Top 10 FREE Mixing & Mastering Plugins 2019 The never-ending quest for the best mixing and mastering plugins is back again, only this time we’re searching through the freebies. We scouted through many polls and forums to look for what the audio engineering community has to say about freeware mixing and mastering plugins. These days, all you need is a killer VST plugin along with some impulses to achieve stellar results. In some cases, you don’t even need impulses. If that wasn’t awesome enough, you can even get some great sounding VSTs for free. That’s what we’re going to be looking at in this guide – free guitar VST plugins that sound ultra-realistic.
The never-ending quest for the best mixing and mastering plugins is back again, only this time we’re searching through the freebies. We scouted through many polls and forums to look for what the audio engineering community has to say about freeware mixing and mastering plugins. So here is our top 10 list of the best and brightest freeware mixing and mastering plugins in no particular order.
One of the most important aspects of proper mixing and mastering is monitoring. Both audible and visual. This is where Loudness Meter 2 by Youlean comes in to play. This is a freeware loudness metering plugin featuring four metering modes (LUFS, LRA, DR and true peak). It is a must-have visual tool for every producer and mixing engineer on a budget as it will help determine the proper amount of loudness without sacrificing the sound quality and dynamic range of the track. Compared to V1, it has a better-looking GUI which is resizable with reduced CPU usage and is more stable than the previous one.
But you can also use VST plugins (for some people it can be more convenient). We have searched deep deep inside deep deep down inside into the web, to find the best free VST plugins for audio analysis, here’s the selection: 1) Spectrum Analysis. 1.1) Voxengo SPAN. This spectrum analyzer uses FFT to display the signal frequency in real time. Spectral Autopan is a free stereo imaging VST, Audio Unit plugin developed by Anarchy Sound Software. Compatible OS(s): Windows 64b, macOS. Assigns different pan positions to the different component pitches in the input signal. 64-bit plugins can't work in 32-bit hosts even if the operating system is 64-bit. Do NOT use 32-bit plugins in 64-bit hosts. They would have to be bridged and can become slow and unstable. Mac OS X (10.7 and newer, 32-bit or 64-bit) VST / VST3 / AU / AAX compatible host (32-bit or 64-bit) Intel/AMD processor with SSE2 support.
Reaper gives outstanding shareware free of cost that would normally cost hundreds of dollars. This stands tall from many other plugins due to its flexibility and wealth pro features. The features make it capable for ultra-precise sound shaping. Users tend to find it very useful for mixing processes and different stages of production. Neutrino is a free spectral shaping plug-in based on the latest in spectral shaping technology featured in Izotope’s Neutron. Insert Neutrino on multiple tracks across your session to reveal a subtle amount of detail that can help elevate your mix.
FLUX is a very well-known company with amazing high-quality plugins respected by many audio professionals. Bitter Sweet is their freeware audio sweetening tool. Basically, this is a tone and transient shaper plugin which can make your individual tracks go from biting hard to silky smooth. The UI is very simple to use and it features a large knob for controlling the amount of the desired effect.
By going to the sweet side you get very smooth transients and a silky tonal character, while going over to the bitter side you’re getting much more pronounced tonal characteristics and more aggressive transients. A must have for anyone working with percussive and rhythmic materials.
We already talked about this plugin in a previous post about the best free VST plugins overall but we’re going to give it some more attention here again.
This is a Windows only plugin but even so it’s very special. Yes we know that there are many other free “mastering” buss compressor plugins out there, and sure they all give you that kind of final touch and glue to you mixes, but in all honesty MSI Stereo Buss does it better than most others plain and simple. For what it does and the fact that you’re getting it for free, it really is the best one out there at the moment.
Voxengo are very well-known among the freeware VST users out there and they’re highly praised. Everyone needs a good plain simple spectrum analyzer for metering and in all honesty you really can’t beat Voxengo here. It is our favourite spectrum analyzer overall and it beats many analyzers out there that are paid-for.
You can control the ballistics and response of its graph which makes it flexible enough for a wide variety of tasks. You can even route multiple tracks into SPAN and compare their frequency content. It is a great addition to YOULEAN Loudness Meter 2. Everyone needs to have Voxengo SPAN in their collection.
