Author: George Robinson

A selection of great free VST plugins that all hold their own against their commercial counterparts.

This Manifesto is actually a list of things I’ve been dwelling on and thinking about in various ways for the best part of a year. It began with asking the question, “What Is That Pro Sound, Really?” What Is That “Pro Sound”? “Hell, there are no rules here – we’re trying to accomplish something.” –Thomas A. Edison What do you think of when you think of the “Pro Sound”? I’m fairly sure we each have different ideas about it – but this is the point. My impression is there are no definitive rules to music and audio production. Sure, certain…

Whatever sort of music you’re making, everyone needs at least one of these amp modelling / guitar effects plugins in their studio toolbox. [the_ad_placement id=”top-content-300×250″] One of the great things about guitar-style effects and processors is that they’re at least as useful for treating vocals and other instruments as they are for guitars. Most of the selections here are the top-end versions of each plugin – ‘Pro’, ‘Platinum Edition’ etc.  – but most also come in various stripped down / cheaper / ‘elements’ flavours too, so you can always find a version to fit your budget. Also bear in mind…

Delay is one of those effects that can often form the basis for the whole sound of a track – it can turn regular synth or guitar riffs into intricate arpeggiated patterns that would seem impossible to program or play manually; and not forgetting that the whole Dub genre owes much of it’s sound to the skeletal and stripped-down track arrangements treated with healthy doses of spacious analogue delays. Of course, delay also has many more subtle uses in a mix, particularly when used in conjunction with other effects – reverb, distortion, pitch modulation etc. Delay also comes in a…

Some albums are guaranteed to get you inspired in the studio. Here are ten of them…

In the final part, we look at Cubase, Logic, Pro Tools and the rest.

In this part we look at the introductory level DAWs: from Garageband to Reason.

Choosing the right program to be at the heart of your studio can be tricky – here are some tips to make the decision easier.

UNKLE release their new album this week, Where Did The Night Fall. Have a listen to some of the new music at UNKLE.com, as well as some of their classic tracks in case you don’t already own any of their albums. Which you should. With every album since 1998’s Psyence Fiction with DJ Shadow, UNKLE creator James Lavelle has pushed his sound in broad and brave new directions, from atmospheric Shadow-esque hip-hop, through downtempo electronica, dark house and techno, then swerving into guitars and live drumming for 2007’s psychy, Depeche Modey War Stories. Where Did The Night Fall picks up where we left off,…

Founder of industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails, Reznor stands for musical innovation, artistic independence and channelling raw emotion through technology like no-one else before him.