# What's your UAD plugin chain for...



## Maestro77 (Mar 28, 2014)

... bass guitar? ... guitars (both acoustic & electric)? vocals?

New to UAD plugins and kind of lost as to which ones are best for what purpose. Do you bake in the effects in the console or use them as inserts in your DAW? I'd love to hear how you use them for bass, guitars and vocals. Thanks!


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## gsilbers (Mar 28, 2014)

i use the precision bundle as insert in buses to make submixes of stems. 
multiband and maximizer and reverb. 
a little of each one so each stem sounds already good for any submixes i need to submit.


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## wst3 (Mar 28, 2014)

hope this doesn't sound like a cop-out, but I don't have a single chain of effects for any given source, not even my own guitars.

I have starting points... 

For electric bass I use the dBX 160 compressor a lot, and the Cambridge EQ because it is neutral, and very flexible. If I need a little attitude I'll use the Studer Tape or maybe the Pultec EQ.

For electric guitar it's pretty much all over the map. I like the 1073 into an 1176 as a starting point, but I also like the precision eq and compressor sometimes. For effects I use the Cooper Time Cube most often, and the Space Echo sometimes.

For acoustic guitar I don't use much of anything, again leaning towards the Cambridge EQ and the 1176. For effects the slightest bit of Dimension D (I mean so slight only you know it is there) can really liven up a track - fingerstyle or strumming. Doesn't do much for bluegrass flatpicking though<G>!

Vocals - it so depends on the vocalist, even more so than acoustic guitar, I can't really think of any common setups.

You didn't ask, but I use the Plate reverb a LOT. On vocals I like the Lexi 224, but everything else gets a touch of plate. Heck, even vocals sometimes get a touch of plate.

Thing is, there are so many great plug-ins, I'm constantly trying new things. While I still sometimes think life was simpler 30 years ago, the ability to have multiple 1176s in use just blows my mind, and the freedom to just pop things in to see what happens is lovely!

I do not (yet?) have an Apollo, so I'm still working solely with the cards.


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## Giant_Shadow (Mar 31, 2014)

Maestro, It's hard to name exact chains as it changes by ear for me, but some of my favorite UAD plus include: 1176, Fairchild, Pultec, LA2A, API EQ, Neve 1073, Fatso, The tape simulators, 224, Dimension D.

Hope that may help.


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## Maestro77 (Mar 31, 2014)

I would primarily like to know what you'd all do with vocals. Where would you start, how would things be routed/inserted, and which plugins do you prefer for what? Thanks, this is very helpful!


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## EastWest Lurker (Mar 31, 2014)

Maestro77 @ Mon Mar 31 said:


> I would primarily like to know what you'd all do with vocals. Where would you start, how would things be routed/inserted, and which plugins do you prefer for what? Thanks, this is very helpful!



Most of the time, API 560 and Teletronix LA2 a Gray (sometimes also Cooper Time Cube) sending to a bus with the lexicon 224 and Studer A800


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## Maestro77 (Mar 31, 2014)

Thanks Jay. So you bake in those first two?


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## EastWest Lurker (Mar 31, 2014)

Maestro77 @ Mon Mar 31 said:


> Thanks Jay. So you bake in those first two?



Do you mean do I bounce specifically the individual vox tracks to audio with the FX processing included? Generally no, just for the mix.


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## Maestro77 (Mar 31, 2014)

Yes, that's what I was referring to. Thanks.


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## Giant_Shadow (Mar 31, 2014)

As Jay mentioned the API is great on vocals, 

**EDIT ** As does the Trident EQ, and Pultec

....then pick you favorite compressor depending on Voice, taste, etc (1176. LA2A, etc.) .The EMT plates and 224 is also very good.



Maestro77 @ Mon Mar 31 said:


> I would primarily like to know what you'd all do with vocals. Where would you start, how would things be routed/inserted, and which plugins do you prefer for what? Thanks, this is very helpful!


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## ThomasL (Apr 1, 2014)

Well, the answer "it depends" is not so helpful I guess so for vocals this is what I recently been using.

Lead vocals: Pultec EQ, LA-2A Silver (or, for grit the "old one"), a send to EMT-140 or Lexicon 224 and sometimes also a send to Cooper Time Cube for those "in-your-face" moments.

Backing vocals: each track into SSL E-Channel, all tracks outputs to a bus with either the Precision Maximizer (if I want some "grit") or the Oxford Inflator, with sends to Dimension D and Lexicon 224.

Also, I recently used the Ampex for a faked "double tracking" on a lead vocal, works great!


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