Dave Pensadomeets
FX Collection 3
In the sphere of recorded music, Dave Pensado is an icon. His razor-sharp mixing skill and even sharper ear has not only earned him a reputation as one of the finest mix engineers in the game - it’s left a lasting and profound impact on the industry itself.
We had the absolute honor of spending time with Dave in the studio to talk about how FX Collection 3 sits at the heart of his DAW arsenal.
Welcome to the Place
There are successful mix engineers, and then there’s Dave Pensado. With a career that’s spanned 5 decades and counting, here is a man who’s seen it all.
He’s racked up credits with some of the most successful artists of all time, from Beyonce to Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey to Snoop Dogg. He’s received numerous accolades, from a Grammy to a NAMM TEC Hall of Fame Award. His weekly music production YouTube show, Pensado’s Place, has over 270K subscribers at the time of writing.
But his collaborations with some of the world’s most daring artists aren’t his only outlet; since 2006, he’s been releasing his own music, a purely creative endeavor, that seamlessly blends elements of trap, electronic, trip hop, and more. In doing so, he’s cultivated a process of perpetual creativity, learning something new every time, with each project helping to inspire the next one.
Yet despite seeing his profession undergo enormous changes, working with some of music’s biggest stars, and being rightfully recognized for his impressive contributions, it always comes back to a simple goal for Dave: get the job done, and get it done well.
Hopefully I’m known for quality mixing, quality music, and being able to give my clients as much as I can give them to help them shoot to the top.
New tricks
During his time as an engineer, Pensado has seen his profession move from studios filled with racks of analog outboard equipment to the ability to perfect a chart-worthy mix on a laptop. Like many of his peers, he now uses a setup that combines both. But rather than simply embracing the advantages of an in-the-box flow, he puts it first.
I’m hybrid, which means that I use a little bit of outboard gear and a bit of digital gear. Probably 80% digital, 20% analog.
It’s easy to think that one might tire of working in the same field for as long as Dave has. In this case, it’s quite the opposite, due to both passion and progress. The world of mixing and music production is totally different to what it was a decade ago, let alone when he started out.
I don’t think there’s been a better time in the history of the world to make music than now. We have tools that were unimaginable 10 years ago, truly.
Pensado is a firm believer - much like ourselves - that technology has enabled so many more people to follow their creativity and step into the world of audio and music creation. Industries that were once considered exclusive, requiring lengthy study and years of proverbial ladder climbing, are now accessible almost at the touch of the button - an accessibility that Dave welcomes.
It seems like this is a golden age of music, a golden age of the tools, and a golden age of my profession. I love the fact that so many people who love to be engineers have a pathway to that goal.
On FX Collection 3
Pensado was introduced to FX Collection as a result of a spontaneous search for a practical alternative to his trusty outboard gear. We’re thrilled to hear that it did the trick, and then some. We spoke to Dave in the studio about his Arturia favorites, and how FX Collection 3’s distortions are fast becoming favorites of his.
Comp TUBE-STA
Dave’s first foray into Arturia effects that remains a compression workhorse in his DAW workflow.
I was using a Gates Sta-Level, one of the premier compressors there is, and it just wouldn’t work. I went online looking for a plugin version, and lo and behold, I found one on Arturia… I was skeptical. I tried it out, and I use it to this day. That was the first time I learned about Arturia.
Dist OP-AMP21
The distortion pedal that goes beyond distortion; Dave takes the time to explore the detailed but hands-on features of this enhanced crunch box.
Everybody had a SansAmp. What I like about this particular plugin is it’s a faithful emulation of that. It’s actually a little better than the SansAmp, we’ve got a lot more functionality out of the plugin. I haven’t had a long history with it but man, it’s becoming my favorite rapidly.
Dist TUBE-CULTURE
This emulation of a premium modern classic adds some harmonic sparkle and impact to a guitar part in Dave’s project.
Dist TUBE-CULTURE is patterned after a really famous piece of outboard gear, it was expensive and only major studios had it. The emulation on that one is incredible. It’s found a permanent place in my arsenal, seriously.
It seems that Pensado finds in FX Collection 3 not just viable alternatives to his favorite studio gear; these are enhanced, creative, experimental interpretations of audio tools that can do so much more.
In my profession, I’m giving the listener sounds, and I’ve noticed over the course of my career that the more unique I can make the sound and the more surprising I can make the sound, I can get the listener’s attention. That’s something I like to do with Arturia plugins.
Creativity, uninterrupted
For Dave Pensado to approve of the creative tools in FX Collection 3, they must be doing something right. Better still, he seems to frequently incorporate them into his mixing flow - and he notes that it isn’t just down to their top-tier sound:
I love to use Arturia products, they just work. There are some plugins and pieces of equipment that you fight on a creative level. If you’re trying to be creative and you’re looking for knobs, you’re looking for this, that - you might as well forget it.
Arturia is really well thought-out, the GUI is very friendly. Those plugins - not only are they sonically some of the best, if not the best out there, but it allows you to be creative without being interrupted.
As he mentioned earlier, there are more tools available today than ever before, and they only seem to be getting more powerful. This amount of choice can present a challenge; is it helpful having more and more plugins at your disposal, or does it slow you down? We’re grateful that Dave Pensado seems to think that FX Collection lives up to its baseline: audio effects you’ll actually use.
“It’s 20-something plugins. I probably use 20 of them, that’s how good they are.”
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