Cubase Recording Dojo

COMING 2012 !!! GREENEYED ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS

2011-01-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

Cubase 5 - Arranger Track

2010-11-27T14:14:00.000-08:00

Using MIDI in Cubase - MIDI Velocity.mp4

2010-11-27T09:59:00.000-08:00

Cubase Vocal Comping and Processing Tutorial

2010-11-27T08:42:00.000-08:00

How to use FL Studio with Cubase 5 (tutorial - vst instrument multiple out...

2010-11-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

Cubase 5 - AudioWarp

2010-11-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

Cubase 5 Pitch correct settings for T-Pain style (Autotune)

2010-11-25T17:59:00.000-08:00

Recording Each Ezdrummer Track Seperate Cubase 5 Tutorial - [H...

2010-11-25T08:58:00.000-08:00

Cubase (All keyboard shortcuts)

2010-11-20T08:59:00.000-08:00

Shortcut Command

Audio category

A = Adjust Fades to Range

x = Crossfade

Ctrl+F = Find Selected in Pool

Automation category Cubase

Alt+R = Toggle Read Enable All Tracks

Alt+W = Toggle Write Enable All Tracks

Devices category Cubase

F3 = Mixer

F8 = Video

F4 = VST Connections

F11 = VST Instruments

F12 = VST Performance

Edit category Cubase

F = Autoscroll

Ctrl+C = Copy

Ctrl+X = Cut

Ctrl+Shft+X = Cut Time

Del or Backspace = Delete

Shft+Backspace = Delete Time

Ctrl+D = Duplicate

Ctrl+Shft+E = Insert Silence

E = Left Selection Side to Cursor

Ctrl+Shft+L = Lock

Ctrl+L = Move to Cursor

M = Mute

Shft+M = Mute Events

Alt+M = Mute/Unmute Objects

Ctrl+E = Open Default Editor

Ctrl+R = Open Score Editor

Return = Open/Close Editor

Ctrl+V = Paste

Alt+V = Paste at Origin

Ctrl+Shft+V = Paste Time

R = Record Enable

Ctrl+Shft+Z = Redo

Ctrl+K = Repeat

D = Right Selection Side to Cursor

Ctrl+A = Select All

Ctrl+Shft+A = Select None

J = Snap On/Off

S = Solo

Alt+X = Split At Cursor

Shft+X = Split Range

Ctrl+Z = Undo

Ctrl+U = Ungroup

Ctrl+Shft+U = Unlock

Shft+U = Unmute Events

Ctrl+Shft+I = Edit In-place

Ctrl+G = Group

Editors category Cubase

Ctrl+I = Show/Hide Infoview

Alt+I = Show/Hide Inspector

Alt+O = Show/Hide Overview

File category Cubase

Ctrl+W = Close

Ctrl+N = New

Ctrl+O = Open

Ctrl+Q = Quit

Ctrl+S = Save

Ctrl+Shft+S = Save As

Ctrl+Alt+S = Save New Version

Media category Cubase

F5 = Open MediaBay

F6 = Open Loop Browser

F7 = Open Sound Browser

MIDI category Cubase

Q = Quantize

Navigate category Cubase

Shft+Down Arrow Add Down: = Expand/Undo selection in the Project window to the bottom/ Move selected event in the Key Editor down 1 octave

Shft+Left Arrow Add Left: = Expand/Undo selection in the Project window/ Key Editor to the left

Shft+Right Arrow Add Right: = Expand/Undo selection in the Project window/ Key Editor to the right

Shft+Up Arrow Add Up: = Expand/Undo selection in the Project window to the top/ Move selected event in the Key Editor up one octave

Down Arrow Down: = Select next in the Project window/ Move selected event in the Key Editor one semitone down

Left Arrow Left: = Select next in the Project window/ Key Editor

Right Arrow Right: = Select next in the Project window/ Key Editor

Up Arrow Up: = Select next in the Project window/ Move selected event in the Key Editor one semitone up

End Bottom Select bottom track in the track list

Home Top: = Select top track in the track list

Nudge category Cubase

Alt+Shft+Left Arrow - End Left
Alt+Shft+Right Arrow - End Right
Ctrl+Left Arrow - Left
Ctrl+Right Arrow - Right
Alt+Left Arrow - Start Left
Alt+Right Arrow - Start Right

Project category Cubase

Ctrl+B = Open Browser

Ctrl+M = Open Markers

Ctrl+P = Open/Close Pool

Ctrl+T = Open Tempo Track

Shft+S = Setup

Shft+C = Show/Hide Track Colors

Score Functions category Cubase

Alt+Pad+[Plus] - Insert Voice: Next

Alt+Pad-[minus]- Insert Voice: Previous

Tool category Cubase

5 = Delete tool

8 = Draw tool

0 = Drumstick tool

4 = Glue tool

7 = Mute tool

F10 = Next Tool

9 = Play tool

F9 = Previous Tool

2 = Range tool

1 = Select tool

3 = Split tool

6 = Zoom tool

Transport category Cubase 4

I = AutoPunch In

O = AutoPunch Out

Pad / Cycle

. = Exchange time formats

Shft+Pad + Fast Forward

Shft+Pad - Fast Rewind

Pad + Forward

Shft+L = Input Left Locator

Shft+P = Input Position

Shft+R = Input Right Locator

Shft+T = Input Tempo

Insert (Win) = Insert Marker

N = Locate Next Event

Shft+N = Locate Next Marker

B = Locate Previous Event

Shft+B = Locate Previous Marker

L = Locate Selection

P = Locators to Selection

Shft+G = Loop Selection

C = Metronome On

Ctrl+Pad - Nudge Down

Ctrl+Pad + Nudge Up

F2 = Panel (Transport panel)

Alt+Space = Play Selection Range

Shft+Pad 1 to Pad 9 Recall Cycle Marker 1 to 9

Pad * Record + –

Shft+Pad * = Retrospective Record

Pad . or Pad ,= Return to Zero

Pad - = Rewind

Ctrl+Pad 1 Set Left Locator

Ctrl+1 = Set Marker 1

Ctrl+2 = Set Marker 2

Ctrl+ Pad 3 to 9 or Ctrl+ 3 to 9 = Set Marker 3 to 9

Ctrl+Pad 2 = Set Right Locator

Enter Start

Space Start/Stop

Pad 0 = Stop

Pad 1 = To Left Locator

Shft+1 = To Marker 1

Shft+2 = To Marker 2

Pad 3 to 9 or Shft+3 to 9 = To Marker 3 to 9

Pad 2 = To Right Locator

T = Use External Sync

Workspace category Cubase

Alt+Pad 0 Lock/Unlock Active Workspace

Ctrl+Pad 0 = New

W = Organize

Alt+Pad 1-9 = Workspace 1-9

Zoom category Cubase

Shft+F = Zoom Full + –

H = Zoom In + –

Alt+Down Arrow Zoom In Tracks + –

G = Zoom Out + –

Alt+Up Arrow or Ctrl+Up Arrow Zoom Out Tracks + –

Shft+E = Zoom to Event + –

Alt+S = Zoom to Selection + –

Z or Ctrl+ Down Arrow = Zoom Tracks Exclusive

MOTIF XS with LOOPMASH (VST Synthesizer included CUBASE5)

2010-10-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Chopping a sample in Cubase 5, Groove Agent One

2010-07-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

SCIM - Cubase Side-chain Compression Tutorial

2010-07-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Recording Mixing Vocals with Compression using Cubase

2010-07-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Cubase Recording Help, Guide and Tips

2010-06-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

Cubase 5 Music Production Tools

2010-06-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Cubase is the most widely-used sequencing program in the world with well over one million registered users. Designed for professionals from the ground up, Cubase converges extraordinary sound quality, intuitive handling and a vast range of highly advanced audio and MIDI tools for composition, recording, editing and mixing.

The first version of Cubase appeared in 1989 for the Atari ST computer although the programmer, Charlie Steinberg who gave his name to the company, had been creating sequencers for the Commodore 64 and Atari since the early 80s.

The release of Cubase in 1993 on the Atari Falcon was a breakthrough in DSP software technology as realtime manipulation of audio was possible without the assistance of additional processor cards, as was the case with the more costly Pro Tools and other similar systems. Cubase also sports a well-designed and fully functional midi and score editor, which seems to come as an afterthought in many sequencers even Pro Tools. If you want to record and tweak the sound with Cubase''s native reverbs, eq and dynamics, all of the tools of the trade are there and much more improved from a graphic user interface standpoint.

Now owned by Yamaha, Steinberg is greatly benefiting from the music giants ownership. After all Yamaha is the largest musical instruments manufacturer in the world.

Designed for professionals from the ground up, Cubase 5 sets a new standard for integrated music production software by combining powerful audio and MIDI recording, synthesis, editing, mixing and effects. The brand new VST3 effect plug-in set and new first-class VST instruments are only the beginning. There are also new VST instruments, including three outstanding new synthesizers (Prologue, Spector and Mystic as well as HALion One sample player with hundreds of new instruments based on Yamaha Motif waveform), and the new Instrument Track class accelerates handling of VST Instruments and combines MIDI and plug-in automation within the same track.

Tailored for composers, musicians and project studios as well as students and educators, Cubase Studio 5 still offers professional music production technology thanks to a high-quality set of essential tools, but at a lower price point than Cubase 5.

Customers who purchase Cubase 5 will find additional advanced features required for the final production phases including surround support, full Control Room functionality and specialised plug-ins and tools for creating a final mixdown.

These music tools will allow you to write tunes in a way that more directly relates to musical notation. But the input may instead be one of the time value reporters included in the Music Tools. Pro Tools MP3 OptionBy including the Pro Tools MP3 Option, the Music Production Toolkit makes it easy to listen to a new mix on a portable device or quickly share it with other band members without having to use a separate application. We all need the proper tools to create music, and by "tools" I don''t mean acertain brand of instrument or amplifier, but rather the music we hear inside.

