MIX TUTORIAL - Plini Guitar Tones

"Archetype: Plini", presets + free trial : bit.ly/2Xon7pv
My Presets - bit.ly/PliniSim...
Neural DSP - neuraldsp.com
A guide to dialling mix-ready tones for Plini's tune "Salt + Charcoal". All the presets made in this video are available with the latest version of the plug-in.
simongrove.com/
/ nervestudios
/ simongrove
www.plini.co/
/ plini
/ plini
Shot & edited by Jamie McVicker / Monomyth Film
© 2019.

[@simongrove]

My studio and touring schedule doesn't really allow me to offer proper one-on-one regular lessons, so I'm always gauging if people enjoy these sort of videos from time to time. Please let me know what you think in these comments.

[@stevenjones3888]

I...NEEDED this. Thank you so much Simon. I tip my hat to you sir. PLEASE do more of these. ANY AND ALL information you give is greatly needed and appreciated. You're a gentleman and a scholar lol

[@Chrs.towper]

Lessons like this would be great. More like this please :)

[@kylehamm8928]

This was absolutely incredible! Thank you

[@akashkaliraj9102]

It will be great

[@Astral_Wave]

Please do

[@bubblytar]

PLEASE continue making more videos like this, I learned so much just from this video and would love to see more :)

[@simongrove]

timothy recio awesome! Glad you learnt something dude :)

[@DroneCorpse]

I want to be like Simon Grove when I grow up.

[@simongrove]

Sid R. Me too 🤔

[@juansosarosell]

I love the sound of "Impulse Voices"... I first assumed it was recorded in a large studio, the drums sound is awesome... then I realized the record was done "at home" and mixed by you... wow! Any chance you could do another tutorial on mixing that record (or at least one song)... I´m mostly interested in your drum treatment, samples used, processing... Cheers from Mexico!

[@JosephFacer]

This is gold, thanks for sharing Simon! It would be really cool to see the actual album tones and how you set those up with the Helix, but I definitely get why you went with the Archetype for the video.

[@simongrove]

Thanks man. Honestly the Helix Native approach was similar but I just used some different routing and a handful of other companies plugins after it such as reverb/delay sends, compressors and EQ's which I'd do almost always for workflows sake. I will say this plugin genuinely sounds great straight off the bat and saves me a lot of time which was why I was able to cover such a wide array of tones in such a short time.

[@JoaoVitor-nq1bu]

@@simongrove Were the guitars on the original tracks going through an Axe Fx or the Helix Native?

[@JosephFacer]

@@simongrove That makes sense. I've been hesitant to get into amp plug-ins just because I love playing through and recording physical amps and cabs, but the Archetype would definitely be the one to change my mind on that. Thanks for the response! Looking forward to more stuff like this when you have the time.

[@simongrove]

João Vítor Helix Native

[@simongrove]

Joseph Facer It is definitely a cluttered and unpredictable world of amp sims out there. This plugin in particular is definitely a great place to start. Grab a trial and see if it’s something that you might enjoy using. The flexibility to tweak tones as you mix or automate settings throughout a song are some of the major advantages vs traditional amp setups. Thanks for your comments! Cheers.

[@kieranvsmithmusic]

The one down vote hates Crumpet :( Sick video like always my dude

[@simongrove]

Thanks BAHD 😘

[@calgone93]

11:48 is next level shit.

[@robertpaten]

Thank you for sharing your thought process behind all of your decisions. Found this really helpful

[@ThreeUnremarkableWords]

Thanks so much for the video! It's extremely informative I keep coming back to it for inspiration on dialing amp sims, even though I don't even have the Neural DSP Plini plugin.

[@spensershepard1043]

absolutely love your presets on the archetype: Plini. they are currently my favorite tones.

[@lllazarrr]

Fantastic tutorial. Informative, detailed, clear, and easy to follow. Well done, and thank you!

[@SirKoltran]

This video was the helpiest so far. I've purchased Plini plugin few days ago and this little masterclass has taught me enough to start new patches instead of being just a preset hunter. Thanks a lot Simon!

[@rithwiksathyan1827]

Thank you so much for this, this really opened up my eyes to a lot of places I was using my plugins wrong!! Would you at some point consider doing a workflow video where you run through a song exactly as it was produced for the album? It's obviously a massive amount of work and probably isn't worth it for you, but maybe just something that would be cool to watch!

