WHAT’S ON YOUR DRIVE

Mike Mago

He’s remixed everyone from Ellie Goulding to Avicii, and he knows exactly what he wants from a synth

APPLE LOGIC X “I didn’t start producing till I was 29 – I’m 36 now. Ableton seemed a great place to start, but I was in the studio with a guy who was using Logic and I immediately switched. At the time, Logic’s plugins and whole system just seemed a lot more… consistent. Initially, I struggled with the change to Logic Pro X, but now it feels like home.”

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS MASSIVE “Sorry, but I have to mention Massive. I know everyone else mentions it, too, but I couldn’t live without it. It was the first third-party synth I bought, and it gets used for everything… bass, leads, noise, you name it. Whenever I get a new synth, the first question I ask myself is, ‘OK, how does this compare to Massive?’”

XFER RECORDS SERUM “If you’re working on a laptop, you sometimes have to worry about loading up your CPU too much, but I have a pretty heavy-duty Mac which allows me to aim for top-quality synth sounds. And that’s what drew me to Serum; even the basic presets will kick off so many great ideas.”

U-HE DIVA “After you’ve investigated the sound of a synth, you then start to ask, ‘What can I do with that sound?’ What I love about Diva is that it gives you the option to select filters from some of the classic synths… like the Juno or the Minimoog. It’s not analogue, but it’s pretty damn close. Super-cool!”

FABFILTER PRO-Q 2

“I have a LOT of production plugins – way more than I’ll ever use. With EQ, I only use two: if I’m just making some rough adjustments to the sound, I’ll use the Logic EQ, and if things are getting serious, I use the FabFilter. My friends say I should experiment with other EQs, but I’m happy where I am!”

“My friends say I should experiment with other EQs, but I’m happy where I am!”