Joe Hawes is an English DJ and producer from Torquay who is best known for his energetic beats and unique DJ sets. Beginning his career in music as a drummer, Joe incorporates his percussive talents into his DJ sets, using drum pads and live drums as well as delivering on the production side too. With a constant stream of standout productions, we caught up with Joe to discuss his top 10 plugins.
Fab Filter Pro Q 3
I love this plugin so much it's incredibly handy for me when I’m laying synths or when I’m mixing down my tracks as you have the ability to see the frequencies from another track. It’s really clear and you can see where you’re overlapping frequencies.
Waves H-Delay
One of the most used Delay plugins but it's so simple to use and sounds great. I like to automate the feedback to create FX and almost riser like sounds!
HOFA 4U Project Time
Now, this isn’t a plugin as such. However, I think this is such a handy tool to have, it's basically a timer and when you have it on your master at the start of the project, it will tell you how long you been working on a track for. I find this is really interesting when you can really see how long or short you spent on a track.
Slate Digital Virtual Mix Rack
This is one of the most impressive plugins there is, technically this is a load of different plugins, but the Steven Slate stuff is insane! They all try to replicate famous analogue hardware. Obviously it's not exact but it comes incredibly close! I use this A LOT when I’m mixing down a track!
VallhallaRoom
This is maybe the most used Reverb out there but for me its always my go-to, I think it sounds so clean and crisp usually. Especially if you add around 60% dry/wet and a very short delay, it can give some sounds a completely new character!
Little Alter Boy
This thing is getting used more and more on my projects, I love how you can really change a sound up by playing with the format. I also think the pitch shift is one of the better ones out there too. I use this a lot when sound designing as I feel playing with its formant knob can really make a boring sound so much more interesting!
Electra DSP
This is so underrated! It’s just an EQ, however, I feel it gives a lot more oomph and character to lower end sounds. For example, I love using this on my Kicks, it just has a slightly different character to other EQ’s, I really like it!
Vocal Synth 2
A reasonably new plugin here, I’ve not used it much but I’m really loving what it is doing at the moment. I’m using it outside of the vocoder environment too, playing around with this when sound designing can be really fun and interesting!
WOW2
This is hands down my favourite plugin when doing vocals, especially vocal chops, the distortions on this is really nice for vocals, and again along with its filters, you can really create some unique messed up sounds if your sound designing. But for me, I use it so much on vocal chops and atmospheric plucks!
SPAN
Maybe one of the most important plugins I use when mixing! This is honestly a must-have when you're referencing your mix with other tracks, dead accurate but simple to use. I like to freeze the Spectrum of one track so its always there to see whilst I’m mixing mine. Using this whilst referencing made my life so much easier!
Joe Hawes Online