Regardless of experience and skill level, all producers know how vital the rule of effects is in music production, mixing, and mastering. Plugins are software programs that allow us to change and tweak the sound in myriad ways, from adding harmonics and attenuating frequencies to adding warmth and colour.

In the world of music production, Apple’s Logic Pro has a reputation for providing producers with an abundance of high-quality stock plugins. Fuse that into its user-friendly interface, and it won’t be difficult to see why Logic Pro is one of the world’s most popular DAWs.

If you’ve just started using Logic Pro for music production, you might get overwhelmed by the many tools it offers right off the bat. In this post, I will show you the most essential Logic Pro stock plugins you can use in almost all your songs and projects.

Let’s take a quick look at what we’ll cover:

1. Equalizers (EQ)
2. Compressors
3. Reverb And Delay
4. Amps and Pedals
5. Phat FX
6. Pitch Correction (AutoTune)

With no further ado, let’s dive deep into the world of plugins in Logic.

1. Equalizers (EQ)

Arguably the most fundamental plugin in music production is the equalizer. Logic Pro has different equalizers in its arsenal. Among which, Logic’s “Channel EQ” is an advanced parametric equalizer that allows you to boost or reduce frequencies with surgical precision.

Generally, there are two goals in mind when using an equalizer; 1. make adjustments to an audio track, and 2. make different audio tracks sound good together.

First and foremost, we’d want to use an equalizer plugin on a track to boost desirable sounds and attenuate unwanted frequencies. For instance, an equalizer can help reduce unwanted room sounds (mic stand booming or the humming from the air conditioner) and boost high-ends for a clearer and crispier vocal track.

Secondly, an equalizer helps mix different tracks so that frequencies don’t clash with one another. Using an equalizer during the mixing session immensely helps eliminate that muddiness in your project and makes every instrument more audible to the listener.

To add Channel EQ to your tracks in Logic:

•  From the top-left corner of your screen, click on the little i in a circle to open the Inspector menu.
•  From the inspector menu, click “Audio FX.”
•  Hover your pointer on “EQ” and select “Channel EQ.”

Alternatively, you can click on the rectangle area that says EQ under Settings in the inspector menu to quickly add Channel EQ to your track.

Besides Channel EQ, Logic offers a collection of vintage equalizers that you can use to add colour and warmth to your tracks. I personally use Logic Pro’s Vintage Tube EQ, modeled after the Pultec EQ, on my vocal tracks to get a unique and subtle colour in my project.

To add Tube EQ to your tracks in Logic:

•  Open the Inspector menu and click on “Audio FX.”
•  Hover your pointer on EQ, navigate to “Vintage EQ Collection," and select “Tube EQ.”

Equalizing is a vital step toward making vocals sound professional. In another post, I have extensively covered how to EQ vocals in Logic Pro.

2. Compressors

Simply put, a compressor reduces the volume level on louder parts to get a track with less ups and downs. Why is that important? To make the highs and lows of your track generally more audible. Once the volume of your track is more leveled throughout the take via a compressor plugin, you can stretch everything out to make your track sound louder.

Let me give an example: suppose the main vocals in your track have a lot of dynamics in terms of volume. While the louder parts are crisp and clear in the mix, you can barely hear the quieter parts. Here, you can use a compressor plugin to initially bring down the loud parts, level them with the quieter parts, and then add gain to everything to get them back up. Now, all parts of your vocal track cut through the mix loud and clear!

Thankfully, Logic Pro offers excellent-quality stock compressor plugins that both beginners and advanced producers can take advantage of in their projects. To open Logic’s compressor:

•  Open the Inspector menu by clicking on the little i in a circle from the top-left corner of Logic’s workstation.
•  Click “Audio FX” to open the list of plugins.
•  Hover your pointer on “Dynamics” and select “Compressor.”

Using Compressors is more complex than just reducing louder parts, though. I highly recommend checking out my ultimate guide on how to use compressors in Logic Pro.

Tip: to take compressing audio up a notch in your songs, you can use a multi-band compressor to target different frequencies of an audio channel with more precision. In a YouTube video tutorial, I have explained everything you know about using a multi-band compressor in Logic Pro.

3. Reverb And Delay

Both reverb and delay are two of the most primary tools to add depth to our audio tracks. With reverb, you can uplift your tracks and gives them a certain atmosphere. Think of it like this: reverb creates a room for your track. You can have your track played in a small space or emulate a large hall to make your track sound more epic.

