For musicians and producers that struggle to finish tracks, Eddie Bazil explains the benefits of creating musical snippets and gives us some examples as to how we can tap into different moods, use sound design techniques to create something unique that becomes a useable addition to our musical catalogues and create pieces that stand the test of time.“Snippets and the creating of, serve to strengthen sound ideas, hone mixing and production skills, help to understand timing and flow, act as a testbed for song structuring ideas and are the playground for testing and mastering all manner of plug-ins”.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:19 - What Is A Snippet?01:53 - The Benefits Of Creating Snippets04:26 - Planning Your Snippets06:07 - Sound Design06:53 - Example 1: Phased Pad17:33 - Example 2: Happy, Mood-Lifting 22:01 - Example 3: Drama And Tension#SoundtoysPhaseMistress #FabFilterTimeless2 #EventideBlackhole #SteinbergGrooveagent #GforceimpOSCar3 #WavesOvoxVocoder #SteinbergHalionTrip #RobPapenAlbino #Kontakt #NIMaschine2 #AirHybrid3Eddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul White and Hugh Robjohns talk us through four essential studio effects that every music producer or mix engineer needs to know for creating an effective mix, placing them in order of importance and giving an insight into how they can be used effectively.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:21 - Effect 1: Reverb02:11 - Convolution Reverb04:28 - Reverb Controls05:53 - Using Aux Sends08:00 - Effect 2: EQ08:57 - EQ Filters11:44 - The Shelving Filter13:40 - Parametric EQ14:17 - Cutting Vs Boosting15:26 - Effect 3: Delay16:21 - Where To Use Delay17:40 - Effect 4: Compression18:43 - Setting Threshold and Ratio19:51 - Soft-Knee Compression20:33 - Tweaking Presets22:08 - Other Controls26:02 - Parallel Compression30:11 - Creative Modulation Effects30:58 - Using Effects SparinglyPaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Pro Audio Design Engineer Andy Bereza summarises his impressive career in a chat with Paul Gilby. Andy founded Allen & Heath Mixers before working for TEAC/Tascam, where he conceived the TEAC Portastudio the portable multitrack cassette tape recorder that revolutionised the home recording market in the 1980s. He then co-founded Bandive-Turnkey where he developed a range of budget signal processors and the famous Great British Spring reverb to sell to the rapidly expanding Home Studio Recording market. At the same time, he was a consultant for the Fostex X15 multitrack cassette as well as helping to steer further product designs. Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:34 - Getting Into Electronics01:45 - Building Custom Desks04:09 - Allen & Heath Mixers06:07 - The Minimixer08:54 - The Pink Floyd Desks12:24 - Allen & Heath Mod II Mixer13:20 - Expanding The Company15:23 - Moving To Tascam 16:58 - Constructing The Portastudio 21:57 - Setting Up Bandive / Turnkey24:55 - Creating Products For The Home Studio 29:03 - Fostex Releases in the 80s30:48 - Bandive Seck Mixers32:08 - Expanding Turnkey35:14 - Selling To Harman38:38 - Launching Digital Postcards41:07 - A Brief Career Summary42:13 - Proudest Career MomentAndy Bereza BiogAndy Bereza started his career as a Audio Design Engineer after moving to London in 1967 to study Electronics at Chelsea University. A chance encounter with Siggy Jackson in Tin Pan Alley gave him his first custom commission and many more soon followed, with Andy building mixers for Bill Shepherd (producer of the Bee Gees), Alan Price, Maurice Gibb and also a location recording mixer for the Clockwork Orange movie.In 1970 Andy became the Founder of Allen & Heath, where he initially developed the black range of mixers, then their first mass market product the Minimix. At the same time he creating custom quadraphonic live desks for The Who along with Pink Floyd's Pompeii and Dark Side Of The Moon touring desks.In 1975, Andy joined TEAC America and was employed to introduce Tascam into Europe. Then in 1976 he was contracted directly with TEAC Japan where he developed the iconic Portastudio that changed the face of the home recording industry. In 1977 he became one of the founders of Bandive Ltd and helped to develop further products for the home recording market and created the popular Turnkey By Mail catalogue during the late 1970s to mid 80s. Bandive then opened the Turnkey retail store in central London.Following the sale of Bandive / Turnkey to Harman UK in 1987, he briefly became their Marketing Director, before signing up to become Managing Director of Fostex in 1991. Later in the 90s Andy left the Pro Audio industry and turned his attention to multimedia where he developed interactive product catalogues on CD-ROM.Paul Gilby BiogPaul Gilby is the co-founder, along with his brother Ian, of Sound On Sound magazine in 1985. Having written many product reviews and interviews over the years he now heads up the Digital Media side of the business managing the team that looks after the SOS website as well as the video and podcast productions.Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul White and Hugh Robjohns discuss the basics of a good home studio setup, including choosing the right equipment and setting up your space correctly for achieving the best recording and mixing results.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:14 - Minimum Equipment00:54 - Audio Interfaces02:46 - Headphones and Speakers03:21 - Choosing A Microphone08:55 - Additional Accessories12:27 - Desks And Monitor Stands16:21 - Speakers And Acoustic Treatment21:06 - Choosing Studio Monitors22:35 - Subwoofers And Bass Traps26:16 - Cutting Reflections For Vocals28:48 - Recaphttps://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/studio-sos-making-small-room-sound-goodPaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Not everyone has access to a professional studio with bespoke wiring. Here, Paul White and Hugh Robjohns discuss the best practises for avoiding and eliminating electrical noise interference in your home studio.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:21 - Arranging Plugboards In A Home Studio02:09 - Uninterruptible Power Supplies03:59 - Grounding Issues In Laptop Systems07:19 - Radiated Interference08:54 - Isolated Power Supplies11:10 - Procedure For Eliminating Noise12:38 - Breaking The Ground Pathhttps://www.groundology.co.uk/https://artproaudio.com/Paul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too! Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Eddie Bazil gives us more pointers on constructing beats, incorporating useful tools such as Drum Replacement Software and pre-constructed Loops, then adding enhancements using timing, pitch and other processing tips.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:33 - Drum Replacement Software01:41 - Example 1: Using Hit'n'Mix RipX DAW 05:41 - Example 2: Making Loops Your Own11:36 - Example 3: Enhancing A Kick With Pitch And Timing Track credit for example 1: Ice Box featuring Omarion, produced by Timbaland - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Box_(song)Eddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

