• Artists
  • Releases
  • Studio

davide

Our favourite VST AU Plugins
by Davide Carbone

14.01.18

Given the importance of plugins and the fact that we are overwhelmed by the abundance of them we thought it would be useful to discuss our favourite and essential plugins we use in our day to day work.

To make it easy we have broken them down in categories of what we consider to be the most important types of plugins. So we asked Davide Carbone and his School of Synthesis tutors – which is your favourite EQ, Compressor and Saturation plugin? Read on from a variety of Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Cubase, FL Studio and Maschine users.

 

Davide Carbone

Favourite EQ:

Fabfilter Pro Q. Something about the colour and character of this EQ reminds me of that warm analogue style British EQ. It’s not cheap but SOS students get educational discounts.

Favourite Compressor:

Logic Compressor. There are many more compressors with character but Logic Pro’s native compressor gives so much feedback and information that it makes learning and using compressors easy. It also has all the compressor types and additional side chain parameters.

Favourite Plugin for Colour:

iZotope Trash 2. So many ways to boost, colour, saturate and just beef up that I find myself using this distortion plugin much more than any other distortion plugin or hardware unit I have ever had.

Mike Callander

Favourite EQ: 

For precision it’s hard to look past FabFilter ProQ2, but for a classic coloured sound I’ve been reaching for the Pultec EQP1 by UAD. It’s a nice feeling to just turn everything UP and get this sweet “musical” outcome. I could easily use this for my answer on “best plugin for colour” too.

Favourite Compressor

Glue Compressor in Live. It’s not necessarily the best, but it’s a bloody good all-rounder, and it’s easy to understand what’s going on with your dynamic control. For that reason it gets the most use across a range of my projects from live sets to studio productions.

Favourite Plugin for Colour:

UAD OTO Biscuit. It’s a wild 8-bit effects processor that combines a wave shaper, delay, pitch shifter and a step filter to turn any sound into a gritty, crunchy slab of magic

Shaun Keyt

Favourite EQ:

Flux Epure. This is an excellent transparent eq for any kind of clinical work. Well laid out, it has a slightly rich sound which is typical of the Flux plugins. For boosting, I like the Waves API for character warmth and the Maag EQ4 for its Air Band which is great for sweetening the high end.

Favourite Compressor:

Waves Renaissance Compressor. Great for achieving quick results, it has a fast enough Attack to achieve most compression objectives. For slower character compression, I use the Millenia TCL-2, which has a noticeable thickness to its sound. The Vertigo VSC-2 is my goto for bus compression and other tasks requiring the most transparent compression.

Favourite Plugin for Colour:

Soundtoys Decapitator. For Saturation, I use Soundtoys Decapitator for a thick “analog style” imprint. It’s five different models combined with the Tone knob provide an incredible range of shaping possibilities. Bx Saturator is another great tool for a much cleaner and precise type of Saturation

James Hewson

Favourite EQ:

Fabfilter Pro Q. Love the mid side, and it’s surgical capabilities, coupled with the ability to apply as many nodes as required. Perfect EQ for sound design.

Favourite Compressor:

Waves Renaissance Compressor. All of the Renaissance series plug-ins from Waves have great colour and the compressor is no exception. I like to use it on group busses for a pleasant sounding glue.

Favourite plug-in for colour:

Tone-2 AkustiX. While this plug-in is generally a mastering tool, it is absolutely great for exciting frequencies on bass sounds and enhancing the character. I use this frequently to achieve those fat, rubbery, trance-style saw basses. It ships with plenty of presets and I’m quite often surprised with the results when I put it on elements i wouldn’t usually think of applying it to.

Leroy Amphlett

Favourite EQ:    

Ableton’s EQ Eight pretty much gives me all the EQ features I need for most of my EQ need’s. For an EQ that comes native to Ableton, it’s hard to go past.

Favourite Compressor: 

The Solid Buss Compressor from Native Instruments is so good. It really tightens up drums running through a drum buss, but it also works great on single channelled instruments. Just set the threshold and crank the make-up dial.

 

Favourite Plugin for Colour: 

At the risk of sounding obsessed with NI – but the Replika my absolute fave for adding rich delay and space. The diffusion mode is great for adding hollow builds and breakdowns. The modulation section can also be used to make things sound very interesting.

 

TC Original BS1 Records Sample Pack
by Davide Carbone
Download now: Right click & 'Save as'

Kubiks Original BS1 Sample Pack
by Davide Carbone
Download now: Right click & 'Save as'

Dagga Original BS1 Sample Pack
by Davide Carbone
Download now: Right click & 'Save as'

Lomax Original BS1 Sample Pack
by Davide Carbone
Download now: Right click & 'Save as'

DC Original BS1 Records Sample Pack
by Davide Carbone
Download now: Right click & 'Save as'

Making Beats
by Davide Carbone

Making original beats from scratch is an art form which is easily picked up. Having an idea for how you want your beats to sound is a good start. Try laying out your pattern with a kick, snare and hi hat. Once you are happy with your pattern begin to eq and taper your individual drum parts. Low cut your kick at around 40 hz to allow for any sub bass to sit underneath it. Try low cutting your snare while adding a couple of db to the 2,500Khz and 5,500Khz frequency areas to give it some snap and presence. Low cut your hats at around 400 – 800 hz as you only need the top end. Experiment with various frequency ranges for each part, take out what you don’t need.

Once your happy with the eq try layering other drum parts over the top. For example adding a snappy snare and low cutting it around 400hz should drastically alter the tone of your original snare. Try the same principal with your kick. Experiment until you are happy with the sounds of your kik, snare and hat. Eq is one of the most important processes in getting your break to sound how you imagine it. Distortion and shaping plug ins can also be very useful here. Make a few copies of your kik and snare. trying altering the pitch, shape or fx on each version to give you some variety.

