Sure, DAWs come with their own stock effects plugins, but there’s an entire universe of other options available. Some can be individually downloaded, some come in packages, some are good all-around workhorses, and others recreate treasured sonic aspects of vintage gear—even from specific, history-making studios.
If you’ve been recording in your home studio, you know that having the right effects plugins can make your track-cutting, mixing, and production pop. But trying to keep up with what’s out there? Well, let’s just say option fatigue is real.
We’re lucky. As Nashville-based producer-engineers who are also instructors at Belmont University in the Audio Engineering Technology program, we see and—more importantly—hear and use a lot of effects plugins. And while this article is by no means definitive, we are about to present you with an array of choices from the five essential plugin food groups—modulation (chorus, phasing, tremolo, vibrato), time-based (delay and reverb), spectral (EQ and panning), dynamic (compression, limiters, etc.), and filter (low-pass, high-pass, band-pass)—that you might consider investigating to fortify your recording diet. All of these will be easy to work with as long as you’re comfortable with your DAW, and all are compatible with Mac and PC operating systems.
Modulation
You’ve been hearing these effects all your life, in many of your favorite recordings, but there’s nothing quite like getting your hands on the controls of a wealth of modulation options to spice up your sonic menu. We suggest checking out the following.
• IK Multimedia MixBox ($79–$199 street, as well as a free version): One of our favorite go-to plugins is MixBox from IK Multimedia. From both a production and mixing workflow, the creative and sonic possibilities of this 500-series-style plugin are endless! On the topic of modulation effects, in addition to the standards (chorus, phase, tremolo, and vibrato), MixBox offers a unique selection of processors that include AM/FM modulators, Auto Pan, and Slicer. As the name suggests, the Slicer module works great for adding rhythmic slices and random patterns to your audio tracks. I’ve found that using the combination of the Pattern and Freq parameters allows for endless control of rhythmic and tonal variation when used with synth leads, etc. Altogether, this package offers up to 70 effects and processors.
• Eventide TriceraChorus Vintage Tri-Chorus ($99 street): When you think of the chorus effect, songs such as “Every Breath You Take,” “Come As You Are,” and the classic guitar intro to “Run To You” by Bryan Adams will immediately come to mind. This versatile plugin takes on the famed Tri-Stereo chorus, used on sessions by Steve Lukather and Michael Landau, and offers a wide variety of presets and features that can be used on guitar, bass, vocal, keys, and synthesizers to achieve the signature watery/lush and chorale effect.
“You’ve been hearing these effects all your life, in many of your favorite recordings.”
• Soundtoys PhaseMistress Analog Phase Shifter ($99 street): Phase shifting is an essential effect that has been used as a creative layer on numerous recordings over the decades, starting with Jimi Hendrix. And, of course, there’s the opening riff of Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love.” The PhaseMistress, whose name alludes to the Maestro Phase Shifter and the EHX Electric Mistress, is a versatile processor that allows you to dial in a variety of sounds that are modeled after the same analog pedals that guitar giants such as Jimi, EVH, and David Gilmour used. With all DSP plugins these days, we’re seeing more additional processing and signal chains. An added feature that really sets the PhaseMistress apart is the analog-style algorithms (Clean, Fat, Squash, Dirt, Crunch, Shred, and Pump) that also add a touch of saturation and compression to the signal you are working with.
Time-Based
These delay and reverb effects can lead you to wide sonic vistas and otherworldly locales, as well as classic guitar tones—creating depth and dimension, and enhancing the spatial impression of a mix.
• Eventide ShimmerVerb ($99 street): We love experimenting with different types of time-based effects for creative effect and spatial cohesion. For creating ambient and ethereal spatial texture, one of our favorite digital reverbs is the ShimmerVerb, a reverb plugin with parallel pitch shifters. The presets alone sound great, and there’s a wide variety of dreamy tones that can work perfectly for both live and recording situations. One of our go-to recording setups is running a Fender Strat with a Lollar Imperial pickup in the bridge through a ’65 Deluxe emulation with a slight touch of tremolo and the ShimmerVerb’s Radiant Caverns setting. Sublime!
• IK Multimedia T-RackS Sunset Sound Studio Reverb ($149 street): To our thinking, the Sunset Sound Studio Reverb should be in every mixing engineer’s toolbox. Based on the hardware at the historic Sunset Sound Studio in Los Angeles, this processor works great across many instruments and musical genres. The plugin offers seven different reverb types that include Chamber, Live Room, ISO Booth, Plate/Spring, and Studios 1, 2, and 3. What sets this reverb plugin apart from others is the ability to control the stereo image of the reverb width.