[@simongrove]

Rithwik Sathyan hey awesome! Glad you dig it. I recorded and mixed a lot of that record on the road when it was already on a tight deadline so the sessions for Sunhead are an absolute mess for the most part haha. I’m not sure if it would educate or just confuse people. Maybe I’ll get them cleaned up and organised one day and do something like you suggested!

[@ParthDhupkar]

hey simon please keep doing these videos. they are very helpful. learning so much from you. your big fan :-)

[@Japfiio]

That was super insightful! Would love to know and see what happens for the other instruments as well. Almost wanted to hear the clips of each isolated tones a little longer! 🙂

[@twostep919]

Love this and the way you explain, very clear and helpful!

[@Sals37]

We need a drum/everything else mixi tutorial!

[@hugocadilhon4942]

Thank you so very muching for sharing this. It will be put to good use !!!!!

[@simongrove]

Hugo Cadilhon thanks for watching!

[@TheAlbiCollier]

You guys look like a winning combination excellence all round!

[@flomuller3]

Seriously invaluable teachings, great stuff - and I'm not even an audio engineer myself :D

[@ryantaylor1522]

Would you typically apply duplicate settings to both guitars in a double track, or would you make subtle tweaks between the two?

[@simongrove]

Ryan Taylor duplicate settings almost always.

[@mikhaelRSK]

this is incredible... thank you Simon!!!

[@bassm302000]

Awesome information. Thanks for sharing.

[@isaacferguson8241]

Loved this!! Thanks a tonne Simon and Plini

[@simongrove]

Isaac Ferguson thank you dude :)

[@InPieces87]

This realy helps me with my own mixes! Great job man, i realy appreciate it! :D

[@nangalatheone]

Just perfect ! Thanks !

[@memeii1554]

this was super insightful, thanks!

[@erikarko]

Awesome video, man! :)

[@milimaximus1624]

quite insightful. Seems about time that I upgrade my own recording device/setup. Very informative thank you!

[@simongrove]

Mili Maximus you don’t need much money or gear to sound great these days. My set up is because I do this for a living, but you can do some great things with a small interface, some cheap speakers/headphones and focusing on the details with your ears :)

[@milimaximus1624]

@@simongrove Thanks for your response! Yeah, I've been doodling with the same setup since 2005, so a little upgrade can go a long way :D

[@andresdotwav]

beautiful. thank you!

[@MohaiminulIslamra]

We would really like some artistic tips using stock plugins. Really like your sound.

[@kagancakirmusic]

Hi Simon. First of all, I wonder whether you use DI box when recording directly cuz I get some serious problems (clipping at minimal input gain, feedbacks) when I record directly (scarlett 2i2) with archetype plini plugin. Secondly, could you explain roughly your master bus settings as well? Thank you for the video. Its very helpful 😇

[@Forsvinne77]

This is so sick, thanks.

[@simongrove]

Rafael S. glad you dig it man! :)

[@richsimplereason]

This is amazing! Your live sound has always been top notch. Any tips on how you guys achieve that?

[@jimifriedman18]

Hey Simon what speakers are using when you handle mixes? And do you use headphones at all?

[@leongrinberg8758]

I didn't know that you use delay and reverb as part of the plugin, in general Most producers use to put an ambience effects as a send bus

[@aaronashear3002]

super helpful!

[@rafaelfreitasmusic]

Great video, learnt a lot! Looking forward to a similar video for your bass tones aswell :)

[@danimourinho]

great job dudes!

[@simongrove]

danimourinho thank you!

[@traced_in_dreams]

Simon, love the videos man. Lots of great info! Thank you! I have a question though. What desk do you have? Been looking for something similar.

[@Domino81]

I assume to re-create the tone live, a backing track is used? I saw Plini/Mestis on this latest touring cycle in Philly (I drove 5 hours to get to that show) Sounded great.

[@simongrove]

Anthony Christiano usually Plini will dial in his tones at home through headphones/speakers and then double check things and make adjustments in rehearsal when we’re playing at gig volume. It’s also nice to get the opinion of our live engineer to get things balanced properly at soundcheck etc Glad you enjoyed the show, thanks for coming!

[@oneandonlyarajivp]

Hi, this is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing all this knowledge. I've tried this plini archetype plugin but it was quite laggy - too laggy for me to play my guitar through it. Any idea of how to fix this please? Thanks.

[@mrcoatsworth429]

Not gonna lie, I came back a few times for the small dog alone.

