Side chain compression is a technique that lets you to set a different input signal source from the track on which the compressor is inserted. For example, if you place a compressor on the bass guitar and “side chain” or…
Understanding Additive and Subtractive Synthesis
Additive and subtractive synthesis are two of the 4 fundamental ways synthesizers create sounds, next to wavetable and FM. If you plan to get into synths at all, or even just use them occasionally in your work, it’s a good…
Noise Gate Tips for Cleaner Mixes
A noise gate is a great tool for cleaning up tracks with extraneous noise in between the performances. Also known as a downward expander, noise gates keep a signal turned off or at a lower level until it reaches the…
The Best DAW for Beginners is Whichever You Choose!
When you’re new to home recording and mixing, one of the biggest questions you probably have is which DAW is the right choice. There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to that question. What matters most is choosing the DAW that…
How to Record Electric Guitar [Beginner’s Guide]
There are a ton of variables at play when it comes to at-home guitar recording. The whole process is a combination of many elements, so if you’re struggling with how to record electric guitar with the best results, you’re definitely…
Are Online Mastering Services Worth It?
Automated online mastering tools like BandLab, LANDR, and eMastered all offer “instant results at a fraction of the cost of studio mastering.” There’s definitely a bit of skepticism surrounding online mastering, and understandably so. Anyone who’s familiar with the process at…
Apple Music Boasts Massive Leap in Audio Quality, Supports Dolby Atmos
This month, Apple Music strengthened its footing as one of the industry’s top streaming platforms. In a major step forward, the service brings lossless audio to its catalog of over 75 million on-demand songs, as well as support for Dolby…
The Best Vocal Plugins to Add to Your Collection
When it’s time to mix a singer, you should be armed with some of the best vocal plugins you can get your hands on! We’ll be looking at some staples—dynamics processing and EQ—that really shine on vocal tracks. Of course,…
TikTok Marketing Guide for Musicians & Independent Artists
TikTok launched back in 2017 and steadily simmered for a few years. The platform has since exploded, captivating millions of consumers and turning unknown social media users into bonafide stars. What is TikTok all about, and how can musicians leverage…
Limiter vs Compressor: What’s the Difference?
Dynamics processors are some of the most formidable tools an engineer can employ. Mixing is all about balance, and leveling amplifiers, limiters, and compressors help even out the volume across instruments. We’ve heard all of these terms before, and even…
The Best Vocal Mics for Under $500
For most of us putting together a home or project studio, cost dictates the gear we choose. In a perfect world we’d all have a locker full of $3000+ vocal mics, but that’s wildly impractical for the average bedroom engineer’s…
Songs That Changed Music: Thin Lizzy – “The Boys Are Back in Town”
Thin Lizzy spent years fine-tuning their sound before becoming one of the most recognized rock bands of the mid-70s. What started as a bluesy folk rock project influenced by Celtic culture and frontman Phil Lynott’s Irish upbringing took a 180…
DistroKid vs. TuneCore vs. CD Baby | Digital Distribution
Digital music aggregators make distributing your music as painless as possible. Companies like DistroKid, TuneCore, and CD Baby provide artists the opportunity to get their music on major platforms like iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon, and more. In short,…
What is a Noise Gate? | Studio Essentials
Unwanted noise tends to creep into our recordings. Sometimes it’s in the form of electrical buzzing, and sometimes it’s a consequence of sound sources bleeding into one another (especially on drums!). A noise gate is a helpful audio processor that…
Albums that Changed Music: XTC – English Settlement
XTC are one of the most influential British pop bands to have emerged from the punk and new wave eruption of the late ‘70s. They’re known for bucking contemporary trends, due in part to their vast and varied influences, from…
Getting Credit on a Major Label Release
For producers, engineers, and musicians, getting proper credit forms the foundation of a career. Credit, or lack thereof, can quite literally be the difference between being busy or waiting around for a gig. Particularly as engineers, getting credit on a…
Preparing Your Band Record an EP Efficiently
Getting ready to record an EP is a bit easier than a full-length album from a logistics standpoint. Obviously, EPs are less material than full-lengths. They usually range anywhere from about 3 to 7 songs. Instead of trying to bulk out…
Should You Record an EP or Full-Length Album?
This is an interesting question, because it seems an increasing trend for independent artists — especially those recording at home or on tight budgets — is to make an EP rather than an LP. There are some obvious and some…
What Happens When Music Isn’t Fun Anymore?
