How to Stop Overlooking this Critical Plugin and Start Mixing Like a Boss
What’s a tool I use in almost every session that people overlook? Probably the most underrated tool in the arsenal.
Lab Report #001:
What’s a tool I use in almost every session that people overlook?
Let me cut straight to it:
Channel Strips , or more specifically,
The AIR Music Tech Channel Strip.
It’s not on anyone’s “Top 10 Must-Have Plugins” list. But I’ve been mixing records for a while now and —and I still reach for this strip in almost every session. Why? Because it works.
Why I Use It (Still)
We’ve seen the plugin boom—every flavor of vintage modeled this, analog-emulated that.
And somewhere along the way, folks forgot how powerful simple tools can be.
The AIR Channel Strip does what a good engineer always aims to do:
Fix the problems. Shape the tone. Move the hell on.
Let me break it down:
Gate/Expander: I use it to clean up room bleed, noisy backgrounds, or tighten up live drums—quickly. Fairly simple, but for the most part.
Compressor: Is it fancy? No. Is it fast, reliable, and musical and get the job done? yes
EQ: 3 bands and a sweepable mid. That’s more than enough for 80% of what you need in a mix.
Where It Lives in My Chain
For me, this depends, sometimes it lives right at the top of the insert stack—slot one.
Essentially this way its acting as the ‘input’ stage of the console.
I might swap it out later in the mix if I need surgical precision or color. But in the early stages, this strip lets me clean, control, and shape the sound before any later processing.
Most of the time it lives before any additional compression, but sometimes I’ll place the channel strip as the last form of tone control before the 2bus or a submix.
Why Most People Skip It
Because they’re too busy chasing character instead of results.
Look—I love a tube emulation as much as the next guy. But the truth is, most records don’t fail because you didn’t have enough vibe. They fail because no one took the time to just clean the signal, control dynamics, and carve space.
This strip does all that in one move. And it doesn’t slow you down.
Try This Today:
Drop it on your lead vocal.
– Gate out the room or background air.
– Hit it with 2–3dB of compression.
– Sweep the mids. Pull out the mud.
Suddenly your vocal is sitting better. Cleaner. Tighter.
And you didn’t load up five different plugins or lose the groove scrolling presets.
Or try it out on drums, cut out below ~25Hz boost around 60hz for punch, cut the same region in your bass to help it ‘fit’ .. boom..
Veteran’s Note:
If you know how to listen, you don’t need a million tools.
You need one tool that gets out of the way.
The Channel Strip does just that. It’s not trying to impress you, nor are you trying to impress anyone.
It’s trying to help you finish the damn record.
Yes, there are a million versions of channel strips, but unless you’re going for a specific sound it’s best to stick with just one that you’re comfortable with
Lab Notes
🧪 Try stacking two strips—one for utility, one for tone. That’s old-school console thinking.
🎧 On drums, don’t gate too hard. Just enough to clean tails without killing the groove.
I’ve mixed on million-dollar desks. I’ve used racks taller than most engineers. But when I’m in the box, this little channel strip keeps showing up. Not because it’s magic. But because it’s honest.
That’s what The Practical Audio Lab is about.
No fluff. Just tools that work.
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