“One of our go-to recording setups is running a Fender Strat with a Lollar Imperial pickup in the bridge through a ’65 Deluxe emulation with a slight touch of tremolo and the ShimmerVerb’s Radiant Caverns setting.”
• Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates ($35 street): Of course, whenever you hear the name Abbey Road, you think of the Beatles. This plugin lets you apply virtual versions of the legendary London studio’s reverb plates to your audio tracks—plates that breathed space into recordings by the Fab Four, Pink Floyd, and many others. The Waves Abbey Road gives you four different modeled plates to choose from. Of course, as with most time-based plugins, this processor has built-in equalization parameters, pre-delay, and a dry/wet blend. However, unique features of the Waves Abbey Road Plates are the Drive and Analog options.
Dynamic
And now we enter the world of compressors and limiters, which, when used correctly, can burnish guitar and bass tones with the precision of a sculptor.
• IK Multimedia Lurssen Mastering Console ($149 street): One of our favorite processors to use on the master bus is this plugin suite, which offers compression, EQ, de-essing, and limiting. It has a wealth of features, like a push control for EQ adjustment and an input drive control, that make it easy and intuitive to use. We really like the 5-band EQ for adding subtle touches of low-end beef and high-end sparkle to tracks. We use the term “glue” frequently in the world of mixing. This plugin is the superglue that binds overall mixes together by adding a nice blend of overall dynamic and spectral enhancement. While final mastering is always best left to mastering engineers, the Lurssen Mastering Console makes pseudo-mastering your tracks more easily attainable.
• IK Multimedia T-RackS Comprexxor ($149 street): As soon as we got our hands on the Comprexxor, we were blown away. This plugin is definitely like a Swiss Army Knife. This is one of our favorite dynamic processing plugins to use for heavier/cinematic rock music. The Drum Squash Room setting has proven to be excellent when routing drums for parallel compression. Among the Comprexxor’s exceptional features are second- and third-order harmonic saturation, optical and mid-side processing, and the Tone Color Control parameter.
“We know that there are different benefits and practical applications of the two main types of equalizers: parametric and graphic.”
• Waves CLA-3A Compressor/Limiter ($49 street): The Waves CLA-3A is hands down one of the most effective and dynamic-enriching processors we have ever used. We recommend it for anybody who wants to experiment with mixing in a DAW. At times, it can be frustrating for up-and-coming engineers to grasp the concept of compression. When we use compression, we either want to add punch or beef to audio tracks—say, kick drums or bass guitars—or balance the dynamic range of certain vocals and instruments. Compressors also enhance and add tonal character to your audio signals. When you look at the CLA-3A plugin’s interface, you see two main parameters for controlling the compression amount and the makeup gain, labeled “gain” and “peak reduction.” Pretty straightforward, right? While I always trust my ears, it is also nice to have the CLA-3A’s VU metering display to see where the levels are hitting. For the low price, intuitive controls, and dynamic richness that this processor can add to your tracks, the CLA-3A is a must-have tool.
Spectral
EQ and panning open up an aspect of the listening experience that many home-studio engineers overlook, or at least underplay. For the early rulebook, consult Hendrix’s Axis: Bold as Love, but Radiohead and countless others have made their albums living, breathing organisms by using tools like these to change the sonic field and the range of their tracks.
• FabFilter Pro-Q 3 EQ and Filter ($169 street): Equalization is like sculpting: It’s about carving out space in your mix to make room for all the musical elements. The FabFilter Pro-Q 3 offers a robust set of features that give you enhanced control over the spectral landscape of your audio. The fresh look of this plugin’s interface immediately calls your attention to the parametric curves and the spectrum analyzer for visualizing the overall spectral balance. Two features of the Pro-Q 3 that really stand out are the intelligent solo mode and MIDI Learn. Perhaps you have heard the phrase “search and destroy” when it comes to finding problem frequencies in a mix? Using the intelligent solo mode helps you to better locate such problem areas and remove them from your mix quicker.
• Newfangled Audio EQuivocate Multi-Band EQ ($99 street): As engineers, we know that there are different benefits and practical applications of the two main types of equalizers: parametric and graphic. The EQuivocate plugin is a straightforward, easy-to-use graphic equalizer that gives you access to 26 filter bands that correspond to the critical bands of the human auditory system. In addition to the standard method of manipulating individual filter bands, EQuivocate has a draw curve parameter that allows you to quickly shape the frequency spectrum across multiple bands. If you’re new to the concept of using graphic equalizers, EQuivocate has a bank of custom presets that can give you a good starting place for mixing and mastering applications.
