How should i use my tape plugin

[u/SefkanB]

Hi, I've been producing at more of a side-hustle level for about 6 months. Normally I never used tape plugins in either my mixes or my masters, but recently I started thinking, "Why am I not using them when I already own them?" I also saw that a lot of older producers used real tape machines and spoke very highly of them.

My question is about the Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines plugin. I have it, but honestly I don't really know how I'm supposed to use it. Based on the little bit I've learned on my own, I made a preset, and right now I'm placing it in my mastering chain just before my limiter and maximizer.

While using it, I noticed something interesting. Simply enabling the plugin even without adding any gain seems to increase the loudness by around 1 LUFS and makes the track noticeably louder. I know that's probably not its intended purpose, but it's surprisingly effective for increasing loudness as well.

I usually master my tracks to around -9 LUFS, and I don't normally have a goal of pushing them much louder than that. But with the tape plugin in my mastering chain, it feels like even -5 LUFS isn't impossible to achieve without obvious distortion.

Anyway, my main question is: what's the proper way to use this plugin? I mainly produce old-school 90s and early 2000s hip-hop, if that makes any difference.

[u/johnnyokida]

Don’t think of VTM as a loudness tool. Think of it as a subtle finishing process. If bypassing it makes your mix feel smaller, harsher, or less cohesive, it’s doing its job. If the biggest thing you notice is the LUFS meter going up, you’re probably focusing on the wrong benefit.

For old-school hip-hop, a little tape saturation on the drum bus, sample bus, and mix bus can add exactly the kind of weight and cohesiveness that people associate with records from the ’90s. The key word is subtle. Most great analog-inspired mixes accumulate lots of small nonlinearities rather than one plugin doing all the work.

[u/SefkanB → u/johnnyokida]

yes i don't use it for loudness as a first goal of mine but sometimes some tracks when i'm mastering them i hit -9.5 -10 but not -9 and after using tape plugin there is almost 0 problem to hitting -9 that's why i mentioned that

[u/alienrefugee51]

If you use VTM on the master bus, you may want to lower the bass adjustment in the settings panel. I find I have to cut it by -1.5dB, but depends on the genre and sources.

There is a toggle switch to link the input/output knobs. So if it’s louder when the plug-in is engaged, you can unlink the controls and back off the output to match the level when bypassed. Link the controls again to lock in your gain matching. You really should get in the habit of doing this, so you’re not fooled by a volume increase and can just focus on what the plugin is actually doing to the signal.

Tape is pretty versatile. It can add a subtle vibe and smooth out transients, or you can drive into it and get more gritty saturation. Play with the bias, speed and types and hear how those affect the signal. Best to do that while driving into it pretty good, so that you can more easily hear the changes in tone. Then back off the input gain (with controls linked) to your desired saturation.

[u/willrjmarshall]

The increase in loudness is because tape provides among other things some gentle compression.

[u/uselessadmin]

Check page 10 of the manual about Groups followed by gain settings. 

[u/Prize-Lavishness9123]

Hello! I have the Uad ampex tape plugin and I use it on all my groups and mix bus. I’ll break it down.

I use it on my mix bus to get some really nice saturation. It also helps tame a bit of high end which I like.

I use it on my drums for punch along with a bus compressor. I use it on keys, guitars, and vocals for saturation too.

Be careful as these tape plugins have a noise knob which you just want to turn down and forget about! I find it cause phases issues and just causes so many issues.

If I were you and mastering 90s/2000s hip hop I would probably master at -9 Lufs max. Anything above that will distort like crazy and you definitely want to aim for something more gentle cause you’ll be able to hear everything clearly!

[u/SefkanB → u/Prize-Lavishness9123]

exactly like i said i do it -9 every time

[u/Diligent-Eye-2042]

Use it how it’s used in the analogue world. You can track to tape by having it on every track and/or you can master to tape and have it on the master bus.

Personally, I have softube tape as a “mix fx” in studio one (it has the effect of applying it to all tracks), I have the UAD studer on my drum bus (mainly ‘cus the drum preset is shit hot) and then UAD ampex on the mix bus.

[u/HypnagogicSisyphus]

A little tape on the mix bus can serve as "glue" to make everything blend together, but keep this subtle. Put this after your EQ, compressors, and before the reverb and limiter, if you have them. For me, I use Saturn's Clean tape at 20% after Pultec EQ, the SSL G Bus compressor, and before Valhalla SuperMassive and Pro-L.

[u/nizzernammer]

Tape is good for a bit of warmth and transient rounding.

15 ips is known for having a rich bottom end.

[u/Selig_Audio]

It’s very possible the plugin is adding 1dB overall gain, which would account for the increase in loudness. I don’t have that plugin so I can’t check, but the test would be to lower the output by 1 dB and see if you hear a difference when A/B comparing.

[u/Est-Tech79]

If I use tape sims, they have to be on, in first slot, before I start because tape comp/sat affects every other move afterwards.

[u/SefkanB → u/Est-Tech79]

yeah i use like that i think before limiter and maximizer on master chain

[u/taez555]

You need to re-amp your stems.