Michael George Dean, also known as Mike Dean is an American record producer from Angleton, Texas. Dean became widely known for pioneering the Dirty South sound in the 90s notably working alongside Scarface, Do or Die, Nate Dogg, Outlawz, and 2Pac. Finding his passion in mixing, producing, and mastering songs for other artists widely throughout American Hip-Hop, he is currently one of the elite producers and engineers in the music industry at the moment. His most recent work includes collaborations with artists like Kanye West, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, Frank Ocean, and Desiigner. Luckily for aspiring producers and engineers out there he recently started streaming on Twitch sharing insights into his creative process. Taking information from these streams we have collected a list of plugins used by Mike Dean.

 

Plugins used by Mike Dean

1. Renaissance Vox
2. Doubler
3. FabFilter Pro-Q3
4. Waves SSL G-Master Buss Compressor
5. L1 Ultamaximizer
6. Pultec EQP-1a
7. EQ lll
8. Brainworx bx_digital V3
9. Brainworx bx_2098 EQ
10. Ableton operator
11. Soundtoys Decapitator
12. Output Exhale
13. ACQUA – Purple3
14. Waves DeEsser
15. VisLM
16. FG-X MASTERING PROCESSOR

 

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1.Renaissance Vox

R-Vox is the go-to vocal compressor for a majority of producers and engineers worldwide. Its easy to use interface includes 3 knobs, the gate, compression, and output gain covering the most important parts of vocal processing for you.

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2.Doubler

Doubler combines delay & pitch modulations to deliver richness and outstanding texture, not only to vocals but also instruments. When you want to add a perfect chorus plugin that adds shimmer and presence to any sound, turn to Doubler.

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3.FabFilter Pro-Q3

It’s safe to say that FabFilters collection consisting out of Pro-Q3, Saturn 2, Pro-R, Pro-L2, Pro-MB, and many more belong to the elite category of mixing & mastering. Its Pro-Q3 is the best equalizer to make broad adjustments and surgical adjustments with ease, choosing between the Natural Phase, Linear Phase, and Zero Latency mode.

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4. Waves SSL G-Master Buss Compressor

Based on the famous SSL master bus compressor, capturing the unique sound of the original’s IC input and twin VCA gain-reduction amplifier. Perfect for taming piano dynamics or adding punch to your drums.

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5. L1 Ultamaximizer

This powerful industry-standard plugin consists of a limiter and an ultramaximizer, suitable for mixing & mastering. Choose between the classic Legacy and the new Modern interfaces, offering true peak domain settings and automatic release controls.

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6.Pultec EQP-1a

This unique plugin is a virtual recreation of the classic vintage unit owned by iconic producer/engineer Jack Joseph Puig (U2, Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga). Boost and cut the same frequencies simultaneously while adding the vintage imperfections to your sound.

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7.EQ lll

This full-featured 7-band EQ includes selectable shelving filters such as high-pass, low-pass, and variable Q notch filters. Its interface visualizes a fully interactive frequency graph to adjust individual EQ bands and filters from within the display.

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8.Brainworx bx_digital V3

Bx_digital reigns supreme until today with this revolutionary flagship plugin for mixing and mastering. This 11-band equalizer includes parametric bell, high- and low-shelves, high- & low-pass filters, mono, dual-mono, stereo & mid-side modes of operation. Useful for acoustic instruments, drums, mixes, and mastering chains.

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9.Brainworx bx_2098 EQ

The Brainworx bx_2098 plugin is modeled after the iconic Amek 9098 EQ, bringing a classic British hardware EQ into your DAW. Use the THD control to add analog-style harmonic distortion, full M/S capabilities to give you full control over any element in your mix, and slightly different L/R channels add to the analog stereo sound experience. Mike Dean also mentioned this is one of his favorite EQ plugins.

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10. Ableton operator

Operator blends classic analog sounds and frequency modulation synthesis together making it a great-sounding software instrument. It’s easy-to-use and perfectly integrated into Live’s interface for every producer and live performer.

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11.Soundtoys Decapitator

Soundtoys has been building its name throughout the years up to a point where artists like Mike Dean, ODESZA, Clean Bandit, and Zedd are using its plugins in their productions. Decapitator is an analog saturation modeler that uses its built-in tubes and transistors to add subtle to extreme hardware-modeled saturation.

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12.Output Exhale

This modern vocal engine captures the modern sound of today’s records and lets you tweak every aspect of it. Experiment with the included macros and FX for quick and effective processing or crazy sound-design.

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13. ACQUA – Purple3

Purple3 is a virtual collection recreated of different vintage equalizers including Purple3 P1, Purple3 PAA, Purple3 M5, Purple3 M5V, Purple3 H2, and the Purple3 HLF. Add the famous flavor of Acustica’s vintage gear to your individual sounds, mixes, and master chains.

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14.Waves DeEsser

This plugin finds the perfect balance between gain-reduction and preservation of the quality when it comes to reducing sibilance from vocals. Inspired by vintage gear specially made for vocal processing. Seeking for a surgical approach that maintains the quality? Waves DeEsser is your go-to vocal processing tool.

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15.VisLM

NUGEN Audio created a metering plugin that has a very clear and easy-to-use interface. Its unique design shows every detail of the incoming signal talking about true peak level meters, Leq measurement, and timecode locked ReMEM offering you full control of your audio.

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16.FG-X Mastering Processor

Slate Digital created the FG-X specially made to achieve a loud, and punchy masterchain without the loss of quality. Its linear interface and ultra-transparent compressor make this plugin an award-winning mastering tool. Add the last adjustments to your master without affecting its transients, dynamics, or mix balances.

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