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September 2010


500 Series Compressors | Dynamics Gone Modular

Aug 30, 2010 4:12 PM, By Eli Crews

The market for 500 Series units has exploded in the past few years, with many manufacturers adapting current models or designing new products for the compact, modular system....

License to Earn

Aug 30, 2010 4:31 PM, By Dave Tough

As record sales continue to decline, songwriters are looking to license their master recordings for film and TV projects. Departmemt store commercials now feature the melodies of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. ...

Maroon 5 | Out of the Comfort Zone

Aug 9, 2010 1:25 PM, By Mike Levine

“L.A. is my home town and one of my favorite places in the entire universe,” says Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine. “However, it is very distracting.” So in addition to the appeal of working with producing legend Mutt Lange, recording at Lange’s Swiss studio seemed like a good way for the band to get down to the business of recording, free of the distractions that they’d face at home. ...


Line 6 POD Farm 2 (Mac/Win) Review

Aug 9, 2010 2:48 PM, By Gino Robair

Up to Line 6’s release of POD Farm in 2008, to use the company’s exceptional amp-modeling software, you either had to have an Avid (then Digidesign) Pro Tools TDM system or access it using Line 6’s proprietary hardware. POD Farm offered standalone and native plug-in ...

Slate Digital Trigger Platinum (Mac/Win) Review

Aug 9, 2010 4:21 PM, By Michael Cooper

Trigger heralds a new generation of drum-replacement plug-ins with advanced features that improve performance and enhance realism. ...

MOTU Ethno Instrument 2 (Mac/Win) Review

Aug 9, 2010 5:08 PM, By Jim Miller

When The Beatles added an Indian sitar to their recording of Norwegian Wood, it inspired an entire generation of musicians to be adventurous, to try something different—something besides the usual guitars, bass, and drums. Of course,...

Toontrack EZmix (Mac/Win) Review

Aug 9, 2010 5:24 PM, By Mike Levine

Instant gratification is hard to come by when mixing. But thanks to Toontrack, you can now get closer than you might expect. The EZmix($69, AU/VST/RTAS) plug-in...

E-mu Longboard 61 Review

Aug 9, 2010 5:33 PM, By George Petersen

I'm a longtime E-mu fan, going way back to the early days of the landmark Emulator II and SP-12 units. So this year, when E-mu announced it was re-entering the keyboard market, I was intrigued. ...

FabFilter Pro-Q (Mac/Win) Review

Aug 9, 2010 5:45 PM, By Michael Cooper

In a crowded field of equalization plug-ins, FabFilter Pro-Q ($199) stands out by providing sky-high sound quality and an ocean-deep feature set. ...

beyerdynamic MC 950 Review

Aug 9, 2010 6:07 PM, By Rob Shrock

The newest small-diaphragm condenser mic from beyerdynamic is the supercardioid MC 950 ($599). Like the other mics in the MC 900 ...


Sound Design Workshop: Drawing the Line

Aug 30, 2010 4:42 PM, By Len Sasso

Breakpoint envelopes are among my favorite sound-design tools, especially on synths that also offer a robust modulation-routing scheme. But it’s rare to find them on special-purpose synths such as emulations of classic electronic and acoustic instruments...

Gear Geek: Streetly Electronics Mellotron

Aug 30, 2010 3:07 PM, By Geary Yelton

If you’re a fan of British rock from the late ’60s and early ’70s, you’re certainly familiar with the Mellotron. Made famous by the Moody Blues, King Crimson, Yes, and Genesis (not to mention Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles),...

Mike Olson Pro/File | Composer's Intuition

Aug 30, 2010 3:24 PM, By Brian Heller

Minneapolis composer Mike Olson’s genre-defying CD Incidental (Henceforth Records), which was five years in the making, is 45 minutes long and comprises six movements that Olson built from thousands of audio region fragments that he edited, combined, nudged, and processed, ...

Composer Profile: Soundcake | As Sweet As It Sounds

Aug 30, 2010 3:32 PM, By Sarah Benzuly

When Brando Triantafillou moved to Chicago in 1991 to work at the now-defunct Editel post house as an assistant audio engineer, he didn’t realize that a few years later, he’d be composing....

Inside Talk: Tommy Lee | Method to His Madness

Aug 30, 2010 3:55 PM, By Mike Levine

A Public Disservice Announcement is Tommy Lee’s first Methods of Mayhem album since 1999, and it will be released Sept. 21 on the Loud & Proud/Roadrunner imprint. For this incarnation, Lee decided to post selected individual tracks from the songs...

D.I.Y. Musician: Get the Most Out of Merch

Aug 9, 2010 12:45 PM, By Jason Feehan and Randy Chertkow

Being a musician, you probably sell more than just music. T-shirts, apparel, posters, and other merchandise are all a traditional part of a musician’s income. While the goal of selling merch to your fans is the same as it has always been, you now have many options and tools for creating, distributing, and selling beyond traditional manufacturing...

Production Central: Beat of a Different Drummer (Part 1)

Aug 9, 2010 1:57 PM, By Ming (aka Aaron Albano)

I’ve always had a fascination with percussion instruments and groove-
oriented music. In fact, the drum kit would have been my first musical instrument if my parents hadn’t persuaded me to take up the guitar. I love playing the guitar, but I’ve always been a bit of a tinkerer. ...

Remix Clinic: Final Passes

Aug 9, 2010 2:09 PM, By Vincent di Pasquale

At the end of the mixdown phase on any given song, it’s customary to print several different versions of the mix, including an instrumental and an a cappella. These are part of the group of mixes...

In the Mix: Too Much Information

Aug 9, 2010 8:06 PM, By Steven Wilson

There’s a story I have heard about the-artist-formerly-known-as-and-now-once-again-known-as-Prince. It suggests that during the past 30 years, he has commissioned several documentaries about his life and work from major filmmakers. Each one has been filmed and edited at great expense...


What's New, September 2010

Aug 6, 2010 7:40 PM, By George Petersen

New audio products profiled in the September 2010 issue of EM ...

EM Editor's Note: You Win Some, You Lose Some

Aug 30, 2010 4:47 PM, By Mike Levine, Editor

This month’s Maroon 5 coverage gives me an opportunity to relate a story from back when I was editing Onstage—which, for those who don’t remember it, was a magazine for live musicians that spun off from EM in late 2000. ...


Applied Acoustic Systems Tassman 4 Download of the Month

Aug 30, 2010 2:05 PM, By Len Sasso

Tassman 4 (Mac/Win, standalone and plug-in) from Applied Acoustic Systems (AAS) has long been one of my favorites and is my go-to synth for all types of physical-modeled sounds. ...

Option-Click: A Dip in the Ozone

Aug 30, 2010 2:16 PM, By David Battino

One of the secrets of using EQ is that cutting the problem frequencies is often more effective than boosting the good ones. Cutting creates more sonic space, allowing parts to blend better. ...

This Month's Soundtrack, September 2010

Aug 30, 2010 2:23 PM, By Mike Levine

Here are some of the more notable albums that passed across my desk this month. Except for Steve Roach, the artists are all individuals who use band-like monikors. While there’s no musical significance to this, it is an interesting coincidence. ...




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