Archives for April 2019

3 Miking Techniques For Upright Piano

April 10, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

Most small studios aren’t blessed with a grand piano, but an upright is more likely to be available. The trouble is, it can be a lot more difficult to get a great sound from an upright piano. Here are a few miking techniques.

Although there are numerous ways to mike an upright piano, none of them are particularly ideal. Technique #1: Place an ORTF or X/Y stereo pair about 3 feet away from the back soundboard. This method will provide a nice wide stereo field, but will be lacking in high end and note definition.

Read more about this here: https://bobbyowsinskiblog.com/2019/04/10/upright-piano-miking/

Free Retrox Drums Rompler VST/AU Plugin Released By BeatMaker

April 9, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

BeatMaker has released Retrox Drums, a freeware drum rompler virtual instrument in VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats for compatible digital audio workstations on PC and Mac.

Retrox Drums is a sample-based virtual drum machine developed using Maize Sampler. It contains a set of retro drum sounds captured from the BOSS DR-110 Dr. Rhythm drum machine. There are six drum channels, each with volume, pan, and reverb send knobs. The channels can be routed to separate outputs for further processing using the DAW’s mixer and third-party effects. The plugin also features global volume, pitch, and amp controls, along with a low-pass filter.

Read more about this here: https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2018/03/06/retrox-drums-vst/

Six of the best soft synths every music producer needs

April 9, 2019 by Jake Weston Leave a Comment

Soft synths are giving modular and hardware synths a run for their money lately, so MusicTech decided to profile the best ones. Arturia V Collection 6 is a superb software emulation set boasting a collection of 21 classic synths and keyboards that sells for €499. If your budget is more modest, you might consider the Rob Papen Go2, which offers very respectable quality for only €41. For €77, the Audio Damage Quanta mixes standard synthesis with excellent granular synthesis.

Key Takeaways:

Gothic instruments Dronar Metal & Glass Module is a different soft synth that allows for more creativity with it’s library of textures.
Audio Damage Quanta’s soft synthesizer offers dual oscillators and simplifies the entire process of mixing and creating.
Rob Papen Go2 is a soft synth with plenty of options and at more affordable price range.

“Real-world synths are everywhere, with modular and other hardware synths as popular as ever. But soft synths are getting better and better, too, so ignore them at your peril.”

Softube reveal mastering plug-ins and Cubase Console 1 integration

April 8, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

Softube has launched a plug-in version of the Weiss DS1-MK3, a revered digital hardware mastering processor. The same algorithm is also employed in Softube’s new Mastering Maximizer plug-in, a simplified version of the Weiss DS1-MK3, costing only $199.

While Console 1 — the hardware mix control platform — already works with all major DAWs, Softube’s latest collaboration with Steinberg means there are now extra layers of integration within Cubase. For instance, it’s now possible in Cubase to control DAW track selection, solo/mute, volume, pan, send level and more, directly from the Console 1 hardware, speeding up the mixing process.

6 Common Questions About Mixing with Reverb — Pro Audio Files

April 8, 2019 by Jake Weston Leave a Comment

Art and beauty comes from the fact that we have the opportunity to choose the colors we want to paint on a canvas. When it comes to making music, if one uses the same reverb on all his tracks, everything end up in the same space and every track have the same color. Some tracks need one to put the same reverb on everything. Like if one is doing a music and needs a kind of “in the room together” vibe, that would be ideal. Sometimes, on a pop record one can use different reverbs and blend them together without crowding the record. When it comes to the question of pre-delay for the reverbs, one has to note that the pre-delay is the time between early and late reflections in a sound and it can be confusing to some people because their manuals refer to only late reflections.

Key Takeaways:

People are often confused about how to mix reverb because they are often told that using the same reverb on all tracks is wrong while others say the opposite.
For certain types of recording, it is ideal to use similar reverbs like a vibe that wants a gelled in the room feeling.
When the author is using many different reverbs as he does on pop records, he does a solo on the reverb returns and uses EQ to contour them.

“Rather than think about the “right” way or “wrong” way to do something, let’s think about the effect our choices create.”