This is not an official collection but mainly our own pick of various freeware plugins by the amazingly talented people at Brainworx.
bx_solo is a powerful tool for working with M/S because it features the legendary M/S technology from their bx_control V2.
bx_subfilter is a subharmonic content processor. Basically it shapes your sub content and adds more oomph to your signal with body and punch. Highly recommended if you’re into EDM and trailer music production.
bx_cleansweep is an extremely powerful Hi/Lo-Pass filter using advanced Brainworx technology.
We’re re-visiting Wider for this list also as we have nothing but high praise for it. This is a simple freeware VST plugin that widens your stereo signal with a very unique ability to broaden the stereo width of the signal without causing phasing issues when played back in mono.
/free-piano-vst-2017.html. You can’t make it simpler than this because Wider features only one control parameter and that’s it. The slider affects the amount of stereo processing, but be careful when pushing it too far though because too much stereo widening can make your track sound as if it doesn’t exist in the same space with others in your mix. Treated carefully, this plugin is one of the best stereo wideners while keeping your mix compatible with any type of playback system.
iZotope’s Neutron plugin bundle features a very unique technology and they scaled it down in order to present us with Neutrino, which is a freeware version with limited options. Even though it is limited compared to the full-blown Neutron, you can still achieve amazing results with it. Neutrino tames undesirable resonances caused by poor room acoustics, cheap gear, and heavy-handed processing. iZotope calls this effect “spectral shaping” and it can sound similar to gentle, low-ratio multiband compression.
The GUI is very simple to understand and use because it features only two knobs for controlling the effect and 4 buttons for selecting the sound source you are working with.
This is a rather cool and useful mastering plugin packed with features. Combined with the previously mentioned YOULEAN Metering and Voxengo SPAN, you get a free mastering power tool. Limiter No.6 features 5 separate modules mostly known as gain stages. A compressor followed by a peak limiter, high frequency limiter, clipper and the protection module.
The Protection module ensures that your output of the signal doesn’t go into clipping. Each module is controlled individually and you can turn it on and off separately. The plugin has a certain character when pushed hard but it produces a warm pleasing output. It’s a no brainer if you want to own one.
MeldaProduction are well-known for some great plugins and they have earned their keep in many pro audio engineers’ plugin collections. This bundle contains 30 completely free plugins which span from bread and butter tools like compressors and EQs to some not so common effects like ring modulator and oscilloscope. If you’re starting out your path to becoming an audio engineer, or if you’re a student with no budget this is a must-have for you.
This is a rare sight to see when it comes to freeware plugins. NOVA EQ is a real Swiss army knife when it comes to fixing those problematic frequencies. It is very easy on the eye with its rather sleek looking GUI.
Each EQ band features a dedicated dynamics section which allows the EQ to cover a wide range of frequencies. https://musepowerful.weebly.com/blog/mac-time-machine-manual-backup. The sound is very transparent.
What are your favourite free mixing and mastering plugins?
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Top 10 FREE VST Plugins You Need 2019 In life many things don’t come free, but then again sometimes they do… VST plugins do so more often than not and that’s a good thing for many of the uprising producers, musicians and composers out there. We scouted and looked through…
Top 10 Simple But Amazing Plugins 2019 Simplicity is the mother of virtuosity and sometimes less IS more. That is the case when it comes to audio plugins. We all love them and we all need them but sometimes their GUIs and options are too much to comprehend. This is…
A good spectrum analyzer plug-in is essential for letting you know what is going on with your audio.
Even if you have a good monitoring system in your studio, a spectrum analyzer will help you identify potential problem areas in your mix.
Here, we run down some of the best spectrum analyzer VSTs available, giving you a range of potentially useful options.
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iZotope’s aptly-named Insight gives you a broad overview of the spectral content of your audio while giving you the ability to get as detailed as you wish. It comes with plenty metering options to choose from, that can be customized as you fit, enabling you to use it for any type of session. Whether you simply want to check the spectral balance of your mix or you want to tweak the loudness or intelligibility of specific tracks.
