Must Have Tools – The SPL Transient Designer

The “Secret Weapon” behind many great recording and mixes! Here is something that not too many people talk about any more, and thus many beginners might not know about.  But, it’s one of those tools that I can’t live without!  The SPL Transient Designer is a cool piece of hardware,

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Should you mix your own music?

Don’t underestimate the importance of great mixing! There is no denying that many artists are choosing to purchase recording gear and record themselves at home.  There are certainly many advantages of recording yourself at home, not the least of which is the potential cost savings versus recording at a big

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Reducing plosives (pops) with EQ

Even with pop filters in front of a microphone, plosives (pops) can still be an issue with some vocalists. However, there is a relatively simple fix that can quickly reduce or eliminate those loud pops from your vocal tracks.  Use a high-pass filter, or low shelving EQ, to roll off

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DAW Computers – Buy or Build?

DAWs are a very specialized application that requires a high performance machine that is stable, and where all the hardware works together without any conflicts with your audio interface and other devices. The wrong choices can lead to random clicks, pops, and other audio glitches, or simply not being able to achieve a low enough latency to work effectively with VST instruments. In the worst cases, hardware conflicts can cause random crashes or freezes, or the system may not even boot up.

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Inserts vs Effects Sends – Which to use for what

Many young engineers, and home recording enthusiasts, have never worked with an analog console before, and they only mixer they have ever used is that built into their DAW software of choice. They may have had no formal training, and thus may be unfamiliar with the way channel inserts and effects sends, or aux sends, are traditionally used, especially in the big studios with big analog consoles. While there is no right or wrong way to do anything, and modern DAW software and computers have enough power to do almost anything you want, there are reasons why the more traditional methods of using inserts and sends were established.

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Microphone choices for Acoustic Guitars

Carrying on with the theme of popular microphone choices that many pros use for various instruments, this article will focus on various microphones commonly used to record acoustic guitars. The choice of microphones and placement for recording acoustic guitars can vary quite a bit depending on the style of the

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