When you compare the record you made in your bedroom or studio to a major-label release, you’re not really comparing one mix to another mix. You’re comparing your work to an entire production system.

There’s a line of thinking among people with opinions about music production that gain staging is basically a moot concern. The reasoning goes something like this: modern DAWs use floating-point math in their internal mixers, making it really hard to clip a channel or a bus by pushing signal over 0 dBFS. Compared to overdriving a tape machine or clipping a converter, the risk of “too-hot” signal ain’t what it used to be in the days of analog recording, or even the “bronze age” of digital production.

FUEL delivers so well in its stated function that I think it can disguise what a Swiss Army knife this plugin is. One of my favorite uses for FUEL these days is bass processing. Not only can it deliver a range of killer bass tones, from window-rattling subs to cutting grit, but it’s pretty close to the only plugin you need to get there.