Weighing the pros and cons of DIY mastering - So You Want to Master Your Own Album?
LearningFor a long time the mastering process was a mystery for most musicians, even those with studio skills. But thanks to all the information now available online, it's a lot easier to learn about how mas…
Pulsar and Phase Distortion Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 25
LearningWe are slowly coming to the end of this series!
More than Just the Full Mix - Alternate mixes that pro engineers do for every song — and so should you
LearningProfessional engineers typically render more than just a full version when they finish mixing a song. They also run a number of variations, which are referred to as "alternate mixes." In this article…
The Right Way to Loudness - A guide to mixing music - Part 32
LearningToday we'll continue our discovery of the use of compression with an application that will surely interest all of you: An increase in loudness.
A review of the new plug-ins in Universal Audio UAD 8.1… - Another Three from UAD
Written testUniversal Audio just released a new version of its software for Apollo and other UAD-2 devices. The release is highlighted by three new plug-ins, including spot-on emulations of the Neve 88RS Channel…
Watching the Waves - Visual clues from a DAW’s waveform display can speed up your workflow
LearningIf you are someone who’s interested in learning more about recording technology — and you probably are, since you’re reading this — you may have come across interviews with big name engineers and pro…
Add Consistency with Compression - A guide to mixing music - Part 31
LearningIn this episode, we'll concentrate on dynamics processing during mixdown, and we'll see how to use compression to give consistency to your tracks. This usage, in my opinion, is the most important one…
Applications of Physical Modeling Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 24
LearningToday we'll finish reviewing the different types of physical modeling synthesis and move on to how it has been implemented.
A review of SONiVOX Tony Coleman Drums - Tony Goes Virtual
Written testSONiVOX's Tony Coleman Drums (Mac/Win), is a virtual drum plug-in featuring sampled kit sounds from Coleman, who’s played with a who’s who of blues and R&B artists including B.B. King, Bobby Blue Bl…
Louder Doesn't Mean Better - The Loudness War - Part 3
LearningIn this installment, we'll look at the consequences of the loudness war on music, sound and human ears.
Virtual Tone Tips for Guitarists - How to get killer sounds with your amp-modeling plug-in
LearningThe debate about real amps versus modeling amps is over. Numerous blind tests among players and engineers have revealed that it’s often impossible to distinguish modeled amps from the real thing, esp…
Start Your Mix Out Right - Comparing different ways to approach the beginning of a mix
LearningMixing a song offers a cornucopia of creative choices. You decide how loud to make every instrument, where to place it in the stereo image, which effects to use, which tracks to mute, and so forth. I…
Compression in the Volume Wars - The Loudness War - Part 2
LearningToday we'll continue our series on the volume wars. This time, we'll focus on mainly on compression.
Find Your Latency Threshold - Understand and minimize latency when recording in your DAW – Part 2
LearningFinding an acceptable level of latency is something everyone making music with computers must deal with at times. For some of us it's child's play, but for some others it can get complicated very qui…
Review of Synchro Arts Revoice Pro 3 - Tighten it Up
Written testThe folks at Synchro Arts, renowned for their VocAlign software, recently came out with Revoice Pro 3, the latest version of their application that incorporates vocal alignment, pitch correction, dou…
