"I use the Massive Passive for both tracking and mixing, and for every musical genre," relates Sardina. "I have a few of them, and I love to use them on stuff where I have to dig into specific frequencies to make something out of almost nothing because the original sound was not even close. And when recording orchestra, I always have a Massive Passive across my stereo bus."

With 12 Grammy Awards and more than 40 American and Latin Grammy nominations to his credit, the Los Angeles-based producer/engineer's client list includes Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello & The Roots, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Placido Domingo, Celine Dion, Alejandro Sanz, Harry Connick, Jr., Luis Mighuel, D'Angelo, and more.

"Some gear has a very specific sound but not always in a good way. It might have a use, of course, but you can't put it on everything," he explains. "But all my Manley processors sound great, regardless of how you use them, and they never compromise the frequencies. I use them on everything.”