We reviewed LIVKONTROL favourably back in April when it was initially released for iPad. It has just received a fairly hefty update, and is additionally now available for iPhone and Android (it is in fact the first Live controller available on the Android platform). With this in mind, we decided [...]
String parts are used incredibly frequently in electronic music, yet they can prove infuriatingly difficult to get right. Often, even when using high quality samples, they can sound sterile and unrealistic. There are, thankfully, a number of techniques you can use that will increase the realism of your string parts [...]
At least among older keyboardists, monophonic, analog synths have gotten greater visibility in recent years. The Cure’s Rodger O’Donnell’s first solo album The Truth in Me (2006) involved the Moog Voyager, while Depeche Mode’s Sounds of the Universe, even as mediocre as the result was, featured some vintage Moogs. The [...]
If details go into a piece of gear’s design, will the sound be as equally high-quality and fine-tuned with such meticulousness? In the case of the KRK VXT6, a two-way active studio monitor with a six-inch Kevlar woofer, this notion proves to be true. Even when it comes down to [...]
More and more iPad controllers for Ableton are appearing all the time. Conductr is a new offering that claims to stand out from the crowd in that it is specifically designed for live performance. It certainly does have an elegant and intuitive interface that appears well suited to being used [...]
In the first two parts of this guide (Pt 1 & Pt 2), we showed you how to capture a great vocal sound and a fantastic vocal performance. Now that you have the vocal recorded, how do you process it to ensure that it can compete with the very best [...]
Early in their careers, many producers of electronic music have little or no experience of recording live vocals. This is obviously due to the fact that we are able to achieve often excellent results through the use of samples. Eventually however, many of us will want to start using vocalists [...]
Suit & Tie Guy of STG Sound Labs brought his modular synthesizer by the Moog Sound Lab and controlled four of our Sub Phatty Analog Synthesizers with his labyrinth of analog module.
By now, you’ve probably heard of Novation’s Launchpad, one of the first and most successful dedicated controllers for Ableton Live. With its minimalist grid of 64 white-on-black pads and zero-hassle integration with Live’s main performance features, the Launchpad added a new sense of flair to the performance and creation of [...]
Much has been written on the benefits of analog summing vs. ‘in the box’ mixing and in many contexts, the benefits are undoubtedly there. However, the importance of analog can often be overstated, particularly if you are just starting out as a producer. What is Summing? During your mix, you [...]