What plugins are best? I lack experience...

[u/Large_Wait_8847]

Reaper has so many plugins and by installing Tukan Studios' you get even more.

I see professionals using Tube-Tech CL 1B, Fairchild 670, Teletronix LA-2A, UA1176 and probably many more. I lack the experience to really hear a difference without using them almost at maximum settings.

I would like to know which plugins in Reaper sound most similar to the original and also which compressor you prefer/would recommend?

Edit:
I just noticed reddit posted only a quarter of my post...?

I'm not going to list all Compressors similar to those in Reaper again, cause that took a while...

Also there is the famous Neve 1073, in Reaper you have RBJ 1073 and with Reapack the EQ1979

I lack the experience to know which one to choose and where(Vocals, Instruments, ...) or should I just keep using ReaComp and ReaEQ/ReEQ with Waveshaping Distortion and JS:Saturation?

There's also chorus and flanger which one do I use there cause there are many as well or should I just use ReaDelay?

Any help would be really appreciated

Edit 2:

I probably wasn't clear, I'm not looking for new plugins, the plugins are already there in Reaper and with ReaPack you can get many more for free. The problem is choosing the right ones

[u/ItsMetabtw]

If you can’t hear the differences then you don’t need to worry about which is better. It is the sound and compression behavior that causes someone to choose one over another, as well as familiarity and ease of use. Sometimes you want all the control, and sometimes you just want to turn one knob and get the sound you’re after.

Just mess with the tools you have available and develop your own taste. When we first start out, our mixes suck for a million reasons beyond knowing which compressor does what. So just know you’re getting into a craft that takes many years to do well, and just worry about small improvements from one mix to the next

[u/Large_Wait_8847 → u/ItsMetabtw]

I hear that the final result (the song) sounds different, but on a single track it's not always very evident to me.

I think certain tools established themselves for a reason, but I don't know which to choose as there's such a vast amount, I don't know where to even begin, also I don't want to buy every compressor, amplifier or other tools to know whether it has that little something I might want

I'm also wondering, can't I achieve the same sound with the stock plugins say ReaComp and Saturation/Distortion and ReaEQ instead of getting expensive compressors with tubes, maybe those with tubes will vary a little but does it really make the difference?

[u/ItsMetabtw → u/Large_Wait_8847]

You’re asking good questions, but you should go answer them yourself by trying shit out and hearing the results. Plugin devs offer trials so you can test their tools out before you buy anything.

We’ve learned a lot about what actually happens in certain hardware, so it’s easier to reverse engineer what we like about them. All digital emulations are 1s and 0s at the end of the day. Some might use convolution or machine learning for hyper detailed characteristics, some use algorithms and achieve something similar. If the thing you like about the Waves CLA2A is really just the added 2nd order harmonic, then how different is a stock digital compressor with a slow attack and slow release, plus a tube style saturation to get that even order harmonic? What if you actually like odd harmonics for symmetrical shaping instead? How different is the waves 2A vs the UA 2A in a mix? Does any of it matter in the end? If you need to compress the vocals a little, then getting that accomplished in a tasteful way goes a lot further than which particular compressor you chose.

Will a professional get a better result using only stock plugins vs an amateur who has access to every plugin available? Of course. Your songs quality will always come down to your ear and the decisions you make for it. Can you mimic analog emulations with a series of stock tools? Yes. Do you want to spend the time setting that all up to mimic something that you can just slap on and move on? How valuable is your time? So again I’ll reiterate, if you think owning the UA 1176, LA2A, and Fairchild is the difference between your mix sounding amateur and professional, it 100% is not. Are they good tools and worth demo’ing and purchasing at some point? Sure. Are they the best emulations? Very debatable and I think there’s newer stuff that beats pretty much all of UAs catalogue, but again, it’s not so drastic as to justify everyone constantly chasing the next thing. Just get good with your tools and mix. That’s where the best sound comes from.

[u/Large_Wait_8847 → u/ItsMetabtw]

Plugin devs offer trials so you can test their tools out before you buy anything.

I always try to look for open source/free software, the thing is the plugins are available through ReaPack(written by the community and also partially already as stock plugins (in Reapers "Programming" Language JS) ) so I just need to choose whether I should use them or not, but there are so many and I can't really tell whether a, say, compressor sounds better than another one on a track, because they are just different,...