In Summary Cubase 5 in my opinion at least is the Dewalt Power tool of the production world. Powerful and Reliable.

How to Produce Music with Synthesizers and Virtual Instruments - Cubase 5 and VST Plugins

2010-06-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

This is a guide to basic sound synthesis which will help you in creating music with software and virtual instruments like Cubase and Fruity Loops.

The basic sound that you hear in the patches is produced by the oscillators, and is then fed through the synthesizers signal path. If you set oscillation to a very low pitch, you''ll end up with gaps because the wave form is unceasingly dependent on the speed pitch of the note. And so the different sounds are produced by the shape of the waveform, which is the product of oscillation.

Here's the standard wave form.

For a sharp biting type sound, you need the saw wave. Its named as this because its shape is identical to those on a saw blade

To get a soft mild tone then you''ll want the Sine Wave, which''s shaped like a horizontal S; it has a smooth up and down shape to it.

A specified colour of noise will produce noise even though it is not truly a wave-form

To get that sound that simulates a hollow reed you need the square-wave. This''s distinguishable by its near perfect square out-look.

A variance to the square wave is the pulse-wave, although its merely half as wide. It has the interesting ability to have a modulated width. Perhaps you''ve heard this as being related to as the Pulse Width Modulation.

To find a glad medium between the saw wave and sine wave you would need the triangle-wave, which''s the shape of a triangle.

Most often a synthesizer has 2-3 oscillators. Being as that is the case, you can do a couple of fascinating stuff by mixing the waveforms together. Plus you can tune them so they''re different from one another. It can be tuned in semitones, octaves or in cents. A swirling untuned sound is produced by many oscillators which are cents apart from one another. Cents is a hundredth of a semi-tone.

There is an oscillator recognise as a low frequency oscillator. Its frequencies are undetectable unless you physically tune it into a standard hearing range. Its job is to tone the pitch of the oscillator or the filter frequency.

The start and stop of the waveform is quite evident because the LFOs are like the oscillators in that they all the same use regular wave forms. When utilized the right way for instance the sine-wave allows you to hear an increasing or decreasing sound of the wave shape. Animation and moving texture will be the end result for your synthesizer sound if done properly.

You can harness the full power of an actual synth stack using VST plugins and Cubase. Go ahead. Ride volume on multiple tracks simultaneously. Explore sounds and effects with VST plugins. Mute,solo and record tracks with the push of a button. Open and tweak virtual insutrments and effects plugins easily. Music creation can''t get any easier than this.
If you enjoy producing and recording music, get your hands on VSTPlatinum VST plugins pack Discover how to you create music easily and quickly from home with over 1700 virtual instruments and effects These synth instruments and VST plugins work for Cubase 4, 3, SX, LE, Fruity Loops and other major music creation software. Find out more at: http://www.VSTPlatinum.com

Cubase Studio 4 Simplified

2010-06-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

How to export a mix in Cubase.mp4

2010-06-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hip Hop Drums and Bass Production and Recording Techniques using Extreme...

2010-06-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

Cubase Music Mixing Guides

2010-06-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

Making a dance beat Cubase 5

2010-06-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

CUBASE 5 Heavyweight Audio Workstation

2010-06-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons Cubase 5 has become the most used digital audio workstation in the world is because of it's comprehensive skill set one that's second to none.

"This is home studio recording heaven"... (Props Mag)

Cubase 5 has it covered like the tide, top to bottom side to side. It comes packed with tons of tools and ways to help you engineer professional sounding records. Now all home recording studio owners have a chance to compete with the so called giant studios. Thanks to digital technology and companies like Steinberg who help provide a level playing field. As music producers, musicians, and recording engineers it's our duty to support these software developers. Truth is without these guys there would be no home recording studios.

Steinberg doesn't need me as a pitch man. I'm just speaking on behalf of Cubase 5 because i own it, love it and understand the unlimited musical ideals that can be created using it. It's simple logic, if you want to produce a professional record inside your home studio, then you're going to have to power up. You're going to need a true digital audio workstation. One that's compatible with outside audio applications, midi and 64 bit vst platforms. Honestly speaking Cubase 5 does it all and then some. Steinberg continues to put out innovative industry standard products. It's no secret that any recording studio, home or professional can benefit greatly from using Cubase 5. Stay on the lookout for Cubase 5.5 which has new powerhouse features and toys and also comes free for registered Cubase 5 users. "Now we're bumping beats baby"

Cubase 5 - Vocal Editing and Pitch Correction

2010-06-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

Cubase Tutorial - Tech Tip 8 - Create Stereo Width in Cubase 5 (Vocals, ...

2010-06-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Cubase Guru - How To Use A Compressor - Sonnox Native Dynamics

2010-06-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

Cubase 5 Beatmaking with Groove Agent One and Beat Designer

2010-06-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

Cubase Guru - Using MIDI Mapping In Cubase

2010-06-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Cubase Midi Control via Quick Controls

2010-06-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

Cubase Multiband Compressor

2010-06-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Cubase Video Tutorial - Vocoder (Transformers Style)

2010-06-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Adding Virtual Instruments in Cubase SX3

2010-06-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

AVTI - Cubase Vocal Comping and Processing Tutorial

2010-06-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

Cubase 5 (Stretching Audio) - Creative Variaudio & Bass Synths

2010-06-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Cubase Offline Processing

2010-06-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

Cubase 5 Beatmaking with Groove Agent One and Beat Designer

2010-06-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Mixing Music for Depth in Cubase

2010-06-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

Mastering Your Mix 101 (cubase 5)

2010-06-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

Mastering Your Mix 101 (by Yep)

Let me start off by saying that Yep is one of the most educated audio/recording engineers in
the world bar none...

(Mastering Your Mix 101)
Don't master your own mixes. If the mix doesn't sound good enough to be called a master, then fix the mix. Mastering engineers are people who specialize in doing what the mix engineer cannot do. They make corrections to compensate for inadequacies in the mixing engineer's listening environment, monitoring setup, hearing ability, and so on.

If you can't afford to send your mixes to a mastering engineer, then there a couple of very basic things you can do on your own to make your CD a little more listener-friendly:

Bounce all the songs to 24-bit stereo clips, making absolutely sure that you have no digital overs on the main outs. Do not include fade ins/fade outs in the mix. Just leave the intro/outro noise and silence in the track. We'll fix those in the mastering stage.

Determine which song is the best-mixed, and which translates best on different sound systems. Friends can be helpful in this regard. Your friends and family may give you skewed advice on the quality of your material (some will say that everything is brilliant, others find fault with anything), but if you ask them which one sounds the best-recorded or most professional, they will probably give you pretty consistent answers. Keep track of which one is the best-mixed, since we will use it later as a reference.

Home mastering Stage 1 Here, we are ONLY concerned about how the songs sound in relation to one another-- ignore everything else:
Load all the tracks in the order you think you want them to appear on the record, and put them in one stereo track of one project in your software, but keep them as separate clips of audio. Space them far enough apart that you will have room to move them back and forth a little. Set the master out of your software low enough so that you have plenty of headroom, maybe like -12~18dB or so-- don't worry about the level just yet, just make sure that you have it quiet enough that you are going to hear the whole thing with no clipping, either at the converters, your amplifier, or the speakers, even if you have turn things up here and there.

Now turn the level of your monitors up to a normal listening volume (RMS level of 83dB SPL is industry-standard, about as loud as city traffic or a noisy restaurant). Play them all back and listen, focusing on the transitions between songs, and A/Bing each song against the "best mix" frequently. We are going to make some very basic adjustments to try and get them all to sound good in comparison with each other. When in doubt, use the above-selected "best mix" as a reference. The other songs should compare favorably in an A/B test with that one. Do NOT, at this stage, compare any individual song with a commercially-mastered CD. We'll get to that later.

Overall Volume:
If a ballad seems louder than a rocker, then turn down the ballad or turn up the rocker 'till they seem proportionate. Use clip envelopes for this. Use your "best mix" as a reference, turning the other songs up or down so that they seem proportionate to the best mix and also to the songs before and after one another. Don't sweat the levels or digital overs or anything like that just yet, just get all the tracks so they seem to have the correct proportional loudness, as though they were being played in order by an actual band. And use the best mix as your reference point. Don't change it's volume, change the volume of the other songs to suit it. And go by ear, not by your meters.

Instrument levels:
If the vocal sounds suddenly huge and dominating on one track compared with the best mix, then go back to the mix and lower the vocal track by a few dB until it sounds proportional. If the kick drum seems to disappear, go back to the mix and raise it a couple dB. Make sure to save these "remixes" as separate projects from the original mix (something like: "Minimum Rage-vocals down 3dB"), unless you're positive that you're making changes that you will always want to keep, even when you can afford a million-dollar mastering engineer.

Frequency balance:
Does one song appear to be really bottom-heavy, or another seems tinny, or maybe to have too much presence and not enough highs and lows compared with your best mix? If so, then you should probably remix it. If you are ABSOLUTELY positive that the mix is good, but that it just happens to be a little bottom-heavy or whatever, then you are allowed to use a tiny bit of corrective equalization to balance it out with the rest of the album. Use the best equalizer you own. You are only allowed to use the low cut/boost and high cut/boost filters, and no more than 3dB of either one, with a gradual Q (let's say 1 or lower). Any more than that, and you have to remix. Sorry, those are the rules. You are permitted to use ONE AND ONLY one cut or boost of up to 6dB per album, but your overall score drops one letter grade if you use it.

