Wilkinson’s top 5 studio essentials

Dave Smith Instruments Prophet-6 NA » NA » £2199 “I only got this hardware synth recently, but it’s made the creative process in my studio so much more quick and fluid. Being able to automate it on the fly allows me to create sounds I’d never have created with a softsynth.” www.davesmithinstruments.com

Camel Audio CamelCrusher NA » NA » NA “It’s a simple distortion plugin that I’ve been using for years. I just love the sound of it. It’s great for saturating the drum bus slightly, or sending bass and cymbals to for some controlled, equalised distortion.” N/A

iZotope Alloy 2 184 » 9/10 » NA “I mainly use this for its sidechain capabilities. I often isolate and compress the top end and splash of breakbeats in my drums to the signal of the snare drum, so that the top end of the snare cuts through cleaner.” www.izotope.com

FabFilter Pro-Q 2 211 » 10/10 » £134 “This is my ‘go-to’ EQ. It’s got a really clean sound and very precise options. It’s also got a mid/side and left/right option which is great for controlling your stereo field.” www.fabfilter.com

FabFilter Pro-C 2 224 » 10/10 » £134 “I used to avoid using compression on my master bus until this came out. It’s got a heap of different compression styles and a sidechain option that I find great for gluing the final mix together without squashing anything below 250Hz.” www.fabfilter.com