Baby Audio launches free Beat Slammer plugin for “smashing and squashing” beats

Baby Audio has today (21 December) introduced the latest plugin in its lineup of Freebies – the Beat Slammer compressor. Not designed to be subtle, this new tool is ideal for “squashing and smashing” drums, beats or entire mix busses.

According to the brand, Beat Slammer will give you that “pumping and bouncy compression sound that slaps you in the face” to give weaker tracks that added oomph.

• READ MORE: “We saw a clear opportunity to work with all their amazing DSP and improve on everything that was lacking”: Baby Audio acquires Denise Audio

Every year, Baby Audio releases a free plugin to celebrate the holidays as a treat for its existing users. These are often streamlined, square-shaped tools inspired by its premium plugins.

The freebies have been downloaded more than half a million times to date, with Beat Slammer becoming the fifth addition to the range so far. It follows on from 2022’s Pitch Drift (which provides a mix with subtle pitch changes, all the way to knocking everything completely out of tune), as well as the Magic Dice, Magic Switch and others released in previous years.

The plugin is based on Baby Audio’s IHNY-2 (shown in the video below) and functions as a parallel compressor. It allows users to compress even harder than they normally would and blend in the compressed signal to their desired taste, while retaining the dynamics of the dry signal.

In September, we rated Baby Audio’s effects plugin, Transit, a 9/10 in our review. The product was designed with producer and YouTuber Andrew Huang, and we noted that it offered an intuitive design and fast workflow, with good quality effects. We also thought, however, that its volume balancing sweeps were a little fiddly and the pitch shifter quality could be better.

Find out more about Beat Slammer via the official Baby Audio website.