6 Laptop Stands for DJs
6 Laptop Stands for DJs With the new year comes new opportunities and for all those DJs out there we wanted to give you a short list of our favorite laptop stands that you can take on the road with you, use in the club, and use in the studio for practice. Below is our list of the top 6 laptop stands available today: su_divider top=”no” divider_color=”#d2d2d2″ size=”1″ 1. Pyle PLPTS55 – $45 Pyle has been a staple in Pro Audio and DJing industry since the 1960s with their wide range of electronics and gear ranging from home use to professional applications. This stand is sturdy and comes with a telescoping adjustable height from 12.6” – 16.7” tall. It can rotate 360 degrees around if you don’t need to have it in the center of your setup, it also comes with a handy pouch. This is the most affordable stand on our list …
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Krush – Free Bitcrusher Plugin
Krush – Free Bitcrusher Plugin In the spirit of the holidays and the top 12 plugins post we published recently, we wanted to set aside a post dedicated to this amazing plugin – Krush. Krush is a bitcrusher plugin which is designed to mangle your sound through its analog-modeled filters and warm drive stage. The bitcrusher includes an LFO section to modulate every parameter individually or at the same time which gives you a lot of freedom to synchronize your effects or add in random automation over the course of your track. Bitcrusher works by reducing your sample size and/or bit depth depending on the settings you’ve chosen, it leads to some subtle warmth or extremely aggressive mangling. Bitcrushers are useful in a practical sense for adding some character to instruments and are great for warming up vocals to make them stand out (re: Sail by AWOLNation). This plugin is a great addition to your …
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The Top 12 Multi-Platform Plugins Today
The Top 12 Multi-Platform Plugins Today Plugins are the accessories to the producer’s toolkit, we all must appreciate what comes in-the-box nowadays but we often need something more from our DAWs, the sweetest way to enjoy that special sauce is if it’s free. We’ve assembled a list of the top 12 multi-platform plugins today ranging from synths, drums, and effects all the way to the weirdo oddities of plugins: su_divider top=”no” divider_color=”#d2d2d2″ size=”1″ 1. Synister the Synthesizer Synister is easy to use with one of the cleanest looking interfaces we’ve seen around. Look at those primary colors! It’s open source and comes as a VST or AU, download here. su_divider top=”no” divider_color=”#d2d2d2″ size=”1″ 2. u-he Tyrell N6 Synthesizer We’ve already mentioned u-he plugins in a few of our blog posts – they’re well-known for their high-quality products – so we’re excited to mention another hit, the Tyrell N6 synthesizer. This synth …
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Harmonize It! – 6 Tips for Recording Better Background Vocals
Harmonize It! – 6 Tips for Recording Better Background Vocals If you’re making music with vocals and want to spruce it up a bit a good place to start is by adding background vocals. Background vocals can play the supporting role, be used for call and response, beef up a chorus, or simply add harmony to choice parts of a song. No matter how you use your background vocals, there are many different ways to actually record them and each method will warrant specific results. su_divider top=”no” divider_color=”#d2d2d2″ size=”1″ 1. Layering Tracks The most common technique (and simplest) is using the same microphone your lead just used, then layering the tracks, this technique is especially useful if you are limited to one microphone. Even if you only have one microphone that doesn’t mean you have to have the same exact sound as your lead, if you have more than one option …
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Marie Ork – Free Voicebank for Alter/Ego Synthesizer
Marie Ork – Free Voicebank for Alter/Ego Synthesizer Karoryfer Samples has released an updated version of their Marie Ork voicebank for Alter/Ego, the free vocal synthesizer VST plugin by Plogue. For those of you unfamiliar with Alter/Ego you should definitely check it out, it’s an awesome FREE plugin capable of reproducing human vocal melodies. You can type in the words for it to sing and then the synth will sing pitches based on your MIDI notes. Marie Ork was released last year as the first available voice for Alter/Ego and was only capable of a metal growl but now has been updated to feature two more voices: clean female vocals and spoken word vocals. These additions make the Marie Ork bank of presets a versatile vocal tool for any production; presets include Latin and Japanese phonemes. Adding new soundbanks to Alter/Ego is easy – download the voicebank here (and the plugin if you don’t already …
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Getting in the Groove – 6 Tips for Programming Realistic Drums
It's a great time to be a music producer. You can produce full songs with nothing more than your laptop and a DAW. While getting good drum sounds is easier than ever with more and more options expanding beyond the limitations of old drum machines, even with good drum sounds your tracks may feel like they are missing something. That something is often the groove, with your rhythm locked in so tight to the grid that your drum programming feels programmed as opposed to feeling played in by a real human being. We've got some tips below to help you spruce up your drum programming even if you aren't a good drummer yourself.
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