
Gear Reviews
Written By Jeremy Chua
Valhalla Super Massive
While this isn’t news today, it is still one of my favourites tools for creating lush reverb landscapes and mind-numbing delay effects. Valhalla has always been known for their dominance in the niche of reverb and delay plug-ins, and the Super Massive is no exception despite being one of their free offerings. (Yes, it’s completely free – not one of those ‘free’ plug-ins that reserve features for its paid version). Have a quick scroll-through of the many presets that come loaded and you’ll be shocked at how good this thing sounds.
Valhalla Super Massive is available on both Mac and Windows. Download here.
iZotope Vinyl
If, like me, you find yourself craving the nostalgic sound of vinyl crackle or perhaps you just want to add some warmth and saturation to your mix bus, the iZotope Vinyl is a no-brainer. The plug-in has a simple UI that makes it easy to blend the characteristic lo-fi effects of vinyl easily into your mix like the sound of dust or electrical noise. I also like the various time-period presets that you can easily toggle between.
iZotope Vinyl is available on both Mac and Windows. Download here.
Waves Factory SK10
The SK10 by Waves Factory is a sub-kick simulator that emulates a sub-kick microphone. It features a lowpass filter knob, output knob and handy mix knob. This plug-in does not just boost sub-frequencies, but has a way of bringing out the thump from a kick drum very naturally. I find myself reaching for the SK10 on almost every track I work on with acoustic drums.
SK10 is available on both Mac and Windows. Download here.
Waves Factory SnareBuzz
Everything that Waves Factory has produced over the last couple of years have been hidden gems that I cannot live without. And we are lucky that the little company from Mallorca has decided to leave us with a few freebies. The SnareBuzz is a plug-in that ‘simulates the sympathetic resonances produced by the wires of a snare drum when another sound source is playing near’. Like me, you might read that and be skeptical at first; after all, I remember the many times I’ve had to move a snare out of a room or place something on it to dampen unwanted snare buzz from sipping into a recording. However, I’ve found that in our current world of in-the-box producing and recording, this psycho-acoustic effect, used sparingly, can completely transform your mix or production. Try it for yourself!
SnareBuzz is available on both Mac and Windows. Download here.
Slate Digital Fresh Air
The release of Slate Digital’s Fresh Air plug-in, essentially an exciter, was met with a slew of controversy with some claiming that the plug-in adds way too much presence and takes things too far. However, I’ve found Fresh Air to be an extremely powerful tool when used gently (I don’t go past 10 on the mix knobs). To my ears, Fresh Air does not just boost a frequency range but has a nice way of adding separation to your mix. This is definitely not a tool to slap on your mix bus at the end of a long day of mixing, where your ears are fatigued and you are not hearing things clearly anymore!
Fresh Air is available on both Mac and Windows. Download here.
Youlean Loudness Meter
In our current world of digital music streaming, it is more important than ever to have tools measuring perceived loudness according to the standards of streaming platforms. The Youlean loudness meter is a feature-packed LUFS meter that has been tested and calibrated against ITU-R BS2217 testing materials and meets all the compliance requirements for ITU-R BS.1770 (widely used broadcast standard). While the full paid version unlocks additional features such as A/B analysis, streaming presets and a dynamics graph, the free version gives you access to all the readouts you will need to make accurate mixing or mastering decisions, including integrated loudness, short-term loudness, loudness range, dynamic range, and true peak.
Youlean loudness meter is available on both Mac and Windows. Download here.
Voxengo SPAN
Voxengo SPAN is a full frequency spectrum analyser that can work in stereo, mid-side and surround. It features some very handy readouts like RMS, true peak, and a clear stereo correlation meter. A frequency spectrum analyser like SPAN is extremely useful for checking and confirming what you’re hearing or potentially missing, especially if your room isn’t perfect (no one’s is).
Voxengo SPAN is available on both Mac and Windows. Download here.
Flux Stereo tool
The Flux Stereo tool is a stereo analyser that gives you quick visual feedback on the phase integrity of your mix. The vector scope visual clearly displays when something is out of phase, and the included phase polarity switch allows you to flip things in and out of phase on the left or right channel within the plug-in. Simple enough, but it can be a huge time saver when working with stereo recordings since you can now quickly check your phase and correct it within a single plug-in.
Flux Stereo tool is available on both Mac and Windows. Download here.