GARY NUMAN • MODULAR SYNTHS • MAKE A TRACK NOW

Issue 158 May 2016

1.22GB
www.musictech.net

samples

Issue 158
May 2016

PRODUCE A
The magazine for producers, engineers and recording musicians

TRACK TODAY
Essential tips to inspire you to compose,
arrange, mix and master your music…

Exclusive access
www.musictech.net
to his LA studio
New trends

Modular madness
from Berlin • Hardware-only
music production
New gear

3 Pocket Operators
6 best soft synths
www.musictech.net


May 2016
Issue 158
£5.99

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MT158.cover.indd 1 06/04/2016 08:55

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 Welcome MT

Expert Panel
Studio Hardware John Pickford
A studio engineer for over 25 years, John’s
a keen sound-recording historian who has a
passion for valve-driven analogue equipment
and classic recording techniques.

Mixing/Mastering/Logic Mark Cousins

Mark specialises in sound design and
cinematic productions. He’s recorded with
orchestras across Europe and is heavily
involved in soundtrack composition.

Careers Editor Rob Boffard

A sound designer with a background in TV and
radio work, Rob’s a Reason evangelist and –
when he isn’t writing for MusicTech – releases
hip-hop music under the name Rob One.
Digital/Composition Andy Price
With a Masters in songwriting and a vast
interest in music history and recording
techniques, Andy works daily on MusicTech.
net and regularly contributing to the magazine.
He’s currently heading up our songwriting and
Cubase series.
Recording & Guitar Tech Huw Price
A recording engineer since 1987, Huw has
worked with the likes of David Bowie, My
Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, Depeche
Mode, Nick Cave, Heidi Berry and Fad Gadget.
Scoring/Orchestral Keith Gemmell
Keith specialises in areas where traditional
music-making meets music technology, including
orchestral and jazz sample libraries, acoustic
virtual instruments and notation software.
Ableton Live Martin Delaney
Martin was one of the first UK Ableton-Certified
Trainers. He’s taught everyone from musicians
to psychiatric patients and written three books
about Live. Martin also designed the Kenton
Killamix Mini USB MIDI controller and is now
the editor of www.ableton-live-expert.com.
Synthesisers/Modular Dave Gale
Dave is an award-winning Media Composer,
Orchestrator and Producer, with a passion for
synths and modulars in all their forms, whether
software, hardware, vintage or contemporary.
Modular synthesis
reached something of a
peak this month with its
own show in, where else,
Berlin. Superbooth16
was its name and it
really was rather good:
synth companies by the
dozen, lots of very cool
noises and, conspicuously, lots of bigger, more traditional
music-gear companies joining them too…
A more cynical me might point out a possible Emperor’s New Clothes angle here
– modular synthesis is expensive, impractical and, expensive again, compared to
software – and the fact that some companies just seem to be getting ‘modulared
up’ for the sake of it is wearing. But, actually, many of the software companies at the
show were pointing towards an exciting future of hybridisation, which will be good
for all producers. So alongside your ‘boutique, built-in-garages modules’ you had
software companies controlling modules, software updatable modules and even
software-app modules – a superb level of integration of old and new (even though
it’s unclear which companies are old and which are new any more).
You can read more about the show with my Superbooth16 report on p6 and, of
course, we’ll be bandwagon-jumping, too, with more reviews and modular news
over the next few issues. And I almost forgot to mention Frankfurt Musikmesse,
once the biggest show for music gear news and happening now (ish). Check out the
latest from there at www.musictech.net. See you next month!

Electronic Music Alex Holmes Andy Jones Senior Editor

Alex has been a computer musician for 15
years, having a keen passion for beats, bass
and all forms of electronic music. He’s currently
involved in three different dance-music projects.
Email andy.jones@anthem-publishing.com
facebook: www.facebook.com/MusicTechMag Twitter @AndyJonesMT
Instagram: musictech_official Tumblr: musictechofficial.tumblr.com

Pro Tools Mike Hillier

Mike spent five years at Metropolis Studios,
working alongside some of the best-known
mix and mastering engineers in the world.
He now works out of his own studio in London.

New to Music Tech?

VISIT OUR WEBSITE! Check out ourde
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MT158.welcome.indd 3 06/04/2016 09:15

 MT Contents

MT Contents
Issue 158 May 2016

PRODUCE A
TRACK P15 - 110
GARY NUMAN P32
BERLIN MODULAR P6
FREE SAMPLES P114
MT Cover Feature MT Interview

32 Gary Numan
On studio gear and finally
coming to terms with his legacy

MT Workshop

15-110 PRODUCE A
TRACK FROM
START TO FINISH 18 COMPUTERLESS
A five-part guide to starting,
arranging, mixing, finishing
RECORDING
MT explores ways to produce music
and mastering a complete tune entirely outside of your computer

4 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.contents.indd 4 06/04/2016 09:09

 Contents MT

MT Issue 158 Full listings…

STUDIO
006 | The latest news
Superbooth16 show special
010 | Show off your studio here!

The Latest Reviews COVER FEATURE

015 | Produce a track

GOTHIC INSTRUMENTS
Top producers offer advice in all
aspects of track building…

DRONAR HYBRID MODULE

Plus Chandler, A&H, Teenage Engineering, Hans Zimmer and more
016 | 7 ways to start a track
Inspiration and composition
056 | 8 ways to arrange a track
Turn your ideas into songs
093 | 10 ways to mix a track
Produce A Track Our top advice for perfect mixes

15 Start
107 | 7 ways to finish a track
And how to best finish your tunes
110 | 8 ways to master a track
Make your music sound pro

Seven ways to kickstart your creativity FEATURE

56 Arrange
018 | Computerless recording
Grid controllers, mobile DAWs,
standalone systems and more
TECHNIQUE

How to progress from loops to a structured song 042 | Logic Pro X EXS24 in depth

93 Mix
046 | Live In Depth Audio to MIDI
and back again
052 | Mastering: Part 6
Concluding with running parts
10 pro tips to take your mix to the next level INTERVIEW

107 Finish
032 | Gary Numan on coming to
terms with history, studio gear and
a new crowd-funding venture
SUBSCRIBE

How to actually complete a tune 088 | …and get a huge discount!

REVIEWS

110 Master
062 | GI Dronar Hybrid Module
A modular software instrument
065 | Aston Spirit microphone

Top ways to add a pro finish to your tunes 068 | Chandler RS124 compressor
072 | TE PO-20 Series all-new
pocket operators
MT Buyer’s Guide 078 | Meldaproduction MMorph
morphing plug-in

103 6 of the
081 | Spitfire Audio HZ2 & HZ3
cinematic percussion libraries
085 | Blocs Wave iOS arranger
086 | Sonnox Envolution plug-in

best soft synths 090 | Pigtronix Keymaster effects

099 | Mini Reviews
REGULAR FEATURES
103 | 6 of the best… soft synths
114 | On your MT DVD

MAGAZINE May 2016 |5

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 MT Studio Special – Superbooth16

MTStudio
Round-ups Analysis Industry insight
FOR MORE
OF THE
LATEST NEWS
CHECK OUT
MUSICTECH.NET

SUPERBOOTH16
THE COOLEST SHOW ON EARTH
MusicTech reports from Superbooth16 in Berlin, a brand-new show for
modular-synth fans, but one attracting so much attention that it looks
set to become a major event on the music-production calendar…

6 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.Studio.indd 6 06/04/2016 14:38

 Studio Special – Superbooth16 MT

W
‘ ere you there at Superbooth16?’ is a line that
Main: There were
we like to think we’ll get asked in the distant several debates and
future, to which we will answer ‘ah yes, talks throughout terms of company profile. While your bigger companies
Superbooth with this
Superbooth, it was so cool back then.’ – Moog, Roland and Yamaha, among others – had larger
highlight featuring
This was, in case you don’t know, the brand-new show in Richie Hawtin and rooms, most of the rest shared equal billing, so you could
trendy Berlin that was all about modular synths, which, if you Mute legend Daniel end up with a company that had just started making
Miller…
didn’t know, are all over music production at the moment as oscillators out of its garage displaying its wares on a table
part of a hardware music-making revival thought unheard of Bottom far left: A pair next to Dave Smith. Talking of whom, we managed to grab
of Schmidt synths.
even a few years ago. That’s the cost of a some words with the iconic synth designer…
But Superbooth wasn’t all about the synth. While it was trendy loft apartment “It’s great that we have so many people involved back
in Berlin, right there
the focus, there were bigger companies there, non-synth in hardware,” he told us of the event. But why does he think
companies, too, and with the big changes afoot at Frankfurt Bottom left: Even the there has been such a resurgence of hardware? “Well,
iPad goes modular
Musikmesse the very next week, there were many people at you might know that I was one of the people involved in
with this setup,
the show already muttering that Superbooth could well take which uses Ableton’s producing the first soft synth, but I always like to say I was
over as the music production event to go to. Link to run several one of the first people to stop being involved in producing
apps together
Either way, it was good news that we were there, with soft synths, too, they just don’t do it for me. So, at that point,
plenty to see, plenty to get hands-on with and lots of Top left: The I got back to hardware.” He went on to tell us that soft synths
impressive Addac
companies, we admit, that we hadn’t spoken to before – so it modular system have increased the awareness of the synth in general, but
was time to make amends. Oh, and there was also a certain people love the tactility of wrestling with a real instrument
Right: Bristol-based
German music pioneer to act incredibly uncool in front of, Modal Electronics and making it make sounds instantly, hence the modular
too. But more on that later… had its new modules madness that we see today. We closed our conversation by
on show
First up, let’s get geeky. So we have Berlin. Check. We have attempting to take the OB-6, the star of the NAMM show,
beards. Check. We have abandoned warehouses. Check. away from him for a review, but he was having none of it –
An incredibly cool venue? You gotcha. And how about a they’re selling them faster than they’re making them at the
20-minute boat ride to get you there? Why not indeed?! moment. We told him we gave his Prophet-6 10/10 in our
Throw in 100 of the finest music-gear companies and some MusicTech test in a crude and obvious way to butter him up.
brilliant organisation and you have a superb show. The vibe “Well, with the OB-6 you’d better get ready to move your
was great, and in the main, the show was a good leveller in scoring up to 11, then!” he laughed.

MT158.Studio.indd 7 06/04/2016 14:38

 Studio Special – Superbooth16 MT

The man behind Superbooth

…is the incredible Andreas Schneider, a man probably more
responsible for the success and emergence of hardware
synthesis today than anyone else on the planet. Okay, maybe
that is overstating things, but he has championed the format
for years and doggedly stood out at every music-production
show with his havens for hardware. We also spoke to him on From top left…
the final day, and he was obviously pleased with both the
Lunar Modular – is
show and the thriving modular scene, one that has not that a new sequencer
always been as popular as it is now… from one of the best
(and most expensive)
“When I first started dealing with modular synths many
in the business?
years ago, people laughed at me and wondered why. It was
One of the most
the digital revolution, but I think that went too fast, with impressive demos
everyone thinking they could just copy everything. But what it – Bitwig Studio
couldn’t do was copy the physical connection and experience being controlled via
two touchscreens
of using synthesisers and patch cables. It’s not just about the
music and the sounds, it is about the physical experience.” Andreas Schneider
is the colourful Patchblocks are
Andreas was also very upbeat on the success of this character behind programmable bits of
year’s event. “We’ll definitely do it again next year,” he told us. Superbooth16, and electronics that you can
was delighted by the
“I don’t know if it will be bigger, as this year, the size of the use to make pretty much
success of the show anything you want
show was good. However, we do have plenty of room to grow
Dave Smith guarding
if we want to.”
the OB-6 from us
We’d like to tell you we discussed synths in a professional
The Moog island. A
And then we met Kraftwerk (kind of) place of solitude and
and dignified manner and that we didn’t start acting like
Andreas was not the only Schneider we meet at Superbooth. wonder, and also 14-year-old kids. But we’d be lying…
Oh no. After our interview with Gary Numan this month (see where we lost it with So that was Superbooth16. We’ve scattered some gear
Florian Schneider
p32) and John Foxx (see a future issue), we were already pictures and more information across these pages and
feeling pretty smug on the synth-pioneer stakes, but at The rather beautiful expect to see some of it reviewed in the coming months.
Studio Electronics
Superbooth16, we only went and bumped into an icon to rule Sensei. Admit it. You Be sure to keep your browser pointed at musictech.net for
them all – Kraftwerk founder member Florian Schneider. want it, don’t you… all the latest Frankfurt Musikmesse news, too. MT

MAGAZINE May 2016 |9

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 MT STUDIO – Show off your studio
Show off
your studio
It’s MusicTech’s Show Off Your Studio feature, where your studio
could become famous! Get in touch through the MusicTech
Facebook page to show us where you produce your music…
BlackBox Sound
Interviewee: Alexander Tschiggerl
Contact: office@blackboxsound.com
Web: www.blackboxsound.com
MT: Tell us about the key
components of your studio?
Logic Pro running on an Apple Mac
Pro 12 Core 3; MoTU PCI Audio with
3 2408 mk3; Avid EuCon Artist; two
Soundtracs Project 8 analogue
boards (one for recording and one
for summing and mixing);
Mackie HR824 Mk2 monitors (5.1
setup); Focusrite ISA 428 MkI with
AD converters; Sonnox OXF-R3 EQ;
OXF-R3 Dynamics; Lexicon PCM 96
and 480L Reverb; TC VSS reverb;
2CAudio AetherVerb; SSL Duende
bus compressor, E&G Channel,
X-EQ; Eventide chorus/delay;
Akai S1100; E-mu Emulator E5000,
E6400 and E-mu Emax II samplers;
Emagic EXS24 mkII sampler;
Ultrabeat; Sculpture; EVB3; Roland
Super JX-10, JX-8P, Alpha Juno 2
and Waldorf Microwave II synths;
Rhodes MK-60; Neumann, Avantone
and AKG mics.
Which DAW do you use, and why?
I use Logic Pro, because I’ve worked
110| |May
10 November
2016 2015 MAGAZINE MAGAZINE
MT158 SOYS.indd 10
with it from the beginning when
Emagic built it. I like it for
everything: composing, recording
and mixing.
What is your favourite gear and
why? The Focusrite ISA 428 with the
Avantone CV-12 microphone. Why?
It’s the sound handling – it’s my
dream team.
How often do you spend time in
your studio? Six days a week.
How do you use your setup?
I use it for recording bands,
my own projects and with
up-and-coming artists.
What is next on your shopping
list? More microphones, and
possibly a new sound system with a
newer workstation.
Is there anything that annoys you
about your current studio setup?
The Apple/Logic update cycles are
Room first, then
ergonomics,
then gear…
frustrating, especially when
sometimes there are bugs in
the software.
What is your dream piece of gear,
either real or imaginary? An SSL
Duality, Neumann U47, Telefunken
mic, Neve 1073 Pres and EQs.
Do you have any advice for
MusicTech readers about
setting up a studio?
Sort your rooms and acoustic out
first (along with your monitor
system), then work out the
ergonomics, and finally then sort
your gear.
Do you have any studio anecdotes
for us from your time running
BlackBox Sound?
Well, I have worked for
George Clooney and Arnold
Schwarzenegger – they called me
to attend a press conference for the
movie Batman & Robin in 1997.
{Alexander, tell us more please! Ed]
04/04/2016 11:07
 STUDIO – Show off your studio MT

Alexander at the controls

of BlackBox (top), plus
various shots of his setup
including live room (left
and below left)

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 11

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 MT STUDIO
Show off
–your
Showstudio
off your studio
Shaun Cronin
Web: meetandjam.com/studios
Tell us the key components of your
studio? Logic Pro X DAW with
plug-ins – perfect for mixing using a
powerful 15-inch MacBook Pro; Rode
NT1-A condenser microphone and
Shure SM58 dynamic microphone and
Focusrite recording audio interface.
Which DAW and why? Logic X,
because you can compose, sequence
and mix in one program in a more
intuitive, user-friendly way, especially
when compared to other DAWs.
What is your favourite gear and
why? I like my Rode NT-1A
microphone, because it allows you
to record with a well-balanced sound
with very low noise, which is really
good for recording professional-
sounding vocals. It’s very good value
for money, as well. My flat response
monitor speakers are great, too.
How do you use your studio? I’m
producing tracks and recording
vocals for a singer’s EP which we
intend to support by touring the
major festival circuit next summer.
Meet&Jam
Studio
Web: meetandjam.com
110| |May
12 November
2016 2015 MAGAZINE MAGAZINE
MT158 SOYS.indd 12
We love a compact
setup, too…
I would like to record more singers
and musicians like that.
Does anything annoy you about
your set-up? My MPD16 has USB
connecting issues; it doesn’t stay
connected for long, so I have to plug
and unplug it every now and then.
Next on your shopping list? I would
like to buy either an MPC Studio
or Native Instruments Maschine,
because I would like a bettter drum
machine, as I’m going to need it for
future live work, so I need to
upgrade my MPD16.
What is your dream piece of gear?
An SSL mixing desk, because it’s
a legendary piece of equipment.
I miss the sound of desks and being
hands-on with mixing rather than
doing everything from a laptop.
Any advice? Don’t buy expensive
equipment immediately; learn the
basics on cheaper equipment and
learn how to troubleshoot when your
setup isn’t working straight away.
We’ve teamed up with Meet&Jam
Studio, a new service for studio
owners to rent out their facilities
across the UK and US. Sign up to
the service at meetandjam.com
and you will automatically be
considered for inclusion in this,
MusicTech’s (award-winning)
Show Off Your Studio!
James Green
Contact: djjammrz@gmail.com
Another old sampler is in use,
but out of shot in this setup
Tell us the key components of your
studio? M-Audio Axiom 25;
Samson C01U condenser mic;
Behringer MS40 studio monitors;
Korg Volca Sample & Volca keys;
Akai S2000 sampler; AKG K240 MKII
headphones; Presonus Audiobox.
Which DAW do you use and why?
FL Studio 12 (Fruity Loops). It is easy
to use and has a fantastic workflow,
that works great for me. The interface
has been updated recently, and some
new, cool features have been added. It
has never let me use any other DAW!
What is your favourite gear and
why? The Korg Volca Sample, as you
can create complex ideas on the go
such as creating melodies, breakbeats
for drum ’n’ bass, plus it also has the
ability to resynthesise samples to
create strange and magical noises.
Finally, it’s analogue, so it creates a
nice, warm sound.
How do you use your studio?
At the moment, I’m producing an
experimental drum ’n’ bass album
with a friend of mine, which we shall
be releasing soon.
Next on your shopping list?
A nice pair of KRK RP5 G3s and
sound proofing.
How often do you spend in your
studio? All the time that I can get, if
I’m not at my music college (Platform
One College Of Music – Isle Of Wight).
Any advice? Get sound proofing,
some good studio monitors, good
headphones (my ones are AKG K240
MKIIs and they sound great) and a
decent computer. It doesn’t matter if
it’s Mac or PC. MT
04/04/2016 11:07
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 Produce a track Feature MT

MT Cover Feature Produce a track from start to finish

PRODUCE A TRACK
FROM START TO FINISH
It’s time for the ultimate advice on music production: how to produce a
track, from start to finish! In features spread through the issue – see the
full contents below – we have top tips from the pros and advice to get you
inspired, composing, mixing, arranging and mastering your music

