Top 5 Pro Tools Template: Guy Gray

It’s a one size fits all pro strip; a powerful and flexible little mixing console in one plugin. I use it on particular projects especially if they’re looking for more of an analogue-sounding throwback. A lot of my clients really like the analogue sound, maybe because they’re older and they’ve been part of that industry evolution. A lot of the records that were made, back in the day, were done on magnetic tape and some clients want to recreate that aesthetic – that warm saturated old classic sound – even though today they’ve probably recorded it super clean at 96kHz in Pro Tools. If they indicate in any way that they want a more analogue sounding mix, then I’ll definitely go to that URS Pro Strip. There’s so many custom features on it, the way you can configure it. The tape head saturation simulation input stage is amazing and it’s got so many different combinations, while the EQ is beautifully sweet and subtle. The sidechain compression is really nice too.

A great brick wall limiter, intuitive and easy to use. In terms of, transparency, loudness and dynamic control, it’s a winner. Some people might say, ‘Hey you’re a mix guy, why are you using a brick wall limiter?’ I like to incorporate it on my mix bus for creating semi-mastered pieces of work plus there’s the bonus of it avoiding any unwanted mix bus clipping. I really love using this limiter when delivering listening or work-in-progress mixes for my clients. When activated, it gives me an indication on how the mix would sound when professionally mastered. For me, it’s important to get that right in terms of delivering the mix to them and having the loudness there from the get go. Outside the mix art itself, your work is already sounding finished and broadcast ready when comparing it to other industry releases.

For me, it’s the Swiss Army knife of EQs. It’s my dependable go-to. I’ve tried most EQs when I work in other studios but I always tend to fall back on this one. I love the shelving and mid-range. When you grab somewhere between 2k to 4k, you just give it a little gain, it pokes its head out of the mix just beautifully. It’s a really wonderful EQ for working on frequency matching too, which I do a lot of when I’m mixing. By frequency matching I mean tuning the tone to make sure the track sits in its correct pocket in the mix and that it can be heard over all, depending on what it is, whether it’s hard rock or a ballad, or even if we’re mixing film music, it will just give the track the right frequency nudge so it can be heard, where it just sticks its head out. The Renaissance EQ always packs a punch!