Music Technology News and Trends

The BR-800 battery-powered digital recorder allows for up to four tracks to be recorded or eight tracks played back simultaneously, plus an additional stereo track dedicated to the built-in rhythm generator.

DJ Aquilina has recorded and created a collection of Deep House samples for Loopmasters, providing producers of Deep, progressive and minimal house and techno music with a range of samples.

Do you find your percussion isn't punchy enough?   Or that your vocals are wildly varied in volume?   Never fear - compression is here...

What is Compression?

You can think of a compressor plug-in as a virtual studio engineer with his hand on the volume knob - if the volume is too loud, he (or she, we don't discriminate!) will turn down the volume by a defined amount, depending on how loud it is.

This results in quieter sounds appearing louder, without increasing the volume of the sounds that are already loud.   This is used often on vocals in popular music, where it can considerably increase their clarity.


What can you do with Compression?

There are several controls found on conventional compressors...

Threshold - This is the level in decibels (dB) above which the volume is compressed.

Ratio - This is the ratio that determines how much the signal should be compressed.   A ratio of 5:1 means that if a signal goes over the threshold by 5dB, the compressor will reduce the signal to 1dB over the threshold.   Simple!

Attack - This is how fast the compressor kicks in after hearing a sound over the threshold - if it is long enough, this can result in really punchy initial hits, then compressing the tail ends of sounds; very useful on percussion.

Release - This is how fast the compressor kicks in after hearing a sound under the threshold, increasing the volume to the threshold level.

Soft/Hard Knee - This determines how smooth the compression is - the "Knee", or response curve, is less audibly noticeable when it is smoother, but takes longer to compress the signal as a result.

Gain - This allows for the entire volume of the signal to be increased or decreased.


Some useful techniques

1. Side-Chain Compression

By running another signal into a compressor with a "Side-chain" function, you can achieve a pumping effect used in countless electronic music productions, where a kick drum, for example, will make the rest of the music duck down under it rhythmically as it is played.

2. Over-Compressed drums

Want that insane, loud drum sound?   Try a really high ratio, a really low threshold, a really fast attack and as much gain as you can get away with without the sound clipping and distorting.   The result?   A crazy, noisy sound that is great for more energetic music!

3. Glitchy Percussion

Where compression is conventionally used to bring up the tail end of drum hits, you can do quite the opposite - by reducing the threshold considerably with a high ratio and having a short attack that allows just a fraction of the signal through, you can get some sweet clicky, glitchy percussion!

Are you always on the lookout for ways to improve your studio, but not so frequently in possession of the cash in order to do so?

Then here are a few suggestions for tweaks you can make to your music making menagerie with little or no money...


TVs are for more than Hollyoaks...

Has your favourite show just finished, or you've found yourself on YouTube more than ITV?   Use your old TV for massive second monitor!   Most TVs purchased in the last 5 years will probably have a monitor input, so give it a try and you'll have extra space for your DAW to stretch its legs!

They can also be great for putting lyrics on for vocalists to sing along to, or for watching YouTube videos when you're supposed to be finishing a song.


Windows ninety-what?!

Remember that old PC that just couldn't handle your entire soft-studio?   Well use your Old PC for VSTs!   Using programs like "FX Teleport", you can easily network up your old computer and start using it to make your software run faster!

Just assign those CPU-intensive VSTs to the old computer and watch as your host machine speeds away and your creative workflow follows suit.   Just imagine getting high quality multisamples like Synth Bass Analogy without having to worry about the associated computing cost!


It's not very roomy...

Constructing a makeshift Vocal Booth from duvets, old mic stands and willpower can result in much less roomy recordings from your microphone!   That once echoey overtone will be no more and you can rely on your plug ins to define what room that recording is in!


Take care of yourself...

...and you'll take care of making awesome music!   eBay a comfy office Chair (Or "borrow" one from your day job) and not only will your back thank you, but so will your ego.   Making sure you're comfortable is one of the most underrated parts of studio design!


I'm sure if you put your mind to it, you can look around and convert old, unused bits and bobs into studio gold; just be creative and unafraid of sellotape!

Are you always on the lookout for ways to improve your studio, but not so frequently in possession of the cash in order to do so?

Then here are a few suggestions for tweaks you can make to your music making menagerie with little or no money...


TVs are for more than Hollyoaks...

Has your favourite show just finished, or you've found yourself on YouTube more than ITV?   Use your old TV for massive second monitor!   Most TVs purchased in the last 5 years will probably have a monitor input, so give it a try and you'll have extra space for your DAW to stretch its legs!

They can also be great for putting lyrics on for vocalists to sing along to, or for watching YouTube videos when you're supposed to be finishing a song.


Windows ninety-what?!

Remember that old PC that just couldn't handle your entire soft-studio?   Well use your Old PC for VSTs!   Using programs like "FX Teleport", you can easily network up your old computer and start using it to make your software run faster!