T
he art of music production can, like
most processes, be broken down
into several stages – some creative,
some perhaps more scientific than
others. For this special feature on
producing a complete track, we’ve explored
the best advice ever assembled on the art of
music production and broken it down into five
main areas: starting a track, arranging it,
mixing it, finishing it and mastering it.
We’ll start with the best ways and
practices to help you to get moving, to get
creative and to make the most of inspirational
thoughts when they strike; to capture the
moment… fast! We’ll tell you how to avoid
using other people’s ideas, and also
(confusingly) when to use other people’s ideas!
Then there’s the all-important stage of
turning those ideas or simple loops into
complete works. This is often the stage you
get caught up in. Like us, your hard drive
might be full of great ideas which will become
incredible killer tunes… one day. But for now,
they are one, two, five or six sounds and
melodies that might work together, but
nothing more. This part of our feature will
help you turn them into complete tunes.
Then we move onto the art of mixing:
checking levels, checking pan positions,
adjusting EQ not only to enhance certain
frequency ranges, but also to prevent elements
clashing – the art of mix ‘breathing’, and
adding space to enable your main song
elements to shine.
In our penultimate feature, we bring you
essential advice on making the ultimate move
in composition: finishing! Here, we also team
up with Novation to bring you insight into the
ways certain top-name producers complete
their songwriting process.
Finally, it’s time to tackle the mastering
process, with top advice on how add a
professional sheen. We’ll suggest ways to add
that elusive sprinkling of sophistication and
magic dust to your tunes, to make them sound
as good as your reference material – the track
that you initially admired, which inspired you
to go full circle, back to the start of your music
making in the first place. Without dwelling on
the clichéd ‘journey’ analogy, it’s true that
music production is a process that can be
massively enjoyable, but also have the odd
stumbling block or creative frustration along
the way. With our feature, we’re hoping to
make your process smoother and your
songwriting experience more fulfilling.
As ever, send us links to your resulting
tunes at editorial@anthem-publishing.com.
MT Cover feature
PRODUCE A TRACK
FROM START TO FINISH
Top producers offer advice in all
aspects of track building…
016 | 7 ways to start a track
Let’s start with a look at ways
to capture ideas, sources of
inspiration and how to prepare
056 | 8 ways to arrange a track
Going beyond the loop and turning
your ideas into songs is a stumbling
block, but here’s how to overcome it
093 | 10 ways to mix a track
The mixing process is where your
track comes to life. Here are our
top tips for perfecting the art
107 | 7 ways to finish a track
Here are some effective
strategies to make sure you
actually finish your tunes
110 | 8 ways to master a track
Mastering dos and don’ts to add a
pro sheen to your productions

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 15

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 MT Feature Produce a track part 1

MT Cover Feature Produce a track from start to finish

7 WAYS
TO START A TRACK
Part It’s the first step: how to get those ideas you have in

1
your head onto your virtual notepad – and also how
to get more ideas into your head in the first place!

the best starting points for your music – bass, lead,

01
01 Clear your head
It’s important to get into the right mindset when
starting music. Getting into the mood helps with
anything creative – if it feels like hard work, it’ll end
up being hard work. You have to have no distractions
so switch off your internet, your doorbell, your phone
– anything that could interrupt your flow.
02 Start from scratch
You’ve been there. You’ve opened up your DAW and
it’s loaded up an old song or some looped ideas
you’ve been working on. Perhaps if you just spend
a few minutes with it… But it’s another distraction.
If you’re starting from scratch, start from scratch.
Produce an inspirational template that your DAW
loads each time you boot it up (instead of those old
ideas) and make it full of your favourite synths and
virtual instruments, all ready to play.
pad, guitar, vocals, or whatever – in whatever style
of music you make. Remember that most successful
artists will only use a small set of tools to create
their work – it’s their signature set of sounds. They
won’t surround themselves with endless options,
or they might not get anything done. Instead, they’ll
work within their own restrictions, so there’s a
compelling argument to do the same with your
instruments. And as well as choosing your favourite
synths for your template project, you can even home
in on your favourite sounds within each one. And
now go one step further and clear out that sample
folder. Go on, spend an hour clearing out samples
and audio that you’ll never use and you’ll have saved
that time tenfold when it comes to choosing samples
later. Too many options slow your workflow to
a crawl…
1. Turn the internet off? Really?
Yes! Get rid of those distractions
2. In Logic, use the Template
option to create your ultimate
instrument-packed template
2. In Live, you can create an
inspirational template, then
save it as your default project
02

03 Favourites, favourites
And while we’re at it, keep on choosing your
favourite sounds and presets. Home in on a set of

16 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

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03
04 Get a style… and a plan
One massive hurdle for composition is sitting with
a blank sheet of paper and expecting to fill it. You
can zero in on sounds and instruments as we’ve
suggested, but you should also have an idea of your
own style from the off. You might think that this is
something you have already mapped out in your
music life – the kind of music that you will be
making – but it’s not quite as easy as that. You’ll very
probably like more than one kind of genre yourself,
so it’s all too simple to be easily led by that floozy
of a breakbeat over there, or that dirty dubstep of
a modulation over there. Musical temptation is
everywhere and it is evil! The danger is you will end
up with a hotchpotch of styles that can only lead to
disaster (or, worse still, Bro Country!). So think very
carefully about what you are setting out to do – have
a tempo, a plan and a reference point in mind,
because if you’re up against a deadline, you will
need a tight target and to go for it. If not, give
yourself a fake deadline and go for it anyway!
05
05 Embrace inspiration
Always carry some kind of recorder with you (or
download an app such as RecorderPro), as you never
know when ideas will come to mind. Some people
swear by keeping one by their beds, as ideas can
come while waking or drifting off to sleep. Carry a
recorder with you and speak (or sing!) those ideas
into it wherever you are. You can also use one to
capture unusual sounds and atmospheres for use
later in your music – sometimes ‘found sounds’ can
be the difference between your tunes and everyone
else’s. Take note, however! Very often, any tune that
comes to you might well be someone else’s. A quick
way to identify a tune is to try apps like Shazam and
SoundHound. These are primarily used to identify
commercial music played around you in bars, but
might just do the trick for new tunes. If nothing else,
MT158.7 ways to start a track.indd 17
04
06
3. Home in on your favourite
synths and sounds in whatever
DAW you use
4. There are a lot of genres to be
tempted by – try to settle on one!
5. Use Shazam or SoundHound
to help you nail a specific style,
or identify an intriguing tune you
can’t place
6. Borrow from the earworm
that’s currently in your head.
Even Agadoo (if you feel you
absolutely have to)
Produce a track part 1 Feature MT
they are great for identifying an artist who suddenly
inspires you. Give them a go anyway – there are free
versions of both.
06 Borrow the earworm
Having said avoid other people’s music, now we’re
spinning that on its head by saying… Don’t be afraid
to borrow ideas! Whether it be the odd sampled riff
(with lots of post editing, naturally, and one that
you would clear on release), or melodic progressions,
you can and should use other people’s music as
inspiration. But let’s clarify that and stress the word
inspiration. The Blurred Lines/Robin Thicke case
has, well, blurred things in music copyright and
what you can and can’t do. But don’t be frightened to
analyse that earworm to find out what makes it so
‘wormy’. Is there anything you can use or learn from
it to make your own creations as memorable?
Examine some of the key themes and trends from
memorable songs (so long as it’s not Agadoo
in your head in the first place). Many people have
borrowed ideas; you could take that argument
further and say that every musician has borrowed
from every other one at some point. Some, though,
are more obvious than others: the odd riff here, the
odd chord progression there. Again, use ideas
carefully and edit, edit and edit some more… MT
07 The best start
And the best tip for starting a piece of music is…
To listen. Absorb. Learn. Be inspired. All of the
above! Yes, you could say that the best advice we
have for starting your own music is, well, not to.
Listen to as much other music as possible: all
genres, all tastes. Learn from it and really want to
do it. This is probably the top tip above everything
else for every step of the music-making process,
including mixing and mastering (which we will
also cover later). You need to have the desire to
produce and this will come from being inspired by
someone else and led in the direction in which you
want to produce. This will only come from
listening, listening and more listening, and not
only to music that you like, but also to new genres
and styles, stuff that you might not necessarily
appreciate. Classical music will help you arrange
strings, for example; other styles might inspire
you not to go down certain routes. It’s all about
finding your way, and you’ll need to be as open as
possible to follow your own choices.
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 17
06/04/2016 09:30
 MT Feature Complete guide to computerless recording

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MT158.feature_computerless.indd 18 07/04/2016 10:01


Complete guide
to computerless
recording
Working ‘in the box’ is far from the only way for producers to make music
nowadays. Here’s our complete guide to taking the computer
partly – or even entirely – out of the equation
T
he ubiquity of computers in our everyday
lives makes it easy to forget that things
were not always like this. Anyone over
about 30 will probably have experience of
making music entirely without computers.
They were things you played games on, typed letters
on and later, connected to the phone line using a
modem. But they most definitely were not up to the
task of serious music production. Indeed, it was only
in 1979 that the first cassette-based tape
Portastudio was released by Tascam. And if that’s
earlier than you would’ve guessed, at the time it still
cost 1,200 Canadian Dollars, putting it out of reach of
many people.
It would take until the late 1980s for Portastudios
to make recording available to a much wider audience,
and even then, it was distinctly lo-fi by today’s
standards. If you wanted something to sound great,
you still had to go to a studio, where the setup would
include professional tape, DAT or perhaps hard-disk
recorders. For a while, in the later 1990s and much of
the 2000s, computers became more dominant as they
became more powerful and cheaper, and software
started to become the default way to synthesise,
program and record music. Working ‘in the box’ was
much cheaper and could be done in a spare room at
home, rather than requiring racks of outboard.
A decade or so ago, however, the pendulum began
to swing back towards hardware in many areas of
MT158.feature_computerless.indd 19
Complete guide to computerless recording Feature MT
music production. It hasn’t been a decisive or
dramatic shift all the way back to hardware, but
instead has become more of a rebalancing of the way
people approach production. The reasons for this are
manifold, and touch upon several different factors. As
software has become incredibly powerful, the mouse
has been exposed as a less-than-perfect way to
interact with instruments and DAWs with all their new
functions. Hardware controllers have evolved to mesh
perfectly with software: NI’s Komplete Kontrol and
Ableton’s Push are just a couple of examples.
This is partly down to the fact that this stuff has
only become technically possible in the last few years.
Touch screens, velocity-sensing pads and tablets
have all fallen in price, making it possible for
manufacturers to include them in products that don’t
cost the earth. Some people also perceive hardware
as being more authentic or credible than software.
Not just in the sense that it’s preferable to have a real
Moog than a software one, but also because having a
physical product is somehow more tangible.
Again, more accessible prices have increased the
appeal of hardware from when it mostly consisted
of the kinds of mega-synths you couldn’t possibly
afford a couple of decades ago. So even if you’re not a
hardware junkie, we’re at a point now where hardware
is most definitely re-established in music production
– often in conjunction with software, it’s true, but it
looks like it’s here to stay.
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 19
07/04/2016 10:01
 MT Feature Complete guide to computerless recording

Grid Controllers
You’ve heard of going ‘off the grid’ – but for increasing numbers
of musicians, the grid is actually very much where it’s at…

I Four of the best

f you actually stop to think about it, the mouse and
computer keyboard are very limited tools for
interacting with something as advanced and
multi-functional as a modern DJ app, DAW or drum
machine. They essentially do one thing at once, and
you have to look at the screen to figure out where to
click next. It’s no coincidence that pro mixing desks
and modular synths have hundreds of physical
controls, and a DJ mixer-plus-turntables a fair few as
well. In the move to software, much of this tactile,
hands-on control fell by the wayside in the excitement
over being able to have a bunch of synths and effects
on your hard drive, rather than taking up a whole room.
You only have to look at the history of step
sequencers and drum machines and compare their
design with modern grid controllers to realise that
there’s obviously something familiar and intuitive to
humans about a grid of controls. To begin with, drum
machines laid out their sounds across a grid of pads,
and classic hardware units like Akai’s MPC60 did a
similar thing with user-edited samples. The way
talented producers interacted with the layout of these
kinds of modules had a tangible effect on a whole new
• Maschine Studio
• Web www.native-instruments.com
• Price £729
Probably the ultimate grid controller,
Maschine Studio is the largest
member of the Maschine family and
as you might expect, is geared to work
seamlessly with the Maschine software, although it can be used
in generic MIDI mode as well. With almost every command available on the hardware
itself, it really is a hands-off way to use Maschine on your Mac or PC.
working, so you’re not likely to see one for tracking in
Pro Tools, for example, because that’s a very different
workflow. Often, hardware and software need to be
developed either by the same company, or by two
companies working very closely together. Basic MIDI
mapping may be easy these days, but deeper
integration – proper visual feedback, advanced
commands and bi-directional communication –
require a lot more work to get right.
The most obvious example of a DAW that’s very well
catered for is Ableton Live. Thanks to its clip-based

There’s obviously something approach and use of scenes, it’s perfectly suited to a
grid of hardware controls for launching and modifying

familiar and intuitive to humans clips. Over time, controllers from Akai and Novation,
such as the MPD and Launchpad series respectively,

about a grid of controls have become more advanced at controlling Live.

Eventually, Ableton developed and released its own
controller, Push, recently upgraded to version 2.

way of making music, from RZA’s sample-based

hip-hop to DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing. If they’d been
Four of the best
arranging blocks on a computer screen, who knows if • Push
• Web www.ableton.com
their styles would have developed in the same way?
• Price €778

Early days Completely dedicated to Ableton Live, Push 2 is a sleek

When grid controllers started to appear on the market,
they were largely intended to use templates or for
building MIDI maps for triggering your software of
choice. It’s become more commonplace to see grid
controllers designed to work mainly with one piece of
software. They lend themselves to a certain way of
and powerful grid controller, which gives you hands-on
control of almost every aspect of a Live set – from
recording and sequencing, to editing instruments and
effects and mixing. It’s designed to be as much about
live performance as studio recording.

Four of the best

• BeatStep Pro
• Web www.arturia.com
• Price €249
Arturia’s BeatStep Pro expands
greatly on the regular BeatStep
with a multiplicity of ways to send
MIDI, CV and Gate signal in and
out, providing a way to bridge your
software and hardware worlds. It’s compact, and even has touch-sensitive controls.
You don’t often get such extensive connectivity in a unit this affordable.

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Total control
Controllers such as these work by sending MIDI data
to a computer running the software and by showing
visual feedback about what the user is doing.
Depending on the model in question, they can even
allow almost total hands-off operation – which is the
holy grail of controllerists’, or even ust people who like
work in a more tactile way. One of the best examples of
this is NI’s Maschine system, and specifically the
Maschine Studio model, which has a ton of controls for
beat making, programming and even sampling and
editing, without ever going near your computer.
Grid controllers are often touted as performance
tools and while they’re excellent for live performance,
many people find their supremely interactive workflow
means it can be preferable to record and sequence
with them as well, especially when there’s a high
degree of integration between the hardware and
software. You don’t ust play notes you can load
instruments, edit samples, change effects and so on.
There are many smaller controllers available at
fairly low price points, too Arturia’s BeatStep Pro, for
example, is a controller and sequencer and is designed
to work not ust with your computer, but with hardware
both old and new. With SB, MIDI, CV Gate and DIN
connections as well as touch-sensitive knobs,
touch-strips and eight separate drum-gate outputs,
it’s a perfect example of how hardware is expected to
do more than ust one thing these days – and how
people don’t always want to buy three devices when
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MT158.feature_computerless.indd 21
Complete guide to computerless recording Feature MT
one can do it all. Convergence and integration are the
way things are going – great news for musicians.
Grid locked?
Grid controllers have gone from being a novelty to
something much more serious. Developers have built
ever-deeper hooks between controllers and their
software, to the extent that some people would find it
very limiting to try to use Live without one, say, or the
Maschine software without a hardware unit attached.
Although they’re generally designed to work with a
specific app they can almost always be switched into
generic MIDI mode at which point they become usable
with any software and indeed any hardware, so even
your dusty old workstations and synths get a look in.
More importantly, they can often provide a bridge
between the old and new worlds, linking the latest
DAW to your oldest synth in a way that makes sense.
Four of the best
• Launchpad Pro
• Web www.novationmusic.com
• Price £ 99
The largest of the three hardware Launchpad
models, Novation’s hardware controller is
designed to work with Live, but can also be flipped
into MIDI mode to work with any other software or
hardware. If you prefer something even more portable,
smaller models are available as well.
07/04/2016 10:02
 MT Feature Complete guide to computerless recording

Making a computer invisible with great controllers

Hands-off control of instruments and DAWs has become
the latest ‘big thing’ in production. But how does it work?

Four of the best

A
s software has become more powerful, it has
taken on far more features than ever before. • Maschine Studio
Advanced DAWs, virtual instruments and • Web www.native-instruments.com
• Price £729
effects and DJ apps can do stuff that would have
boggled the mind just a couple of decades ago. The NI’s Maschine Studio is the big boy on the block, a
only problem with this is that a computer mouse isn’t performance powerhouse with near-total control of
really the ideal way to interact with such feature-rich the Maschine software without having to ever go near
your computer.
software. In terms of creativity, we often need to do
more than one thing at once, or at least not be slowed
down by hunting for and digging around in menu items.
As such, there has been a concerted push in recent
years to improve the controller experience and make it
one that people go to as their primary means of
working with music software instead of a novelty
extra. In truth, computers are likely to remain at the
heart of many people’s setups, because they are
simply so powerful and multi-functional that to
replace them would take many different hardware
products. However, the way things seem to be going
is producers are being encouraged to interact with the
computer less and with controllers more, leaving the
computer as the ‘brain’ of the system, but the
controller taking over the creative role. You can see

Computers are still the ‘brains’

of the system, but controllers
are taking over the creative role
this most clearly with companies such as NI, which are
working hard to make just such a future happen,
though there are many others doing the same. This
idea of making the computer ‘invisible’ has been or instrument that they have been designed alongside.
around for a while, but it’s only in the last few years For years, MIDI control meant triggering drums from
technology has started to make it truly possible. pads or changing filters with knobs – and though this
is still possible, users expect a much deeper level of
Dedicated systems integration now. A bit of performance control doesn’t
Most of the controllers on the equal making the computer near-invisible.
market can be used in generic As noted, Native Instruments has done a huge
MIDI mode, but almost all are amount of work on making its instruments and
better suited to linking up applications respond almost entirely to input from its
specifically with the application hardware, enabling people to perform, record and edit
from the hardware, while the computer does the heavy
lifting. The company has three main product lines and
Four of all now have companion hardware that enables almost

the best full hands-off operation. The Maschine beat-making

system has Mikro, Maschine and Studio controllers
• Console 1
with varying levels of functionality, and the Traktor DJ
• Web www.softube.com
• Price £479 system also has multiple controllers, with the largest
S5 and S8 systems having built-in audio mixers and
Console 1 is a dedicated mix interfaces, too. The Komplete Kontrol software and
controller that focuses on
hardware allows extensive control of the company’s
the bundled software channel strip modelled on a classic SSL unit. It provides an
analogue console-style mixing experience with a much smaller footprint. instruments and also third-party VST plug-ins. All
these hardware units can also use MIDI templates,

22 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.feature_computerless.indd 22 07/04/2016 10:02

 A new way
of touching sound
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A4 Polar Front Product Print.indd 1 07/04/2016 22:02