An introduction to using sample libraries focusing on the string section. Composer and Producer Sam Boydell talks us through selecting an orchestral sound library, creating a simple string motif and incorporating more realism into the finished piece by using a range of techniques, including articulations, dynamics and panning.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:18 - The Tools Of The Trade03:13 - Choosing Your Sound Library06:01 - Starting With A String Motif10:39 - Allocating Orchestral Positions11:58 - Humanising The Performance14:57 - Fine-Tuning Velocity And Timing17:15 - Adding MIDI Automation19:56 - Placing The Orchestra In A Space22:17 - Incorporating Articulations24:39 - Creating More Dynamics27:46 - Mixing And MasteringSam Boydell BiogLearning his craft by working in studios with the likes of Gareth Young (Sugababes), Stephen Lipson (Hans Zimmer) and Mark Hill (Craig David), Sam has grown into being credited for Composing many award-winning Commercials and Documentaries such as drift-racing’s, ‘Clipping Point’ (2022) rated at 9.3/10 on IMDb, as well as, prestigious TV shows like, Match of the Day (BBC).Sam is also considered one of the premiere Sound Recordists & Commercial Mixers in the UK, having worked with the likes of David Beckham, ITV and Ferrari.Further enterprises include the music label 60hz with Mark Hill and Neil Simpson, which works to nurture talent such as Nat Slater & Kyi in the past.  And, Education, where he works with local universities and schools.https://boyde.tv/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In the first of a two-part series, Eddie Bazil explains how some simple adjustments in your DAW will help you to achieve more bounce in your drum beats, by adding syncopation, swing and dynamism.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:20 - A Quick History Of Beat Production01:07 - Early Programmable Drum Machines04:33 - Defining A Good Beat05:15 - Example 1: Shifting The Snare To Drive A Beat07:55 - Example 2: Altering Dynamics And Note Durations10:51 - Example 3: Adding Urgency With A Backbeat 12:37 - Example 4: Creating Swing With The Hi-Hats Eddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

A valuable test for recording engineers, David Mellor gives examples of different mic types to emphasise the importance of knowing your mic collection in detail so that you're using the correct one for the recording task at hand. Cardioid, Supercardioid, Figure of 8 and Omnidirectional are compared.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:23 - Testing The Schoeps CMC 601:44 - Cardioid Examples05:39 - Testing With Percussion06:33 - Supercardioid Examples08:40 - Figure Of 8 Examples11:22 - Omnidirectional Examples14:05 - Testing With Percussion14:58 - Testing Each Mic Type at 0 Degrees17:00 - Testing Each Mic Type at 45 Degrees18:19 - Testing Each Mic Type at 90 Degrees19:42 - Testing Each Mic Type at 180 Degrees21:15 - SummaryDavid Mellor BiogDavid Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.https://www.audiomasterclass.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In the first of this two-part series, David Mellor gives us an introduction to mic polar patterns, explaining the best type of mic to use for various recording situations.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:43 - Influenced By The EMI Emiguide Tapes04:08 - What Is A Polar Pattern?06:46 - Omnidirectional and Figure Of 808:43 - Cardioid, Hypercardioid and Super-Cardioid11:14 - Pressure-Sensitive and Pressure Gradient11:58 - Imperfections In Higher And Lower Frequencies13:01 - The Decca Tree14:06 - Abbey Road Demonstration15:32 - 0 degree axis Figure Of 816:10 - 90 degree axis Figure Of 816:48 - 180 degree axis Figure Of 817:30 - 270 degree axis Figure Of 819:01 - Multi-Pattern Microphones19:58 - Best Usage24:26 - Interference Tube, Parabolic Reflector26:23 - Experimenting With Off-AxisDavid Mellor BiogDavid Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.https://www.audiomasterclass.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul White and Hugh Robjohns pick their software and hardware highlights from the last 12 months.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:16 - Universal Audio Waterfall Rotary Speaker03:25 - Boss GM-800 Guitar Synthesizer04:24 - Tokyo Dawn Records Simulathe Cut06:33 - PreSonus Eris 3.5 Studio Monitors07:32 - Prism Audio Dream ADA-12810:07 - Walrus Audio Fable Granular Soundscape Generator10:59 - Blackstar St. James Amp Plug-ins11:55 - Zoom F8n Pro Field Recorder14:13 - Strymon BigSky Multi Reverb / Deco Tape Saturation14:49 - Line 6 HX One PedalPaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too! Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In the third and final part of this series, Rob Toulson focuses on recording drums and talks us through the issue of frequency cancellation in a multiple mic setup, details how to choose the recording sweet spot in a room and explains the various stereo mic technique options that are available.See the Show Notes for further details.