6 Music Production Techniques to Hook Listeners in 30 Seconds or Less
At a 2015 tech conference, song identification app Shazam revealed the data they use to accurately predict within a month whether a song will become a...
The 5 Most Important Developments in Hip-Hop Production
Even for casual listeners of the genre, it is easy to distinguish when a hip-hop track was made just by listening to the first few bars. The instrumental...
The Beginner's Guide to Synths for Music Production
Amazingly, significant synthesizer developments began as early as 1896: there was the Telharmonium, the Theremin, the Ondes Martenot, and the Electronic...
How to Program and Layer Electronic Basslines in Your DAW
What makes a good electronic bassline? Sometimes, a perfectly tuned sub does the trick. Even a single repeated note can pack a punch. At the right time,...
7 music production challenges to help finish your songs
It’s easy to get lost in the unlimited possibilities offered by music production software. There are always new presets worth trying and effects to tinker...
Using VocalSynth 2 to Design Voices for Film and Video Games
More than ever, film and video games are focused on creating relatable characters that have personality and depth. Unique character voices play a huge...
7 Bad Music Producer Habits and How to Fix Them
Bad music production habits creep up on us. They begin rather innocently. You start with a small offense, like nudging up the volume during a production...
5 Essential Songs Using the Vocoder
The vocoder has a strange history. Today we associate it with robotic vocals in music, but it was originally designed as a speech coding tool by Bell...
Swing and Syncopation: Understanding DAW Groove
What is groove, exactly? As music producers we talk about groove all the time, but it can be difficult to explain in great detail. Groove is a feeling, a...
Finessing the Flanger: How to Create Beautiful and Weird Sounds
There are a handful of DAW effects that are considered integral parts of modern music production. Think of reverbs, delays or compressors—it’s rare that a...
3 Unconventional Ways to Use Vocal Samples
Vocal samples are some of the most versatile sounds to work with. They can easily be cut, stretched, and transposed to fit just about any genre or style....