[@JustinErinn]

This is incredible!!! Thanks so much for this video!!! I record with a similar setup and have a question regarding tracking guitars with UAD/Logic. Could you share some insight into how you track guitars through your Apollo into Logic without being able to monitor fx plugins like Archetype? When not using axe fx/helix do you generally record everything DI without fx and re-amp it later or is there a work around to monitor those plugins while recording?

[@cryforsanity7514]

Thank you for the great tutorial. Hope that the like button still works 'cos I smashed the living sh*t out of that.

[@proggigs]

How do you run so many instances of the plugin? Is it standard to have a big boy computer for projects with lots of CPU-intensive plugins? I've been getting away with using a laptop and freezing/disabling tracks/fx but there's gotta be a quicker way. This video was extremely eye opening though, I have only started learning this stuff and spending money on recording tools in the last half a year or so, thank you for this and for all of your radass music!

[@DomSimpsonDrums]

Do you find you get better high frequency absorption from a doggo or kitty?

[@simongrove]

Dom Simpson depends on the breed. A cloud of Ragdoll cats above the monitoring position helps tame high end with Labradors in the corners of the rooms for bass traps is a great setup but you will need extra treats when you finish a mix successfully.

[@DomSimpsonDrums]

Simon Grove thanks for clearing that up. I’m off to pet barn!

[@MrChairDrums]

I wanna learn this song on my guitar so bad.

[@grayjackal_]

I'm mac user. I tried to decompress and I tried to install a preset. But the PKG file indicated an error. "com.apple.installer.pagecontroller ". I used "Archetype Plini - Simon Grove Presets.pkg.zip" with KEKA app to extract, and the problem disappeared. I hope you can help people with problems like me.

[@simongrove]

GRAY RECORD hey dude! Sorry about that. I’m not too sure what’s happening on your end but the Neural users group on fb is pretty fast with responses, or you could try their contact page. neuraldsp.com/contact/ I’m sure they’ll get you sorted asap!

[@timgrove3927]

C R U M P E T

[@jordanrinella8118]

You don’t low pass rhythms or high pass leads?

[@JoaoVitor-nq1bu]

This is amazing! Thank you for the lesson! Just one question, how many dBs of gain reduction do you usualy have on your master bus comp?

[@simongrove]

João Vítor I usually have it knocking off 3-4dB on the loudest parts of the mix and I regularly bounce back and forth between a ratio of 2:1 or 4:1 depending on how much I want things to breathe.

[@JoaoVitor-nq1bu]

@@simongrove Nice, thanks for answering! Just two more: Do you always prefer the 10ms to the 30ms on attack and the auto release to the 100ms? Why is that?

[@simongrove]

João Vítor 10ms is plenty of transient for me. Anything longer begins to be a little too dramatic and spiky for a master chain. Auto and the shortest release on master compression are two settings I jump back and forth between also. Again, it’s just how aggressive or natural you want things. Auto seems to be a little more subtle and gentle whilst .1 is really aggressive and sometimes a bit much for some styles of music.

[@JoaoVitor-nq1bu]

@@simongrove Awesome answer, man! Thanks a lot for sharing the knowledge. We owe you this one!

[@svarthelikoptern]

Does anyone know anything about the vocals? Is that a sample library? I'd really appreciate any suggestions. Really cool vid btw!

[@simongrove]

Thanks dude. The vocals on this track are Aleksandra Djelmas and Devesh Dayal’s actual voices with a lot of cool pitch processing and ambient fxs automated throughout to create a synth-like vibe.

[@svarthelikoptern]

@@simongrove Thank you, Simon. I really appreciate you taking time to answer my question. Big fan of your work.

[@ogulcantuncer976]

Hello, if it's possible can you share this project file? Maybe some Archetype Plini users wanna try to mix while watching this video (i do)

[@caseylockwood5512]

Presets are no longer there. Any chance of a re-upload?

[@simongrove]

They should be included in every update now. Go to the Neural website and download the latest update of the plugin. 🤙🏻

[@caseylockwood5512]

@@simongrove Oh awesome, thanks for the tip! EDIT: Yep, they are there!

[@subodhthackray]

What interface are you using to record guitar? Beginner here

[@erikarko]

Subodh Thackray He’s using Logic Pro X :)

[@simongrove]

Subodh Thackray I’m using a UA Apollo x8p. If you’re looking for something that’s more affordable for beginners, Focusrite is great. Definitely worth looking into.

[@subodhthackray]

@@simongrove Cheers dude, you're an inspiration

[@Ameller48]

DAW?

[@hallongview]

Looks like Logic. I recommend Studio One 5 though.

[@Neuri]

Sex panthers thanks