Creating and Mixing Music

Virtual Stradivari Violin

2010-12-17T07:16:00.001-08:00

Garritan launched his virtual instrument Solo Violin in 2006 and it change into very popular, so even these days interest to that plugin is still on excessive level. I may even say that it was one of many instruments which have many articulations and controls of play, so the sound became rather more reasonable than all products launched before. Even first product Garritan Personal Orchestra was not so nicely as Stradivari Solo Violin. So it was a huge success for that company and huge way ahead into new period of more sensible digital instruments. Read about plugin in my review - Review of Garritan Stradivari Solo Violin

Make score with virtual instruments

2010-12-17T00:32:00.001-08:00

I remember the time once I get all in favour of music. And I favored how all instruments work together with each other, how they creating a new atmosphere with many fascinating sounds. Now, we have many virtual instruments which have actual samples and we will create orchestration and exquisite arrangments. First plugins that I tried was not large and now there are plugins with more than 100 Gb's of samples in library. Sound of such big libraries is superb and I feel means of enhancements are infinite. I wrote a small post about vst instruments - Orchestra Vst - create your own score

Problems in vocal with high notes

2010-12-13T02:50:00.001-08:00

Learners always straining their voice on high notes. Solely small % of people may sing high notes without straining from birth. Others have to discover ways to sing these notes simply without efforts. If you happen to assume that singing high notes is a battle you are wrong. Keep in mind that your voice need to be relaxed for obtain a great result. In case you are tightening up your voice, you hurting your throat and vocal cords. And how you can attain these excessive notes? More about that read in my article - How to sing high notes easily

Electric, acoustic and synth basses

2010-12-12T00:47:00.001-08:00

Bass is an important instrument in the music. He can provide groove and dynamics in the mix, show to listeners primary notes and assist different instruments. And trendy sample libraries bring for us very sensible tone of electrical and acoustic basses, and new variations of synthesizers deliver finest synth bass tones. I wrote a post about vst instruments and synths that could possibly be very helpful for creating music in different kinds and genres. Examine that in post - Making bass - list of bass vst plugins

Mixing music

2010-12-10T05:37:00.001-08:00

Mixing is an entire science. And like in each science, you could have sensible expertise and theory. Practice is an important factor in all learnings, however with out idea it is going to be extra complicated. Mixing is not only a soundproducing process. It involves understanding of how instruments sounding, how they need to sound and other completely different things. For rookies it's all the time a troublesome to combine music in a correct and quality level. However with practice it all begins to come together and make process extra snug and even. Learn more about mixing in my article - How to mix a song - important things

Actual or digital guitar

2010-12-09T02:42:00.001-08:00

When selecting what sort of guitar to use in music for guitar players reply of course will be real guitar. And similar solutions will be with different instruments for people who can play on them. However within the last years quality of digital devices grew to become so high and lifelike, so even professionals could not perceive what is real and what is virtual. That high quality is a result of a lot deeper work of creators and musicians. And solely human can provide his soul to all instruments within the track and produce actual music. I take a quick look at some digital guitar instruments that could be useful for everyone who need make an excellent and lifelike guitar sound. Read extra in article - Guitar vst instrument - quick look

Reverberation and plugins

2010-12-07T09:50:00.001-08:00

Reverberation is a very effective thing in mix, because with that effect we can create different spaces for instruments in tracks. Using proper vst plugins can give us good result. More about that, read in my article Selecting Reverb Vst plugins

About learning vocal

2010-12-06T02:24:00.001-08:00

My next post is about steps in learning vocal. For me, learning must be simple and that could be achieved when we learn something from basics to advanced. Read more in my article - Vocal practice - steps in learning

Review of vocal plugins

2010-12-05T03:54:00.001-08:00

Vocal plugins is really helpful thing for editing vocals and mixing them in a whole track. Read more in my article - My list of Vst vocal plugins

Theory of power chords

2010-12-04T08:01:00.001-08:00

Wrote a post on my blog about power chords and how to play them. Read more in article - Power chords for beginners - some tips

My list of top plugins

2010-12-04T05:07:00.001-08:00

I wrote a post about best vst plugins that I am using in my tracks. Read more in my post - My choice of top vst plugins

