https://www.philmichalski.com/blog/my-go-to-plugins-for-sound-design-2020-update

Here are my go-to plugins for sound design and post-production.

Repair

If you’re a sound designer, chances are that sooner or later you’ll run into noise/hum/distortion issues. Luckily, there are plenty of plugins that can help you tackle those issues.

iZotope Post Production Suite 4 - The industry standard for audio post-production. A great all-rounder. A must-have if you dealing with imperfect audio regularly. It might be a little bit intimidating at first glance (impressive number of modules), however, it’s well organized and quite easy to learn. Here are some of the modules I use regularly:



REPAIR Deconstruct - It splits the audio into its tonal and noise content and allows to adjust them separately.

REPAIR Spectral De-Noise/Voice De-noise - Good quality noise suppressors if used in moderation. They can produce some nasty sounding artifacts if pushed too hard.

REPAIR Mouth De-click - A huge time saver for dealing with all sorts of mouth noises, lip smacks, clicks, etc.

REPAIR De-clip - This module can help you get rid of mild distortions or soften (not repair) the more severe ones.

UTILITY Dither - self-explanatory

UTILITY Resample - self-explanatory

UTILITY Phase - self-explanatory

UTILITY Plugin - allows you to load up any 3rd part plugins inside RX

INSTANT PROCESS Attenuate/Replace - great tools for attenuating/replacing extraneous/unwanted sounds.

Brusfri - One of my favorite de-noisers ever. It’s inexpensive, sound amazing, and produces fewer artifacts than RX/Acon.

Acon Digital Restoration Suite 2 - A solid alternative to RX post-production suite. It’s cheaper and sounds as good if not a little bit better (especially denoise module). It features 4 modules (DeNoise, DeHum, DeClick, DeClip) which is way less than RX, however, if that’s all you need than go with Acon.

Acon Digital Deverberate 2 - I wish DeVerbarate was part of Acon’s Restoration Suite. It’s a solid reverb suppressing plugin. It sounds a little bit better than RX’s dialogue de-reverb/de-reverb, however, similarly to RX it produces audible artifacts if pushed too hard.

BOOM DeBird - A pure magic. One-click is what it takes to remove bird noises from your field recording. It doesn’t work with all bird noises (like seagulls), however, BOOM Library guys are working hard on in it, doing a lot of machine learning, and constantly updating it. They even have a dedicated email address for submitting bird sounds that DeBird failed to remove.

EQs

An equalizer is probably the most important, most powerful, and most used plugin in sound design. It’s kind of like a chisel for sculpting sound. Here are some of my Favorite EQs:

DMG Audio Equality - In my opinion, it’s one of the best sounding Equalizers out there, especially for sound design and post productions. Very CPU friendly and maps well out of the box (with control surfaces). I used it mostly for bells, shelves, and HPF/LPF, not so much for notching.

FabFilter Pro Q 3 - Probably the most popular equalizer out there. It sounds really good, has an amazing GUI and it’s super easy to use. I use it mostly for notching and dynamic EQing.

AMEK EQ 200 - My favorite master EQ. It sounds out of this world good. I tend to use it in M/S for the most part. It features 7 band EQ, patented Tolerance Modeling Technology (TMT) and a super useful mono maker feature.

Compression/Dynamic

Compression is another essential process in sound design. It can drastically change anything that goes through it. It can add sustain, suppress transients, glue things together etc.

Elysia Mpressor - This plugin sounds fantastic! I use it mostly on busses and master tracks as a glue compressor. I also use it on individual tracks, especially when serial-compressing.

Oeksound Soothe 2 - This plugin is so many things that I didn’t even know whether I should post it under EQs, Dynamics, or Repair. It’s my favorite purchase of 2020. It’s worth every penny, trust me, it will pay for itself thousand times over. Soothe 2 is a dynamic resonance suppressor and it does it really, really well. Want to get rid of some nasty resonance in the lower end? No problem. Want to get rid of harshness? Sure, it can do that. Compared to Soothe(1) it is way more CPU efficient. It allows up to 4 times oversampling and features 4 different quality modes (eco, normal, high, and ultra). You can even assign different quality modes for real-time listening and rendering! I use it on individual sounds, buses, and even my master tack. It will make everything sound better and more balanced. I use it on my source recording, processed sound, layered sounds, voice-over tracks (especially useful now during the pandemic since most of VO talents switched to their home studios), music, etc.

SPL Iron - Very musical compressor. It sounds (and looks!) phenomenal! It’s a perfect master/bus compressor. I especially love the air bass feature that makes low end sound super good and tight. It’s definitely not a transparent one, but, when it comes to master compression I prefer “character” compressors over transparent ones, especially if they aren’t doing a lot of compression.

FabFilter C 2 - Another great plugin from FabFilter. It sounds awesome, has a great GUI (I especially like collapsable display), and comes with a lot of great presets to start you off. I tend to use it on individual tracks, and along with other compressors when serial-compressing

Distortion, Saturation, and Subharmonics

Soundtoys Decapitator - An amazing sounding, hardware-modeled, distortion/saturation plugin. It’s modeled after Ampex 350 tape recorder (A), Chandler EMI channel (E), Neve 1057 (N), Thermionic Culture Culture Vulture (T), and Thermionic Culture Culture Vulture pentode tube setting (P). I use it pretty much on everything and usually in a parallel mode (Dry/Wet).