Spaces in between songs/tuck-and-tail:
Drag the song clips back and forth until the songs are spaced in a way that is pleasing and exciting. Some songs will lead naturally into the next, others will want a period of silence so that there is a real dramatic impact when the song kicks in, and so on. When in doubt, have the song begin on the downbeat of the next "invisible" measure after the last song. Inserting markers can be useful for this. In Sonar, you can hit F11 during playback to insert a marker in real time. Listen to the tail end of song 3, and hit F11 when you think song 4 should start. then drag song 4 to that spot. Concurrently with this, you should be adjusting the fade ins/fade outs of your songs to suit the tempo and feel of the song, but also the tempo and feel of the album. Unless one song feeds right into another (as in a crossfade or a live set with audience noise or whatever), almost every song should start and end with a fade. It might be a very fast fade, but a fade will prevent clips, pops, or jarring transitions in ambient sound from one track to the next. As a rule of thumb, fade outs usually start slow and then speed up, and fade ins are just the opposite.

Song order:
Listen to your songs in order and second-guess yourself. Listen especially for jarring or unbecoming transitions between songs. You definitely want to have your very best song at or near the beginning of the album if you want anyone to bother listening to the rest of it. (again-family and friends might not tell you how good you really are, but they will usually give pretty consistent responses if you ask them which songs are better/worse than others). The album, regardless of genre, should usually start with the catchiest, most accessible song, the one that's easiest to get into. An exception might be if there is one outright pop song on an album of music that is not otherwise a "pop" record-- as much as you want people to listen past the first few seconds, you also don't want to piss off or alienate the people who might become your biggest fans. It's also not a bad a idea to put a song at the end that everyone seems to like-- makes people want to hit repeat. For the stuff in-between, try and set up the song order as though it were "sets" in a live show.

So now you’ve got all your songs in order, they sound good in order, they sound good together on shuffle, they are balanced and proportionate, and everything is happy and hunky-dory at 83dB SPL. Time to do the technical stuff.

Home Mastering Stage 2- adjusting overall level. From here on, you are ONLY allowed to make changes to THE WHOLE ALBUM, not to individual tracks. You may only adjust individual tracks in relation to EACH OTHER. If you need to change a song, you go back to stage 1 and start over. Got it? Good.

Overall level:
Now that the individual songs are set in levels that are proportionate to each other, play the whole album through and watch the meters. Figure out which song has the loudest average RMS level. (you can also use some kind of analyzer tool for this). It may be that there is a particularly loud section of an otherwise quieter song that you need to go by. You want to basically figure out where the “loudest part” of the album is. This will always be somewhat subjective. Make sure that you are going by RMS level, and NOT peak level. While you’re at it, identify the quietest song on the album, RMS-wise.

Once you have identified the loudest overall section (by RMS), turn up the WHOLE ALBUM so that THAT SONG is PEAKING at about -0.3 dB. Don’t worry about the levels of anything else just yet, just adjust the volume of the whole project so that the loudest song, RMS-wise, is coming in just under a digital over, PEAK-wise. For the moment, we ONLY care about the LOUDEST part of the album, RMS-wise. Make sense? This is important.

Now check the album, all the way through, and watch for digital overs. If everything was well-mixed with controlled, natural, balanced dynamics throughout, then there will be no clipping on the whole album. If so, great, you did awesome, move on to the next step, “Stage 3-playing with others.”

Probably, though, there will be one or two digital overs, here and there. Maybe one of the quieter songs has a loud snare, or maybe there is a section where the electric bass is turned up for a solo and pins the meter. Don’t sweat it, yet.

What you want to pay attention to is 1. How LONG the digital overs are, and 2. What the average RMS volume is of the quietest song and the loudest song.

WARNING: We are about to something that can be very dangerous to the quality of your audio. It is something that, overused, can seem to the untrained ear like an instant, across-the-board improvement in sound quality, but that is a psycho-acoustical illusion. We are about to apply limiting. A limiter limits the peak volume of the program material (aka the song). This allows us to turn up the average (RMS) volume before clipping. Program material with a louder RMS volume, in the short term, almost always sounds better than quieter stuff. But if the only reason it is louder is because the dynamic range has been unnaturally limited, then it quickly becomes fatiguing and headache-inducing to listen to. THE INSTANT YOU APPLY SEVERE LIMITING WITH MAKEUP GAIN, THE SOUND QUALITY WILL SEEM TO IMPROVE. BUT THAT IS ONLY BECAUSE IT IS LOUDER. AFTER MINUTES, THE SOUND BECOMES GRATING AND TURN-OFF-ISH, BECAUSE THE DYNAMICS ARE UNNATURAL AND HARSH. Your audience probably has a volume knob. Let them use it for what it was intended for. Do not use limiting to make your material seem louder than it is.

Ideally, in this method, you want to end up with the average level of the quietest song coming in not much lower than -20dB RMS. You are absolutely forbidden to make any corrections that make your loudest song louder than -12dB, RMS. If the quietest section of the quietest song averages -24 RMS, and the loudest section of the loudest song averages -14 RMS, and the peaks are coming in at -0.3 with only near-instantaneous limiting, then you probably have an excellent, well-balanced, dynamic mix. If any song has less than 12dB dynamic range between the average and peak levels, then it is probably going to give your audience a headache if they listen to it at normal volume.

This requires careful judgment on your part. A limiter is the audio equivalent of a loaded gun. It is what makes the world safe, and also what makes it dangerous. It is what makes most home-mastered records sound like dog excrement. But it is often a necessary evil if you have a record that sounds great, but has one snare hit that is 6dB louder than everything else.

Remember above when I said you want to keep track of how long the overs are? You are only allowed to use the limiter only on overs that are less than 2ms long, and that long only in extreme circumstances. The ideal scenario is that your overs are only occasional instantaneous transients lasting just a sample or two (in which case, my advice is to just leave the clipping in there-- that’s right, skip the limiter and let it clip for one or two samples). If you can bring your level up further and have only two- or three-sample clipping on occasion, then go a ahead and do it. Use the limiter if you want, but 99.9% of A/D converters in the world will gloss over digital clipping of only a couple samples, and almost none of them will reproduce the dynamic range differences of a one-sample sound, never mind the speakers or the amp.

What you want is to achieve the loudest level you can get without artificially squishing the dynamics. What happens if there are short portions that clip for audible periods, such as a loud bass note in one song? Here and only here, you are allowed to use bandwidth-limited compression. Set up the compressor with a really fast attack and a ratio of 2:1, maybe 3:1 in extreme cases. Set the threshold to about -2dB, maybe -4 if the clipping is bad. Set a fast-ish release time with a narrow bandwidth of maybe 1/3 octave or less. Loop the clipped section and play with the frequency until the peak level is lowest. Then narrow the frequency as much as you can and play with the release time to make the compressor sound most transparent. Bring up the ratio until just before clipping, about -.03dB. Set up automation so the compressor only kicks in on that note.
What if, on the other hand, there are lengthy portions that clip repeatedly? You have to remix. Sorry, rules are rules.

Again, do yourself a favor and keep your dynamics control to the absolute minimum required to get the loud sections loud. You can limit as many 3-sample overs as you want, but you are only allowed two instances of limiting for more than 1ms per song, and none for more than 3ms. Bandwidth-limited compression is permitted ONLY for individual notes at this stage.

Home Mastering Stage 3- playing with others.

In this stage, we will compare our master against commercially-mastered CDs to make sure we’re not kidding ourselves. Again, in this stage, you are not permitted to correct individual songs. The reasoning will be explained later. Any changes that you make have to be made to the WHOLE ALBUM.

Now that your album sounds well-balanced and well-put-together and is up to a reasonable listening level with a few well-controlled overs, it is time to pick a CD, any CD-- well, not just any one. Pick one that is similar to the style of music that you are doing, and that “sounds” the way you want yours to sound. Pick two, if you want. In fact, it is even better to pick two or more that have a similar vibe and dynamic to what you want yours to have, and it’s not a bad a idea to pick a third that you think most of your target audience will be listening to. Rip those Cds to stereo .wav files and add them to your project as tracks two and three and whatever.

Now, before you hit play, remember what we said about the loudness effect back in step two. U2 and Guns N’ Roses and Nelly and Madonna all have major advantages that you don’t have, and their mixing and mastering engineers have likely squeezed out a few extra decibels more than you will be able to without compromising audio quality. Like an amateur playing against professional golfer, you deserve a handicap. Not only is this fair, but having the handicap will probably improve your level of play by increasing your comfort level. So drop all those “pro” Cds by 6dB before you compare them to your own. I personally guarantee, nobody will ever not buy your record because they had to turn up their stereo by 6dB to hear it.

Now play back the “reference” material and compare it to your own. Does yours sound well-balanced? Do the loud songs sound loud, and the delicate ones delicate? Is the bass powerful and clear? Are the highs articulate and smooth? Is the midrange (most important) clean and well-defined? Are the vocals clear and present? Are the drums impactful and appropriate to the mix?

If you want, at this stage, you can make additional broadband, low-level eq corrections, using broad, shallow, low-Q cuts/boosts. Here, you are allowed to use filters of up to +/-6db, but only ones that cover at least two octaves. You can make small (up to 3dB), subtle corrections to the limiter or compression settings that you applied above, but only to correct transient overs, not to squash the performance dynamics. If particular songs need work, then you MUST fix them in the mix, or in the stage 1 processing (comparing them to other songs in the album, not to outside masters).

End notes:

The reasoning behind all the rules I have laid out is to protect you from doing more harm than good. As I said at the beginning, the primary job of the mastering engineer is to fix the stuff that mixing engineer cannot control. There is no such thing as a good mixing environment that is also a good mastering environment. 9 times out of ten, the final mixes sound better than home-mastered stuff does. The listener may have to adjust their volume knob or tone controls more often, but who cares? If you had to ask about mastering, then I guarantee that your room and/or equipment and/or ears are not up to the task.

