Mike Patton

I use this plug probably not so much for compression, as I assume it was intended – but more as a distortion box! It’s great both in-chain or for crushing tracks after the fact. A trusted squashing beast! Love it on drums and percussion especially. I have a hardware version of this but lean on the plugin many times, as it can be much more convenient… and no shitty dirty pots to worry about!

Mike Patton
Singer, Songwriter, Multi-Instrumentalist, Film Composer, Producer Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, Fantomas “This super-clean EQ is all over the live strings on my Mondo Cane record. It enabled me and my engineers to really dig deeply into specific bothersome frequencies.”

Doppler and Doubler are both fun plugins to use while experimenting. Doppler is known as a sound design plugin, but I’ve used these two on voice in Faith No More and Dead Cross, as well as some single note guitar melodies on various projects. This combination a little difficult to describe – but it provides almost a sort of ‘3D’ depth in certain cases.

Doppler and Doubler are both fun plugins to use while experimenting. Doppler is known as a sound design plugin, but I’ve used these two on voice in Faith No More and Dead Cross, as well as some single note guitar melodies on various projects. This combination a little difficult to describe – but it provides almost a sort of ‘3D’ depth in certain cases.

Eddie Kramer Effects Channel is a go-to when I need a solid slapback delay. It’s all over my soundtrack for A Perfect Place, for example, which had a certain film noir/big band aesthetic: horns, guitars, you name it. The Z Slap and H Slap functions are instant gratification for me, especially when I don’t feel like wrestling with my old tape echoes and their uncleanliness!

J37: A juicy tape emulator that can be used on literally ANYTHING. I have used this on entire stereo mixes, and it made them sound as if they were recorded next to a warm fireplace!

JJP Guitars: A nifty post-production tool. I used it on a couple soundtracks, particularly The Place Beyond the Pines, which utilized a lot of featured guitar lines. It really helped clean up some muddy guitar passages and made it easy to dial in certain frequencies in a main melody/chord progression.

For ‘engineer-challenged’ people like me, these plugs are a godsend. OneKnob Brighter, Driver, Pumper – all are delightfully easy to navigate and every tweak makes me smile. You know that horrible feeling when you enable a plug, adjust parameters, and just keep clicking… waiting for something to happen? It’s the worst feeling in the world. These plugs do NOT do that!

Greg Wells PianoCentric: Although this was designed for piano, I find myself using it on many things. It's especially effective when I try to ‘dirty up’ an annoying digital sample. It gives me a sort of ‘dungeon’ vibe that can really come in handy. Greg Wells VoiceCentric also has a similar magic, although i don’t necessarily use it on vocals either. The fact that these two plugs each have one large dial and are uncomplicated makes them instant fun medicines for me!

X-Hum and X-Noise: When you use funky old gear like noisy amps, ungrounded spring reverbs, etc., these plugs can be a lifesaver. During the recording of my soundtrack for Netflix’s 1922, these were indispensable. The musical aesthetic was very minimal, so each instrumental passage had to carry a certain weight, gravity and clarity. These plugs breathed new life into some cranky mellotron and grimy fiddle tracks, saving my ass!

The API 2500 plugin is something I often use to ‘excite’ a droopy vocal in the mid/high register. I actually have the original hardware, but I use the plugin just as much if not more – it has the ‘teeth’ you would expect from anything API. On 1922, I used the API 2500 to remove unwanted ‘girth’ on low-end bass and percussive instruments, for example on my processed celli – and it was literally like giving them a facial!

Mike Patton praises the Waves Reel ADT plugin, particularly highlighting its varispeed function, which he frequently automates for real-time adjustments. He notes its unique sound, reminiscent of the Tropicália movement and psychedelic influences, as described on waves.com.

Mike Patton praises the Waves Renaissance Bass Plugin for its ability to transform synths and low-end sounds into powerful, Godzilla-like tones, as noted in a feature on waves.com.

“Send a slightly overdriven signal – a crispy snare, a snappy vocal – to this reverb plate plugin, and watch the magic happen! I usually use a little extra drive, depending on the source. And the ‘damper’ function is a go-to on certain vocal information – it can really help smooth out certain spikes in true old-school plate style.”

Mike Patton describes the Waves Manny Marroquin Distortion plugin as "a digital deep fryer" for achieving a crispy exterior on any sound, highlighting its effectiveness in sound design. This statement is featured on Waves' official website under the Manny Marroquin Distortion Plugin section.