Expecting a Plugin Preset to Do What the Name Says

To enhance your podcast production awareness, check out the first bullet point in this article titled The Top 10 Rookie Recording Mistakes — it’s about expecting a plugin preset to do what the name says.

It reads:

“The Mistake: I recently received a project where every track had a channel strip plug-in (fig. 1) inserted to add EQ and/or dynamics. Channel strips are a great one-stop shop for quick processing, but the mistake was that the guitar track had a preset called “guitar,” the female vocal had a preset called “female vocal,” the percussion had a preset called “percussion” — you get the idea. A preset may give the sound you want, but every guitar, voice, percussion, bass, etc. is different.”

My opinion: Presets are good to start with, but 90% of the time they still require a bit of tweaking the settings to make the sound just right. Don’t be afraid to tweak settings!

What are your thoughts?

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