Beat Lab Health Series: How to Create a Solid (and Healthy!) Workflow
Beat Lab Health Series: How to Create a Solid (and Healthy!) Workflow With the morphing of the music industry, the position of the music producer has become multi-faceted and ever-growing in responsibilities. Today’s music producer needs to understand music production, business, and marketing in order to survive in the scene. Many producers on a tight budget have to do the work of a manager, promoter, label, and PR agent; some tasks include creating album artwork, designing merch, distributing music to streaming services, and getting in touch with playlist curators and venues. These are all tasks that can take up a lot of time and energy. Until you have the money and circle to delegate these tasks, it is up to you to handle them. To keep up with all this work, it is imperative that you utilize your time as efficiently as possible. Doing it all yourself can become overwhelming …
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Joey Sturgis Tones – FX Bundle Review
Joey Sturgis Tones – FX Bundle Review Joey Sturgis is a music producer and runs an awesome website called Joey Sturgis Tones. We recently took a look at his FX Bundle which features the very best of JST’s effects plugins, all in one place. You’ll get Soar, SideWidener, Sub Destroyer, and Pixelator. These plugins can and will give your songs a creative edge with their unique features. These plugins are unique and powerful so read our full review of each plugin below. su_divider top=”no” divider_color=”#d2d2d2″ size=”1″ 1. Soar Soar is a Tape Delay plugin, with a twist. With it, you can achieve beautiful lush tones in an attractive delay plugin. The user interface adopts the look of an actual piece of hardware without overcomplicating the controls. On the left side, you’ll see controls for modulating the delay. Repeats will affect the number of repeated notes you hear – turn the …
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DC1A 3 Compressor – FREE Compressor Plugin from Klanghelm
DC1A 3 Compressor – FREE Compressor Plugin from Klanghelm Get excited everyone! Today we get to share with you the most recent updated version of their killer freeware plugin DC1A Compressor. This compressor is one of the best sounding compressors available FOR FREE. This is the 3rd incarnation of the beast and this time around we see the addition of a mix control which allows for parallel compression. Additionally, there is the option to switch the VU Meter from gain reduction to output gain so you can visualize either aspect. What has remained the same is the kickass compression algorithm. You can count on it to crunch out some clean sounds while you focus on the two big knobs. Mess around with the various settings and you’ve got a powerful compressor that puts out lots of different options. Here’s what the developer had to say, I’ve always wanted to do a compressor with …
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Human After All? – 3 Ways to Humanize Your Music
The beauty of electronic music is that anybody with a laptop can be a one-person band, but far too often we are stuck in the grid and our music loses its human element. The beat is not quite locking in a rhythm so you quantize but now it's too stiff and robotic so you readjust, then requantize, then throw your computer on the ground and call it a day. If you've ever found yourself following a similar routine then we have a few tips on what to do in order to add the humanity back into your music.
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Workshop Recap – House/Techno Production Techniques with Tanya Leigh
Women Only Workshop – House/Techno Production Techniques with Tanya Leigh On July 18th, Beat Lab joined forces with The Athena Collective and hosted a free house/techno production workshop featuring special guest Tanya Leigh. Tanya Leigh has been involved in Minneapolis’s underground dance scene since 1998. She is also half of the techno DJ duo Complicit (Travis Norman is the other half). They are best known for their high-energy performances, which embrace the underground techno scene. Beyond her DJ skills, Tanya knows how to play the piano and flute. She also has a BA in music and a diploma in Audio Engineering. For the first half of the workshop, Tanya shared with us her house music production workflow in Ableton. She started by using Ableton’s 909 drum rack to build a kick loop in the session view at 125 bpm. She then duplicated the clip and layered another drum element. She …
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HOLY SCALE! Chord Progressions Made Easy (Free Download)
HOLY SCALE! Chord Progressions Made Easy (Free Download) No matter what genre of music you produce, knowledge of music theory is a must. It’s unavoidable. From uptempo EDM to a chill Hip-Hop groove, the way the music flows and comes together is all tied in some way to theory. Music theory has always been considered a type of pre-requisite before attempting to venture into production and composition, and for good reason. It’s crucial to understand the relationship between all the many moving parts that makes up a well-rounded piece of music. But as music production has steadily evolved and grown more reliant on digital technology, so too has the framework for understanding theory. Now, countless producers are capable of creating incredibly engaging hits with a very basic understanding of music theory. Seemingly gone are the days of sheet music and intensive training. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Music theory …
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