“I don’t use presets that much, but this one just felt like, ‘yeah, let’s just throw this one in just to offset everything’, you know?”: Hyperpop producer AG Cook on his favourite plugins and how he used them on recent track Lucifer
Arturia, NI and Sonic Charge software all gets a look in
His PC Music project might be at an end, but producer AG Cook shows no signs of slowing down. His latest album, Britpop, is a sprawling three-disc affair, and he’s all over Charli XCX’s Brat, too.
Cook’s is very much the sound of now, then, and he recently sat down with Tape Notes to discuss - among other things - some of his favourite plugins and how he used them on Britpop track Lucifer (which just so happens to feature - yep - Charli XCX on vocals).
As you’d expect, Cook has some pretty big hitters in his arsenal: Reveal Sound Spire, SoundToys FilterFreak, Sonic Charge Synplant 2 and Sonic Academy Kick 2 all get a shout out.
There’s some lesser-known stuff in his rack too, though - step forward MeldaProduction MBitFunMB - and we hear how Cook likes to layer up Arturia’s DX7 emulation and Native Instruments’ Razor.
“I don’t use presets that much,” Cook says at one point while he’s discussing Arturia Vocoder V’s role in the making of Lucifer, “but this one just felt like - when I describe different parts and different characters - it’s like, ‘yeah, let’s just throw this one in just to offset everything’, you know?”
You can listen to the full interview with AG Cook on the Tape Notes website.
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I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.
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