 MT Feature Complete guide to computerless recording

which you can create yourself to control any software

or hardware.
Another developer that does this kind of stuff,
albeit with a wider scope in terms of what it supports,
is Nektar. The company’s Panorama and Impact range
of controllers come with mapping for some leading
DAWs straight out of the box (Bitwig, Cubase, Logic
and Reason) as well as 93 physical controls and a large
colour screen for visual feedback. They also have
shortcuts for macros so you can, for example,
send chains of
commands or
keystrokes
without (left) NI’s Traktor Kontrol S8 has Mix is a
having to a futuristic workflow designed little more
to make sense to old-school
use the DJs and progressive producers expensive, but great for
computer mixing with Pro Tools. If you go a few
(above) Nektar’s Panorama
keyboard. combines a vast range of MIDI
notches up, you start taking steps into the world of
A grid of options, DAW shortcuts and dedicated touch-screen mix controllers, far bigger
pads also lets you play beats. transport control into an than anything running on the iPad. For example, the
all-inclusive creative tool
An even newer series is Akai’s Advance PreSonus StudioLive CS18AI works with Studio One,
keyboard controllers. Again, these have a multitude of and Slate’s Raven MTi2 Production Console can be
physical controls and a colour screen, but in this case, used to get touch-based control of most major DAWs.
the VIP software lets you catalogue, control and map As you can see, there is a great selection of
all your VST instruments for use inside your DAW. controllers out there, depending on what you’re trying
to control and what your budget is. If you‘ve bought
into one particular software ecosystem, such as NI’s,
There’s never been a better then you’re probably best off with their controllers. If
you want to turn your controllers to lots of different
time to get into remote-controlling uses, you can do this with most units, although you’ll
be able to save some cash by selecting hardware that
your music sessions isn’t targeted at one company’s software. All told,
there’s never been a better time to get into
remote-controlling your music sessions.
A similar system is used by Novation, whose
Impulse controller keyboards use the
Automap software to map hardware
Four of the best
to software parameters. Again, there • Akai Advance 61
• Web www.akaipro.com
are multiple sizes of controller
• Price £4 9
depending on your needs.
As well as being a USB MIDI keyboard, the AKAI
Mix controllers Advance series has serious controller functionality,
including the ability to map your VST plug-in collection
Although there’s a lot of focus on all-in-one
for use inside your DAW. Two more-compact models are
keyboard controllers, because most people available in addition to the 61.
would prefer using one device over using three if
possible, some controllers are more unique. Softube’s
Console 1, for example, is a specialised mix controller
unit. Install the software and you get a software
Four of the best
• Nektar Panorama
version of the SSL 4000 E channel strip, plus a
• Web www.nektartech.com
dedicated way to manipulate this for any channel in • Price rom £ 7 P
your project. The hardware has a fixed layout, but is
the same for every channel; so the idea is you move Nektar’s mix controller has multiple faders, transport controls and rotary dials, plus
a dedicated colour screen and maps for some leading DAWs. Use it to control your
between tracks and, for each one, dial in settings for
mix sessions or send key combos to your software to perform advanced functions.
EQ, compression, gain, filters and more using the dials. Other range options, e.g. the P6 below, merge the tech with a keyboard controller.
It’s pretty specialised, but also an amazing way to mix
in an old-school way using cutting-edge computers.
Mixing is an area where hands-on controllers can
really help you improve the sound of your tracks,
freeing you from the mouse and giving you a ‘real’
mixer experience, one which anyone who has tried it
will probably admit is superior. They range greatly in
cost and featureset: at the more affordable end are
units such as the Nektar Panorama P1, Behringer
X-Touch and Novation Launch Control. The Avid Artist

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 Hardware
It’s quite possible to record without a
computer in sight…

T
here won’t be many musicians who don’t own a
computer or a tablet, but that doesn’t mean you
inveitably or automatically have to involve them
in your music-making. There have been examples of
big acts deliberately choosing computer-free studios
to make their albums, such as avowed traditionalist
Jack White. And though it can sound like a stereotype,
it’s often guitarists who gravitate towards systems not
based around computers – presumably because some
feel more comfortable with real hardware, instead of a
mouse and screen.

Old school
If you’re lucky enough to have the money and the
space, it’s still possible to record the old-fashioned
way using a mixing desk and a tape machine (though
realistically, you’ll be looking for a used reel-to-reel
machine, which may need servicing and won’t be
cheap, so you’d have to be pretty committed to tape to
go down that route). Manufacturers such as Tascam
and Fostex still make new hardware recording units,
though these are often aimed at the field recording,
live sound or broadcast industries, where a dedicated Tascam’s DP-32 is a s
self-contained Portastudio
system can be preferable to something running which can export recorded and
Windows and a web browser, since stability is edited audio files to a DAW

It’s often guitarists who

gravitate towards systems
not based around computers

MT158.feature_computerless.indd 25 07/04/2016 10:02

 MT Feature Complete guide to computerless recording
paramount. Nonetheless, they will do the job of
capturing multi-channel audio perfectly well and can
be used as the basis of a music-recording system.
The resurgence in hardware
instruments has also seen classic
sequencing make a comeback
Standalone systems
At a more ‘prosumer’ level, there are still hard-disk or
solid-state-based dedicated music-recording units
around, in the vein of the classic Portastudio, though
obviously with a more advanced featureset. In fact,
Tascam still makes a range of Portastudios – from very
portable models up to the DP-32SD, a 32-track model
with hands-on controls, faders, effects,
mastering and finalising tools and expandable
storage. BOSS, another guitar-friendly
manufacturer, makes several units including
the BR-800 for portable, computer-free
multitracking with mixing and effects.
Hardware units like these are more limited
than computers, in that you don’t have an
infinite number of tracks and channels or
insert slots – but that actually suits some
people perfectly. You have a set
hardware layout, and you know what
you have to work with. Almost all of
these will also give you the option to
move files to a computer at some
point, anyway, so you can go to a
studio, for example, to mix or master
– you’re not completely bound to
finishing a project on the same
hardware you started it on.
The resurgence in hardware
instruments has also seen classic
sequencing make a comeback,
especially with gear like Roland’s
AIRA series of synths and beatboxes.
These enable you to program patterns and beats like
26 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.feature_computerless.indd 26
people used to in the 1980s and then create longer
sequences and record these either as audio or MIDI
onto whatever system you like, be it a solid-state
recorder or a computer. This kind of kit is also usually
capable of triggering other MIDI gear, so you can use
the hardware controls to program both on older
hardware and on software, via a MIDI interface.
WHY USE OLDER GEAR TO RECORD?
A few people who choose to use older recording kit
do so out of a kind of knee-jerk reaction to the fact
that technology pervades almost every part of our
lives. Most, however, do it for more tangible reasons.
Probably the main draw is that analogue recording
just sounds different. Clearly, the sound of your setup
depends on the precise combination of hardware
that makes it up, but there’s a certain truth to the
suggestion that fully digital recording sounds very
clean. Sometimes this is exactly what you want, but
for other people, it can be a downside. Recording
through an analogue desk, either onto tape or a digital
system, perhaps using analogue outboard effects,
will have a bearing on the character of the sound
that gets captured. It won’t be a stark difference in
most cases, but it will be noticeable. Remember, your
end recording medium can be digital, but analogue
components coming before it in the recording chain
will impart a warmth, or certainly some kind of
change, to the sound.
The other thing that makes some people choose
fully computerless recording is that it imposes limits
on you that aren’t there with software DAWs. Pro Tools
or Cubase will let you use an almost infinite number
of tracks, instruments and effects and edit in minute
detail for ever. For some people, that kind of choice
can be overwhelming – and being limited to 16 or 24
tracks focuses their mind and creativity. Rather than
just sticking another 10 drum parts down, you’re
forced to use the parts you do have more effectively.
There is certainly something to this idea, and there
are studios which specifically limit the amount of gear
they have so that the gear itself does not become the
focus of the sessions, but the music does.
Limiting yourself to 16 tracks can actually end up being an
unexpected benefit of hardware recording
07/04/2016 10:02
 Complete guide to computerless recording Feature MT

Mobile/iPad
Mobile music-making has really
come of age in the last couple of years

M
obile music-making is the area that has seen
the most radical changes of all, primarily Four of the best
because, until the release of the iPhone, • GarageBand for iOS
‘mobile’ meant carrying a portable recorder of some • Web www.apple.com
kind, usually based on tape and not flash memory. You • Price £ .99
might argue that iPhones and iPads are still computers Apple’s own
because they have CPUs and RAM, but the way we mobile DAW is
interact with them and the software they run is not the most
fundamentally different from a desktop or even laptop advanced on the
computer. So it’s reasonable to say that they market in terms
constitute a separate category of music-making tools of features, but
still a fantastic
just like Portastudios did, or modular synths still do.
sketchpad for
We’re going to focus heavily on Apple’s iOS devices many users, as
here, simply because they have practically all the pro well as being
music applications. Android is just beginning to really inexpensive.
receive some serious development as far as music Record, arrange,
apps go, but it’s still early days. As soon as the iOS App edit and mix
live audio
Store first appeared, and later when the iPad was
and software
released, people began to make music on their instruments in a
devices. For a while, the selection and quality of apps way that almost
was limited by the immaturity of the platform and the anyone will be able
power of the devices, but that didn’t take very long to to pick up easily.
change. And although many apps still let you start a

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MT158.feature_computerless.indd 27 07/04/2016 10:03

 MT Feature Complete guide to computerless recording
Four of the best
• iProphet
• Web www.arturia.com
• Price £7.99
There are quite a few iOS recreations
of classic synths, and Arturia really
knows its stuff. This is the Sequential
Circuits Prophet VS and can swap
presets with the company’s desktop
version. It supports all iOS audio and
MIDI protocols and is Tabletop-ready,
so it can be used in the iPad-based
modular-synth system.
Damon Albarn made a whole
album on an iPad 1, using tech
that already seems primitive
project on iOS and then transfer it back to your
computer for ‘proper’ work, it’s becoming increasingly
common to find apps that will let you do the whole
thing on your device. For example, Damon Albarn made
a whole album on an iPad 1, using technology that
seems primitive even by today’s standards.
Mobile DAWs
One of the most useful developments has been the
emergence of mobile DAWs, which are much more
flexible than you might think. With iOS hardware
approaching the levels of performance of lower-end
laptops (especially with the iPad Pro), there’s no
reason you can’t record, edit and mix music on your
iPad or, with a bit more fiddling, your phone. One of the
most affordable is Apple’s own GarageBand, which is
28 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.feature_computerless.indd 28
actually rather nicer to use on iOS than on the Mac,
since it doesn’t have all the legacy code that still
somehow seems to make the Mac version feel
sluggish. It lets you record audio and use Smart
Instruments to play some of its drum, guitar or
keyboard sounds, and these are really very good. It
packs basic sampling and modelled guitar amps, as
well as MIDI loops and effects. Since Apple subsidises
the app, it’s very cheap and is honestly one of the
slickest mobile DAWs around.
Other big music developers make their own mobile
DAWs as well, often allowing transfer to the full
desktop version. Some of the best include Cubasis, FL
Studio Mobile HD and Korg’s Gadget synth sequencer.
Some third-party developers skipped the desktop
altogether and went straight to mobile. Retronyms’
Tabletop, Auria and NanoStudio are all examples of
clever and powerful mobile recording and
programming environments.
There are a ton of software synths for iOS as well,
many from established developers, with some
modelling classic hardware. They tend to be pretty
affordable, so if you check out instruments like
Animoog, iProphet, Thor or Nanologue (to name but a
few), you will find much to like. Pressing keys on a
screen isn’t particularly exciting, of course, so there
are peripherals you can use to get more hands-on with
your iPad synths and beatboxes. These include IK
Multimedia’s iRig Keys models and also many
class-compliant USB MIDI keyboards and controllers
via a camera-connection kit. IK leads the way with this
stuff, making other iOS-focused hardware as well as
guitar-, DJ- and microphone-input devices to connect
directly to your iOS device.
Extra hardware
There are iPad Docks available which give you
professional-level I/O for connecting MIDI devices,
studio mics and monitors, all via your Lightning
Four of the best
• Apogee ONE
• Web www.apogeedigital.com
• Price 49
Apogee is best known for its high-end studio
electronics, but in recent years, has been adding iOS
compatibility to its more portable
models. The ONE is a 2x2 USB
audio-and-mic interface with
top-quality circuitry that will
give you proper I/O via a
mic input, headphone
out and also a built-
in omnidirectional
condenser mic.
07/04/2016 10:03
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 MT Feature Complete guide to computerless recording
Four of the best
• BIAS for iPad
• Web www.positivegrid.com
• Price £ 4.99
Positive Grid makes a selection of amazing guitar
and bass amp, cab and pedal effects suites that
work across iOS, and also your desktop computer.
BIAS is an incredibly powerful iOS app for creating
authentic-sounding guitar setups with very fine
levels of tweakability.
connection, Focusrite’s
iTrack Dock and the Alesis StudioDock
are the two main contenders, but a new generation
of smaller audio interfaces are offering universal
compatibility so you can use them with your Mac, PC
or iOS device. Again a result of maturing technology,
these can be a great choice, as they essentially save
you having to buy two different devices. Models from
Steinberg, MOTU and Apogee are among those that
can be used wherever you need them.
Hardware is necessary when you’re doing things
like using an iOS device for effect processing, as
guitarists and bassists increasingly do through apps
like AmpliTube and BIAS, two powerful guitar FX suites
from IK and Positive
Grid respectively.
30 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.feature_computerless.indd 30
These apps are used not
just for live performance but also for
studio recording, potentially replacing whole stacks of
amps, cabs and pedals. If you are staying ‘in the box’
with your device, technologies like Audiobus and
Inter-App Audio mean it’s possible to route MIDI and
audio between synths, effects and DAWs inside your
device. Apple has even developed a plug-in format for
iOS 9, although it’s taking a little while to break into
the mainstream.
Mobile mastering
All this programming and recording on iOS is great, of
course, but if you have to move to a computer to mix
and master, surely you could have just started on one
in the first place? Well, luckily, this side of things is
taken care of as well. Your DAW will let you mix out of
the box – some even allow automation – and if you’re
monitoring properly through a decent I/O device, you
should be able to mix accurately. There’s an app called
Final Touch available for iPad, priced at around £10
(the cost seems to vary over time), but which is far
more powerful and professional than an iPad app has
any right to be. Again, just as with any mastering task,
you will need to monitor properly, but the results are
way beyond what many people might expect could be
achieved using an iPad-based app.
This final link in the production chain is what iOS
was missing – but it’s now complete. Producing music
on iOS requires a slight reorganisation of your working
methods and is still technically more limited than on
the desktop, but it’s light years ahead of where it
started out, and is only likely to get more powerful. MT
07/04/2016 10:03
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 MT Interview Gary Numan

MT Interview Gary Numan

With the success of the album Splinter, Gary Numan has finally come to terms with, and is
proud of, his early work – including tracks like Cars and Are Friends Electric? that kick-started
synth pop and heralded a new world of music technology back at the end of the 1970s.
Andy Jones meets a very English man in LA and finds someone more at home with today’s
studio technology, but still coming to terms with newfound levels of respect…

Y
ou could argue that Bob Moog was the guy
who did more for the advancement of
music technology than any other person
in history – this was the man who brought
the synthesiser to the masses, after all.
But you could also argue that Kraftwerk put the
sound of the synth on the music-making map.
They exported their robotic noises Stateside and
contributed to and informed – heck, some even say
formed – techno and hip hop. Indeed, such is the
hushed reverence that these German robots are held
in, it surely can’t be too long before some kind of
hi-tech religion starts.
Yet the person who I would say did more for the
‘tech’ in MusicTech – albeit unwittingly – was Gary
Numan. While Kraftwerk impressed the beardy
geeks with 22-minute tracks about motorways,
while The Human League stayed in the lab in the
midst of their white-coat phase in Sheffield
(pre-girls, pre-pop and pre-hits) and John Foxx’s
Ultravox impressed the art school with their synth
rock, it was Gary Numan who picked up a Moog,
used the first sound he played on it for the track
Are Friends Electric? and suddenly, everyone
wanted a synth. He’d hate to admit it, but the sound
and popularity of the instrument wouldn’t be quite
where it is now without him. Indeed, John Foxx tells
us (in an interview for our sister magazine, Classic
Pop): “Gary triggered the whole synth thing off in
1979. It was an instant changeover and, of course,
very welcome for everyone who was doing that sort
of thing – it was great.”

32 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.INT Numan.indd 32 05/04/2016 11:56


But over the last 30-odd years, Gary has had a
hard time coming to terms with the impact he made.
Never one to dwell on the past or be retro, he has
struggled to move on, to get ‘out of the shadow’
caused by numerous number-one hit albums and
singles at the end of the 70s and start of the 80s.
“I was very sensitive to things that put you in an
era,” he tells us now. “I’ve had a very long career and
it’s still going. I might not be having number-one
singles, but I am still having an ongoing career.”
You’ll notice he now describes this sensitivity in
the past tense. It was the album Splinter that not
only injected new life into Numan’s career, but also
helped him come to terms with his past. Splinter
was released a couple of years back not only to huge
acclaim, but it also became an album which, when
played live, actually went down better than
Numan’s classic material.
“It happened regularly where we’d say ‘we can’t
believe that that song did better than Cars’,” Gary
recalls. “I never thought that would happen and it
was lovely. It really did feel like, ‘I’ve finally done it,
I’ve moved on!’, and as soon as that happened, it
made me feel different about the old stuff.”
“Here I was with magazines making Splinter
Album Of The Month, saying it was the best album
I’d ever made, better than Replicas and The Pleasure
Principle, which are now regarded as my classic
albums. When that happened, I suddenly found
myself in a position when I could look back on my
catalogue and be proud of it, as it’s not a ball and
chain around my ankle – now, it’s something I could
actually use; not only have I done Splinter, but I did
all of that cool stuff back then that you talk about as
MT158.INT Numan.indd 33
Gary Numan Interview MT
being classic. It has become something that I can
now brag about rather than keep at arm’s length.
“My whole way of life is about ‘what are you
going to do next?’ That’s what I find exciting. That is
still the case, but I now have two ends of my career:
the beginning of me which people will come and see
but now I have Splinter – two guns rather than one!
And the longevity has become something to be
proud of, having albums out in so many different
decades. It is something cool, whereas before, I
didn’t want people to know I was about in the 70s.
I wanted to keep that quiet!”
On the up
So, Gary’s move to LA three years ago seems to have
paid dividends. It was a move, in part, to get more
film work (although he has since shifted his targets
on this one: “I don’t really want to be making film
music now, because I still love doing my albums, I
still love touring, I love the life I’ve had, more than
ever, actually, and I don’t want to get rid of it!”) but
more for family reasons, and the fact that he fell out
of love with England: “For the first year, I didn’t
miss anything, just mum, dad, brother; the second
year, I missed a few things, visiting the odd castle! I
missed that history, and the green colours, and the
third year, I’ve started missing it more.”
And Gary does like his castles. He might miss his
English visits, but he’s more than made up for it by
buying a castle. It might be a modern one, but it
comes complete with secret staircases, apartments,
turrets and a 200-strong sword collection, and we’ll
come to the studio shortly… So everything is pretty
rosy, except knowing Gary, we’re not quite there yet.
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 33
05/04/2016 11:57
 MT Interview Gary Numan

A TYPICAL TRACK With Splinter, he regained something of a peak,

but has now put the pressure on himself with its
So how does a Gary Numan example, that if I’m going to be singing
follow up. Not only that, he’s decided to do it by way
track come together? at the top of my range or where it
of PledgeMusic, an option taken by an increasing
“Normally, when I did Splinter, I’d get needs any kind of power, because I
don’t have a powerful voice that there number of bands wishing to avoid the traditional
up in the morning, sort the kids, they
are certain words that work better and less financially viable record-contract route
would go to school, and I’d do a bit of
than others. So anything that has an and fund a release by way of this crowd-funding
email and I’d like to be over in the
‘aw’ sound at the end of it is great for resource. Numan announced the PledgeMusic
studio by 10. So I’d start then and it
singing really loud or really high project at the end of last year and quickly reached
was quite regimented because of the
because it is easy. Anything with an double his target. Like other bands, he offered many
children, actually – they make you
‘ee’ or an ‘ind’ or ‘find’, ‘kind’ or ‘mind’, more options to buy than just a physical CD or a
have an organised life to make it all fit.
I can’t sing them loud or high – they digital download of the new album. There are
So say that was a Monday, by the end
sound a bit feeble. But ‘or’, ‘war’ or signed instruments including classic synths
of the day, I’d like to have a basic song
‘law’, they are easier, so you work out (quickly snapped up, sadly), plus VIP events and all
structure, melody, chords, piano,
what it’s going to need and that helps sorts of packages to include fans and keep them in
maybe some drum loops in the
you with the lyric a little bit. The mood tune with the album as it develops.
background. On Tuesday and
of the song and certain phrases come Gary explains why has he decided to follow this
Wednesday, I’d flesh that out and start
out naturally when you do the particular funding route… “It’s not about funding,
adding production layers to it, and by
gobbledy gook, certain phrases come funnily enough. I had a real chip on my shoulder
Thursday morning, I’d have a working
out and form the lyric. On Friday, I do about crowdfunding at one point. It always seemed
song under way. Then I’d do rough or
the proper lyric, hopefully sing the to me when it started a few years ago, that people
guide vocals. I’d write the melody for
proper finished vocal and that is my who did crowdfunding were a little bit desperate,
them on the piano and then start
demo done with a finished vocal. and needed the money. I wasn’t down on it, I
singing it – you adapt once you get
“So that is the one-song-a-week actually thought it was a good thing for people to be
your voice in and add things to it. So
turnaround as I was doing with doing, but I didn’t want to be seen as one of the
Thursday would be doing that – not
Splinter, and at the end of that week people that needed to do it, ‘cos to be honest, I’m
singing any words, just singing any old
that song would go on the shelf and I doing alright and I have my studio, so I can make
nonsense that comes to mind just to
would try and get 15-20 of them done. albums pretty cheaply anyway.
do the phrasing, where it should be,
Then I’d go back through those and “Instead, I see it it as a way of trying to
and from that, you can begin to get an
spend another week with each one circumvent some of the layers that get between you
idea of which points of the song that
finding things to make them better.” and the audience, so I’m there [points to studio]
will need certain words. I know, for
making an album and a year later, it comes out as
this shrink-wrapped item for the fans. But a lot of

“I want [the new album] to be

things happen in between, and there are a lot of
people in between, each one taking a bit, and I

heavy, to be dark, aggressive

wanted to try and find a way of being more direct
with fans.

in places; very electronic”

“With the conventional label-and-distribution
route I did notice, with Splinter, that the number of
albums you sell compared to money you make now
is incredibly disappointing. And as an independent
artist and without a record company giving me
stonking great advances, I have got to do whatever
is possible, so Pledge is a way.
“I also wanted more control over it; I wanted to
give fans what they wanted without people
interfering. Essentially, it’s controlling things
myself and making sure I owned it at the end of the
day, so if a sync offer comes in I can just say ‘yes’,
rather than email everyone for two days getting
people to agree it – you lose things that way.”
But letting fans in on the process can obviously
be both a blessing and a curse as can having a
deadline to work to…
“I do find making albums tough, and I thought
it [the PledgeMusic deadline] would give me the
necessary push. Having a really heavy deadline to
work to is normally a good thing, but the problem I
have got is I’m doing 18 hours of organising a day at
the moment, and it’s been a bit of a nightmare and
I’ve not been working on the album. I should have
been doing weekly updates, but I’ve not been doing
nearly as much as I should have, to be honest.”
Surely there is scope to move the deadline now
he has set the process up to give himself longer?

