While this is not strictly development related, knowing how plugins are actually used to make and edit sound can give valuable insight.
Most of the artists listed below are obviously geared more towards electronic music and my tastes, but they still might be helpful even if you aren't into that genre.
- Au5 - A beast legend. Need I say more?
- AutoEq - Free and open source tool for applying EQ correction to a wide variety of headphones. Note that you shouldn't use the premade results since they target the Harman curve. Instead, use the online tool to generate a result that uses the "Flat" target (under "Show advanced" -> "Target").
- There are also paid alternatives like Sonarworks or Toneboosters Morphit.
- Crow - Good tutorials on sound design and mixing.
- Frequent - Good sound design & arrangement tutorials.
- How to Hear Compression - A brilliant video that teaches how to "hear" compressors from an artistic point of view, rather than a technical one.
- Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio - A great beginner resource on mixing fundamentals.
- Mr. Bill - This guy has a lot of good tutorials on his channel.
- Nigel Good - This guy makes sounds that are so clean.
- Nosia - He and another cutting edge sound designers have a tutorial series on their Patreon.
- SeamlessR - This guy is a great teacher and really knows his stuff.
- The Production Basics and How to Synth playlists are good places to start.
- Virtual Riot - Another beast legend.
- Zircon - An underrated artist, and I'm personally a huge fan of his more organic, jazzy breakbeat style. Great if you're tired of loud and obnoxious "dubstep/dnb" sound design and production videos.