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:52 - Phase Coherence03:00 - Time Delays05:10 - Comb Filtering07:53 - Flipping The Polarity12:22 - Choosing A Recording Space14:56 - Mic Choice And Placement17:43 - Stereo Techniques18:08 - Spaced Pair Technique19:02 - Glyn Johns Mic Technique20:12 - Coincident Pair Technique21:16 - ORTF Technique22:20 - Mid-Side Technique24:30 - Comparing The Techniques25:22 - Other Mic TechniquesProfessor Rob Toulson BiogRob is Director of RT60 Ltd, who develop mobile apps for musicians and sound engineers. RT60’s iDrumTune Pro app assists drummers with learning the skills of drum tuning and has been the number one music app in over 100 countries since its launch in 2012. More recently, Rob and RT60 developed Songzap, which simplifies the process of recording and capturing musical ideas, enabling songwriters to focus exclusively on their creativity.Rob stared his career as a mechanical engineer with a doctorate in digital signal processing, before following his passion and moving into the field of music technology and specialising in percussion acoustics and audio software development. Rob has held a number of academic research roles in his career, including Professor of Creative Industries at University of Westminster and Director of the CoDE Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. Rob’s also a successful musician, music producer and sound designer, having worked with many artists including Talvin Singh, Wilfy Williams and Mediaeval Baebes, who have previously topped the UK Classical Music Chart.Rob is author of a number of music related books and articles, including ‘Drum Sound and Drum Tuning’, published by Routledge in 2021, and co-editor of the ‘Innovation In Music’ book series, which is also published by Routledge. His sound design work has been included in films by BAFTA Winner Shreepali Patel and has been showcased at Glastonbury Festival, The V&A and The Natural History Museum.https://www.robtoulson.com/https://www.rt60.uk/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In part 2 of this 3-part series, Rob Toulson explains how to optimise the drum sound for recording by experimenting with drum head, damping system, tuning and drum shell combinations.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:09 - Drum Heads01:44 - Mersenne's Laws04:05 - 1 and 2 Ply Drum Heads05:45 - Damping Systems07:10 - Centre Dot Drum Heads09:27 - Choosing Your Timbre11:44 - Selecting Your Drum Shells14:25 - Optimising The Whole Kit19:41 - Tuning The Kick DrumProfessor Rob Toulson BiogRob is Director of RT60 Ltd, who develop mobile apps for musicians and sound engineers. RT60’s iDrumTune Pro app assists drummers with learning the skills of drum tuning and has been the number one music app in over 100 countries since its launch in 2012. More recently, Rob and RT60 developed Songzap, which simplifies the process of recording and capturing musical ideas, enabling songwriters to focus exclusively on their creativity.Rob stared his career as a mechanical engineer with a doctorate in digital signal processing, before following his passion and moving into the field of music technology and specialising in percussion acoustics and audio software development. Rob has held a number of academic research roles in his career, including Professor of Creative Industries at University of Westminster and Director of the CoDE Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. Rob’s also a successful musician, music producer and sound designer, having worked with many artists including Talvin Singh, Wilfy Williams and Mediaeval Baebes, who have previously topped the UK Classical Music Chart.Rob is author of a number of music related books and articles, including ‘Drum Sound and Drum Tuning’, published by Routledge in 2021, and co-editor of the ‘Innovation In Music’ book series, which is also published by Routledge. His sound design work has been included in films by BAFTA Winner Shreepali Patel and has been showcased at Glastonbury Festival, The V&A and The Natural History Museum.https://www.robtoulson.com/https://www.rt60.uk/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Rob Toulson dives into the science behind how drums produce sound in this three-part series. In part one he talks us through the different pitches, frequencies and overtones, to help producers, recording engineers and indeed drummers to better understand the essentials of tuning. Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:16 - Dealing With Multiple Frequencies 05:19 - Tuning The Fundamental Frequency10:56 - Smoothing Out Modulation13:31 - Harmonic Overtones19:12 - Controlling Decay And Damping 23:11 - SummaryProfessor Rob Toulson BiogRob is Director of RT60 Ltd, who develop mobile apps for musicians and sound engineers. RT60’s iDrumTune Pro app assists drummers with learning the skills of drum tuning and has been the number one music app in over 100 countries since its launch in 2012. More recently, Rob and RT60 developed Songzap, which simplifies the process of recording and capturing musical ideas, enabling songwriters to focus exclusively on their creativity.Rob stared his career as a mechanical engineer with a doctorate in digital signal processing, before following his passion and moving into the field of music technology and specialising in percussion acoustics and audio software development. Rob has held a number of academic research roles in his career, including Professor of Creative Industries at University of Westminster and Director of the CoDE Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. Rob’s also a successful musician, music producer and sound designer, having worked with many artists including Talvin Singh, Wilfy Williams and Mediaeval Baebes, who have previously topped the UK Classical Music Chart.Rob is author of a number of music related books and articles, including ‘Drum Sound and Drum Tuning’, published by Routledge in 2021, and co-editor of the ‘Innovation In Music’ book series, which is also published by Routledge. His sound design work has been included in films by BAFTA Winner Shreepali Patel and has been showcased at Glastonbury Festival, The V&A and The Natural History Museum.https://www.robtoulson.com/https://www.rt60.uk/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Eddie Bazil dives into some of his favourite plug-ins and gives us a series of examples on how to use these tools creatively for designing unique and interesting beats, sequences and mixes. Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:21 - What Makes A Tool Creative?03:25 - Example 1: A Cinematic Piano Effect07:03 - Example 2: Creating A More Dynamic Beat10:19 - Example 3: Sequencer-Based Multi Effects On A Drum Beat13:26 - Example 4: Reshaping A Musical Sequence 21:21 - Example 5: A Sound Design Exercise Credits‘Puppet’ track written, performed and recorded by John WaldenVocals by Yvonne McKeownEddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In this fourth and final episode, David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, delves into Gain Staging your plug-ins and how to avoid clipping during the mixing and mastering stages.