Waves plugins have been around since 1992 when the company first introduced its Q10 Paragraphic EQ. The Q10 broke new technological ground as the first audio plugin ever, with sound quality comparable to, or better than, its hardware equivalents. Over…
SSL Vocalstrip 2 Review: A Powerful All-Around Vocal Processor
Vocals have always been one of the most critical elements of a song. They’re meant to tell a story, convey emotion, and take listeners on a journey through melody. The greatest songwriters of all-time nail the storytelling aspect of music…
Arturia FET 76 Review: Getting a Legendary Studio Compression Sound
Founded in 1999, Arturia began their journey in music-making software. Fast forward to the present, and they’re a celebrated producer of analog-emulated classic keyboards and synthesizers, effects, and hardware of their own. Today, we’re diving into a review of the…
The Best Brass VST Plugin Collection [FREE & PAID]
Brass can be a tough section to imitate with a plugin. As with most real instruments these days, though, there are plenty of excellent quality brass VST plugins, both free and paid. We’d recommend sifting through the list in order…
Cthulhu VST Review
Cthulhu by Xfer Records is a chord memorizer and generator. Poised to be the perfect companion for songwriting and production, is Cthulhu VST the beast it appears to be? What is Cthulhu VST? Cthulhu is firstly a chord generator. What…
reFuse Mulligan Review
reFuse Software, best known for plugins like Bucketverb and Lowender, recently released a utility app for Pro Tools. Called Mulligan, this standalone piece of software provides users a simple functional advantage over standard keyboard and mouse navigation. In this Mulligan…
21 Best FREE VST in 2023 [with Links!]
Steinberg developed Virtual Studio Technology in 1996 to bring synthesizers and effects into digital audio workstations. It’s a plugin format that numerous major DAWs host, like Ableton, Logic, FL Studio, Digital Performer, and Reaper, amongst others. VST instruments are a…
13 Best Vocal Plugins For Home Studios in 2023
When it’s time to mix a singer, you should be armed with some of the best vocal plugins you can get your hands on! We’ll be looking at a variety of compressors, EQs, and other plugins that really shine on…
McDSP FutzBox Review: The Ultimate All-in-One Distortion Designer
Messing up audio signals can be a lot more fun than making them sound pretty. Not only is it a good time, but it’s often a stylistic necessity, especially in the realm of post-production. The FutzBox by McDSP is a…
The 12 Best UAD Plugins in 2023
Universal Audio has a decades-long reputation as one of the premier manufacturers of pro audio equipment. Bill Putnam started the company in 1958 and was a pioneer his entire life. Putnam designed many products under different companies throughout the course…
AU vs VST: What Are Audio Units?
Plugins come in various formats, with Audio Units being specially designed for Mac operating systems. Introduction: What Are Audio Units Audio Units (AU) are simply a type of plugin. They’re one of the most popular formats alongside VST2 (Virtual Studio…
11 Best Saturation VST Plugins Available 2023
Saturation is the secret weapon for adding some grit back to pristine digital recordings. Whether you just want to add a bit of body and richness to an instrument, or make it unrecognizable with blazing distortion, saturation is one of…
8 Best Bass Guitar VSTs in 2023 [Free & Paid]
Virtual Studio Technology (VST), developed by Steinberg in 1996, is a plugin format compatible with a majority of DAWs and operating systems. VSTs include both effects and software instruments, and it’s the closest thing we have to a universal plugin…
What Is the Best 1176 Plugin? (Our Top 6 Favorite Compressors)
The best 1176 plugin will become a go-to on just about every mix. There’s good reason why it’s one of the most famous compressors of all time, and in plugin format, you can use it everywhere. What Is an 1176…
Is Waves Vocal Rider the Solution to Levels?
Vocal levels are one of the most important things to get right. Even with all the compressors in the world, nothing compares to putting in the work and riding the fader — automating the levels in each part of the…
8 Best Orchestral VST For Any Budget (2023)
You might be surprised how often software instruments make it into final productions. Plenty of TV shows and small-budget films infrequently use live orchestras for their scores anymore, simply because the cost and time demand is too great. The same…
Flanger vs. Phaser: What’s the Difference?
Two of the most common modulation effects are flanger vs. phaser. We’ve heard both all over various recordings, and they do have a similar sound. This lends itself to some confusion, but if you know the subtle differences between each,…
FabFilter vs. iZotope Plugins for Music Production
When it comes to mixing and mastering, we have access to hundreds of amazing plugins from many companies. We collect our favorites from a variety of developers since there’s no be-all-end-all plugin maker. However, an interesting debate we’ve occasionally seen…
The 15 Best Filter Plugin VSTs in 2023 [Free & Paid]
Filter plugins are one of the easiest effects to use that can have a huge impact on how something sounds. As a form of EQ, filters help you shape the frequency content of an instrument. In the simplest terms, they…
9 Best Stereo Imaging Plugins Available [FREE & PAID]
Stereo imaging is a pivotal part of any mix. It mostly has to do with with the spatial locations of each sound source, both side-to-side and front-to-back. A well-mixed stereo image means listeners can easily identify where sounds are coming…
Celemony Melodyne 5 Review
For over 20 years, Melodyne has been the not-so-secret weapon behind pristine vocal and instrumental performances. Celemony’s founder, Peter Neubäcker, started developing the Melodyne concept in 1997. Three years later he began the company, and in 2001, industry-changing software was…
12 Best EQ Plugins in 2023 [Free & Paid]
Equalization is one of the most powerful tools we have as mixers. It can make instruments sound better, make instruments sound different, carve out space in a mix, add clarity, remove muddiness, and so much more. In that sense, the flexibility of…
Soundtoys Little AlterBoy Review: The Best Pitch Shifter VST?
Little AlterBoy by Soundtoys is a “monophonic voice manipulator” for vocal pitch/formant shifting, hard-tune effects, and more. Like the rest of the Soundtoys plugin library, it offers a distinct and intuitive layout that’s as powerful as it is easy to…
10 Best Limiter Plugins in 2023 [FREE & PAID]
Limiters are awesome plugins for catching a signal’s highest peaks in a way that doesn’t ruin the overall tonality and balance of an instrument, group, or mix. Here is a modest sample of 10 of the best limiter plugins out…
Seventh Heaven Reverb | Convolution Reverbs
LiquidSonics Seventh Heaven reverb is a plugin reproduction of the Bricasti M7 hardware unit. The company is known for their superior convolution modeling, which Seventh Heaven has in spades! Seventh Heaven Reverb: A Convolution Masterpiece Convolution digitally simulates an actual…
Baby Audio: Parallel Aggressor Plugin | Demo & Giveaway
Baby Audio: Comeback Kid Plugin | Demo & Giveaway
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Nugen Audio Focus Bundle Demo & Giveaway
Stock Plugins vs. Third Party Plugins | FAQ Friday
How to Tune Vocals
Vocal tuning can really be as simple or as complex as you’d like it to be. Real-time pitch correction with plugins like Auto-Tune or Waves Real-Time is very effective, especially when working with a solid vocalist. In these instances, you…