Untitled

2010-12-04T03:32:00.001-08:00

Some thoughts about singing and problems for beginners. Read more in my article - Singing tips for beginners

Untitled

2010-12-03T11:42:00.001-08:00

Wrote a new post about Harmonizer plugin from Waves, which is called Doubler. Read my article - Harmonizer vst plugin

Teach yourself guitar – from beginner to professional

2010-09-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

If you want to teach yourself guitar, you must prepare for a long way of trials and mistakes. Learning stuff with a teacher can give you an important opinion what you do wrong and what you do right. With yourself teaching that opinion could only yours. So, you need to hear your own sound, avoid mistakes and stay on the quality, not quantity.

One of the most important things in learning is practice. Without proper practice we cannot achieve wanted skills or without system for practice process will be very long and hard. But with modern information society, we can find many good programs and methods that will help us learning guitar. Modern recording devices and software also made process of practice comfortable and faster. When we playing on guitar we cannot hear all mistakes because our mind is concentrates on correct technique and timing. But recorded guitar will show us all bad and good sides of playing.If you want to teach yourself guitar, recording could be a good helper for understanding weak sides of playing.

And I already mentioned about different methods of learning guitar. Every year we can see many interesting products that can help us in practice. One of my favorite books which were released in late 90's was Troy Stetina's Metal Lead and Rhythm Guitar. As a continue for more progressive play, he released Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar – book that helped me to achieve a fast and good technique. I can also compare to Troy Stetina books a masterpiece from Guthrie Govan – Creative Guitar in 2 volumes. In books you can find not only theory and exercises with tabs, there are also an audio of all exercises. When you hear how it sounds, that really motivates and give a real example of how it should be. I also noticed some good courses from Jamorama and Learn And Master series.

So, what we need for learning guitar yourself?

1. Interesting learning course

2. Recording devices and soft

3. A lot of practice

Left handed electric guitar – reversed rules

2010-08-20T02:25:00.000-07:00

Many well-known guitarists are used and using left handed electric guitar. The difference between right-handed and left-handed guitarist in his working hand which need to strum strings in a comfort position. Some guitarists even learned how to play in both ways. However, manufacturers of guitars quickly set up the production of left-handed electric guitars, so nowadays people can buy it all over the world.

Left handed electric guitar – correct strings

When the left-handed guitars were not popular, getting such guitar was really difficult. Guitarists tried to play like right-handed players but that was very uncomfortable and annoying practice. Some players reach expected level of playing, that's famous guitarists like Richie Blackmore, Steve Morse, Billy Corgan, Robert Fripp, Mark Knopfler, B.B. King and many others. Other guitarists decided to use right-handed guitars but with reversed position of it. Reversing the strings they got what they looking for, but with some problems. One of that problem is the intonation. Bridge designed for appropriate diameter of strings in a reverse position doesn't have possibility to use thicker strings where must be thinner strings. And intonation turns not so perfect. The other bad thing for using reversed right-handed guitar is a seizure like on a Fender Stratocaster models. So higher frets are more difficult to use, anyway Jimi Hendrix played in such way.

Left handed electric guitar – method of learning

Many left-handed guitar beginners completely lost when they starting to learn guitar because right-handed learning are more popular and almost every training is designed for right-handed guitarists. But one of the good instructional materials for left-handed players were published in 2001. That was a Troy Stetina – famous rock and metal guitar player who made many instructional materials, such as Metal Rhythm Guitar, Metal Lead Guitar, Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar and others. So, in 2001 his book Left-Handed Guitar – Complete Method was released and got many positive reviews from left-handed guitarists. In that book you can find basic and advanced technique researched for left-handed guitar players.

Gibson Baldwin Signature Series LP – great for start

2010-08-12T03:39:00.000-07:00

I heard many opinions about Gibson Baldwin Signature Series guitar, and some of them were negative, some positive. And one opinion was extremely right – sound is in our hands, not in the quality of guitar. Of course, professional guitarists using high-quality guitars because they better delivering message from musicians. But everybody starts from something. And I know many examples of successful musicians who started his career with a cheap and simple guitar.