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:50 - Gain Staging Your Plug-ins08:08 - 32-Bit Float11:35 - Mixing And Mastering16:27 - Gain Staging The Mix19:32 - Headroom21:50 - Mastering Using LUFSDavid Mellor BiogDavid Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.https://www.audiomasterclass.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, introduces us to Gain Staging in a brand new series of podcasts. In the third episode David continues looking at preamps, outlines the use of VU Meters and talks about the benefits of balancing a track prior to mixing. Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:56 - More About Preamps05:38 - Preamps With Valves09:20 - The Mixing Process16:17 - Using VU Meters24:05 - Mixing During RecordingListen to Gain Staging Episode 1Listen to Gain Staging Episode 2David Mellor BiogDavid Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.https://www.audiomasterclass.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, introduces us to Gain Staging in a brand new series of podcasts. In the second episode David focuses on gain staging during recording, by balancing mic input, preamps and gain within your DAW to achieve the optimal sound level.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:40 - Dynamic Microphones05:19 - Capacitor Microphones11:25 - Gain Staging First Step14:00 - The Pre-amp16:39 - Headroom20:49 - Audio ExamplesDavid Mellor BiogDavid Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.https://www.audiomasterclass.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, introduces us to Gain Staging in a brand new series of podcasts. In this first episode he teaches the correct use of terminology and gives his three golden rules of Gain Staging.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:38 - Using The Correct Terminology05:56 - Why Use Gain Staging?11:04 - The Benefits Of Gain Staging15:31 - Working In Digital Audio27:17 - Three Golden Rules Of Gain StagingDavid Mellor BiogDavid Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.https://www.audiomasterclass.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Eddie Bazil demystifies Compression and Expansion with a detailed explanation of their uses and with a range of practical examples using plug-ins. Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:22 - Compressors And Expanders Explained01:33 - Compressor Behavioural Types02:40 - Common Compressor Topologies06:06 - Example 1: Boz Digital Manic Compressor On Drums10:26 - Example 2: FabFilter Pro MB On A Synth Line13:28 - Example 3: PreSonus Studio One Expander On A Drum Beat15:26 - Example 4: A Drum Beat Using Different Topologies20:24 - Example 5: Using Sidechaining On Reverb 23:28 - Example 6: FabFilter Pro MB On A Vocal Line27:16 - Example 7: Sidechain Compression And Expansion To Create Texture And MotionCreditsExample 6 - The song and the poem are both called Everyone Sang. The poem was by Sigfried Sassoon and was set to music and performed by Anne Gregson.www.annegregson.co.ukRecorded at www.mrpunch.infoEddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul White takes us through the history and evolution of guitar synths, from early attempts at creating onboard sounds and audio to MIDI pick-ups, through to using pedals and plug-ins to emulate synth effects. Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:13 - Types of Guitar Synths 04:03 - The Introduction Of MIDI05:19 - Pitch To MIDI Pickups08:04 - Alternative Systems10:38 - Using Pedals To Emulate Synths13:31 - Introducing Plug-ins15:10 - The Future Of Audio To MIDIPaul White BiogPaul White joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1970s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul White explains how to get the best out of Amp Simulation software, from getting a good guitar input signal, setting up effective monitoring for encouraging the best performance and tips on achieving the desired end-effect.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:50 - Getting A Guitar Signal03:39 - Dealing With Latency04:42 - Monitoring05:54 - Using Your Own Pedals08:15 - Using Speaker Cabinet Emulations09:11 - Adding Room Ambience10:00 - Creative Sound Design10:27 - Using Amp Modelling With Other InstrumentsPaul White BiogPaul White joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1970s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul White and Hugh Robjohns pick their hardware and software highlights from the last 12 months, plus feature some late arrivals.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:14 - ASM Hydrasynth Deluxe 02:01 - Boss RE-202 Space Echo / IK Multimedia Amplitube X-SPACE Reverb / Red Panda Particle 2 Granular Delay02:57 - Moogerfooger Plug-ins / UAFX Amp Emulator Pedals04:12 - IK Multimedia Amplitube TONEX Amp Simulation Software04:47 - Arturia Efx Fragments Granular Delay / Eventide Physion II05:25 - PMC6-2 Monitors07:00 - MiMU Jellyfish Granular Synth07:45 - The Great Chip Shortage09:11 - Rob Papen eXplorer-8 Bundle / Sub51 and Soundtrax Drop Pad10:26 - Sonnect Audio Sound Bullet11:46 - Eventide H90 Harmonizer® Multi-FX Pedal / Two notes ReVolt Amp Simulator Pedal13:38 - Waves BB Tubes Plug-in14:27 - Hardware Recorders17:05 - Synth Sounds For GuitarPaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In the final episode of this 5 part series, Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, gives us an in-depth look at how to process and mix the various elements of a song recorded using live instruments.Chapters00:16 - Introduction01:36 - Mix Preparation: Performance Edits and Mix Groups01:00 - Polarity Summation07:27 - Waveform Edits and Gating09:48 - Multing10:20 - Drum Sample Implementation10:57 - Three Approaches To Mixing12:56 - Master Buss Processing14:28 - Compression and EQ: Signal Chain Order16:07 - Compression Topology19:43 - Drums: Compression, Signal Stability, Transient Design and Colouration32:53 - Drums: Parallel Compression37:09 - Drums: EQ47:45 - Drums: Reverb Processing49:40 - Bass: Compression and EQ54:38 - Acoustic Guitar: Compression and EQ56:19 - Harmonically Distorted Electric Guitar: EQ, Dynamic EQ and Multi-band Compression60:28 - Vocals: Compression and EQ65:46 - Vocals: Effects ProcessingMark Mynett BiogAs well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”.Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, presents part four of his recording series. Here he details how to prepare a vocalist for studio recording and how to select and set up your recording equipment for optimal results.Chapters00:15 - Introduction00:31 - Preparing For Vocal Recording 05:08 - Recording Vocals At Home06:53 - Microphone Selection14:41 - Microphone Placement24:05 - Printed Compression30:27 - Headphone Cue MixMark Mynett BiogAs well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”.Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, details best practices for setting up and recording rhythm and lead guitar parts.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:40 - How To Manage Distortion06:10 - Pre-Recording Preparation07:16 - Double Tracking And Quad Tracking09:07 - Finding A Clear Midrange Tone14:20 - Isolation And Ambience15:46 - Microphone Selection19:23 - Mic Placement25:17 - Multitracking Tips34:03 - Recording Guitar Solos36:39 - Adding EQ At The Recording Stage Mark Mynett BiogAs well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”.Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)Audio Clips: Baron CartaBaron Carta at SpotifyCatch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, talks us through prepping for and recording a bass session, including ways to generate multiple layered tracks for use in your final mix.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:30 - 1. Intonation And Tuning02:54 - 2. Active DI Boxes06:00 - 3. Amp, Cab And Mic Setup14:01 - 4. Layering Bass Sounds17:51 - 5. Introducing DistortionMark Mynett BiogAs well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”.Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, talks us through the setup and recording of live drums.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:36 - Recording Multiple Instruments01:12 - Pre-Recording Preparation03:46 - 1. Miking The Kick 12:08 - 2. Miking The Snare 24:24 - 3. Miking The Toms29:24 - 4. Miking The Cymbals38:54 - 5. Overheads For Room AmbienceMark Mynett BiogAs well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”.Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Grammy Award winning engineer Bob Clearmountain details his unique approach to mixing music in Dolby Atmos using an analogue desk.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:26 - Mixing In 5:104:16 - Setting Up Studio Monitoring06:24 - Upgrading For Atmos 08:24 - How To Approach Atmos11:14 - Placing Sounds 15:25 - Beds And Objects19:11 - Working From An Analogue Console23:11 - Using The Centre Speaker27:23 - Incorporating Plug-in Effects 28:40 - Adding Compression In Surround34:29 - Checking The Mix37:21 - Frustrations With Atmos41:34 - Recommended ListeningBob Clearmountain BiogBob Clearmountain is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many prominent names in music including Bruce Springsteen (mixing Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. and 25 other projects), The Rolling Stones (re-mixes of the singles "Miss You" and "Out of Tears" ) as well as their Tattoo You album amongst  over 20 album, movie and concert video projects, Bryan Adams (producing and/or mixing nearly all of his albums since 1983), Robbie Williams, Huey Lewis & The News, Toto, Bon Jovi (These Days, Crush, Bounce), Simple Minds, The Pretenders, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, INXS and 235 other artists. Bob has released some signature plug-ins with audio hardware and software manufacturer Apogee Electronics. https://www.mixthis.com/Apogee Electronics BiogApogee originally made their name with special anti-aliasing filters that solved many of the early problems associated with digital audio. Later, Apogee’s complete conversion systems pushed the envelope of digital audio quality and established Apogee as a key innovator in the field of professional digital audio. Today, Apogee converters and audio interfaces are regarded as the reference standard in the audio industry.Products such as Symphony I/O, Big Ben, Ensemble and Duet all set the benchmark by which digital audio recording hardware is judged. Now with their latest products JAM and MiC, designed especially for Apple’s iPad, iPhone and GarageBand software, Apogee continues to be at the forefront of recording technology. Apogee’s mission is to build products that offer ultimate sound quality and innovative design to all music creators from the aspiring artist to the discerning audio professional.https://apogeedigital.com/Sam Inglis BiogEditor In Chief Sam Inglis has been with Sound On Sound for more than 20 years. He is a recording engineer, producer, songwriter and folk musician who studies the traditional songs of England and Scotland, and the author of Neil Young's Harvest (Bloomsbury, 2003) and Teach Yourself Songwriting (Hodder, 2006).https://www.soundonsound.comCatch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In this Behind The Brand feature, Nuno Fonseca of Sound Particles talks to Paul White about their rapid rise in the film and audio industry and how they are using their sound particle plug-in technology to bring exciting new developments to sound design and audio recording.Chapters00:00 - Introduction 00:13 - Launch In The Film Industry02:59 - Moving Into Music04:53 - Controlling 3D Sound07:26 - EastWest WordBuilder11:05 - Density14:07 - The End-User Format17:04 - Solving Binaural19:45 - Head Tracking21:42 - Future DevelopmentsSound Particles BiogSound Particles creates 3D Audio Software that brings the power of computer graphics to the sound world, allowing sound professionals to create breathtaking sounds that simply would not be possible to create in any other way. Sound Particles provides the world’s first native 3D audio software combining CGI and audio techniques to create a new audio standard. The software creates the most realistic sound effects allowing perfect coherence between image and sound due to its true 3D CGI integration, while increasing the productivity of audio professionals.Based in Leiria (Portugal) and founded by Nuno Fonseca, a former university professor, Sound Particles has been steadily growing since being founded in 2016 and is now composed of a team of over 30 people (with 1 in the UK and 1 in LA).Sound Particles’ unique software is used in all major Hollywood studios and top videogame companies, in productions like "Dune", “Game of Thrones”, “Ready Player One”, "Frozen 2", "Star Wars" and many others.https://soundparticles.com/Paul