PREFIX Free
prefix
Prefix is a pre-mixing and audio alignment plugin designed to solve technical problems before they bleed into the creative stage of a mix.
Rather than acting as a traditional insert effect, Prefix is built to sit right at the top of your signal chain, giving you control over frequency balance, phase accuracy, stereo imaging, and dynamics at the source.
It is especially useful for recorded material where noise, phase inconsistencies, or spatial issues can quietly undermine clarity later on.
The philosophy behind Prefix is corrective, not cosmetic. Every module is designed to clean, align, and stabilise audio with maximum transparency, allowing downstream processing to work more effectively.
Instead of stacking multiple utilities, Prefix consolidates essential pre-mix tools into a single, tightly integrated workflow.
System Requirements:
- 64-bit
- VST 3 / AU
- Windows
Clean foundations and phase integrity
At its core, Prefix focuses on frequency and phase correction with a level of smoothness normally associated with high-end hardware. The main signal path combines Baxandall-style shelving filters with oversampled Butterworth high-pass and low-pass filters, offering 12 dB and 24 dB per-octave slopes.
These filters are designed to behave musically, making them ideal for removing low-end rumble, taming excessive brightness, or gently rebalancing a source without introducing harsh artefacts.
Phase alignment is a standout feature. Prefix provides step-less, analog-style phase correction with control over polarity, frequency center, and bandwidth.
This makes it highly effective for tightening multi-microphone recordings such as drums, guitar amps, or layered vocals. An additional digital delay option allows precise timing alignment, helping transients lock together while preserving the natural feel of the performance.
Dynamics control, sidechain precision, and spatial correction
Prefix includes a full-featured gate and expander section designed for transparent noise control rather than blunt signal chopping. Threshold, knee, range, attack, hold, and release parameters allow everything from subtle noise reduction to more assertive expansion.
Multiple detection modes, including peak and RMS options, give engineers fine control over how the dynamics respond to different material, while a pre-open timing feature helps protect fast transients.
The dedicated sidechain path significantly expands what’s possible. With its own EQ and filtering section, including a tilt-style balance filter, parametric peaking EQ, and switchable high-pass and low-pass filters, the sidechain can be shaped precisely to react only to relevant frequencies. Internal and external sidechain routing, along with a sidechain listen function, make dialing in clean, predictable gating far easier on complex sources.
Beyond cleanup, Prefix also addresses spatial problems early in the chain.
Flexible routing options, stereo image rotation, and visual feedback via a goniometer allow engineers to correct stereo balance and phase relationships before they become exaggerated by compression or saturation later in the mix.
Key Features:
A transparent pre-mixing toolset focused on cleanup, alignment, and control at the source.
- Baxandall-style shelving filters for smooth tonal correction
- Oversampled Butterworth high-pass and low-pass filters with selectable slopes
- Advanced gate and expander with soft-to-hard knee behavior
- Dedicated sidechain EQ with tilt filter, parametric EQ, and filtering
- Internal and external sidechain support with listen mode
- Step-less analog-style phase alignment controls
- Digital delay for precise timing and transient alignment
FAQ
Prefix is designed to be used at the very start of the signal chain, before compression, saturation, or creative effects. It prepares audio so subsequent processing behaves more predictably.
The gate and expander in Prefix feature a fully configurable sidechain with its own EQ and filters, allowing far more precise and transparent noise control than typical gates.
Yes. Its phase alignment and timing tools are particularly effective for tightening multi-microphone setups and improving transient coherence.
Absolutely. Stereo rotation, routing modes, and visual feedback make it easier to correct balance and phase issues early in the mix.
Prefix is intentionally transparent. Its goal is to correct technical issues without adding coloration, leaving creative tone shaping to later stages.