Chances are you’ve experienced moments in your life when music wasn’t much fun, or maybe you’re experiencing it now. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an engineer, producer, songwriter, or all of those. It’s totally natural, from time to time, to…
Making Music on Your Phone: The Best Apps for Mobile
Musicians’ creativity doesn’t stop when they’re on the road. In a perfect world, we’d all have access to the comfort of our home studios 24/7, churning out music as often as we’d like. But whether you’re a full-time artist/producer or…
Top Audio Technology Trends of the Past Year
Audio technology trends are slowly but surely changing the way we produce and consume music, film, and other media. From the studio and beyond, these are some of the top trends we’ve observed in the last year. Monitor Calibration Computer-aided…
Matt Weiss: GRAMMY-Nominated Pop, Hip-Hop, & EDM Engineer
Matt Weiss is a GRAMMY-nominated, platinum recording and mixing engineer who's worked with artists like Akon, Swae Lee, Jeremih, Chris Brown, Sonny Digital, Nicky Minaj, Becky G, Anitta, Rick Ross, Farruko, and Ozuna. Matt grew up in Philadelphia with creative parents:…
Simple Tips for Mixing Hip-Hop
If you’re an engineer in 2020, chances are you’re mixing hip-hop. It’s the most popular genre in the world, and there are countless up-and-coming artists getting in the studio and creating. Recording and mixing hip-hop seems pretty straight forward, especially…
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…
The Complete Starter Guide to FL Studio 20
FL Studio is a standout software choice for electronic and hip hop producers. Its workflow is one of the most unique out there, really lending itself to making beats quickly with its excellent step sequencer, piano roll, and sample manipulating…
The Best Audio Sample Subscription Services
Audio sample subscription services are now more popular than ever. Gone are the days of sorting through samples on expensive disks you had to purchase, only to come up short. The demand for royalty-free libraries grew sharply after the advent…
Jason LaRocca: Punk Frontman Turned Film Score Producer
Jason LaRocca has enjoyed success on both sides of the glass. He formerly contributed vocals and guitar to acclaimed LA punk band, The Briggs, and by the age of eighteen, Jason had also become a producer and recording engineer! Jason…
Free Drum Samples for Your Collection
Drum samples are incredibly useful in a number of ways. Firstly, they can be one of the quickest and easiest means to lock down your song’s backbone by programming grooves using a drum VST or your DAW’s built-in sampler. Even…
Leland Sklar: Legendary Bassist w/ 2000+ Credits to His Name
Interview transcription: Warren Huart: (music). You do have your own thing now, don’t you? Your own Clubhouse. Leland Sklar: Yeah, I have a Clubhouse. But I’m not doing any of that there. I mean, the YouTube channel is for the songs,…
Hanging Out with Guitarists Pete Thorn & Quist!
Pete Thorn and Quist join us for an incredible Skype conversation this week! Both are very talented guitarists and educators who've been in the studio and on the road with an impressive list of artists — they each have their…
How to Make Money in Music as an Artist
Whether you’re a band/artist or working behind the scenes as a producer, engineer, mixer or songwriter, the music industry has changed dramatically over the last 15-20 years. And perhaps the most important thing you’re wondering about is how to make…
Matt Lange: Multi-Platinum Electronic Music Producer and Composer
Matt Lange is a Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum selling electronic music producer, DJ, composer, and musician. His music challenges categorization, and a hallmark of Matt's work is his devotion to pushing musical boundaries. He's perhaps best known for co-producing These Hopeful Machines with…
The Incredible History of Hollywood’s EastWest Studios
EastWest Studios is one of the world’s premier recording complexes with an amazing history. The facility is located right in the heart of Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard and has been home to some of the most celebrated artists of the…
Louise Goffin: Grammy-Nominated Songwriter Releases New Album
Louise Goffin is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. She's put out ten albums as a solo artist over the course of her career, starting with Kid Blue when she was 19 years old. The latest — Two Different Movies — came out just this…
Engineer/Mixer Chris Fogel: Alanis Morissette’s Groundbreaking ‘Jagged Little Pill’ Turns 25
Chris Fogel is a GRAMMY-winning recording engineer and mixer based in Los Angeles, California. He has had the pleasure of recording and mixing scores and soundtracks for over 170 major motion pictures and television shows, including the Oscar-winning score to Black Panther,…
Tim Palmer: Prolific Rock/Alternative Producer and Mixer (Pearl Jam, Robert Plant)
Interview transcription: Warren Huart: Hi, everybody. Hope you’re doing marvelously well. I’m sitting here with my good friend, Mr. Tim Palmer. How are you? Tim Palmer: I’m very good, mate. I hope that you are doing inordinately well. Warren Huart:…
Jay Messina: World-Class Engineer/Producer (Aerosmith, KISS, John Lennon)
Here’s a full transcription of our conversation! Warren Huart: Hi, everybody. Hope you’re doing marvelously well. I’m sitting here with the rather wonderful, Mr. Jay Messina. Jay, how are you? Jay Messina: I’m doing great, Warren. Good to see you. Warren…
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…
What is an EPK and How Do You Make One?