Gibson Baldwin Signature Series LP

Style of guitar is similar to Gibson Les Paul guitars with its recognizable curves. Neck is stabilized by bolts, that's a difference with standard Gibson guitars. We can also notice that there are 22 frets and dot inlays on rosewood fingerboard. On the bridge guitar has two humbucker pickups with controls for volume and tone. There are also 3-way selector for pickups. So, we have a simple guitar that could use a beginner.

Usability and outlook

As I already mentioned, guitar has outlook that similar to classic Gibson Les Paul. Finish is cherry sunburst and it looks cool and vintage. Frets also normal and smooth. Only one thing is bad – tune of guitar always losing control. But when playing before 12th fret sound is more appropriate, I think for beginners it will be not so crucial.

Durability

Well, guitar is stable, and even when I dropped it, finish not scratched at all. I will not recommend to throw it out of the window on a 100th floor, but if you decide to transport Gibson Baldwin, guitar will be alright. Maybe the knobs is not promising, but that's normal for such guitar.

Quality of sound

Good sound is always what musician want to hear when he buys guitar. But as I already mentioned, sound is in our hands. I remember my first cheap guitar, sound was bad because my skills was not good. After some time of practicing, I bought more expensive guitar and I was shocked that sound was not different when I playing chords. Difference was in solos, sound on cheaper guitar was not so good. But for beginners Gibson Baldwin LP could give possibility for understanding the basics of playing.

Overall

I recommend that guitar for beginners who want to try his skills in playing guitar and don't want to buy an expensive models. Success with that guitar will give you assurance that you on a right way and can play almost on every guitar.

Fender guitar straps – combining beauty and comfort

2010-08-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Great quality of Fender guitar straps makes them are very popular and famous. Even that basic goal of Fender is guitars, their accessories have that high quality.

Deluxe Wide Padded Leather Strap

That’s a huge guitar strap that allows his user to spread weight of the instrument to a wide part of strap. All that helps to make playing guitar comfortable and in easy way. So, even an extra-heavy guitar can be used more comfortable with that strap. There are two models of that strap – in colours black and walnut.

Vintage Style Strap

Original Vintage Style Strap has been re-designed and now there is Deluxe version of that strap. Deluxe is more comfortable because the shoulder pad was upgraded and become thicker. Colours of strap are black and natural.

Vintage Tweed Strap

Outlook of that strap is more classic and vintage. Endings of strap are brown leather tabs that can be easily attached to a guitar and make using of it comfortable and easy.

Poly Fender Logo Straps

Straps made from black poly-weebling and looking solid. Only one thing is come to eyes – Fender logo, which was made in three colours: red, yellow, white.

Monogrammed Leather Straps

Made from leather, straps have a cool design with Fender logos and interesting squares. There are many different types of design – Black/Yellow/Brown, Black/Light Grey/ Dark Grey, White/Brown/Yellow, Black/Yellow/Red, Black/Light Grey/Blue, Red/White/Blue.

Impact Series Straps

Impact Series has beautiful logos on the endings of strap. There are fire, heart, star, hand, skull and other logos, which has a great looking style. Material of strap is poly webbing.

Cotton/Leather Straps

Combination of cotton and leather gives these straps a comfortable using and comfort. On the endings, they have an oval Fender logo. Colours are black, natural, tan and navy.

Road Worn Straps

Adjustable Road Worn straps made in black and brown colours. Their high quality will give users all opportunities that they wanted from straps. Comfort and stability – that’s a major for that model.

Gibson Strap – nice guitar straps

2010-07-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

Straps is necessary for every guitar. And Gibson strap have all properties that musician need – great outlook, reliability and required comfort. Gibson company produces many various guitar straps – leather, safety, woven.

Gibson leather strap

There are different types of leather straps from Gibson. Colours are various from brown to cognac. They have an adjustable length and laces for strapping the guitar. On the top of some leathers there are Gibson logo maded in gold colours.

Gibson woven strap

With leather tips that kind of Gibson straps can make your guitar safely attached on strap locks. They have a Gibson USA logo across the strap maded in gold or blue colours.

Gibson safety strap

Safety strap features leather tips that can offer your guitar needed safety. Strap has a design of lighting bolts and Gibson logos. Safety straps is maded in Jet black or Ferrari red colours.

