When I asked myself which plug-in I'd learned this year had left the biggest impression on me I was spoiled for choice as I have used so much new stuff this year or at least stuff which was new to me which from my perspective is the same thing!

There were, of course, others I could have chosen but I've decided to go with the Sonnox Dynamic EQ. I love the Sonnox plug-ins. There's a reassuring air of quality about them. What I particularly like about the Dynamic EQ is that it has taken a category of plug-in I really value - I've been a long time fan of dynamic EQ and before such plug-ins were commonplace I was using de-essers and multi-band compressors to achieve dynamic EQ.

Frequency-Conscious Compression Or Dynamic EQ?

I've never been a big user of multiband compression, but when I have used it I've tended to use it as a dynamic equaliser as often as a compressor and now we have good dynamic equalisers I've found less and less use for multiband compressors. In terms of flexibility and control my previous first choice dynamic EQ was every bit as good as the Sonnox but I find I'm using the Sonnox because of the user interface - It is streamlined and efficient and because of this it's getting used every time.

Some have criticised the Sonnox Dynamic EQ for being too similar to the Fabfilter plug-ins. All I'll say to that is that I'm not a Fabfilter user so I'm not well placed to comment and that good user interfaces tend to converge so if there is any truth to that accusation then every DAW also copied its user interface from Cubase. This is a great plug-in and I use it a lot despite all the alternatives out there and that is the only measure which counts.