The Best Old School Reverb Trick?
Today, we are going to be taking one stereo reverb and using it across every instrument in our track! We are going to be using a track that was recorded at Sunset Sound, and is completely live. Everything on this…
How do you avoid using too many tracks?
Today's featured FAQ Friday question is: How do you avoid using too many tracks in a song? Led Zeppelin and Yes all recorded on 8 tracks. Yes, those bands did record on 8 tracks early on, eventually getting up to…
My favorite reverb settings: Marc Daniel Nelson (Free Presets Included)
Marc Daniel Nelson, a Grammy-nominated music producer, is joining us again to bring you another tutorial. Today, he will be talking about reverbs. Over the course of his career, Marc has worked with many amazing artists, including Jason Mraz, Colbie…
The Singular Sound of the Police and “Message in a Bottle”
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos The end of the seventies marked a changing of the guard for music in many ways. Post-disco and post-punk, New Wave offered promises of the future with a seemingly infinite vision of possibilities for what…
Susanna Hoffs and the Joy of Making Music
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos In 1982, when The Bangles were still known as The Bangs and playing at Al’s Bar in Los Angeles, Music Connection concluded: “There is no question that all the elements are here to make the…
What kind of contract should you offer an artist?

Today’s featured FAQ Friday Question is: “Hi I’m an artist and I’ve been offered a production contract. I don’t have the money for a lawyer, can you tell me what the difference is between a production contract and a producers…

Siouxsie and the Banshees – Hong Kong Garden: Songs That Changed Music

By: Caitlin Vaughn Carlos  In July of 1978, New Music Express’s Nick Kent found the punk attitude alive and well with a Siouxsie and the Banshees performance at the Roundhouse. Kent pressed: “If Punks are currently being brushed off by…

How I got my start in the music industry- Marc Daniel Nelson

Marc Daniel Nelson is a Grammy-nominated music producer, audio mixing engineer, 4-time PMA nominee, and 1-time PMA winner. Marc has had a successful career producing, mixing, and managing multiple artists for almost 20 years. As a protege of the music…

Best USB Interface under $200? – Audient Evo 8

Our good friends over at Audient have a brand new product! It is called the Evo 8! It is a 4 input/4output USB interface that costs about $200 and it has the auto-gain function! This is the first one in…

My experiences with Eddie Van Halen were always unbelievable- RIP Maestro

This week has been a rough week for the music industry. There are only a handful of people that we can call true pioneers of the music industry. There have been legendary guitar heroes throughout the years, but the one…

Top 10 Metal Amps with Kristian Kohle!
We have our good friend Kristian Kohle here with us today, and he is going to talk about his Top 10 Metal Amps! Kristian is a very successful German metal producer, and I would consider him to be an expert…
Hit the Road Music: A Travelling Recording Studio
Traveling the world, recording artists on the road with a 4 wheel home studio in the desert? This sounds almost utopian but I never believed in limitations and realised my dream and share with you today a deep insight how…
Top Vocal Recording Tips from a PRO Vocalist!
Our good friend Chris Liepe is back with us, and today we are going to be sharing our Top 5 Vocal Recording Tips! This will be a conversation with too different perspectives: mine as a producer and engineer, and Chris's…
iZotope Neoverb: The Smartest Reverb Plugin?
We have a brand new plugin today share with you today: the iZotope Neoverb! iZotope has some very clever plugins, so I am very excited to see what they have done with their latest release! Before we go any further…
Sonic Epitaphs: Behind the Music of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
By Caitlin Vaughn Carlos If you visit Macclesfield Cemetery just outside of the English town in the county of Cheshire, you will find a small, plain gravestone with the inscription “love will tear us apart” - a bittersweet epitaph to…
Our Top 10 Rock Singers of ALL TIME!

