Thematic Forums feature articles
learningLearn From Other Mixes - How to Analyze a Mix
Just like painting, photography and, obviously, music — mixing is an art in itself. And, as such, it also requires some training.
- learning
Protect Your Hearing - Don't let your ears get damaged by high sound levels onstage
Did your ears ever ring after you played a gig, and not stop for a day or two? Now imagine that same scenario, but the ringing never stops. Pretty scary, right? And that's not an uncommon circumstance. Ringing in your ears, which is called "tinnitus," is only one of the occupational issues musicians face from repeated exposure to high sound pressu…
- learning
Long-Distance Collaboration - Work Together Remotely via DAW File Sharing
Sharing tracks over the Internet makes it possible for musicians to work together remotely, whether they're around the corner from each other or around the world.
- learning
Steely Dan’s Producer Talks Recording, Mixing, and More - Gary Katz on Producing
During Steely Dan’s original incarnation, the band produced a string of classic albums that are admired equally for their smart and catchy songwriting, amazing musicianship, and state-of-the-art recording quality. Through that whole time, producer Gary Katz was a key member of the Steely Dan team, helping Donald Fagen and Walter Becker produce the…
- learning
Mastering at Home - Part 3 - A Great Workflow for Mastering Music at Home
In this third part of our Home Mastering series, we will write about the process to follow in order to make the right decisions at the right time.
- learning
Mastering 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.
