Fender Is Coming And PreSonus Users Are Scared

If you’ve not heard the latest big audio news by now, here it is – Fender is buying PreSonus. In a press release sent out on November 1st, both companies announced their intention, although not many specifics were provided. The deal will not be final until it earns various U.S. regulatory approvals. Users Are Scared […]

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A Look At Reverb Diffusion And When To Use It

Most reverb plugins concentrate on the 3 parameters that count the most; type (hall, room, plate, etc), predelay and decay. If you really want to get tweaky with your effect though, there’s often another parameter that can be as important, and that’s reverb diffusion. What Is Reverb Diffusion? Natural reverb is made up of reflections […]

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So You Want To Do Game Audio – Here’s What You Should Know

If you’re like many people in the music business, you love audio and you love gaming. You might have thought to yourself, “Why can’t I combine the two?” Yes, you can, and it’s more possible than ever to make a career out of game audio than ever before. Before you make the leap though, here […]

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This Is The Sound Of A Black Hole, And It’s Really Scary

Scientists are able to mathematically extract sound information from just about any natural event these days, from the weather to even Covid. Even if you know nothing about astronomy, you’ve no doubt heard of a black hole. It’s the ultimate destroyer of stars and planets, that still has astrophysicists scratching their heads. What happens to […]

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Understanding The Compressor Knee Parameter

I’ve received quite a few questions lately on the knee parameter of a compressor and what it does, so hopefully this post will provide the answers. You don’t see this control on all compressors (especially the vintage favorites), but it can be quite useful in getting a dynamics processor to do what you want. What […]

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Why The EU’s Mandatory USB-C Proposal Is Especially Bad For Musicians And Artists

If you’ve not heard by now, the European Commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union, has announced a proposal to force electronics manufacturers to make USB-C ports standard on all devices. Yes, that means smartphones, computers, televisions, handheld gaming devices, portable speakers, cameras, headphones, and by default, anything that’s connected to them will need to […]

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Identify The Groove Of A Song With These 3 Exercises

For beginning musicians and engineers, it’s sometimes difficult for them to find the groove of a song. That’s usually because they haven’t been exposed to a groove-monster player who makes everything sound better just by laying it down. That experience will forever stick in your brain and you’ll always know a groove the second you […]

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The Secret To Smooth Song Endings

One of the problems that I consistently hear in the song and mix critiques that I do is uneven song endings. The majority of them have endings where the tail of the reverb or the fade is cut off, or the fade on the last note isn’t smooth. The problem is that anyone that listens […]

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Have Trouble Writing Lyrics? Let This AI App Help You.

I think it’s fair to say that most songwriters have their own approach to writing. Some start with the music or beat and then write to that; others have the lyrics first and then fit the music to them. For many writers, the music is easy but the lyrics are difficult. If that describes you, […]

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Imagining The Perfect Home Studio: What Would You Buy?

Let’s say you want to build the perfect home studio. There are some restrictions though, in that you can’t do any physical construction and you don’t have enough room for a console of any type. What would you buy? I have some ideas. Keep in mind that my suggestions below have lots of alternatives that […]

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This Free Online Audio Tool Can Remove Vocals, Change Keys, Find The Song BPM, And More

There are a lot of very cool audio tools available these days, and more are released every week. Thankfully we’re getting to the phase where developers are reaching for new capabilities instead of just replicating the processors of the past, but that’s another story for another day. One very cool new online audio tool is […]

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Pete Townshend Isolated Guitar Track On “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

This is a fun one. For everything that thinks they know how to play The Who’s iconic “Won’t Get Fooled Again” guitar part, think again. Here’s the original isolated guitar track in all its glory and you’ll probably gain new respect for Pete Townshend as a result of a listen. One of the things about […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Mastering The Mix Expose 2 Quality Control App

It’s pretty common for a musician or artist to finish a mix and not know how it’s going to play against other songs in the real world. Yes, there are plugins that allow you to do a listening comparison, but most don’t give you much more information than level differences. That’s where Expose 2 from […]

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Prep Your Drums For Recording With This Checklist

Whether you do it before you hit the studio or at the studio before the session, the drum kit will need some time to be prepped so it will sound it’s best. Here’s a simple checklist from my Recording Engineer’s Handbook to follow to prep your drums before you set up any mics. Have the […]

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The 6 Principles For Adding Effects

A major element of a mix is dimension, which is the ambient field that the track or tracks sits in. Dimension can be captured while recording, but it’s usually created or enhanced when mixing by adding effects such as reverb, delay, or modulation. Dimension might mean re-creating an acoustic environment, but it could also mean […]

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