What DAW & Plugins Does Calvin Harris Use?

Adam Richard Wiles, also known as Calvin Harris is an amazing DJ and producer. He has so many hits and is one of the high paid artists. In this article, we are going to see daw, software, and hardware.

What DAW does Calvin Harris Use?

For producing almost all of his songs, Calvin Harris uses primarily Logic Pro. Logic is a pretty famous DAW used by many top artists and it is available only for Apple hardware.

Logic Pro is a full-blown digital audio workstation and that has so many features and works smooth. There are a few ways that you can use to make it work on non-Apple hardware.

Always remember, It’s never really about the DAW but about the artist and what their creativity brings to the table. You can use pretty much any daw to create any sound that you want.

Logic Pro is a great option if you are using an Apple Computer and would like to explore it.

So having that said below are the two DAWs that Calvin Harris uses:

Logic Pro
Avid Pro Tools

Yup, that’s the right secondary choice of DAW is Avid Pro Tools.

What VSTs & Effects Plugins Does Calvin Harris Use?

Calvin Harris uses a wide variety of plugins & VSTs and a combination of many. In a lot of interviews and his social media he has mentioned many of the following plugins:

Waves L3 Multimaximizer Plugin

Mastering engineers have a tricky job, they need to master the track without losing the initial vibe and sound of the track which it was created on top of it.

The L3 Multimaximizer is a great plugin that works as a great tool to tackle this issue head-on.

It is a Multiband peak limiter/level maximizer plugin
Linear phase EQ for sweet highs and punchy lows

IDR™ Increased Digital Resolution with double precision bit re-quantization and dither with 9th-order noise shaping filter
Master and individual ARC™ Automatic Release Controls
Includes the L3 Ultramaximizer, L3-LL Multimaximizer, and L3-LL Ultramaximizer

Get the plugin here

Native Instruments KOMPLETE

Native Instruments KOMPLETE is an amazing bundle that comes with a lot of VSTs and sounds. You can literally create anything and everything. The newer bundle comes with so many plugins. Over 60 plugins inside the bundle which is way more than enough.

Native Instruments KOMPLETE has the following famous plugins:

FM8 – FM8 is a beautiful synth that contains brilliant sound and also has so many varieties of wave shapes to choose from. FM8 is also used by other great artists like SKRILLEX.

Massive – Massive is a super-powerful bass plugin that comes with 1000s of sounds and detailed settings. If you hear the most famous EDM track you can tell the work of Massive in those tracks.

Kontakt – Unless you are a beginner you must have definitely heard of Kontakt and how powerful it is. Kontakt is many composers and artists’ go-to place for some realistic sounds.

Reaktor – Reaktor is a GUI modular synth that has over 70+ stock instruments. You can build your own custom synth, sounds, and effects.

Those are just a few plugins from the bundle and have so much more. You can use the below link to go and check it out yourself.

Native Instruments Oficial Website

Xfer Records LFOTool

Next up, we have the Xfer Records LFOTool. This plugin allows you to create custom LFO curves and sculpt your desired sound. Supports both Mac OS & Windows. It also has presets which you can use and they seem pretty flawless.

Xfer Records LFO Tool Info

Izotope Ozone

An all in one mastering plugin that is used by almost every mainstream artist these days. You can find a lot of tutorials and info about Izotope. Calvin Harris can be seen using this in a video he made on YouTube.

The newer versions of Izotope Ozone has greatly improved with features like AI Power Mastering and Tonal Balance Control.

Izotope Ozone Info

PCM Native Reverb Plug-in Bundle

PCM Native Reverb Plugin Bundle has one of the richest reverb sounds. It also allows you to envelop your vocals and instruments with the musical ambiance. Below are some of its features.

Lexicon Reverb Bundle Info

Spectrasonics Omnisphere

Spectrasonics Omnisphere is by far one of the best VST plugin ever made. This has so much control over sounds and the library it comes with is tremendously insane. From Skrillex to Calvin Harris everybody uses it and there’s a good reason.

This plugin has an ocean of sounds and you can modify it to your liking. Omnisphere also allows you to create your own sounds and synth. You can even record a sound and make it a synth.