Ibanez S Series – Saber style

2010-07-28T00:55:00.000-07:00

When the first Ibanez S series guitar arrived on the market in 1987, they have a huge success along with the RG series. Produced by Hoshino Gakki, series well known for its comfortable design with a resonance of mahogany texture. They have that mahogany sound without such heavy weight. Let’s take a look at S models:

Ibanez S770PB

Nice outlook of that model features mahogany body with Poplar Burl Top. Sound of guitar produced by three Infinity pickups which situated on standard Ibanez position H-S-H. ZR Tremolo is moderated ZR-2 with Zero Point System and giving additional stable arming. Adjustments of sound are also standard – two knobs for the volume, sound and 5-way pickups selector. With a great looking finish natural flat guitar is awesome.

Ibanez S570DXQM

Another guitar from S series with ZR Tremolo and H-S-H system. He has all that in S770PB but the top is Quilted Maple. Guitar has two finishes – Bright Blue Burst and Transparent Gray Burst.

Ibanez S420

Difference with previous guitars in Ibanez S series is in pickups, because there no single . With two Infinity humbuckers sound is warmer. And archtop body also gives much comfortable playing. Inlay is in addition – on 12th fret, there are off-set dot. Finishes are Blackberry Sunburst and Weathered Black.

Ibanez S570B

Standard guitar in S series with the position of Infinity pickups H-S-H. Model have allthe same as in S770PB model except the top is simpler coloured. Model has two finishes – Red and White.

Ibanez dealers all around the world

2010-07-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Musicians often looking for specific Ibanez guitars and asking about them from Ibanez dealers. There are many of them, but sometimes searching of dealers and stores become a real problem.

If you live in USA, you can find dealers on the official website of Ibanez. They have a search on all states. If you live in United Kingdom, you could find Hartnoll Guitars in Devon, Pooles in Grimsby, Denmark Street Online in London, Middlesbrough Music Centre in Middlesbrough, Fret Music Ltd. in Shirley, Hampshire, The Guitar and Amp Shop in West Sussex, Dolphin Music in Liverpool, The Rock Room in Derbyshire, Gear4Music in York, The Guitar Store in Southampton, Fair Deal Music in Birmingham, Coda Music in Stevenage, Dazamakiz Guitars UK in Blackpool, Frets Guitar Centre in Lancashire and many others.

For Australian guitar stores and dealers find Australis Music Group. In Brazil you could find Ibanez guitars in Equipo. For Canadian guitar stores look for Efkay Music. China – Great Wall Audio. In Russia – ATTrade. In France – Mogar Music France. Ibanez dealers in Italy – Mogar Music S.P.A.

To find more countries go to the official Ibanez website and choose country in the list. Then go to the right upper corner and find Contact. There you will get important information for stores and dealers.

S470DXQM Ibanez guitar review

2010-07-23T00:23:00.000-07:00

Let’s see what can offer for us guitar model S470DXQM Ibanez. That’s a guitar from S series that have a Wizard Neck II with 25.5 inch scale.

Design
Guitar has a mahogany body and quilted maple top. Neck is consisting of three pieces that fixed with bolts on the body. On top of the neck, there is a bound rose fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets. ZR bridge with a lot of adjustments and individual fine tuners. On the back we can see string tension adjuster that you can use for adjustments of the bridge, that’s a very interesting and unique thing . There are plenty of finishes – Bright Blue Burst, Blue Moon Burst, Charcoal Brown, Natural Fade, Red Viking and Transparent Lavender Blue.

Sound

Ibanez S470DXQM guitar has a three pickups Infinity series – standard configuration H-S-H. For sound adjustment, there are two knobs – volume, tone and of course 5-way lever for selecting pickups. When I chose pickup that’s closer to neck, I got a mellow sound, that is good for more smoother things. Then I turn on a single pickup, and sound is getting more rock and solid. Then I got thinner sound in a combination of single and bridge pickups. And on humbucker bridge pickup sound is getting brighter and with enough sustain.

Record your own music free - great website

2010-07-17T02:57:00.000-07:00

Now you can record your own music free with an interesting website – looplabs.com. On that website you can record your own vocals and instruments, use loops and other stuff. All that is online and for free.

