Computer Music guides & articles

Between the plug-ins in your DAW, and others you may have purchased, you’re likely to have some duplicate functionality; that is, more than one reverb, compressor, EQ, etc. But when you choose to use…

Today we'll see how to make reverb and compression work together. At first sight it might seem weird to want to compress a reverb. And yet a compressor placed before or after the reverb can prove qui…

In this new episode we'll address the strange marriage between reverbs and gates.

With this article we'll close the study of spectral control of reverberation by looking at post-reverb EQ.

When it comes to music-production software, DAWs get all the glory. And for good reason: You use them for all the glamorous parts of the process, such as tracking, overdubbing and mixing. Conversely,…

Native Instruments Guitar Rig 5 Player, IK Multimedia AmpliTube Custom Shop and Line 6 Pod Farm 2.5 Free, are all free amp-modeling software suites offering both plug-in and standalone operation. Eac…

Today we'll continue our study of frequency control applied to reverberation by addressing damping. Usually, if you have given enough care to choosing your starting preset, you shouldn't need to twea…

When it comes to reverberation, spectral content is crucial. Processing at the frequency level can happen at three distinct points in the audio path: before, during or after reverberation. Today, we'…

In the last article, we discussed reverb time, which, in the end, corresponds more or less to the duration of the reverb tail. Today we'll take a look at what happens on the other side of the reverbe…

If you haven’t looked at iPads lately, you may not realize how powerful they’ve become. In terms of processing speed, the iPad Air 2 is as powerful as most laptops, and the iPad Pro’s 64-bit A9X proc…

Today we'll dive into reverb time, a most crucial parameter that needs to be handled cautiously.

Now that you've chosen the best reverb presets, the time has come to tinker with the parameters so you can adjust them to best fit your needs. In this article, we'll focus on a very important reverb …

My goal today is to try to make it even easier for you to choose your starting reverb preset...Yes, I know, it's starting to feel a bit like an obsession, but your choice in this regard is so importa…

In part 1 we looked at a backup strategy for preserving your active and recently active recording files. But what about archiving them when you’re finished? In part 2 of this 2-part series, we’ll tal…

Despite everything I've told you, you might still be having some trouble trying to decide which preset is the best starting point for your song. Even more so considering that software makers are usua…

Computer experts will tell you that it’s not a matter of if your hard drive will crash, it’s a matter of when. Even solid-state drives (SSDs), though more reliable than those with spinning disks, can…

By now, after several articles dealing with the different reverb types, you ought to be able to determine which families match better the goals you have in mind. Now it's up to you to decide which pr…

Sampled audio collections have undergone significant change since polyphonic digital sampling first emerged in 1979. In the early days, the emphasis was on reproducing audio snapshots and then on ent…

This week we'll finish our overview of the different reverb families addressing the biggest one among them: rooms.

Today we'll look into chamber and ambience reverbs.

As we continue looking at the different reverb families, we'll focus this time on plate and hall reverbs.

Your DAW is your most important piece of software — the heart of your studio. Most DAWs offer a lot of features that you can customize to fit your taste and the way you work. Since you use your DAW s…

Regardless of whether your reverb is algorithmic or convolution, chances are the plug-in you use provides different types of reverb. And, in my view, the choice of reverb type is crucial to get the e…

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are back with a vengeance, with manufacturers and developers knocking down the prices of countless virtual instruments, effects, sound banks, and even audio hardware, wi…

To help you avoid making music that sounds like everyone else’s, I want to tell you about some premium-quality soft synths you may not know about. Although none of these instruments are terribly obsc…