New Standards - The Loudness War - Part 10
LearningIn this installment, we'll discuss the consequences of volume on music, sound and human ears.
Getting Creative with a Noise Gate - A guide to mixing music - Part 47
LearningUp to now we have only seen the more typical uses of a Noise Gate. Now we'll start looking into less obvious techniques that can make a gate much more interesting during mixdown.
Demystifying Synth Programming - Part 1 - Understanding synth parameters is key for creating your own sounds
LearningImagine if you could break free from the limitations of synthesizer presets and create your own custom sounds to fit your music. The first step toward that goal is to understand the standard synth pa…
Use a Gate to Kill the Spill - A guide to mixing music - Part 46
LearningIn the previous installment, we saw what bleed is, and the problems it can cause during mixdown. Today we'll look at how to remove or minimize this harmful phenomenon with a noise gate.
Major and Minor Modes - Harmony Basics - Part 2
LearningToday we'll dive into the heart of the matter and tackle the different modes, major and minor (natural, melodic and harmonic), as well as the relative scales.
Periphery’s bassist/producer on recording drums, EQing,… - Tracking and Mixing with Nolly
LearningAdam “Nolly” Getgood is more than just the bass player in the progressive metal band Periphery. He's also a producer and engineer with an extremely intelligent approach to recording, and he played a …
Don't Let it Bleed - A guide to mixing music - Part 45
LearningToday we'll talk about the phenomenon of mic bleed, and how it can cause difficulties during a mix.
Sonar 2015 Platinum Review - Recording Studio for Lease
Written testBest Value awardIt's been more than a year and a half since Sonar X3 came out and, keeping up with the usual update schedule, the newest version was launched last January.
Classic synth emulations that won't cost you a dime - 5 Free Vintage Synth Plug-Ins
LearningYou often hear that a $1,000 laptop today has the power of a billion dollars worth of computer equipment from 50 years ago. Likewise, the equivalent of thousands of dollars of vintage synthesizer gea…
A review of Positive Grid Bias FX Professional modeling… - Amps and Effects on the Grid
Written testThe competition in the amp-and-effects modeling market is fierce, and there is no shortage of excellent products. Positive Grid, which established itself on the iOS side with JamUp and JamUp Pro, and…
Setting the Gate - A guide to mixing music - Part 44
LearningNow that we've seen the main parameters of a Noise Gate, let's move on to the practical side, starting with its most traditional use: suppressing noise.
Preserve Your Music! - Strategies for archiving your session files and mixes for the long haul
LearningBack in the days of analog tape, archiving multitrack sessions was not an easy task. You needed a place to store the bulky tape reels, and if you didn’t “bake” the tapes to get the moisture out of th…
A review of the UAD AKG BX 20 spring reverb plug-in - Spring Has Sprung
Written testWhen you think of spring reverb, the sound that probably comes to mind is the “boingy” one associated with guitar amps. For mixing sources like vocals, drums and pianos, you probably wouldn't conside…
Play It By the Rules - The Loudness War ─ Part 9
LearningIn this new installment we'll continue discussing the consequences of volume on music, sound and human ears.
Noise Gate 101 - A guide to mixing music - Part 43
LearningThis week we'll tackle a type of dynamics processing that was used all the time in the analog days, but, bizarrely enough, doesn't get called upon nearly as much in the all-digital era. And yet it's …
