Getting Started feature articles
learningMastering at Home - Part 2 - Prepare for Your Mastering Session
In this installment, we'll offer some tips that will simplify your life when mastering.
- learning
Comparing Two Approaches to Drum-Track Creation - MIDI Drums vs. Audio Drum Loops
If you’re not a drummer, but you need drum tracks for your productions — and assuming you don’t have the budget and facilities to hire and record a real drummer — you’re going to need to use either MIDI drums or audio drum loops to create your drum parts. Having used both extensively, I thought it would be helpful to present some of the pros and c…
- learning
Before You Buy that Acoustic Guitar - Tips for Evaluating an Acoustic Guitar Before Purchase
Buying a steel-string acoustic guitar is an investment that you don’t want to go into lightly. Unless you plan to purchase a super-cheap entry-level model, you’re likely to spend a fair bit of coin for this instrument, and you'll presumably be playing it a lot, so you want to make an informed buying decision. It’s easy to be wowed when you try out…
- learning
Mastering at Home - Part 1 - An Introduction to Mastering Audio
If you're fortunate enough to be able to afford professional mastering with a dedicated engineer in a well-designed and equipped mastering studio, that's clearly the route to the best quality results. But what if that's just not possible?
- learning
Adjust and Process Groups of Tracks at a Time - Control Your Mix With Subgroups
One easy way to improve your mixing efficiency is to use the flexible routing capabilities in your DAW's mixer to create subgroups. Also referred to as "submixes," they let you create custom subsets of the tracks in your session, to which you can apply effects, add automation and change the volume, among other functions.
- learning
Minimize Drum Bleed in Your Home Studio - Reduce or Eliminate Leakage When Tracking Drums and Other Instruments Together
So, you’ve got a band, you’ve got some recording gear, and you’re ready to start cutting your album in your home studio. If you’re recording with a drummer and you want to do a “live” basic-tracking session with the instruments playing together (rather than a layered overdubbing approach), you’re going to have some decisions to make in order to ke…
- learning
Panning Strategies - Advice For Placing Elements in the Stereo Soundscape
Panning seems like a simple enough task. You turn the panning knobs to the positions you want your tracks to be situated in the stereo image and you’re done, right? Well there’s more to it…
- learning
Phase – The Solutions - Everything about Phase Problems - Part 3
After having seen the theory and the cases where you could have phase issues, in this final installment we will see different ways to identify eventual problems. And we will also go through the various means you have at your disposal to remedy your phase headaches.
- learning
Helpful Advice for Before, During, and After the Show - 10 Tips for Successful Gigging
As a musician, you've probably experienced the near-euphoric feeling of playing a gig in which everything is going right: you’re playing well, the crowd is into it, and the sound is good. Conversely, you also know how lousy it feels when you’re onstage and the wheels are falling off. Most gigs fall somewhere in between, but if you want your shows …
- learning
Comparing Both Types of Pedal Setups - Pros and Cons of Pedalboards vs Multi Effects Pedals
Unless you're one of those guitarists or bassists who flat-out refuses to consider digital effects, it’s worth comparing the merits of multi-effects pedals with traditional pedalboard setups, before deciding which type to buy. The purpose here is not to advocate either option, but just to present the advantages and disadvantages of each.
