# Mixing with Slate Digital



## TimJohnson (Mar 28, 2016)

Hello everyone,

I've been using the Slate Digital plugins to mix orchestral/hybrid stuff for a while now and absolutely love them. The company very much markets these plugins at pop & rock musicians but they work extremely well for orchestral stuff too, after all, a well modelled Neve, Fairchild or 1176 is going to do well on any genre of music.
The thing is, because the company markets itself at different genres, there is almost nothing out there about how others like myself are using these plugins to improve their mixes!

So I'm wondering if there are any other Slate fans out there and if they would share how they are using these plugins on their orchestral mixes? I'm sure there are many little tricks around!


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## Studio E (Mar 28, 2016)

I have no tricks to share, but I certainly use my Slate stuff on everything now. The VCC and Tape emulations are an automatic on stems and I use all the other stuff as needed along with Fabfilter and a couple Waves plugs.


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## Oliver_Codd (Mar 28, 2016)

The slate stuff is really incredible. I've got VCC, VTM, and the MU compressor stuck on my mix bus. For orchestral I'll usually use the Mu in Parallel, or make sure it's not being hit very hard at all. With VTM I bring the input down quite a bit as well. 

The custom series EQ and 1073 EQ are pretty much the only plugin EQs I use these days unless I need something really surgical. Custom EQ seems to feel a bit better on orch for me.


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## TimJohnson (Mar 29, 2016)

The VCC and VTM seem to be staples in a lot of people's workflows - as they are in mine too!
I'm interest to hear how people use these differently for sample libraries vs the real thing. I'll give you an example - Spitfire Audio already record to tape, so it makes sense to me to leave the VTM off of these. I have tried it and there is of course a change in the sound, but I can't really work out if it's "better" or not.
Presumably most of the big sample library developers are also going through really nice mixing desks and pre-amps, so again, is it worth adding these again?
I tend to add the VTM and VCC to almost everything as it does make everything sound warmer and wider when used subtly on every track, but what are your thoughts on this?

Good shout using the FG-MU (Fairchild emulator for those who aren't familiar with Slate stuff) in parallel. I'm currently mixing a particularly dynamic live orchestral track with that plugin on all of the group channels, but it still sounds pretty slammed even just ticking over at (max) -2dB of compression. Parallel comp might help with this!

Does anyone have any experience of using the FG-X on orchestral stuff. I've had a good play and it is really incredible, but it does seem to have a very particular sound to it on live orchestral mixes and I'm not sure I am a fan. It's like I can tell it has been slammed but the dynamics are still there - weird experience to listen to. Anyone got any thoughts on this?

I should mention that personally I am very subtly with all of these effects - little and often is a thought crossing my mind constantly. This method seems to work very well with these plugins in particular.


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## Noam Guterman (Mar 29, 2016)

FG-X is my goto final plugin in the chain, used for dithering, gentle peak reduction and limiting. I also use Slate's other stuff like EQs and Comps and ofcourse VCC for each track / group + master. My favorite EQ for tone and color is the Custom EQ, as it's the most flexible, and Custom Lift's high end adds really nice harmonics. Still using Fabfilter Pro-Q2 for most of the stuff tho. Also using the VTM for rounding some digital edges when I feel it's needed. I plan on getting Bomber too since I loved it during the trial period. Yeah I'm a real Slate Slut.


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## higgs (Mar 29, 2016)

Loving Virtual Channel as first insert on each track. But man, the Custom Series EQ & Lift are the big gems in the crown that I nearly missed - glad I took in the info and video on those two - definitely not "just another EQ." 

Side note: I took the leap and got Slate's "Chris Lord Alge's Mixing Secrets" video course which comes with the session files (setup for Cubase, Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, etc) and audio used in the videos. Best money I've spent in a long time. Dissecting the audio, session setup, plugin settings, and getting a finger on the pulse of CLA's mixing techniques are eye opening, and surprising too! I can't recommend it enough, well worth the $95. It's not my exact taste in music, but definitely has lots of flavor I like in mixes.


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## chrysshawk (Apr 2, 2016)

x2 what Higgs says.

Slate VMR is on every orchestral track (and I treat wverything separately, so that's a lot of tracks). As for the tape question, I use VTM with just about anything, incl Spitfire. One is not necessarily better than the other, it's more a question of context, purpose, and your preference. 

As a sidenote, the CPU/latency effect of VMR is extremely low, so it's pretty nice being able to record innthe DAW with all these guys active.

CH


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