Just assign those CPU-intensive VSTs to the old computer and watch as your host machine speeds away and your creative workflow follows suit.   Just imagine getting high quality multisamples like >>>>Synth Bass Analogy<<<<< without having to worry about the associated computing cost!


It's not very roomy...

Constructing a makeshift Vocal Booth from duvets, old mic stands and willpower can result in much less roomy recordings from your microphone!   That once echoey overtone will be no more and you can rely on your plug ins to define what room that recording is in!


Take care of yourself...

...and you'll take care of making awesome music!   eBay a comfy office Chair for under £50 (Or "borrow" one from your day job) and not only will your back thank you, but so will your ego.   Making sure you're comfortable is one of the most underrated parts of studio design!


I'm sure if you put your mind to it, you can look around and convert old, unused bits and bobs into studio gold; just be creative and unafraid of sellotape!

In 2007, the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing and BMS/Chace, a leading media data management firm, partnered with the Library of Congress to create both a standardized approach and a software model for gathering and managing metadata for recorded music. The resulting metadata standard, dubbed CCD (Content Creator Data), and accompanying studio collection application, were previewed June 14 and 15, 2010, in New York City at the DDEX (Digital Data Exchange, LLC) Plenary and NARM (National Association of Recording Merchandisers) Digital Task Force meetings.

Warner Music Nashville (WMN), the Nashville-based music operations of Warner Music Group Corp., announces that Rod Riley has been named president and CEO of Word Entertainment, WMG's Christian music division. In his new role, Riley will oversee Word's entire operation, including A&R, sales and marketing, music publishing, distribution, church resources and artist services.

MOTU has released DP Control, a free application that allows Digital Performer users to control DP over a Wi-Fi network using an iPhone, iPad or third-generation iPod Touch. Built specifically for use with Digital Performer Version 7.2 or later, DP Control gives users easy access to the most important transport and mixer functions for tracking, mixing and live performance.

Komplete 7 is a significantly expanded version of the company's software bundle. The next generation of Komplete now combines 24 instruments and effects—including five entirely new products—with more than 10,000 sounds and 90 GByte of samples.

The FL Studio 9.5 beta is available to all registered FL Studio 9 owners for testing. Users can download the FL Studio 9.5 beta from their user account page. The installer is available below the regular FL Studio registration.

The PSP 85 benefits from aggressive algorithm optimization and adds significant new features while retaining full preset and bank compatibility with the PSP 84 delay. The plug-in comes with 60 new presets and a supplementary bank containing more PSP 84 factory programs.

Audio post facilities The Surround Factory in North Hollywood, Calif, and Arvintel Media Productions in Marietta, Ga., which have worked in partnership over the past 10 years dubbing films, cartoons and commercials into English and Spanish, announced that they have "gone paperless" by adopting Apple's iPad to display scripts for voice-over talent. The Surround Factory states that the two facilities had discovered Avatron Software's Air Display software, which allows an iPad to act as a wireless display for a Mac OS X computer.

Focusrite announces the ISA428 MkII ($1,799.99 MSRP) 4-channel mic preamp and A/D converter, which the company says will supersede the existing ISA428. Like its predecessor, the ISA428 MkII features four of Focusrite's transformer-based ISA preamps, which are found in the Focusrite Forte console, as well as the same analog circuit board as the ISA428.

In Ethno World 5, users will find more than 240 professionally recorded ethnic instrument samples in the following categories: bowed instruments, stringed instruments, woodwind and brass, key instruments, bell-type instruments, metal type instruments, world drums, world percussion, and gongs and bowls, as well as new category voices and choirs.

Dante Virtual Soundcard acts like a physical sound card or audio interface, including the ability to play and record audio using any Windows audio application with standard ASIO multichannel audio support, or any Core Audio Mac application. This includes applications such as Cubase, Nuendo and Logic, and additionally for Mac, more general audio applications such as iTunes.

For those already using Ableton Live, Ableton is giving away the Partner Instrument Compilation—a free 4.4GB Live Pack that provides a selection of content taken from the Partner Instruments. It includes everything from acoustic pianos and electronic drums to exotic instruments and cinematic soundscapes; 58 Instrument Racks, 16 Drum Racks, five Live Sets and 80 Live Clips.

This free app—now available from the Apple app store—allows Digital Performer (Version 7.2 or later) users to control DP over a WiFi network using their iPhone, iPad or third-generation iPod Touch.

San Francisco–based mastering engineer John Greenham has quietly amassed a wealth of album credits for artists in numerous musical genres.

Modular audio interface and converter

L-Acoustics in Oxnard, Calif., announces that Montreal-based production company Solotech has become the first Canadian company to join the manufacturer's K1/KUDO Pilot Program. Solotech, which has V-DOSC/dV-DOSC/ARCS rig for more than a decade, has maintained a long association with Cirque du Soleil and supported tours for Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Leonard Cohen, Andre Rieu, Michael Buble and Diana Krall.