34 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.INT Numan.indd 34 05/04/2016 11:57


“No, I’ve committed to it,” Gary replies. “But I
don’t think it’s the end of the world. And actually,
at the moment I’m bothered by it and I’m
desperate to be getting out there in the studio,
which is good in its own way… and I don’t want to
lose that motivation.”
New sounds
Gary then details how he wants the new, as-yet
untitled, album to sound.
“The idea is to do it myself and I’ve done that
plenty of times before, but that would make it sound
very different from the last one, too. I know that
Splinter did really, really well, but I think this one
needs to move a little way away from it, not
radically different – I don’t want to do a country
and western album! In fact, if I wrote up a list of
where I want the new album to be, Splinter would
probably fit that list as well. I still want it to be
heavy, I still want it to be dark, I still want it to be
aggressive in places; very electronic – more so than
guitar-y. As I say, all of this could apply to Splinter
but I know that when I did the demos for Splinter,
some of those ended up being quite different, in a
good way – I’m not saying there was anything
wrong with it; I think Ade [Fenton] did a great job
with it, but they are different. So I’m thinking I
could have easily done the versions I’d done and it
would have been a slightly different-sounding
album. It would have been more basic, that’s for
sure! Ade is brilliant at refining things and his
attention to detail is very impressive but it does
change it, it gives it a different feel. He is, I guess,
more like an audio craftsman, and I’m like a
heavy-handed plumber!”
At the time of the interview, Gary had what
he described as “Mickey Mouse bits and pieces –
maybe nine or 10 things on the go…” Since the
interview, progress has been made with one or
two snippets, released via the PledgeMusic page.
The original release date of October would mean
finishing the album at least three months prior.
“I’d ideally have to have it ready by mid June, and
I’m supposed to be gigging throughout May!”
Gary knows that many of these problems will be
shared with the fans – it’s all part of the
PledgeMusic experience after all…
“Yeah, I wanted them to know the grief I’m
having, but it was meant to be the grief I’m having
about making an album, not about life outside of it!
In a sense, it is part of the process, but it’s not
typical. I wanted them to see the process, the
MT158.INT Numan.indd 35
Gary Numan Interview MT
songwriting, the good days when it goes well, and
the bad days. I want you to see me being upset
because I can’t think of anything, and stomping
around, as it is part of it. So I guess these extra
pressures that are coming in are part of the album,
but it isn’t what I intended.”
So now having tried this route, would he
recommend PledgeMusic to other bands?
“Any band that wants to do something like this I
would recommend Pledge 100 per cent, as they have
been brilliant. But it isn’t going to sell the number
of albums I want, so that ultimately involves some
kind of other distribution – but it will be from a
Gary at the desk in his Pro
position of more security after the Pledge campaign.
Tools-based studio in LA I don’t know about the next album. I’ll be touring
this one for all of 2017 and ‘18 so I don’t have to look
at the next album until then. As we’re living in an
age where there are new technologies almost every
week, there might be something new… or it might
all have gone back to vinyl and cassette again by
then!” Turn the page for Numan in the studio…
SPLINTERING SUCCESS
The success of Splinter has been thing together started. We did one
double-edged. On the one hand, it’s called For You after and we’re now
meant more sync work than ever, with working on a load more stuff, but he’s
tracks from the album used on TV and crazy busy, a little workaholic!
in film, but it’s also led to many more “The sync on Splinter was
offers of work, almost too many… amazing,” Gary continues. “My sync
“I’ve been doing loads of history has tended to be one of Cars.
collaborations and doing vocals for That track gets used on everything
games. I did a single with the Vowws, a and it does really well. I’m aware of
track with John Foxx, a track with a that. But I had more syncs on Splinter
Mexican band called Titan, and I’m than any other album that I have done,
doing a separate album with a good combined. It was phenomenal. You
mate of mine, Andy Gray, which is a can do alright on album sales, but it’s
collaboration – he’s been doing the nothing like it was. But the Pledge
music and I add the vocals and lyrics. campaign has been an eye-opening
We’ve done a few things together. He’s exercise in another way of doing it, an
done loads of remixes [including live amazing experience so far. It’s still
favourite, Prayer For The Unborn] for done better in terms of everything
me and a track called Ancients, which else, and the Pledge people
is pretty much where the songwriting themselves are amazing.”
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 35
05/04/2016 11:57
 MT Interview Gary Numan

immersed in software. Omnisphere 2 is

the best thing ever invented – more useful
than the wheel! It’s an amazing bit of kit,
so I think software is still very much the
heart of it for me. I’ve got a Moog Voyager
XL, but you’ll see it leaning up against the
side of the studio as I’ve not actually
plugged it in yet. It’s a good bit of kit,
though. I’ve also got a couple of Roland bits
coming. I don’t have the names yet, but it’s a
big red thing – the JD-XA…”

MT: We noticed that part of the

Numan in the studio
Gary has his own studio, which he uses to
produce complete albums as well as remixes and
collaborations – of which he has many lined up as
we interview him. After our main chat, we step out
to this studio to discover a comprehensive software
set-up, a Moog and the bass that he wrote Cars on…
Numan’s studio is a self-contained unit, formerly
a guest house in his garden.
PledgeMusic offers were some of your
old synths, which were quickly snapped up.
So do you have any classics left?
GN: “I have two Moogs, actually. One is in the
Hard Rock Cafe in one of their display cases
and one is back in England. I didn’t buy any
Moogs until I was working on The Pleasure
Principle album. For the two albums before
that, I didn’t have my own synths, I didn’t have any
money, I used to rent them. But I ended up buying
eight or nine Minimoogs and four Polymoogs!”
MT: Because of your long association with
synthesisers, you’d have expected synth
companies to be offering

“Omnisphere 2 is the
He had it converted while you gear all the time. Not
his main house was being so, it’d seem?
GN: “No, no one has offered
best thing ever invented –
worked on, but had to work
within several constraints, before now, which is weird
financial and otherwise… considering how I seem

MusicTech: Tell us how the

more useful than the wheel!” to be well known for
electronic music. In fact,
studio came about? I think that Moog was the
Gary Numan: “I was going to get it fully converted first in 36 years. I’m not good at dropping hints with
into a studio, but I was getting nervous that it them [gear companies], though! I’ve got a mate back
would not be affordable, so I started looking at in England who isn’t particularly well known,
alternatives. I came across the VocalBooth website hasn’t sold any records to speak of, and he has a
one day and realised that they made bigger rooms, sponsorship deal
not just vocal booths and I talked to them about
helping with the conversion. I gave them the sizes
and we came up with this – it’s essentially a vocal
booth, dumped inside a bigger room!
“All the sound-proofing is in there, there’s
nothing outside at all. Another problem with getting
the building converted was that I needed planning
permission and in this zone [in LA], we weren’t
allowed an audio studio, so I was nervous about
that, but this doesn’t need any planning permission
as it’s a removable structure – it comes as a flatpack
kit! It turned up in the morning and by that evening,
it was built – it’s great. We have one of the busiest
airports in the world just down the road, but you
don’t hear a thing inside it, and I’m pretty deaf so I
play at an ear-splitting volume, but you can stand
outside and not hear anything at all. So I can sing in
here and know that no one’s listening outside!”

MT: In recent years, we’ve witnessed the return of

the analogue synth with new models from the
likes of Moog, Sequential, Oberheim, companies
who provided you with your synths originally…
GN: “Well, I’m watching it, but I’m still deeply

36 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.INT Numan.indd 36 05/04/2016 11:57

 Gary Numan Interview MT

CARS WAS WRITTEN ON A…

BASS GUITAR
Cars is possibly the most famous Numan song, an
iconic synth tune that was surely written on, well,
a keyboard of some kind? Nope. It was written on
bass guitar, one that has been leaning against a wall
outside the studio during the interview.
“That one guitar, more than anything, has
changed my entire life,” says Gary. “In my life I have
written, I don’t know, maybe 300 or 400 songs out
on record, but only two of them on a bass and one of
them was Cars. I went to London in the morning and
bought this bass, came home, took it out of its case
and the very first thing I played was ‘da do do do’
[main riff of Cars] and I thought ‘that sounds alright’
and I had the whole song done including lyrics in
about half an hour. The quickest song I ever wrote,
Cars, and only one of two done on bass. I haven’t
really looked after the guitar, it’s a bit rusty!”

where he actually gets a wage! And he has gear

coming out of his arse! I had another mate who was
the same and he had a garage full of gear. He’d say,
‘just ask the companies, blag it’, but I said ‘I can’t!’”

MT: Synth-wise, on top of the Voyager, there’s an

Access Virus, and an Alesis QuadraSynth which
you say you use mainly for its piano sound…
GN: “Not a lot of people liked that when it came out,
but I thought it was great. I’ve got another one back
in England, I think, but I’ve lost it, I need to find out
where I left it.”

MT: So the rest of the studio is a software-driven

affair, with just one or two choice pieces of gear?
GN: “I have no outboard gear to speak of. I use Pro
Tools. I used to have an HD3 system with the
expansion chassis which was noisy and horrible
and I didn’t like it. So when I finished Splinter, I
went over to this system which is the
native one and was told it would be
every bit as good as the HD3. I didn’t
really research it and I should have
– it’s useless, it runs at a really low
speed. But that’s pretty much it.
I’m very much Native, Omnisphere.
I have most of Native’s stuff –
Kontakt, Damage. The Spectrasonics MT: Finally, what about beats nowadays – do you
stuff is at the core of what I’ve got. have any preferences?
“I’ve got [Unity Audio] Rock GN: “I’ve not had an actual drum machine for 30
speakers and Tannoys I’ve had years, but the new Roland TR drum machines that
something like 30 years or more. I’ve tried are great. All that key triggering you can
They’re Tannoy Little Golds, the get with one sound; there’s some pretty good stuff
ones to have back then; really, that can come out of it, so I’m really looking forward
really cool speakers. The good thing to getting into it.
about the Rocks is that you can “Ade [Fenton, one time collaborator] was a bit of a
take them right down to low levels programmer for drums, which I often found was a
without losing the bottom end. Top left: The Access Virus, waste of time! So I don’t know what I’m going to do
Most main speakers, as soon as complete with notes for live use with that now – I guess it depends if Andy [Gray] is
you go back on the power, the bass Top: Gary at the desk. Check out
involved and if I end up working with someone over
starts to disappear, but they don’t. the Unity Audio and Tannoy here. I like the idea of having a real drummer, but I
As a reference speaker, they’re monitors behind him also love the rhythmic complexity and power of
great. You can listen to things The main desk (left), plus combining loops. Maybe one song with one thing,
quietly, but still true.” monitors and more monitors! one with another, we’ll see…”

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 37

MT158.INT Numan.indd 37 05/04/2016 11:58

 MT Interview Gary Numan
…FILM
SOUNDTRACKS
“You just hear so many “Ever since Cars in 1979,
stories about what a
horrible experience it I’ve been trying to come out of
can be, but there are
many successful ones, the shadow that they created”
like Junkie XL. I’ve only
just found out that he’s
out here and his name is on everything now; he’s
really, really cracked it, so I’m trying to find a way
of hooking up with him.
“But when I came out here, the reason was to
sow the seeds to my future with film music. It was
something I thought would be a natural progression
that I’d do when I had to to do it, and by coming out
here I would build my knowledge, experience and
skills up at it and get known to be competent at it. I
would get to know people and over five or six years,
I’d get to know people and build up a meaningful
portfolio to do with film music. But then I thought,
‘I don’t really want to do it, actually’, I just want to
make another album, do another tour and all of
that. It is a bit childish, actually, because it is a very
sensible idea and is something I should be doing…”
…GETTING BACK INTO THE TOP 20
WITH SPLINTER
“Well, you can’t put much faith in the charts. It’s
easier to get in the charts than it was. I don’t mean
that in a disparaging way, but you just need a good
pre-sale – then it’s possible to get a chart hit,
especially if you’re lucky and time it on a week when
not a lot of other people put albums out. So it looks
great, but if you sit back and tell yourself: ‘Oh, look
38 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.INT Numan.indd 38
at me, I just had a Top 20 album,’ you’re kidding
yourself. I shouldn’t be too down on it, though,
because it genuinely did do much better than
anything else I’ve done for a very long time.
“I was nervous about it. I’d only done a UK-only
album, Dead Son Rising before that was meant to be
a side project with me and Ade but ended up as a full
album. So it had been about seven or eight years
since my previous album, which is the kiss of death,
usually, to be away that long. But I liked it, I was
really proud of it as a record and I thought we’d
done a good job with it. I was really happy with my
songwriting and when I got down to do it, it was
coming easily and I had very few of those horrid
days where nothing works and you get down on
yourself – which have all been on this one so far!”
…NOT BEING RETRO
“I use to be fiercely ‘anti’ it. The problem was for me
is obviously that I made it really big early on and
I had this massive success and nothing else I did
since then ever came close, even though I’ve had a
long career. So you had this shadow, if you like,
which isn’t the right way of looking at it, but you
had this huge success that feels like it casts a
shadow over everything else you do. Nothing else
is ever as successful, people refer back to it all the
time, when there’s a photo of you in a magazine it
says ‘80s pop star’, and you begin to resent the very
thing that put you where you
are and you try and distance
yourself from it and just
want to be known for new
stuff, and it becomes an
obsession, and it’s been like
that for almost my entire
career. Ever since Cars in
1979, I’ve been trying to
come out of the shadow that they created, I feel, and
trying to establish the fact that I am still around
and still going and not an 80s pop star. So it became
a massive thing for me… I was turning down things,
big things. There was a long period when I was
desperate for promotion. I couldn’t give myself away
for a while. The albums weren’t selling, the gigs
weren’t selling and I was really in trouble, but even
then, I knew that if I started doing anything retro
because it was there as an option, the long-term
effect of that would be catastrophic, because once
you become a retro act you are fucked. I didn’t want
it anyway, and I didn’t want to be seen that way and
I thought from a career point of view it would be
very counter-productive. There were things like
The Big Breakfast – a huge programme – where
they wanted me to go on there and do a duet of
Are Friends Electric? with Zoe Ball. And I was like,
‘No, I won’t be doing that, thanks’, but it was a big
thing to turn down in terms of being out in front of
people and reminding people that you’re still alive,
which is what everyone around me was saying:
‘People will remember you!’ But I didn’t want to be
remembered, that was the problem! So you start
turning down this and that and I went through two
or three years where I said no to almost everything
that came in, because it was so retro-orientated.” MT
05/04/2016 11:58
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 MTTechnique EXS24 sample mapping

Technique Logic In Depth Powered by

EXS24 sample
mapping
Creating your own EXS24 instruments can be a quick and intuitive process, opening a
wealth of creative potential. Mark Cousins is caught mapping…

W
hile the EXS24 might not be the most
elegant part of the Logic Pro X experience,
it is certainly a superbly functional
instrument and an essential part of the
overall Logic workflow. Turning a collection
of samples – either taken from our cover DVD, or recorded
by your own hands – into a fully fledged sample-based
instrument needn’t take more than just a few mouse clicks.
Once saved, these newly created instruments can become
an essential part of your sound palette, accessible across
the entirety of your Logic projects.
Mapping success
One key component that can confuse new users is the
difference between the EXS24 instrument plug-in, which
you instantiate into your track list or mixer, and the
keyboard across the bottom of the window. From here,
On the disc we can see a list of the samples used in our instrument,
along with their relative position on the keyboard, the
number of keys that they span across, as well as how they
Accompanying respond to velocity.
project file included
on the DVD
Zone out
Technically speaking, an EXS24 instrument is comprised
of a series of zones, with each zone containing a sample
of your choice. To make sample mapping quick and easy,
the EXS24 supports dragging-and-dropping directly onto
the editor, which is arguably easiest to achieve using
Logic’s built-in file browser. The importing process works
intelligently, so that you could drag just one sample over a
single note and have it mapped accordingly, or drag a
collection of samples and have them auto-mapped across
a series of consecutive keys.