White BiogPaul White joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1970s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Tony Ni from Soundtoys sits down with Sam Inglis to discuss his mixing workflow and to explain how he uses core Soundtoys plug-ins to achieve his sound.Chapters00:00 - Introduction02:54 - 21 Plug-ins 05:44 - Workflow Tools07:05 - Getting The Balance Right11:24 - EQ And Saturation21:22 - Parallel Processing The Drums28:38 - Using Saturation On Vocals35:07 - Adding And Automating Echo47:06 - Getting Started With SoundtoysSoundtoys BiogBased in Burlington Vermont, USA, Soundtoys (formerly Wave Mechanics) was founded in 1996 by Ken Bogdanowicz, the DSP effects designer behind the legendary H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer and the DSP4000 line of hardware signal processors from Eventide. Soundtoys develops world-class, creative signal-processing software for audio production, mixing, and sound design.Soundtoys users include Mike Dean, David Sitek, James Blake, Ariel Borujow, Jamie Lidell, Greg Wells, Dave Pensado, Tony Maserati, Tim Kelley, and Blake Mills.https://www.soundtoys.com/Sam Inglis BiogEditor In Chief Sam Inglis has been with Sound On Sound for more than 20 years. He is a recording engineer, producer, songwriter and folk musician who studies the traditional songs of England and Scotland, and the author of Neil Young's Harvest (Bloomsbury, 2003) and Teach Yourself Songwriting (Hodder, 2006).https://www.soundonsound.comCatch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Matt Johnson of Jamiroquai talks us through five favourite processing tips that he uses to create movement and interest in synth parts.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:53 - Tip 1: Reverb And Sidechained Compression02:48 - Tip 2: Panned Effects04:47 - Tip 3: Chopped Audio06:53 - Tip 4: Adding Effects To Duplicate Tracks09:55 - Tip 5: Adding Reverb Before CompressionAll music composed and performed by Matt Johnson © Matt Johnson MusicMatt Johnson BiogFor the last 20 years Matt has been the keyboard player for Jamiroquai, co-writing most of the band's output during that time and co-producing the last album ‘Automaton’.In between working with the band he has recorded as a session player with numerous artists in many genres including Duffy, Ashanti, J.P.Cooper, Jax Jones, S.G.Lewis, Purple Disco Machine, Newton Faulkner, Nolwenn Leroy, Will Young and many more.Now Matt has released his debut solo record ‘With The Music’ under the Splash Blue label, with a retro Jazz Funk feel.https://www.mattjohnsonproducer.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Eddie Bazil gives six sound design tips, using various plug-in filters to create unique instrument sounds and to add interest and movement to mixes.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:56 - The First Filters02:23 - Modern Filters04:37 - Example 1: Filtering A Triangle Wave Into A Sine Wave06:15 - Example 2: Using Self-Oscillating Filters To Generate Tuned And Tracked Tones07:27 - Example 3: Adding Movement To A Sub Bass11:44 - Example 4: Filtering A Drum Beat 14:45 - Example 5: Using Resonant Filters On Beats 17:34 - Example 6: Creating Texture With Formant Filters Eddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Howard Gray gives us a fascinating look behind the scenes of recording and engineering some of the biggest tracks of the 80s. James Gardner chats to him about his journey, starting out as a tape op through to becoming a highly regarded freelance engineer.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:48 - A Tape Op At Manor Studios02:25 - A Typical Day At The Manor03:45 - The Engineers And The Bands06:01 - Tape Editing07:56 - Switching To Digital09:18 - From House Engineer To Freelance09:42 - Hugh Padgham and Steve Lillywhite12:24 - Early Sampling13:03 - Using An SSL Desk17:45 - Scritti Politti Cupid and Psyche18:25 - Synchronising MIDI and Tape22:24 - Getting The Scritti Sound23:48 - Working With UB4028:01 - The Age Of Chance 28:15 - From Tape To Digital To HD Recording29:09 - Working With Slave Reels30:48 - The Change To Digital Tape31:58 - Preferred Recording Medium33:02 - Engineering Apollo 44034:31 - Recording A Jazz Quartet35:59 - Using Logic and Plug-insHoward Gray BiogHoward started out in the early 80s as a teenage razor-sharp tape operator at The Manor - Virgin Records’ quintessential getting it together in the country recording facility, before graduating to house engineer at one of the first Solid State Logic console equipped studios, west London’s legendary Townhouse. Sessions there included Kate Bush, Phil Collins, XTC, OMD, PIL, The Stranglers, Japan, Rip Rig & Panic, Van Morrison and ABC. He worked on countless classic 80’s records with producers like Mick Glossop, John Leckie, Hugh Padgham, Steve Lillywhite, Adrian Sherwood and Trevor Horn, engineering albums such as Simple Minds’ Sparkle in the Rain, and the paradigm shifting Cupid & Psyche for Scritti Politti.His first production credits with UB40 (Red Red Wine) led to more, including The Cure, Terence Trent D’Arby, Danny Wilson, Manic Street Preachers, Age Of Chance, Screaming Blue Messiahs, Pete Wylie, Tom Jones and Art Brut - at the controls in seminal London studios Air, Trident, Roundhouse, Sarm, Metropolis, Eden, Strongroom, as well as New York, Paris, Tokyo, Munich, Oslo, Baltimore and more.Witness to the dawn of digital and early adopter of the Sequential Circuits Studio 440, the possibilities of sampling led Howard in the early 90s to form dance/rock/dub combo Apollo 440, prolific producers and remixers of, amongst others, U2, Scritti and Shabba Ranks, Jean-Michel Jarre, James, Hotei, Puretone and Jeff Beck from their Camden Town ‘Apollo Control’ base. The group delivered three albums for Sony Records, numerous top 40 singles, including international hit Stop The Rock, film themes Lost in Space and Charlie’s Angels. He still regularly directs their live performance/Dub sound system at European festivals from FOH. Mixer of The Anfield Rap, co-writer and producer of Pass and Move (it’s the Liverpool Groove), and now nearing 500 credits on Discogs. His recent projects include Jazz LPs and Baroque Opera.James Gardner BiogJames Gardner is a composer, synthesizer programmer, researcher, and broadcaster based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). Born in Liverpool, James played and programmed synthesizers in London