MIXING IN A HOME STUDIO - ultimate guide (150 episodes) - A Guide To Mixing Music
LearningGiven the good response our "Mastering at Home" series received, yours truly has put himself to the task of doing a similar guide dedicated to recording and mixing.
SOUND SYNTHESIS & SOUND DESIGN (30 episodes) - Make Jean-Michel Jarre sound like a beginner
LearningThroughout history, humans all around the globe have never stopped diversifying the uses of music ─ ritual, recreational, intellectual, etc. ─ and have produced it using their voices and bodies or th…
HOW TO EXTRACT VOCALS FROM A SONG - Unmixing a cake is not a piece of cake. But extracting vocals is.
LearningYou've probably dreamed about removing or isolating vocals or instruments from a record to get a single vocal line or sample an instrumental loop. However, is this even possible?
De-Clutter Your Rhythm Guitars - Coordinate your rhythm guitar parts to avoid a chaotic-sounding mess
LearningWhenever you have more than one guitarist playing chords in a song, you risk a cluttered and muddy sounding result if the parts they’re playing are not coordinated in advance. That said, there are pr…
Kick Start Your Playing Skills - A practical approach to improving your instrumental abilities — quickly!
LearningAre you in a rut on your instrument? Do you feel like you’ve been playing the same old stuff forever without any significant improvement? If so, and if you’re willing to commit an hour or so a day to…
10 Tips for Better Rehearsals - Common-sense advice for rehearsing more efficiently
LearningRehearsal is an important activity for any band or ensemble. Learning and working out arrangements for new material and going over songs already in your repertoire are key to keeping your group fresh…
Panning to the Extremes - LCR panning can make your mixes come alive
LearningConventional mixing wisdom states that when panning elements in a mix, you’re free to utilize the entire left-to-right spectrum. With the exception of elements like kick, snare, bass and lead vocal t…
Create a Rough Mix - A guide to mixing music - Part 11
LearningIn the last installment, I gave you an overview of the mixing method I'll be presenting in the upcoming articles. In that workflow, one of the first things you need to do is create a rough mix, and i…
A Method to Your Mixing - A guide to mixing music - Part 10
LearningThis time, I will give you an overview of the mixing method we will follow in the coming weeks. I don't intend it to be "The Method," since there are lots of other ones that are just as valid. Howeve…
Critical Listening - A guide to mixing music - Part 9
LearningBesides guaranteeing "virtual headroom" and an optimal level to process each track with any plug-in or outboard gear, the "gain staging" method described in the last installment also allows you to ma…
It's Your Gain! - A guide to mixing music - Part 8
LearningIn this installment, we will examine the first practical task of your mix, which also happens to be the last purely technical one. Once you've done it, you will finally be able to confront your visio…
Wave's Anatomy - Sound Synthesis, Sound Design and Audio Processing - Part 2
LearningIn the previous article we saw that sound is made of waves. Like many things in life, they can be simple or complex. You can't find an absolutely "pure" sound in nature. The closest to that is the s…
Get Ready, Get Setlist, Go! - Strategically Planning Your Set List Can Make All the Difference
LearningA well thought out setlist is critical to the success of your gig. Whether for a band or a solo singer, the order in which you play your songs could mean the difference between a good show and a grea…
Getting Into Inter-App Audio - Make Music With Multiple Apps on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch
LearningIntroduced with iOS 7 and available on all iOS devices, Apple’s inter-app audio feature allows compatible apps to share audio streams and MIDI with each other, making it possible to work with multipl…
Soldering Basics for Guitar Players - Part 1 - Soldering Equipment for Beginners
LearningThe use of a soldering iron is indispensable if you need to change the pickups, a jack or any other component of your guitar. While changing a string is no secret for most of us, it's a whole differe…