Elaine Sy

Recording electric guitar – In practice

March 5, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

This week we retake the recording of electric guitar with the installment you’ve all been waiting for: the recording itself! I will show you a nifty trick I learned during an apprenticeship.

First of all, you need to imagine the sound you want to get for the guitar part your about to record. Think about its texture, its color, and its dynamic character. None of these elements has any scientific basis whatsoever, but having these details in mind when looking for the ideal spot to put a mic will prove incredibly useful, trust me!

A Music Producer's Guide To Quantizing MIDI

March 4, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

It’s a topic that tends to be shoved under the mat a lot. Nobody usually wants to talk about quantizing, as it technically is computer-assisted music. But if you understand how it works, you can save yourself a lot of time getting that track tight and those drums bumping.

If you’ve worked with any DAW for any length of time, you’ll probably note that the grid is very important not only for arrangement but also for timing. In apps like Ableton, grid deviations are usually pretty easy to see. You’ll see beats slightly behind a grid line, or slightly ahead of one.

Improve Your Mix Workflow With These 5 Prep Steps

February 28, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

These days a typical session has plenty of tracks that won’t be used in the final mix. Deleting or hiding these tracks and then putting the rest in a logical order can be the single most useful thing you can do while prepping your mix.

Delete empty tracks since they take up space in your edit and mix windows without adding anything useful. During tracking or overdubs, it frequently makes sense to have empty tracks readily available so you can go instantly to another take. But if you’ve gotten to the mix stage without using them, they’re only taking up space.

Read more about this here: https://bobbyowsinskiblog.com/2018/03/07/prep-mix-steps/

How to Get the Guitar Heard Properly in a Band: Part 2

February 27, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

Whilst choosing the right guitar, amp and effects are important, the guitar speaker is often ignored. After all, speakers are speakers, right. Wrong.

My epiphany occurred at a guitar show when a Celestion demonstrator switched between three speaker cabinets whilst playing. Despite all being from the same manufacturer, the difference from speaker to speaker was night and day. As for the amps, it’s true that some amps have different or pronounced characteristics. Certain brands have become synonymous with particular styles or tones. For example, if I say, Marshall, you’re unlikely to think of your favorite jazz guitarist.

20 Best Royalty-Free Ambient Music Tracks

February 26, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

Ambient music is a form of instrumental music that uses gentle, repetitive and soothing sounds to create a sense of peace, calm and relaxation. It often takes influences from many musical genres such as world music, classical, jazz, folk and more.

Lounge music refers to the type of music played in the background at hotels, restaurants, bars and of course lounges. This category offers the best of that idea using a combination of instrumentals and modern digital and electronic music. Serenity is a beautifully calming track that would be perfect for a low-key multimedia project or greet and mingle events.