Turning samples into a fully Once imported, you’ll note each zone has its own set of
parameters. Basic controls like volume and pan let you mix

fledged instrument needn’t take the samples – maybe panning some drum samples across
the stereo image, for example, or sitting a reverberated

more than a few mouse clicks
so-called EXS24 Instrument Editor. In essence, the
EXS24 Instrument plug-in is the front-end of the sampler,
complete with a set of synthesiser-like controls that can
be used to modify the sample playback – using envelope
generators, for example, to shape the amplitude over time,
or the filter to home in on harmonic information.
The EXS24 Editor, which sits ‘behind’ the EXS24 plug-in,
mainly deals with the mapping of samples, although there
are other creative sound-manipulation techniques up its
sleeve that are well worth closer inspection, as we’ll see.
Creating a new instrument from scratch begins with an
empty instance of the EXS24. To open the editor, press
the small Edit button in the top right-hand corner of the
EXS24 plug-in. The editor window works as a graphic
representation of your instrument’s mapping, with a
snare sample behind a dry snare.
Tuning controls can either be used correctively
(re-tuning a sampled bass note with poor intonation, for
example) or creatively, particularly in the example of
re-tuning drum samples. Other creative options include
the option to reverse the sample playback, which is well
worth using in conjunction with the in-built sample editor
(accessible via a drop-down menu in the Audio File
column) to adjust the start and end points.
To keep your EXS24 instrument organised, it’s possible
to make use of the Groups feature. The Groups are listed
down the left-hand side of the editor window, and work
much the same as playlists in iTunes – simply select your
required zones and drag them across into the Groups list.
Once set, Groups can be used as a selective
zone display

DATA MANAGEMENT
Remember to store all your sample data in a clear, organised way, arguably making some
optimisation in respect to the speed of the hard drive (which will affect how many voices you can
stream). An external drive, connected via a fast connection protocol like FireWire 800 or USB 3,
or an additional internal drive, should be considered essential, reserved solely for the task of sample
streaming. The Instruments themselves, which only contain the mapping data, are relatively small
and are best stored as part of your library, under Music > Audio Music Apps > Sampler Instruments.
Instruments in this folder will appear at the root level of the EXS24’s instrument list and can be
accessed from any of your Logic projects.

42 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.TUT Logic.indd 42 04/04/2016 11:37


MT Step-by-Step EXS24 In Depth
Create an empty instance of EXS24 and then press the Edit
01 button in the top right-hand corner to open the EXS24 editor.
Resize the editor window and then open the All Files media browser in
Logic’s main window. Locate your samples using the browser.
Each zone (which contains the sample we’ve imported) has its
03 own tuning, pan and level controls. This is useful with our drum
samples, letting us pan the hi-hat samples hard left and right, for
example, or attenuate the level of the Hi-Q zones.
For complicated EXS24 instruments, it’s useful to organise
05 zones into groups. As we performed an incremental import,
Logic has created an accompanying Group, which we re-name.
Alternatively, select the zones and use the local menu option
Group > New Group.
tool, which is useful for large multisampling instruments, or
as means of accessing some of the EXS24’s advanced
mapping features, such as Release Triggering.
Front-panel controls
Moving back to the EXS24 instrument plug-in, we can now
see how it works as the front-end to the instrument we’ve
created. In effect, the controls here – including filters,
envelopes, LFOs, a modulation matrix and tuning functions
MT158.TUT Logic.indd 43
EXS24 sample mapping Technique MT
Samples in the browser can be dragged-and-dropped into the
02 EXS24 editor. In this case, we’ve dragged each sound group
across separately, using the ‘Contiguous zones starting at the key
the file was dropped…’ option to auto-map the samples accordingly.
One particularly creative option is the ability to reverse a zone.
04 Try this on one of the snares. Open the sample editor (using the
drop-down menu in the Audio File column) so that you can change
the end marker, which is currently the start point.
Once you’re happy with the instrument, using the local menu
06 Instrument > Save As to permanently store your creation. Logic
defaults to the Sampler Instruments folder in your Library, which will
mean all songs can access the same instrument.
– are applied globally across all the zones, making it a
quick and easy way of changing the sound of the
instrument en masse. If you want to keep the panel
settings with the instrument, remember to use EXS24’s
Option menu to select Save Settings To Instrument,
otherwise the panel simply returns to its default setting
each time you load the instrument.
Once you’ve mastered the key principles of sample
mapping with the EXS24, you can soon start to apply it in
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 43
04/04/2016 11:37
 MTTechnique EXS24 sample mapping
all your production work. Even with Native instruments’
Kontakt residing in our plug-in folder, the EXS24 remains
our first choice for DIY sampling, as it has become for many
Logic-based producers – largely because of the speedy
and efficient way it can integrate into the day-to-day
workflow with Logic Pro X.
Ultimately, the quicker you can map the samples, the
less interruption there is to your creative process, giving
MT Step-by-Step EXS24 In Depth (cont’d)
While the Instrument Editor deals with mapping the samples,
07 the front panel of the EXS24 handles a number of important
parameters. For example, with a drum instrument, we might want to
reduce the velocity scaling using the bottom half of the Level slider.
Move over to the C Saw patch on Instrument 2 to understand the
09 filter. To make the filter active, switch the Off button to On.
Adjust the cutoff, resonance and drive to taste, using the tabs to move
between high-pass, low-pass and band-pass operation.
The EXS24’s modulation matrix is much the same as that of the
11 ES2. First, select a destination (in this case, filter cutoff) and
then pick LFO2 as the source. Set the amount of modulation using the
slider on the right-hand side of the routing path.
44 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.TUT Logic.indd 44
you more time to explore the creative potential of sampling
in your music. MT
This tutorial is endorsed by Point Blank Music School, which specialises in
courses on production, sound engineering, the music business, singing,
radio production, DJ skills and film production, all run by top British music
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Env 2 controls the amplitude envelope of the sample. Try
08 reducing sustain to 0 and then gradually lower the decay, to
produce a more clipped envelope. This is also interesting with either
a raised or lowered tuning using the Tune control.
Now let’s add some filter modulation using LFO 2. All the LFOs
10 have the advantage of being MIDI-syncable, moving the rate
control to the left of the zero point on a 1/16 setting. Set the
waveshape to the sawtooth option.
Settings on the front panel are temporary unless written to the
12 mapping data created in the EXS24 Editor. To do this, use the
EXS24 Option menu and select Save Settings To Instrument, so that
your panel settings are stored with the mapping data.
04/04/2016 11:38
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 MT Technique Live In Depth Part 3

Ableton Live Live In Depth – Part 3 On the disc

Accompanying
project file included

Audio-to-MIDI
on the DVD

conversion… and back

the other way!
Live’s audio-to-MIDI conversion provides mind-blowing ways to create new musical parts.
Martin Delaney shows you how separate the notes from the samples…

W
e’re looking at audio-to-MIDI conversion,
which is one of the most fun activities in
the Ableton World. Introduced in Live 9,
‘Convert…to MIDI’ gives us new ways of
disrespecting samples and creating new
sounds. Used with the ‘Slice to New MIDI Track’ and
Freeze/Flatten commands, you can get amazing results.
These handy commands let us transform an audio
sample or recording into an editable form, without having
to do any programming; we can create a MIDI track from an
original recording or we can create parts to play in parallel
with the original part. We can even venture far deeper into
substituting different instrument sounds and applying
MIDI effects. The source material can be, well, anything.
For more conservative uses, it’s typically drums or bass
sounds, but it doesn’t take long to get into more left-field
territory by converting field recordings, miscellaneous
noise, and speech samples into rhythmic or melodic MIDI
parts. Some complain that Live’s MIDI conversion tools
aren’t as accurate or sophisticated as those in Melodyne,
for example, but that’s missing the point. With Live it’s all
about immediacy and creativity; with these tools you’ll get
results you wouldn’t have dreamed of – never a bad thing.
In this tutorial’s example Live set, we’ve provided a few
audio clips that’ll give straightforward illustrations of how
audio-to-MIDI conversion works. You should really start
using your own audio samples as soon as possible though
– that’ll be much more rewarding. One usage example
that comes to mind is with drums. You’ve recorded a beat
that you liked at the time, but now you want to use
different kit sounds while keeping the notes and timing of
the original beat. Or maybe you’ve taken a beat from a
record, and instead of using it as a straight sample loop,
you just want the parts from the beat. You might also use it
to create a second part that plays along with the original.
The conversion process can work very well, but it’s
dependent on the quality and character of the source
recording. If there’s a lot of sounds playing at once, audio
effects in use or other influences like audience noise
– anything else in the background – of course it’s going to
be harder to get a clean clip. You might have to tidy the
notes afterwards but the idea is this can still be faster than
programming the part from scratch. It’s not dissimilar to
Slice to New MIDI Track except that command keeps the
original sample sliced across different chains in a rack,
while this discards the original sound altogether. Bass is
typically easy to convert with the ‘Convert Melody to MIDI’
command, because for the
most part, bass tracks

FOCUS ON: REAL TIME CONVERSION

One thing you can’t do with Live’s wonderful audio-to-MIDI tools is
convert in real-time i.e. create MIDI notes directly from incoming audio. I
use a piece of hardware to achieve this: the Sonuus B2M bass converter
(there’s also a G2M model for guitar). Connect your guitar at one end and a
MIDI cable at the other, and you’re in business. It works pretty well and it’s a
good incentive to clean up your playing technique. I also connect a microphone
to it sometimes, to see what kind of chaos that generates, converting speech to
synth parts.

46 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MTF42.TUT live2.indd 46 06/04/2016 12:06


MT Step-by-Step Audio to MIDI
We’ve provided an example Live set so you can practice your
01 audio-to-MIDI conversion techniques (called LID02) and it
contains audio clips for drums, bass, piano (two clips) and speech.
That’s all you have to do! Live creates a new MIDI track,
03 containing a clip based on how it’s interpreted the audio. A
default drum kit’s loaded, ready to play and ready to edit.
This is designed for monophonic sources such as (typical) bass
05 parts or synth and guitar leads. You should hear that the bass
converts to MIDI well, unaffected by the presence of that subtle reverb.
are monophonic, and reasonably clean. Bass guitar can be
harder to process because there’s variation in dynamics
and clarity, as well as finger/fret noise. In this context,
‘Harmony’ refers to any audio sample with more than one
instrument note playing at the same time: piano, guitar,
synthesiser and so on. This is harder for software to
decipher, but Live does a good job as long as it’s presented
MTF42.TUT live2.indd 47
Live In Depth Part 3 Technique MT
The clip called ‘audio beat’ is a drum loop with acoustic sounds,
02 compression, distortion and some reverb. Right-click on it and
choose ‘Convert Drums to New MIDI Track’ from the Context Menu.
Now let’s do the ‘audio bass’ clip. This is a very simple part and a
04 clean sound – just a little bit of reverb, that’s all. Convert it again
but this time choose ‘Convert Melody to…’.
Use ‘Convert Harmony…’ for the piano clip – it contains chords.
06 There’s also distortion and reverb present. This doesn’t provide a
clean conversion so you will have to remove a few ‘spare’ notes.
with a clean-ish recording. So as not to make things too
easy, the piano clips in the example set include distortion,
delay, and reverb so you can see and hear how they affect
conversion. I’ve also provided a voice sample, but you can
also use any sound. If you’re the sort of person who likes to
use their own sources for everything, but also favours MIDI
programming over plain sample manipulation, then why
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 47
06/04/2016 12:06
 MT Technique Live In Depth Part 3
MT Step-by-Step Audio to MIDI (cont’d)
There’s another version of the clip with delays; Live interprets
07 these as extra notes, requiring clean-up unless we retain them as
an effect. The delay repeats also affect how Live handles clip length.
Now you’ve got a frankly off-the-wall drum beat, which probably
09 won’t fit so well. We can fix this. Find the Scale MIDI effect device
in the Browser and load the ‘In C’ preset.
The Convert to MIDI commands load default instrument sounds,
11 which is really helpful but you’re not supposed to stick with
those. Load different sounds and experiment – that’s the whole point!
not snag a few recordings using your iPhone or other
recorder, and create an album’s worth of songs using MIDI
conversion to create all of the parts? Furthermore, it’s
really unpredictable and exciting to take one original audio
recording and apply all of the conversion options to it in
turn, creating a beat, melody, and chords, from that single
sample. If necessary you can use Live’s MIDI effect devices
48 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MTF42.TUT live2.indd 48
The speech sample is where things get extra-interesting. You can
08 try all of those conversion options with a speech sample – it’s
going to be weird either way. Let’s settle for ‘Convert Drums to…’.
Play the clip. We don’t need a kick, though, so use Scale’s Base
10 control to shift those incoming notes up to F#. You should now be
hearing a hi-hat part. Quantize it to 1/16ths.
There’s another variation of these commands. We can also
12 choose ‘Slice to New MIDI Track’, which relates to these
techniques. Let’s try it with the original drum clip for more options.
to squeeze the notes back into some kind of semi-
organised timing and pitch. I dare you, go on, it’ll be good!
I included the Freeze and Flatten commands in the
walkthrough because they complete the circle – you can
use them to bounce your MIDI clips back into a purely
audio format, for yet more processing, or for re-use in other
live sets. Much as I like to work with MIDI parts for the
06/04/2016 12:06
 MT Technique Live In Depth Part 3
MT Step-by-Step Audio to MIDI (cont’d)
Choose 1/8ths for the slices. Tap Enter and another MIDI track
13 appears. This time the audio remains with an instrument rack
containing 1/8th note slices of the sample ready to trigger via MIDI.
Slicing the piano part with the chords should give interesting
15 results – you’ll get a chord on each key of your keyboard, good for
a blatantly sampled chord sound. Add Auto Filter for extra cool points.
Same thing goes with the speech sample. To me sliced speech
17 always sounds cool with those short notes. Put an arpeggiator in
front of it for a nice choppy rhythm effect.
original programming, I still put everything into audio
tracks for live use – it’s just more robust and portable.
If you’re seriously interested in audio-to-MIDI
conversion there’s no reason why you couldn’t use it as the
basis for all of your sound design. Live has the commands
I’m talking about here. There are hardware options as well,
like the Sonuus products mentioned in our little sidebox
50 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MTF42.TUT live2.indd 50
When we do the same thing with the bass part we can restructure
14 the notes entirely, apply different effects to each note/chain if we
want to – just drag the effect onto the chain.
Try slicing the delayed piano clip with the note values at 32nds,
16 for a more samply/glitchy vibe as you play it across your MIDI
keyboard. You’ll get 128 slices.
Our last command is actually two commands: Freeze and Flatten;
18 use these on a MIDI track to convert everything in the track to
audio clips, with instrument and effects baked into the samples.
and I also mentioned Melodyne at the top of this story,
which is the king of audio manipulation – converting audio
to MIDI is only part of what it does. Give it a try (see www.
celemony.com). But even without such extras Live, of
course, has more than enough options to keep us happy
and productive, and converting audio to MIDI is one of the
most exciting of those options. MT
06/04/2016 12:06
䐀䤀䜀䤀吀䄀䰀 䴀䤀堀䤀一䜀
吀栀攀 挀氀愀猀猀ⴀ氀攀愀搀椀渀最 挀漀洀瀀愀挀琀 搀椀最椀琀愀氀 洀椀砀攀爀猀 樀甀猀琀 最漀琀 攀砀琀爀愀
挀栀爀漀洀攀Ⰰ 眀椀琀栀 愀甀琀漀洀愀琀椀挀 洀椀挀 洀椀砀椀渀最 昀漀爀 挀漀渀昀攀爀攀渀挀攀猀

刀䔀匀䠀䄀倀䔀䐀
愀渀搀 洀攀攀琀椀渀最猀Ⰰ 洀漀爀攀 洀漀渀椀琀漀爀 洀椀砀攀猀Ⰰ 愀 猀瀀攀挀琀爀漀最爀愀洀 昀漀爀
昀攀攀搀戀愀挀欀 栀甀渀琀椀渀最 愀渀搀 琀愀洀椀渀最 瀀爀漀戀氀攀洀 爀漀漀洀
愀挀漀甀猀琀椀挀猀Ⰰ 瀀氀甀猀 栀椀最栀 挀漀渀琀爀愀猀琀 洀攀琀愀氀氀椀挀 挀漀渀琀爀漀氀猀 昀漀爀
攀渀栀愀渀挀攀搀 琀愀挀琀椀氀攀 挀漀渀琀爀漀氀⸀

䄀䰀䰀䔀一☀䠀䔀䄀吀䠀
 MT Technique Mastering Part 6 – Running parts
Technique Mastering Part 6
Running Parts
The final process in the mastering stage doesn’t involve
processing the audio at all. Mike Hillier readies his printer...
T
he final step of mastering comes once all the
tracks for the release are processed and
(usually) rendered, and involves the transfer of
the final files to the release medium. In the case
of a digital download, this can be quite simple,
involving little more than converting the file into whichever
format is required by the digital store you are releasing
through. But for CD, vinyl or cassette, this process can
involve quite a few extra steps.
Digital download
For downloads, the mastered files simply need to be
converted to the relevant formats and checked. The final
mastered format should be the highest quality available.
This is usually 32-bit WAV at the sample-rate the track
was recorded at. While increasing the bit-depth can be
advantageous in mastering, you should only increase the
The final format for most CDs
is now the DDPi format, which
contains all the info necessary
sample-rate if you’re running the audio out through
analogue hardware. There’s no advantage to converting
a 44.1kHz file to 96kHz or 192kHz if all processing is
done in the box, but plenty of headaches will be incurred
– not least the additional disk space required.
HIGHLIGHT
Dither should always be applied whenever you move from one
bit-depth to a lower bit-depth; for example, when rendering a
24- or 32-bit file down to 16-bit. This process adds very low-level
noise which randomises the quantisation errors which are otherwise
frozen in the audio signal. The result is paradoxically a
cleaner signal.
52 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.TUT Mastering.indd 52
As a rule, it’s best to provide the client with the
On the disc ‘archive master’ at full resolution, alongside 24-bit,
full sample-rate and 16-bit/44.1kHz dithered versions.
This will future-proof the master for any potential digital
Accompanying
project file included formats, while also providing a 24-bit version for most
on the DVD online stores and a 16-bit version for older stores. Don’t
forget to clearly name each file. Some clients may also
request an mp3, which we usually supply at 320kbps
fixed bitrate unless an alternative is requested. The mp3
should be converted from the archive master, and not
one of the second-generation dithered files.
CD
The final format for most CDs is now the DDPi format,
which contains all the information necessary to print
Red Book-standard audio discs, complete with the
running order, gaps, and any additional metadata
embedded in the disc. The alternative is to print a Gold
Master disc, although this is becoming increasingly less
common. Some DAWs, such as PreSonus Studio One,
can export DDPi files already, while others require
additional plug-ins such as the HOFA CD-Burn suite.
Many mastering engineers, however, prefer to use
dedicated mastering suites such as Steinberg WaveLab,
DSP-Quattro or Prism Sound SADiE.
Vinyl and cassette
For analogue masters, the final playlist should be
bounced down as two stereo files, one for each side of
the analogue medium. These files should contain all the
tracks for each side, with any gaps embedded in the
audio. Like the archive master, these files should be
provided at full resolution to whoever is printing the
analogue copies. MT
06/04/2016 12:09

MT Step-by-Step Using HOFA CD-Burn & DDP plug-in
If you’ve been working through the previous workshops, you should
01 have five mastered tracks to work with. Line them up how you’d like
to hear them in your DAW, with the HOFA CD-Burn & DDP plug-in as the
last plug-in on the master channel. Leave gaps or fades between songs.
HOFA will ask where the new file has been placed, so navigate to
03 the newly bounced audio and direct HOFA to the file.
Enter the album metadata into the HOFA CD-Burn & DDP plug-in.
05 Make sure you spellcheck all the song and album titles as well
as artist names, and triple-check any UPC/EAN or ISRC codes you
are embedding.
MT158.TUT Mastering.indd 53
Mastering Part 6 – Running parts Technique MT
In the HOFA plug-in, create a new CD project and then bounce the
02 full session to a single audio file. The bounce must start at 0:00 on
the DAW timeline. In the export settings, export as a 16-bit 44.1kHz audio
file. If your audio isn’t dithered, add a dither to the master buss.
The HOFA plug-in will now reference the new audio file, and place
04 markers corresponding to the tracks in your session. If, like here, it
misses any, be sure to enter new Track Start positions for the missing
tracks. Check each of the track markers in turn to be sure they match up.
The final task left is to render the DDP to a folder and send it to
06 the client.
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 53
06/04/2016 12:09
 MT Technique Mastering Part 6 – Running parts

MT Step-by-Step Using DSP Quattro

Create a new CD Project in DSP Quattro and import each of the
07 tracks you want on the CD. Once in DSP Quattro you can alter
the running order by simply dragging the tracks up and down in the
Regions list at the bottom left.
DSP Quattro will automatically place song markers between
08 each region with gaps of two seconds. You can alter this by
dragging the audio around the main timeline, to create longer or
shorter gaps – or crossfades between the intro and outro of songs.