“Your DAW already has enough built-in effects for you to develop an understanding of what they do and how they work.”
• Waves V-EQ4 ($29 street): Neve introduced the 1081 console channel module in 1972 and deployed it in legendary boards such as the 8048. The VEQ-4 is an emulation of the EQ section of the 1081 that, to our ears, sounds just like a Neve EQ. This is a pretty simple box to use. It gives you the ability to add some high-frequency sheen or low-end thump—and everything in between. This EQ works well on just about any instrument or voice, doing subtle tweaks or broad curves. I like to use it on busses, and sometimes on the master bus, to color the entire mix. It’s a versatile and useful plugin for any style of music.
Filters
These frequency wranglers come in three varieties— low-pass, high-pass, and band-pass—and ride the sonic range hard, establishing cutoff levels. The simple explanation: High-pass filters will disable frequencies below a set cutoff point, low-pass will zap those over the cutoff, and band filters will affect only those in a selected band.
• McDSP NF575 Noise Filter HD Native v7 ($79 street): The McDSP Noise Filter is a very sophisticated device for removing low-frequency rumble and high-frequency hiss from your audio. With hundreds of presets and real-time analyzers, this may be the most effective noise filter we’ve ever used, and we’ve used analog and digital filters for many different kinds of audio clean-up. With seven precise notch filters, it’s easy to dial in the parts of a sound you want removed. You can solo a notch filter and hear exactly what you are removing, too. This is a very handy tool when you need to clean up or fix some audio.
• Waves Enigma ($29 street): While we use Enigma primarily as an EQ sculpting tool, since it is extremely useful when used to filter out particular frequencies, it also offers a unique combination of filters, reverbs, delays, and modulation—allowing you to create some totally original sounds. So, the addition of the other features makes this tool much more than just a filter. Using Enigma effectively may take some time experimenting to discover how to best use the different features, but you will be rewarded with fresh sonic possibilities for fixing problems or creating new sounds.
The Upshot
You can do a lot with a handful of simple plugins, so you don’t have to spend a ton of money on them to make great-sounding recordings. Investigate. Be selective. And your DAW already has enough built-in effects for you to develop an understanding of what they do and how they work. Learning to use plugins mostly requires you to simply use and trust your ears in order to get great sounds.
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Combining a ferocious fuzz circuit with remarkably powerful pitch-shifting capabilities, Keeley’s new Octa Psi pedal makes it easy to blow your mind … and have a ton of fun in the process.
It’s capable of creating pleasing and/or demented intervals, subtle harmonizing, expansive octaves up and down, and swooping pitch changes—all turbocharged by one of the gnarliest fuzzes this side of Armageddon.
Simply Psychoactive ... By Intent
If you’ve ever craved a user-friendly freakout, this is it. With just five knobs, two 3-way toggle switches, and a pair of footswitches—as well as an expression pedal input—the Octa Psi presents a comfortable, inviting portal to a universe of crazy sonic exploration.
That’s exactly what Robert Keeley intended from the moment he started designing the Octa Psi.
“The finished pedal is true to the original idea that I had in November 2021,” Keeley says. “I wanted it to have a high-gain vintage Muff, all-analog and all-transistor, going into an octave pitch shifter—something in the neighborhood of a Pitch Fork or POG. And then when I added the expression pedal function, it could resemble a whammy.”
Ah yes, the expression pedal input. Linking the Octa Psi with a standard expression pedal opens the door to a whole new dimension of pitch shifting mayhem. Rest assured, you don’t have to use an expression pedal to derive crazy fun from the Octa Psi. But it sure helps.
With all of the pedal’s deep functionality, Keeley felt that simplicity would be a key factor in broadening its appeal, starting with this elemental item: “From the get-go I wanted it to have order switching, allowing the fuzz feeding the pitch shifter or vice versa, because it gives you two distinctly different sounds if you have pitch going before or after the fuzz. And it had to be pretty effortless for the player to switch the order on the fly. And I wanted it to be easy to switch between using it either as a harmonizer or as an all-wet octave-down thing.” That desire for ease-of-use, even in the middle of a live gig, drove the design of the pedal’s controls and functions.
“I wanted to come up with something that Jack White, Steve Vai, or Frank Zappa would have fun with.”
