589 articles found
Formant and Linear Arithmetic Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 26LearningThis time around, I invite you to discover two unusual forms of sound synthesis: Formant and linear arithmetic synthesis.
10 Tips for Better Rehearsals - Common-sense advice for rehearsing more efficientlyLearningRehearsal is an important activity for any band or ensemble. Learning and working out arrangements for new material and going over songs already in your repertoire are key to keeping your group fresh…
Take Your Pick - Alter your tone for pennies by changing to a different pick typeLearningIf you are like most guitarists, you are on a continual quest to improve your tone and/or discover additional tonal options. This can involve spending thousands of dollars on amps, guitars, pickups, …
Serial Compression - A guide to mixing music - Part 35LearningNow that we've seen the basic usage of compression when mixing, I'll walk you through a couple of tips and tricks that I'm sure you'll find quite useful. This week we'll look into a technique that mi…
The Art of the Deal - Negotiating tips for when you're offered freelance mixing or session workLearningIf you’re skilled on your instrument or have developed strong mixing or other engineering skills, you may find yourself offered freelance work at some point. When that happens, it’s important to know…
The Opposite of Punchy - A guide to mixing music - Part 34LearningToday, I invite you to continue exploring the possibilities of dynamics processing at the microdynamic level. After having dealt with "punchy" sounds, we'll use dynamics to go for the opposite — "rou…
Compression Has Consequences - The Loudness War ─ Part 6LearningIn this new installment we'll continue discussing the consequences of volume on music, sound and human ears, and we'll see how digital technology has enabled the reduction of dynamic range in recorde…
Live Performance Tips for Guitar Players - 6 ways to become a better onstage guitaristLearningAs a guitar player, you have many possible roles in a live situation. You might strictly be a rhythm player, you might also play lead, or you could even be the front person for the band, in addition …
Make Your Mix Punchy with Compression - A guide to mixing music - Part 33LearningAfter looking at some applications of compression at the macrodynamic level in the two previous articles, we'll deal here with microdynamics, starting with how to get a "punchy" sound.
Pulsar and Phase Distortion Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 25LearningWe are slowly coming to the end of this series!
More than Just the Full Mix - Alternate mixes that pro engineers do for every song — and so should youLearningProfessional engineers typically render more than just a full version when they finish mixing a song. They also run a number of variations, which are referred to as "alternate mixes." In this article…
The Right Way to Loudness - A guide to mixing music - Part 32LearningToday we'll continue our discovery of the use of compression with an application that will surely interest all of you: An increase in loudness.
Subway + Radio = Ouch - The Loudness War ─ Part 5LearningIn 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.
Watching the Waves - Visual clues from a DAW’s waveform display can speed up your workflowLearningIf 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 pro…
Add Consistency with Compression - A guide to mixing music - Part 31LearningIn 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…
Applications of Physical Modeling Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 24LearningToday we'll finish reviewing the different types of physical modeling synthesis and move on to how it has been implemented.
Understanding your Ears - The Loudness War - Part 4LearningAfter discussing volume in the previous article, this time we'll focus on your ears.
Louder Doesn't Mean Better - The Loudness War - Part 3LearningIn this installment, we'll look at the consequences of the loudness war on music, sound and human ears.
Virtual Tone Tips for Guitarists - How to get killer sounds with your amp-modeling plug-inLearningThe 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, esp…
Start Your Mix Out Right - Comparing different ways to approach the beginning of a mixLearningMixing 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. I…
Compression in the Volume Wars - The Loudness War - Part 2LearningToday we'll continue our series on the volume wars. This time, we'll focus on mainly on compression.
Find Your Latency Threshold - Understand and minimize latency when recording in your DAW – Part 2LearningFinding an acceptable level of latency is something everyone making music with computers must deal with at times. For some of us it's child's play, but for some others it can get complicated very qui…
Physical Modeling Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 23LearningAfter having explored synthesis methods that have opened the doors to the most extravagant worlds of sound, today I invite you to tread a more conventional path: The artificial reproduction of well-k…
Ratio and Threshold in a Compressor - A guide to mixing music - Part 30LearningThis week we'll proceed with the final steps of the method to learn about the sonic impact of the main parameters of a compressor. After having seen the attack and release times, now it's the turn of…
The Frequency Spectrum in FM Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 22LearningIn the previous article you learned that FM synthesis allows the creation of harmonically rich sounds. Today we'll see what that means in terms of frequency spectrum....