New Music Gear Monday: Apogee Clearmountain’s Domain FX Signal Chain Plugin

Bob Clearmountain is one of the most celebrated, yet under the radar, mixers in the world today. His work on the classic hits by everyone from Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Bryan Adams, David Bowie, Roxy Music and about a hundred more has stood the test of time in that we still listen to and admire these tracks even decades after they were released. That’s why it’s so exciting that he’s developed his own unique effects plugin with Apogee called Clearmountain’s Domain.

Clearmountain’s Domain consists of 5 sections – a Home/Visualizer screen, Input, Delay, Pitch/Reverb, and Mixer. These allow you to reproduce the sounds that Bob created on so many classic recordings via an appropriately named preset (i.e. Live Fogerty, Let’s Dance, Avalon BV, etc.). These sections mimic the analog effects chain that Bob uses in his Mix This studio that, according to Bob, couldn’t be reproduced in a normal DAW environment, hence the ground-up design of the plugin.

The Input section allows you to precondition the signal with delay and reverb de-essing and EQ. The Delay module allows you to set the delay time manually, sync to the track, or tap the time in, then add Spin (feedback) and offset the feedback timing (called Offset, a totally unique feature). You can also add Blur, which is some signal saturation, and additional EQ, if necessary.

Next comes the Pitch/Reverb section that starts with a unison to octave pitch shifter, then sends that (or not) into 3 different convolution reverbs. The Mix This reverb can also be set for straight stereo, mono, or left/right channel swap.

Finally comes the Mixer section that allows control of the delay, pitched delay, and the 3 reverbs via on-screen faders. There are also FX Blend and Output faders here too.

The Apogee Clearmountain’s Domain effects plugin goes for $349, which isn’t a bad price considering multiple convolution reverbs are included. There’s also a free trial version available. The plugin is Mac only (OS 10.12.6 or higher) and will work on any AAX Native, AU, VST or VST 3 compatible host application.

Go here to find out more, or check out the videos below.