You can edit your disc’s metadata, including the album
09 title and UPC/EAN code from the AudioCD>AudioCD Disc
Settings window.
Song metadata, including the artist, song title, and ISRC codes
10 can be edited from the AudioCD>Edit CD Track Parameters
window. Again, be sure to spellcheck all song titles and artist names,
and triple-check any ISRC codes you are embedding.

You can now render the DDP to a folder and send it to the client. DSP Quattro also lets you write a text file with all the DDP data in
11 12 it, which can be very useful for sending along with the DDP
folder, as it enables the client to double-check your spelling.

54 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.TUT Mastering.indd 54 04/04/2016 11:39

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 MT Feature Produce a track part 2
MT Cover Feature Produce a track from start to finish
8 WAYS
TO COMPOSE AND
ARRANGE A TRACK
You’ve got your ideas down into your DAW. They might
Part be loops or simple scratchpad ideas. How do you flesh
2
them out into full arrangements? Read on…
01
01 Use looping creatively
You will probably find that whatever DAW you use,
you will be positively encouraged to use loops at
some point in the production process – usually at the
start. And this, by and large, is a good thing. It gets
to the heart of why you are using technology in the
first place, as looping enables you to try musical
ideas together very easily and very quickly. You can
build all the elements of your song together using
loops – bass, drums, leads, guitars – and then the
56 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.8 ways to compose&arrange a track.indd 56
1. In Live, looping is what it’s
all about and it’s done for you,
but don’t let the loop rule you.
Using looping in Logic is simply a
case of defining loop points by
clicking and dragging your cursor
2. The trick is to get to the point
when you are happy with your
loops, and then switch looping
off. Look at all that space to fill
3. Duplicating parts in Live is
also easy within an arrangement,
but is arguably less used than in
other DAWs
3. Rinse and repeat. DAWs are
built for this, so make use of the
repeat feature in whatever one
you use…
main arrangement process starts. All good so far, but
we’d also add the caveat that people are getting a
little too reliant on loops – and looping does lead you
down certain paths and towards certain genres. So,
our current thinking is that looping is great at the
start of your arrangement process, and we’d even
encourage people who don’t do it to try it.
Like we say, every DAW is a click away from a
loop. Ableton dominates its part of the DAW world
because of the loop, so use it, but be clever. Have
them running at different lengths from each other
(again, Live is great for this), have them jumping
around, be less rigid with quantisation within them.
Think free, be free. Don’t let the loop rule you, you
rule the loop. And once you have them in line, then…
02 Don’t be afraid to stop looping
After decades of making music, we think we know
the Big Secret, the doorway to a finished track, and
this it. This is the point, the one tip that will make
your purchase of this magazine, or your investment
of time in reading this article on MusicTech.net,
worth it. This is the Holy Grail, The Area 51, the
Crystal Skull (okay, not the Crystal Skull) of music
making: the ‘one thing’ that people need to know
about DAW use and making music with technology.
So… When you have a bunch of loops that work well
together… here goes… Stop. Looping. Them. And
Arrange. Them. Quick, while you have the motivation,
while you have the time. Arrange them now!
Okay, it’s obvious, right, and you might feel
slightly disappointed after our big build up, but this
really is important. Technology – an increasing
number of grid controllers, hardware sequencers,
06/04/2016 12:12
 Produce a track part 2 Feature MT

02

plus every software DAW – will encourage you to 04

loop, and you will sound excellent by doing so. But
the next step is the crucial one, the one that takes
you away from every other bloody looper on the
planet. You are the girl or the guy that stops looping – and point you in the
and starts arranging. And you know what? It’s… direction of some of the
more obvious rules
03 Easier than you think instead… Open with
In certain DAWs like Live, arranging can simply be a your beats. Obvious, yes,
matter of recording whatever clips you launch and 4. Starting off any dance but DJs will want to mix
stop – all movements get recorded, and you can arrangement with beats is your beats, not your
one of the golden rules to
tweak them afterwards if you make any mistakes. help the DJ notes. Technology such
Lo and behold, you have an arrangement! In other as NI’s Stems is making this one a little more
DAWs, arranging is perhaps less obvious, but one 5. Use the arranging features in redundant, as DJs are getting more and more access
your DAW to move big chunks
sure-fire easy fix for any DAW is to copy the loops around in one go, like the chorus to your song parts, but it’s still safe to open on a
you are so happy with and repeat them for the and verse bunch of tuneless beats than it is your breakdown.
duration of a song. Then it’s simply a case of deleting There are other arrangement tips, which will be
certain parts of your new arrangement as the song specific to your genre of music, so a really useful
progresses. More experienced DAW users might see and more general tip to follow here is…

05 Reference, reference, reference

As with mixing and mastering, learn from the pros
03 with arranging. And the best way here is obviously
to listen to other artists’ arrangements. Consider
even loading an entire song into your DAW by
someone else, but one similar to the style you are
producing, and noting its intro length, verse lengths,
breakdowns, choruses, everything… Map out your
production in the same way using your DAW’s
arranging tools. Many have built-in arranging
features that allow you to title parts of your
production as intro, or verse etc, and then move
them around in big chunks to various marker points.
In this way, you’ll quickly produce an arrangement
and wonder why you were ever stuck with just a few
bars of loops in the first place!

this as a cop-out or a ‘cheat’ way to arrange, but

it’s what DAWs were built to do: easily repeat stuff 05
so you don’t have to play it again. So make use of it,
but, like everything in the world of music production
(and indeed life), use it in moderation…

04 Follow the formula

Do dance music? Been told your music is formulaic?
That’s not such a bad comment, actually, because
dance music does demand a certain amount of
formula in the arrangement. We’ll gloss over the
arguments that say that it’s the blander and
formulaic styles of dance music that are killing it –
people have been saying that for three decades now

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 57

MT158.8 ways to compose&arrange a track.indd 57 06/04/2016 12:12

 MT Feature Produce a track part 2
06 Don’t follow the formula
Important one this – almost as
important as the ‘break out of
the loops’ one. You could argue
that by us saying ‘use loops’
and ‘be formulaic’ with your
arrangements, we are contributing to the death of
music. And you’d be right! Kind of. Actually, we’re
only advocating using these two methods up to a
certain point in your productions, or during your
music-making careers. Sooner or later, you will have
to break the mould of whatever genre you are
producing and try and make your own mark on it.
There is so much music these days, in so many
different areas, that in order to stand out, you have
to do something a little different, and sometimes this
may just be something a little different in your
arrangement. So look at what everyone is doing and
tweak it. An extra kick here? A few extra bars on a
breakdown? More percussive elements to add swing?
All these and more can be scattered across an
arrangement to help take it up a level.
07 Use automation
To our minds, automation is one of the great music
technology advances. It’s up there with MIDI, virtual
instruments, audio recording and Bro Country. It’s
yet another DAW feature that
07
58 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.8 ways to compose&arrange a track.indd 58
06
6. When you want to stand
out, don’t follow the formula.
Sometimes a simple addition,
such as an extra kick in an
arrangement, can create a
whole new genre…
7. Automation can help vary your
loops, from simply increasing
the volume (as shown), to
changing sounds
8. Live and Logic are great DAWs
for remixing. Simply load up a
bunch of different beats to trial
styles and genres. If it sounds
good, you might have just
created a remix of your own tune!
08
saves you time and enables one person to do what,
at one time in our music-making history, was a job
for a few people. This can be as simple as fading
tracks in and out, but go a few steps further and you
can automate instrument parameters so that a
synth, for example, will change in sound while it’s
being played, or effects could be added during a
chorus, or even the tempo could be slowed down or
speeded up. Almost anything can be automated, so
while DAWs encourage looping, they also encourage
the variation of these loops with automation.
08 Consider the remix
The real beauty of the DAW – and we really are
finding many things to thank our software friends
for here – is that once you have a good-ish idea, you
can tweak and refine it (pretty much forever if you’re
not careful, so read our tips on finishing!), or you can
just leave it or come back to it. Consider a third
option, though, one that is perhaps an extension of
the ‘Don’t follow the formula’ rule: the remix!
It’s likely that up to this point, you’ve been
working on a particular tune in a particular style.
We previously told you to tweak it and break the
mould, but at this point in your arrangement, it
could also be time to twist it and smash the mould
by remixing. You can try a couple of very quick tips
here to change your tune very quickly, before we step
into an entirely new tutorial on remixing (check
MusicTech.net for plenty of guides on this).
First, change your beats, or lose them altogether.
Stick something else – other beat loops – beneath
your song and see what happens. Blend generic
elements – dark trap with hip-hop, techno with
country, and so on. Sounds crazy, but a thousand
sub-genres were born this way. Also consider
radically changing your tempo, or simply shifting
your MIDI tracks up and
down to hear how notes
played on one instrument
play on another. Beautiful
accidents can happen this
way, and the charts are
full of them… MT
06/04/2016 12:12
MusicTech.indd 1 30.03.2016 15:12:28
 MUSIC IS OUR PASSION

MusicTech.indd 2 30.03.2016 15:12:33

 MT Reviews Gothic Instruments Dronar Hybrid Module

MT Lead Review
Hardware Software Mobile tech Accessories

Choice

9/10
9
9/10

GOTHIC INSTRUMENTS
Dronar Hybrid Module
With Gothic Instruments’ new title, we may well have a build-your-own
software – not hardware – instrument. Andy Jones drones on. And on…

E
Details very aspect of music While all very different, these Modular software
Product production is being made more collections do have one thing in The first reason for this is its modular
Dronar Hybrid Module
accessible with technology: common: atmosphere. They will help approach. The instrument is being
Price £59.95
Contact via website
from creating the perfect transport your music making to another released in blocks of downloads, hence
Web dancefloor beats to easy pro mastering. place or time, so are ideal tools for the low price, which is an interesting
www.timespace.com However, in more recent times, the the soundtrack composer. With the approach (we love modular synths, so
target audience for software developers blockbuster soundtrack being so maybe we’re seeing the start of DIY
seems to have shifted to the high-profile, and pop careers being so software – see the box below for info).
Secondly, Dronar is setting its sights on
Features
● Atmospheric
Kontakt
instrument
Everyone wants to be the The first of many?

next Hans Zimmer rather than

The reason we’re going to town on Dronar is
● Multi-timbral
terms of a lengthier review is that it purports
synth/sampler
to be the first of several modules under the

the next Eurovision entry…

with multiple
Dronar moniker. This collection/instrument is
arpeggiators
called ‘The Hybrid Module’ and if you buy into it
● 6 main controls for the not unreasonable sum of £59.95, you’ll
● 300 presets get further downloads and additions cheaper.
● 16GB of data The idea is that these are released every
compressed to soundtrack composer – or wannabe low-cash, everybody wants to be the couple of months, as Gothic Instruments head
8GB soundtrack composer – so we’ve had next Hans Zimmer rather than the next honcho Dan Graham explains: “We realised
● Produced by that it would take two years to create all the
many libraries and instruments aimed Eurovision entry, so collections like audio content we wanted, so we thought –
Hollywood trailer
sound designer specifically at them. these are becoming almost as why not release the project in modules? This
Alessandro I’ve looked at a stack of these over ubiquitous as analogue synths. means getting a new module out every two
Camnasio months until finally we can bundle it all
the last couple of years, including Dronar Hybrid Module is the first together into a giant Master Dronar in a year or
● Live strings by
players from the fantasy favourites from Eduardo release from the superbly named so. Until then, this approach means users don’t
have to wait until 2017, and also each module
Royal Liverpool Tarilonte (Shevannai and Era) and sci-fi Gothic Instruments. It’s an instrument
is quite attractively priced, making it a good
Philharmonic
blockbusters from Heavyocity (Gravity) aimed at the soundtrack artist but also chance to try it without breaking the bank.”
Orchestra
and Wide Blue Sound (Orbit). one designed to stand out from the rest.

62 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.REV Dronar.indd 62 06/04/2016 12:18


The Expert tab
On a basic level, Dronar is very, well, basic,
with six controls for big dramatic changes.
Hit the Expert tab, though, and you get access
to around 30 extra parameters as drop-down
menus for the main controls, plus other
controls like attack and decay.
specific soundtracks, not more general
scores. Clearly all about dark, twisted
atmosphere (the company’s called
Gothic Instruments, after all) and it’s
pretty obvious what you’re getting. If
you’re doing the soundtrack to Dumb
And Dumber 3 or Meet The Fockers 17,
you might want to turn the page now.
The library installs pretty much like
any other Kontakt library, although it’s
If you’re doing the soundtrack
to Dumb & Dumber 3, you might
want to turn the page now…
the type where you don’t get the fancy
NI graphics – you load instruments and
presets via the more standard Kontakt
finder interface. The 20 categories have
self-explanatory names like Alien, Low
End, Pads and Chaos, plus 300 preset
sounds spread between them.
Auditioning is as easy as you’d expect
with it being Kontakt-based, although
load times are occasionally a little long.
The first few categories of Alien,
Atmospheres and Dark are exactly that.
You may feel slightly underwhelmed by
‘otherworldliness’ – it’s a tad samey. But
the strength is the simplicity and how a
few controls on Dronar can do so much.
The producers of Dronar deliberately
held back on the number of controls
just to see how much control they could
get from a simple set-up, and I think it’s
one of Dronar’s main strengths. You get
a couple of effects (which can be varied)
plus controls for Hi, Mid and Low, which
vary actual sounds within those EQ
ranges rather than just the frequencies.
Then there’s an Intensity dial linked to
your mod wheel and a Movement dial,
and that is pretty much it. One or two of
MT158.REV Dronar.indd 63
Gothic Instruments Dronar Hybrid Module Reviews MT
The Arp tab
Like the Expert tab, the Arp tab allows you
access to more parameters from the top-level
controls. And like the Expert tab, you don’t
really need to be an expert! Here, you can
adjust the Intensity, filter and arpeggiator
steps and rate.
these controls will easily take your
sound away from what you start with,
and very quickly, too. So if you do think
they’re a bit, well, ‘droney’, then get
hands-on – it’s easy.
You can dig deeper, of course, but
you’ll get a good idea of the scope of
Dronar with just the top level. Step
down into the ‘Expert’ page and you can
define which of 30-plus parameters
can be affected by the main controls
(you don’t really need to be an ‘expert’ to
be here to be fair), and you can also
delve deeper into the arpgeggiation and
LFO features with their own dedicated
pages, too.
The later sound categories are much
more musical than earlier ones, which
perhaps emphasise the ‘drone’ part of
Dronar. The strings are superb, the
organs suitably dramatic and the pads
as creepy and menacing as you’d
expect. In fact, I’ll leave it to three more
category names to sum up the rest:
Fear, Tension and Dark. So, if you want
to give it some kind of Hans Zimmer
‘rating’, Dronar is definitely more
Alternatives
I’ve already hinted at the collections and
instruments I’ve used which are similar to
Dronar, including Wide Blue Sound’s Orbit
($150 www.widebluesound.com) and
Heavyocity’s Gravity ($449, www.heavyocity.
com), both big, evolving sound makers and
manglers, perhaps without the total darkness
that this has. Elsewhere in MusicTech, we’ve
also looked at Output’s Signal (£150, www.
outputsounds.com) which is an incredible
instrument for drones and other atmospheres.
Master FX
Here, edit your effects on a deeper level with
distortion and chorus (shown in this picture).
With reverb, you get a drop-down menu, too.
Interstellar than Going For Gold [clever
Zimmer reference there for UK readers
of a certain age – Ed].
Conclusion
The Hybrid Module – the first Dronar
release – didn’t surprise me in what it
could do in terms of atmosphere and
tension, and it very much delivers its
menace in spades. As an opening
module of possibly many, it is very good
indeed. Initially, you might think it’s a bit
of a one-trick pony, but there are
enough strings and melodic folders to
take it on more musical journeys, and it
also features so many parameters just
under the skin that you can easily move
onto newer things.
The Movement and Intensity dials
alone will have you off exploring new
sonic paths and there is more than
enough content to experiment with…
And that may well prove to be the
downfall for Gothic Instruments’
modular plans – there might just be
enough in this pack to suffice! Either
way, with just £60 needed to start your
dark and atmospheric journey, I think
it’s one well worth taking. MT
MT Verdict
+ Huge amount of atmosphere for
the money
+ Modular upgrade path could be
interesting
+ Lovely big and easy controls
make dramatic changes easy
+ Lots to explore and very easy to
do it (and you will!)
- It’s perhaps a little samey in
places, but what did you expect?
- Some hanging issues in Logic
The Hybrid Module is a great
opening chapter in the Dronar
series. Beautifully put together and
flexes within its own constraints
well, with very easy controls and
more available if you want them.
9/10
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 63
06/04/2016 12:18
 FIRST WITH REVIEWS
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 Aston Microphones Spirit Reviews MT

Choice

9/10
9
9/10
ASTON MICROPHONES
Spirit
Aston’s second mic is another large-diaphragm
condenser. Mike Hillier enters the Spirit world…

A
Details few months back, we got our Neumann U47 FET on kick drum, so low-end to match the 47, but at the cost
Manufacturer hands on the first of Aston began by comparing the two side-by- of some of the articulation in the top
Aston Microphones Microphones’ new products; side. The Spirit performed admirably end. In this position, however, the Spirit
Price £299
the Aston Origin. To say we next to its considerably more expensive did require less EQ scooping through
Contact
Sonic Distribution were impressed is to put things lightly. competitor. Both require some scooping the mids to get to a sound we would be
Web This new contender seemed to have it of the mids to get to a usable kick likely to use.
www.astonmics.com all. It sounded great on guitars, piano, sound for most modern genres, but the Next up, we tested the Spirit as a
in front of a drum kit… and on vocals, top-end definition of the Spirit seemed mono kit mic next to an AKG C414 XLS,
it was winning shoot-outs against some more articulate than the 47. first in cardioid and then in omni
of the most sought-after vocal mics in At the bottom end, though, the 47 patterns. In cardioid, the Spirit seemed
the world. So when a second Aston seemed to give the kick more weight, like an enhanced version of the C414,
microphone turned up for review, we producing a larger-than-life sound presenting the kit in a similar space, but
found ourselves wondering what more
they could bring to the table.
At first glance, the Spirit looks
almost the same as the Origin. It’s a
The Spirit performed
little taller, but the body is the same
rugged tumbled-steel, with the same
admirably next to its much
Features
wave-form mesh head which gives the
Aston mics their unique aesthetic.
more expensive competitor
Other than the taller body, the
● Large-
diaphragm only other feature that visually which can be very useful in some mixes. the cymbals were brighter and the
condenser distinguishes the Spirit from the Origin Next, we tried switching the Spirit to its snare cut through with more snap.
microphone
is the presence of a pattern switch figure-of-eight pattern, which still helps The C414, by contrast, seemed
● Three polar
patterns – between the pad and filter switches. when dealing with rejection, but can almost lifeless. Switching to omni, the
cardioid, omni, The Spirit is capable of cardioid, omni produce a stronger proximity effect to Spirit brought the kick and cymbals out
figure-of-eight
and figure-eight patterns, giving it a add additional low-end to the signal – even more, but this time pushing the
● -10 / -20dB pad
● 80Hz high-pass
versatility the Origin didn’t have. a trick we often use when using a snare back a little. The cymbals now
filter Neumann U87 rather than U47 FET seemed overly bright, bordering on
● Frequency Live spirit on kick drums. The additional low-end harsh, while the C414 still seemed to
response: 20Hz-
I had a drum-tracking session lined up build-up meant we had to place the present a similarly balanced quality to
20kHz (+/- 3dB)
● Max SPL: 138dB the same day as the Spirit turned up, so Spirit a little further back to get a the cardioid pattern, only with more
tried it on a kick drum. I usually like a usable sound. This gave the additional room tone.

