Diminished chords are native to both major and minor keys. You’ll find them as the seventh chord of the major scale, and the second chord of the natural minor scale. They get a bad rap for being dissonant, but they…
A Few of the Best Saturation Plugins Available
Saturation is the secret weapon for adding some grit back to pristine digital recordings. Whether you just want to add a bit of body and richness to an instrument, or make it unrecognizable with blazing distortion, saturation is one of…
Best Kontakt Libraries for Every Collection
Native Instruments‘ free sample player, Kontakt, is every music producer’s entry point to the industry’s largest collection of sampled instruments. Kontakt is a universal host to hundreds of realistic sampled libraries from dozens of manufacturers. The best Kontakt libraries should…
Songs that Changed Music: Iggy & The Stooges – Search and Destroy
Staying Healthy & Headstrong in the Music Industry – Marc Daniel Nelson
Stevie Wonder and the Prodigious Imagination of One of Music’s Most Inventive Voices.
HUGE Christmas Giveaway! $53,618 IN PRIZES!
Analog Tape vs Digital: Can You Hear The Difference? (Multitracks Included!) – Marc Daniel Nelson
Songs that Changed Music: Herbie Hancock – Rockit
A New Industry Standard Podcast Mic? – Earthworks Icon Pro
PreSonus FaderPort: Does Your DAW Need One?
The PreSonus FaderPort gives users tactile control over features in their DAW. With transport buttons and a single fader, it’s main use is for writing automation in a hands-on way. Control surfaces like these bridge some of the gaps between…
Studio Monitors Under $500: Fluid Audio FX80 Review
Is Waves Vocal Rider the Solution to Levels?
Vocal levels are one of the most important things to get right. Even with all the compressors in the world, nothing compares to putting in the work and riding the fader — automating the levels in each part of the…
Recording Genesis with ONE MIC! – Austrian Audio OC18
iZotope VocalSynth 2 Overview
iZotope launched VocalSynth in 2016. Right away, its features got a lot of attention. It was obviously a fresh approach to creative vocal production not previously seen in other plugins. Two years later, iZotope VocalSynth 2 came out, which is…
Top 10 Tips for a Successful Studio with Matt McQueen
Blue Cat Audio Freeware Plugin Pack II Review
Blue Cat Audio is a privately held company based in Paris. It was founded by Guillaume Jeulin: musician, software engineer, and audio fanatic. Blue Cat focuses on providing flexible and powerful audio tools for musicians and audio professionals. They believe…
One-Stop Solution for Delay & Reverb? – BABY Audio Spaced Out
Vocaloid: Virtual Singers in Your DAW
Vocaloid is a very unique type of voice synthesizer software. Initially not meant to be a full commercial product, research on its technology began in 2000. Yamaha then got involved during the development process, and the first version of Vocaloid came out in…
TAL J-8 Virtual Instrument Review
TAL Software GmbH is a small Swiss company founded in 2000. They create high-quality, affordable instruments and effects with a user friendly interface. TAL’s commercial vintage synth emulations are known to be incredibly accurate and authentic to the real thing. If you’re…
Arturia V Collection 8 Review
We go way back with Arturia – starting with Analog Factory, then upgrading to Analog Lab, and even venturing into the plugin world with the ‘3 Compressors You’ll Actually Use’ bundle. No doubt, the V Collection is the one-stop-shop for…
IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5 Review
IK Multimedia’s leading amp and effects modeling software took a massive leap forward with the release of AmpliTube 5 today. Accurately capturing the sound, feel and vibe of the world’s most sought-after guitar and bass gear, the new AmpliTube 5 offers…
Dancing to Distinction: “Blue Monday” and the Reinvented Self of New Order
What is Audio Bit Depth?
Bit depth in digital audio is one of the settings that affects the recording’s overall resolution. In technical terms, it’s the actual number of bits (binary digits) in each sample. What is bit depth? Bit depth and sample rate work…
The Key to Modern Radio-Ready Vocals? – Antares Auto-Tune Unlimited
Choosing the Sample Rate for Your Project
Sample rate is one of the first things you’ll be asked to choose when you open a new session in your DAW. Alongside bit depth, it can have an impact on the fidelity of your audio recordings. What is sample rate? Digital…
The Beatles – Let It Be: Album Breakdown with Jerry Hammack
Avid Pro Tools First | Free DAW Overview
Avid Pro Tools is the industry standard. It’s the platform for virtually every studio because it excels at tracking, editing, mixing, and production. Pro Tools First provides an introduction to the gold standard DAW without committing to a pricey monthly…
Small Speaker with Massive Low End? – EVE Audio SC3070
Mixing Hip Hop (FREE Custom Presets!) – Marc Daniel Nelson
Spitfire Audio | Pro Grade Software Instruments
Spitfire Audio collaborates with the world’s top composers, producers, engineers, and studios to create ultra-detailed, realistic recordings of instruments. Their virtual instruments and sample libraries offer thousands of professional quality sounds right inside your DAW. Spitfire truly makes incredible instruments.…
Do You Need a Portable Vocal Booth?
Portable vocal booths cater to home studio enthusiasts looking to isolate their recordings. Having too many room reflections is one of the biggest problems of recording at home. Apart from sounding echoey, untreated reflections also produce comb filtering for a…
Slate FG-2A: Recreating A Legendary Compressor
Room EQ Wizard | Free Acoustics Software
Room EQ Wizard (REW) is free room acoustics software for measuring and analyzing room and loudspeaker responses. The analysis helps you optimize your studio by finding the best spot for the speakers and listening position. Shooting the room gives you…
“Turn It On Again” and The Remarkable Transformation of Genesis
My Top 10 Jazz Guitarists!
Top Lessons Learned My First Year in the Studio
Being a professional engineer isn’t always easy. It’s as much about perseverance and resilience as it is about technical skill and creative talent. I believe you figure out very quickly whether the life is for you, and these are the…
Waves Abbey Road RS124 Compressor Review
I’m very excited today! We get to try out the BRAND NEW (we got an advance copy!) Waves Abbey Road RS124 Compressor! I’m sure many of you know what this is… it’s a very famous compressor! First designed in 1960…
Seventh Heaven Reverb | Convolution Reverbs
LiquidSonics Seventh Heaven reverb is a plugin reproduction of the Bricasti M7 hardware unit. The company is known for their superior convolution modeling, which Seventh Heaven has in spades! Seventh Heaven Reverb: A Convolution Masterpiece Convolution digitally simulates an actual…
How to Get Rid of Vocal Sibilance
Vocal sibilance occurs when singers pronounce words with ‘s’ and ‘z’ sounds, and to a lesser extent, ‘f’ and ‘v’ sounds. Phonetics calls these ‘fricatives’; they’re mainly characterized by the hissing noise they produce. When a passionate vocalist is belting…
The Best Earplugs for Musicians: Protecting Your Greatest Asset
It should go without saying that a musician, engineer, or producer’s greatest asset is his or her hearing. We rely on it for quite literally everything we do related to music, from gathering inspiration to writing, recording, and mixing. The…
Best Guitar Impulse Responses [Free and Paid]
Collecting impulse responses isn’t necessarily new tech. But it is becoming increasingly popular for capturing the sound of a unique speaker cabinet, microphone, and room for guitar. Beyond your amp settings, there’s a whole lot more that affects your recorded…