What are your five favourite plugins and why?

Cable Guys Shaper Box

“I got this two years ago and used it as a side-chain for beats and basslines, but then I delved a little deeper and started using the TimeShaper function. It is so much fun, when you put full samples in and mess around with grooves and shuffles. I love this function so much because you never know what you’ll get.”

Valhalla VintageVerb

“My go-to reverb at the moment, as it’s so easy to use. I love the lush Concert Hall mode and the three colour modes, and I always draw for the blue pink 1980s sounds – so sexy. I usually put one on the drum and vocal bus right at the start of opening any new arrangement. It always makes everything melt into each other.”

Black Box HG2

“I got this around 18 months ago, and the first time I used it I put it on the drum bus. The drums I had were a little clean and I wanted to drag them through a hedge backward and this is the plug to use. I love the Air knob and the Density dial; love the raw tube sound. Be careful not to go overboard as you can oversaturate your mix.”

TAL Chorus-LX

“When I wrote The Message, I borrowed a Roland Juno-6 to write the bass, but came to the studio to mix it and there was an edit of the bass that didn’t have the right amount of chorus on it. So I needed a vintage chorus plug that could give me the same classic sound and stumbled across this brilliant free plugin. It’s so easy to use.”

Oeksound Soothe

“I’ve been using this on vocal and harsh drum samples. I just whack a sample in and try and clear up the tops of the bottom-end rumbles. I sample from films and TV and I always find this is great to carve out low-end chit chat so all you hear is the main vocal. I use Soft mode as it picks up more cuts. I love the EQ options too.”