How-To Guides 1
Beefing Up Your Drum Mix
Great recordings are defined by their drum sound. Think about your favorite album — can you picture that snare timbre in your head? Arctic Monkeys’ AM is a perfect example of a drum sound that truly defined an album. Tchad Blake took a high-energy group of performers and matched the mix to their personalities. I’ll admit […]
What to Consider When Buying a New Drum Kit
Trying to navigate the vast scope of drum companies, kit sizes and materials, it can get confusing and hard to make a choice for your first kit. Finding the perfect shell kit to base your entire drum sound on is incredibly important and there are many variables to keep in mind. From considering your drumming […]
iZotope RX 7: A First Look
First released in 2007, iZotope’s RX software has become an increasingly popular option for audio repair work in music and post-production. One big reason for RX’s popularity is the regularity of major updates, which tend to include improvements as well as useful new capabilities. RX 7 is no exception to this rule. Packed with analyzing, […]
Cymbal Anatomy Part 1: Hammering
Those small divots in your cymbals have a larger impact on tone than you might think. Hand hammered, machine hammered, what’s the difference and why should it matter? You’ve read it before, in the ambiguous, adjective-filled world of cymbal descriptions: hand hammered. What do they mean? How does this affect my cymbals’ sound? We’ll explore […]
How to Mix Voiceover Audio
Voiceover artists are often solely associated with cartoons, commercials or audiobooks by most average consumers. But in today’s content-driven world, voiceover or VO has become incredibly important for things like live streaming, general branding and broad marketing. If you’re creating content with voiceover, whether you do the read yourself, or you bring a professional VO […]
Remain Calm: DigiTech FreqOut Demo
The FreqOut Natural Feedback Creator is another entry in DigiTech’s legacy of creating pedals fueled by some truly next-level inspiration. The FreqOut replicates the sound of feedback created by playing your guitar or bass close to a blaring amp. And it doesn’t just give you one tonality but seven, letting you cherry-pick the frequency of your […]
Why Drum Tonewood Matters
The shell kit is a drummer’s main weapon when fighting for a spot in the mix and drum tonewood has to be chosen to match a drummer’s mix desire. From punchy, attack-driven shells to low and slow, resonance-based ones, choosing the right drum tonewood is all about your taste. Though many tonewoods have cool aesthetic […]
Connecting a Light to a DMX Controller
Have you ever gone to a concert and been completely floored by the light show? Believe it or not, it was all intentional and run with a DMX controller. Live concert budgets often have a huge chunk reserved for lighting, but you don’t need a major budget to create a great and effective light show. […]
Guitar Amp Wattage: Needs vs Wants
What guitarist doesn’t dream of being up on stage, shredding out hot licks from a monolithic wall of blaring amp stacks? It’s the quintessential, “famous rock star” look. Rarely though do you stop and really think about what that would sound like, and the fact that most of those bands are standing in front of […]
