Feature articles and reviews on audio and music

Universal 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 Strip Collection, the Tube Tech CL-1B Compressor, and the Marshall Plexi Super Lead 1959.

In this new installment in our race for volume, we'll see how changes in music listening have fueled the loudness war, and we'll look at radio's role in the escalation.

If you are someone who’s interested in learning more about recording technology — and you probably are, since you’re reading this — you may have come across interviews with big name engineers and producers who advise budding recordists, “Use your ears, not your eyes,” in reference to making mixing decisions or other production-related choices. On …

In 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, since it allows you to balance instruments in relation to each other, which is one of the main goals of mixing.

Today we'll finish reviewing the different types of physical modeling synthesis and move on to how it has been implemented.

After discussing volume in the previous article, this time we'll focus on your ears.

SONiVOX'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 Bland, Albert King, Albert Collins, Etta James, James Cotton, and Buddy Guy, among others. The sampling session featured Coleman playing his Mapex kit a…

In this installment, we'll look at the consequences of the loudness war on music, sound and human ears.

The 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, especially when slotted in with the rest of the tracks in a mix.

Mixing a song offers a cornucopia of creative choices. You decide how loud to make every instrument, where to place it in the stereo image, which effects to use, which tracks to mute, and so forth. In fact, there are so many options that it can be overwhelming for a novice mixer. One of the first decisions you’ll run up against is, what to work on…