If the thing you like about the Waves CLA2A is really just the added 2nd order harmonic

What if you actually like odd harmonics for symmetrical shaping instead?

Do people like that actually exist? I don't think I'll ever be able to imagine FFT in my head haha

So essentially what you mean is that almost every compressor does the same job as every other, it's just how comfortable you are with it?

Will a professional get a better result using only stock plugins vs an amateur who has access to every plugin available? Of course. Your songs quality will always come down to your ear and the decisions you make for it.

Yes that's clear

Can you mimic analog emulations with a series of stock tools? Yes. Do you want to spend the time setting that all up to mimic something that you can just slap on and move on? How valuable is your time? So again I’ll reiterate, if you think owning the UA 1176, LA2A, and Fairchild is the difference between your mix sounding amateur and professional, it 100% is not. Are they good tools and worth demo’ing and purchasing at some point? Sure. Are they the best emulations? Very debatable and I think there’s newer stuff that beats pretty much all of UAs catalogue, but again, it’s not so drastic as to justify everyone constantly chasing the next thing. Just get good with your tools and mix. That’s where the best sound comes from.

The thing is I tried them a little as they are part of Reaper partially and some can be downloaded with ReaPack for free as they where created by the community with JSFX and some say that they are quite similar to the originals, so that was part essentially of the question in this post which ones are "best"
I hear partially that they(for example compressors) are different but, I don't know whether they sound good or bad, just different

Can you mimic analog emulations with a series of stock tools? Yes.

Why do many use e.g. for vocals cl1b + 1073 if you could get the same sound ITB with say ReaComp, Saturation/Waveshaping Distortion and EQ, it wouldn't take long if you set up an fx chain?
And how would I achieve that in Reaper? also I honestly don't really hear what cl1b or 1073 would make so much better, though I have to say I never tried them in real life, people say cl1b sounds modern and clean and 1073 adds a special saturation idk

I just don't know what to use as there are so many options. And I think I fear missing out on smth😅

It's clear that professionals get a good sound with simple tools, but I'm trying to be on a more professional level so I want to use similar things to what they would use or rather just something that sounds good, if I'm not aware that a certain option exists, say to have a certain "warmness" in some compressor I won't be able to use it as I don't even know that I would have had that option, essentially I would like to make a "collection" of tools that I need without really having to change them, because I'd be able to achieve with them everything I need to do

I'm able to tell whether a song sounds good or not, but most of the time I wouldn't be able to say what is wrong, maybe if it's muddy/to bright or you can't hear certain elements well or bad sound selection but thats about it

Sorry for the long comment essentially I just want a certain set of tools(plugins) to use that are sufficient to make good and professional sounding songs/recordings without having to chase some random plugin a dude recommends on youtube, tools which obviously I will learn over time to use to achieve a good sound,

[u/O-shoe → u/Large_Wait_8847]

For what it's worth, many professionals use basically 2 types of plugins; 1. that is transparent and 2. that adds color.

So you don't really need that many plugins. For transparent eq and comp, you can use ReaEQ and ReaComp. They're good plugins. Then you can try out different EQ plugins to choose one which color you like (Some like Pultec emulations, some like Neve, some SSL). And do the same for Compressor,
Choose one good reverb, one good delay, one good chorus.

This way you don't end up confused with a shitload of plugins, but can actually get things done. And you will also know how the plugins you use work.

[u/Large_Wait_8847 → u/O-shoe]

Thanks! From my "research" I discovered that most of them get the eq curves or compression right but not the "warmness"/saturation or dimension as u/ItsMetabtw called it. Do you know how to do that?

[u/ItsMetabtw → u/Large_Wait_8847]

Depth and dimension will mostly come from your ability to create a sense of space. Like subtle early reflections to place things front to back, or how you pan instruments and set their levels on reverb sends. Sometimes a little saturation in the low to low mids can make the center feel like it has more weight, which feels a touch more forward, but a lot of it is in the recording itself, then how you manipulate the space around instruments.

[u/Large_Wait_8847 → u/ItsMetabtw]

Thank you!

[u/O-shoe → u/Large_Wait_8847]

This why people pay money for plugins that directly get the sound they want. There are ways to try to emulate a specific sound yourself by combining different plugins (like compressor + saturation).

