PERFECT (VIRTUAL) CHANNEL STRIPS
What is a channel strip? Descending from a time of outboard equipment and audio engineers having to physically turn dials to craft their mixes, this hands-on approach has been appearing more frequently in the virtual world. Is this a useful approach that will become cemented in your workflow or is it a trend that won’t stick?
When crafting and mixing sounds digitally we can be overwhelmed by the number of tools at our disposal. It can be a nice starting point to have all you need within a single plug-in window. A channel strip plugin does exactly that, making for a straightforward and fast workflow. It gives you the majority of the tools you need for a given situation – only a ‘drag and drop’ away. For example: in a vocal chain, having an EQ, two compressors and a de-esser all in a convenient interface means that you are poised, effortlessly ready to rock.
By approaching a mix with a single channel strip window, you have a no-distraction environment and can instantly get in the headspace of a pro audio engineer. Instead of aimlessly swapping in and out individual plugins trying to shape a sound, channel strips force you to have a preconceived idea for the desired sound. By already having a rough idea of what EQ and compression move you want to make and having space, time and modulation tools on tap, channel strips provide what you need in one place. These plugins are a great way to get you away from the trial and error
