Miking up an instrument isn’t an easy thing. It’s not like a digital camera where you point towards what you want to capture and then click. Super cool vacation photo! You might not end up with a great photo, but you can certainly make it better afterwards. Not to offend photographers, but in audio, if you have a lousy source sound from the beginning, you are going to end up with a lousy mixed sound in the end.

(Continue)

It’s easy to lock some piano chords to a drum beat or groove of your choice by using a few simple tricks. We’ll make a simple beat, paint in some piano chords and then lock them together so they groove together by side-chaining.

(Continue)

For many laptop users, the amount of plugins that are used on a mix can suck the CPU power dry. You might have 24 tracks of audio recorded on your laptop and after inserting the 15^th SSL Waves plugin…..computer says no. Luckily, for us Logic Pro users, there is a really great function to free up your CPU power while still using as many plugins as you can.

(Continue)

In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to loop Track Automation in Logic Pro without having to physically copy it. This technique can be a real time saver as re-editing your copied Automation data for a loop means you have to re-copy the parts again! Not any more folks!!!

(Continue)

The grid editor in Logic Pro is great for lining up your notes into multiples of 4 (8th notes, 16th notes, 32nd notes, etc) and multiples of 3 (triplets, sextuplets, etc). But what if you need a run with 7 notes in it, or a figure with 5?

(Continue)

Having quick pitch bends on single notes, or having a sound slowly rise or fall in pitch can be an effective way to add richness to a song. Whether you’d like to use the pitch bend wheel on a MIDI controller, or draw in pitch bends with a mouse, this tutorial covers several techniques that take advantage of pitch modulation.

(Continue)

Let’s all agree that Alanis Morissette’s (spelled right on the first try!) Jagged Little Pill was one of the coolest albums of the mid nineties. Once we can agree on that, I might continue with this Quick Tip. There were all sorts of interesting production value in her songs, most of which came to fruit in Glen Ballard’s home studio. His interview in Howard Massey’s “Behind The Glass” is a very inspirational piece on how much you can achieve with just a little inspiration.

(Continue)

GarageBand is a powerful all-in-one DAW and can be used for simple podcast creation to full-blown song production. While its interface is significantly different than its older siblings (Logic Express and Logic Pro), it still packs a number of powerful features that might otherwise escape the average user.

(Continue)

It takes a lot more than good pre-production to make vocals sound professional in a track (although it certainly helps), and there are many ways to improve your mix. In Part One of this tutorial we had a look at the pre-production as well as how to mix lead and backing vocals together effectively with the use of EQ, compression and panning. This time take it one step further and add the sheen to the sound.

Just a bit reverb and it’s done? Not quite. Read on…

I chose to record an acoustic version of Liberian Girl by Michael Jackson. Listen to the whole thing, here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(Continue)

Recently I produced a tutorial introducing the concept of the modulation matrix. The tutorial walks through some basic examples for the novice and some of you found it useful. However there were some more experienced users who wanted a more in depth look at the subject; this tutorial aims to deliver just that.

(Continue)