Most of us spend way too much time fiddling with knobs on the EQ and compression, chasing that ‘clean’ mix.
Sometimes, your mix can be technically perfect… and still feel flat and lacks depth…Just really 2D or plastic sounding, as some would say.
That’s where tape plugins can help and round out a mix. If you don’t already have a good tape plugin, the IK Multimedia T-RackS Tape Machine Collection should be on your radar.
Why This Tape Bundle Vs Another Company's Tape Plugins?
One simple answer…Experience and variety. IK has always brought great plugins to the game.
This bundle, created as a collab project between IK and TASCAM, spent modeling real vintage tape machines from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, down to the wow, flutter, and you get control over tape speed, bias, tape type, transport behavior stuff, and even whether you want to run through the full analog path or just the circuitry.
Bottom line?
These tape plugins look like and do all the right things.
Just Two Tape Machines (This is a Good Thing)
Tape Machine 440
This one adds a subtle grit and color. I throw this on my master bus when I want that final touch of warmth. It glues everything together with ease, in a way I haven’t experienced with compressors.
I’ll even toss it on the drum bus from time to time.
Tape Machine 80
I also like this on the main 2 bus, or to process my stems through it if I’m sending a track off to be mixed. It adds presence and weight without messing up the balance of the mix.
Even subtle pushing can make your beat feel like it has some extra mojo.
Clear Signs Your Mix Could Use A little Sauce
- The beat’s mix is nice and clean, but it feels a little cold and thin.
- You’ve layered in lots of nice sounding instruments, but the mix doesn’t quite hit right.
- The high end sounds crisp and clear, but at the sacrifice of thinness vs thickness. You want the thickness as well as the high end sizzle, not one or the other.
- The track has a nice glue compressor on it (multiple instances), but still, something doesn’t sound right about it.
- That’s where tape comes in. It doesn’t fix everything, but it just makes everything sound like it was meant to be there.
Conclusion
If your mix is clean but not convincing, lacks depth, and sounds like it’s missing something, it might be a little saturation or maybe even a tape plugin.
Maybe you have one already…Perhaps you don’t, but let’s pretend you do. They aren’t all created equal and at this price point, it wouldn’t hurt to have a few different flavors at your finger tips
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