during the 1980s, and in 1990 co-founded the band/remix team Apollo 440. Following encouragement from Michael Finnissy, he left the group in 1993 to concentrate on notated composition. Moving to Aotearoa/New Zealand in 1994, he established the contemporary music ensemble 175 East, which he directed until 2010.As well as composing, he has written and presented many programmes for RNZ Concert including features on Frank Zappa, Morton Feldman, John Barry’s James Bond soundtracks, and These Hopeful Machines – a six-part series on electronic music. https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/hopefulmachinesAs a teacher, Gardner has lectured on music and music technology at the University of Auckland, Unitec Institute of Technology and the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, where he is an Adjunct Senior Fellow. His primary research topic is the synthesizer company EMS, and the electronic music studio of Peter Zinovieff.Website: https://www.gardnercomposer.com/Twitter: @JEGcomposerCatch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul and Hugh wax lyrical about the things they dislike about today's gear.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:18 - Power Supplies02:32 - USB Connectors03:07 - Software 04:37 - Audio Specifications06:15 - Digital Meters08:02 - Detented Potentiometers09:01 - OS Upgrades10:28 - Non-Removable Batteries11:39 - Impractical HardwarePaul White BiogPaul White joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

A rundown of some of the most intriguing product releases reviewed in Sound On Sound in 2021, as chosen by Paul White and Hugh Robjohns. Includes software and hardware from budget to pro audio.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:18 - Zoom F601:27 - Logic 10.701:59 - IK Multimedia AmpliTube X-Space 03:03 - Trinnov D-mon  05:06 - IK Multimedia AmpliTube 505:26 - Cherry Audio Stardust 201 Tape Echo05:41 - Waves Retro Fi06:14 - Rob Papen DelSane06:37 - SSL Native X-Echo06:49 - Classical Recording: A Practical Guide in the Decca Tradition08:21 - Boss IR-20008:41 - Blackstar Dept.10 Dual Drive 09:47 - RME Audio HDSPe AIO Pro11:19 - SSL BiG SiX12:42 - Aum Guitars Vibraslide13:52 - Gamechanger Audio LIGHT Pedal15:06 - Grace Design m900Paul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Vocoders are not just for vocals. In this episode, Eddie Bazil talks about the various vocoder plug-in options and demonstrates six creative techniques.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:30 - A Short History Of The Vocoder02:15 - How Vocoders Work03:28 - Example 1: Processing Drum Beats and Pads 07:31 - Example 2: Adding Texture To Drums And Bass 10:41 - Example 3: Creating Rhythmic Bass Textures 13:30 - Example 4: Creating The Borg 16:00 - Example 5: Modulating Sounds Using A Beat 21:20 - Example 6: Adding Delay To Create Motion Eddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul White and Hugh Robjohns discuss the evolution of recording from the perspective of their own experiences, starting with analogue tape and ending with computer-based digital systems.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:25 - Early Memories Of Recording02:47 - Simul-sync03:40 - First Multitrack Experience07:03 - Noise Reduction10:12 - Favourite and Worst Tape Moments12:07 - Digital Recording14:15 - Early Computer Recording16:47 - Digital Storage18:06 - The Early DAWs19:16 - Modern DAWs20:15 - Data Backups and Cloud StoragePaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul White looks back over the history of the echo effect, from tape loops through to plug-ins, and how modern echo effects can be used as sound design tools.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:15 - Early Echo Effects Using Tape Loops05:05 - The Introduction Of Solid State Technology06:43 - High-Quality Results With Digital Delays10:04 - Vintage Emulations And Sound Design Using Plug-insPaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In this episode, Eddie Bazil offers tips for creating a signature sound using sound design techniques and offers a range of suggestions on how drums can be processed to add more depth and texture.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:19 - The Role Of A Producer02:20 - Example 1: Adding Clarity And Bite To Drums04:10 - Example 2: Thickening A Drum Beat06:50 - Example 3: Creating Texture 09:58 - Example 4: Adding A Strong Attack To A Kick Drum 12:45 - Example 5: Adding Life To Acoustic Beats 16:22 - Example 6: Adding Ambience21:09 - Example 7: Altering the Kick Within A BeatEddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In this episode, Eddie Bazil discusses using Transient Shapers in place of EQ and provides six practical examples of the ways that each of the various tracks in your mix can benefit.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:25 - What Are Transient Shapers?01:50 - Example 1: Adding Clarity And Punch 03:19 - Example 2: Highlighting Attack Transients 05:20 - Example 3: Adding Grit And Thickness 06:58 - Example 4: Shaping Attack And Sustain 08:58 - Example 5: Sustaining Short Notes 11:46 - Example 6: Transient Shapers In Sound Design Eddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul White explains the basic concepts behind FX chain order and gives examples of how these guidelines can be broken in order to achieve new and unique audio outcomes.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:21 - Basic Rules Of FX Chains 01:11 - FX Chain For Guitarists03:03 - Phase And Distortion04:19 - Compression And EQ05:22 - Compression And Overdrive06:59 - Reverbs And Delays08:31 - Reverb And Distortion09:30 - Parallel Configuration In Your DAW10:37 - Where To Add Vocal Compression11:23 - SummaryPaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Auto-Tune may be a common plug-in for fixing vocal pitch, but in this episode Paul White explains the basics and demonstrates 7 tips to help you create a variety of alternative textured soundscapes.