I am not trying to insult you (the same is true for me), I am merely trying to point out that, if your room has a -10dB cancellation at 200Hz (and a 10dB cancellation is not at all uncommon, even in pro studios with the best gear), then you will probably compensate for that at the recording stage, at the mixing stage, and at the mastering stage, making things progressively worse at every stage for any listener who is not sitting in your room with his head between your speakers. In reality, you probably have much worse problems than a single 10dB room cancellation at one frequency, and to be honest, your gear and your ability are probably first on the list. Mixing is a mostly aesthetic challenge-- you hear the music, you mix it to get the right sound. But mastering is a more technical, more refined art. The job of the mix engineer is to make it sound great RIGHT NOW. The job of the mastering engineer is to make it sound the way it sounded to the mix engineer EVERYWHERE AND ALL THE TIME. This is the difference between photography and a photo-processing lab.

You will hear people tell you to master every song to a certain level, or to use this effect or that effect for best results. This type of one-size-fits-all approach is wrong.

The best thing you can do is to mix all your songs to sound as best you can, and then limit your “home mastering” to making them balance out with each other and sound good compared with commercial CDs. Commercial Mastering can be surprisingly inexpensive, and it will usually yeild much better results.

How to use FL Studio in Cubase 5 (tutorial - vst instrument multiple out...

2010-06-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Vocal Tips For recording vocals in cubase

2010-06-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

Vocal Tips For recording vocals in cubase

Vocals are often the most important element of a song, but for a producer the vocal track is also the most problematic.

Vocal Processing Tips
With a vocal track its important to get the best possible performance, using the best possible microphone and preamp. This is a whole other topic, so for now I’ll just assume we already have a recorded vocal take to work with, flaws and all.

The first stage in processing is to remove any unwanted noise/frequencies. This can be done with a noise gate, de-esser, filtering and/or EQ.

Vocal Tip 1 – Filter/EQ
Generally speaking, a vocal will have little or no information below 100 Hz (see this frequency chart for details), so a high-pass filter to cut out this range is probably a good idea. You can even raise the threshold further if you’re dealing with a female vocalist. Most DAWs have their own native EQs so you should be able to do this rather easily.

Vocal Tip 2 – Noise Gate
A noise gate cuts out the spaces where the vocalist isn’t singing, and acts in a similar fashion to a compressor. You’ll need to set up the attack and release times so that the effect works
well with the timing of the singer.

Vocal Tip 3 – De-Esser
A de-esser is usually required to take out those intrusive plosives and ‘ess’ sounds, although you might get by without one if the singer knows how to work the microphone (don’t forget to use a pop shield).

Vocal Tip 4 – Compressor
Now that most of the bad stuff has been cleaned up, it’s time to look at controlling the dynamics of the recording. As usual, compressors are the order of the day – sticking with the excellent Digital Fish Phones freebies, we can use cubase's vintage compressor to even out the levels in the performance, creating a smooth vocal that doesn’t have any annoying dips or spikes in volume.

Vocal Tip 5 – Reverb
At this stage, we can consider applying some reverb. Tread with caution here, as it’s easy to overdo – reverb should be barely audible, just enough to blend and pad the vocal slightly.

Vocal Tip 6 – Adding Depth
If you need some extra processing beyond the basics outlined above, then you might want to consider cubase's stereo image plugin for some tape saturation, Cubase studio Chorus for a taste of chorus fattening, or the Limiter for bringing up the levels a bit more.

Signs of a Quality Mastered Mix (Cubase)

2010-05-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

Signs of a Quality Mastered Mix (Cubase)

These are some of the characteristics that I think are pretty true of different types of recordings, for those who are still wondering what all this mastering stuff is really about:

Good final mix, not mastered:

- sounds quieter than commercial recordings.
- songs sound different from one track to the next. The listener frequently adjusts tone and/or volume controls on the playback system to compensate.
- recordings sound noticably different on different playback systems.
- compared with commercial recordings, highs seem to lack "sparkle" and "shimmer." lows sound sometimes dull, weak, or boomy.
- dynamic response may be uneven from one song to the next, or within songs.
- Overall sound of individual tracks is generally good.

Good final mix, well mastered:

- Frequency spread and level is comparable to commercial recordings.
- All songs have a consistent, high-quality "sound" that translates well regardless of playback system or listener's preferences vis-a-vis tone/eq controls.
- highs, mids, and lows are tight, clear, and smooth.
- Dynamic response is natural and musical. Pads are clean and lush, drums are punchy, instrument balance sounds natural.
- Frequency spread is balanced and clear. The "sound" is transparent, it doesn't distract from the musical content. "Depth" and "airiness" sound natural and smooth.

Good final mix, poorly mastered:

- Frequency spread is uneven and distracting. Highs may be sibilant and grating, especially at high volume. Lows may be thumpy or excessively boomy. Mids are noticably lacking.
- Dynamic response is unnatural and over-compressed.
- Sound is generally consistent from one system to the next, and from one track to the next. Listener adjustment of tone controls does not alter the "sound" of the recording.
- Overall, sounds generally more "pro" than the raw mix, but slightly sterile, and possibly unpleasant after extended listening.
- Sound may be gritty or overly "digital."
- Cymbals have a white-noise sound to them. Electric guitars may sound fizzy and harsh. Bass instruments do not seem well "seated" in the track. Drum sounds are weak, boomy, mushy, or inconsistent.

Between the rough mix and the bad master, I'll take the mix every time. Have fun.

Cubase 4 Tutorial: External MIDI Instrument

2010-05-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Cubase 4 guide for beginners

2010-05-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

Cubase 4 Tutorial: Working With Loops

2010-05-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

AVTI - Cubase Tutorial on Automation part 2

2010-05-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

AVTI - Cubase Automation Tutorial

2010-05-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Quick mix in Cubase 4 with Ez Drummer and Overloud TH1- watch in high q...

2010-05-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

Make Reverse Reverbs Tutorial in Cubase 4

2010-05-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

Cubase 5 Nudge Tool

2010-05-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

Cubase 5 Nudge Tool

If you want to move a track a few milliseconds in any direction, use the nudge tool (+/-) located on the transport panel. First make sure you have snap turned off by pressing the "j" key. Now you should be able to move the tracks freely.Next you need to zoom in on the track for more accuracy, you can do this by pressing the "H" key several times, if you want to zoom out press the "G" key.

Cubase Quick Start Guide to Using Effects

2010-05-13T18:12:00.000-07:00

Using Cubase Send Effects

2010-05-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

cubase send effects

Reverbs and delays are basically always used as send effects, as this allows you to channel different amounts of different channels to the same effect, while having one fader available to control the entire level of the effect. Compared among using multiple reverbs as record effects, this conserves CPU power and makes it easy to place multiple sources in the same acoustic space. Just remember the send effects should be set to 100 percent wet. To set up a send effect in Cubase, insert a plug-in on an FX or Group Channel —preferably an FX Channel.

Cubase contains plenty of choices for delay, but sometimes it pays to keep things simple and use MonoDelay or StereoDelay.In general, I find that it aides to think of your stereo mix as a three-dimensional space, consisting of a left-to-right stereo field, which you can control though panning, a 'vertical' frequency spectrum, which you can control via EQ (and by writing suitable characteristics for suitable instruments!), and front-to-back depth, which is built mainly with reverb- and delay-based effects (often combined with a bit of EQ).

A useful starting point for a mix (which is worth creating as a Project template in Cubase) is to set up somewhere between three and six FX Channels, for a different delay and/or reverb. For example, I created a template that includes six send effects channels. These include a very brief reverb provided for mainly the first part of reflections or 'ambience', a mid-length reverb and a longer reverb, and a parallel configuration for delays — one very short, with little or no feedback, one more noticeable, maybe with a touch of feedback, and another rather longer one, amidst feedback that I'll change based on information from song to song as required.

I might choose to use some further, 'special' reverbs and delays later, but this is often my basic starting point. I can use these kinds of FX Channels to place sounds at multiple points on the front-to-back axis, by sending varying amounts of the different channels to them. If you haven't tried this approach before, give it a go — it can be really effective and can save you a lot of clock ticking work.

When you use the sends to route a signal to an FX Channel, it defaults to sending the signal post-fader — that is to say, it's only the sound source as it sounds following EQ, insert effects and the volume fader that goes to the effects. But you can opt to send the signal before any of the processing or volume settings, which means that you get the unprocessed signal going to the FX Channel. To do this, you just click the pre-fader button.

Using Cubase Compressor to Create Pumping effect

2010-05-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

How to use Cubase's compressor to get that pumping effect

First find your song's (BPM) beats per minute, then calculate your attack
and release times.

Heres one way you can use a compressor to artificially pump an 1/8th note bass line on every quarter note. First set the attack to a 1/16th note and the release to a 1/4note-1/16th note. For a BPM of 95 in this case set the attack to 158 ms and release to 632-158 = 474 ms. This should let the 1st transient through (approx 1/16th note in length) then clamp down on the rest of the 1st eighth note and the 2nd eighth note and then be fully released by the time the 3rd note starts. Basically what you get is the 1st half of every other 8th note goes through untouched thus creating a pumping effect. This is a great way to add ear trickery and take your mix to a whole new level.

