It’s always been fun to play around with devices in Reason. When it comes to creating a unique device, synth or effect, you have limitless possibilities. You could call it playing Lego with audio devices. In this tutorial I will continue building blocks and explain three different ways to set up DLL-1 devices within Combinator.
Using Rewire to Expand Your Audio Toolset
Jun 8th in Mixing & Mastering by Mo VolansAs producing completely ‘in the box’ fast becomes the norm, it’s essential we maximize the potential of our computer set up. Of course, improving our computer hardware and investing in new sample libraries is one way to do this—but another is to seamlessly wire together our applications using Rewire.
Rewire is often underestimated and in many cases goes unused. Using Rewire correctly can actually expand your sound palette, avoid unnecessary rendering and even add extra processing tools to your DAW. Let’s take a look at how Rewire works, some of its history and a few situations we can use it in.
How to Comp Tracks in Logic Pro 8
Jun 5th in Mixing & Mastering by Björgvin BenediktssonWhen tracking for your record, you may have to go through loads of takes to get that perfect track. In the old days this meant cutting up a lot of tape and pasting the right takes together — a time consuming and difficult effort. Now, in the world of wonderful digital technology, you can just cut, copy and paste to your heart’s desire, without having to worry about super-expensive tape that you could ruin with your next knife-cut. Who wants to become a surgeon when all you have to do is copy and paste?
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5 Ways to Get More Life Out of a Song After It’s Finished
May 28th in Mixing & Mastering by Ryan LeachWe all know that writing and producing music takes a lot of work. From coming up with the initial ideas to making everything sound great, hours and hours of labor go into the process. Rather than putting yourself through the struggle of staring at a blank page or session every time you want to write something new, use these tips to get more mileage out of the music you’ve already poured your heart into.
Producing and Mastering a DJ Set
May 22nd in Mixing & Mastering by Mo VolansSo you have your beat mixing down to a fine art and you have a great collection of tunes. You have recorded your latest live show or have put the finishing touches on a promotional set in the studio. The question is what do you do now?
To turn the recording into a really listenable product it’s a good idea to apply some basic mastering and ensure that it’s in the right format. It’s also important to be able to insert track markers if you intend to burn to CD. Here are a few tips to get you going.
Spice Up Your Loops by Automating EQ
May 20th in Mixing & Mastering by Ryan LeachWhether you’re working on a tight scoring deadline or simply rushing to get your creative ideas out of your head and into a session, it can be very easy to drop a drum or percussion loop into your track and forget about it, causing the loop to be a static and repetitive element that drags down the overall interest of your music. You can very quickly and easily make your loops more interesting by automating an EQ insert, costing you little time but adding a nice touch of subtlety to your mix.
Enhancing the Kick Drum with Sine Waves
May 13th in Mixing & Mastering by Björgvin BenediktssonThe biggest and most difficult sound to get right in the studio is usually the drum kit. There are many factors involved — the kit is made up by an assortment of instruments, usually with individual mics on every drum, and then room mics on top of that. This makes for a difficult job and usually the part of the tracking process that consumes the most time. Especially in home studios where the acoustics and mic selection don’t really cut it, additional processing is required to improve the sound. Let’s take a look at improving the kick sound with sine waves.
How to Use Buss Compression
May 4th in Mixing & Mastering by Mo VolansCompression can be a pretty confusing subject. With so much jargon and literally thousands of different compressors to choose from it’s no wonder some less experienced producers get a little stumped from time to time.
One area of compression that appears to remain a mystery to some is that of buss compression. This is one that I’m asked about a lot, so let’s take a look at the ins and outs of the process and shed some light on the subject.
Creating Ambient Music With Logic’s Delay Designer
Apr 1st in Mixing & Mastering by West LattaThe idea of using delays or loops in ambient music goes back over 50 years to the time of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, where tape loops were used to add special effects. Musical pioneers such as Steve Reich and Karlheinz Stockhausen continued experimenting with tape loops, and the technique became even more popular following the work of Brian Eno and Robert Fripp in the 1970’s.
Today, we rarely see musicians using actual tape loops, but we have numerous digital tools at our disposal that allow us the freedom to experiment with techniques passed on from modern ambient composers. In this tutorial, we’ll look at one way to create an ambient music-scape using Logic’s Delay Designer as a ‘tape loop’.
Audio Warping in the Cubase 4 Sample Editor
Mar 30th in Mixing & Mastering by Andy SlatterWhether you are working on a doubled vocal part, the drum track or a bassline, that one slightly out of time note just stands out and brings the whole production down. Of course we can always just go for another take and record the part again, but it may seem a shame to have to do that if the part is otherwise perfect, and sometimes it is something you only notice when the other musicians have gone home!
It may just be that you have a vocal part from another project that you want to use in a remix, and you want to change the timing or duration of some of the words or syllables. In this tutorial I’m going to take a look at the powerful Sample Editor in Cubase 4 and show how we can use the Free Warp feature to alter the feel of a vocal part and also to correct an out of time djembe recording.
