A pint-sized yet powerful multi-effects unit - Review of the Tech 21 Fly Rig 5
Written testThe Tech 21 Fly Rig 5 is a multi-effects pedal small enough to fit in a backpack, or in the pocket of most guitar bags. Featuring Tech 21’s signature analog tone, it can be used either through an amp…
Tips on Alternate Tunings - How to Adapt Your Electric Guitar to Your Alternate Tuning
LearningFans of alternate tunings (especially metalheads) will often find themselves with overcooked noodles instead of strings, compromising their sound. Here are a couple of recipes to make sure your strin…
Improve Your Mix with A/B Referencing - Part 1 - Compare Your Mix to That of a Professional for Valuable Sonic Guidance
LearningReferencing your mix against an existing recording via the process known as “A/B-ing,” is a great way to check the quality of your work and help you overcome inaccurate studio acoustics. Here in part…
We test drive EHX's new "Organ Machine" - Review of the Electro-Harmonix B9
Written testElectro Harmonix calls the B9 an “Organ Machine,” and indeed it is. Plug your guitar into this pedal and out comes a variety of authentic organ sounds. Read on to find out more.
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…
Mastering at Home - Part 22 - How to Use Volume in Mastering
LearningThis penultimate article in our series dedicated to mastering at home is surely the one you've all been waiting for. Indeed, today we will talk about a couple of tricks to get a really HUGE sound. Bu…
Tips on Recording Vocals for Musicians - Vocal Recording Clinic with Kris Crummett
LearningNo matter what musical style you're into, if you own studio gear, you probably record vocals at least some of the time. So when we had a chance to tap into the expertise of Kris Crummett — a prominen…
A channel strip that's ultra useful - Review of the Eventide UltraChannel
Written testUltraChannel is more than just your average channel strip. It also features Eventide's signature delay and modulation effects, and is almost like an entire effects collection in a single plug-in. Rea…
Boss reinvents the DS distortion pedal - Review of the Boss DS-1X
Written testThis year, Boss has been releasing new stompboxes at a prodigious pace: two at Winter NAMM and three at Summer NAMM. All are reinventions of older Boss pedals. The DS-1X, released along with the OD-…
Scoring to Picture — Part 3 - Finding the Tempo and Writing the Music for a Commercial
LearningHere in the final part of this 3-part article, I’ll finish scoring the hypothetical commercial, working with variables like tempo, start time, and meter, while never losing sight of the original assi…
Mastering at Home - Part 21 - Best Audio Formats When Rendering a Mastered Track
LearningIn this antepenultimate installment, we'll discuss several points that you need to bear in mind to get an optimal final result, depending on how your music will be distributed.
Six iOS Amp-and-Effects Modelers Evaluated - Which iOS Modeler is Best for You?
LearningModeled amps and effects can be found in many applications, including outboard modeling processors, DAWs, dedicated computer plug-ins, and, now more than ever, iOS apps. Your iPad, iPhone or iPod tou…
Classic Gear Spotlight: The Versatile and Durable Shure… - The Legendary SM57
LearningThe Shure SM57 arrived on the scene in 1965 and quickly became a fixture in the pro audio world. The versatile, solidly built, yet inexpensive dynamic mic is great for guitar cabinets, snare drums, h…
Q&A: Telefunken Engineer Ryan Loftus - A peek inside a legendary mic manufacturer
LearningAudiofanzine met up with Ryan Loftus ─ engineer at Telefunken Eletroakustik ─ to talk about the high-end microphones the company manufactures.
A Quick Tour of Summer NAMM 2014 in Nashville - Summer NAMM: A Condensed Travelogue
LearningIf you've got three minutes to spare, check out this Audiofanzine video travelogue, and experience what it's like to attend the Summer NAMM show in Nashville.
Mastering at Home - Part 20 - Tips for Using the Oscilloscope When Mastering Music
LearningTo finish with the helping tools for mastering, in this installment we'll talk about the oscilloscope — very often underestimated by home studio owners — and a utilitarian plug-in, which, even if not…
Mastering at Home - Part 19 - Audio Norms in Mastering Music
LearningToday we'll talk about a delicate — but very useful — subject, namely the firewalls that can help you avoid being yet another victim of the loudness war.
Software amp-and-effects simulator for studio and stage - Review of Audiffex AmpLion Pro 1.1
Written testAmplion Pro 1.1 is the latest version of this amp-and-effects modeling software from Audiffex. Can it hold its own with stiff competition in the modeling software field?
Mastering at Home - Part 18 - Plugins to Help Analyze Levels When Mastering Music
LearningIn this installment we'll talk about plug-ins that allow you to visualize levels correctly — after all, whether you like it or not, mastering has become synonymous with volume, so it's a good idea to…
Scoring to Picture — Part 2 - Setting up your session for a scoring job
LearningHere in part 2, we’ll begin a hypothetical scoring job for a 15-second TV commercial. In this installment, we’ll look at how to set up the DAW session for it.
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 2 - How to Solder the Jack of an Electric Guitar
LearningThe musical instrument industry has chosen the best method for the internal cabling of electric instruments, namely soldering. But, as we will see in a moment, this way of connecting two conductors r…
Mastering at Home - Part 17 - The Stereo Image in Mastering Music
LearningFollowing up on our series of articles dedicated to useful tools for mastering at home, this time we will focus on plug-ins that allow you to analyze the stereo image.
Review of the Boss ME-80 - Versatile, powerful, and priced to sell
Written testFor years, Boss has been one of the leading manufacturers of self-contained guitar multi-effects floor units, and the ME-80 is its latest effort. Less expensive than the flagship GT-100, it's neverth…
Mastering at Home - Part 16 - How to Use the Spectrum Analyzer in Mastering Music
LearningThe time has come to explore the territory of analyzers of all sorts, which will prove to be very helpful within the context of mastering at home. This week we will deal with the spectrum analyzer, a…
