Getting Started guides & articles

I'll dedicate the first article of the year in this series to tidiness in your home studio. I know it seems a bit off-topic, but trust me it is much more important than it appears at first sight.

In my opinion, automation is at the core of a well-accomplished mix. And yet, as I have pointed out numerous times, this stage is often neglected by beginners, most certainly due to a lack of underst…

In this episode I invite you to discover a trick that every beginner ought to know, the so-called 3:1 rule.

Today we'll see how to automate the most important track of your mix. This is usually the vocal track, but it might as well be a solo instrument. The true star of your song deserves special attention…

After having recorded a bowed upright bass last week, today we'll see how to track a double bass played with the fingers, a technique called pizzicato.

Up to now we've seen automation from a relatively theoretical point of view. That's all very nice, but the time has come to really take the plunge. And that's when the questions start to arise: how s…

In this article we'll see how to record an upright bass played with a bow. But don't worry, we'll also see how to record a pizzicato double bass in our next article.

Today we'll look at the parameters better suited for artistic automation.

This week we'll see how to make life easier to your "future you."

As we saw in the previous article, the comfort of the musician is crucial to getting a good performance, and hence a precondition for every good recording. And this comfort depends largely on the sub…

So, what can you learn from the movie analogy from last week? That's what we are about to see right this moment!

In this week's episode we will discuss something that ought to precede any attempt to record your music. Considered optional by some, pre-production is often ignored by beginners. And yet they are th…

After having discussed the functional aspect of automation, it's time to look at it from an artistic point of view.

Having the best gear in the world and being an audio engineer without equal is very nice, but unfortunately that doesn't mean you'll be able to make the best records.

The smartest among you might have realized, after reading the previous article, that most of the problems addressed with functional automation can be solved in other ways, which is something we'll lo…

After addressing the "whys" of automation last week it's only logical that we start looking into the "hows" this week.

Today we'll see how to record a transverse flute.

Invented by a great Belgian clarinet master around 1840, it is just as widely used in classical music as it is in pop or contemporary music. But it's definitely in jazz where it has gained more promi…

If you were to have the chance to look at the mix session of a commercial song you'd be more surprised by the sheer exuberance of automation lines than by the number of plug-ins used. However, most b…

The long-awaited poll regarding "small" guitar effect pedal brands is finally here! It's open season for anybody who likes controversy!

This week we'll start with the first practical case: tracking a trombone.

Many modern audio interfaces don't offer MIDI connections anymore. And yet lots of us still have MIDI keyboards and/or controllers we don't want to let go of. Fortunately, there are some inexpensive …

You'll fix it in the mix... right? Wrong! That's why I'll try to make sure that this phrase never makes into your home studio.

This week we'll take a moment to discuss the delicate issue of levels during tracking.

If you want to start making up melodies and bass lines from chord inversions, as I promised in the last article, we must first address the thorny issue of consonance and its evil twin, dissonance... …