You can find on website three different programs – The Music Studio, Dubstep Studio and Electro-House Blender. Each of that program designed for different purposes. The Music Studio is for general purpose and two others for Dubstep and Electro-House. Of course that online free editor is not a competition for modern DAW’s but as an online and free tool it is very great and useful. Record your own music free and share it.

Garageband VST and AU compatibility problems

2010-07-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Garageband uses only Audio Units. That’s a problem when you have a great VST’s that doesn’t have a versions of AU. But FXpansion solved that problem and now we have possibility to use in Garageband VST. Of course that program working only with VST’s for MAC OS X. That program is called VST-AU Adapter.

Features:
- Supported VST instruments and effects
- Using less than 0.05 % of processor per plugin
- Activation through serial key

VST to AU Adapter also was updated to version 2.0 with some improvements like stability and performance. Now its supports over 1,000 VST plugins.

How long does it take to learn guitar

2010-07-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

Maybe every second beginner in learning guitar make that question - how long does it take to learn guitar?

So, the answer depends on what level you want to reach in learning guitar. Maybe you just want to play chords on acoustic guitar, or maybe you want to play fast solos and have a great technique. And don’t forget about training with a teacher, because with the good teachers you can learn fast and effective rather than on yourself.

I can only suggest, how much it will take for learning guitar in different levels:
1) Simple chords and clean sound – from 2 months to 6 months
2) Rhytm electric guitar – depends on style, maybe from 3 months to 1 year.
3) Solo guitar – also depends on style, from 6 months to unknown terms. It will also depend on your motivation, and how long you want to learn guitar.

Of course, in learning time is not what you must think about. You must think about your quality, you must think about your soul. So, how long does it take to learn guitar, is not a question that you must think.

And for a good motivation, here’s the video from Youtube, Andy Timmons playing Electric Gypsy:

Mixing music books

2010-07-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

Mixing music is not so easy as beginners think. I already wrote about music creating in earlier post. It requires a lot of experience in sound producing and years of work with sound. Mixing music books is a helpful material for beginners and others who found some problems with quality of their tracks.

So, from who you can learn?

1) David Gibson – The Art of Mixing

Wonderful book and № 1 for all who want to learn art of mixing. David Gibson gives full explanation of mix and his visual system really helps to understand rules of mix.

2) Bobby Owsinski – The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook

Bobby Owsinski created very informative book with many examples and illustrations, that makes learning of mixing very fast and simple. You will learn about 6 steps for mix and how to create your own style of mixing.

3) Bob Katz – Mastering Audio

Bob Katz wrote a good book about mastering audio. But it’s also about preparing your mix for mastering and answers for questions about digital audio. Book is also have humour of Bob Katz, so the learning for readers is really enjoyable.

How to record guitar in Cubase (part 2)

2010-07-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

In some of the previous posts I already wrote how to record guitar in Cubase. Today, I want to tell you about some tricks and tips, that you can use in Cubase for recording.

1) Mono or stereo?

If you have mono-signal, for example from one microphone or guitar output, it’s better to use mono-track. That will not waste your free space on hard-drive and improve performance. And if you using two microphones in recording your guitar amp, you can also record it to a different mono-tracks and then experimenting with mixing those tracks.

2) Avoid clipping in recording.

Always look at the level of input signal. If it is too high, your sound will be clipped and distorted. So, you need to check output of your signal and then the input. In Cubase you always can see the graphic of volume and peak-meter.

3) Leave free beginning bars

I always freeing beginning bars of my project because that helps me in recording. That free bars allows me to prepare before record. Sometimes I making intro with drums and other instruments that are “riding” into the whole song.

Vocal scales warm up

2010-07-05T05:57:00.000-07:00

I already wrote about performance and its place in music, so its time for some technique tips in performing. Let’s talk about vocal scales warm up. It’s really important thing for singers, because our vocal muscles working like other muscles on body. So we need to relax those muscles and prepare them for performing.