We are here today with our good friend, Chris Liepe! Chris has his own successful YouTube channel on vocal coaching, ear training, recording tips, and more. He is very talented, and we are so excited to have him here with…

“Show Me, Show Me, Show Me How You Do That:” Finding the Edge of Indie and Pop in the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”
Written by Caitlin Carlos By the time The Cure had found their first significant American hit in 1987, the band had been playing together for over a decade, seemingly used to the ebb and flow of mainstream attention that had…
Rock and Roll on the Dance Floor: Behind the Music of “Let’s Dance”
Written by Caitlin Carlos From his early beginnings as Davy Jones, to his alien persona of Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie had spent much of the sixties and seventies, inventing and reinventing himself. The decade’s end culminated with the critically acclaimed…
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…

Best Classic Modulations in ONE PLUGIN? | Waves Kaleidoscopes
Waves has another exciting new plugin that we get to try out today! The Waves Kaleidoscopes plugin is exciting because it could be exactly what I have been asking for the last few years, which is a plugin that has…
Automate Your Analog Equipment! | Tegeler Crème RC
Today, we are trying out the new Crème RC from Tegeler! We have used the Crème before, and just like almost everyone else who tested it out, found that it was one of the most affordable SSL compressor and Pultec…
7 Pieces of Equipment I Use Every Day!
I often get asked what gear I use most frequently, so today I am going to share with you 7 pieces of equipment that I use in recording and mixing every single day. These 7 pieces are a combination of…
How to go from Intern to Grammy Winner
Today’s featured question is: “I’m going to be beginning an internship at a studio near me this fall, what skills, technical or not, do you believe are most important for an intern to have?” This is a fantastic question! I…
Your First Recording Adventure: Mac or PC, Desktop or Laptop

Your First Recording Adventure: Mac or PC, Desktop or Laptop More people than ever before are looking for ways to occupy their extra time indoors. Let’s face it – there are only so many puzzles you can do or reruns…

Baby Audio: Parallel Aggressor Plugin | Demo & Giveaway
In this video we’re taking a look at Baby Audio’s brand new plugin, which comes out today! We’re big fans of Baby Audio because they do really simple and really good sounding plugins! I’m really excited about this plugin because…
Ariel Chobaz’s Top 5 Plugins
Ariel Chobaz is a Grammy nominated engineer who has worked on countless platinum-selling and chart-topping records. He has worked with major artists including Nicki Minaj, Drake, Eminem, Rihanna, NAS, Snoop Dogg, Boyz II Men, Pharrell, Lil Wayne, Mary J. Blige,…
Recording a Song with ONE MIC! | Soyuz Bomblet Demo & Giveaway
Today, we get to try out the Soyuz Bomblet microphone! Soyuz makes wonderful microphones, and we are so excited to get to try this one out as well! We are also lucky enough to get to give one away! Enter…
The Secret to Writing Great Songs?
Today's featured FAQ Friday question is: What’s the best song structure for the music industry at the moment? This is a huge question! Song structure is a very broad term. This question made me think of all the knee-jerk reactions.…
How do mixing and mastering engineers get productions so loud?
Today's featured FAQ Friday question is: How do mixing and mastering engineers get productions so loud? When I first started mixing I felt the exact same way! I didn't know how people got their productions to sound loud without them…
Studio One Version 5 – What’s New

Since its inception in 2011, PreSonus Studio One has quickly become a go-to Digital Audio Workstation for beginners and pro’s alike. Combining the best parts of each DAW, Studio One offers a Customizable Workflow, incorporating everything you need in one…

