Eventide Blackhole

This deep and spaced out techno space machine has featured on a lot of my productions over the years.

It’s definitely not a reverb for all occasions, but for what it does, there’s nothing else quite like it.

Eventide Omnipressor

I’ve been using the Omnipressor for many years because of its its thick sound and the eccentric upward-downward movement it can create. It’s one of the most interesting, best sounding and unique software compressors out there.

iZotope Ozone

A comprehensive toolkit for creating your own masters. I don’t like or use the “intelligent” stuff in Ozone. But the individual tools are of very good quality.

As a mastering engineer, I have no hesitations recommending Ozone as a great and affordable one stop solution for people who just want a solid package to sort out their mastering tools for once.

iZotope RX

Whenever I need to fix clicks, remove background noise, declip (yes) things or work on almost any other issues in the audio – RX has got me covered.

Output Arcade

Output Arcade 2 is a sample based instrument with a vast and great quality, royalty free sound content library.

It fuses great product design into a slick user interface. It’s easy to learn and fun to play. Hidden below the simple surface you’ll find pretty powerful editing and customisation features.

Read my Output Arcade review here.

Relab LX480 Dual-Engine Reverb

A while back I went on a mission to find the best sounding reverb for my production work. I tested all the big hitters and a whole lot of other contenders.

I ended up buying the Relab LX480. It is expensive, but nothing else delivered the same level of spatial richness to me.

SOFTUBE WEISS DS1-MK3

This legendary compressor has absolutely been worth its hefty price tag for me. I mostly use it for mastering and mix bus compression.

In regular glue compression the DS1-MK3 has a way of solidifying the core of the material in a very satisfying manner. But it can pull off a lot of other tricks too, including de-essing and expanding the dynamic range – and it does all of it really well.

SOFTUBE WEISS EQ1

This is my go-to mastering EQ. I’ve tested and bought other expensive EQ’s but eventually kept coming back to the EQ1.

It just gets me to a good result quickly and efficiently. The dynamic mode is just fantastic as well.

Sonnox Claro

This EQ has many nice features, but I especially love its fantastic autogain implementation and smooth sound. I like to use it for overall tonal balancing work. The autogain does a great job taking volume differences out of the equation, which makes it very easy to make things fit into a mix.

SSL Fusion Transformer

An often used finishing sauce on my mix groups, mix bus and mastering.

It creates a sense of air around things that is very reminiscent of some analog gear. I have not been able to get that effect from any other plugin.

It’s subtle and I mostly hit it just 10-20%. But more often than not I miss it when it’s bypassed.

SSL X-Delay

An awesome sounding delay. What’s more, it’s super quick to work and experiment with. This is really important to me.

It has just the right (and not too many) controls for shaping the delay exactly how you want it. The stereo width is super important to me and often overlooked in other delay plugins. It really helps in situating the effect in the mix.

SSL Native Drumstrip

I love this plugin for working with drums. The super punchy transient shaper is my go-to and the low and high enhancers have often make stuff sound better in a very effortless manner.

SSL X-Comp

When I need explosive and punchy heavy duty compression, this is what I draw for. Nuff said.

UAD API Vision Channel STrip

I love using channel strips and I’ve tested & worked with a lot of them.

This is one is currently for me above the rest. It simply sounds so vibrant and nuanced and always gives me great results quickly. Plus I’m a sucker for the API sound.

I love having the two different styles of EQs to work with (the EQ section can also be pushed into saturation by the way).

The compression and gate/expander sections are great for working with the dynamics. And the input saturation is something else.

The API Vision is all over my latest productions, for a good reason.

Waves H-Reverb Hybrid Reverb

For the (often) discounted price this reverb is hard to beat. Super versatile for all kinds of spaces. You can get very experimental with it, too. I especially like the classic hardware emulation presets.

Waves S1 Stereo Imager

The S1 is a useful tool for reliably controlling the width and tilt of the stereo image. The “Shuffler” component is nice for adding stereo information to mono material. Unlike some such effects, The S1 is also safe to use from the perspective of mono compatibility.

Waves Trans-X

This is a very old plugin, but I still prefer it over most newer ones. It gives you quick and easy punch that sounds very snappy and tight. I’ve used the “Pensado 808” preset (found in the wide band version) on countless of drum tracks, and sometimes even very gently on the master bus.

Wavesfactory Spectre

Spectre is like sprinkling some magic fairy dust on your material, but then it can do a lot more too. It only saturates the difference between the input signal and the EQ signal. It introduces harmonics to just the part of the spectrum you want without distorting the entire signal.

Read my Wavesfactory Spectre review here.

Other inVALUABLE TOOLS

Backblaze

Backblaze gives me peace of mind. I have been using it for over 10 years now.

It quietly and safely backs up all of my drives into the cloud with unlimited space.

It never interferes with my work. It does its job in the background and I never have to worry about anything.

And the best thing about it – it’s very affordable!

Clean My Mac

This is such an essential app for me. It keeps my computer in check in so many ways and offers malware protection. It also has very useful tools for managing and recovering hard drive space.

NordVPN

Privacy is an important aspect of security. I don’t like being tracked. I’ve used other VPNs in the past but none were trouble free (especially talking about F-Secure here). Nord VPN is lightweight, easy to use, has many useful features and is competitively priced, too

Setapp

Setapp is an extremely well curated collection of 240+ apps for Mac and iPhone.

Some of my favs apps in Setapp that I use all the time are:

• Meta (edit meta data of audio files)
• Permute (convert almost any type of media file to any other type)
• Downie (download videos from YouTube – great for sampling as you can make it grab just the audio)

All apps are free to use for the first week, and after that it’s a fixed monthly price.

Usually when the need arises to do something specific, I will find a nice app for it inside Setapp.

Books

Books have been my biggest mentors. I read and I listen audio books. Here are some of the ones that made the biggest impact on me.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

This inspiring book shows how change comes from the compounding effect of hundreds and thousands of small decisions throughout your life.

Deep Work by Cal Newport

A fascinating and super rewarding dive into the world of focus and getting your important work done. 

Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

This is one of the most helpful books that I have read. The way of the essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done. This is a book for anyone who is dealing with having too much to do or having too little time to do anything.

Finish – Give Yourself the Gift of Done by Jon Acuff

I have always been a chronic starter. A lot of it has to do with perfectionism. I’ve read a few different books on this topic and this is the one that stood out to me. It’s very practical and also fun to read. Finishing is a skill that you can learn and become better at like any other.

Mastery by Robert Greene

An epic book that examines the lives of great historical figures as well as contemporary heroes and distills the traits and universal ingredients that made them succeed in their fields.

Time Off by John Fitch and Max Frenzel

How you ever considered how important your rest ethic is? It’s more important than your work ethic. This book will show you why. It has been a real eye opener to me.

Thanks to this book I work less, take better care of myself and as a consequence the quality of my work has improved.

Questions?

Feel free to hit me up. You can always do that via the contact page.