Apogee (Software)

About Apogee Electronics

Apogee Electronics has been building professional audio converters and interfaces in Santa Monica, California since 1985. The company started by making anti-aliasing filters that softened the brittle edge of early digital recorders. Today, their plugin line brings that same conversion philosophy to mixing and mastering software. The flagship products are the Clearmountain Series: signature processors modelled on gear from mix engineer Bob Clearmountain's studio. Clearmountain is a consultant to Apogee and the developer of these plugins. He's also married to CEO Betty Bennett, who co-founded the company with Bruce Jackson and Christof Heidelberger. In November 2025, Apogee was acquired by Rockforce Tech Holding, parent of Manley Labs, but continues operating from Santa Monica.

The Clearmountain Series

These plugins model the processors Bob Clearmountain uses in his own mixes. Clearmountain's Domain is a parallel compression and saturation tool. Clearmountain's Phases is a stereo width and imaging processor. Clearmountain's Spaces recreates his reverb and delay chains. The newest addition, Clearmountain's 8068, models the complete channel strip from his modified Neve 8068 console at The Power Station in New York: mic and line input, three-band EQ, and fader module. The Clearmountain Series Bundle Vol. 1 packages the first three plugins together. These are not generic emulations. They're the exact settings and signal paths Clearmountain refined over decades of major-label sessions.

Symphony ECS Channel Strip

The Symphony ECS Channel Strip runs both as a native plugin and on Symphony Desktop hardware DSP. It includes a compressor tuned by Clearmountain, along with EQ and gain staging. If you own a Symphony interface, you can offload processing to the onboard chip. If not, it runs in your DAW like any other plugin. The compressor is the standout: smooth gain reduction with the character of Apogee's converter path baked in. It's a utility tool that sounds like a piece of outboard gear.

Apogee Soft Limit

Soft Limit is the analogue-style limiting algorithm from Apogee's converters, now available as a plugin. It's a transparent brick-wall limiter that catches peaks without squashing dynamics. This is the same code that runs in Apogee interfaces, so you get the same conversion-stage limiting in software form. It's a mastering tool, but it also works on individual tracks when you need to tame transients without compression artifacts. Simple interface: threshold, ceiling, and a meter. That's it.

Shop Apogee Plugins at Blackout Audio

The Clearmountain Series gives you access to one of the most respected mix engineers in the industry, in plugin form. Free shipping on orders over $199 across Canada. Browse the full Apogee plugin catalog online and contact the team with questions about compatibility or licensing.