The easiest vocal de-essing trick?
There are some wonderful de-essing plugins available, but I have noticed over the years that often the best way of de-essing is to go in there and clip gain, or gain down, or volume automate down all of the esses.…
Is this the Best Free Drum Mixing Technique?
Have you ever had a snare that just has way too much kick and hi-hat bleeding in, and then you spent hours messing around with the gates and all kinds of other things, but still didn't get the results you…
my confession
Today, I wanted to talk a little bit about my journey and why I started Produce Like a Pro. I have mentioned before that I started this because I saw a gap in the information about creating and recording music…
A MasterBus EQ I Can Trust! | AMEK EQ 200 Demo & Giveaway
In today's video, we are trying out the AMEK EQ 200 plugin! This plugin is based of the first parametric equalizers that started it all and is inspired by the classic sound of icons like the GML 8200 and vintage…
Get Great Rock Recordings with the Amethyst! | JZ Microphones Amethyst Demo & Giveaway
Today, we are testing out the wonderful Amethyst microphone from JZ Microphones! This microphone is a premium class large diaphragm microphone that will give you that classic warm, vintage sound. Each Amethyst contains the unique Golden Drop Capsule technology. This…
Should you leave any effects or equalizers on your master bus? | FAQ Friday
We're back for another marvellous FAQ Friday! Today's featured question is: What final volume limit is preferable when mixing before mastering? Should you leave any effects or equalizers on your master bus? Honestly, you don't want to be mastering when…
Adjust the Polar Pattern in Real Time! | Austrian Audio OC818
Today, we are testing out the OC818 from Austrian Audio! What is unique about this microphone is that it records the front and the back of the capsule at the same time, and also includes an app that allows you…
Create your own ‘custom plugins’! | Waves StudioRack
Today, we get to try out a brand new plugin: the Waves StudioRack! This marvellous new plugin allows you to create powerful plugin chains of up to 8 plugins. The enhanced features of the StudioRack include parallel processing racks, multiband…
A Must-Have for Recording Bass! | Radial HDI
Today, we are trying out the wonderful Radial HDI! Radial is quite well known for their DIs, and has been an industry standard for quite a few years now. We have used a few of their products before and loved…
Lewitt Project 1040 | Demo with Multitracks!
Today, we are doing something very exciting: we are testing out Lewitt Project 1040! Project 1040 is Lewitt designing a brand new microphone with the help of us, the customers! At the moment, it is just a prototype, so it…
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.…

The 6 Microphones You Need to Know About!
Today, we are going to talk about the 6 microphones that you need to know about! Some of these we have talked about before, but we have some new ones too. It is also microphone month over at Sweetwater, which…
Bring old school magic to your recordings! | Soyuz Launcher Demo
We have something very exciting to try out today: the Soyuz Launcher! The team at Soyuz has spent the last few years developing and experimenting in order to develop what they believe is their unique sound, and they have put…
Master Compression with SoundGym’s Compressionist
SoundGym is an online ear training and learning centre for producers and engineers. It is a gym for your ears! We have used SoundGym before, and it is a great tool for training your ears and developing your skills. Today,…
Mojave Audio MA-201fet | Demo & Giveaway
Today, we have another great demo and giveaway for you! In this video, we will be trying out the wonderful new MA-201fet from Mojave Audio! To test out this mic, I am going to be recording a whole song -…
8 Things I’ve Learned in my Career!
Over the course of my career, I have worked in many different areas of the music industry, which has allowed me to have the opportunity to learn a lot of different things from many different people. Today, I want to…
Sonarworks Reference 4 Studio Edition with Mic | Demo & Giveaway
Today, we get to test out Sonarworks' incredible Reference 4 software! This software really is game changing because it levels the playing field. This software works to flatten out the speaker responses in your room, no matter what your space…
Fiona Apple ‘Fetch The Bolt Cutters’
When Fiona Apple’s ‘Tidal’ was released in 1996 and it blew open the musical doors at a time where everything in a Radio dominated World seemed to fall into the loud/quiet formula. A breath of fresh air, it had no…
Eight-Track Nostalgia: Finding Abbey Road at the Nexus of Progress and Reflection
BY: CAITLIN VAUGHN CARLOS On January 30, 1969, The Beatles performed their first live concert together in almost two and a half years, in an unannounced rooftop performance on top of the London headquarters of their record label, Apple Records.…
Do you need a separate mic pre? | FAQ Friday
a Rafflecopter giveaway We’re back with another FAQ Friday! Today’s episode is sponsored by our good friends over at Austrian Audio! Today’s featured question is: “Do you need a separate mic pre along with an audio interface or can you…