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Have you ever had the best idea for a bassline? Or created the most melodic lead line ever? Or even come up with the most amazing drum loop of all time? How about that guitar riff that was going to change the world? Yes, we’ve all been there, had an inspired idea for a song part, […]
Clean in, dirty out Any toy that can make a sound is beat fodder. I have a Duplo (little kid’s version of LEGO) plastic head that records up to eight seconds of audio and plays it back through its pretty crappy onboard speaker – it’s great for capturing individual sounds, before you mic it up […]
Established in the UK, Point Blank is an award-winning music school with campuses located in London, Los Angeles, Ibiza and Mumbai. With alumni including Claude VonStroke, Goldie and Aluna Francis, the global institution offers tutorials and masterclasses that range from mixing and mastering to composition and sound design. Point Blank also boasts a list of […]
There’s no one way to make beats – there are so many different techniques, depending on the music, the gear and, most importantly, the people involved. It’s often difficult to avoid the clichés of beat-making, and quite often we end up at one of two extremes: defaulting to deliberately machine-like beats, or quirky off-kilter rhythms […]
Price £80 Contact Intuitive Audio Why do we need a plug-in such as Chord Composer? Is there really a lot of demand for a tool that can create chords and chord progressions, when most DAWs include tools that can give an extra boost to your compositional activity? Well, it’s a bit like how we view […]
Whether you’re using software or hardware, you can give yourself and your audience a bit of a thrill with these tips… Creating random beats live: step-by-step 1. This technique works with software or hardware, as we turn the limitations of grid-based beat-making to our advantage. Just check your settings before you start, and relax. It’s […]
1. Don’t just loop DAWs are great for looping, right? It’s really their ‘thing’ and what makes arranging your tunes so darned easy. Just hit Cmd-R, enter a number and there you have it: a complete tune! But if you want musical interest, then you can’t simply loop and loop; you have to add some […]
Price £63 Contact Push Turn Move Push Turn Move key features: Electronic-instrument and interface-design book Covers vintage designs and cutting-edge gear 352 pages Hardcover 45 artist and designer interviews Written by Kim Bjørn Foreword by Jean Michel Jarre There are plenty of books that look at classic synths, but none that really […]
Last time around, we looked at how to create an entire band with technology; how to replace human musicians with hardware and software. We looked at the tech alternatives to both acoustic and electric guitars, bass players, vocalists, even guitar effects. We did drums, too, but then realised that there is a wealth of options to […]
So far in our Reason sound-design series, we’ve gone from the basics of synthesis to going in-depth with one of Reason’s finest new additions, the Grain synth. We’ve also looked at how you can add attitude with Combinator and also how using that device can help you create and fatten synth sounds with relative ease. […]