Why you don't need to buy that shiny new plugin

The pull of new products will always be there, but there’s value in saving your money

New products fall on the guitar market like rain in my home city of Manchester. It’s relentless. Software companies will tell you their latest compressor/EQ pedal is the best thing since sliced bread, and that it makes things easier than ever to get mix-ready tones, and maybe it will. But there are pitfalls in that, too.

In-built DAW software

Whether you use Pro Tools, Cubase, Logic, Reaper, or whatever else, all these DAWs have plugins – from compressors to delays, reverbs, and envelope filters – baked in. They’re free to use and, more importantly, these tools aren’t to be sniffed at. Even in the case of the free-to-use Reaper software, just because it’s free doesn’t mean it is low in value as to how it operates.

As guitarist, YouTuber, and producer Nick Broomhall told Guitar World last year, players should look at these plugin as a learning platform.  

“For the first eight years of recording I was sticking to just the stock Logic plugins,” he reveals. “It’s important to understand what all the tools that you have at your disposal do, and also what limitations a plugin has, before you move on to the next thing.”

He has a point. Cheap doesn’t automatically equate to crap. Session guitarist Brent Mason, who has played on over 1,000 records, swears by a Boss GE-7 EQ pedal that costs about £100/£130.

Stock plugins are designed to do a job, and a very good one at that. So, splashing out on a paid-for alternative when you haven’t discovered why you need a different plugin is just burning cash. It’s like saying “I need an overdrive pedal” when you’ve never gotten your one out of the box.

Find the ceiling

“It’s kind of like building that guitar vocabulary; you’ll get more mileage out your existing plugins,” Broomhall continues. “Then you suddenly understand, ‘I was looking for a plugin to do “X” when it turns out I already have a plugin that can do it, and I never explored it.’”

It’s a case of learning to walk before you sign up for a marathon. Broomhall shadowed esteemed metal producer Machine (Lamb of God, Grayscale, King Crimson) before branching out on his own. So it’s not like he’s dealing with low calibre artists and he can ‘get away’ with using stock plugins.

He’s simply exhausted the tools he has at his disposal before opening his wallet, because, when he did, he did so with purpose, not a blind hope of “this will make my mixes sound better.”

Don’t lose your creativity

Lots of new plugins are designed to streamline the recording process. They’re sculpted to remove the multitude of steps between a guitarist first hitting record and exporting their finished track. That can be handy. But just like how AI can now generate a great-looking image (debateable) at the click of a button, it also removes the joy out of the doing process, and leaves the user ignorant of how art is ultimately made. Buying a store-bought cake  doesn’t make you a better chef.

Don’t get me wrong, my eyes sometimes glaze over when I get into the nitty gritty of certain technical elements involved in recording and mixing, but in these instances, ignorance is not bliss. It might take time to wrap your head around not only how to use an EQ to make your guitars sit better in the mix, but also why it makes a difference, but it’s hugely valuable.    

Want to master your mixing?

If you crave better mixing chops and learn how small tone tweaks can help your mix shine, then Modern Metal Academy’s Recording Masterclass is for you.

Featuring 24 in-depth lessons clocking in over nine hours of tips and exercises, join us as we explore the process of achieving optimal sound quality for your music and demos. Learn in your own time, at your own pace as we analyse mixes and how to optimism them for catching the listener's attention in the modern era by dissecting Monuments' Lavos, which has over four million Spotify streams. 

Head here for more – we’ll see you there.