It Ain't Easy to Create Easiness
The Octa Psi exemplifies an old adage: Sometimes a simple solution can be the most difficult to achieve. “I knew this was going to be a challenging project,” Keeley admits. “It’s very tough to combine a high-gain, full-analog distortion with a DSP [digital signal processing] section in one box. It took a long time to get the switching just right. It was particularly difficult because the Octa Psi’s analog and DSP sections are so intimately entwined. You can’t have gaps in the audio when you’re switching back and forth. Those kinds of complications drove us crazy.
“We also addressed a lot of issues that have raised concerns about other products on the market. The Octa Psi is a true-bypass pitch shifter, and it has our killer buffer system as well. There’s nothing else out there like this, so we had to figure it all out for ourselves.“
An essential challenge: voicing the fuzz so that it would sound great as a standalone effect, while also playing nicely with the Octa Psi’s harmonizer functions. “You would think that the fuzz was easy, but it was actually one of the last things we ironed out,” Keeley notes. “I had to ask myself, ‘Do I want this to be a bass-y fuzz?’ Probably not, since the pitch shifter can add octave down. But it’s got to be an amazing sounding fuzz if I want people to consider buying it. It has to sound great when compared to any Big Muff, and it has to effortlessly pair with a DSP section. So, getting the fuzz just right turned out to be the hardest part!”
The pedal design process also encountered some last-minute wrinkles. “The ramping and momentary switching capability was the last big feature that was added. That ramping function is like having an onboard expression pedal. We talked about it in the beginning of the process with Sarah Lipstate [also known as the artist Noveller], when Aaron Pierce [a key member on the Keeley team] was working on the initial concept. Later, Michael Kaye—the guitar tech for Pete Townsend and Trey Anastasio—asked, ‘Does it have momentary switching?’ and I was like, ‘Oh crap, I forgot about that!’” Keeley laughs.
The How-To Guide for Octa Psi's Hidden Features
For all of its readily accessible capabilities, the Octa Psi boasts several essential features that can only be accessed by using more than a single knob or switch. To unlock these features, it helps to have a few simple, specific instructions. For this reason, Keeley has included a brisk, handy primer on the back of each pedal. The Octa Psi’s key “hidden features” include:
- EFFECT ORDER: You can instantly switch the effect order by simultaneously holding the octave and fuzz footswitches.
- WET/DRY SELECTION: Double-click the blend control knob for switching between wet/dry blending or wet-only.
- MOMENTARY/LATCHING OPTION: Press and hold the fuzz footswitch to choose between momentary or latching operation. This is crucial if you plan on using the Octa Psi’s adventurous pitch shift ramping capability: the output signal begins with the initial note(s) you’re playing, and then veers up or down to the effected pitch. The ramp speed—i.e. how quickly this veering effect lasts—is controlled by….
- RAMP SPEED: If you’re using pitch shifting in the momentary mode, you can adjust the ramp speed by pressing and holding the octave footswitch down, then adjusting the blend knob control.
Part of an Ongoing Evolution
The Octa Psi underscores the continuing evolution of Keeley’s product line. In particular, it benefits from a pair of preceding Keeley devices: the I Get Around Rotary Simulator pedal and California Girls Twelve String Simulator—two pedals that were released in summer 2024 as exclusive offerings for the U.S. retailer Sweetwater, timed to coincide with The Beach Boys documentary on Disney+.
“That Beach Boys project did so much to help the DSP side of the Octa Psi,” says Keeley. “I got audio analyzers in so I could study the signals. We found out that we had to make our power supplies better because of the Beach Boys pedals, and that revolutionized our design. Everything that comes out since the Beach Boys pedals is going to sound even better. Plus, it was a lot of fun working with Sweetwater and JHS Pedals.”
Interestingly, for the Octa Psi project, the Keeley design team did not rely on much input from the company’s long list of affiliated artists. “I didn’t really have an artist that is a pitch/fuzz guru, so I had to keep it pretty much to ourselves. I knew that it had to be very musical—as musical as we could get it. And thankfully we have a team that can make this happen.”
The Keeley product development squad includes electrical engineer Craighton Hale, programmer Aaron Tackett, and Aaron Pierce—the “golden ears” member of the design group who helps analyze the sounds. “I’m just one part of the team of engineers that help make the products come to life,” Keeley notes.
Fun for Everyone
In the end, Keeley hopes that the Octa Psi pedal finds new and unconventional uses in the real world. “I wanted to come up with something that Jack White, Steve Vai, or Frank Zappa would have fun with—something that does all the crazy pitch-shifting with a purpose. And I’m hoping that musicians of all types will be attracted to this. People who want to distort their drums or bass or synth, and then start taking advantage of the pitch shifting. It’s almost like you get a great fuzz with the pitch shifter for free. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if some people use just the pitch shifter, if they’re not a fuzz maniac. You can get a lot of fun out of it without an expression pedal.”
