Review of the Akai Advance 49 Keyboard Controller - Advancing the State of the Art
Written testInnovation awardImagine a MIDI-controller keyboard that lets you seamlessly switch between virtual instruments from different manufacturers, keeps all your patches together in a single browser, and automatically map…
The Opposite of Punchy - A guide to mixing music - Part 34
LearningToday, I invite you to continue exploring the possibilities of dynamics processing at the microdynamic level. After having dealt with "punchy" sounds, we'll use dynamics to go for the opposite — "rou…
Make Your Mix Punchy with Compression - A guide to mixing music - Part 33
LearningAfter looking at some applications of compression at the macrodynamic level in the two previous articles, we'll deal here with microdynamics, starting with how to get a "punchy" sound.
Sensomusic Usine Hollyhock II Review - Music in Bloom
Written testBest Product awardThere are lots of software solutions for live performance. Strangely enough, Sensomusic's Usine Hollyhock II doesn't come up on the radar as often as other products. And yet...
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…
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…
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…
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…
Ratio and Threshold in a Compressor - A guide to mixing music - Part 30
LearningThis week we'll proceed with the final steps of the method to learn about the sonic impact of the main parameters of a compressor. After having seen the attack and release times, now it's the turn of…
Review of the Waves Butch Vig Vocals plug-in - Vocals Like Vig
Written testIn the tradition of its Jack Joseph Puig, Chris Lord Alge, Eddie Kramer, and Manny Marroquin signature plug-ins, Waves has released Butch Vig Vocals (Mac/PC), a processor plug-in designed to let you …