An EPK, which stands for “electronic press kit,” is essentially a résumé or CV for musicians. It provides labels, agents, music supervisors, venue managers, journalists, and promoters information to understand who you are as an artist. This is important, because…
Jack Douglas: One of the World’s Greatest Producers (Aerosmith, John Lennon)
We’ve spent a lot of time with the amazing Jack Douglas over the past year! He told us how he got Cheap Trick signed to their first record deal, what it was like working with Aerosmith throughout the ’70s, how he…
Apple Introduces Biggest Update to Logic Since “Logic Pro X”
Last week, Apple released a massive update to their Logic Pro X software with version 10.5. The DAW already excels at music production and songwriting, with useful features like Drummer, a huge built-in loop library, intuitive MIDI capabilities, and more.…
Paul “Willie Green” Womack: Dedicated to the Art of Making Records
Paul “Willie Green” Womack is one of the top record makers in independent urban music, with credits including Wiz Khalifa, Donnie McClurkin, The Roots, Open Mike Eagle, Billy Woods, Milo, and many more. He is a graduate of Berklee College’s…
Marc Daniel Nelson: GRAMMY-Nominated Producer/Mixer for Music and Film
Marc Daniel Nelson is a GRAMMY-nominated producer and mixer for music and film. He has been producing, mixing, as well as managing artists for nearly 20 years. Coming up under legendary producers/engineers Bill Schnee (Steely Dan, Chicago) and Ken Caillat (Fleetwood Mac,…
Using Silence to Improve Your Productions
We don’t often consider the importance of silence when it comes to our musical productions. It’s easy to get caught up in the sounds we want to add, because that’s what music is all about! But if you use silence itself…
The Lickerish Quartet is a Pop Rock Supergroup with Serious Pedigree
See below for a complete transcription of our conversation! Warren Huart: Ladies and gentlemen, we’re sitting here with the Lickerish Quartet. How the devil are you? Roger Manning: Best as can be expected. Thank you. Tim Smith: Yeah. Doing well. Roger Manning:…
Hard Rock/Metal Producer and Musician Matt Good
Matt Good is a guitarist, vocalist, and producer, perhaps best known for playing guitar and singing in post-hardcore band From First to Last. As a producer, he's worked with tons of contemporary rock/metal bands like Asking Alexandria, Sleeping with Sirens, Memphis May…
6 Compression Tips That Will Change the Way You Mix
Sometimes the most useful compression tips aren’t super secret recipes. It’s more about being familiar with the barebones basics, knowing what other techniques are available, and having an end goal in mind. The following compression tips are widely applicable to…
How ONE Recording Mistake Created a Musical Phenomenon in the ’80s
Gated reverb is a technique responsible for the punchy, whip-like drum sounds which dominated popular music throughout the ’80s. Listen to a track like “Kiss” by Prince (1986) and you’ll immediately recognize the sound. It’s bold and quintessentially ‘80s. But…
Mike Plotnikoff Has Worked with Rock/Metal’s Leading Talent
A complete transcript of our conversation can be found below! Warren Huart: Hi everybody. I hope you’re doing marvelously well. I’m here with the rather wonderful Mike Plotnikoff. How are you? Mike Plotnikoff: Hello, Warren. Nice to have you hear in…
Hit-Making Rock Producer Keith Olsen Passes Away at 74
Keith Olsen, legendary rock producer of the ’70s and ’80s, passed away Monday at age 74. Olsen started his career playing in bands in the ’60s before pivoting to record production. He was mentored by Curt Boettcher and Brian Wilson,…