Fred again tested stock plugins against those on the market and felt results were indistinguishable

Fred again.. has been sharing his opinions on plugins, and how saturating your workflow with too many is unhelpful.

Not only does he feel less is more when it comes to the amount of plugins you use, he also feels there’s very little difference between them. To test his theory, he pitted stock plugins from Logic against other sets, presumably from large brands, and found it was undetectable which version of his track featured which.

During his appearance on the Tape Notes podcast, he explains [via MusicRadar], “I’ve spent so many thousands of hours wasted on plugins, getting into the weeds with these things. I’ve made it so that my Logic [has] just got this one menu that only has the 12 plugins I use. It just doesn’t matter.

“You want to do the things that liberate your mind to be hearing well, not whether or not [you’re using] this compressor or this distortion… the thing that’s most dangerous about getting into that is that you’ll forget about whether or not the chorus is wrong, or whether or not the chord progression is actually not serving the feeling right.”

He goes on to add, “I did a few days teaching at some unis last year and I made a session that made a few sounds, a vocal, some drums and a guitar thing. I made the exact same sound with all Logic [stock plugins], the same sound with another set of plugins, the same sound with another one, and I played it for everyone and it was all the same… It just could not matter less.”

He goes on to advise people to just stick to a handful of plugins, and scrap the rest to avoid the overwhelm. He continues, “I’ve seen people make the most incredible-sounding records in every way, so therefore all that matters is the ear. I’ve seen people do it in tape, analogue, SSL desk, and it’s incredible, and I’ve seen Sonny [Skrillex] do it all in a laptop. Clearly, then, it’s most important to just liberate your headspace.”

The full Tape Notes podcast episode with Fred again.. is out now.

Rachel is a DIY musician who began learning guitar and keyboard from her bedroom at 14. She has written news and features for MusicTech since 2022, and also has bylines across Kerrang!, Guitar.com, and The Forty-Five. Though a lover of heavy music, her guilty pleasure is 2000s pop.