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 65

MT158.REV Aston Spirit.indd 65 06/04/2016 12:19

 MT Reviews Aston Microphones Spirit
The Spirit is versatile and
performed well at just about
everything we threw it on
Studio spirit
Packing the drum kit away, we decided
to test the Spirit on acoustic and then
electric guitar. Our studio Blueridge
acoustic has a big, bold and quite bright
tone; it records exceptionally well, but
can sound somewhat harsh when
boosted in the upper midrange.
Thankfully, there was no sign of
harshness with the Spirit. A single
mono mic about a foot from the 12th
fret and angled in was perfect for our
tracking session. When angled more
towards the neck, the tonality changed,
reducing the bottom-end and bringing
out the sparkle in the neck, but still
without sounding harsh, or unnatural.
For recording electric guitar, we
placed the Spirit in cardioid right up
against the grille of our Vox AC30,
alongside a Neumann U87 and a Heil
PR 20, and then drove the amplifier
hard. Despite all the gain, the Spirit
picked up the amp sound well, but did
have a bright, slightly brittle quality
that we’d want to pull out of the
top-end, and which was something we
weren’t getting on our recordings with
the Aston Origin. The U87 produced
similar harsh brightness, none of which
was present on the dynamic Heil mic,
which sounded almost comically dark
in comparison. Despite this, though, the
66 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.REV Aston Spirit.indd 66
(left) The Spirit’s
distinctive wave-form
about everything we threw it on,
matching and even outperforming
mesh head is
designed to protect some much more expensive
its capsule microphones in the process.
(right) The unique
custom-moulded
If you’re on a budget and need a
multi-pattern large-diaphragm
end cap, with XLR condenser mic, then this has to be
and stand adaptor
Heil is often a good choice in the mix, on your list, but if we could push the
as these additional frequencies may budget for a C414, this would still
sound great in isolation, but often remain our preference. However, if you
crowd the mix. already have a few mics and are just
Switching the amp out for a Fender looking to expand your selection, the
Blues Deluxe produced a very different Spirit is virtually a must-have. It
sound, and one that the Spirit worked performs well enough to add to any mic
with perfectly. There was no harshness locker, and is also inexpensive enough
at the top this time, and the slight lift to demand your attention. MT
worked with, rather than against, the
amp to produce a very usable guitar
Alternatives
tone, that would need almost no EQ to
The Aston Spirit expands on the Origin in a
sit in the mix. number of ways. If you’re just looking for
Finally, we tested the Spirit on something for vocals, the Origin is everything
you’ll need, but if you do want a little more
vocals, and given how well it had
flexibility, the Spirit is a great choice. At this
performed in our last test, we put it up price, there are a good number of alternatives,
against the Origin – only this time, on a but we’ve been very impressed with the audio
quality as well as the build quality of these
male vocal and with our Neumann U47 Aston mics.
FET on hand as an alternative.
Leaving the Spirit in cardioid
position, the two Aston mics were MT Verdict
similar, but not identical. The FET47
+ Great-sounding microphone
couldn’t match either Aston in the + Built-in pop-shield
upper ranges of the vocal, and didn’t + Internal shock-mount
seem to catch the snarl in the vocal on + Three polar patterns
the grittier sections. But neither the
- Omni mode is not as flat as
Spirit nor the Origin sounded quite as
other mics
forward on the deeper, quieter sections
of the performance. Aston Microphones has brought
the Spirit back into British
microphone manufacturing.
Neat spirit
All in all, the Spirit is a useful all-round
microphone. It performed well at just
9/10
06/04/2016 12:19
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 MT Reviews Chandler Limited RS124 Compressor

CHANDLER LIMITED
RS124 Compressor
The Chandler REDD.47 mic pre was so popular that it won our Gear Of
The Year award. Now, the company with the EMI touch has the follow-up
RS124 ready to go. Will John Pickford fall for its charms in a similar way?

H
Details ot on the heels of its REDD.47 produced commercially, making it much several American-made Altec 436B
Price £2,749 microphone preamplifier, more rare than its famous cousin. compressors. In their original form, the
(including VAT) winner of a coveted Music The 660’s use on Beatles records Altecs did not meet with EMI’s high
Contact Nova
Distribution
Tech Outboard Of The Year has been well documented in the past, standards of technical excellence, so
0203 589 2530 award, Chandler Ltd has released the contributing to the group’s vocal sound the company’s technical team of Len
Web www. second of its units based on the valve and, from 1966’s groundbreaking Page, Bill Livy and Mike Bachelor
chandlerlimited.com
gear used at EMI’s Abbey Road studios Revolver album onwards, the sound of comprehensively modified the basic
throughout the 1960s and beyond – the Ringo Starr’s drums. What is less well units to create, in effect, a brand-new
RS124 compressor. Back in the day, EMI known is the contribution EMI’s RS124 compressor – the RS124. The units
was justifiably known by its slogan –
The Greatest Recording Organisation In
The World – and who could argue with
that? Not only did it build its own
Many will want the RS124
equipment, it also produced some of
the finest classical orchestral
precisely because of its
Key Features
● Pure valve
recordings and filled the pop charts
with innovative records by the leading
association with the Fab Four
design (6B68, artists of the day, not least The Beatles.
6CG7 & 6AL5)
● Historic Attack
There’s no getting away from the made to the The Beatles’ sound. It was soon became popular with the
presets fact that many potential customers for used when tracking guitar, piano, sitar, engineers at Abbey Road who, despite
● Recovery Hold the RS124 will want one (or more) of mellotron and all manner of strings, the fact that the compressors were
control
these units precisely because of its brass and woodwind. It also served essentially an EMI design, always
● Circuit balance
adjuster association with the Fab Four. It’s this as a mix-buss compressor and was referred to them as ‘the Altecs’, because
● SuperFuse association that has made the Fairchild employed in Abbey Road’s mastering the American company’s logo was
setting 660 limiter the most sought after and and disc-cutting rooms. displayed on the RS124’s VU meter.
● Stereo linking
expensive vintage dynamics processor Before we examine Chandler’s Bringing us up to date, Chandler
● Impedance
switching on the planet. The RS124 isn’t as well RS124 in detail, let’s look at the origins Limited has, in the company’s own
known as the 660 because it was never of the unit. In 1959, EMI acquired words, ‘re-imagined’ the RS124 to meet

68 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.REV Chandler.indd 68 04/04/2016 11:28


the demands of the 21st century. So,
this new RS124 isn’t an exact clone
of the original, rather it retains the
style, feel and unique controls of the
originals, while offering additional
features that are better suited for
modern recording practice.
Finished in period-correct grey and
sporting authentic chicken-head style
knobs, the RS124 is a single-channel
(mono) unit housed in a conventional
2U, 19-inch rack mountable case. A
¼-inch jack connector is provided on
the rear of the unit, to link two units for
stereo processing; for stereo operation,
both units must be set up the same.
Standard models come with
continuously variable Input and Output
controls. However, Chandler offers
The RS124 has a nine-position
stepped Attack control, with
settings based on historic units
stepped controls, as per the original
design, at additional cost. Our review
samples came with the stepped
controls, making precise set up for
stereo processing simple.
Original RS124s did not feature an
Attack control – the initial response
time was fixed. However, no two units
were identical and EMI’s engineers
would favour particular units for various
applications. In a nod to modernity,
Chandler has incorporated a nine-
position stepped Attack control, which
MT158.REV Chandler.indd 69
Chandler Limited RS124 Compressor Reviews MT
includes three settings based upon the
response times of historic units still in
use at Abbey Road.
The compressor’s release control
(labelled ‘Recovery’ for historical
accuracy) offers six response times,
from fast to slow, via a stepped switch.
Chandler Limited doesn’t publish
response times for attack or release,
which doesn’t matter, as the unit’s
behaviour is interdependent of the
chosen attack and release times.
The unique feature of the Recovery
control is a Hold setting, found between
each of the release settings. This
feature, as explained in original 1960s
EMI documents, offered: “a very long
recovery time to prevent increase in
gain on silent sections.”
In other words, when a mix was
heavily compressed, as much as 30dB
at times, the compressor could be put
into Hold mode to prevent unwanted
ambient noise rising at the end of a
track. Another useful trick that this
feature performs is to prime the
compressor, by sending through audio
in order to set the desired level of
compression, then switching in the
Hold setting before restarting the track.
This prevents spikes from initial
transients that may escape
In -use tip
The RS124 performs best when used heavily.
In fact, when low compression levels are
dialled in (2 or 3 dBs), negative thumping
effects can occur, so keep the VU meter’s
needle ticking beyond 5dB or so for better
results. As the unit is disinclined to pump, due
to its even-handed nature, more compression
than might normally be advisable can be
dialled in without causing audio havoc.
Sub-groups and mix busses are best
processed in standard mode, while the
SuperFuse setting is excellent for injecting
some punch to instruments and, in particular,
vocal tracks.
uncompressed due to the unit’s
naturally slow attack time. Once the
audio has begun, the unit can be taken
out of Hold mode and into an adjacent
release setting.
A new feature of the modern RS124
is the SuperFuse mode, selected by
turning the switch disguised as a fuse
cap on the upper right of the unit’s front
panel (a genuine fuse cap houses a
25-amp Slow-Blow fuse at the rear of
the unit). Chandler is somewhat cagey
about this feature’s inner workings
(something to do with impedance
perhaps?), however, engaging
SuperFuse turns the unit into another
beast altogether, producing a far more
aggressive effect, more suited to
modern production styles.
Before we report on the RS124’s
performance, two more features should
be pointed out. Firstly, a silver button
marked Bal is provided to allow users to
balance the unit’s push/pull circuit for
optimum performance; the user
The Hold mode manual explains this feature in detail.
stops a bloom of
unwanted noise in Secondly, a toggle switch on the rear
‘silent’ sections panel allows selection of either 200 or
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 69
04/04/2016 11:28
 MT Reviews Chandler Limited RS124 Compressor
600 ohms output impedance. EMI’s
equipment was optimised for 200
ohms; however, the 600-ohms setting
should be considered standard for
modern usage.
We used our review pair of RS124s
for a wide variety of applications, with
superb results. Its first task was to
compress a bass guitar during a
tracking session, as original units were
favoured for this task in the 1960s. It
would’ve been nice to have a Hofner
violin bass or Rickenbacker 4001S, like
Paul McCartney often used, but I had to
make do with a Fender bass amplified
through a Fender Bassman. McCartney
sometimes used this setup during later
Beatles sessions for the ‘White Album’
and Abbey Road. We mic’d the cabinet
with an AKG C414, a descendant of the
AKG C12, the preferred bass mic of
Beatles’ engineer Geoff Emerick.
With many modern compressor
designs, it’s common to take it easy
with compression levels, especially
when tracking, taming peaks by a few
It provided a full-bodied
sound with the right amount of
glue to transform the final mix
dBs; however, the RS124 works best at
levels that may seem extreme to some.
We selected the attack time originally
fixed for EMI’s original unit numbered
61010B coupled with Recovery position
4 and achieved a lovely smooth, warm
and even sound with the VU meter’s
needle hovering around the 15dB mark,
sometimes nudging 20dB. Don’t be
70 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.REV Chandler.indd 70
frightened by these levels – the RS124
thrives on this level of compression and
will not squeeze the life out of signals
as many lesser designs would. The Hold
feature was useful here, priming the
unit so that the initial transient didn’t
appear too much louder than the body
of the tone.
Next, we strapped the unit across
a vocal track mic’d with our valve
Neumann U67 amplified by Thermionic
Culture’s Rooster 2, a preamp with a
similar bold-yet-rich character as
Chandler’s REDD.47. In Standard mode,
the unit levelled the signal well enough.
However, when we switched in the
SuperFuse, the sound became much
punchier, with more grip and presence,
rather like a Fairchild, in fact.
Most impressive of all, though, was
the pair’s performance when used
across the stereo mix buss. Even with
reasonably high compression levels,
the RS124 didn’t produce any nasty
artefacts such as pumping, instead
providing a gorgeous, full-bodied sound
with just the right amount of glue
to transform the final mix into a
radio-ready master.
Chandler Limited’s new version of
Abbey Road Studios’ classic RS124 will
appeal to a certain type of music
producer and engineer. Producers of
bass-heavy electronica might prefer
the vice-like grip of a solid-state VCA
Alternatives
The RS124 is quite unlike most compressors
currently available. However, Thermionic
Culture’s Phoenix HG15 (£1,872) is another
single-channel valve processor with unique
features. Its high gain enables it to be used as
a mic-pre as well as a compressor, and its
Presence and Air EQ controls make it an
excellent tracking device that is truly superb
with vocal tracks.
compressor, ideally with a high-pass
filter. Those with a love of vintage
sounds from the 1960s and 1970s
however, should check out this
wonderful re-creation at once. MT
MT Verdict
+ Authentic Abbey Road
Studio sound
+ Rich, warm tonal character
+ Smooth, transparent
compression style
+ ‘SuperFuse’ setting for
extra punch
+ Great for individual sounds
and group busses
- Not ideal for pumping beats
For lovers of vintage audio – valve
compressors in particular – the
RS124 is a dream-come-true. Its
period-correct styling is matched
by its smooth, rich tone that
effortlessly re-creates the sound
that shaped so many influential
recordings from pop music’s
earliest experimental stages.
Producers with a rack full of
EQP-1As and 1176s will love this
modern version of an ultra-rare
classic, while dance-music
creators will likely find the RS124
too relaxed and refined. Coupled
with Chandler’s REDD.47 Mic
Amplifier, Abbey Road’s 1960s
sound is available to everyone.
9/10
04/04/2016 11:28
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 MT Reviews Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator 20 Series

Value

€£$
Innovation

Choice
Details
Price
€75 each (inc postage)
9/10
Contact
via website
Web
www.

TEENAGE ENGINEERING
teenageengineering.
com

Pocket Operator 20 Series

Key features
Shared
● 16-part step
sequencer with
16 patterns
● Parameter locks
on sequencer
Three new Pocket Operators from Teenage Engineering. Can they
● Built-in speaker possibly be as good as last year’s hat-trick? Andy Jones goes 8-bit…
● 3.5mm audio
out/in sync

L
● Jam sync ast year’s NAMM show – that is The names give a little away about around the back – actually a couple of
● Folding stand
to say NAMM 2015 – was stolen where each of the new series is heading hard wires, and I had to push the
● Step Multiplier
by Teenage Engineering, with its sonically, but it’s all perhaps a little less connectors to make sure they
Pocket Operator Series. Three obvious than the PO-10 Series, each of connected with the batteries on the
PO-20 Arcade
● Beat making and
calculator-style sound modules for which effectively offered beats, bass, first unit I tested – is hit the ’Play’ button
chiptune improv beats, sub bass and leads had everyone and lead sounds (actually, it was a little to hear the onboard patterns. Press the
● 16 synthesised crowding around the TE stand and more complex than that, but that will Pattern key and you will be able to
arcade sounds
while the big companies made big do for now). So here, the Arcade focuses choose your pattern from the 16
● 128-chord and
pattern chaining announcements, three sub-€70 Euro on beats and chip tunes; the Office on number keys. Hit the Sound button
● 16 punch-in gadgets walked away with the honours. percussion and sequencing and the and, similarly, you can play one of the
effects A couple of months later, they walked
off with just about every MusicTech
PO-24 Office
● Noise percussion
award I could bestow on them, too…
Yes, the original Pocket Operators
For TE, this year’s NAMM
drum machine
and sequencer
● Sampled vintage
– PO-12 Rhythm, PO-14 Sub and PO-16
Factory – were (and indeed still are)
was always going to be a case
h/ware and real
synth engines
● 16 sounds
incredibly fun and big-sounding melody
and beat makers. Sync them together
of ‘how do we follow that?’
● Solo control for complete tunes, admire the fancy
● 128-pattern and fantastical LCD screens, marvel at Robot on synth and sequencer. onboard sounds, again by hitting a
chaining
how such a small device can deliver Three new strands of PO, then, and number key. The two dials here typically
● 16 punch-in
effects such a big sound… They were great. each promising a tantalising tangent alter volume and an effect, like filter,
So for Teenage Engineering, this year’s away from the original three, already per sound. So you can adjust the pitch
PO-28 Robot NAMM was always going to be a case innovative, devices. of the sound you want to record at this
● Live synth and of, ‘Well, how do we follow that?’ stage and then you can record it, either
sequencer, Shared features by step sequencer or by playing live over
● 8-bit synth So how do they follow that? Time for a quick overview of the main a pattern as it plays.
engine
● 15 sounds and
The answer, of course, is with ways of using the POs before I get The former recording method is
micro drum something as cool, something as geeky specific. With all three, it’s a similar done by holding the Write button down
● 128-pattern and something as futuristic as the first scenario and less than a year after (along with Chord) and then inputting
chaining
three POs – a new trio of POs known as reviewing the 10s, I am on familiar notes of the sound you chose above on
● Live play and
sequencer the PO-20 Series, comprising the PO-20 ground. So the first thing you’ll do after the 16-part grid. You can also play them
Arcade, PO-24 Office and PO-28 Robot. slotting in the batteries in the ‘case’ in live by holding the Write button and

72 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.Rev Teenage.indd 72 04/04/2016 11:36