Insight lets you visualize audio streams in ways that probably only a few spectrum analyzer plugins can. Unlike other plug-ins that force you into a specific way of working, Insight lets you customize the user interface according to your preferences or the demands of the session.
With Insight, you can choose to display only the meters that you need for any given situation. The interface is resizable as well, so you can keep it fairly compact when your screen gets too crowded. If you want to have visual access to more information, you could simply maximize the interface to occupy the full screen.
Of course, you have a great degree of control over viewing the display as well. You can adjust partition sizes however you want, and each meter even comes with dedicated display settings.
“Comprehensive” is one word that is commonly used to describe Insight. It gives users the flexibility to view data however they wish, with zooming, scaling, and even freezing options provided.
The option to choose between 2D and 3D spectrogram displays scored points among many users as well. For users that need the ability to change viewing modes for different projects, Insight stands apart from most other spectrum analyzer plug-ins.
iZotope’s Insight could very well handle all your spectrum analysis needs and then some. If flexibility and accuracy are your primary concerns–as they should be when shopping for a spectrum analyzer–you can’t go wrong with Insight.
NuGen’s Visualizer may not be a household name in the world of spectrum analyzer plug-ins, but that in no way indicates any shortcomings on its part. Just as capable as its more popular counterparts, it provides feature-packed tools for analyzing audio and enhancing workflow. Furthermore, Visualizer helps you recreate optimal mix settings and avoid frequently-repeated errors.
Visualizer provides a single-screen interface for viewing the frequency content of the audio material. The interface can be resized freely, taking up very little screen space or providing a comprehensive overview as needed. There are also many options to customize the display, and you could switch to any of several views simply by clicking a button.
But it’s what you can do within those views that matter the most. Visualizer has a useful comparison mode that let you view frequency content and other information from two audio channels in a few different ways. You have the option to view both audio tracks overlaid on top of each other, side-by-side, or in a differential display.
Other features–such as the stereo spectrogram, vectorscope, stereo bias meter, and peak hold control–give you a range of options by which to analyze your audio. You can even view frequencies by how they correlate to each other, making it easy for you to identify potential frequency overlaps.
Users of Visualizer have found numerous applications for the plug-in, particularly during the mixdown and mastering stages of production. One common application is the examination of the differences that a mastering chain imparts on a mix. The plug-in makes it possible to identify frequency clashes quickly, and the ability to customize the display makes audio analysis both easy and efficient.
NuGen Visualizer is a powerful and attractive-looking spectrum analyzer plug-in that can handle a multitude of audio-related tasks. It is a good deal more expensive than other plug-ins in its category, but the extra cost is justifiable given its versatility and range of features.
MeldaProduction is known for its high-value plug-ins that provide professional features at a reasonable price point. MMultiAnalyzer upholds the company’s reputation admirably, with a host of features that make it possible to analyze audio and deal with any issues easily and accurately.
With a selection of audio analysis and enhancement features, MMultiAnalyzer enables you to analyze multiple tracks simultaneously. Simply patch in an instance of the plug-in in each track that you want to analyze, and they will detect each other automatically. All data will then be available to all instances of the plug-in.
MMultiAnalyzer is more than just a spectrum analyzer plug-in. It also has a built-in sonogram, and collision detection, loudness comparison, and stereo analysis features. Even with all these features, the plug-in never gets too complicated to use. Whether you use it as a multi-track sonogram, a collision detector, or a stereo analyzer, the MMultiAnalyzer workflow is fast and intuitive.
MMultiAnalyzer also comes with features that make it easy to identify specific frequencies. These include normalization, super-resolution, and de-harmonization features, all of which help you pinpoint problem areas in your audio.
Like all MeldaProduction’s plug-ins, MMultiAnalyzer is customizable to a remarkable degree. The interface is freely resizable, and users have the option to display the controls as knobs, buttons, or sliders. Even with all the impressive technical features onboard, the plug-in’s customizability is what stands out the most among many users.
Of course, the aforementioned technical features are the main draw for professional users and serious hobbyists. The ‘smart’ metering is one of the most advanced of its kind, giving users the option to display frequency measurements in a variety of graphs and meters.