Cubase 4 Tutorial: Editing Audio (Part 2 of 2)

2010-05-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

Cubase 4 Tutorial: Editing Audio (Part 1of 2)

2010-05-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

Antares Auto-Tune: Targeting Notes and Creating Harmonies Us

2010-05-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

Cubase 5 Ducking Vocals Using the Side Chain Effect

2010-05-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

Cubase 5 Ducking Vocals Using the Side Chain Effect

Vocals are often the most important element in a song, and their place in the mix should reflect that. Compression and limiting of the vocal track can help make that easier to achieve,
but another trick is to slightly drop the levels of other mix elements when the vocal is present, and raise them again when the vocal drops out. Good candidates here are rhythm guitar
and keyboard parts.
The volume changes can of course be achieved via volume automation, but the recent addition of side-chain facilities to some Cubase 4 plug-ins means you can also do
this via ducking, without having to draw all that automation data in. Inserting a compressor in the track to be ducked, activating its side-chain input and specifying the lead vocal track
as the source for the side-chain input will allow the compressor to gently squeeze the level of the instrumental track whenever the vocal is present. Even a drop of 1 or 2dB in some instrumental
backing elements in this way can help give the vocal a little more space to work in the overall mix.

Cubase Panning Control

2010-05-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Cubase Panning Control

When it comes to audio channels, the pan control is, in theory, pretty simple: if it's set to centre, an equal amount of the sound comes out of both speakers to give the illusion the sound is centered, while if the pan control is set to hard left or right, the sound only comes out of either the left or right speaker. By default the pan control for audio-based channels is set to centre, and for MIDI Channels it's set to 'off', meaning that no MIDI pan information is sent.

Cubase SX 3 and up offers additional flexibility for configuring the behaviour of the Mixer's VU meters via the VU Meter Settings sub-menu, available based on data from a pop-up menu if you right-click on the Mixer window.

Sounds straightforward. However, the pan control isn't that novice since without some form of compensation it's possible for sounds to sound unnaturally louder when they're panned centrally — there is output from two speakers, compared to when a sound is panned hard left or right, when there's only output from one. The solution, is to attenuate the signal as it passes through the center. This behaviour is known as pan law in recording.

You can adjust the amount of attenuation with the Pan Law Mode setting in the Project Setup window (press Shift+S to open). Cubase offers 3 choices.

0dB suggests there may be no attenuation in the center. As explained above, this can cause an unnatural stereo image, making sounds usually panned center (such as bass and bass-drum sounds) appear louder than they really are.

—6dB is, in theory, more natural sounding, but can be unsatisfactory for people who need tons of punch in instruments panned centrally (such as a bass line), so it's best to use this setting for stereo music where mono compatibility is important, as when producing audio for TV or other broadcast work.

—3dB is a compromise between the two settings, and Steinberg recommend its use for the majority of stereo music.

The default pan control in Cubase, where you can pan a sound from left to right in the stereo field, is known as the Stereo Balance Panner, while in the case of stereo audio tracks, if you right-click on a pan control you'll notice quickly Cubase provides a choice of two additional types of pan control for each channel. The Stereo Dual Panner gives you two Balance panners in the space of one, so now you can control the panning for each side of a stereo signal separately. The Stereo Combined Panner puts both left and right controls in the same field, with a filled blue area between them to show the width of the field. The left and right controls are linked by default, but you can move them independently by Alt/Option-dragging. The filled area between the two sides become red if left and right channels are reversed.

Basic Compressor Controls

2010-05-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

INPUT........To set the level going in.
THRESHOLD........This sets how high the signal must go before the compressor kicks in.
RATIO.......This sets how much compression is applied in ratio to the Db rise in signal level above the Threshold.
ATTACK.......This sets how fast the compressor kicks in once the Threshold has been breached.
DECAY........This sets how fast the compressor lets go, once the input signal has dropped back below the threshold.
LINK ......Links the two sides for stereo operation.
OUTPUT......Sets the output signal level.

HARD KNEE/SOFT KNEE

HARD KNEE
This form of compression kicks in as soon as the threshold ceiling is reached.

Let's say you have set a RATIO of 4:1......Once the threshold is passed, the compressor allows only 1db of signal level increase at the output,
for every 4 db in input signal level rise above the threshold setting......

On a Hard Knee compressor, this full amount of compression (as set by the Ratio) is applied in full, as soon as the input level rises above
the threshold.....This is a standard type of compressor.

PEAK & RMS MODEs

Some compressors, such as the Alesis 3630, allow you to switch between PEAK...and RMS operation. Practically, a compressor listens to the input signal
through the "SIDE-CHAIN" circuit, and then tells the VCA (voltage control amplifier) to apply compression when needed according to the adjusted setting.
The compressor will respond differently depending on whether it is monitoring the input signal in either Peak mode or RMS mode...

PEAK
The PEAK setting makes the compressor crush any signal rising above the threshold, no matter how fast the transient.....This is an ideal mode to use
for something like digital recording, where you need to absolutely stop any signals from overloading the input, because digital cannot be "saturated"
in the way tape can, and you get terrible digital distortion......Peak compression however is not very smooth or natural sounding, & can produce very
un-natural noticeable results unless you use a low compression ratio .....However, it can work well on fast attacking sounds like drums, working fast
to maintain a more even level for each drum hit.

RMS
The RMS mode setting is a more natural sounding mode, and responds similarly to the human ear...(Oh yes...human ears do have compression !!).......
RMS mode doesn't bother too much about quick short peaks that might cut through above the average signal level....even if you set a fast attack time..
RMS mode works on a wider average than PEAK mode, thus allowing some fast transients through, but closing down more when continuous loud peaks start to appear.

Using Automation in Cubase

2010-05-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Cubase Automation

When you are working using a mixer, such as the one constructed into Cubase, there will come a time when you find yourself moving the mixer controls. Cubase gives you the ability to record and play back the movements of various mixer parameters, which we refer to as automation.

The novice operation of working with automation in Cubase is quite straightforward. For example, say you have an audio track and you want to automate the volume fader. To do this, just click the track's [W] Write Enable button, hit play, move the fader to taste, and then push stop. Once a track's Write Enable button is active, any parameters that can be automated on that track will be 'armed' for automation so that when the transport is active (which is to say you either pressed play or record), any adjustments to armed parameters will be stored at the appropriate time location.

Cubase represents mixer channels that do not play back Audio Events as Automation tracks on the Project window's Track List, and automatically organises them to folders by path type.
Once you've written automation info to a track, it's a good underlying thought to deactivate the Write Enable button to hold off any accidents, and then, for the automation info to play back, you need to make sure the track's [R] Read Enable button is activated. You can toggle the Read and Write Enable buttons for all tracks simultaneously by clicking the 'All Automation to Write/Read Status' buttons at the very top of the track List (labeled [W] and [R]).

So once a track is armed for automation, parameters are actually recorded? In the case of audio-based tracks, you can automate Volume, Pan and Mute, the built-in EQ parameters, and Level and Enable parameters for each send. Any parameters for insert plug-ins you're using on the track that is being enabled to write automation are also included. You'll realize that plug-in windows also include Read and Write Enable automation buttons, and these can be used independently of the track or channel on which the plug-in is used. For example, if you have an insert plug-in on an audio track and enable the track's Write Enable button, the plug-in's Write Enable button will also become active. However, the reverse isn't true, so enabling a plug-in's Write Enable button doesn't activate automation for all the parameters on the appropriate track.

As an aside, it's major that in the current version of Cubase, when a track's Write Enable button is active, the movements of all automatable parameters are recorded.

Mic Check 101 (Cubase 5)

2009-12-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

Condenser microphones are the most common types of microphones that you'll find in most recording studios, not just home studios.
They have a superior frequency response and transient response - which is the ability to reproduce the "speed" of the source signal.
They also generally carry a louder output, but are much more sensitive to loud sounds.

Condenser microphones are generally more expensive than dynamic microphones, but many cheap condensers mics do exist.

They require the use of a power supply, generally 48 volt "phantom power", This phantom power is generally supplied by most mixing boards or external power supplies (look for a switch that says "P 48" or "48V" on the channel strip or on the back of your mixer.)

Condenser microphones are generally preferred in recording studios because of their sensitivity to loud sounds and the fact that they're quite a bit more fragile than their dynamic counterparts.
That being said, you'll find them onstage at live music shows, used for drum overheads also for use in orchestral or choral sound reinforcement.

With condenser microphones, you'll generally find two different types: small diaphragm, and large diaphragm. Large diaphragm condensor microphones are the most popular in many studios home or professional.

Dynamic Microphones

Compared to condenser microphones, dynamic microphones are much more rugged. They're also especially resistant to moisture and other forms of abuse, which makes them the perfect choice onstage.

Dynamic microphones like the Shure SM57 and Shure SM58 are legendary for not only their good sound quality, but the amount of abuse they can withstand. Any good rock club probably has at least 5 of each of these microphones in various states of aesthetic ruin; however, they still turn on and more than likely sound just as they did the day they came out of the package.

Dynamic microphones don't require their own power supply like condenser microphones. Their sound quality is generally not as accurate, however.

Most dynamic microphones have a limited frequency response, which makes them well-suited, along with their ability to withstand high sound pressure levels, for loud guitar amps, live vocals, and drums.

Great dynamic microphones include the Shure SM57 ($99), Sennheiser E602 ($99), and the Shure SM58 ($99).

Recording Vocals At Home - You'll want a large-diaphragm condenser microphone with phantom power; if not, you might want to consider a large-diaphragm dynamic microphone like the Shure SM7B ($350). If your cash stash is low like mine then you won't get any better than a Shure SM58 for the price or the overall quality.

Recording Acoustic Guitar - You'll want a good small-diaphragm condenser microphone when recording guitar. A good choice is the Oktava MC012 ($99), Marshall MXL 603S ($99),

Recording drums- When recording drums in your home studio you cant go wrong by using these top home studio mics. The first one is the Shure SM57 great mic for recording toms as well as snares.

Another quality and proven microphone for recording drums is the Heil-PR40 this mic works magic when recording a kick drum.

Cubase 5 recording vocals

2009-12-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

E.Q. Frequency Table Chart Cubase

2009-11-28T12:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a chart that will explain some of the problem areas that you may come across when E.Q.ing tracks.

