5 Free VST Plugins That Will Supercharge Your Tracks
Hey, my name is Jason Moss from BehindTheSpeakers.com, and today I want to share with you some of my favorite free VST plugins. These plugins are going to help you achieve better-sounding tracks and mixes without spending a dime.
Now free VST plugin number one is iZotope Neutrino.
This is the baby brother of iZotope’s Neutron plugin, which is kind of a cross between an EQ and weird automatic mixer thing. It’s really cool, but I think this plugin is amazing. It takes one of the coolest features in Neutron and spins it off into its own thing. It listens to the track and pulls down frequency anomalies, or peaks, or resonances in that track that tend to poke out in the mix. It just rounds things off a little bit, smoothes things down. I would describe it almost like an automatic, multiband compressor that you really don’t have to do much to. I would definitely recommend checking it out, and I think it can make a big difference in your mixes.
Number two is Voxengo’s SPAN.
This is a a free spectrum analyzer plugin. I know a lot of people say don’t mix with your eyes, you should always use your ears, but the truth is we have so many amazing tools with visual feedback in today’s world. A spectrum analyzer, for example, can actually help you make better mixing decisions. I don’t think you should rely on it exclusively. Of course, you should always use your ears, but it can really be helpful in the mixing process.
So I think this is a great spectrum analyzer. It’s got lots of different options, including a sidechain input so you can route multiple tracks into it and kind of overlay the different frequency responses. It has a mastering setting where you can put it on the mix bus and see a more average, general response of your mix. I think it’s just an awesome tool and there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t download it because it’s completely free.
Number three is Flux BitterSweet.
This is a transient-shaping plugin that will allow you to artificially enhance or reduce the transients. This can be great for bringing out the punch of a kick drum or rounding off the transients if things are just poking out of a track a little bit too much. There are a lot of other transient-shaping plugins that are great, so if you have another one, I don’t know that you need this. But if you don’t have a transient shaper in your plugin library, I think this is a great one to pick up.
Free VST plugin number four is bx_solo.
This is a workhorse plugin that allows you to do some things like listen to the sides of the mix, or listen to just the middle of the mix, which can be really useful sometimes. It also has a stereo spread algorithm that allows you to adjust the width of your mix or of various tracks in your mix. So I think it’s a great tool to have. I like using it on my master bus. It’s just nice to have a button that allows you to check for mono compatibility and things like that. Not a super sexy plugin by any means, but sometimes tools like this can be great just to have for utility.
Plugin number five is the MFreeEffectsBundle by MeldaProduction. This is a bundle of free VST plugins, so not just one plugin. It’s like 20 or 30 different free VST plugins in this bundle. There’s literally everything you could ever possibly want in this bundle—compressors, EQs, pitch correction. There’s just so much awesome stuff here. MeldaProduction MFreeEffectsBundle.
So if you want to dive a little bit deeper, I put together a free PDF with five VST plugins that I use on almost every mix. So if you want to know which tools I use and recommend, this PDF is going to help you get there. So if you want to download this, just click the link in the description below or in the video and you’ll get free, instant access.
Anyways, hope you found this helpful. For mixing tips, check out BehindTheSpeakers.com. Take care.
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Looking for more? Check out this article for more free VST plugins.