MMultiAnalyzer is one of the most versatile spectrum analyzer plug-ins around. It is absolutely flawless in terms of accuracy, and the degree to which you could customize the interface is a definite plus. Even with so many capable spectrum analyzer plug-ins available, this one stands apart from the rest.
Blue Cat’s Audio Analysis Pack gives you pretty much everything you need to analyze and measure the frequency content of audio in one convenient package. The pack contains a dazzling array of useful plug-ins, all of which are available individually as well. Among these are two frequency analysis plug-ins, both of which provide performance equal to that of dedicated spectrum analyzers. Furthermore, these plug-ins let you can control other plug-ins–and even MIDI instruments–with the resulting measurements.
Because this is a review of spectrum analyzer plug-ins, we will focus on those specific types of plug-ins in the pack.
First up is FreqAnalyst Multi, which provides a variety of spectrum analysis features for multiple tracks. Ideally-suited for mixing and mastering, it provides a detailed view of the frequency and time of several tracks simultaneously, all from a single screen. A useful and versatile mixing tool, it will also find plenty of use as a frequency overlap detector.
The second smartphone plug-in is FreqAnalyst Pro, which adds automation generation capabilities and a 3D viewer to the standard set of spectrum analysis features. Offering much of the same functionality as the free FreqAnalyst plug-in, it provides an extremely smooth and high-resolution view of frequency as well as time.
The individual plug-ins in the Audio Analysis Pack come with an impressive wealth of features that provide tremendous value. Most users seem sufficiently impressed with the amount of information provided, with the automation and MIDI capabilities simply being the icing on the cake. For many, the clever implementation of CC/automation generation features makes these tools so much more versatile than most standard spectrum analyzer plug-ins.
The overall value provided by the Audio Analysis Pack is pretty impressive. Even if you opt to purchase just the individual spectrum analyzer plug-ins, expect to get plenty of bang for the buck.
To describe Photosounder’s Spiral as a music analysis plug-in would be accurate–but it does underplay its capabilities a bit. Spiral certainly does a great job of revealing the frequency content of music, but its fresh and innovative approach to audio analysis places it so far ahead of other plug-ins that it is almost in an entirely different category.
Frequencies are displayed in a spiral (no surprise there), with a chromatic band encircling it. It is a simple enough concept to be sure, but the ability to see what is going on in your music quickly and intuitively is noteworthy. Spiral also provides many other features that give you a more detailed and informative view of your audio.
In the Spiral display, individual instruments have specific colors that represent their unique positions in the stereo mix. The plug-in also makes it possible to capture or record bits of audio into memory and play it back at slower speeds. This feature is helpful for identifying individual notes or deciphering chords.
You can even adjust the resolution at which stored audio plays back. You can lower the resolution for more precise time measurement for instance, or increase it when you need to analyze low-frequency instruments or complex chords.
Migos vst free. Users found Spiral to be as useful as an audio analysis tool as a musical aid. The bright colors and stereo separation make it possible to identify tones and notes quickly and accurately.
As a learning tool, Spiral is pretty much incomparable in the world of spectrum analyzer plug-ins. Its ability to highlight specific sections of the audio, capture it, and play it back at slower speeds are features that simply don’t exist in any other spectrum analyzer plug-in.
Spiral probably isn’t the best choice for analyzing audio for mixing or mastering purposes. More a musical aid than a frequency analysis tool, it should nevertheless find a welcome place in your plug-in collection.
2nd Sense’s Audio Mixing Analyzer hides an impressive wealth of features in a simple and modernistic interface. Like the best spectrum analyzer plug-ins, it allows the real-time monitoring of multiple tracks of audio, with the data viewable from a single window. It also identifies instances where frequencies collide and mask each other. Whether you need to pinpoint problem frequencies in specific audio tracks or simply want to check your level balances, Audio Mixing Analyzer could be a useful tool.
Like other spectrum analyzer plug-ins that allow for the monitoring of multiple audio streams, Audio Mixing Analyzer is meant to be loaded onto each track to be analyzed. All tracks will then be visible on any instance of the plug-in, each in a different color. You can also label each track as you see fit.