31Hz Rumble, "chest"
63 Hz Bottom
125Hz Boom, thump, ****th
250Hz Fullness or mud
500Hz Honk
1KHz Whack
2KHz Crunch
4KHz Edge
8KHz Sibilance, definition, "ouch!"
16 KHz Air

1. If it sounds muddy, try cutting at 250Hz.

2. If it sounds honky, try cutting at 500Hz.

3. Cut the frequency if you’re trying to make things mesh and
sound better.

4. Boost the frequency if you’re trying to make things sound
different.

5. You can’t boost something that’s not there.

How To Get Your Home Studio Music onto Your Website

2009-11-25T09:53:00.000-08:00

Many people ask me how to get their music onto their own personal music websites. Here are a few methods. There are three ways: 1. By direct html/java web programming; 2. By using an application that basically programs a music player for you; 3. By using a third party "widget."

2. Applications for Putting Music on your Website

Here is one option: http://musicplayer.sourceforge.net/ The big advantage is that it is free and lots of people use it, but it's a little tricky to setup. It plays more of a "playlist" which is cool. So it's more configurable and takes some time to setup but well worth it.

3. Third Party Widgets

There are many third party options out there for putting music on your own website. The process is simple: You sign-up and load your songs onto the third party website and then copy HTML code to paste into your own website. Here are two free options that are very easy to use: Reverb Nation http://www.reverbnation.com or Nimbit Free found here: http://www.nimbit.com/ . Nimbit has the added value of being able to sell your music through the widget as well. Instant ready made music store!

Music Copyright Myths and Royalty Free Music

2009-11-22T09:49:00.000-08:00

Ever downloaded music from the Internet? Perhaps you wanted to use it in the classroom, or needed it for your website, or to add to a flash movie
, or maybe to jazz up a multimedia project. Whatever the end use, more and more of us are frequently turning to the Internet as our one-stop resource for digital music because we know that it is a fast and easy way to get just what we are looking for! Unfortunately, what many of us don't know is that it may not be legal to do so. Downloading music files from the Internet and using them like the music belonged to you means that not only are you infringing upon the copyright, but you are also risking being fined and even being legally prosecuted.

The law does not recognize if you are unaware of copyright laws. So, don't put yourself in an illegal situation when it is so easy and affordable to use Royalty Free Music from music production libraries. And don't base your online actions on hearsay.

This article attempts to bust some common myths that abound in the virtual world, and put you on the right side of the law.

Myth 1: It is legal to use any music for 7 seconds
Fact: No. Unlawful use of even a short excerpt from a song is enough to land you in a copyright infringement case. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise, unless he is a copyright attorney! Remember, there is nothing like free to use music - not for 30 seconds, not for 7 seconds, not even for the first eight bars! You need a license to use music without landing into trouble.

Myth 2: I bought a music CD, I can use the music on my website since I paid for it.
Fact: Wrong. You bought the CD - not the music! Buying a legitimate CD gives you the right to play the music privately. You definitely need permission from the composer of the music as well as the sound recording company to use the music on the CD as background music for your website.

Myth 3: The composer is dead, his music is no longer under copyright.
Fact: Untrue. The copyright for a music composition lasts for approximately 70 years from the death of the composer. It does not automatically expire with its creator. And even if the composer is dead since a long time - like Mozart for example - you still don't have the right to use someone's interpretation of their music without a license.

Myth 4: It's for a non-profit organization, so I can use any music I want for free.
Fact: False. Your project (website, presentation, video, anything) may be non-profit, but when it becomes available to other people, you are allowing them to hear music they didn't purchase. That is a breach of the copyright law, no matter if you are making money on the project or not.

Myth 5: I can use this music for free because I found it on the Internet.
Fact: Absolutely not. All music found on the internet is under copyright. If you reproduce, perform, or distribute musical compositions and sound recordings without the requisite licensing, you are violating copyright law.

Myth 6: I can use music because the website did not carry a copyright notice.
Fact: Beginning March 1, 1989, it is no longer mandatory to display the copyright notice to protect one's intellectual property, in this case, music.

And if you are still not convinced, consider this: Would you pick up produce from a farm and walk away without leaving money for what you took? Most certainly not! You wouldn't deprive a hard working farmer from his rightful income. Likewise, if you violate copyright law, you deprive a composer of the royalties derived from the purchase of their work. Think about it!

So what is copyright, anyway? When you own the copyright of a piece of work, it means literally that you have the "right to make copies" of that work. By extension you also have the right to license that work to others who want to use it. It is a form of intellectual property law that protects an original piece of work from being pirated and used without permission of its creator

To avoid getting on the wrong side of the law, consider purchasing a legal music license from royalty free music libraries. Whether you are looking for production music for your video or background music for a multimedia presentation, you can choose from literally thousands of royalty free soundtracks. What's more, buying royalty free music online is really easy and affordable.

Stay clear of unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted music, and keep the copyright police from knocking at your door!

About the AuthorGilles Arbour (contact me) is one of the owners of www.premiumbeat.com a leading Royalty Free Music Library.
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Cubase 5 Music Production Mixing Tips & Tricks

2009-11-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

What makes a pro recording pro? What is the "sound" that the pros get and how can you make your recordings sound more professional?

The simple answer is - there's no simple answer. But with careful listening and a little experience you can create excellent results with modest equipment.

Good mixing starts ear

The first and most important item of equipment is - who knows? Anyone? It's your ears! Sorry to tell you this, but listening to ten hours of Rave at 110dB will do nothing for them and you might as well give your mix to a turtle as try to mix with misused ears.

Listen to commercial recordings of mixes you like, analyse them, listen for the effects and get to know what constitutes the sort of sound you're after.

Mixing secrets

There's no hidden secret to getting a good sound, but if we had to sum up the secret of mixing in two words it would be this - EQ and compression. Okay that’s three words.

These are probably the two most important tools used by professional producers. However, like any tools, if you don't know how to use them you'll be carving Habitat tables instead of Chippendale chairs.

That's where your ears and experience come in. Here we have assembled some production ideas, suggestions, tips and tricks but they can only be guidelines and need to be adapted to suit your material. There are no presets you can switch in to make a bad recording sound good. And if your original material has been poorly recorded not even Abbey Road could salvage your mix. But follow these suggestions and see how much your mixes improve.

Get the level right

You can't push the levels when recording digitally as you can when recording to tape but you still want to get as much signal into the system as possible. This means watching the levels very carefully for clipping, and recording at an even and constant level.

Some recording software lets you monitor and set the input level from within. Some expect you to use the soundcard’s mixer while others have no facility for internally adjusting the input level and expect you to set this at source.

Monitors

Your ears are only as good as the monitors they listen to. DO NOT expect to produce a good, pro mix on tiny computer speakers. It may sound fine on a computer system, but try it on a hi fi, in a disco and through a car stereo.

Oddly enough, you don't necessarily need the most expensive Mic. Many top artists use what some might call "average" Mics because they work well and get the job done. You can spend a wad on a large diaphragm capacitor Mic (yes, they're good for vocals) if you have the lolly but check out dynamic Mics which are much more affordable and can be turned to several tasks.

Mixing MIDI and audio

One of the great things about computer-based recording is that the parts can so easily be changed, edited and processed. It's also so easy to combine MIDI and audio tracks and many musicians use a combination of sample loops, MIDI parts and audio recording.

Audio recordings are generally guitar and acoustic instruments such as the sax and vocals. Incidentally, the best way to record guitars is by sticking a Mic in front of its speakers. You can DI them and process them later and this may be cleaner but for a natural guitar sound a Miced amp is hard to beat.

It's not necessary to record drums live and, in fact, it's difficult to do and retain a modern sound. You can buy off-the-shelf MIDI drum riffs and audio drum loops, or program your own. The quality of the gear which makes drum noises these days is such that anyone with a good riff can sound like a pro.

Mixing MIDI

As MIDI and audio parts appear on the same screen in modern sequencers, it's very easy to arrange them into a song. However, when you come to mix everything down there's another consideration. If you are recording to DAT you can simply route the audio and MIDI outputs through a mixer and into the DAT machine.

However, if you want to create a CD you must first convert the MIDI parts to audio data. The entire song can then be mixed to hard disk and burned to CD. Converting MIDI to audio can have another benefit and that's the ability to process the MIDI tracks using digital effects.

Effects

There are three positions for effects known as Master, Send and Insert. Use the Master for effects you want to apply to the entire mix. These will often be EQ, compression and reverb.

Although giving each channel its own Insert effects is kinda neat, each one uses a corresponding amount of CPU power. So if your computer is struggling and if you're using the same effect on more than one channel, make the effect a Send effect and route those channels to it.

Many pieces of software let you apply an effect Pre or Post fader. With Post fader, the amount of sound sent to the effect is controlled by the fader. With Pre fader, the total volume level of the signal is sent. Post fader is the usual default and the one you'll use the most.

EQ

EQ is the most popular and the most over-used effect. Yes, it can be used to try to "fix a mix" but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear as me Gran used to say and what she didn't know about mixing could be written in the margin of the book of honest politicians.

But before you start messing with EQ - or any other effect for that matter - make sure you have a decent set of speakers. Have we said that already? Oh, must be important, then.

There are plug-in effects such as MaxxBass which can psychoacoustically enhance the bass frequencies to make it sound better on smaller speakers. However, this is by no means the same as getting a good bass sound in the first place by observing good recording principles.

EQ can enhance a mix to add gloss, fairy dust, shimmer, sheen, a sweetener or whatever you want to call it to the final production. It can be done with enhancers and spectralisers, too, although these tend to mess with the harmonics which some producers don't like. However, don't dismiss them out of hand.

General EQ lore says that you should cut rather than boost. If a sound is top-heavy, the temptation is to boost the mid and bass ranges. But then what usually happens is you start boosting the upper range to compensate and you simply end up boosting everything and you're back where you started - only louder!

