Gear

     Time and time again, I hear mixes loaded with processing and an overabundance of effects. It's become a plague of sorts.  These mixers will take algorithmically perfect plugins and make them sound lackluster and amateur, in some cases. 99% of all my plugins are emulated after vintage analog equipment.  My approach to these plugins is to really focus on how they should've been used. Gain staging, up to the mix knob.  As a result, I can turn these plugins into larger than life, mix ready tracks. 

      Some plugins, like amp sims, and some drum software, I rely on heavily.  My ability to edit these into, "as perfect as you would want" humanlike performances gives me justification to use them on even bigger label tracks.

      My plugins cover a wide array of real gear, everything from boutique high gain amps to vintage bus compressors.  Just about any Head/Cab pairing you can think of. Some of my heads include The Sunn Model T, Driftwood Purple Nightmare, Vox AC30, Marshall 59' Plexi,  among just about any other heavy hitter you can think of. Same goes for Cab's and IR's, names like Mesa, Engl, Hesu, and Orange are present, among many other cabinet, speaker, preamp, and mic combinations.

      I own folders upon folders of drum samples, IR's, and FX, that I have either made myself or acquired from fellow engineers. These allow me to always make my mixes true to me and my sound. That is always of upmost importance, applying my knowledge of real gear to these plugins completely shifts the playing field. Darkwood will never get behind or release a product that doesn't fit harsh industry demands, wasn't fully creatively explored, or simply doesn't stimulate the listener to their highest potential.