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:46 - Tip 1: Natural Sounding Auto-Tune03:07 - Tip 2: Robotic Style Auto-Tune04:27 - Tip 3: Adding Auto-Tune To Sends05:12 - Tip 4: Controlling Auto-Tune With MIDI06:17 - Tip 5: Creating Musical Soundscapes08:55 - Tip 6: Using Auto-Tune For Double Tracking09:47 - Tip 7: Using Auto-Tune On Pitch Bends10:47 - Demo Showcasing Various Auto-Tune TechniquesPaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!Credit: Vocals by Alice Rose Wild.http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Eddie Bazil takes us through some of the different uses for Dynamic EQ, including enhancing drums and vocals and separating elements within a mix.Chapters00:00 - Introduction 00:26 - What Is Dynamic EQ?01:45 - Example 1: Sidechaining 03:29 - Example 2: Processing Drums 05:33 - Example 3: Corrective EQ 08:03 - Example 4: Creating Motion 11:09 - Example 5: EQing Multiple Vocals 14:24 - Example 6: Separating Elements Within A Mix Audio CreditsExamples 3 and 4:Many thanks to David Plummer and Becky Bremner for use of their content in this podcast.https://www.smokinggoats.co.ukExample 5:Many thanks to Chris Timson and Anne Gregson for use of their content in the podcast.www.eaglealley.co.ukExample 6: Many thanks to artist Anna Kaona.Track: Every time, recorded by Simone Fedi at Studio Volta Recordings.Eddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In this episode Eddie Bazil explores the various ways that delay effects can be used and applies these techniques to a finished composition.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:23 - About Delay Effects01:57 - Example 1: Using Delay As A Reverb03:38 - Example 2: Applying Depth To Drums04:39 - Example 3: Using Delay To Create Motion06:42 - Example 4: Creating Rhythmic Effects07:58 - Example 5: Creating A Shadow Effect09:21 - Example 6: Creating Texture21:08 - The Completed SequenceEddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Eddie Bazil of Samplecraze gives us an introduction into the creative use of Phasers, with practical examples using drums, vocals and synth pads.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:25 - How Phasers Work02:34 - Demonstrating The Stages03:53 - Using A Phaser On Vocals04:43 - Stereo Panning 05:39 - Phasing a Rhodes06:35 - Advanced Phaser Effects09:52 - Adding Delay12:09 - Adding Reverb13:45 - Using AutomationAudio CreditMany thanks to David Plummer and Becky Bremner for use of their content in this podcast.https://www.smokinggoats.co.uk/Please Note UpdateThere is an error at the following time cues where Eddie mistakenly said Kilohertz instead of Hertz when referring to the LFO frequencies.At 04:04 he says 20 Hz and then 1kHz. They should be 0.20Hz and 0.1Hz. At 05:47 he says 4.2kHz and this should be 4.2HzSorry for the errors.Eddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

In this show Paul White guides you through seven reverb treatments, from simple to complex, and demonstrates how combining reverb with other commonly available plug-ins can produce creative textures and ambience in your music.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:00 - Tip 1: Using Ambience Simulations01:46 - Tip 2: Using A Plate Reverb04:06 - Tip 3: Combining Reverb and Delay 05:10 - Tip 4: Adding Texture06:43 - Tip 5: Shimmer Reverb 08:31 - Tip 6: Pitch Quantized Reverb 09:53 - Tip 7: Using Reverb To Create Rhythm 10:48 - Combining All Of The TipsPaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!Credit: Vocals by Alice Rose Wild.http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Record producer and educator Mathieu Gendreau shares 6 top tips to help you mix drums like a pro.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:13 - Tip 1: Gating drums like a pro05:51 - Tip 2: Adding weight to snare drum08:58 - Tip 3: Ducking overheads to remove snare drum11:51 - Tip 4: Adding brightness to snare drum using reverb14:09 - Tip 5: Controlling a large drum kit reverb using a gate    17:33 - Tip 6: Adding presence to snare drum using distortion and a top end boostMat Gendreau BiogMathieu "Mat" Gendreau, is a Canadian-born and Philadelphia-based music producer, composer, recording artist, label owner and educator. He is the founder and program director of the Rowan University Bachelor of Science in Music Industry in Glassboro NJ, USA, and he records under the names JAXX DE LUXE, Expo 67 and Plastic Operator (with bandmate Pieter Van Dessel).While graduating with an MA in Audio Production from University of Westminster in London, Gendreau cut his teeth as an in-house engineer at Mute Records in the early 00’s, He was also the main studio engineer for producer Arthur Baker. Over the years his music productions have been released by labels such as EMI, Mute, Virgin, Sony, Tommy Boy, Ministry of Sound and Universal, and he’s worked with many artists including Lenny Kravitz, Goldfrapp, New Order, Arthur Baker, Tommie Sunshine, CLIENT, Erasure, King Britt and Josh Wink. His band Plastic Operator caught the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ Rob Da Bank with the song "Folder" in 2005 and the single was signed to Sunday Best Recordings. In 2007, Mathieu launched his own label, Fine Day Records, and released Plastic Operator's album "Different Places" to critical acclaim. The band performed live in many of Europe's largest clubs, events and festivals including Bestival (Isle of Wight), Razzmatazz Club (Barcelona), Petrol, Culture Club (Belgium) and Paris Fashion Week. Mathieu has produced numerous remixes, including "Chains of Love - Plastic Operator remix" for chart-topping band Erasure (Mute/EMI). His club smash hit Booka Shade vs. Plastic Operator “I Won’t Back Down” was released on Ministry of Sound/Hed Kandi.In 2018, under his house music moniker JAXX DE LUXE, Mathieu signed to legendary house music label Nervous Records with the single “I’m Taking You High – Feat. Aphra”.  Later that year his JAXX DE LUXE remix of Lenny Kravitz's "Low" was part of a remix package that pushed the single to Number 1 on the Billboard Dance Music Chart.  Another of his recent efforts as a recording artist is a downtempo instrumental electronica project under the name Expo 67. The Expo 67 EP "Never Without You" was released on Fine Day Records / SONY The Orchard in 2019.His work as a composer has been featured in films and videos, television programs, advertisements, and video games for Ubisoft, Autodesk, MIT, WYBE, Coca-Cola, Radio-Canada Television and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Games Awards.Rowan University Music Industry Program : https://academics.rowan.edu/cpa/music/divisions/MusicIndustry.htmlJAXX DE LUXE: https://ampl.ink/em4YPExpo 67: https://ampl.ink/Qo4NKPlastic Operator: https://linktr.ee/PlasticOperatorDiscography: http://www.finedaymusic.com/p/discography.htmlCatch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.