Here’s my favorite exercises:

- Humming. Close mouth and make sound “M” on the scale. You can start on the middle “C” an go up or down of scale. Here’s the video example:

- Lip rolls. With closed mouth you need to move your lips, so they create a interesting sound, something like motor on a boat. Example shown by Rock The Stage NYC:

- Vocal vowels. There can be so many variations of vowels, so I recommend to start with “A”, “O” or “Ma”, “Ga”. Just move up or down a scale with that vowels but only in comfort areas for you. Don’t go too high or too low, because you can damage your vocal cords. Here’s example for a different kinds of vowels, Hayley from Paramore with vocal teacher Brett Manning:

Free virtual synth KORE 2 PLAYER

2010-07-05T00:26:00.000-07:00

Looking for a great free virtual synth? Then you should pay attention to a free plugin KORE 2 PLAYER from Native Instruments. In search of a free virtual synth I have found link where is offered to download this plugin for free.

Features:
- Around 400 mb sound library, with 150 free instruments
- VST/RTAS and stand-alone application
- Kore-sound browser
- Tweak panel
- Christmas holiday expansion with 45 instruments

For free download, go to the:
http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/kore-player/

Radiohead New Album: 2010 or 2011?

2010-07-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

So, release will be this year or next? Radiohead New album – 2010 or 2011?

Guitarist Ed O’Brien said that new album is at the finishing line, but he did’t said a date when the album is coming out. Anyway, if some things will be slowed down, album can be came out in 2011. But he believes that it will be a matter of weeks.

As Ed O’Brien said, new album will be something different from anothers, so we’ll see it.

VST PoiZone – Poisoning Sound

2010-07-02T01:08:00.000-07:00

Just installed VST PoiZone and I have been surprised to its quality of a sound. Only nearby 10 Mb, this subtractive synthesizer gives excellent quality, thus possessing weight of options. VST PoiZone from ImageLine really poisoning with its sound.

Features:
- Ring and sync modulation
- Two oscillators with variety of shapes
- Filter modes
- Arpeggiator
- Time-based effects
- LFO and Mod wheels

For more information look at: http://www.image-line.com/documents/poizone.html

Toontrack Monster MIDI Pack – Easy Drum Patterns

2010-07-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

For acceleration in creating drums track it is possible to apply already ready sets of drum patterns. For solving this problem you can use Toontrack Monster – MIDI Pack with numerous variants of loops.

In complete set Toontrack Monster have various sizes like 4/4, 6/8, 3/4, 5/6 and others. There is a variety of patterns on song structure – intro, fill, hats&symbals beats. MIDI Patterns can be applied to a standard set of drums - EZ Drummer, Superior Drummer and GM.

They already have 4 MIDI Packs. More info on: http://www.toontrack.com/products.asp?item=47

Free guitar VST’s from Nick Crow and LePou

2010-07-01T02:17:00.000-07:00

In some of the previous posts I told about using VST effects and recording electric guitar. In this post I will tell you how to apply free guitar VST’s from Nick Crow and LePou in Cubase.

On-default a folder for storage VST plugins is: Program Files/Steinberg/VST Plugins/. You can always change this directory.

Now about plugins. For guitar amplifiers it is possible to use such free guitar vst’s:
1) Nick Crow - 8505, 7170, Wagner Mk2 Sharp
2) LePou – Le456, LeGion, LeXTAC

Plugins of guitar cabinets:
- Voxengo Boogex
- Poulin LeCab

How to use effects I described in the post – How to use VST effects in Cubase. Put one of amplifiers and then one guitar cabinet – and you’ll receive a good guitar sound.
For free plugins look here:
http://lepouplugins.blogspot.com/
http://sites.google.com/site/nickcrowlab/

Pianoteq 3 – Review

2010-06-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

Recently has tried Pianoteq 3 from Modartt and has been pleasantly surprised by quality of a product. The acoustic model of the piano sounds very realistic and naturally. Developers closely cooperated with musicians, and they got excellent result.

Features:
- Possibility to use up to 5 microphones
- Many adjustments of a sound
- New instruments and pianos
- Adjustment of parametres

I tried Trial version Pianoteq 3 Standard which works only 20 minutes, but that was enough to understand good quality of product. Any interested person can download it from an official site – http://www.pianoteq.com. They also have version Pro where there is a possibility of changing sound parametres of each note.