The reason why cutting is preferred is that boosting also boosts the noise in the signal which is not what you want. Try it. Boost every frequency and listen to the result. If you think it sounds okay, fine. What do we know?

But when you're fiddling, do keep an eye on the output meter. Boosting EQ inevitably means increasing the gain and it's so-o-o-o easy to clip the output causing distortion which does not sound good.

Finally, check EQ changes to single tracks while playing back the entire piece. In other words, listen to the tracks in context with all the other tracks. It may sound fine in isolation but some frequencies may overlap onto other tracks making the piece frequency rich in some places and frequency poor in others.

Reverb

Reverb creates space. It gives the impression that a sound was recorded in a hall or canyon instead of the broom cupboard. Recording lore suggests that you record everything dry, with no reverb, so you can experiment with a choice later on. You can't un-reverb a track once it's been recorded.

The more reverb you apply, the further away sound will seem. To make a vocal up-front, use only enough reverb to take away the dryness. Vocals don't want to be mushy (lyrics can be mushy) so use a bright reverb.

A common novice error is to swamp everything with different types of reverb. Don't - it sounds horrible!

Mixing down

You've done all the recordings, done the edits, applied the effects and now it's time to mix everything into a Big Number One Hit! Before you do, go home and have a good night's sleep. Have two. In fact, sleep for a week.

Yes, we know you're hot and raring to go but your ears are tired. They're falling asleep. Listen carefully and you might hear then snore!

There is a phenomenon known as ear fatigue and consistent exposure to sound, especially the same frequencies, makes our ears less responsive to them. Goes back to the bit about spending your life in a Rave club - you'll never be a master producer. If you try to mix after spending a day arranging, your ears will not be as responsive, so do them and your mix a favour by waiting at least a day.

HELPFUL COMPRESSOR SETTINGS GUIDE (Cubase 5)

2009-11-21T13:09:00.000-08:00

USEFUL COMPRESSOR SETTINGS EXCELLENT STARTING POINTS FOR HOME STUDIO PRODUCERS

1. SOURCE: Vocal
2. ATTACK: Fast
3. RELEASE: 0.5s/Auto
4. RATIO: 2:1 - 8:1
5. HARD/Soft: SOFT
6. GAIN RED: 3 - 8dB

1. SOURCE: Rock vocal
2. ATTACK: Fast
3.RELEASE: 0.3s
4.RATIO: 4:1 - 10:1
5.HARD/SOFT: HARD
6.GAIN: 5 - 15dB

Acc guitar
5 - 10ms
0.5s/Auto
5 - 10:1
Soft/Hard
5 - 12dB

Elec guitar
2 - 5ms
0.5s/Auto
8:1
Hard
5 - 15dB

Kick and snare
1 - 5ms
0.2s/Auto
5 - 10:1
Hard
5 - 15 dB

Bass
2 - 10ms
0.5s/Auto
4 - 12:1
Hard
5 - 15dB

Brass
1 - 5ms
0.3s/Auto
6 - 15:1
Hard
8 - 15dB

Mixes
Fast
0.4s/Auto
2 - 6:1
Soft
2 - 10dB (Stereo Link On)

General
Fast
0.5s/Auto
5:1
Soft
10dB

Compression Settings for Home Studio Vocal Recording

2009-11-21T12:12:00.000-08:00

For compressing before the A/D conversion, use just a touch of compression.
1.5:1 or 2:1 ratio, fast attack (about 5ms) and medium or automatic release.
Usually, 3 to 6 db's of gain reduction with these settings you won't make the vocals seem so squashed down.

You could also turn on the limiter to catch those sudden peaks that occur during the music recording process. Remember that theres no automatic compression setting so sometimes tweaking through trial and error may work best in order to get the type of musical sound that you are looking for.

Cubase 5 How To Record Vocals in A Bedroom

2009-11-21T10:19:00.000-08:00

The number one factor in vocal recording is the room. You might’ve thought it was the mic you’re using or the pre-amp you’re running it through, but the truth is if you’ve got a U87 and an Avalon but the room you’re recording in is crap, you won’t be much farther ahead than a guy using a Behringer mic through an Mbox.

You could buy one of those (often rather expensive) reflection shields that attach to the stand and sit behind the microphone, and this will do you some good, particularly if your mic is omnidirectional. However, most common vocal microphones for both home and studio users are cardioid, so the shield will still help to an extent but the majority of problem reflections will come from the front — that is, the surfaces behind the vocalist’s head.

This article isn’t about treating your room, which is a great idea if you own your home and you can learn more about doing so on a budget here. We’re talking about cheap, fast and temporary solutions for the moment. The best thing you can do in this case is to grab a blanket and tape it to a wall or hang it over a reasonably tall and wide bookshelf with some books pinning it down on top.

You want to get as much of the surface on the wall behind the singer covered as you can. Don’t neglect the area behind and above the head in particular — if your singer is taller than your bookshelf (or even around the same height), forget about hanging the blanket and tape it to the wall. The thickest blanket you can find is best.

Here’s an example that compares a bedroom recording without a blanket, and then with a blanket — I’ve used a clap, the industry standard reflection measurement technology:

As you can hear, the first sound has a very metallic reflection to it, which isn't particularly pleasant. The second clap shows that you can't eliminate reflections in a bedroom this way, but you can control them and give yourself some room to apply a nicer reverb later.

You’ll have the best luck in a carpeted room. If you’ve got floorboards or tiles, get a rug that covers as much of the floor as possible. You should also ensure your curtains or blinds are drawn as window glass is incredibly reflective. Slat blinds are not particularly good at blocking the reflections because of the gap between each strip, so try to hang a curtain even if only for the duration of your recording session. Again, the thicker the better. In some recording rooms a bit of liveliness isn’t a bad thing when the reflective surfaces have been purpose-designed, but in a bedroom you’re best of deadening as much as you can and adding reverb during the mixing phase of your project.

Dampening the vicinity behind the singer’s head can be enough to reduce reflections to decent level for home demo recording, but if you’re full of energy and have more blankets than you know what to do with, put one on every wall and maybe even lay one over your desk surface. The last suggestion involves a lot of work — you need to move your gear, put the blanket down, put the gear back, and then repeat the process when you’re done, but a reflective desk can cause a lot of problems.

Positioning
Positioning the microphone can be tricky in a home studio situation. You don’t want to be too close to walls or other reflective surfaces such as desks (especially desks, as frequencies, in particular bass, will build up underneath the desktop). On the other hand, you don’t want to be in the middle of the room — the frequencies that build up due to non-purpose specific room design are most prominent here, and are known as standing waves.

In a small room, as most home recording environments are, it’s tough to get away from walls and from the center of the room. My recommendation is that you put yourself closer to a wall that is dampened with a blanket and face the other side of the room. Get a few feet away from the wall if you can do so without putting the microphone in the middle of the room, and make sure the wall you’ve chosen is furthest away from your desk or windows. You may want to rearrange the room so your desk is at the window! It might increase the reflectivity of that area of the room, but if you can get far enough away from it, this is better than having nowhere to go because your desk is at one end and the window’s at the other.

If you can get a few feet in front of the wall you’ve chosen to dampen, make sure you can dampen as much of that wall as possible. Using a few blankets is a bit of a pain, but worth it in the end.

Your singer should stand about a foot away from the microphone as a general guide. Softer singers might be better off standing at half that distance, while a loud metal screamer might need as much as two feet of distance. Good microphone technique plays a part in the process, which unfortunately requires the singer has some experience with studio recording. Someone who has sung live for years but has never entered a studio is not going to be much better than a total neophyte, particularly if you’re using condensers, as the correct technique differs in both situations. They may have a bit of an advantage if you’re recording with dynamics (and I’ve only ever seen a dynamic mic used for studio vocals a couple of times, and one of those times was because the singer was too loud for a condenser even with a -20dB pad on and low gain!).

It’s also advisable to put the singer a couple of degrees off the center of the microphone, where it’s less sensitive. Singers like to move their heads, and a centimeter can make too much of a difference at dead-center. Which leads me to…

The Proximity Effect
Almost all dynamic microphones and the vast majority of condensers used in a home studio have a proximity effect, which is to say that the closer the sound source is to the microphone, the more the bass frequencies will be exaggerated. 90% of the time, this is undesirable in vocal recordings.

There are a few ways to combat this — your best bet is to use a singer with good microphone technique and awareness of the various problems that can crop up when they move their little heads too close. When you’re dealing with a less experienced singer I’ve found an effective quick fix is to move the pop filter a few inches away from the mic so they physically cannot get too close to the microphone (you are using a pop filter, right? If not, get one right away!). Be careful, as this may limit their ability to compensate for a sudden drop in volume by moving in a bit closer.

Gain
Most people have a tendency to record vocals too loud, which causes clipping and definitely cannot be fixed in the mix. Unfortunately, if you’ve got a home studio with typical home studio gear, you don’t have the luxury of recording too soft, either. With a studio quality set-up, you can record quietly without danger (usually) of running into noise floor problems. At home, the equipment and cables are almost always too noisy and you need to record with enough volume to escape that ugly sound.

Every time you set up a vocal recording session, you’re going to need to spend time getting the levels right so that the quietest point in the song can be heard loudly enough without introducing clipping when the singer gets a bit more passionate in the chorus. To make matters worse, you need to remember that a singer — be it yourself or someone you’re recording — will get louder as they get further into the session and begin to overcome nerves, particularly those singers who are not experienced in the recording studio. So even if you spend twenty minutes getting your levels right at first, there’s a good chance you’ll need to compensate for it by the time you’re doing the real-deal tracking.

