Music Production

With complex wiring schemes, plenty of tweakable parameters, and a near limitless palette of unreal, warm analog musical sounds and noise, modular synthesis is in vogue again. Most things analog translates well to digital, so it’s no wonder that someone thought to introduce the world of modular synthesis to digital recording. While digital modular synthesis…

Chances are you already know the power of a compressor and value it highly in your mixing workflow. A limiter is like a superpowered compressor with the ability to boost the loudness of your mixes and even add some nice saturation and warmth, depending on the module. To that it extent, limiters fit in rather…

Ableton Live quickly rose through the ranks to become the DAW of a new generation. As a capable live and in-studio recording tool, it’s ideal for electronic music, and can adapt nicely to other styles and genres as well. If you’re sold out on Ableton Live, it’s only natural that you’d come sniffing around here….

Loving the sound of classic romplers? Or do you come from a time when technology was more analog than digital, more hands on than automatic, grittier rather than cleaner? Whether you’re familiar with the earliest romplers available, or you’re new to the entire concept, there is something about classic gear and early VST plugin developments….

From layering in heavily effected vocal tracks to serve as background texture, to setting robotic, synthesized vocals at the forefront of a mix, vocoder VST plugins can be used in a variety of creative ways to add color and interest to your mixes. Vocoders may have originally been developed for radio and military purposes, but…

Like it or hate it, autotune is either used sparingly or with more extreme settings in practically every top 40 hit. Are they hits because they use autotune? Perhaps not. Even so, for producing pitch and timing perfect mixes, vocal processing is par for the course. Depending on the genre or style of music you…

From the haunting beauty of a violin solo in a somber acoustic classic like “Dust In The Wind” to the playful violin filling the spaces in the lusty 80s Celtic folk pop of “Come On Eileen,” the violin is a powerful instrument, whether used in a gentle singer-songwriter tune, full orchestra, or to complement a…

Modern recording typically involves a mix of hardware components and software solutions. But more and more producers are turning to “in the box” recording because it’s fun, and in many cases, you can achieve comparable results without all the expensive, heavy, and sometimes inconvenient hardware units. We’re not suggesting that the analog vs. digital debate…

Whether in pop, hip-hop, R&B, EDM, or another electronic genre, lo-fi VST plugins are in high demand. Sometimes, pristine clarity is the opposite of what you want. You want your tracks to have some grittiness, some character, some pitch issues, or some distortion to them. That’s where lo-fi VST plugins shine. Whether it’s making your…

Whether it’s the orchestra, R&B, soul, disco / funk, ska, or even rock, brass instruments play a special role within the context of a variety of musical settings. Long, sustained notes make brass instruments perfect for melody and accompaniment, but their pinpoint rhythmic precision can make them an excellent choice for percussive and rhythmic stabs…

From classical and pop to rock and hip-hop. Strings complement a variety of musical styles, and are used heavily in TV, film, and video game music too. So, for most producers and composers, having access to a competent strings VST plugin (or multiple plugins) is going to be high on the priority list. In this…

Sampling is addicting and fun. You can take a variety of sounds, turn them into something completely new, and build layer upon layer to develop your own beats. Of course, you can overdub vocals, instrument tracks, and anything else as you see fit, and even process those raw sounds through your sampler if you wish….

You can’t expect to produce pristine, perfect sounding vocal tracks without setting up your effects chain. But what effects do you need to make your vocal tracks sound their very best? And how do you even choose from the many VST plugins that are out there? In this guide, we look at the best vocal…

There are plenty of classic synths, be it the Yamaha DX7, Korg M1, or Sequential Prophet-5. But the Roland JUNO-106 analog polysynth (and its various iterations) still stands as one of the most popular, thanks to its programmability and great sound. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, then, that there are plenty of…

Blood curdling, skull crushing, floor thumping, wall of sound guitar tones. It’s what every self-respecting metal guitarist wants. To achieve these tones, there are certain tricks of the trade that need to be mastered. But having the right tools never hurt anyone. And it is possible to do it all with digital gear alone. So,…