Using Cubase automation

2010-06-30T03:10:00.000-07:00

For adjustment parametres of the instrument in mix helps Cubase automation – function allowing to regulate volume, position in space, equalization and others. It allows to create music with a changing environment.

For example, you should create gradual attenuation of a sound or its moving from the left channel to the right. All it easily becomes with the help of automation in Cubase.

More in details about Cubase automation:

1) Choose a track on which will be automation. At the left below you will see “+” – press it and you will see new parameter Volume.

2) Now choose a pencil and draw a curve. Green button "R" means “Reading”. Once you presssed it you disconnect automation.

3) Also it is possible to press near to “R” – button "W" and having pressed play you can establish automation in real time.

How to use VST (Fl Studio)

2010-06-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

In this post I will tell you how to use VST (Fl Studio). The installation of plugins is similar to installing VST in Cubase. It is necessary to mention a folder for storage of plugins – FlStudio/Plugins/Vst.

So how to apply Vst effect in Fl Studio:

1) Install or copy a plugin to a folder for plugins storage - FlStudio/Plugins/Vst.

2) In FlStudio press Channels – Add one - More. In the list of plugins below we press Refresh – Fast Scan. The list will be updated and also you will see the installed plugins. There you can activate or deactivate plugins.

3) Now if you press Channels you will see all plugins which can be used in your mix.

SONiVOX released Reggaeton Instrumento Virtual

2010-06-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

Reggaeton Instrumento Virtual is hip-hop instrument that features over 300 instruments and 7 GB’s of good quality samples. It has built-in effects and equalizers, MIDI-learn functions, 16 assignable PADs. Avalaible for PC and MAC, plugin costs 149,00 $. More info here:
http://www.sonivoxmi.com/ProductDetail.asp?Item=CDReggaeton&mnu=LayVirtualInstruments

Recording electric guitar

2010-06-29T03:03:00.000-07:00

Frequently beginners recording electric guitar commit a standard error – they incorrectly using the classical recording scheme of electric guitar. Sometimes quality of a sound turns out excessively disgusting, and guitarists can’t understand whole problems. Someone starts to think that a problem is in the bad equipment, or in bad home record.

Scheme is very simple and still will be used for a long time. Even digital devices use this scheme at sound processing. So, here it is:

I will explain more in detail: the sound taken from guitar, gets in the amplifier which amplify signal. Then the signal leaves a guitar cabinet (dynamics) and recording by microphone.

Mistakes that make beginners:

1) They forgetting about a guitar cabinet. The sound turns out sharp and really annoying.
2) Position of microphones near cabinet. Sound can differ from deaf to sharp.
3) Putting the amplifier after dynamics. Also bad sound.

How to use VST plugins in Cubase

2010-06-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

In one of the previous posts, I told how to record guitar in Cubase. Now I will tell you how to use VST plugins in Cubase on audiotrack. VST effects can be used in various directions. It can be the whole modules for work with a sound – guitar processing modules Guitar Rig, Amplitube, Revalver, for sound mastering Izotope Ozone. And there can be the elementary effects – Distortion, Chorus and others.

So, you have a recorded audiotrack. Add to that audiotrack VST plugin is easy and simple:

1) At the left of the audiotrack press the button “e”.

2) Now you see a column, with empty cells i1, i2, i3 and so on. In my example in a cell i2 I have VST effect Overdrive.

3) Press one of empty cells “i” and there will be a menu where you can choose various effects. Choose effect and it is ready. The button “e” is also applied to adjustment effect.

Metal Amp Room from Softube – Review

2010-06-25T06:17:00.000-07:00

This product from Softube was released long time ago, but only recently I was possible to try this plugin. According to developers, their goal was to reach an aggressive and brutal sound of guitars.

Interface

Appearance is extremely simple. A room with 2 cabinets and 2 microphones on each section. Adjustment positions of microphones, gate control and equalizers. In new version Metal Amp Room 1.1 you can turn off cabinet or amplifier, and use other plugins for creating unique sound.

Sound

The sound enough dry and gain is quite adequately regulated. Noise gate also works tolerably. Adjustment of microphones changes a sound strongly enough. And certainly on quality it is similar to natural lamp sounding.

