Plug-ins can be pricey, and if you don’t know the theory behind compression you could find yourself doing more harm than good. So if you’re more of an recording enthusiast than a studio pro and you’re looking for a no-frills, set-and-forget vocal tool, then this might be of interest to you.
Producer Joey Sturgis (Born Of Osiris, Asking Alexandria, We Came As Romans, etc) has been making a name for himself not just by producing bands that sell lots and lots of albums, but by branding and merchandising some of the tools to his trade. Like when he put the Born Of Orisis guitar tone for sale as an Axe-FX preset.
Now he has his vocal chain for purchase online: the JST Gain Reduction plug-in. It’s essentially eq, compression, and distortion all in one: a simulacrum of the multiple tools he would be applying to a vocal track, except instead of 5 different pricey plug-ins from Waves or whatnot you use this one $45 plug. If you’re curious as to the details of it take a look at this interview I did with Joey a couple months back.
Since I’m not a professional recording engineer I figured “why not review this puppy with someone who is?” I sat down with Kevin Antreassian, studio proprietor at Backroom Studios, to double down our brain power for this review.
