Post-Production Plugins for Professional Workflows
Specialized plugins for a range of post-production tasks.
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Whether you’re a sound designer or an ADR engineer, post-production plugins can help you get high-quality results quickly and consistently.
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Post-production audio presents a wide world of creative problem solving, where you tackle tasks to ensure the sonic quality, emotive impact, and overall cohesiveness of the project you’re working on, no matter what the format may be.
Films and TV series require specialized location sound and dialogue recording, which often need enhancement and noise reduction to ensure the consistent quality and intelligibility of speech from one scene to another.
Post-Production Plugins
Although most DAW systems, particularly the specialist ones like Steinberg Nuendo, have so many of the tools you need included, there is a range of 3rd-party plugins that are designed solely for your area of expertise that will get the job done and then some.
Post-Production Plugins: McDSP Native
McDSP has a range of specially designed post-production plugins that will come in handy at different stages of the editing and mixing processes. For cleaning up dialogue and other location sound recording, the SA-3 Native uses over 1000 processing bands, so you can target specific areas of the frequency range in mono, stereo, or mid-side, and trigger the sidechain externally.
In addition, the FutzBox is also incredibly useful for giving dialogue and FX a unique Lo-Fi sonic character. This effect can realistically emulate a range of devices, like old TVs and radios, and even a handheld megaphone. FutzBox is also equipped with distortion, filters, a hyper-gate, and a noise generator, providing tools for creating unique sounds for the communication devices in a Sci-Fi film or TV series.
In addition, McDSP has a versatile 8-band noise reduction plugin, the NR800, that can be used in post or live sound applications. Many of the McDSP Native plugins also have HD counterparts for Pro Tools HDX users. This enables you to run as many instances as you like, while your CPU handles the rest of your DAW operations.
Post-Production Plugins: iZotope RX
iZotope RX is the industry-standard post-production toolkit with everything you can think of under the sun for getting pristine audio results in dialogue, FX, and your entire mix. One of the great things about RX is that there are three versions for different types of users. With the basic $100 RX Elements package, you have a perfect system for content creation with the RX Repair Assistant and a range of tools for removing distortion, background noise, clicks, and pops.
For those getting into post-production on a more professional level, RX Standard has a range of precise production tools for isolation and even reducing the reverb of different dialogue tracks. In addition, there is a useful Music Rebalance tool for remixing the stems of mastered tracks. This is very useful for adding existing music to visual media.
If you run a post-production studio or plan on competing with one, RX Advanced provides pretty much every tool you’ll need. Besides all the features from RX Standard, you also have access to features like Dialogue Contour, which, along with the Ambience Match tool, becomes an ADR engineer’s dream.
Post-Production Plugins: Ina GRM Tools
For many years, GRM Tools has been one of the most respected plugin collections for post-production, sound design, and creative effects processing. Although the plugin interfaces are a little dated, the capabilities and sonic range of even the most basic effects in the GRM Tools range will expand the possibilities of your DAW.
When compared with other specialized effects, the GRM Tools bundles are actually on the more affordable side. With the Creative bundle (€99), aimed at music production, you have 3 outrageous effects, including Delays, the granular processor Evolution, and the multichannel spatial processor, SpaceGrain.
Meanwhile, the Classic bundle (€149) gives you a wider range of eight different effects, including the unique Doppler plugin. This works in a similar way to a microphone moving around a sound source in a circular motion, but you have the controls to create two independent circles across the stereo image with organic variation.
Post-Production Plugins: FLUX
If you’re mixing audio for any type of motion pictures or games, your go-to 1176-style compressor plugin might not have the capabilities you’re looking for, particularly if you’re doing immersive mixing. Different streaming platforms have different loudness standards, so having an accurate overview of all your levels becomes essential if you’re doing this professionally.
Besides the impressive range of dynamics processors within the Studio Session Pack, FLUX also offers Mira, a comprehensive metering and audio analysis plugin for stereo (Mira Session), immersive (Mira Studio), and live (Mira Live) workflows. The Immersive Essentials bundle is ideal for multichannel audio users, with the Elixir 16-channel true peak limiter, the Ircam Verb 16-channel algorithmic reverb, and the Ircam HEar 16-channel HRTF encoding headphone monitoring tool.
In addition, the Ircam T.R.A.X. plugin is an extremely versatile processor capable of imparting the timbral qualities of two sound sources and doing advanced shaping and manipulation of voice recordings, instruments, and mixed music. Overall, FLUX offers a range of pro solutions for post-production that are worth the investment.
Post-Production Plugins: Zynaptiq
If you’re looking for processing above and beyond the basics of post-production mixing and editing, Zynaptiq has a range of options that open up creative avenues in all sorts of new directions. From high-quality audio restoration tools to intuitive one-knob dynamics processors like INTENSITY that allow you to achieve instant clarity and loudness with any instrument.
Zynaptiq also has a range of more outlandish processors for sound design, including the Wormhole and Adaptiverb spatial effects plugins and the incredible Morph tool, which gives you the ability to impart characteristics from one signal to another. What’s more, there is also a range of plugins useful to electronic music producers.
While the Orange Vocoder can create classic and modern vocoded sounds, Pitchmap allows you to manipulate polyphonic music passages, and Unmix::Drums lets you increase or decrease the levels of the drums in mastered music. The Zynaptiq plugins do not come cheap, but you can often find them at reasonable discount prices, and the results will not disappoint.
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