Any audio engineer will tell you that your ear is your most important mixing tool, and they'd be right. That said, good plugins help, too, and we've tried a lot of them at Riot Anthem Studios. Here's the list of audio plugins we use to nail the mix on every video we work on.
Not that long ago, the audio plugin folder at Riot Anthem Studios was a little... full. We had subscriptions for Waves, Slate Digital, iZotope, Black Salt Audio, and more. It was a rotating collection of subscriptions that added up fast, but when the realities of bootstrapping a young business forced us to cut back, subscriptions were the first to go. That meant we had to decide what we actually needed and would commit to using on every mix (bonus points if we could use the plugins on video, podcast, and music mixes).
The good news is we were able to build a subscription-free list of plugins. The great news is that the limitations of only having a select number of plugins to choose from actually improved our mixes (limitations tend to improve creativity). The best news (especially at the time), is that the list of plugins we use is shorter and a lot less expensive than you might think.
Before spending anything on third-party plugins, it would be a good idea to explore what you already have. Every major DAW ships with EQ, compression, reverb, and limiting that are more than capable of handling audio for video. They're not always flashy, but they will get the job done.
Davinci Resolve deserves a special mention here because, along with everything you need for the video side of things, it also has a fully functional DAW built in called Fairlight. The stock plugins in the Fairlight page are all genuinely good plugins that will cover most, if not all of what you need for any video or podcast audio mix (in fact, I frequently reach for the stock limiter before any third-party limiter I have). If you're already editing in Resolve, you probably have more to work with than you realize.
Pro Tip: I actually have a YouTube channel dedicated to teaching the audio side of Davinci Resolve, and most of what I teach utilizes the stock plugins I just mentioned.
Background noise, mouth sounds, reverb, and the occasional hum are common problems that any audio editor will have to deal with. Audio cleanup is one of the first steps in the mixing process, and it's also the area where stock plugins fall short most. If you're going to invest in third-party plugins, audio cleanup is the category I'd focus on first.
iZotope RX is the industry standard for audio restoration and cleanup. It handles noise reduction, reverb reduction, de-clicking, hum removal, and more at a level nothing else quite matches. Fair warning: RX is not cheap. That being said, it is more than worth the price if audio cleanup is a regular part of your workflow (and it should be).
If RX isn't in the budget, Supertone Clear handles noise and reverb reduction well for most dialogue situations, Oeksound's Spiff is a transient shaper with a Mouth Noises preset that targets clicks, pops, and unwanted mouth sounds, and most DAWs have at least a basic set of audio cleanup tools that are worth exploring.
EQ is an essential part of any audio workflow. It helps carve out space for dialogue, increase the impact of sound effects, and even fit the music seamlessly into the background. There are more EQ plugins out there than I could possibly count, but almost all of them serve the same purpose: shaping the sound of your video. Or music. Or podcast...you get the idea.
TDR Nova is a free dynamic EQ that has made its way into almost every one of Riot Anthem Studios' mixes. It gives you 4 dynamic bands which is plenty for a lot of situations. It's perfect for smoothing out the sound on a mix bus, doing surgical cuts on vocals, and more. TDR Nova GE expands that to 6 bands and some more extra features for only $69 if you want some more flexibility.
If you're looking for an EQ plugin built specifically for dialogue, Riot DQ was built for that exact workflow. It's got 7 bands, all targeted at the frequency ranges that matter for dialogue, and they're all labeled accordingly. Following the bands in order brings you through the exact dialogue EQ workflow we use at Riot Anthem Studios. Best of all, it's only $14.99, with no subscription (affordability is kind of our thing).
For premium options, Fabfilter Pro-Q 4 runs around $199, and Slate Digital's Infinity EQ 2 is around $149. I've used them both, and they are both excellent EQs, with dynamic bands, mid/side options, and a near-limitless amount of bands available (which can be a double-edged sword if you're new to mixing audio). When it comes to audio for video, they are fairly interchangeable. It really just depends on your interface and workflow preference.
Compression is quite possibly one of the most misunderstood plugin categories in audio. Essentially, compression controls the relationship between the loudest and quietest parts of your audio. On individual tracks, compression keeps voices at a consistent level, adds punch to sound effects, and can even be used to duck music behind audio elements that need to stand out in the mix (this is called ducking, and can be done using a method called sidechaining, which is a topic for a whole different article). On the mix bus, compression can add a subtle glue to your overall mix, bringing everything together as one cohesive soundscape.
