my sessions that i don't know what I would do without it. I use the Vintage Filter plug-in to apply modulating resonant filters to audio signals. I use it for high-passing drums, low-passing kicks and bass, notching and crazy filter effects.
	Image Line FL Studio 9 FL Studio 9 is a complete software music production environment, representing the culmination of more than 10 years of sustained & focused development. FL9 is the fastest way from your brain to your speakers. Yes that's right FL Studio made the top 10. I Re-Wire FL Studio into Pro Tools and use it as a giant effects rack. The routing possibilities in FL are endless.
	Waves SSL 4000 Collection Developed under license from Solid State Logic, The SSL 4000 Collection includes four meticulously modeled plugins based on the legendary SSL 4000 Series: the SSL E-Channel, the SSL G-Master Buss Compressor, the SSL G-Equalizer and the all-new G-Channel. These plugins sound so close to the original consoles, even experts who work with SSL boards day in and day out can’t tell the difference.
	The Elysia Niveau Filter This filter is a specialist in changing the overall sonic character of a signal with ease. It features two comprehensive controllers and is capable of producing convincing results in no time at all. Whenever a classic shelving filter would be too limited and a fully parametric filter would be too much, the niveau filter is the perfect tool.
	Avid Transfuser Avid Transfuser is an innovative, real-time loop, phrase, and groove creation RTAS workstation for Pro Tools that allows you to quickly and easily create, manipulate, and perform loop- and rhythm-based music. I could write a 10 page article on how awesome Transfuser is. One the fly re-mixing, re-sampling, beat creation, sample manipulation and general audio mangling all wrapped up in a nice warm package. I use it on every project. Stay tuned for a complete review including video tutorials.
	Camel Audio Camel Crusher CamelCrusher is a free multi-effect plugin. It offers two characteristically different distortion sounds which can be blended together to create a wide variety of tones and textures. Great for guitars, drums and plenty more! There's also a warm, smooth analogue-style low-pass filter with buckets of resonance. Slap this thing on your drum buss and prepare to be annihilated.