In a recent discussion between the team here at Production Expert, we were talking about plug-in companies who have a distinctive personality. Some are easier to define than others and while this isn’t the same thing as quality, it’s perfectly possible for a range of plug-ins to be excellent without having anything particularly characteristic, some have it more than others. We all agreed that Sound Radix has “it”. The problem was that while we all agreed that Sound Radix make plug-ins that are all “clever” we couldn’t agree on which was the cleverest.

Mike immediately called Auto-Align Post as his must-have. It’s definitely clever but it’s so simple and so focussed on solving one problem that if you don’t have that particular problem to solve there’s really not much there for you. Like Muteomatic, it does one thing but if you don’t need that thing done then it’s not for you.

Russ is a fan of POWAIR. It’s unique ability to break the link between the levelling effect and the timbre shaping aspects of compression is unlike anything else out there. For those who want to simplify their workflow then POWAIR is a dream. Russ found it the last part of the puzzle when using Final Cut Pro X, he now mixes all audio inside Final Cut and using POWAIR to level up dialog, narration and even across an entire mix with music beds.

William Wittman is a fan of Pi, this plug-in remains mysterious to many but it’s elegant and simple in use, the effect it has is very source dependent but it can fix issues which simply can’t be addressed in other ways. In some cases, especially when handed drum tracks to mix from unknown sources, it can be an absolute lifesaver.

James Ivey is a longtime user of Auto Align, his drum and guitar recordings have featured it for years. If you want to preserve the body of your snare drum or multi-mic a guitar cabinet it’s too useful to ignore.

What About Me?

I’m torn between Drum Leveler and Surfer EQ but If I had to choose I’ll have to go with Surfer EQ because a surfing band of EQ shapes timbre rather than frequency content, it works the way pitched sounds work and I like being able to pull down a harmonic like I’m setting up a sound on a Hammond. How cool is that?

So you see the problem. We agree that Sound Radix Plug-ins are clever and some of our favourites but none of us agree why. So we put the question over to you. If you had to choose one Sound Radix Plug-in, which would it be?