Whether you’re a brazen sonic adventurer, or simply looking for a great-sounding dual function fuzz/harmonizer pedal, the Octa Psi offers a galaxy of tones for your arsenal.
B.B. King live, 1971.
Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
But there’s more to the tale. From 1935 to 1965, Nashville was arguably the epicenter of Black American music. Along the 30 blocks straddling Jefferson Street—Nashville’s own “Black Wall Street”—were a host of clubs, including Club Baron, Club Stealaway, the Del Morocco, and the Black Diamond, that showcased live music from 7 p.m. until 3 a.m. every weekend. And the roster of talent included a who’s who of national acts—Count Basie, Ray Charles, Ike & Tina Turner, B.B. King, Otis Redding, Etta James, Little Richard, Hank Crawford, James Brown—and formidable locals like Johnny “Blues Boy” Terrell, Gene Allison, Jimmy Church, Marion James, Charles “Wigg” Walker, Frank Howard, and two highly notable guitarists: Johnny Jones, the big dog of Nashville rhythm & blues guitar, and young upstart Jimi Hendrix.
Lorenzo Washington is the founder, guide, and curator of the Jefferson Street Sound Museum, where he provides a living introduction to the Black-music culture that first defined Music City.
But there’s stillmore to the story. In 1946, Nashville’s WLAC became the first major radio station to play R&B records, defying the city fathers and Jim Crow. Its signal reached 28 states and three Canadian provinces, making WLAC the platform by which Black music was introduced to the mainstream. WLAC’s impact on the sales of the indie labels recording Black artists at the time was tremendous.
Not only that. In 1964, Night Train, filmed at WLAC-TV, became the first syndicated R&B television show. Hosted and programmed by Noble Blackwell (who would eventually have an influential career in radio), and with an all-Black cast, Night Train featured local and national acts, and was the template for Soul Train.
“A host of clubs, including Club Baron, Club Stealaway, the Del Morocco, and the Black Diamond, showcased live music from 7 p.m. until 3 a.m. every weekend.”
After two years, pressure from the owners of the Grand Ole Opry caused WLAC’s owners to cancel Night Train, which the Opry perceived as a threat to ticket sales, according to Blackwell’s widow, Katie, and performers Church and Howard. And the radio station’s new management also pulled the plug on its R&B programming. At the same time, Nashville’s establishment—which had long waged a cultural war against the Black community along Jefferson Street—managed the coup de grâce they’d sought for decades by redlining and constructing Interstate 40 through the heart of Jefferson, where bridge abutments now mark the location of some of these historic clubs.
Today, most of the entertainers, DJs, and entrepreneurs responsible for Nashville’s—and therefore, in part, the nation’s—R&B revolution are dead, although on a lucky night you can still hear Walker, Church, or Howard turn back time onstage. But all of those memories and as much history as you can fit into the ground floor of a small house can be found at the Jefferson Street Sound Museum. For the past 23 years, the Museum at 2004 Jefferson has been the passion project of Lorenzo Washington. He secured the building in 2011 for a studio, but a year later felt a calling to create a temple dedicated to preserving Jefferson Street’s musical legacy—an urgency amplified as the local players who were there expired.
When you go to the Jefferson Street Sound Museum, you’ll find plenty of artifacts, from period-correct guitars to the old WLAC broadcast board, and handbills, posters, autographed photos, and ephemera. But the most important exhibit is Lorenzo. Beginning in the late 1950s, he was on the scene, as a fan and friend to the musicians, and even as a driver for songwriter and producer Ted Jarrett.
At 81, Lorenzo’s memory and storytelling skills are exquisite. Warm-hearted and welcoming, he can talk about Hendrix’s days as a maverick in the world of straight R&B, of the menus served while the musicians entertained, of B.B. King driving dancers to a frenzy, and even about the Nashville Stars, the city’s beloved Negro League baseball team that was bankrolled by Sou Bridgeforth, a numbers operator and the owner of the New Era Club, where Etta James recorded her blazing Rocks the House album in 1963. For his work preserving Music City’s foundational music culture, Lorenzo has been honored by the city with Lorenzo Washington Day and is the subject of a living legends exhibit at the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in downtown Nashville.
So, if you’re coming to Nashville, you’ll want to visit Broadway, and the big attractions like the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and NMAMM. But if you really want to learn about the roots of Music City, go to 2004 Jefferson Street, and have a conversation with history.
