Most of us use MIDI sequences in our projects at some point in the production process. Even when you find the perfect pattern that really compliments your other parts, you can still be left wanting. Even with extra processing and effects a simple pattern can sometimes sound a little dry and clinical.

The answer often doesn’t lie in reprogramming the sequence or using heavy effects processing. A more simple approach can be using one or two extra synths layered with your original pattern. This can add depth and pace to the whole piece and often make the part more exciting.

Lets take a look at the entire process, from recording the original part right through to mixing the layered sounds into your existing project.

Continue Reading

Have you ever wondered how your favourite dance music producers create those amazing sounds that make you jump on the dance floor? Well, it usually takes a lot of experience and a huge amount of time spent on experimenting and processing sounds a ridiculously high number of times.

But it’s quite hard to reach the stage of experimentation if you don’t even know the basics behind some kind of sounds often heard in dance tracks. This tutorial will teach you how to design from scratch a DnB trademark, the reese bass, and how to reproduce the infamous hoover sound, introducing you to the technique of resampling.

Continue Reading

Reason is a great program for percussion, particularly with the ease of use of the Redrum drum machine. However, stock sounds won’t always cut it, so in this tutorial, we’ll look at some secrets for turning those stock sounds into unique masterpieces. Of course, these techniques can be applied to virtually any DAW. Continue Reading

In film, television, and games, vehicle sound has evolved into a deeply creative and compelling class of design. Master sound designers such as Walter Murch, Randy Thom, and Ben Burtt have elevated the art of vehicle sound design in numerous films such as Apocalypse Now and Star Wars in a way that allows sound to, in Thom’s words, “be set free to be an active player in the process,” of filmmaking. The sound itself becomes part of the art of storytelling. Games such as Forza Motorsport and Project Gotham Racing allocate large amounts of their development budget to the recording, crafting, and highly-detailed integration of vehicle sounds in order to create a compelling and engrossing experience for the player.

Continue Reading

In this tutorial we cover how to create synthetic drums perfect for a house/trance track. We’re going to create a drum loop with only the synths and effects included in Reason. No drums from the Reason Soundbank will be used: we will be creating these drums from scratch in Reason’s Subtractor. A couple of known artists use this technique, as you can create your own sound and reuse your signature kit in future tracks.

Continue Reading

In this tutorial, we’re going to work through a hands-on workshop and create several Thor synthesizer patches. Then we’ll take our new patches and combine them into a redistributable Reason refill using Reason Refill Packer.

Continue Reading

If you ever played a game like Half-Life without sound you will acknowledge this: the scare factor comes, at least in large part, from the sound effects. Monsters don’t really seem dangerous if they don’t make a scary sound.

Close the curtains and inform the neighbors, because in this tutorial we will transform your own voice into a monster you never thought you had inside you!

Continue Reading

In this tutorial we will be looking into getting a little bit more out of Logic Pro’s Guitar Amp Pro plugin. We are going to bypass Guitar Amp Pro’s speaker cabinet and then load an impulse response (IR) for a different cabinet using Space Designer. If you’ve ever wondered what a Marshall amp and a Mesa Boogie cabinet recorded using a C414 in a great room sounds like, you’re in luck.

Continue Reading

Synthesis can certainly be a daunting subject. There are a huge number of software instruments on the market now, many of which feature different forms of synthesis and varying styles of interface. To the beginner this huge choice and tech jargon may be slightly confusing, to say the least.

To help clear things up let’s start by taking a look at the ever popular area of subtractive synthesis and how to create a basic effects patch. I will show how the patch is made and explain each step and also recreate the sound using some instruments from popular DAWs. Obviously the recreations may not be exactly the same as the original patch but they should show that any synth can be used to create a good range of sounds.

Continue Reading

In dance music genres such as house, the bass plays an important role – in many cases being the key to a successful track. This depends not only on the bassline arrangement but also on the texture of the sound. The character of this instrument must fit with other components, that create – in this case – a complete soulful or funky house track.

Continue Reading