Logic’s Space Designer is an excellent reverb plugin you can use on your tracks. To add Logic’s Space Designer plugin:

•  Open the Inspector menu from the top-left corner of your screen.
•  Click “Audio FX” and hover your pointer on “Reverb.”
•  Select “Space Designer.”

The Space Designer’s interface gives you various knobs and faders to control different variables, including Predelay (creates a delay between the raw audio and the reverb channel), length, and size. Moreover, you can use the Dry and Wet faders to mix the original track and the reverb sound according to your taste.

In another post, I have thoroughly covered how to use the Space Designer reverb plugin in Logic Pro.

On the other hand, delay makes your track echo, and you can control how many repetitions take place in one bar and how long the effect lasts. The Tape Delay plugin is one of the best delays you can find in Logic’s long list of stock plugins. To Add Tape Delay to your tracks:

•  Click on the little i from the top-left corner of Logic’s workstation to open the Inspector menu.
•  Click “Audio FX” and hover your pointer on “Delay.”
•  Select “Tape Delay.”

Tip: instead of adding reverb and delay to each track directly, I prefer creating buses and sending my tracks to those channels. Check my video on YouTube to learn more about bussing delay and reverb in Logic Pro.

4. Amps And Pedals

If you’re a guitar player, you know how important it is to shape your guitar tone to create the right atmosphere in your songs.

Guitar amp simulator plugins can be pricey. Thankfully, Logic offers high-quality and practical tools for guitarists to create the sound they’re looking for. These stock plugins are among the best free amp simulators you can use in Logic Pro.

•  Open the inspector menu from the top-left corner of your screen.
•  Click “Audio FX” and hover your pointer on “Amps and Pedals.”
•  Select “Amp Designer” and/or “Pedalboard.”

Logic’s Amp Designer allows you to choose from over 25 emulated amps modeled after some of the famous names in the industry, including Marshal, Vox, and Orange amps. Moreover, you can choose different cabinets and microphones to fine-tune the sound you want to make.

Logic’s Pedalboard plugin offers different pedal effects that you can use in a chain to customize your guitar/bass tone further. These pedals include overdrive, distortion, reverb, delay, chorus, tremolo, and vibrato.

5. Phat FX

Another premium-quality plugin in Logic’s stock library is Phat FX. This underrated tool offers plenty of different effects and parameters to tweak your tracks in Logic. In one of my recent YouTube videos, I breakdown the stems to a song with over 1.7 billion streams, and you can see the Phat FX plugin added to quite a few of the song’s tracks.

To add Phat FX in Logic:

•  Open the inspector menu from the top-left corner of your screen.
•  Click “Audio FX” and hover your pointer on “Multi Effects.”
•  Select “Phat FX.”

This plugin gives you many different effects, including bandpass, LFO, bass enhancer, and a compressor. All these effects come with adjustable parameters to fine-tune every little detail.

What’s more, the Phat FX plugin also allows you to saturate your audio track. I have extensively elaborated on using saturation plugins in Logic Pro in another post.

6. Pitch Correction (AutoTune)

Last but certainly not least, autotune is one of the most popular production effects used in many genres, especially Rap and HipHop. Autotune helps tune the pitch of a sound in real-time. These days, it is often used in excess as a stylistic choice.

You can find Logic’s built-in autotune effect under the name of “Pitch Correction” here:

•  Open the inspector menu from the top-left corner of your screen.
•  Click “Audio FX” and hover your pointer on “Pitch.”
•  Select “Pitch Correction.”

If you need more help with pitch correction, I suggest looking at my guide on how to use autotune in Logic Pro.

Tip: while practical, autotune often makes your vocal lines sound too robotic. If you want to make subtle adjustments to your vocal track’s pitch without sounding too obvious, you can use Logic Pro’s built-in Flex Pitch.

Final Thoughts On Logic’s Stock Plugins

Logic’s impressive list of stock plugins and sound effects doesn’t stop there. Make sure to explore the DAW for yourself to find other valuable tools you can use in your projects. Once you’ve built a foundation using Logic’s stock plugins, you can take your music production to the next level by installing third-party plugins and VSTs.

If you need more help regarding music production, songwriting, mixing, and mastering, I suggest downloading my Free 6 Pillars To Learn Logic Pro Faster.