A vertical line will pop up on the display if any frequencies clash or overlap. You can then instantly see where two or more parts are occupying the same frequency range. An included threshold knob lets you control how frequencies clashes are displayed, with shorter instances showing up as more pronounced movements of the indicator line.
A scrolling display below the spectrum display provides real-time information on the clashing frequencies, as well as the measure and beat position where they occur. There are also illuminating blocks to the left that indicate the presence of tracks with conflicting frequency content.
Audio Mixing Analyzer may be fairly simple, but users seem satisfied at the amount of information provided. By presenting data as text as well as visual form, users can identify frequency clashes easily, and quickly determine what steps to take to remedy potential issues.
Audio Mixing Analyzer isn’t the most fully-featured spectrum analyzer around. In fact, it is one of the simplest in this rundown, without a lot of esoteric display settings and customizability options onboard. Nevertheless, it is a capable enough analyzer for the most part, and it should find plenty of use in any studio.
Voxengo’s SPAN is something of a classic in the audio world, providing spectrum analysis capabilities equal to that of the best plug-ins. Remarkably, SPAN is free, which makes its professional features and capabilities even more impressive.
Even so, Voxengo saw fit to release an “extended” version of SPAN, dubbing it the SPAN Plus. Building on the already impressive features of its freeware predecessor, SPAN Plus added a static spectrum display option, PNG file export, and the ability to import and export spectrum data in real-time.
SPAN Plus has a new “mode” system that gives you the flexibility to set the display according to your preferences. This feature lets you view Fourier block size in samples, and lets you set the overlap percentage of the FFT window. You can also specify the visual slope of the spectrum, change how the secondary spectrum is displayed, and even smoothen out the spectral display as desired.
SPAN Plus makes it possible to perform a variety of analysis methods. You can compare the spectrums of different tracks at the same time, with unique colors for each channel.
SPAN Plus especially impresses users with its ability to perform multi-track comparisons from a single window. The ability to compare EQ curves pre- and post-mastering on the same graph makes it a flexible and useful tool for mixing and mastering.
It is interesting to note that many users find the free SPAN to be just as capable as the SPAN Plus for their needs. But that is more a testament to the excellence of the free plug-in than it is a criticism of SPAN Plus.
SPAN Plus is an excellent spectrum analyzer plug-in in more ways than one. Admittedly, you could get pretty much the same features in the free version of SPAN. But if the ability to compare the spectrums of two different audio sources at the same time is important to you, SPAN Plus is a no-brainer.
In an audio and musical context, spectral analysis is the process of measuring the frequency content of audio signals. Using a function known as “Fourier transform”, audio is broken down into its component frequencies and displayed on a screen.
Spectrum analyzers essentially provide visual representations of sound. They measure the frequencies of audio signals and display the results in a graph in real-time. The horizontal axis represents the pitch/frequency of the audio, while the vertical axis represents the amplitude. Pitch/frequency is measured in Hertz, and amplitude is measured in decibels.
By providing a visual representation of audio, spectrum analyzers make it easier to identify specific areas of the frequency range that may cause problems in the mix later on. When used in conjunction with standard audio monitoring, spectrum analyzers can enhance efficiency during the mixing and mastering processes.
The display is the most important part of a spectrum analyzer. This is where you can see the frequency content of your audio and how “hard” specific frequencies are hitting. You can then figure out which frequencies you will have to cut or boost to fix any problem.
The best spectrum analyzers give you more specific details on frequencies and levels when you place your cursor at certain points on the display. Some plug-ins even allow you to zoom in for a more accurate view of the levels.
Accuracy is, of course, one of the most important aspects of a spectrum analyzer. You will want to pay particular attention to this quality when comparing the different spectrum analyzer plug-ins available.
You should also look into the option to set the FFT block size a few different ways. This feature allows you to view frequencies at different resolutions, which could help you identify problem areas in specific frequency ranges.
One important thing to keep in mind is that spectrum analyzers can not–and should not–take the place of proper monitoring via speakers or headphones. By all means, use spectrum analyzer plug-ins for an added perspective while mixing or mastering. But don’t forget that what ultimately matters is how the music sounds–not how it looks.