I record a track with preset Scoop1 for rhytm-guitars, and TM_Dagoba1 for solo guitar:

I think that for guitarists which playing heavy styles, this VST plugin will help to receive the necessary sound without much efforts.

How to record keyboard in Cubase

2010-06-25T04:36:00.000-07:00

So, I already mentioned how to record guitar in Cubase. Now I will tell you how to record the keyboard instrument. To record Midi in Cubase, you need a synthesizer with Midi-outputs or the Midi-keyboard. The data can be transferred through Midi outputs or through USB.

Let's start:

1) Power on a keyboard or synthesizer.

2) Start Cubase. Click on File – New Project – Empty.

3) Then add Midi-track. Project – Add track – MIDI.

4) Now we choose out for MIDI track. It is possible to use the built in software, and it is possible to apply VST instruments. VST is a instrument in which based on audiosamples, therefore a quality of a sound of some instruments almost like from real instruments. For an example, I will use the instrument from Cubase SX 3 – Synth A1. For this purpose choose Devices – VST Instruments – Synth – A1. All VST tools for MIDI are used through this option.

5) You can also choose patch in the instrument and get different sounds.

6) Record. Record goes similarly, as well as a record of live instruments.

That’s all. Now you can record music in any style.

New audiovisual album The Chemical Brothers – Further

2010-06-24T06:38:00.000-07:00

Audiovisual album – what can be more attractive?
The director of video Adam Smith has created really suitable atmosphere to an album. The paper horse, flight of birds, the girl under water, figures from electric waves, silhouettes of people – all combined with a certain musical track from The Chemical Brothers.

You can buy album on iTunes or on vinyl.

How to record guitar in Cubase

2010-06-24T02:40:00.000-07:00

In this article I will tell in detail how to record a guitar or other instrument in the sound editor. As audio editor I will use Cubase SX 3.

What is required for recording?
1) Driver ASIO4ALL for owners of the built in cards – http://www.asio4all.com
2) Cubase - http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/cubase/versions.html

It is better for owners of the built in cards install ASIO4ALL, because speed of these drivers considerably above, than at use of the standard drivers. Owners of a sound card with "correct" support ASIO – such problem will not arise.

One more tip – for instrument record it is necessary to establish options of a sound card. I use Line-In, therefore on Record I have Line-In, and on Playback inputs are disconnected. So, the instrument is not audible on an exit, it only can record. And how to hear the instrument? For this purpose look at 4 point, function Monitor.

And now work process in Cubase SX 3 is more detailed:
1) Start Cubase SX 3. Further we click on New Project – Templates – Empty

2) You will suggest to choose a folder where you will store the recorded files. It is better to create a separate folder on a disk with an empty space.

3) Now we click on a Project – Add Track – Audio. Here you can choose Mono or Stereo track. All depends on a kind of an output of your instrument, Mono or Stereo.

4) In the appeared track I turning on function Monitor to hear what I recording at present tme. After pressing on this button you should hear at once your instrument.

5) Record. Press on red button Record on panel Transport.

That's all. Now you can record instrumental parts and create music.

Creating music (introduction)

2010-06-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

Music is improbable displaying of human feelings and emotions. However quality of created music depends not only on feelings and emotions of the composer. It is not necessary to forget about performance level, idea of a composition, integrity, correct and competent mixing.

I have tried to show a dependence of abilities with reference to quality of created music:As you can see, parts are almost equal in rights, considerable deterioration in one of parts will affect to a whole quality of music

1. Performance

So, music begins with performance. No value, you write down live or draw notes in digital audio workstations(DAW) – performance should be equal and coincide with harmony of a musical track. At live record it is better to use a metronome though and at a virtual parts creation it will help to be guided better in a grid of notes.
Good performance consists not only in flatness of notes. It also consists in dynamics of performance. This note is louder, this is more silent. Or maybe some fast notes executed legato.
It is necessary to mention and performance elements. It can be chords, bends, slides, flageolets. All depends on the instrument on which the musical part is executed. More universal instruments are a guitar, piano. I think, it explains their popularity.

With the advent of Midi and VST it is possible to create music improbably approached to a real sound. Such companies as Native Instruments, ViR2, Steinberg, Toontrack let out excellent virtual instruments.

To be continued…