10 Of The Best Soundtoys Mixing Presets

Haven’t used Soundtoys plugins for mixing before? Here are a few mixing plugin secrets, and not-so-“secret secrets”, that can boost your creativity.

Soundtoys plugins are widely known for their creative effects, but a lot of their internal processes and presets are actually designated for mixing. One big factor for this is that the plugins emulate the saturation and color characteristics of vintage analog gear. In this new “Ten of the Best” we break down our go-to Soundtoys mixing presets and apply them to various parts.

The Vermont-based effects gurus are currently offering a Holiday Sale of up to 75% off until January 5th, so don’t miss the chance to add these amazing tools to your plugin arsenal!

There are discounts on each individual plugin and the full bundle – normally worth $500 – is on sale for $249. 

Plus you can get Little Radiator FOR FREE!

We’ll be using a quickly whipped-up mix as an example for how to use the presets across different stems.

As a preview, here’s the mix with all Soundtoys plugins bypassed:

And here it is with all instances active:

Drum Enhancer 3 – Filterfreak1

$149 (On Sale for $39)

FilterFreak boasts some crazy filter modulation effects, but it’s also a powerful tool for enhancing rhythmic parts. The Drum Enhancer 3 presets adds power to a groove by emphasizing each hit via envelope-responsive filter movement. This could also be applied to harmonic-rhythmic parts like synths, chord stabs and basslines!

Here’s the drum top loop without Filterfreak:

And here’s the same loop with the plugin active:

DrumFattener2 – Decapitator

$199 (On Sale for $69)

Decapitator is one of the most popular saturation plugins around. A big reason for this is its extensive selection of analog saturation models. The appropriately named DrumFattener2 preset is among multiple drum-focused presets on offer and it works like magic on a drum bus! 

Here is our drum bus without Decapitator

And here are the drums with the plugin active:

FatSlap ADSR – Filterfreak1

$149 (On Sale for $39)

Now moving onto the bassline, FilterFreak1 also has some great bass presets. One of the best FatSlap ADSR, which immediately introduces an envelope-following wah-wah effect. However, since we’re doing mixing and not production, we can lower the resonance and use the envelope movement to simply add a bit of grit to each bass note.

Here’s the bass without FatSlap:

And here it is with Filterfreak active:

BitOfGrit – Little Radiator

$79 (On Sale for FREE! JUST ADD TO CART!)

Now that we’re into grit territory, we can use Little Radiator’s BitOfGrit preset to beef up the bassline even further. If you’re looking for some quick saturation to bring a bit of life to any part, you can’t really go wrong with this setting.

Here’s the bass with the BitOfGrit preset:

Here are the bass and drums without the four presets we’ve added so far:

And here they are with all four presets active:

BGV Thickener – Microshift

$99 (On Sale for $39)

Microshift is the not-so-secret weapon of many mix engineers who want to add presence to any part using stereo width. Have no doubt that this plugin is used even in the most high-end mixes. BGV Thickener is one of the best presets for the job and we’ll give it a try on both a pad and a shaker loop. 

Here’s the mix with the dry pad and shaker parts:

And here it is with BGV Thickener applied to both parts:

You can hear that the pad immediately becomes massive and the shaker becomes more crispy. 

Stereoizer 2 – Echoboy

$199 (On Sale for $69)

Speaking of stereo width, Echoboy’s short delays are a great alternative to chorus plugins. This plugin is known for amazing delays and reverbs but some of the delay presets are easy shortcuts to thick stereo imaging. 

Here are some vocals added to the mix, without Stereoizer 2

And here is the mix with Echoboy active

Echo Boy’s Galaxy – Echoboy

$199 (On Sale for $69)

Another Echoboy classic is the Echo Boy’s Galaxy preset! This immediately adds a long dub-style delay to any sound and even subtle use of it introduces a whole new ambience. 

Here’s a pad sound without Echoboy active:

And here it is with the delay:

Bass EdgyMix – Devil-Loc Deluxe

$99 (On Sale for $39)

Devil-Loc Deluxe boasts extreme compression and distortion based on the notorious vintage Level-Loc compressor. The Deluxe version comes with handy Mix and Darkness controls as well. Used frequently to beef up drums, Devil-Loc is also perfect for adding subtle drive and compression to lead parts to bring them out in the mix. We’ll test the Bass EdgyMix preset out on a piano riff!

Here’s the piano and the mix without Devil-Loc

And here’s the mix with Devil-Loc active on the piano:

Simply Devil-Loc – EffectRack

$299 (On Sale for $149)

EffectRack one of Soundtoys’ best ever contributions to the plugin-verse. It allows the user to combine different Soundtoys plugins and comes with a ton of crazy presets. We’ll use one of the more basic ones – Simply Devil-Loc – on the Master channel. This is essentially a Devil-Loc Deluxe preset that mixes in a tiny bit of the plugin’s drive and compression. It’s a good option for upward compression, which brings quieter parts out more when applied to a full mix.

Here’s the mix without Simply Devil-Loc:

And here it is with EffectRack active:

Air Plate – Little Plate

$99 (On Sale for $49)

Little Plate is one of our favorite types of plugins, because it delivers big results with only a few controls. It’s three knobs are enough to make it sound like a high-end reverb unit! The Air Plate preset introduces a plate-style reverb with all low frequencies cut, adding air to high frequencies without any low end rumble. We’ll try it out on the Master Channel so that it effects the full mix.

Here’s the mix without Little Plate

And here it is with the reverb active:

Soundtoys are currently offering a Holiday Sale of up to 75% off until January 5th. Find out more at soundtoys.com.

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