The Best Presonus Studio One Plugins for Modern Metal

When you’re staring down a dense, 100+ track session with 9-string guitars and a drummer playing at 220 BPM, your DAW’s built-in tools better be able to hang. While everyone talks about their favorite third-party plugins, many producers sleep on the absolute workhorses that come stock with Presonus Studio One.

Forget the idea that "stock" means "bad." The truth is, Studio One is loaded with plugins that are not just usable, but are secretly behind tons of pro-level metal mixes. The trick isn’t buying more plugins; it’s knowing how to push the ones you already own to their limits.

Let’s dig into the best Studio One plugins for crafting a polished, aggressive, and modern metal sound.

Pro EQ³: Your Surgical Tone-Shaping Scalpel

The Pro EQ is the undisputed MVP of Studio One’s plugin suite, and the Pro EQ³ is a serious upgrade. In modern metal, where every frequency is fighting for space—from the sub-thump of a drop-G# guitar to the air in the cymbal overheads—you need an EQ that’s both musical and surgically precise. This is it.

Why it’s a Metal Producer’s Must-Have

The genius of Pro EQ³ lies in its visual feedback and powerful features. The built-in spectrum analyzer lets you see problematic frequency buildups in real-time. More importantly, every single band can be switched to dynamic mode. This is an absolute game-changer for metal.

Actionable Tips for Metal Mixes

• Tame Palm Mute Woof: Rhythm guitars, especially with low tunings, can get muddy and boomy during heavy chugging sections. Instead of scooping out the low-mids (around 150-300Hz) and thinning out your whole tone, use a dynamic band. Set it so the EQ only cuts those frequencies when the palm mutes hit hard, leaving the tone full and intact when chords ring out.
• De-essing Cymbals and Vocals: Got a cymbal wash that’s slicing your ears off? Or a vocalist with sharp sibilance on their screams? Set a high-frequency band to dynamic mode and use it as a de-esser. It’s far more transparent than slapping a dedicated de-esser on everything.
• Surgical Fizz Removal: Use the Pro EQ³ to hunt down and notch out that nasty high-end “fizz” on distorted guitars. Sweep a narrow band with a high Q setting somewhere between 7kHz and 12kHz to find the most offensive whistle-like frequency, then pull it down.

Learning to master an EQ like this is fundamental. If you want to dive deeper into how pros make these precise cuts, check out our guide on EQing modern metal guitars for max impact.

Fat Channel XT: The Ultimate Channel Strip Workhorse

The Fat Channel XT is like having a mini-console on every single track. It combines high-pass filtering, gating/expansion, compression, and EQ into one efficient plugin. For modern metal production, where you need to control dynamics on dozens of tracks, this is your command center.

Picking Your Flavor of Compression

The real power of the Fat Channel is its collection of classic compressor and EQ emulations. These aren’t just generic algorithms; they model iconic pieces of analog gear, and each one has a distinct character perfect for different tasks in a metal mix.

• FET Compressor (1176-style): This is your tool for aggression. The ultra-fast attack time is perfect for adding punch and snap to a snare drum or taming the wild peaks of a screaming vocal performance without squashing the life out of it.
• Tube Compressor (LA-2A-style): Need to smooth out a bass guitar so every note is solid and consistent? The Tube Comp is your answer. Its gentle, program-dependent nature is perfect for evening out dynamics in a musical way. It can also be incredible on a vocal bus to add warmth and glue.
• Brit Comp (SSL-style): The "glue" compressor. Put this on your drum bus or even your mix bus to help all the elements cohere and punch as one unit.

Getting a handle on different compression styles is key to a dynamic mix. For more on this, explore our metal compression secrets hub page.

Tricomp: Taming the Low-End Chaos

Modern metal’s obsession with low tunings creates a unique mixing challenge: how do you keep the low end from turning into a chaotic mess? When your 8-string guitar’s lowest note is in the same ballpark as your 5-string bass, you need a specialized tool. Enter Tricomp.

Tricomp is a three-band compressor, and it’s your secret weapon for managing the relationship between bass and guitars.

A Go-To Move for a Cohesive Low End

1. Put Tricomp on your main guitar bus.
2. Set the low-band crossover somewhere around 150Hz.
3. Set the compressor for just the low band to have a relatively fast attack and a medium ratio (around 4:1).
4. Now, every time the guitars chug, this compressor will clamp down only on the low frequencies, keeping them tight and controlled. This carves out a perfect pocket for the fundamental notes of the bass guitar to live in, creating a powerful, defined low end instead of a muddy competition.

RedlightDist: Your Secret Weapon for Aggression

Distortion isn’t just for guitars. The RedlightDist plugin is a fantastic tool for adding subtle (or not-so-subtle) harmonic saturation to just about anything in your mix to help it cut through. In a dense metal arrangement, a clean signal can often get lost. A little bit of distortion helps it grab the listener's ear.

Parallel Processing Power Moves

Don&#39t just slap this on a track and crank it. Use it in parallel for maximum control.

• Bass Grit: Send your bass DI to an aux track with RedlightDist on it. Choose a gritty setting, then use an EQ to filter out the fizzy highs and muddy lows, leaving just the aggressive midrange. Blend this under your main bass tone. It’ll help the bass be heard even on laptop speakers without cluttering up the low end.
• Vocal Intensity: In a heavy chorus, a screaming vocal can sometimes need a little extra help to soar over the wall of guitars. A tiny bit of parallel distortion blended in can add the bite and harmonic energy it needs to stay front and center.

Ampire: More Than Just a "Stock" Amp Sim

Okay, let's be real: most metal producers have a go-to amp sim like a Neural DSP suite or an STL ToneHub preset. But don't write off Ampire. It has some surprisingly solid high-gain amp models (like the MCM800 and the Fire-driven models) and a great stompbox collection.

Creative Uses Beyond Your Main Tone

While you might not use it for your main quad-tracked rhythm tone, Ampire is perfect for layering and adding texture.

• Adding a "Nasty" Layer: Double one of your main DI guitar tracks and run it through a super-saturated, fizzy Ampire setting. Tuck this layer way down in the mix. It can add an aggressive edge and complexity to your core tone without you even realizing it's there.
• Creating Ambient Textures: Use Ampire's clean amps and its massive collection of reverb and delay pedals to turn a simple guitar line or synth pad into a huge, atmospheric soundscape for an intro or breakdown.

Max Out Your Mixes With Pro Guidance

Mastering the tools in Presonus Studio One can absolutely get you a pro-sounding metal record. The plugins are powerful, flexible, and more than capable of handling the heaviest, most complicated mixes you can throw at them.

But knowing what a tool does is one thing. Watching a world-class producer use it to bring a mix to life is how you truly level up.

That’s what we do at Nail The Mix. Imagine getting the raw, unedited multitracks from bands like Spiritbox, Trivium, or Opeth and then watching the producer who mixed the album—people like **Will Putney, Jens Bogren, or Nolly Getgood**—build the entire mix from scratch, explaining every plugin, every EQ move, and every creative decision along the way.

If you’re ready to see how the best in the business get those polished, punchy, and massive metal sounds, check out our full catalog of NTM mixing sessions. It’s time to stop guessing and start learning from the masters.