Make the Singer Sound Great
At least, to them! Almost all singers are suddenly and magically able to sing better if they hear their voice after is has been processed a bit. Different singers have different needs, but a bit of compression and reverb on the monitoring bus are usually the way to go. If your compression and reverb units are hardware units, make sure you can route your headphone bus through them so the hard effects aren’t recorded for good, unless you know what you’re doing and don’t intend to change it later on.

For those of you with a more basic setup, such as an Mbox, headphone mixes aren’t an option. You’ll need to satisfy yourself with slapping a plug-in or two on the vocal track and using software monitoring, or going without if the latency is too high for that.

Singers — and have no illusions, every singer from yourself to Rob Halford — will try to overcompensate for the flaws they hear in their voice if confronted with the raw sound from the microphone. Some are better at focusing on the performance and doing less compensating than others, but they all do it. Put some artificial control in place with the compressor and a more natural sounding room with a bit of nice reverb.

Ever seen someone who has never worked in a studio enter a treated dead room or anechoic chamber before? I was surprised to find that many people find it disconcerting. A disconcerted singer is not a very good one, so liven up the deadened sound and you’ll notice an immediate improvement.

As it happens, they say this is why people sing in the shower more than any other location!

How To Overcome The Lyric Writing Hurdles That Are Keeping You Behind

2009-11-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

The lyric writing side of songwriting is known to create an enormous number of problems for some folks. No matter how hard they try, they are unable to write a single line that they can be pleased with.

In many cases these very same people make phenomenal advancements in writing music and melodies. However they just can't seem to figure out how to come up with suitable lyrics to match them.

If you are facing such a situation, there's probably no need to worry. By taking certain appropriate steps you should be able to overcome lyric writing hurdles and write songs that deliver.

(1) Here are some essential ideas for overcoming these hurdles.

1. Collaboration

If you're very good at writing melodies but can't seem to write a single line, one solution might be collaboration. Instead of beating your head against the wall for ideas, find someone who is very good at writing lyrics and work together. You may be surprised at the wonders that can emanate from a combination of his excellence at writing lyrics and your brilliance at writing melodies.

2. Lyric writing tools

Perhaps you may be hoping for some other solution. While you don't mind the idea of collaboration, you want to allow yourself to get better at writing lyrics, instead of leaving it to someone else.

As far as I'm concerned, the importance of laying hold on good songwriting "tools" should never be underestimated. Educate yourself as much as you can. Make use of songwriting books, programs, courses, software, articles or whatever valuable resources that you have at your disposal.

3. Motivation

You've probably heard it said a thousand times ... Without motivation, you won't go very far. This also applies to your lyric writing. While the songwriting "tools" outlined above can help you improve, without adequate motivation failure is inevitable.

(2) Here are a few tips to help you generate lyric writing ideas.

1. Use different lyrics to bring the same message across.

Choose a theme which is known to have made a few hits. What message does this theme bring across? Write different lyrics that bring the same message across. A typical example of this is John Denver's "I'm Leaving on a Jetplane" and Wyclef Jean's "Gone till November". These songs made hits in different eras. Their basic message was similar ... Baby, you don't need to cry because I'll return.

2. Add a unique twist to a cliche.

Turn on your radio and you will hear cliches being repeated over and over. Using these very same cliches is simply a futile exercise. My suggestion is to add a unique twist to these cliches. This is something I am focusing on more and more.

A typical example of adding a unique twist to a cliche is found in Dianne Warren's "Unbreak my Heart" made popular by Toni Braxton. The ever popular cliche, "break my heart", was twisted.

(3) Here are three lyric writing suggestions.

1. Write a song about a particular incident. Your song should tell a story.

2. Write lyrics that have absolutely nothing to do with anything you've actually experienced.

3. Get lyric writing ideas from newspapers, magazines, movies, TV and so on.

Overcoming lyric writing hurdles involves a lot of determination, hard work and perseverance on your part. Implement the suggestions presented above and move one step closer to lyric writing success.

About The Author

Mantius Cazaubon offers lots of valuable songwriting tips, techniques, suggestions and advice on his site http://www.ultimatesongwriting.com. Visit http://www.ultimatesongwriting.com for the ultimate truth about lyric writing and songwriting.

mantius@ultimatesongwriting.com

Cubase 5 Vocal Recording Tips

2009-11-21T10:14:00.000-08:00

Vocals are often the most evocative element of a song, but for a producer the vocal track is also the most problematic. Although professional vocal performances may be tracked through a signal chain featuring equipment worth millions, it’s quite possible to produce a decent vocal track without spending anything at all.

Vocal Processing Tips
With a vocal track its important to get the best possible performance, using the best possible microphone and preamp. This is a whole other topic, so for now I’ll just assume we already have a recorded vocal take to work with, flaws and all.

The first stage in processing is to remove any unwanted noise/frequencies. This can be done with a noise gate, de-esser, filtering and/or EQ.

Vocal Tip 1 – Filter/EQ
Generally speaking, a vocal will have little or no information below 100 Hz (see this frequency chart for details), so a high-pass filter to cut out this range is probably a good idea. You can even raise the threshold further if you’re dealing with a female vocalist. Most DAWs have their own native EQs and filters, but you can also use Nyquist to roll off unwanted freqencies.

Vocal Tip 2 – Noise Gate
A noise gate cuts out the spaces where the vocalist isn’t singing, and acts in a similar fashion to a compressor (although in the opposite direction). You’ll need to set up the attack and release times so that the effect works well with the timing of the singer. The Floorfish plugin will do the trick here.

Vocal Tip 3 – De-Esser
A de-esser is usually required to take out those intrusive plosives and ‘ess’ sounds, although you might get by without one if the singer is really good (don’t forget to use a pop shield). The Spitfish plugin deals with the ones that got away.

Vocal Tip 4 – Compressor
Now that most of the bad stuff has been cleaned up, it’s time to look at controlling the dynamics of the recording. As usual, compressors are the order of the day – sticking with the excellent Digital Fish Phones freebies, we can use Blockfish to even out the levels in the performance, creating a smooth vocal that doesn’t feature any unpleasant dips or spikes in volume.

Vocal Tip 5 – Reverb
At this stage, we can consider applying some reverb. Tread with caution here, as it’s easy to overdo – reverb should be barely audible, just enough to blend and pad the vocal slightly. Ambience or DX Reverb Lite can be called into action on this.

Vocal Tip 6 – Adding Depth
If you need some extra processing beyond the basics outlined above, then you might want to consider Voxengo Tube Amp (Windows Only) for some tape saturation, Kjaerhus Classic Chorus (Windows Only) for a bit of chorus fattening, or the W1 Limiter for bringing up the levels a bit further.

Composing Your Own Music Using 8 Bar Phrases

2009-11-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

How to Compose Your Own Music Using 8-bar Phrases (cubase 5)

Some people think composing is this miraculous thing that only genius's do. What a myth! It's a skill that can be learned. What can't be learned is the intuition that guides the creative force. What can be learned is the technique. And the most important part of composing technique has to do with THINKING IN PHRASES.

A musical phrase can be 2-bars long. It can be from 4 to 8-bars long as well. It is a unit of music that composers use, along with repetition and contrast to create ENTIRE SECTIONS OF MUSIC. There is no secret here people. It's like building up a structure. That's why music is often referred to as frozen architecture. It is built up. The building up creates FORM. A structure such as ABA form can be composed of the A section (8-measures) B section (4 or more measures) then back to the A section.

Now you may be thinking, it looks logical but how does it transfer into actual music? Ah, this is where you get your feet wet and actually try composing a piece. We start from simple means and learn the principles of repetition and contrast first. We start with an 8-bar phrase for the A section.

Now a problem arises. How do I fill up this section? You can either start with the melody or with the chords. If you've had a chance to look at my free lesson, you'll see that by improvising, MATERIAL IS INSTANTLY CREATED! This solves your problem doesn't it? Now, you may be thinking, how do I get this material into the 8-bar framework you've been talking about? First, you need to be able to count in 3/4 or 4/4 time. Not very difficult but if you can't do this now, there are many sites on the web that can teach you this.

Now it's just a matter of transferring this raw improvisational material into the 8-bars. Most likely, you will be jotting down your chord changes. I explain this in a lot more detail in my online class. It's a quick sketch method. You have the raw uncensored germ coming from your improvisations - you then write down what chords you are playing and perhaps the first 2-bars of melody so you remember what the initial impulse was.

The reason I use the 8-bar phrase is that it is a nice unit of time to work with. I don't try and reinvent the wheel here. It's been used for centuries and can be used in New Age music as well. Once you have this 8-bar phrase you can repeat it and add in another section (B) to add contrast.

This may be hard to understand by just reading about it. You have to do it in order to really understand.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

Help Finding Musical Ideals

2009-11-19T10:42:00.000-08:00

The Russian Composer Igor Stravinsky once said: " A good composer does not imitate; he steals."

I think what he meant by this is that it's OK to use a technique developed by another and make it your own. To imitate is to steal a technique or style and, somehow, not incorporate your own voice and energy into it.

We all get our ideas from somewhere, whether by accidentally listening to a piece of music and subconsciously storing it away, or by a conscious act where we say to ourselves: "This sounds great and I want to use it in my own music."

Some people have the idea that everything created must be original and by that they mean that there must be no outside influences - but this is unrealistic. Haydn taught Beethoven. Italian composers influenced Bach and so on. All past and present composers on this planet have their influences whether they admit them or not.

When I sit down to play, I inevitably gravitate towards one style or the other. I'm fine with that. It doesn't mean that I'm unoriginal. It just means that I acknowledge reality and don't try to come up with "something original." What sounds new is 99.9 times out of 100, a modification of what came before.

The whole point I'm trying to make is this: Don't try to be original. Instead, focus on what you like and love and your own voice will come through in the end. The music may be modified to an extreme (innovation) or just a little (homage). Just don't imitate.