Feature articles, lessons and tutorials on audio and music

After our previous discussion of electrodynamic speakers, we'll now move on to describing different categories of speaker transducers, starting with the equivalent of the condenser mic in the speaker…

This time around, we'll focus on distortion.

Many factors can negatively impact your band’s sound, from lack of rehearsal to bad acoustics to feedback to malfunctioning gear to burnt-out sound engineers. But perhaps the most consistent impedime…

From the corner of a bedroom to the living room or a garage, the home studio always ends up adapting to the elements. As usual, it all boils down to your own needs, means and possibilities.

In the coming weeks we'll discuss in detail the so-called "glue" effect, in other words how to make the mix more homogeneous using different procedures. Today we'll discuss a simple method to emphasi…

In the last article of this series dedicated to electrodynamic speakers we'll talk about some unique and interesting designs. The biggest difference with these two examples compared to previous speak…

To close the chapter dedicated to the use of delay during mixdown, we'll look into the relationship between reverb and delay.

Prince, Tom Petty, System of a Down, Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sevendust are just some of the artists on producer and engineer Sylvia Massy’s discography. The 30-year studio veteran has never b…

Hopefully, one day you’ll go to Abbey Road to record your music, just like the Beatles. But since recording in such a studio is prohibitively expensive for most musicians, you might want to consider …

This week we'll look into a somewhat particular use of delay ─ as a way of filling up a mix. You certainly won't be able to use this technique every day, but it can come in pretty handy to "dress up"…

Mastering, like mixing, is an art form that requires good musical judgment and entails a great deal of decision-making. Just ask engineer Nathan Hamiel (pronounced “Hamel”), who does both mixing and …

In the previous article we discussed compression drivers and acoustic horns. Today we'll focus on a technology whose patent was issued in the 1920s and widely used for microphones. However, its usabi…

After having explored depth with reverb, we will now move into another topic that is just as important during mixdown: width.

Andrew Wade (aka “The Big Boss”) knows a little something about guitar recording. Wade is a producer/engineer/songwriter who has focused heavily on the pop-punk/Emo genres and has produced music (inc…

In the previous articles... Yes, I know I often begin my articles this way but it's simply because I like things to make sense chronologically.

In this installment, I'll show you how to use delay instead of reverb to reinforce the sonic cohesion of your mix.

In this video, we offer a variety of tips for editing spoken-word audio content for a variety of situations.

Producer, musician, artist, painter… Our guest today is someone who has always been looking for a way to let Art be expressed in every piece of music he has worked on. Primarily known and renown for …

To finish with this overview of the most widely used type of speaker, we'll discuss electrodynamic cone models. To improve the performance in the high frequencies, the cone is usually replaced with a…

One of the most useful audio plug-in types in any computer-based studio toolbox is reverb. In this article, I’ll look at my five current “go-to” reverb plug-in choices. But first, a little background.

This time around, we'll look at two "classic" uses of the delay effect.

Although he spent most of his childhood playing and studying music, it wasn’t until Greg Wells was 18 that he got bitten by the recording bug. “I got my parents to co-sign a loan, and I bought a Mac …

When recording an ensemble or just overdubbing one instrument, there's one part of the song that gets very little attention: right after the very last chord or note has been struck. Especially if the…

We started this series by describing the cone diaphragm of an electrodynamic speaker. It obviously plays an important role in the final quality of a speaker, as the radiating element, but it's far fr…

After closing the chapter dedicated to the use of reverb during mixdown, we will now focus on a relatively similar topic: delay.