Essential Plugins for Rock: Tools to Add Grit, Character, and Punch

We look at some essential plugins for Rock music production for adding flavour to drums, shaping guitar tones, and building more powerful mixes.

In this Article:Essential Plugins for RockEssential Plugins for Rock: Pulsar Audio SmasherEssential Plugins for Rock: Wavesfactory SpectreEssential Plugins for Rock: Arturia Pre 1973Essential Plugins for Rock: Neural DSPEssential Plugins for Rock: XLN AudioMore Info:

When we listen to our favourite Rock songs, the performances are delivered with attitude and energy. The vocals have texture, the guitars are aggressive, and the drums are a powerful driving force that defines the overall impact of the mix. There are many different styles within the Rock genre, of course, but luckily, the range of instruments used stays within a similar scope.

Essential Plugins for Rock

Modern software plugins give us access to a plethora of classic sounds that have been used in Rock for decades. With analogue modeling technology, they can emulate the circuit behaviour of legendary mic preamps, EQs, and compressors. Meanwhile, the flexibility of software interface design allows the implementation of processing in ways that are simply not possible with analogue hardware.

To help you get some of these authentic sounds in your DAW, we’ve selected some plugins that suit the sonic profile of a Rock mix. Bear in mind, though, that these are not substitutes for studio standards from FabFilter and Oeksound, which are used across all genres. Instead, we recommend using these plugins alongside your household choices to complement your current workflow.

The Best Vocal Chain for Rock

Essential Plugins for Rock: Pulsar Audio Smasher

The 1176 Limiting Amplifier has been an intrinsic part of the Rock sound since the early 1970s, and the cleaner, low-noise version (Rev C onwards) became a staple for vocal recording in other genres like Pop and RnB as well. You can find stock plugin emulations of vintage FET compressors in DAWs like Logic Pro, Fender Studio Pro, Reaper, and Cubase, while Universal Audio offers a native version FREE within its UAD Explore bundle.

Pulsar Audio Smasher · Source: Pulsar Audio

If you’re not keen on taking the UA route, Pulsar Audio’s Smasher is an affordable option that specifically mimics the all-button-in mode from the initial “Bluestripe” version (Rev A), known for adding a healthy dose of character and grit. The Smasher’s streamlined interface saves you from having to dial in settings, and you can simply use the gain knobs and dial the wet/dry mix back for parallel processing.

While you could easily describe the Smasher as a one-trick pony, it’s designed for a specific purpose, and for this, it certainly excels. Meanwhile, there are ways of getting a similar “all-buttons” sound, such as the Shure Level-Loc recreations like the Soundtoys Devil-Loc Deluxe. However, if you need more detailed control, the Softube FET Compressor MK II is a far more versatile tool. Get it at Thomann.*

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Softube FET Compressor MK II

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Essential Plugins for Rock: Wavesfactory Spectre

Naturally, saturation and harmonic distortion have always been synonymous with the sound of Rock music, whether it was created by guitar amp speakers, tape machines, or transformer circuitry. To target saturation in specific areas of the frequency range, Spectre from Wavesfactory, known for its Trackspacer plugin, provides precise control and 10 different character algorithms.

Source: Wavesfactory

The first thing you’ll notice about Spectre is that it looks and operates like a 5-band EQ, without the ability to cut frequencies. On each band, you can choose between Tube, Warm Tube, Solid, Tape, Diode, Class B, Bit, Digital, Rectify, Half Rectify, and Clean, which can be used as a parallel EQ. Once you’ve chosen the saturation type on a band, you can set the intensity and assign the processing to mono, stereo, left, right, mid, or side channels.

In addition, there is a range of global processing features, such as three saturation modes: subtle, medium, and aggressive, 4x and 16x oversampling modes, and a de-Emphasis feature that matches the input signal level to compensate for the boosts. While Spectre is great for sweetening harmonic elements like vocals and guitars, an alternative like Soundtheory Kraftur excels for getting loudness and punch on drums and channel groups. Get it at Plugin Boutique.*

Check out Soundtheory Kraftur

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Wavesfactory Spectre

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Essential Plugins for Rock: Arturia Pre 1973

It’s hard to mention Rock recording without immediately thinking of the Neve 80 Series console and its famous 1073 transistor-based channel strips with their inductor EQ section. The combination of the warmth of the preamp stage and the user-friendly fixed EQ points encourages broad strokes rather than surgical precision.

Arturia Pre 1973 · Source: Arturia

Leveraging its TAE(True Analog Emulation) technology, Arturia has recreated a stereo plugin version of the 1073 with stereo-linking and mid-side processing modes for added versatility. The EQ section provides a 12 kHz high-shelf, a midrange bell (0.36, 0.7, 1.6, 3.2, 4.8, and 7.2 kHz), a low-shelf (35, 60, 110, and 220 Hz), and a high-pass filter (50, 80, 160, and 300 Hz).

Meanwhile, there are phase inversion buttons on each channel, and you can switch the transformer modelling between Carnhill and modified Marinair transformers for different sound characteristics. Alternatively, if you want more detailed control with dynamics, the Softube British Class A plugin gives you a more extensive channel strip plugin. Get it at Thomann.*

Learn more about the Neve 1073

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Softube British Class A for Console 1 Download

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Essential Plugins for Rock: Neural DSP

When it comes to guitar amp simulation and effects modeling, Finnish developer Neural DSP is a market leader, utilizing machine learning algorithms that truly capture the nuances of tube circuitry. Originally, Francisco Cresp and Darkglass Electronics founder Douglas Castro began their venture exclusively in the software realm.

Neural DSP Mantra · Source: Neural DSP

However, as the popularity of plugins like the Fortin Nameless grew among Rock and Metal musicians, Neural DSP rolled out the second phase of its plan with the launch of the Quad Cortex DSP-based system, which is now an industry standard for live guitar and bass processing. The flexibility of the Cortex series allows cross-compatibility with Neural DSP’s DAW plugin version, which means if you purchase a compatible plugin, you can use it on the Cortex hardware as well.

Besides guitar effects, Neural DSP has also developed Mantra, a very impressive vocal production plugin which combines pitch correction, harmony layering, de-essing, compression, saturation, and a range of spatial effects into one sleekly designed platform. Overall, Neural DSP provides some of the best quality solutions in its class. Get it at Thomann.*