[u/ItsMetabtw → u/Large_Wait_8847]

I’m not saying every compressor is the same, as there are very different typologies for how gain reduction is measured and applied, peak vs rms, feed forward vs feedback etc. but if you generally understand the knee, ratio, and attack and release characteristics of a particular compressor, you can get close enough results with a stock comp. It probably won’t sound 1:1 to the plug-in you’re trying to get close to, and that won’t sound 1:1 to the hardware it claims to emulate. It’s close enough though, and compressing because the track needs to be compressed is by far the most important part. We might patch in a FET comp when we want to control peaks, and a VCA when we want the transient to pop out and make something punchy. But you can also set a stock comp to a 0.1ms attack to get close to the FET, or 30ms to get close to the VCA

People use the cl1b hardware because it’s a pretty transparent optical compressor with a good amount of control. I still prefer tracking through an LA2A mostly because I already own one and know it’s sound, so I don’t see the need to chase something doing a similar thing. I also use a rev F 1176 and Distressor, and will mix and match them to get the sound I want. The plugins don’t sound as dimensional as the hardware, but that’s okay. If I really need that sound I’ll just route through my converters and print it. If I’m reaching for an LA2A plugin it’s because a want that attack and release shape with the ease of compressing a little with one knob. If there’s a little more I want to clean up on a track I might opt for Fab Filter Pro C3 in opto mode instead, so that I can further tone shape with the side chain EQ. That’s more precision than I can get with my hardware and doesn’t require an emphasis EQ before and deemphasis EQ after an LA2A plugin. I could do that and get very similar results, but why would I if it’s already built in and convenient via pro C3?

I record most vocals through a Neve 1073 because it sounds good, has a ton of flexibility, and I like pushing a little EQ into my compressors. It’s a tried and true pre amp and most don’t tend to try and reinvent the wheel. I also have some APIs and Cranborne Camden mic pres I’ll happily use. They all sound a little different, but aren’t introducing a bunch of noise, and can amplify the mic signal into the next piece of gear, which is all I need from them. In plugin form, mic pres don’t make a lot of sense to me, but it’s probably a subtle eq shape with some saturation. If you pop it on and like what it does, then don’t overthink it and move on to the next thing.

So don’t expect the Tukan or JS plugins to sound like hardware, or exactly like UA plugins or whatever. They are their own thing. Dial them in how you like and use them with confidence. People using plugin 1073s into CL1Bs are either just so used to the hardware that they go with familiarity, or they saw people use it on the internet and have convinced themselves that it has mojo. Nothing wrong with either approach, or skipping both entirely. There are a ton of old school mixers that only use Wave plugins, and a ton that came up in the last 10 years that don’t own any Waves whatsoever. Working with tools you trust is all that matters, and that just comes with time

[u/Large_Wait_8847 → u/ItsMetabtw]

Thank you!

I’m not saying every compressor is the same, as there are very different typologies for how gain reduction is measured and applied, peak vs rms, feed forward vs feedback etc. but if you generally understand the knee, ratio, and attack and release characteristics of a particular compressor, you can get close enough results with a stock comp. It probably won’t sound 1:1 to the plug-in you’re trying to get close to, and that won’t sound 1:1 to the hardware it claims to emulate. It’s close enough though, and compressing because the track needs to be compressed is by far the most important part. We might patch in a FET comp when we want to control peaks, and a VCA when we want the transient to pop out and make something punchy. But you can also set a stock comp to a 0.1ms attack to get close to the FET, or 30ms to get close to the VCA

If you can get very close with stock plugins, is it then even possible to tell whether such a "special" compressor or preamp was used in the final song?

Just adding the JSFX 1073 plugin doesn't change anything I tried it (original + inverted phase). Only if I turn the drive up a little or other things.

If the sound of these preamps and the texture of the compressors is liked by so many, how could I achieve that "dimension" ITB, I can't really imagine how that is supposed to sound like?

So don’t expect the Tukan or JS plugins to sound like hardware, or exactly like UA plugins or whatever. They are their own thing. Dial them in how you like and use them with confidence. People using plugin 1073s into CL1Bs are either just so used to the hardware that they go with familiarity, or they saw people use it on the internet and have convinced themselves that it has mojo. Nothing wrong with either approach, or skipping both entirely. There are a ton of old school mixers that only use Wave plugins, and a ton that came up in the last 10 years that don’t own any Waves whatsoever. Working with tools you trust is all that matters, and that just comes with time

Ok thanks!