How Can A Musical Instrument Help Your Love Life?

Submitted by Josh King on Mon, 02/03/2014 - 00:40

Females (and males) are very tough creatures to read and understand and gaining the attention of the person that you fancy can often be pretty difficult. There is no disputing that the human form is complex beyond imagination and conventional methods only work on certain people, for others you have to explore rather unusual avenues.

The power of music and the connotations of playing an instrument or being part of a band are extremely positive for anyone looking to woo a member of the opposite sex.

Studio 50USB Monitors from Behringer

Submitted by Jason Horton on Sun, 02/02/2014 - 07:35

The new Studio 50USB monitor speakers unveiled last week at NAMM are ideal for home recording. Running off USB means you don't have to take up any of your output channels on your audio interface, and they're also specially magnetically shielded so they can be placed right next to your computer monitors (all types including old CRTs) without any interference between the two.

Generating Social Buzz for your Music

Submitted by Jason Horton on Wed, 01/29/2014 - 14:57

We've all been told, and correctly so, that building a following on social media is a great way to reach out to new audiences, however this is often a bit more difficult than it sounds.

Perhaps you've tried following people who you feel might like your music, but you get stuck with the follow limits Twitter places on you - daily limits and a total limit of 2,000 follows until your followback ratio gets large enough.

Recording Guitar - Simulators or Real Amps & Effects?

Submitted by Jason Horton on Mon, 01/27/2014 - 22:32

As the debate rages over whether it's best to use real hardware or simulated hardware for recording guitar, I'm here to set the record straight!

Berkleemusic Founder Launches Online Course for Independent Musicians

Submitted by Jason Horton on Wed, 01/22/2014 - 17:01

Dave Kusek is the founder and former CEO of Berkleemusic and he has just launched a new venture providing an 8 week course to teach indie musicians "How to think like an entrepreneur".

The new course, which is not associated with Berkleemusic, is called "New Artist Model".

Some of the things the course will be teaching includes:

Is Using Music Loops To Create Original Music Cheating?

Submitted by Matthew Trekovsky on Wed, 01/22/2014 - 13:15

Like everything else in life, music is constantly evolving. To prove this point one only needs to look at the history of music. At some point a stick was picked up and brought down again and again on a rock or a tree to form the very first rhythm. That behavior persisted for a very long time with minor tweaks to the beat and, eventually, a few new and equally crude instruments were added. But still, music, as it was back then, served its purpose and told a story.

How To Maximize Your Experience With A Good Speaker Hire Service

Submitted by Manu Alias on Tue, 01/21/2014 - 15:45

Professional sound systems vary in size from the small units best suited for the living room to more powerful HiFi systems that can rock a concert hall. However, professional sound systems can cost thousands of dollars if not more. This is why if you just need a pro system for a few days or a night a speaker hire service will be your best bet.

Creative Packaging Must Still Be Present As Digital Music Overcomes CD's

Submitted by Geoff Roy on Sun, 01/19/2014 - 14:14

There is no doubt that the UK and the world is moving towards digital music downloads over purchasing the actual CD or compact disc album. As a matter of fact, this year marks the spot for the UK where the digital sales have overtaken CD sales. Before CD's there were tapes and records. Each of these options were physically purchased albums in which customers would browse in person and make their selection. Obviously, modern digital options have been available and evolving for quite some time.

Prophet 12 Module Synth from Dave Smith Instruments

Submitted by Jason Horton on Fri, 01/17/2014 - 21:25

Although many home recording and production studios are going the way of software based synths these days, sometimes you want sounds from great designers in your tracks and real knobs to play with.

The Prophet 12 Module contains all the sounds and editing features of the Prophet 12 Keyboard, but in a rack mountable unit.

New Portable Vocal Booth Pro 2 Edition from Editors Keys

Submitted by Jason Horton on Wed, 01/15/2014 - 23:07

Building a permanent vocal booth can be a little expensive for many home recording setups, so if your acoustics aren't the best for recording vocals then perhaps you should consider getting a portable vocal booth like this one.

This portable vocal booth comes with a heavy-duty floor stand and desk stand adapters so you can use it both standing and sitting, although I always recommend standing if possible to record vocals whether they be singing or voice-overs.

