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 [...]
Trying to choose an audio interface in today’s market is tough. For DJs, the choice is somewhat limited, as some of the most popular software is hardware-integrated with a specific set of sound cards. For producers, the story is a little different. It has always seemed to me that budding [...]
What is Harrison Mixbus? It’s a DAW, sure – but it’s also a professional mastering tool all wrapped up in an affordable and easy-to-use package. By now, we’re so used to the vast ocean of all-in-one recording, editing, mixing, and mastering solutions costing $400 and up in an attempt to [...]
Noise gates are often somewhat underused by producers of electronic music. Noise gates (or just simply, ‘gates’) were initially developed, as the name suggests, to stop unwanted noise from creeping into a mix. Imagine for example, that you are recording a drum kit live; the kick drum mic will pick [...]
After extensive experience with unconventional DAWs like Reason with its virtual rack and Ableton with its clip launcher interface, I was hesitant to return to what I consider to be the boring way of doing things – dragging around clips on a timeline, cutting and pasting without a distinctive edge [...]
Most DJs are already familiar with Novation, the company behind the extremely popular “Dicer” midi controllers. In addition to Dicers, Novation also has a healthy offering of other midi controllers including the Launchkey, Impulse, Twitch mixer, and Launchpad. Recently, the Launchpad controller was used as inspiration for an iPad app [...]
If you saw my last tutorial, you now know how to create an alien-sounding, vulgar, authentic dubstep bass sound! Hooray! Now that we've got the basic synthesis down, it's time to turn to something that will make your tune the talk of the town and the envy of the masses: [...]
When you review as much DJing, production, and performing gear as Crossfadr does, there are pieces that are good and serviceable and there are others that make you go “Wow, who invented this?!” – in a good way, obviously. Cerwin-Vega’s P-Series P1500X and P1800SX powered speakers fall into this latter [...]
Mastering is an important but over overlooked stage of production. Shaping the dynamics and optimizing the audio will give your tracks that professional sheen. It’ll also help them sound their best when played back on a wide variety of different speakers and headphones. If you want people to enjoy your [...]
If you’re a producer of any kind of electronic music, particularly Hip-Hop, the Akai MPC name will be instantly recognizable to you. The looming beige monolith has held pride of place on the desk of any notable producer you’d care to mention. But bulky and expensive hardware devices all took [...]