Introduction - Spectrasonics Omnisphere: Omnipotent & Omnificent ?
Written testAfter many years of development, Spectrasonics has released their new flagship virtual instrument, Omnisphere, which has been heralded as a completely new ground-breaking hybrid virtual instrument in…
Introduction - Steinberg Cubase 5: Take Five
Written testCubase, one of the titans of the sequencer pantheon, has come out with an attractive looking 5th version, at a time when the sequencer wars are raging more than ever. Let's take a look...
Mixing Guitar and Vocals - EQ and Compression Techniques for Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
LearningAs an engineer/producer, one of my biggest early challenges was getting my mixes to sound as polished and balanced as the mixes of songs on my favorite albums. Living in Nashville, I knew the problem…
Bogner Alchemist Amplifier: The Test - Bogner Alchemist Amp: Turning Lead Guitar into Gold
Written testEven from childhood, in his native Germany, Reinhold Bogner was already skillfully wielding his soldering iron to create his own guitar amps. After he moved to Los Angeles, his models and amp modific…
Kurzweil PC361 Review - VASTer Than Ever
Written testThe newest member of the PC3 family, the PC361 is a powerful digital modular synthesizer, representing Kurzweil's return to leading the music scene and the supremacy of VAST synthesis. Welcome to the…
Waves Tony Maserati Collection: The Test - Waves & Maserati - All Revved Up and Ready to Go!...
Written testThe Tony Maserati collection represents a meeting of industry titans. Waves, one of the earliest and most enduring audio plug-ins companies, has made its reputation on quality bundles of their own pl…
Acoustics - Making a Studio Pt.3
LearningSound is a wave, much like the ripples on a still body of water when a rock is dropped into it. The larger the wave, the lower the tone. Lower tones, known as bass frequencies, travel in wide long w…
Ableton Live 8: The Test - Live 8: Long Live Ableton
Written testAbleton's Live has been with us for some time now and since it’s initial release in 2001 it has proudly sported a simple one window interface and transparent ’no frills’ operation. This simplicity…
Electricity - Making a Studio Pt.2
LearningNothing will work without electricity unless you're jamming at the local drum circles down on the beach. Electrical installation studio power is often overlooked. Studios will setup a “clean feed”…
Percussa Audiocubes: The Test - Audio Cubism
Written testOut of the blue, it just appeared in my office, like the megalith from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. A cube: 7.5 cm long, as white and smooth as paraffin, with a pair of LEDs on four of its six…
Studio Considerations - Making a Studio Pt.1
LearningThe magic of the recording studio has often mystified even the most seasoned professionals. With all the knobs, switches and buttons on various gear and large format consoles, no wonder confusion set…
Universal Audio - Moog Multimode Filter: The Test - Moog Multimode Filter: Mojo Filter
Written testWhile there is a huge choice of filter effects available on the market today, it could be argued that many of them lack the character and warmth of some of their hardware counterparts and while so…
Line 6 POD Studio UX2: The Test - Back in Black
Written testWell known for its guitar amp simulators, Line 6 has recently updated its Toneport range of audio interfaces, and renamed it POD Studio while they were at it. Let's take a look at the new UX2 and se…
Sonic Charge Synplant: The Test - The Secret Sound of Plants
Written testSince the dawn of synthesizers, there have been many types of synthesis to emerge. But the same can not be said about their approaches to work flow or interfaces. With Synplant, Sonic Charge has take…
Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster & Jaguar: The Test - The Parable of the Jazzmaster and the Jaguar
Written testIn the beginning, Leo created the Telecaster. Keith and Bruce were happy. On the second day, Leo created the Stratocaster. Jimi and Eric were in ecstasy. On the following days, Leo created the Jaz…
