Blog

ABSOLUTE. on the Legacy of the 909 in Queer Dance Music

ABSOLUTE. is a defining queer force in dance music. His sound moves from raw, percussive house into surging progressive euphoria: sweaty, hypnotic, built to carry a room. Now a fixture of the global dance circuit, his remix of Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy has become a peak-time must-play for DJs around the world. For ABSOLUTE., it’s just one of many releases on iconic labels like Permanent Vacation, UTTU, Shall Not Fade, Hot Haus, and Maximum Airtime ABSOLUTE. is also known for his collabo

DUCKY Dives into his Signature Sound, and how Transitioning Changed it

For CK Neiman – AKA DUCKY – life is an opportunity to create. The San Francisco-born and now Rotterdam-based polymath has led a life of artistic self-expression ever since he first started DJing clubs at the age of 13. Thanks to his infectious taste in EDM-flavoured rave music behind the decks and, due to his age, fake IDs, Neiman began to hone his craft throughout the 2010s, building the DUCKY alias as a producer and DJ, with fans gravitating towards his high-energy sets, unrestricted by gen

Samantha Togni on the Legacy of Dance Music’s Queer Roots

Header Photo By Joseph Delaney To simply call Samantha Togni a DJ and producer would be doing her a disservice. As well as being an internationally renowned artist who has played super-clubs the world over, and released a string of hard-hitting tracks over the past decade, the london-based musician is also the founder of Boudica, a platform championing women, trans and non-binary artists in electronic music. With Boudica, Togni runs workshops, a conference, and an international club series

TmrO Sessions – with Don Cannon and the TmrO Network

Step into the studio with Don Cannon and TmrO Network for Sessions — a five-part livestream and video series spotlighting the art of beatmaking. Featuring industry legends, exclusive sounds, and real-time production magic, this collaboration brings tools from Plugin Boutique and Loopcloud into the heart of the creative process.   Behind the Beats: Don Cannon x TmrO Sessions Each episode captures an in-depth session with top-tier producers, with hands-on insight about and demonstrati

The Tools That Took Sacha Robotti to Dirtybird

Few artists in modern electronic music embody the balance between discipline and spontaneity like Sacha Robotti. Over two decades, the Berlin-bred producer has moved fluidly between scenes and sounds, from his early techno roots to Dirtybird’s free-spirited west coast energy. His debut album I, Robotti captures that full arc, a record that spans basements, festivals, and continents while still feeling intimate and personal.   Across twelve tracks, the album functions like a sonic memoi

Inside Pan-Pot’s Minimal and Physical Production Approach

Pan-Pot built HUMAN as an extension of their experience of club culture and of how they want audiences to experience music again. The concept centers on depth, presence, and physical impact in a room. That same thinking carries directly into their studio process, where arrangement, sound selection, and dynamics are shaped with long-term tension in mind rather than short-term payoff. In our conversation with the duo, Tassilo and Thomas break down how that philosophy translates into real p

Inside our first India event: Plugin Boutique at Bootcamp Goa

In March 2026, Plugin Boutique made its first appearance in India. We partnered with Bootcamp Goa to host a masterclass at their annual residential music camp in Morjim, North Goa. Now in its fifth year, Bootcamp Goa brings together DJs, producers, live performers and visual artists for 14 days of focused music education. The masterclass was led by Krishnamurthy Ramesh, an Ableton Certified Trainer, as part of the camp's Advanced Music Production Week. It was built around Excite Audio's Bl

Essential Toolkit: What So Not

For the debut of our new Essential Toolkit series, What So Not details the plugins behind “Dancing in the Leaves” from their EP The Quiet That Hurts. The focus stays on speed and restraint. Each tool serves a defined purpose, supporting the idea without heavy processing chains or excess layering. Five plugins shape the session: FabFilter Pro-Q 4 handles spectral EQ on field recordings and unstable sources so the arrangement forms quickly. RC-20 Retro Color adds motion to an 808 line

Staying Human in a Digital Studio: ATB’s Approach

For more than three decades, ATB has been a defining voice in electronic music. From the early success of “9 PM (Till I Come)” to his new collaboration with Shaun Farrugia on “Believe in Love,” he has kept one goal in focus: to connect emotion and energy in equal measure. His music still carries the same DNA that made his early work resonate, but the technology and collaborators around him continue to evolve.     Speaking from his studio, ATB reflects on what it means to stay curren

The Tools Behind LEISURE’s Timeless Album

For LEISURE, Welcome To The Mood marked a clear point in how the group wrote and recorded together, and the conversations around the album focused on process, arrangement choices, and how the six-piece keeps decisions consistent across a long timeline. The record leaned further into live recording, and it expanded the palette through added musicians like strings, brass, piano, and backing vocalists, while keeping the songwriting direct and personal. That context shaped the questions in our

Chris Avantgarde Masterclass ahead of Hyperreal Release – Plugin Boutique x IO Event

The LA event bonanza continues; this time in the form of a masterclass with none other than Chris Avantgarde. This rising star has been making waves for some time now, with more and more accolades accumulating on his belt. The next of which is set to be his debut album, Hyperreal (expected to be released in June). Chris took the stage at this masterclass, shedding light on his creative process and sharing his innermost production secrets to success. This event took place following a successfu

From Dry to Alive: Giving Drums a Studio Room Feel

Drums in particular are one of the hardest instruments to make feel convincingly “real”. Straight out of the box, loops can sound clean and punchy, but they often lack the space and depth that comes from a live recording. Achieving that realism can be the make or break between a loop that works and a tightly mixed record. We’ve teamed up with Like It Or Not for a video about placing drums into a believable environment using the UAD Sound City Studios Plugin! This video explores the relationsh

DW and Roland get “Inside The Modern Mix” for Band Month

This year at Plugin Boutique, we’ve been busier than ever, hosting real-world events to celebrate various niches within the music industry. Recent times have seen us celebrate Women’s Month, and discuss Keeping Creative with artists and plugin developers alike. Aside from celebration, these events serve as a testament of successful growth of the ever-changing and expanding range of diverse music sectors across the globe. Panels of specialists, as well as dedicated enthusiasts meet up in the

Your Essential Guide to: AI Mastering and Online Mastering

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels In this article, we'll inform you on all things AI-mastering, gloss over the best solutions on the market, explore the most popular online AI mastering services/plugins, and give you an honest overview on how to incorporate all of this into your workflow to make your life easier—and save you lots of time (and money) on mastering. So, without further ado, here we have it: a no-nonsense, full guide to AI mastering and online mastering, with no stone left u

Celebrating Women's Month: Creativity, Collaboration and Community with We Make Noise

In March, Plugin Boutique and We Make Noise proudly teamed up for Women’s Month, gathering female and non-binary voices to celebrate their presence in the music industry. The event centred around the making of We Make Noise's collaborative album—a project compiling works of women and non-binary producers, songwriters, and engineers. At the event, there was an exclusive demo breakdown and an in-depth panel discussion. Through which, attendees exemplified their unique creative processes, learne

Going Beyond Stock Plugins – with Like It Or Not

Once producers venture forth beyond their DAW’s native plugin selection, that’s where creative avenues open up, and they start to really develop a sense of their own original sound. Plugin Boutique have teamed up with Like It Or Not, with a video diving into those exact creative avenues that start to pop up once musicians make that initial step outside the ‘stock-plugin’ phase and start experimenting with third-party alternatives. With a sharp, idea-driven approach to music production, Like I