Best plug to add 'hair' to a track

[mjc]

Another thumbs up for Alloy, though I use it more for Mastering the final mix.
Izotope's Nectar can do the necessary on a vocal;
I've had quite a lot of success with Blue Cat's Gain when I got a great vocal performance with too little of same (good singer, bad mic technique!).
And Character from Noveltech is quite subtle.

Mike

[mikehalloran]

I like Alloy.

Here's a link for those like me that never heard of Alloy:
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/alloy/

Ah... where were my manners? Thanks for correcting my oversight.

Izotope's Nectar can do the necessary on a vocal;

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/nectar/

There is overlap among Nectar, Alloy and Ozone 5 Advanced. I don't see myself updating to Alloy 2 for a while - other priorities at the moment.
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/

[Dwetmaster]

...I don't see myself updating to Alloy 2 for a while - other priorities at the moment.
http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/

That's what I thought but since I've upgraded, I find it is still a step up in clarity of the UI of the plug in. I find it now easier to get from A to B without fiddling too much...

And they now have a gazillion presets that are great starting points...

[Kubi]

Slate Digital VCC and VTM. Game-changing plugs, IMO. Very subtle effect, yet not subtle at all. Not cheap and not easy on the machine, but man are they worth it... still have a sale going on.
http://www.slatedigital.com

For slightly more obvious effects, I turn to SoundToys Decapitator, or the already mentioned Devil-Loc Deluxe (which can go from subtle to ridiculous), or to one of the more "vibey" Softube or Abbey Road compressors/EQs. Also, Kush Audio UBK-1 can be the ticket sometimes.

Mixing in a hair of over-compressed, distorted track (also already mentioned earlier in this thread) is another great technique, use that a lot, in addition to the plugs listed.

Also, it's really helpful to have one great Neve-style preamp on hand. If you can't afford one now, it's something to work towards. Either record through it on the way in, or, provided your AD/DA conversion is good, pipe tracks out through the pre and back in. Works miracles on sampled or synth tracks, better than any plug-in.

[mikebeckmotu]

Here are a few I'm remembering that could possibly work, and I'll try to avoid ones that were already mentioned. Some of them are not yet 64-bit, and there are a few free plugins.

URS - Saturation
Nomad Factory - various plugins have tube simulation in them (see the Analog Signature Pack and Analog Trackbox), and the BlueTubes collection has a Valve Driver effect
AirWindows - Iron Oxide, Density (free), Drive (free)
TriTone Digital - ColorTone
Voxengo - VariSaturator, Warmifier, Tube Amp (free)
SKnote - Roundtone
Mellowmuse - SATV Saturator
WaveArts - Tube Saturator
CamelAudio - CamelPhat and CamelCrusher (free)
Togu Audio Line - TAL-tube (free)
OHM Force - OHMicide and Predatohm
Waves - Kramer Master Tape
SPL - TwinTube
DP's Preamp-1

[AnthonyS]

Phil:

+1 on the Devil-Loc. As MLC said, it's 32-bit. I didn't see in your specs what ver DP you're running.

I also like Kramer Master Tape. I push it a little to get some "hair". Also McDSP's FutzBox can do some interesting things, from subtle to extreme.

Also look into the Antares Avox EVO Vocal Toolkit. www.audiomidi.com has no brainers of some of the individual plugs from the bundle. I particularly like "Warm" the tube saturation emulator, and there's also one called "Punch" which looks pretty interesting.


Good luck....

[kgdrum]

URS Saturation is also 32bit with many users wondering if they'll ever be updated to 64bit.........

[philbrown]

Thanks for all the good input everyone! Right now I'm personally doing a bunch of audio work that doesn't need 'hair' and some live gigs before I get back to the projects that this applies to. Several plugs have been mentioned that I already own but hadn't thought of in this context, which is nice.