SOUND SYNTHESIS & SOUND DESIGN (30 episodes) - Make Jean-Michel Jarre sound like a beginner
LearningThroughout history, humans all around the globe have never stopped diversifying the uses of music ─ ritual, recreational, intellectual, etc. ─ and have produced it using their voices and bodies or th…
HOW TO EXTRACT VOCALS FROM A SONG - Unmixing a cake is not a piece of cake. But extracting vocals is.
LearningYou've probably dreamed about removing or isolating vocals or instruments from a record to get a single vocal line or sample an instrumental loop. However, is this even possible?
Sound designer Scott Gershin talks tools, techniques an… - From Hollywood to Virtual Reality
Interview / PodcastScott Gershin is one of the top sound designers working today. He's been creating sounds for over 30 years and has a credit list a mile long, which includes films such as Nightcrawler, Pacific Rim, H…
Multiply your creative processing with these multi-effe… - 5 Multi-Effects Plug-Ins You Might Have Missed
LearningYou could collect individual plug-ins that deliver the kinds of effects you use most; that’s one approach, and a popular one. Another is to use a single plug-in that offers lots of effects for sound …
Composing soundtracks? Let us recommend some soundware - 5 Top Sample Libraries You Might Have Missed
LearningSampled audio collections have undergone significant change since polyphonic digital sampling first emerged in 1979. In the early days, the emphasis was on reproducing audio snapshots and then on ent…
Add space to your recordings with these free reverb plu… - 5 Top Freeware Reverbs
LearningWe all know that reverb is one of the staple effects in a mixer's toolkit. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find a recording or live mix without at least some reverb in it. But does getting a good r…
About Single-Coils, Dual-Coils and More - Everything about guitar and bass pickups - Part 3
LearningTaking the pickup concept we've seen so far (the combination of one or several magnets surrounded by a coil), you get so-called single-coil pickups. This type of pickup produces a characteristic soun…
All You Need to Know About Sound Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 30
LearningDear friends, the time has come to say goodbye, at least regarding this article series. This last article is a sort of summary of what we've seen throughout the series, which I hope has been useful.
The Trautonium and the Theremin - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 29
LearningIn the previous article we discovered two amazing instruments, the Ondes Martenot and the Ondioline. In this, the second-to-last installment of this series, I invite you to discover two even more ama…
The Ondes Martenot and the Ondioline - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 28
LearningAs I mentioned in the previous article, I want to end this series by reviewing some rather extraordinary instruments.
Stochastic and Graphic Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 27
LearningGraphic and stochastic synthesis are not very widely used and, yet, they are quite interesting. Let's see why...
Formant and Linear Arithmetic Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 26
LearningThis time around, I invite you to discover two unusual forms of sound synthesis: Formant and linear arithmetic synthesis.
Pulsar and Phase Distortion Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 25
LearningWe are slowly coming to the end of this series!
Applications of Physical Modeling Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 24
LearningToday we'll finish reviewing the different types of physical modeling synthesis and move on to how it has been implemented.
Physical Modeling Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 23
LearningAfter 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…
The Frequency Spectrum in FM Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 22
LearningIn 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....
Frequency Modulation or FM Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 21
LearningIn the fifteenth article of this series, I briefly mentioned FM while introducing the different forms of synthesis. Now, the time has finally come to discuss it, but before we do that I must first ta…
The Different Forms of Granular Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 20
LearningIn the previous article we introduced the concept of granular synthesis. Today we'll take a look at the different applications for it.
An introduction to Granular Synthesis - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 19
LearningIn the two previous articles we looked at the principle behind sample-based synthesis. Among other things, this allowed us to establish that, thanks to digital technology, the frontiers between the d…
Sampling: Wavetables - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 18
LearningIn the previous article, we took a first look at sampling, from the point of view of Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). In this installment we'll study wavetables and sample banks.
Sample-Based Synthesis ─ Bit by Bit - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 17
LearningSome people might think it's weird to see sampling considered as a type of synthesis. Indeed, throughout this series of articles, I've been telling you all the time about the creation of sounds "from…
Additive Synthesis ─ Give me more! - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 16
LearningIn the previous article we saw what subtractive synthesis, the most widespread method of synthetic sound creation, is all about and we saw that it's based on the sound production and manipulation mod…
Subtractive Synthesis: Straight to the point - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 15
LearningDear friends, now that we've become acquainted with the main components used, it's about time we get familiar with the main forms of sound synthesis. Oh, yes, there are several!
More Basic Synth Effects - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 14
LearningIn this article we'll take it from where we left off last week and continue exploring the main effects you can find on a synth.
Synth Effects - Sound synthesis, sound design and audio processing - Part 13
LearningThe previous two installments delved into the magical world of MIDI, including its modes, messages, and parameters. Now, in this and the following articles we'll take a look at the effects types that…
