Commentary

Just as when recording or sampling a real-world amplifier, one needs to take care in selecting the proper microphone placement, settings, and other parameters, so too must one be equally careful when working with simulated amplifiers. In order to get the most out of your amp sims, there are a few major points you should keep in mind. Consider adding a limiter, focusing the pre-sim signal with an equalizer, or oversampling the amplifier, which can add more depth and body to the sound.

Key Takeaways:

• With a real-world amplifier, we all know that there is a significant amount of work that needs to go into setting up the mic configuration to get the best results.
• Working with a digital amp isn't any different – it's not just a plug-and-play operation.
• There are, however, a few key steps and best practices that you can apply to ensure that your amp sim results are top notch.

“You can’t necessarily get good amp sim (simulation) tone by inserting a plug-in, dialing up a preset, and hoping for the best — it takes some signal processing before and after the amp sim to bring out its best.”

Read more: https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/5-five-ways-optimize-amp-sims/

Endless time struggling to resolve your sound problems is a thing of the past. Intelligent automatic equalizer, also dubbed as Gullfoss, does the fine tuning by becoming another set of ears and doing the complicated math involved with sound for you so you don't have to. Troubleshooting your sound with Gullfoss is not just for professionals either as it is easy to use and can be utilized by any level of sound experts out there.

Key Takeaways:

• Company Sound Theory has created an automated smart equalizer that smoothens out sounds as they are mixed.
• The plugin, called GULLFOSS is just the latest in technological music production.
• The software is extremely user friendly and allows anybody to equalize their tracks immediately.

“GULLFOSS works by automatically adjusting its settings in real-time according to the audible features of the input signal, providing quick and precise fixes for issues that would otherwise be unsolvable or require a lot of time and experience to resolve.”

Read more: https://ask.audio/articles/soundtheory-releases-gullfoss-intelligent-automatic-eq-plugin

Not all of us can be so lucky as to have a professional-level studio at home, but we can all do the best with what we have. Most importantly, we can pick a room that is most amenable to recording, and then work to make it have as favorable of acoustic properties as possible. This includes adding sound-dampening materials to the various surfaces to prevent echo, making strategic use of furnishings, and being careful in our microphone placement.

Key Takeaways:

• Everyone would love to have access to a pro studio at home – but for the vast majority of us, that's simply not possible.
• However, there are plenty of things that we can do in order to ensure that our environment is optimized given our resources.
• In particular, one should take care as to the treatment of the walls and placement of furniture and other items, which can create huge impacts on acoustic parameters.

“Studio acoustics is a large and rather complicated subject but you don’t need to be an expert to do a good job of your mixing or mastering.”

Read more: https://www.prosoundweb.com/channels/recording/in_the_studio_improving_your_listening_environment/

For anybody who is an avid music producer, they already understand how inherently important it is for a track to be effectively mastered when finished. Although previously a more difficult and subtle skill to learn, new technologies have made it easier for rookies to learn how to master music. The various tips below or curated from some of the top music producers in the game today in teaching newcomers how best they can master their music when they're done.

Key Takeaways:

• Mastering engineer, Mandy Parnell, recommends a review of the entire album before beginning the process of mastering.
• Mastering engineer, Jeremy Schmitt, believes a good portion of the mastering engineer's job is about fixing distorted frequencies at both ends of the spectrum.
• Other pro tips include, getting the best monitors you can and not making loudness the main recording goal.

“A mastering engineer for several decades, Mandy has mastered records for artists such as Björk, Aphex Twin and The xx from her Black Saloon Studios.”

Read more: http://www.musictech.net/2018/02/mastering-tips-pros-readers/

The loudness meter is a fairly standard piece of technology that every artist or studio operator knows and understands. However, what has not been so simple to understand has been the variety of different and, in some cases, proprietary metrics that are used to display the outputs of the meters. Fortunately, with a little bit of interpretation, most of them can be traced back to terms that we understand – like traditional RMS metrics of loudness.

Key Takeaways:

• A loudness meter is a key piece of equipment for anyone who is serious about performance or recording.
• However, there's a lot of complexity out there with respect to how today's meters display and quantify actual loudness.
• Fortunately, with a few simple tricks, one can convert the various outputs back to something more understandable, to give an intuitive feel.

“There’s a pretty simple relationship between the new LUFS measurements and the loudness measurements we’re used to, like the TT Dynamic Range Meter’s DR value, or good old RMS average levels.”

Read more: http://productionadvice.co.uk/lufs-dbfs-rms/