If you’re new to home recording, or looking to expand your repertoire, using plug-ins might feel intimidating and complicated. It’s really not that hard to start using plug-ins and expand your sonic palette. Read the post.
An audio plug-in is specialized software for better music-making with your DAW, and plug-ins serve a variety of purposes to flavor, enhance, and add to the breadth of your home studio recordings. Read the post.
In a musical context, the vocoder often starts with an analog sound and crossbreeds it, in real time, with synthesized textures to create some powerful and versatile musical elements. Read More.
Blending acoustic and electronic sounds can open musical doors and take your songwriting and production in unexpected and adventurous directions. Read More.
When mixing bass guitar, don’t get discouraged if it takes a while to get the track just where you want it – bass can be the most difficult instrument to manage in a mix. Here are some tips to get started. Read More.
The following five tips will help you approach EQ and your audio mix like a pro. Follow them, and you’ll add clarity, separation, and depth to your tracks. Read More.
Whatever your style of music, understanding how great music is crafted, layer by layer, will help you become a better producer. The technique of close listening can help. Read more.
In this video, engineer Scott Wiggins explains the use of pre-delay with reverb on your vocals and snare drum to help add the desired effect while maintaining clarity and presence. Read More.
Each of the basic effects pedals we covered in Part 1 is still made today, by a variety of manufacturers. That’s one of the things that makes the pedal world so fascinating. New takes on classic effects come out continuously, each offering some sort of variation or wrinkle that can help you further refine your own special sound. Read more.
In part one, we rewind some of the history of these interesting devices, including links to product pages and demos of effects pedals in action. In part two, we identify some of the current stomp boxes and multi effects units that can help you create signature sounds. Read more.
One way to control the amplitude of a signal is by running it through a compressor, which turns down the volume each time the signal gets louder than a preset threshold. Understanding the functions of compression and panning are part of music production basics and will help you in the recording and mixing phases of your project. Read more.
Controlling volume is one of the most important elements in audio production. Understanding amplitude, volume, normalization, and automation are all part of music production basics and will help you in the recording and mixing phases of your project. Read more.
When you hear the words “repair” and “restoration,” you might be inclined to think of dusty vaults filled with aging master tapes and records. Some audio repair and restoration projects involve taking old recordings and reviving them, and the same methods and tools used for those projects can be used for a wide range of scenarios. Every time you record audio, there’s always the chance of encountering unexpected and unwelcome audio “guests.” Read more.
In addition to your microphones, DAW/console, and room, an essential part of any home studio set-up is your signal processing gear. These tools are necessary to create a professional-sounding final product. But for the new engineer, these effects can be fairly mysterious, and a tendency to overuse plug-ins and outboard gear is commonplace, especially for someone just learning the nuances of the art of recording. Read more.
How can you best use your typical signal processing plug-ins to enhance and optimize your recording? Understanding how the dynamic control processors like compressors, limiters, EQs, and gates function, and knowing how to use multi-effects such as delays and reverbs to perfection will make you a better producer and engineer. Read more.