Now that you have your main drum parts you should layer a breakbeat over the top to give it a distinctive feel. This will also fill out the drum track and cover up the edits to your original kik, snare and hat. Remember to remove the frequencies you don’t need. Your original kik and snare should already have enough bass so low cut your breakbeat somewhere between 120 and 400 hz.

When you are happy with the sound of your percussion you may need to alter it’s feel, this is particularly important if you want to add snare rolls and grooves to your beats. Firstly you should experiment with reverb. Finding the right reverb is crucial. Something that makes the beats feel brighter is ideal. Try a short plate reverb setting with a very short decay time. Once you have added reverb you should try tapering the individual beats. Kontakt and Battery are the ideal tools. Experiment with the decay and sustain settings, this is particularly relevant when making rolls within your beat pattern. Even a fade out on your parts can be effective particularly when making shuffles and rolls. Finally you need to adjust volume settings for each part. Now apply some quantise settings to your beats. Logic’s settings of 16A,B and C are the most effective although making your own template from a live drum track would be ideal. These settings will alter the feel of your break by repositioning parts of your loop that land on the off beat. Vital for giving percussion that human feel.

Good eq, reverb, shaping and volume settings followed by groove settings and some compression are the vital ingredients in making a distinctive breakbeat. Reapplying these principles to bongos, shakers and tambourine parts will further add to the energy of your break.

(November 2004)

Demystifying compression
by Davide Carbone

Compression. In my experience it’s probably the most misunderstood dynamic effect in music production. What is it for and how do you use it? I’m going to explain the basics but I’d also like to explain compression in practice rather than just in theory.

 

Firstly we need to understand what it does. The best way I like to explain compression is that ‘it attenuates transient peaks’, that is, it smooths out peaks in your audio signal you can’t hear. Nasty stuff that takes up valuable headroom. I use compression throughout the track on individual channels sensibly in order to get rid of unnecessary transients whilst retaining dynamics. That then gives me a smooth, dynamic mix which I can feed in to my final mastering chain to achieve loudness. For me, music production is all about the balance between dynamics and loudness.

 

The three most important things to look for on any compressor are the Threshold, Ratio and Gain Reduction.

 

The threshold sets the level at which the compressor kicks-in and starts changing the dynamics of the recording. So for example, if you set your threshold at -20 dB, everything below this level will not be affected by the compressor. But everything louder than this level (-20 dB) will be compressed.

 

How much will the signal be compressed once it’s gone over this threshold level? This is controlled with the ratio. The higher the ratio, the more compression there is. The graph below demonstrated various degrees of ratio. If the ratio is 1:1, there is no compression at all.

 

If the ratio is set at 2:1, for every 2 dB of sound that goes over the threshold, you get 1dB of output above the threshold. So if the signal goes over the threshold by 10 dB, the compressor reduces this signal so it’s now 5 dB over the threshold.
If the ratio goes up to 8:1, for every 8 dB of sound over the threshold you would get 1dB of output above the threshold. So if the signal goes over the threshold by 16 dB, the compressor reduces this so only 2 dB goes over the threshold.

 

Now the Gain Reduction will tell us exactly how much of the signal has been attenuated (reduced) in decibels.

 

This graph details how Threshold and Ratio work, note the difference between compression and limiting. Limiting has very little respect for dynamics and will just eliminate the peak entirely:

 

 

 

So how do we use it in a mix?

 

As a guideline set the ratio to 2:1, now adjust the threshold until you hear a pumping effect. Now back off to the point that you don’t hear any audible compression, minus 10 – 20 are ideal threshold settings. Remember to not to go crazy with compression as you may suck the dynamics out of your track. Try not to remove more than 6dB on individual parts. Light compression over each channel with a good compressor over the entire mix would be ideal.

 

When recording vocals or instruments I always like to do two things: low cut and compress. Obviously I wouldn’t low cut a bass guitar or a kick drum but everything else I’ll generally remove anything under 75hz on the way in. I’ll also add some subtle compression, nothing audible just something that may reduce the signal by a few dB. This way I’ve collected some of my character from my EQ and compressor and given myself every chance to have a good signal to further process – or not!

 

Here’s an image of an example mixdown. Notice most channels feature compression at the end of the chain. That’s the way I like it because any EQ or effects I have added may have reintroduced some transient peaks. Remember, the key here is to be subtle – don’t kill the dynamics. Finally I’ve added some multi band compression and limiting only on the output. The purpose of this is to make the track loud! Loudness and dynamics, I believe you can comfortably have both.

 

 

So what type of compressors should we look out for? Well it’s a matter of software or hardware. I like to classify my compressors as being either precise or warm. One is like an exact surgical instrument, the other adds character and colours the sound. Neither is better it’s just a matter of preference. In terms of software compression they are all very much ‘precise’. The only compressor that really does add warmth and colour (in a good way) is the Waves Renaissance Compressor. In terms of hardware there are literally hundreds of options. The best way to test them is to take a piece of music to a store with a listening booth and choose the compressor that makes your track sound best!

 

About BS1 Records

BS1 Records was established in Bristol, UK in 1999. It launched the career of several artists from Davide Carbone to TC. It has also featured remixes and releases from artists including Decoder (Kosheen), Lomax (Loadstar), Blame, Kubiks, Amaning and Heist. Its Studio page became one of the worlds most popular sources of high quality samples provided by its own artists. Today, it continues its pursuit of quality Drum & Bass. If you would like to contact us or send us a link to your demo please click the icon below.

Contact Us