So, what is Panning Law and does anyone really care? Hell yeah! In fact, I can state that many producers/engineers that I meet have little or no clue about the panning law. As far as they are concerned, you turn the knob and the sound moves from one side of the stereo field to the […]
ADDITIVE Does what it says on the tin. By adding one or more basic and simple waveforms together and their harmonics you create a complex waveform. However, you need to add an enormous amount of harmonics to create the simplest of sounds and this type of synthesis can be complicated to create in the form […]
iZotope Neutron Elements – $129 As with all my existing and future reviews, I will only be reviewing what I use and in practice and I will keep all reviews as working reviews and not an epic encyclopedia of opinions. I will leave that to the magazines and e-zine sites. This month I am going […]
A basic guide into how Reason’s Subtractor works. Let us start with the sound generation engine of Subtractor. These are the oscillators. Subtractor has 2 oscillators. Each one has 32 waveforms but you only need to concern yourself with the basic 4 waveforms as these are your raw waveforms and the balance of the waveforms […]
When we talk about distortion the image, invariably, conjured up is that of a guitarist thrashing his guitar with acres of overdrive. However, I am more interested in covering harmonic and non-harmonic distortion in subtle ways using non-linear systems rather than using a specific overdriven effect like guitar distortion or a fuzz box etc. In […]
Whenever I have been called into a studio to assist a producer in managing frequencies for pre-mastering I have always been surprised at the fact that people seem to want to attribute a frequency range for the low end of a track. Every track has its own qualities and criteria that need addressing based on […]
What defines a good beat? Well, there is a term we use quite extensively when describing the overall ‘drive’ element of a track: ‘The Nod’. If you can nod to the rhythm of a song, then the beat works. The Nod actually refers to the flow of the beat, and the drive element constitutes the […]
Preparing the Listening Environment I do not want to get into serious sound reinforcement or acoustic treatment here, for the very simple reason that it is a vast subject and one that is so subjective, that even pros debate it all day, with differing views. I also believe that every room has it’s own unique […]
I am often asked why I teach my students how to mix to a pink noise profile, be it at the channel stage, or pre-master prepping. The answer is simple: ‘the most important aspect of production is the understanding and management of relative levels.’ When I first began this wonderful and insane journey into audio […]
Fiona Joy Hawkins New Age music has always been a ‘go to’ solution for relaxing and unwinding but in the past decade it has become a mainstream genre in its own right attaining a more acceptable and professional moniker ‘Contemporary Instrumental Genre’. The technical aspects behind the production of this genre are both interesting and […]
