Juheun’s production prowess in the studio has landed him releases on powerhouse labels in the techno scene. As he rides the high of releases on labels such as Octopus Records and Set About, the iconic American-Korean techno producer Juheun announces his return to Simina Grigoriu’s Kuukou Records.
Hearing this record, it’s impossible not to wonder how he created the soaring soundscapes and impactful synth cuts throughout the record.
This is why we invited him on to share his favorite plugins for techno production, all of which he used extensively in his latest single.
Stream Juheun’s Latest Single Below
Juheun’s latest single, ‘Instant Communication,’ is six and a half minutes of three-dimensional wizardry.
The slow and evolving textures of this rolling techno club-wrecker slowly drift in and out of frame from every angle imaginable, transporting the listener to a world of Juheun’s creation. The cascade of sounds and synths is pockmarked by hard cuts and abrupt blasts of noise to jolt you back into its synthetic frenzy.
It’s truly no wonder why so many of Juheun’s favorite plugins for techno production all affect the stereo field of the song; this producer is a damn genius at stereo imaging, which makes me all the more excited to see how he uses these powerful plugins.
Kikzilla (ISM – Intelligent Sounds and Music)
This ones is a must for anyone looking to get that massive rumble under your kick drum! I first came across this plug-in through a friend of mine who recommended it after hearing one of my demos a few years back. Before this, I would use all sorts of techniques with separate EQs, distortion, side chain, and reverb to try and get the same sound and result I was searching for in some of my favorite tracks.
It’s a magical plugin that lets you basically save loads of time while giving you that big peak time rumble you’ve been searching for. You can hear it in my track ‘Spacetime’.
I mostly use it with my kick drum channel and render out an audio loop that I throw on a separate audio channel in my kick/bass group within Ableton.
If you really dial in the settings, you can get a really nice rumble bass that works with your kick drum for a nice push-and-pull feeling in your track. You’re not just limited with the kick drum either, you can throw this thing on snares and high hats as well.
Thermal (Output)
Thermal is a dope distortion plugin made by the company Output which also makes some monitor speakers as well as a handful of other plugins like Substance and Exhale.
Thermal is one of those plugins that can pretty much go on everything. It’s like ketchup and mustard lol. It’s a multi-band distortion plugin that encourages you to play with it while it’s affecting whatever sound you throw it on.
Anytime I feel like a sound is just a bit lackluster, or if I’m trying to beef a sound up so it’s more in your face and exciting, I grab Thermal. In my record ‘M87’ you can hear the plugin working on the main melodic synth lead that kicks in during the first break and continues on for the rest of the track.
Ozone Imager (iZotope)
So here’s a plugin I’ve been using for years, since version 1. It’s one of the most crucial FREE plugins you will ever use! iZotope is known for making some of the best mixing and mastering plugins and tools to ever be available as a plugin.
If you know iZotope then you know everything they make is quality. Using an Audio Imager on your projects is a must if you’re looking to visualize the spatial location of the sounds coming from your speakers or headphones. Once your track starts to build many layers and things start to get complex within the mix, using a plugin like Ozone Imager not only can give you a better visual representation of the sounds in your project, but it has the ability to actually separate and widens your individual tracks within the mix.
This also goes for the reverse if you’re trying to really tighten things down to MONO like your bass and kick drums. This goes beyond just panning things left to right, think of it more as a tool to control your sounds within a 3D space.
I often use the plugin to bring sounds forward in the mix by giving it a bit more width to add some extra spice and excitement. I use it on synths, drums, and even percussion and FX sounds like risers and white noise. You can hear it do its thing on my record ‘Arrival’ on the crazy Sub37 lead during the breakdowns.
I don’t think a track leaves my studio without this plugin, it’s on everything, and its FREE!
Snag All The Ozone Bundles Here
Auto Pan (Ableton Live)
Speaking of stereo, panning, and must-have plugins, it’s not always about the third-party plugins either. Ableton Live is known as one of the most in-demand production DAWS out there, and the tools it provides for something as basic as panning can really help bring life to your productions.
The Auto Pan audio effect within Ableton Live gives you the ability to automate the left and right panning of any audio track based on the LFO you set within the effect.
With the ability to sync the LFO to the beat, or freely to the Hz, auto pan lets you rhythmically pan the sound from the left to the right speaker.
When you use it on things like closed hats and shakers, you can really add an extra bit of movement and rhythm to your track. It’s not just limited to things like drums though, try using it on things like white noise during build-ups, or even reverbs and filters for some added spice. Just like the Ozone Imager, Auto Pan is a go-to on every one of my productions.
Hear it in my track ‘Trajectory’ during the build-up when I pan the siren synth right before the drop.
Kick Start 2 (Cableguys)
When it comes to cheap and inexpensive plugins and tools for your arsenal, Kick Start is a must-have.
Originally developed in conjunction with Nicky Romero and the guys over at Cableguys, this plugin is as simple as it gets. Side chaining is a technique that’s been around since the early days of audio recording but is a mainstay in electronic music where the kick drum is one of the most important elements when it comes to dance music. Kick Start is basically just a side chain plugin without the ghost kick.
Gone are the days of having to use compressors with a separate channel triggering the compressor with a ghost kick. Instead, it’s synced to the BPM and ducks the volume of the audio on whatever channel you throw it on based off of some simple parameters like mix and curves. If you’re still looking for some control over the rhythm of the side chain, you can still trigger it with any audio source within the project. The plugin even has the ability to dial in the frequency so the side chain is only affecting the lows in your bass line.
Finally, the Kick Start has a clean and straightforward UI with a nice audio visualizer so you can drag the curve to fit the sound you’re pushing through it. I use this thing on my bass channel but also things like pads and even effects like reverb. You can hear it being used in my releases such ‘Digital High’ and ‘Gamma’.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