Sonnox Oxford Inflator - This is one of my go-to harmonic distortion plugins. I usually use it on FX/MX/DX busses and individual layers. It will make everything cut through the mix.

BX Subsynth - My go-to low-end enhancer/synthesizer. It gives you more control than Lowender and sounds a little bit better.

Refuse Lowender - A great, simpler low-end enhancer.

SPL Vitalizer - Another great saturation/harmonic enhancer plugins. I especially like the bass control section (compression and tightness).

McDSP Futzbox - A great speaker simulation plugin with lofi distortion, EQ, filters, noise generator, and a gate. It’s capable of making your source audio sound like it’s coming from a walkie talkie, pocket radio, megaphone, toy speaker, an old TV, etc. It comes with a lot of timesaving presets. A good alternative to Speakerphone.

Limiters

Avid Pro Limiter - Great sounding, pro tools ultimate native plugin.

FabFilter Pro L2 - Sounds great, it’s easy to use, has a loudness meter, DC offset, and oversampling. It offers 7 different styles of limiting (Transparent, Punchy, Dynamic, All-round, Aggressive, Modern, Bus, Safe). My go-to limiter along with Avid’s Pro limiter.

McDSP ML8000 - It’s a very nifty multi-band limiter. It can easily double down as compressor-EQ-limiter combo which only adds value to it. It has 8 individual bands and two stages of limiting/compression. Also, “Artillery Anyone” presets is one of the most used presets in sound design/post-production.

Reverbs/Delays

Both reverbs and delays are very important in sound design. Every sound we hear reverberates unless it’s in the echoless chamber or outer space. Reverbs add depth and sense of space, but not only - in sound design, we use them to make sound effects sound magical, lush, dark, emotional, etc.

Exponential Audio Symphony/Strauss - In my opinion the best sounding algorithmic plugins out there. Great for sound design and post-production. Presets sound absolutely amazing.

Eventide Blackhole - What an amazing plugin from Eventide. Perfect for those lush sounding sci-fi/fantasy reverbs.

Zynaptiq Adaptiverb - I don’t really use it as a reverb per se. It’s more of an effect than anything else. It can turn anything into lush sounding atmos/pads/drones. It can transform sounds in a way no other plugin can.

The Cargo Cult Slapper 2 - it instantly became my go-to delay plugin for post-production and sound design. It comes with a lot of amazing sounding and useful presets to start you off.

Soundtoys Echoboy - Guys at Soundtoys created an incredible plugin that comes with 30 analog-sounding echo/delay styles. On top of that, it comes with a lot of useful tools such as low cut/hi cut, saturation(!), EQ, and more. It can create any delay patterns, choruses and more

Crystalizer - Imagine a granular, reversed delay/reverb with a pitch shifter. This plugin is such a powerful tool for sound designers! It allows you to dial in presets that will instantly turn any sounds into magic spells, teleports, and much more.

Pitch/Time Shifters

Infected Mushroom Manipulator - One of my favorite pitch shifters! It not only gives you a lot of control over pitch shifting but also features some amazing effects like glide, smear, stereo detune, and more. On top of that, every parameter can be modulated with a built-in step sequencer, LFO, and an envelope follower.

Avid Time Shift - Pro tools native audio suite pitch plugin. It features 4 different algorithms: Polyphonic - time stretching and pitch shifting for polyphonic audio, Monophonic - formant correction for vocals and solos, Rhythmic - pitch correction for rhythmic audio files such as drums and (my favorite) Varispeed. It sounds great and gets the job done.

Avid Vari-Fi - Another pro tools native audio suite plugin. It creates tape like slow-downs and speed-ups. Great for designing all sorts of risers and downers.

Waves Sound Shifter Graphic - A very useful pitch/time shifter. It allows you to adjust pitch and time separately and automate both of these parameters. It’s a great tool for sound designers as it allows you to draw in pitch and time automation.

Dopplers & Spacial

Sound Particles - I’ve been using sound particles ever since they released it. This plugin is just something else. It allows you to create a battlefield ambiance within just a few clicks! It also has an amazing sounding doppler. It’s worth mentioning that it’s not a plugin but a stand-alone application. I used it on so many of my SFX libraries. One of my best selling libraries “Rain Designer” was almost entirely made in sound particles.

Tonstrum Traveler - My go-to doppler plugin. It comes with a lot of useful presets (pre-loaded with amazing sounding recording captured by a lot of talented field recordings!). It also allows you to draw in a doppler path (great for matching doppler with a video reference). It comes with some useful built-in effects like tremolo and distortion.

Modulation, Multi-FX, and Misc

Unfiltered Audio BYOM - A really powerful multi-fx plugin packed to the brim with amazing presets designed by some of the best sound designers. Not the easiest on CPU but it's definitely worth it. I used it a lot on my SCIFI PASSBY [Designer Series] SFX library.

Eventide H3000 - An iconic multi-fx plugin. It comes with all the legacy presets (from the hardware unit) as well as some new ones.

BOOM Enforcer - One of my favorite plugins for adding low-end sweeteners and transients. It can drastically improve any sound that goes through it. I tend to use multiple instances of on them same track to add both low-end sweeteners and transients.

Zynaptiq Wormhole - I love how this plugin warps sound and makes everything sound sci-fi. I know that calling it an “instant sci-fi” plugin doesn’t do it justice but whenever I’m designing sci-fi sounds I have it right there in my plugin chain.

Soundtoys Tremolator - My go-to tremolo plugin. Perfect for creating all kinds of stuttery risers and more.