Amplifiers: what are classes A/B/AB/D - Explanation of class A, class B, class AB and class D amps
LearningThe basic function of an amplifier is to increase a low intensity signal capture. It can be a direct source such as a microphone, a musical instrument, or a signal corrected by an intermediary preamp…
How to position studio monitors - Tips to get the best studio monitor placement
LearningHere are a few recommendations for optimizing the placement (and therefore, the sound) of your home studio monitors.
Top 8 reference dynamic microphones - The best dynamic microphones
LearningHere is a selection of 8 dynamic mics for recording drums, guitars, voice and any other instrument.
Are Amp Sims for You? Before Deciding, Check Out These … - Amp Simulators: Tips You Need to Know
LearningGuitar amp simulators are controversial. Some say they don’t sound or feel like real tube amps. Others say sims deliver sounds you can’t get any other way. Guess what? They’re both right.
Members' Choice: Audio & Musical Gear that Made the Show - Best of NAMM 2013: The Top 10
LearningKeyboards and synths, is that what it was all about? This time Audiofanzine members had their say in choosing the Top 10 list. Rest assured that NAMM 2013 had everything for anyone willing to do th…
How to avoid ground loops - Banish Ground Loop Hum
LearningThere are a few different reasons why a musician might wish to use multiple amplifiers as part of their rig.
AudioFanzine met Studio One's technical director - Interview with the father of Studio One
LearningCoinciding with the launch of Studio One v2.5, AudioFanzine met up with Matthias Juwan, technical director at PreSonus in Hamburg, Germany, to talk about his career, the future of the Studio One sequ…
Mixing your drums Part 3 : the toms - Mixing Toms
LearningToms are an interesting part of the kit that often add flare and excitement to a drum track, just look at the intro to Enter Sandman by Metallica, or the fill before the chorus of Africa by Toto. The…
Mixing your drums Part 2 : the snare - Mixing A Snare Drum
LearningNext to the Kick Drum, the Snare Drum is the most important component of the Drum Kit. So its paramount that we get it to sound as good as its potential.
Mixing your drums Part 1 : the kick - Mixing The Kick Drum
LearningIn most Genre’s the Kick Drum will be the Low End foundation of the song. So really we should treat it with respect and try and get the best out of it while mixing. If you have recorded the Kick Drum…
Gain without pain: giving the guitar cabinets their own… - Isolating your speaker cabinets for the best guitar sound
LearningFor recording guitarists, one benefit of a head-and-stack configuration over a combo is that you can separate the amplifier from the speaker cabinet and run a long cable between the two.
How to Mix a Bass Guitar - Straight to the Bottom
LearningA good bass line, played on a good bass, can be made into a great Bass track. But you need to know your way around your Bass Guitar Processing. Lets take a look at giving your bass that extra little …
A Survey of Kick Drum Microphones - The Mighty Kick Drum Microphone: Part 2
LearningOur survey of kick drum microphones through the years continues....
A Love Affair With Channel One - The Mighty Kick Drum Microphone: Part 1
LearningThough there are other conventions, it is generally agreed that the kick drum goes into the first channel of the console, and for time immemorial, inordinate efforts have gone into tediously adjustin…
How to Acoustically Treat Your Home Studio - Acoustic Treatment for Small Studios
LearningWhether you’re a self-recording hobbyist or a professional mixing engineer, studio work is about making decisions. If the room you’re making decisions in isn’t a reliable listening environment, then …
How to Build a Computer for Music Making - Optimize Your DAW Computer for Your Home Studio
LearningThis is how you can easily build and maintain a professionally equipped music computer to power the digital audio workstation for your home recording studio.
Best 5 headphones between $350-$500 - The Great Studio Headphone Comparison Test
Learning3 men, 5 studio headphones, 6 ears and one single question posed to each of them: which headphone would you buy in the price range of $350 to $500 ?
How to Listen to and Care for Your Amp When It’s Sick - Diagnosing and Fixing a Tube Amp
LearningGuitar amps are, no matter how you cut it, black boxes. You may think you have control over them, but when it gets down to it, you can’t really see inside the black box, and even if you could, there …
The Top 5 Products of Summer NAMM 2012 - Best of Summer NAMM 2012: The Top 5
LearningAs the sun sets down on Summer NAMM 2012 in Nashville we decided to take a closer look at a short list of products that made some noise.
Understanding Those Magic Boxes of Doom - Distortion… Clean and Simple
LearningSo the bad news is, it’s virtually impossible to tell what the distortion pedal sounds like without auditioning it personally.
Use digital delay to produce many more effects than jus… - The Many Uses for Digital Delay
LearningThe two most important effects in a guitarist’s signal chain are distortion and delay. And if you derive your tone strictly from the amp—whether it’s squeaky clean or buzzsaw nasty—then the digital d…
You Can't Make Magic Without the Basics - Top 10 Things That Can Never Be Taught Often Enough In Audio
Learning10. Musicians feel most comfortable and play best when they hear what they need to hear on the stage. Of course, the experienced monitor guys and recording guys already know this. But it’s something…
Of Polepieces and Magnetic Fields - How to Adjust Your Guitar Pickups for Best Sound
LearningIt occurred to me that for all the tweaking guitarists do with their tone — rolling tone controls up and down on both their guitars and amps — very few ever touch the pickups. Most guitarists I know …
How low can you go? Use an octave divider, and find out! - Using Octave Dividers with Bass
LearningOctave dividers aren’t just for guitar players: They also rock for bass, whether you’re getting mega-low sounds from the lower strings, or playing high up on the neck for very cool 8-string bass effe…
How to Choose A Hardware Keyboard - Making Sense of Synths
LearningBy now, everyone was going to be loading soft synths into their laptops, and taking them to the gig instead of keyboards. Oh, and we were also supposed to travel around with personal jet packs and of…
