Archives for February 2019

The Buyer’s Guide to Recording Equipment

February 13, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

We’ve prepared a list of buyer’s guide to recording equipment. It includes a variety of budget, midrange and high-end microphones and interfaces to get the job done.

Aston Origin has a stunning clear quality, with plenty of depth and a smooth, natural high-end on vocals. On electric guitar, it sounded instantly usable. The top-end seemed entirely contained, with no harshness, just a full-bodied tone, even in drop-D tuning
The Audio-Technica AT2020’s sound quality is impressive, with a negligible noise floor. The high frequencies have a crisp and sweet sparkle that adds a degree of presence.

Gain vs Volume: What’s the Difference?

February 12, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

What’s the difference between gain and volume? They seem like the same thing. Knowing the difference between gain and volume could change the tone of your instruments forever.

Between the two, the definition of volume is pretty straightforward. Volume usually means the decibel (dB) output of a sound system. That sounds more complicated than it is. Basically, volume is how loud something is after it’s been processed. Gain controls how loud something is before it goes through any processing. It’s the volume level being sent into your plugins, preamps, and amplifiers.

Read more about this here: https://www.musicianonamission.com/gain-vs-volume/

How To Hear Compression On Vocal

February 11, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

The attack setting is as important to the sound of compression as is threshold or ratio. When you hear something that sounds overcompressed, it’s essential to train your ears to be able to tell whether the excess of compression is coming from too much compression or too fast an attack.

The attack parameter is quite powerful and can have a significant impact on your audio. It governs how quickly the compressor acts on a sound that exceeds the threshold. That means that a compressor with a fast attack time setting will squash the transient of a note or percussive hit.

Gear of the Year 2018: Best Software Instrument/Library

February 11, 2019 by Jake Weston Leave a Comment

The winner of the best software instrument for last year was the Toontrack Superior Drummer 3. This software library comes with a front end that is controllable, as well as some carefully chosen sample drum sounds. Six different acoustic kits are what make up these samples, and they include Yamaha, Ludwig, Pearl, and Ayotte. Experts such as Martin Delaney comment on how amazing the flexibility of the SD3 truly is, and how it comes with the perfect amount of tools to get each job done.

Key Takeaways:

The world of software instruments has become so highly competitive and churns out many nominees regularly that in this category there are so many recommended although one winner emerges.
The Toontracks Superior Drummer 3 is a world of its own that is designed to satisfy everyone’s acoustic needs.
The Drummer 3 has surround sound content, enormous amount of kits, masses of plug-ins that are incredible, and a DAW that makes it comprehensive.

“2018 offered plenty of software instrument and libraries that were worth the splurge. We narrowed down the best one and recommend three others that should be on your radar.”

9 Tips to Help You Turn a Good Mix Into a Great Mix

February 7, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

We’ve all been there, countless hours spent meticulously crafting a mix. Every instrument has been shaped to perfection, brought into level, and glued nicely together at the mix bus. Yet, something still feels like its lacking; like there’s something missing. Here are nine tricks to turn a good mix into a great mix:

Push the Master Fader +1 dB at the chorus. This is a well-known trick used by a lot of engineers. It’s also pretty easy to understand. The idea is to use automation on the volume of the master fader at different points in the song.