David Andrew Wiebe

If you’re doing any kind of mixing, one thing’s for sure – you’re going to need quality compression.

Compression can help with smoothing out your mix, giving your tracks a more “even” sound, adding punch to your drums, and it’s a powerful tool at the mastering stage too.

Whoever says there’s a shortage of free compressor VSTs out there, though, clearly hasn’t done their homework. In this guide, we’ll look at numerous compressors that will help you get the perfect mix.

19 Best Free Compressor VST Plugins 2025 – Get Perfect Volume Every TimeRead More »

Looking to create a punchier drum sound? Want to enhance your percussion tracks?

A transient shaper is an essential at the mixing phase, as it gives you more control over the sound of your tracks, and importantly, their dynamic and even harmonic content.

In this guide, we look at the best free transient shaper VST plugins available, and answer some of the most frequently asked questions.

7 Best Free Transient Shaper VST Plugins 2025Read More »

If you want to talk VST plugin essentials, you can’t forget noise gate.

It can be handy in a variety of recording situations, especially noisy ones like bedrooms, basements, and home studios. Gate can go a long way towards eliminating unwanted noise in your mixes. But even if not for that, “trance gate” effects are quite popular in electronic music.

It’s good news, then, that in this guide, we look at the best free noise gate VST plugins you can download, install, and start using immediately.

7 Best Free Noise Gate VST Plugins 2025Read More »

Many music producers and sound engineers utilize vocoder effects in their mixes. For some, it represents a rather critical part of their VST library.

Vocoder effects can be heard in a variety of musical styles. These days, it is often heard in EDM, pop, or even hip-hop tracks, but it has also been utilized by the likes of Neil Young, Black Sabbath, Phil Collins, Jackson 5, Daft Punk, and The Beastie Boys, among many others.

In this guide, we’ll look at the best free vocoder VST plugins to help you create unique sounding vocals.

13 Best Free Vocoder VST Plugins 2025, Create Unique Sounding VocalsRead More »

If you’re looking to record some guitar, amp sim VST plugins are essential. And fortunately for you, there are quite a few options to choose from.

In this guide, we’ll be looking at the best free standalone guitar amp simulator plugins.

Admittedly, you will find many of the “usual suspects” on this list, but there might be a couple you haven’t come across yet.

So, let’s get into the best free standalone amp sims to boost your songs.

17 Best Free Standalone Guitar Amp Simulator VST Plugins 2025, Boost Your SongsRead More »

Hardware sampling was invented in the 1940s by Harry Chamberlain and rose to popularity with 80s and 90s hip-hop and dance music. Today, sampling is used in a variety of musical genres, be it R&B, rock, country, classical music, or otherwise.

Samplers are first and foremost used to trigger different sounds. But there are also a lot of producers that think of them as instruments unto themselves.

Not surprisingly, as “in the box” digital recording grew in popularity, software samplers also became more commonplace. Today, you can even get them as free VST plugins, and as you’re about to see, there are even some samplers with unique features out there!

In this guide, we’ll look at the best free sampler VST plugins.

13 Best Free Sampler VST Plugins 2025, Capture Great SoundsRead More »