Session Log - Plugins: Which, When and Why?

Once upon a time, I was giving a mixing seminar in Europe when an innocent young soul asked, “I don’t see you using plugins that emulate the original hardware. Why is that?” I answered, “Young man, it is because I have the original hardware.” We laughed.

Today many younger producers and audio engineers have never seen or had the pleasure of using the original hardware that the plugins in their plugin folders emulate.

Of course, everyone loves plugins, myself included. But as with most things, quality matters more than quantity. The tools are only as good as the people using them and having more plugins does not make for a better mix.