Paul White's Producer's Manual is now on iPad

Submitted by Jason Horton on Tue, 11/19/2013 - 23:19

Screenshot from the iPad version of The Producer's Manual

As you may know, Paul White is the Editor-in-Cheif of Sound On Sound Magazine and has been for some years now.

Two years ago he wrote the book "The Producer's Manual" which was a big hit with both budding and professional music producers.

The new iPad version includes all the content from the original paper edition, plus it has a few extras including over an hour of video content.

New Broadway Acoustic Panels from Primacoustic

Submitted by Jason Horton on Sun, 11/17/2013 - 01:16

Broadway Broadband panels with bevelled edge finish

If you're having trouble with standing waves, and other annoying types of echos in your studio, then a few carefully placed acoustic panels can fix your problem.

Primacoustic have produced a new set of broadband panels with bevelled edges to give them a nicer look.

Three Time Grammy Award Winning Producer David Bottrill

Submitted by Jason Horton on Wed, 11/13/2013 - 21:16

David Bottrill is a successful producer who has worked with artists such as Rush, Peter Gabriel, Kid Rock, Godsmack, Mudvayne, Smashing Pumpkins, Coheed and Cambria, and Silverchair.

As you can see from his credits, he's not afraid to work in a range of genres.

His latest projects have been in support of several Canadian artists including The Post War from Vancouver, Ménage, (a second generation Portuguese band of 3 family members), Broken Sons, and Dreamers.

Some Good Websites to Promote Your Music Online

Submitted by Jason Horton on Fri, 10/25/2013 - 22:37

So you've just finished recording and producing your masterpiece, which you're quietly confident is good enough to really get things going for your band, but you're sitting there asking yourself the question...

"Where can I promote my music?"

Theoretically, the internet has lowered the barriers and removed the gatekeepers to public attention so it should be easy to get your music heard, right?

TEC Award Nominations for Audio Interfaces

Submitted by Jason Horton on Fri, 10/18/2013 - 21:54

The nominations for the 29th Annual TEC Awards have been announced, and the Computer Audio Hardware category, where audio interfaces are entered, is going to be quite interesting.

The audio interfaces competing for the coveted shiny trophy (pictured left) cover a wide range of specifications, performance, and price, which I'm sure will make it difficult for those who are voting this year.

The nominees are:

Crowd Audio: A New Way to get Audio Engineering Jobs

Submitted by Jason Horton on Wed, 10/16/2013 - 23:01

Crowd Audio offers a different way for musicians to get their songs mixed down, and a new opportunity for budding audio engineers to find work.

Music Producer Young Guru to Speak at AES

Submitted by Jason Horton on Tue, 10/15/2013 - 22:25

For those of you who have been living under a rock, the 135th Audio Engineering Society Convention starts in New York this Thursday.

There are many seminars and workshops worth going to this year, but the one that I would put at the top of my list is the presentation by Young Guru entitled "Era of the Engineer".

Steinberg release firmware upgrade for UR824 & UR28M USB Audio Interfaces

Submitted by Jason Horton on Fri, 10/11/2013 - 17:19

Firmware updates often tend to be a little boring - usually they only offer minor enhancements and bug fixes, but this one is quite impressive and will make existing owners very happy and probably entice musicians, producers, and engineers to take a second look at these two USB audio interfaces.

What kind of Audio Interface is best for Recording Drums?

Submitted by Jason Horton on Fri, 10/11/2013 - 07:18

Recording drums at home is a little tricky due to the large number of simultaneous sound sources compared to recording things like vocals, keyboards, or guitar. Back in the old days when I first began recording using tape machines, the biggest issue was how many tracks you could spare

Do I need a DI Box to record with an Audio Interface?

Submitted by Jason Horton on Thu, 10/10/2013 - 20:32

Before I answer the question I'll take a step back and explain what a DI Box is and what it's used for. Most music and audio equipment which receives an analog audio signal, such as mixing consoles and PA amplifiers, are designed to receive that signal at Line Level. This is the level which is output by most equipment such as microphones, keyboards, samplers, drum machines etc.

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