Key Of Grey

August 26th, 2010 - I'm working on a track for my brother's upcoming album, and while I was working with the drum part, I thought of a tip that might help some of you out. In situations where we cannot record live drums (definitely the case for a lot of us home studio guys), it's pretty easy to pull up a great sounding drum plugin. Many producers I know use Addictive, BFD, or Superior drums, and I'm also partial to the Steve Slate ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Kimble Young August 8th, 2010 - If you've been on the internet for any amount of time (which I assume you have been since you're reading this), you'll no doubt be familiar with the phenomenon of rickrolling. Internet meme aside, I just read a Sound on Sound article on the creation of that song, from the songwriting, to the production, and finally to the engineering stage. It's a good read. Also, although I love the song, I hate being rickrolled. Classic ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Dan Machold August 6th, 2010 - I love TED presentations; I could waste all day watching them (and have). The talk below by Matt Ridley is about "idea sex". While the sexification of the subject matter is a little iffy, I do agree with collaboration being a key factor in our personal evolution. For musician/songwriter/producers, collaboration is an important part of expanding your own abilities. This may seem like an oxymoron, but working with someone else who has different skills and ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Tobias Steinhoff August 2nd, 2010 - Yesterday, while preparing a new project, I stumbled upon a remix I worked on last year. I created it because a friend asked me to; there wasn't any other real reason. It wasn't a remix of his music (although I am helping to produce an EP for his band currently), rather it was a song that he liked that he felt needed a remix. Often when people learn that I produce music and they themselves ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Alfred Hermida July 31st, 2010 - You might not be a fan of Lady Gaga, and you might not like her music, but knowing the techniques that were used to produce her songs serves to expand your own toolbox. Dave from BoyInABand.com has put up a tutorial of how to re-create Lady Gaga's Poker face using synths in Reason. What I like especially about this tutorial is that he built the synths from scratch rather than loaded up a VST. ... Read More

July 6th, 2010 - These days, web technologists seem to be hyped up about "computing in the cloud". The main idea of it is that we will only have devices that allow us to access the internet, and all our applications and files will be stored and processed in a giant rack of servers online. Some of the benefits touted are: (a) cheaper personal devices, (b) access to your files anywhere you go, and (c) powerful processing takes place on computers built ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Alosh Bennett July 5th, 2010 - I like listening to new independent artists. Finding great music by someone who produces it in their bedroom is inspiring. As I keep saying over and over, technology is making it easier for anyone to create something great. You don't need racks full of expensive gear or a band to back you up; you can do it all on your own, all within your computer. Of course, easy access also means there's a lot of ... Read More

June 16th, 2010 - While the staggering rate of evolution and revolution in computer-based music tools has allowed users to do more things, and faster than ever, one of the problems is too much choice. You would think that choice is a good thing, and to a certain degree it is; however, too many options can cause paralysis. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. You read about the latest plugins or improvements to the many DAW options out there, and ... Read More

Photo courtesy of Roger Linn Design June 12th, 2010 - Roger Linn Design has released the AdrenaLinn Sync, a software plugin that emulates the AdrenaLinn guitar pedal. You may remember Roger Linn from a little device he created: the freaking MPC. The AdrenaLinn uses time-based effects, and includes some beat accompaniment. I can't say that I really enjoy the added beats, but the time-based effects and more traditional effects (filters, tremolo, phase, etc) sound fantastic. In the video below, I'm not sure if he's ... Read More

June 10th, 2010 - Aviary, developer of online audio editor Myna and a host of graphic design applications, has released Roc, an online music creation tool. Unlike Myna (which I assume will be integrated into Roc later down the road according to their feature list), Roc is a grid based sequencer. While Myna allows you to drag in waveforms and loop them, Roc is similar to piano rolls and matrix sequencers. The beta below allows you to sequence single note instruments (eg. a ... Read More