I just had this question in my head the other day. How many of today's best producers and engineers in the world are or have been part of this community, including the sister site?

Do you think big names are here just using an anonymous nickname?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Have a nice day!

 

Not me!

 

Guaranteed a lot of the bigger names will be using at least some dodgy software.

I think it's really dangerous to call the most successful producers the 'best' though, a lot of them use ghost writers anyway.
Plus you have to really look at the masses taste and ask yourself if it's a load of shite or not. In a less rhetorical way than I did

 

Surely some famous people have visited this forum at some point or use it regularly. They naturally use a pseudonym, just like the rest of us; you don't know their real names – that's the whole point of anonymity. Famous people are just like you and me, except they have more money and their photos appear on the front page!

 

Who told you I am using a pseudonym?

 

Best or top of the world are perhaps too big words. But for sure there're quite a few pros or similar skillet here.

Tip: you won't find them in 192 vs 48 khz kind of threads. Usually...

 

Someone had to be the first

I can't even joke pretending... people know me too well here

 

Top producers MUST have total undesrtanding of the notes. Only one of us fits that description but idk what name he uses nowadays. A true master of disguise that fella.

 

notes... that's some sort of fancy musical term isn't it? we just push buttons and bash pan lids round here

 

I don't know about "top producers" but i'm sure there are plenty of seasoned musicians who are sucessful on what they are doing and are known/referenced for a lot of people on the community.

 

Xupito has to be one. He always acts so amused like those super professional guys on plugin promotion pages.

 

I've seen Bill Gates here before; he likes to troll the forums for his own mental and social well-being, saying it helps him reduce work stress. By the way, one user here is an incarnation of our late Jimi Hendrix. Hans Zimmer is a frequent visitor, often coming here for inspiration. He disguises himself perfectly; it's pointless trying to figure him out—he's simply too clever and talented.

 

You too can be successful and rich. Please transfer $10,000 to the following account in Switzerland: 53635553.
You will then receive a crash course on "How to Become a Millionaire and Famous."

 

I just saw Michael Jackson moonwalking in the kids section:

 

I remember that during the Covid lockdown months (at that time everyone was stuck at home) right here on AudioSex, I had the pleasure of exchanging a few arguments with a very famous german singer/producer from the 90s and 00s, and strangely enough, he was using his real name.
Intrigued by this, I went to check, and it was true. Unfortunately, I can no longer remember his name.

Has anyone had discussions with him about audio or does anyone remember his name?

 

if you were a real pro, you'd understand that this is all you need
http://klf.de/home/publication/manual-number-one-easy-way/

 

I doubt many OGs are here, I'm talking about the people that never had to pirate software cuz by the time software and plugins were becoming popular they already had a solid career and gas in the tank. But I bet a lot of millenial and gen z top engineers are lurking here.

 

Future platinum artist here

 

Honestly? Just about zero.

From my experience and conversations, I've gathered that the "top" or "best" producers/engineers simply can't be bothered with the scene these days.

It didn't use to be like this. I remember in the late 90s and early aughts, I had producer friends ask me to bring them back CDs from Bangkok when I traveled there (3-4 times a year). Back then and there, there was an entire top floor of a famous mall dedicated to "software." I'm talking everything from Microsoft Enterprise this or Oracle that, to Adobe this and Steinberg that.

I remember buying these CDs for $1 ($1.88 in 2026).

I used to consult and product manage an award winning multitrack audio editor, and other related products back then - imagine my surprise when I saw a CD of the latest version of my own software (released as I was boarding my plane in L.A.) on display for $1 - including PDFs of the manuals I wrote, or vetted. I bought the CD and brought it back to HQ for them to look at it. Both sales and R&D shrugged it off, and said, "Good luck to them: without support, these are useless." And they were right.

*************************************************************​

So I have three groups of musician friends really: 1) the very successful pros; 2) the working pros; and 3) the former full-time pros, who got off the road or ships/hotels to be good parents, but still work on projects, and still gig around town, but also have other ventures that they've invested themselves in (could be with Korg, TEAC, Yamaha, or teaching Music, whatever). Let's call them part-time pros.

• Group 1) "top" pros that I know don't install or test anything; they have (junior) staff or assistants for that.
  All their software is legit. Downtime is anathema, support is mission critical. They don't F around.
  
  Years ago, while iLok was still working out its kinks, I heard of some pros who downloaded and used scene releases. They owned a legit license, but if or when iLok crapped out on them once, out came the scene release, and out in use it just stayed.
  
  There was even once (maybe it was AiR?) a release that fixed a bug they'd found in the software before it was even reported. Also, scene releases were typically less bloated and tended to run faster on those old Intel and Motorola chip machines.
  
  That... is pretty much over now. There's no benefit to sister site(s) for "top producers and engineers."
  
  
  
• Group 2) full-time pros are studio or touring musicians that play and have played on countless records, toured with many artists you listen to, but don't have any staff, or FU money laying around. They'll use a combination of this and that. Many of us have friends who also work/ed in retail (Guitar Center, etc), or for distributors. Say we help produce their demos, or EP, or legacy project - they might feel compelled to pass along some "enterprise" licenses, or unreturned but fully authorized demo units.
  
  What I'm trying to say, is working pros are kinda like Russian girlfriends: they don't want to pay for anything. "Man pays." IYKYK.
  
  
  
• Group 3) part-time pros generally have more disposable income (depending on how many divorces/kids they've got), so they will buy this or that DAW, maybe a suite of high end plugins, perhaps a soft synth library package (Komplete, Arturia), but will otherwise rely on the rest of us to hook them up with other plugins and soft synths - especially my friends in Asia, and Europe.
  
  This might shock or trigger some, but groups 2 and 3 generally consider this "sharing" professional courtesy. You see, companies like Apple and other software companies offer "educational" discounts. You pay less if you're a student or teacher or university.
  
  I remember when I was in school, you could walk into a music instrument store in most of the western world and get 30-40% off MSRP if you were a bona fide professional musician. At West L.A. and another pro audio place, I had "Major Artist" discount (i.e., store cost plus 5-10%). Including for my Macs. "Same deal as Stevie Wonder," the store manager told me.
  
  For whatever reason ("piracy" is my guess), there was no such discount for any music software for 25+ years, until the rolling discounts (Black Friday, 12 days of Xmas, etc) became common practice across the industry. Now I own maybe 800 plugins (just looked: 823), which explains why I've tried to buy (on sale) plugins I already owned - several times. So embarrassing.

Bottom line: I can't remember the last time I saw or heard of a "top" producer download/installing anything (legit or not). Would you?

 

I'm Hans Zimmer and so is my wife.