Projects have their own flow and arc, and one must complete several of them before the process comes together in one's head. I'm mostly thinking about...
Despite its age, FM (frequency modulation) synthesis remains a popular technique for desktop musicians. In fact, composers and sound designers have more...
Most serious musicians will agree that composing, recording, and performing great music is a full-time occupation. Yet there is no promise of seeing a...
Apple Computer's GarageBand is revolutionary. Never has it been easier or less expensive to record, mix, and master studio-quality audio. Though GarageBand...
Although condenser and dynamic microphones still dominate most personal studios, ribbon mics are gaining in popularity. More products are now available,...
There are two ways to work with string samples. One is to use them to try to simulate the sound of a live string section. The other is to approach them...
Increasing filter resonance to its conventional limit sharpens audio, giving it presence and bite. Pushing resonance beyond that limit can generate wild...
The year 2006 has shaped up to be a big one for Dweezil Zappa. He's releasing his first solo album since 2000's Automatic (Favored Nations), he completely...
CamelPhat 3.15 and CamelSpace 1.15 are multi-effects plug-ins from U.K.-based Camel Audio. CamelPhat is designed to add warmth, edge, growl, and in-your-face...
In the early days of electronica production, grooves often repeated without variation, and listeners loved it. These days, beat lovers demand more from...
Controlling more than one parameter from a single MIDI Control Change message is an excellent way to add expression to your synth sounds. In Square One:...
String and woodwind players almost always enrich their long notes by using a technique called vibrato. To produce vibrato, string players wiggle the finger...
MySpace.com, a rising star in the Internet world, is a valuable marketing tool for musicians. The networking site has more than 65 million users and receives...
Since the late 1990s, the emergence of the mobile-telephone ringtone market has brought numerous employment opportunities to musicians, programmers, and...
It would be natural to assume that as digital audio technology has become more sophisticated, the job of the engineer and producer has gotten easier with...
Master mixer Dave Pensado enjoys causing consternation among his peers by making controversial statements about the craft of recording. He takes great...
All too often, the sounds produced by synthesizers are lifeless and boring. (I'm a huge fan of synthesizers, so I'm allowed to say that.) Various techniques...
You've just opened your email box, and a deluge of unwanted, suspicious, and possibly fraudulent messages glare back at you, smugly daring you to open...
Convolution reverb is rapidly gaining popularity as a powerful sonic tool. Though there is a lot of information describing the theory (see the excellent...
Terry Howard spent almost 20 years working as Ray Charles's engineer, winning three Grammy Awards in the process and getting an insider's view of Charles's...
Ironman composer Ramin Djawadi talks film-and-TV scoring. Go
What's New: Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 XE and Guitar Rig Session, Rob Papen's Predator synth, and Haunted House Records's Electronic Critters, a sampling CD of circuit-bent toys.Go