Audio Recording

What is a Limiter and How to Use One to Make Better Masters From Your Home Studio

March 13, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

“What is a limiter and how do you use one?” A limiter is just a very aggressive compressor that tames the audio peaks and raises the overall level of your home studio mixes.

There are many misconceptions about limiting, especially since the Loudness Wars have been getting more press, and too many people seem to have decided that limiters are actually evil – by definition. A great limiter can invisibly shave off several dB from the waveform of a mix without any audible side effects, especially if the original is good and dynamic, to begin with.

Six Free Music Making Mobile Apps That Help Produce Tracks on the Go

March 12, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

Making music on the go is made easy with these six useful mobile apps. Plus, they’re absolutely free!

Ampify Groovebox is a free iOS app that contains four instruments called the Drumbox, MiniMon, RetroBass and Poly-8. These cover your beats, bass and lead synth sounds to provide a very solid set of mostly dance-like sounds. The Cakewalk by BandLab allows you to make tunes with up to 12 tracks and include instruments, loops, and effects. They also have a social element for sharing your results.

Sound Design Tricks: Using Finger Mics

March 11, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

Designing your own sounds can be the key to getting your own signature style of production, but it’s not always easy to get started. Sound designer Diego Stocco demonstrates in a video below an ingenious technique he came up with of using microphones attached to his fingers to capture sound in a unique way.

Although initially conceived as a way to record quiet sounds out in nature, Diego shows how this technique can be translated to the studio to get some amazing results. You’ll see how he gets ethereal and captivating sounds by moving around to dynamically capture different textures and tones.

Review: Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra

March 11, 2019 by Jake Weston Leave a Comment

The Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra gives you access to a wide variety of solo and ensemble instruments, orchestral sections of various sizes, choirs and even full “symphony” patches, all for about $149. Produced by Don Williams and Tracy Collins, the Amadeus includes great woodwinds, strings, percussion and other instruments’ sounds. The user interface is tidy and straightforward, and lets you choose between different octaves. You can also customize the scripted legato. The symphony feature combines a whole orchestra into one instrument and gives you detailed control over things like volume, key range and relative positions of orchestral sections.

Key Takeaways:

The Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra is a complete sampled orchestra, available to users for less than 200 dollars.
The sampled orchestra features solo instruments, ensemble instruments and ensemble orchestral sections, large and small.
The Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra features a full Symphony patch and only takes up 10 GB of hard drive.

“Suffice to say, it has all the bread and butter stuff that you would probably want for 90% of what you would ever compose.”

Limiter vs Compressor: What You Need to Know (Easy)

March 10, 2019 by Elaine Sy Leave a Comment

Trying to figure out the difference between a limiter and a compressor? You’re not alone. It takes most producers a long time before they ever understand which is which. But using the right tool at the right time can save you from a mix disaster.

The compressor won’t reduce the volume of your signal until it reaches the threshold you set. Threshold determines when the compressor starts working. Here you dial in how loud the sound has to be before the compressor kicks in. A limiter’s threshold works a little differently from a compressor’s. A limiter won’t let the sound get any louder than the threshold.

Read more about this here: https://www.musicianonamission.com/limiter-vs-compressor/