My favorite compressors for individual tracks, and the ones we use on almost every mix at Riot Anthem Studios, are the 1176 and LA-2A compressors (both are available for free through the UAD Explore bundle). Both compressors are known and trusted worldwide across music and video. The 1176 is a fast, punchy compressor, which is perfect for controlling peaks in dialogue. The LA-2A is slower and smoother than the 1176, which is great for getting more consistent audio levels without over-squashing anything. I'll frequently use both back-to-back on a dialogue track to get nice, even dialogue on a podcast or talking-head video.
For the mix bus, TDR Kotelnikov is a compressor made specifically for the mix bus or master bus. It's a transparent digital compressor, which makes it particularly well-suited for video work. It glues everything together while keeping everything sounding natural. Best of all? Kotelnikov is completely free.
When it comes to video, reverb is mostly used in sound design to add depth to a sound effect, or in mixing to fit a voice or piece of foley naturally into a scene (this comes up a lot in ADR situations, where a line is recorded in a studio to replace what was said on location). That being said, when I do reach for reverb, I always find myself grabbing one of two plugins.
Magic-7 Reverb by Wave Alchemy is a free reverb plugin with a lot of included impulse responses, and it allows you to add additional impulse responses, which is great news for anyone who happens to have a collection of Bricasti impulses sitting in a folder on their computer (cough, cough, Riot Anthem Studios). Think of it as a free version of Verbsuite Classics from Slate Digital, which is great, but typically costs around $150.
UAD's Pure Plate Reverb is also a great professional reverb that gives you clean results without a lot of fuss. Plus, it's available for free through the UAD Explore bundle. Pure Plate Reverb has quickly become a mainstay in my mixes, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Delay isn't an effect that's needed on every mix, but when it is, it's typically needed with very specific parameters. Valhalla Delay comes with every delay type you'll ever need for audio work, and the settings to dial everything in exactly how you need it. Plus it's only $50, so it's kind of a no-brainer.
Something worth mentioning: Pure Plate Reverb from UAD also has some delay presets, so if you can't shell out $50 for Valhalla Delay, that will do in a pinch, and it may have enough of what you need to justify not spending any money on a dedicated delay plugin.
Limiting is one of the last things I do before exporting a mix. Its job is to control the peaks in the overall mix while bringing the level up to platform standards (check out our guide on loudness standards here).
The stock limiter in Davinci Resolve's Fairlight page handles this well. It's transparent, accurate, and free if you're already working in Davinci Resolve or Davinci Resolve Studio. For most audio-for-video work, it's all I need.
In case you're not working in Davinci Resolve, and the stock limiter in your DAW is leaving a little to be desired, bx_limiter True Peak by Brainworx is one of the best third-party limiters I've ever used, and it can often be found for $30 to $40, which makes it an easy addition to any plugin toolkit.
There are a couple of plugins that Riot Anthem Studios uses frequently enough to be mentioned that don't necessarily fit neatly into the categories I listed in this article.
DSR from Black Salt Audio is the most straightforward, easy-to-use de-esser ever created. All of Black Salt Audio's plugins are great, but they're made with music in mind. DSR is the one that can transcend music and audio for video work, and I'm so happy that it can. DSR makes it onto every single mix across music, podcast, and video at Riot Anthem Studios.
RESO from Mastering the Mix handles resonant frequencies (the more popular version of this plugin would be soothe3 from Oeksound). RESO is particularly useful on the mix bus, where I'll place it after the limiter to help tame any tonal buildup that came up during mastering (That workflow might get me some hate, but hey, whatever works). At $81, RESO is on the pricier side of Riot Anthem Studios' go-to plugins, but as far as I'm concerned, the price is completely justified.
Whether you use stock plugins, subscription plugins, or the plugins mentioned in this article, the goal is the same: to make a video sound so good that it's completely unnoticeable by whoever is watching (unless you're an audio guy. We notice everything). The best mixes don't come from the plugins; they come from the people who use them.
If you'd rather skip the learning curve and hand the audio off to someone who already has this dialed in, Riot Anthem Studios handles mixing and mastering for YouTube creators and video podcasters. Give us a shout!