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Spotify Playlist Placement | Have Your Music Heard
Digital streaming is the #1 way people consume music. Streams equated to almost 85% of US album sales in 2019, which means pushing physical copies is a thing of the past for most artists. Beyond just uploading to the platform,…
Acoustic Loop1 Looper Pedal Review: Easy to Use and Made to Play
A good looper pedal serves a variety of purposes for guitar players. They can be excellent practice and writing tools, letting you improvise over chord progressions or explore song arrangements without having to set up to record. Some solo musicians…
Mix Heavy Rock Drums like a Pro: Techniques and Secrets from Marc Daniel Nelson
McDSP HD vs. Native Plugins: Everything You Need to Know
The McDSP plugin collection includes two versions of each effect. We’ll shed light on McDSP HD vs Native plugins so you know what’s right for your system. What Is a DSP Plugin? DSP stands for digital signal processing, or digital…
Understanding Texture in Music (And How to Utilize It in a Mix)
When we hear the word “texture,” we tend to picture visual or tactile mediums. Paintings and photographs can vividly capture a sense of texture, as can sculptures, architecture, and things naturally occurring in nature. But what about texture in music?…
Recording and Mixing Hip Hop Vocals – Anthony Cruz (Meek Mill’s Audio Engineer)
Using Polyrhythms to Create More Interesting Mixes
Introducing polyrhythm is one way to make your productions more interesting. It doesn’t have to be overly complex to stand out and take your music to the next level! Polyrhythm vs. Polymeter: What’s the Difference? Both share a prefix, but…
“Losing My Religion” – Lyrically Reflective, Tediously Recorded, and (Sort-Of) Created by Accident
Understanding the Shepard Tone Effect and How It Creates Tension
Some of the effects we employ in sound design, mixing, and even songwriting take advantage of our perception of sound—a branch of science known as psychoacoustics. The Shepard tone is a prominent example of how our ears can trick us!…
How to Record Drums at Home in 5 Easy Steps
Usually the biggest challenge recording at home is the drum kit. There are so many straightforward ways to capture other instruments that sound great—but there isn’t much flexibility with acoustic drums. First you need the space, which is a challenge…
Mixing Multiple Vocals to Sit Properly in the Mix – Joe Carrell
Moog Mother 32 Review: The Last Modular Synth You’ll Ever Need
The Moog Mother 32 is a semi-modular desktop synthesizer. It’s a great introductory synth for anyone looking to get into modular territory, though it performs just as well as a unique standalone instrument for beginners or veterans alike. The Moog…
What Is Metadata and Why Does It Matter?
Metadata is an important element of music distribution. You’ve probably heard the term tossed about before, though the meaning of it isn’t always clear. What Is Metadata? At first glance, metadata seems like an overly technical term. It’s basically data…
Oeksound Spiff Review: A New Generation of Transient Shaper
The self-proclaimed “tech geeks” at Helsinki’s Oeksound made waves in 2016 with their now-renowned Soothe plugin. It was met with much acclaim even then, before it solidified its place in production with version 2, and it was clear that Oeksound…
Soundtoys Little AlterBoy Review: The Best Pitch Shifter VST?
Little AlterBoy by Soundtoys is a “monophonic voice manipulator” for vocal pitch/formant shifting, hard-tune effects, and more. Like the rest of the Soundtoys plugin library, it offers a distinct and intuitive layout that’s as powerful as it is easy to…