TC Electronic’s Incredible Mixing and Mastering Tool
TC Electronic’s Incredible Mixing and Mastering Tool A common theme in music production is “ultimately, use your ears”. You’ve probably read that in more than a few of our blog posts, on everything from mixing to recording to sound design. However, as technology keeps advancing at an exponential rate it would be foolish not to use the tools available to our advantage. We recently came across TC Electronic’s Clarity M, a desktop mix and master audio meter with serious precision. From everything we’ve seen so far this piece of hardware is a great complimentary decision maker to your ears, and could save you time in those long sessions when you’ve heard a mix so much you really have no idea exactly what you’re listening to anymore. Out of the gate, the Clarity M comes with stereo and 5.1 audio metering for mixing, mastering, and post production in music …
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4 Digital DJ Applications to Bring Down the House
4 Digital DJ Applications to Bring Down the House Magix Digital DJ 2 Geared more towards beginner DJ’s but with capabilities for the more advanced, Magix Digital DJ 2 is an amazing piece of software. The application offers all of the standard mixing tools and effects to get more creative with your set, but what’s impressive about this is the capability to mix seamlessly and creatively without an external controller. Auto-beat matching is a standard function, coupled with the ability to click the cross-fade button that will then automatically fade into the next track. You then have your cursor free to mix frequency bands or add effects while your track seamlessly transitions into the next. You can even highlight specific frequency bands on both decks and they will automatically mix in and out smoothly with the flow of your cross-fade. Digital DJ 2 also allows users to create loops …
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Getting to Know Your Different Reverbs
Getting to Know Your Different Reverbs Reverb is one of your most important tools for sound design and mixing as a music producer. The perfect reverb type with the right settings (dry/wet, decay time, size, etc.) can make a sound or mix come alive, and the wrong type and settings can kill a mix for a variety of reasons. Your most important tool for the right reverb is your ears and while it is a relatively simple concept, like everything in music production, reverb becomes a deep rabbit hole once you start getting into all of its possibilities. Ask Audio recently did a nice overview of the different reverb types and we thought we’d do our own to provide our community with what we found to be some very useful tips and guidelines. Below we’ll go over a few of the major types of reverb and their common usage. divider style=”clear” …
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A Virtual String Instrument for the Modern Music Producer
A Virtual String Instrument for the Modern Music Producer Output always impresses and brings a modern touch with their software instruments. Their latest, Analog Strings, is a virtual string instrument for the modern era of music making. The instrument is based around blending two sound sources – users can choose from a variety of Orchestral Sounds, Vintage Synths, or Creative Sources – and an engine built to combine, modify, and mess up string sounds in really interesting ways. The Output team spared no expense in recording all of their samples – recording both a 22-piece and 60-piece string orchestra at the beautiful BMC Concert Hall in Budapest. All of those harmonics and rich textures are ready for manipulation. Users are also able to choose between close and far mic placement, allowing for a more intimate or more cinematic sound. Within the Orchestral Sound Sources there are also interesting soloist patches that combine …
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AI Experiments – Sonic Exploration through Machine Learning
AI Experiments – Sonic Exploration through Machine Learning As computer musicians, we get the best of both worlds: we get to geek out in the mathematic, technical world of synths and plug-ins, as well as enjoying the magical, emotional and mysterious world of music. Some of us are more computer-ey (the more left-brain type) and some of us are more music-ey (the right-brain type). But, as producers, we have to tap into both of these sides to get the work done. Over at AI experiments, they’re doing the same thing: combining the best of both worlds by using artificial intelligence and machine learning to organize how we make sense of the world around us—including language, sound, objects, and music. AI experiments is an open source platform where anyone can toggle with tools and technology to explore how machine learning work. Below are three cool experiments that use some crazy …
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Welcome to Festival Season – 11 Festivals to Play at this Summer
Welcome to Festival Season – 11 Festivals to Play at this Summer It’s February already and… festival season is basically around the corner. If you’re considering taking your performance skills to the next level and have hopes of performing at one this summer, it’s time to get your electronic press kit together ASAP. If you’re not yet ready to hit the stage, you should still try to make some festival appearances, as they can be an incredible source of ~inspiration~ and ~fun~. That $200 ticket not in your budget? Try volunteering—in exchange for about 4 hrs a day, you can get your ticket for free. Not a bad deal if you don’t mind lending a hand! Here are 11 California festivals to keep on your radar and reach out to. divider style=”clear” Do it Ourselves Fest – April 28 – 30 This tidy little festival is nestled up in …
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