A teenager…
playing them (again, you choose the
pitch before hand).
Initially, this is a bit hit and miss,
but better if you make use of the
screen to make sure the Record icon is
highlighted, and then you choose either
method. Just make sure your pitch is
defined before you record… so a little
reverse thinking is in order.
There’s something of a sonic
curry fest here: a few core
ingredients but lots of results
If you’ve used any of the 10s, though,
you’ll be at home here, as you will with
other functions like adding effects live
– hold the FX button and choose your
effect, as you would a pattern or sound.
There are lots of filtery, trigger and
glitch-type of effects to choose from,
which really do bring an extra edge to all
pattern performances. These can also
be recorded in real time as the pattern
cycles (any changes using the two
MT158.Rev Teenage.indd 73
Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator 20 Series Reviews MT
rotaries can be recorded). Then there’s a
Chord button that lets you choose chord
changes over following patterns by
selecting them in number order – again,
a nice way of bringing in some variation.
Other features common to the range
include tempo selection – either home
in by holding the BPM button and use
the dials to choose a value, or select
from Hip Hop (80BPM), Disco (120) and
Techno (140) at the touch of the button.
The volume of each PO is set here, too:
hold the BPM button and set a level,
highlighted by the number of the
number keys lit. And just like last time,
I’m pleasantly surprised by just how
loud these things go, and also by the
quality of the sounds on each.
Additionally, you can chain the
patterns together by holding the
Pattern button down again and then
hitting the pattern-number buttons in
the order in which you want them to
play to create complete songs. All the
units can also be sync’d together, so you
might use the beats from one and play
live with another – and as we’ll see,
some do excel in certain areas for this.
The manual (aka piece of paper) that
comes with each unit lists some
scenarios here, including syncing a PO
with a phone and Volca, something that
has ‘achingly cool’ written all over it.
Finally, there’s a clock on each unit,
very much reminding me of my old
The publicity shot from the TE website implies the Arcade model might
bring you games, but sadly, it doesn’t
school calculator. I’d have also wanted
games – especially on the Arcade one
– but that’s probably just me. (Maybe
we’ll see some chip tuners hack these
to play games as some kind of weird
reverse-parallel universe stuff.)
Specifics
So that is the overview. I’ll now deal with
each unit in number order, so it’s PO-20
Arcade first. Arcade sound effects have
been used in music since Space
Invaders, from the Yellow Magic
Orchestra onwards via novelty hits
through the 80s, where the scene
flourished via Tracker software. Of
course, now there’s a whole community
of chip tuners who have taken the guts
of old gear and made new sounds from
it. Arcade (and in some respects the
other two new POs) is a reverential nod
to that scene. Ironically, though, having
a machine with the 8-bit sounds laid
out so accessibly might not actually
appeal to many within that scene, but
for the rest of us, Arcade brings a taste
of it to our fingertips.
You’ll recognise the sounds in PO-20
from a hundred trips to those exciting
and slightly sinister amusement
arcades that still litter the coastal
resorts in this country (that is if you had
my kind of childhood and haven’t
completely had the 70s tragically
erased from your mind by now).
If you read our review The key sounds are there: drones,
of the first three
POs from Teenage lasers, beeps and basses. And while the
Engineering, you sounds might be based in the 70s and
might think we have
put exactly the same
early 80s, like the chip-tune scene, the
pictures, albeit with patterns that they produce are vibrant
different colours, in and fresh and surprisingly varied. This
exactly the same
positions. Would we has much to do with the PO ethos,
really be that lazy? which is to shove as many features in
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 73
04/04/2016 11:36
 MT Reviews Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator 20 Series
Office. You see?
there to vary, let’s face it, not that many
core ingredients and patterns. So the
pitch dial will radically alter your core
sounds and the effects and tempos will
radically alter your patterns. Throw in
some chord changes and real-time
effects and you will be altering these
If you made beats from what
you hear in our office, it would
be the stuff of nightmares
ingredients a lot more than you think.
Teenage Engineering has pulled off
something of a sonic curry-fest here:
a few core ingredients, yes, but a huge
variety of results.
74 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.Rev Teenage.indd 74
There’s no getting
away from it, they are
flimsy and open to
the elements. Here’s
what you get around
the back of each PO
I didn’t expect to be blown away by
Arcade – Margate was always a lot
more exciting to drive to on the school
bus trip than actually getting there – that the PO effects really do come
but I found myself charmed by it. into full force and you’ll find yourself
Whether the unit has the longevity performing full live sets without
is another matter, though. realising it, with a few button pushes
and casual glances over to your
imaginary crowd (of co-workers).
So, yeah, Office is surprisingly cool,
and out of the three units, I’d probably
pick this one to use in my studio and to
extract beats and ideas from and into
my main DAW set-up. I just love the
overall level of control that enables you
to stamp your own authority onto the
On to Office; and while I was excited existing sounds and patterns, and
by Arcade but not expecting big things, again, you are amazed what PO has
I did struggle with the idea of this one: done with so few initial sounds.
office noises to make beats, right? It’s Finally, it’s time for the robots. Being
hardly the stuff of dream rhythms, is it? a certain age, I must make the link
And if you worked in our office and between robots, operators, and
made beats out of the noises you hear calculators and mention Kraftwerk (yes,
here, it would result in the stuff of I didn’t just hang about in amusement
nightmares, let me tell you. arcades in the 70s), and perhaps here
Fortunately, the Teenage we have the whole Teenage Engineering
Engineering office seems to be a little philosophy wrapped up in one unit.
more musical and alongside what could Robot is solidly electro, comes
be photocopy, typing and general shelf/ packed with a bunch of synth sounds
door/filing cabinet hit sounds, there are (not so much in the way of robot voices,
half-a-dozen decent beats and basses though) and the ability to actually play
to bolster things up – almost like Richie and synthesise notes (to some extent
Hawtin is sat your office, maybe just
like your new intern, and making beats In use tips
out of your hole punch and stapler. When using the new PO series (as with the
current PO-10s) it’s all about what you can do
“Alright Richie, yeah two sugars in my
with them in real time/live. The Robot might
coffee please, mate.” be more about playing along with patterns
The resulting Office beats and and Office might be more about the beats, but
each one allows chaining of patterns to make
patterns are surprisingly punchy and songs; the addition of live effects (which can
aggressive and very edgy. It’s here be recorded); chord changes (again which can
be chained) and a Step Multiplier that allows
retriggering of steps. You can even fade your
performances out with a couple of key presses
Robot is the best for synthesis (FX and Play) and on the Arcade, add a Drone
(of sorts) and melody version of the current chord. These real-time
playing – perhaps additions are the PO’s core strength.
not beats
04/04/2016 11:36
 吀䠀䔀 䔀嘀伀䰀唀吀䤀伀一 伀䘀 䌀䤀一䔀䴀䄀吀䤀䌀 匀伀唀一䐀

倀伀圀䔀刀䔀䐀 䈀夀 䬀伀一吀䄀䬀吀 ⌀䜀䔀吀倀唀䰀䰀䔀䐀䤀一

一伀圀 䄀嘀䄀䤀䰀䄀䈀䰀䔀 䄀吀 圀圀圀⸀䠀䔀䄀嘀夀伀䌀䤀吀夀⸀䌀伀䴀

 MT Reviews Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator 20 Series
If you don’t want all six, then
you’re stronger willed than us…
anyway). In this way, it seems more
open than the other units, as you can
make more in the way of melodies and
have some control over the filter and
envelope of the sound (via the rotaries).
The sequencer is a little more limited in
the sense that the sounds you play live
are not necessarily recorded when you
hit Write – they’re more designed to be
played live – but the overall feel is more
‘play me’ than ‘program me’, which is a
nice variation.
Back to the sounds and you get good
leads, whistles, the odd arcade bleep
and some fantastic delayed synth notes
(very Kraftwerk), although I’d have
wanted some vocoder action – maybe
that’s an idea for the PO-30 range…
Patterns are chugging electro,
some interesting more glitchy, off-beat
breaks and again, some arcade-type
movement. Because the source sounds
are more synth than beat, the
underlying rhythm sounds (from a
micro drum kit selected as sound
number 16) are a bit less varied here, so
I wasn’t perhaps as blown away by the
patterns, I have to say. This is probably
down to the fact that each sequencer
makes use of one of the lead sounds
and beats. The other units have more
varied sounds across their key ranges
(rather than just different pitches), so
76 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.Rev Teenage.indd 76
their patterns sound a little more
varied. But fun-wise and ideas-wise,
and particularly just for playing tunes
with beats – and there are additional
options for vibrato and expression for
playing – Robot is where it’s at for me.
Conclusion
I’ll leave aside any debates over
chip-tune purity – whereby the ethos
is to mod old gear to make sound rather
than have it done for you – and attempt
to sum these up as music-making
devices. And it’s a little harder this time
around, compared to the 10s. Inevitably,
this set of Operators is a little more
niche – the bass, leads and beats have
been done, after all. This means that
some will love them even more than the
first set, but they will probably appeal
to fewer people overall.
I have to say, though, that Office
was the biggest revelation to me, while
Robot was the most amount of fun.
Like the reface keyboards from Yamaha
– four devices for very specific and
different tasks – these are very
personal, so my opinions are, as always,
just a guide. But I doubt there are any
If you want to finish
the job off, silicone
other products anywhere on the planet
with which you can have so much
cases are available
musical fun and creativity, and that
at €39 a go cost so little cash. MT
Alternatives
Korg’s Volca range is still the closest thing out
there to the original PO-10 series, but there’s
little out there that touches the new PO-20
series, not in standard hardware, anyway. I say
‘standard’ because, of course, there is a world
of chip-tuning, DIY electronic customisation
out there where people are taking everyday
gadgets and making them make notes. Expect
a feature on that soon. Until then, grab a Speak
& Spell and a screwdriver… and experiment.
(Actually, thinking about it… don’t.)
MT Verdict PO-20 Arcade
+ Surprisingly varied Patterns
+ Good sound
+ Easy to use
+ Great hands-on tweaking
+ Few core sounds = many results
- Might not last creatively over the
long term and have narrow appeal
- We wanted games!
Surprisingly flexible beats and
melodies take this away from just
chip tune. Longevity may suffer.
8/10
MT Verdict PO-24 Office
+ Best for beats
+ A good range of Pattern styles
+ Extra sounds on top of beats add
weight to the vibe
+ Effects really do help the
variation on this one
- Much less melodic possibility
than the other two on test
- As with all, the unit is flimsy
A lot better than we thought it
would be, Office is the one we’ll be
using with our DAW productions.
Inspiring beats, and it begs you to
perform it live (which you will do!)
9/10
MT Verdict PO-28 Robot
+ Great for hands-on melodies
+ Nice and simple synth action
+ Great for recording melodic ideas
+ Good and varied synth sounds
+ Impressive delayed sounds
- One lead and beats make the
Patterns less varied
- Could have done with robot voices
The best for getting ideas down
quickly and playing live. 35 years
on, Kraftwerk could use it live!
9/10
04/04/2016 11:36
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Peter Freedman
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But don’t take our word for it. Visit your nearest RØDE dealer or
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 MT Reviews MeldaProduction MMorph
MELDAPRODUCTION
MMorph
MeldaProduction’s latest plug-in offers real-time sound
morphing between two signals. Alex Holmes finds out
if it’s the perfect union, or a match made in hell...
A
lthough some producers may
be happy to mine the depths
of a soft synth, others look to
the latest software and
hardware for new, interesting sounds.
One technique that offers up unique-
ounding results is spectral morphing.
Rather than simply fading from one
sound to another, a true morph finds
common elements from each and
blends smoothly between them.
MMorph brings this cutting-edge
processing effect into your DAW.
MMorph runs as a VST, Audio Unit or
AAX plug-in and has features common
to all MeldaProduction software. These
include a stylable and scalable GUI,
classic meters and time graphs
showing the input and output signals,
four versatile modulators (more on
these later), four multiparameters, M/S,
single channel and up to eight channels
surround processing, automatic gain
compensation, a safety limiter, MIDI
learn, a refined smart randomisation,
preset management, online preset
exchange and more. You control the
morphing via a single dial that blends
between the main input and a signal
coming in through the sidechain input,
with additional controls for blending in
the dry signals.
Most of the power, however, comes
from fine-tuning the controls on the A
and B panels, which essentially prep
each signal ahead of the spectral
blending for the best possible results.
Ideally, you want to use sounds that
share certain frequency characteristics
to get the most effective blends, and
controls for spectral compression, tone,
78 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.REV Mmorph.indd 78
Choice
9/10
9
9/10
Details flattening and whitening, harmonics, If you’re expecting instant usable
Price €149 attack and release, gain and gate all results, you may be disappointed. But
(€399 included in
allow you to tailor each signal. if you’re a sound designer or producer
MCreativeBundle with
27 effects) looking for new and interesting sounds,
Contact Via website Patience is a virtue this is a great tool. It’s not especially
Web www. In practice, the results are a little hit cheap, but the results speak for
meldaproduction.
com
and miss, and require time and themselves, and it’s especially tempting
Minimum system patience to get a good sound and a as part of the MCreativeBundle (€399).
requirements good blend. However, when you hit on Ultimately, it’s all about the thrill of
Windows XP/
Vista/7/8/10
something, it’s truly magical. I tried a hitting on a unique new combination of
(32-bit or 64-bit) range of audio, including playing a sounds that fuse the best elements of
Mac OS X 10.6 gnarly bass line with beat and vocal each to create something richer and
and newer
signals coming in on the sidechain, then more characterful. MT
(32-bit or 64-bit)
Intel/AMD Processor tried morphing between a steel-string
with SSE2 support guitar instrument and a piano, and
VST/VST3/AU/AAX Alternatives
finally from a fog horn to a Morse code
compatible host Real-time spectral morphing isn’t really a
(32-bit or 64-bit) bleep. The possibilities are endless, and crowded market. Kyma is a highly advanced
it’s a lot of fun trying out different hardware and software sound-design system,
combinations. In many cases, you get but even the cheapest version will set you
back $2,970! The closest alternative is
characteristics of both signals, much probably Zynaptiq’s Morph 2 (€199), which has
like with vocoding, but in a more a cleaner, simpler interface but fewer features.
You could also experiment with non-realtime
smooth, nuanced and detailed way. morphing using Alchemy 2 in Logic X (£149).
We found the best results came from
combining more sustained signals in
the A channel, and more rhythmic MT Verdict
signals in the B channel. Either that, or
Features + Unique and interesting effect
using two different instruments playing
● Real-time + Great fun experimenting and
spectral the same MIDI part. mashing sounds together
morphing plug-in Although you can solo each channel + Highly flexible GUI, controls
● Blends between for preview purposes, the nature of the and modulation
main input and
side-chain signal process means you can’t actually hear
- Getting good results takes time
● Stylable, the changes in parameters until you - It’s not always obvious what
resizable GUI, blend and play them together, so a lot of effect each slider is having
plus online
preset exchange the work has to be done by ear. As
mentioned earlier, there are also four An advanced sound-design tool
● Four versatile
that favours patience and
modulators, modulators – an advanced LFO/step
Smart
experimentation. Pick the right
randomisation
sequencer, an envelope follower, a sources and spend time tweaking,
● Automatic Gain random generator and a pitch detector and you’ll be rewarded with
Compensation – which can be assigned to any something truly unique.
and Safety
Limiter
parameter for some insanely complex
and flexible modulations.
9/10
04/04/2016 11:30
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COMP-2A
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PRE-73 Jr
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The PRE-73 Jr offers the classic sound at an even more affordable price point. It
has everything you need to make great sounding recordings and the insert jack
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 Th
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vo l u t i o
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pe
sh
ap
Envolution in

g
Imagine being able to manipulate the envelope of a sound so radically
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The creative possibilities would be endless.

Enter the new Oxford Envolution plug-in from Sonnox - the next level of
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• Frequency dependent control of Transients & Sustain

• Tilt/parametric targeting of frequencies to process
• DIFF button to solo the effect
• Dry/Wet mix for parallel processing
• Warmth control for added harmonics
• Many great presets to get you started
www.sonnox.com
 Spitfire HZ2 Los Angeles, HZ3 London Soloists Reviews MT

Excellence

10/10

SPITFIRE AUDIO
HZ2 Los Angeles
HZ3 London Soloists
In conjunction with Spitfire Audio, Hans Zimmer and his engineering
team have produced two more cinematic percussion libraries to
Details complete the HZ trilogy. Keith Gemmell gets under their skin…
Product
HZ2 Los Angeles,

A
HZ3 London Soloists
Price £239 each while back we reviewed HZ1, the form of some modular-synth previously mentioned. And within each
Contact via website a truly epic percussion library drum programming. of those is a full performance kit with
Web www. collaboration from Hans HZ3 is an expansion of the first basic GM mapping and four folders
spitfireaudio.com
Zimmer and Spitfire Audio. library; a collection of Hybrid Cinematic containing patches for cymbals, kicks,
It featured four percussionists and was Widescreen percussion recorded, like snares and toms – quite an arsenal.
Features recorded at London’s AIR Studios. We the first library, in London’s AIR Studios, As expected, it’s a superb-sounding
HZ2 now have two follow-up libraries – HZ2 and performed by renowned kit and you can adjust its sound using
● Jason Bonham and HZ3 – produced by Hans himself percussionist Frank Ricotti. close, overhead and room mics, plus a
on unique
Vistalite kit
special gated room mic. There’s also a

HZ2 features John Bonham,

● 3 LA recording
locations
Beat mapping
● Grammy

and HZ3 is performed by

Award-winning Spitfire now features a new type of interface
engineers for percussive instruments and libraries. In
HZ2, there are three ‘takes’ on Jason Bonham’s

percussionist Frank Ricotti

● Numerous mic
kit, one by Alan Meyerson, one by Geoff Foster
positions
and a third stereo mix. All the kit pieces are
● Kickstart engine displayed in the centre and, using a panel to
the right, you can configure them individually
and map them to a MIDI controller.
HZ3 and the same team of engineers that Battery power
● Frank Ricotti on
percussion
worked on the original. Looking at HZ2 first, at the top tier we
● Recorded at AIR HZ2 features Jason Bonham, have two main folders, a Stereo Mix and
Sudios, London recorded at three different Los Angeles an Artist Elements section, each
● Grammy/ locations – 20th Century’s Newman containing three folders for each
Oscar-winning
engineers Stage, the Sony Stage and The engineer’s specific take on Jason’s
● Several mic Cathedral, a large concrete space on unique Vistalite kit. The engineers are
positions Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Alan Meyerson, Geoff Foster and Steve
● Numerous
Productions lot. Hans has also Lipson. Inside those, there are three
articulations
contributed extra material himself, in more folders for each of the locations

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 81

MT158.REV Spitfire.indd 81 06/04/2016 12:20

C R E ATI V E M A STE R I N G. R E I N V E NTE D.
WaveLab is today’s leading mastering and audio editing platform, favored by mastering facilities, music studios,
sound designers, journalists and broadcasters. Its comprehensive set of features, customizability and outstanding
audio quality are the reasons WaveLab became the world’s most popular professional platform for audio refinement.

WaveLab Pro 9 reinvents creative mastering once again by providing a revolutionary new user interface, full
M/S mastering support including editing and processing, the superior MasterRig plug-in suite as well as direct
exchange with Steinberg DAWs, such as Cubase, among many other features.

www.steinberg.net/wavelab

Sound articulation
After rummaging around in HZ2, we found a
bonus folder with bass drum, toms and surdos,
seen here. Note the detailed articulation
(highlighted within the red triangle).
stereo mix. There are plenty of controls,
filters and so on, many of which are
similar to HZ1, so if you own that library
you will feel pretty much at home here.
Our only grumble is with the GUI – tiny
black text on a grey background is tricky
to read in places.
The performance kits are superb
and instantly useable as everyday ‘go to’
If you want the real thing, both
of these beautifully recorded
libraries will serve you well
rock drum kits. However, you can go
much deeper than this by loading the
individual kit pieces to further tailor the
sounds to your own requirements. A
snare patch, for example, provides a
selection of sticks, bamboo sticks and
mallets, all with snare on or off.
Zimmer’s synth-drum patches are a
real treat: powerful and dangerous
sounding and bearing no resemblance
to the tacky ‘syn drums’ of the 80s.
There’s plenty of variety here: anything
from dry up-close hits to big roomy
cinematic thunderclaps, all very
exciting and immaculately recorded.
Percussive Paradise
Recorded on the opposite side of the
Atlantic Ocean to HZ2, London Solos
(HZ3) is an expanded selection of the
solo content found in HZ1, which was
mainly an ensembles library. It’s
structurally similar to HZ2, with two
top-tier folders – Artists Elements and
Additional Mics. Apart from the Bucket
and Snare, the instruments might be
unfamiliar, with names like, Djun,
Tombek and Dohl. If you don’t know
MT158.REV Spitfire.indd 83
Spitfire HZ2 Los Angeles, HZ3 London Soloists Reviews MT
Familiar look and feel Deeper editing
The HZ3 (solo instruments) GUI is very similar to that of HZ1 (ensembles). A deeper HZ3 general controls panel allows
An overview panel provides a quick and easy way to load articulations, tweaking of the general settings, round robins,
mic mixes and a set of ‘easy tweak’ controls. pitch options, velocity workings and so on.
drum hits and sound-shaping
possibilities. Hans Zimmer, as we all
know, is primarily an Oscar-winning
composer of countless films but he also
them, as soon as you see the pictures has lots of engineering experience
that are displayed in the GUI, everything behind him. Over the years, he has
makes sense and it soon becomes developed a truly unique approach to
obvious how and when to use them. cinematic sound production that has
Mics are mostly close, front and been widely imitated. What you get
surround perspectives, each with a very here, though, isn’t a copy. It’s a
distinctive sound. If you need more, recreation. He has used the same team
there’s that Additional Mics folder. of engineers and performers that were
Articulations are many. For example, the responsible for many of his film
soundtracks, and even used many of
the same recording locations. So, if you
want the real thing, these two libraries
will serve you well. MT
Do you really need this?
One good reason for buying HZ3 is that it
complements HZ1 perfectly. It features solo
instruments as opposed to the ensembles
found in HZ1. They have the same GUI and
Dohl has Both Sticks, Top and Bottom scripting and even share the same manual.
Sticks, Both Hands and Top and Bottom HZ2, being kit-based is a different prospect
and most musicians and producers reading
Hands, all laid out in an intuitive fashion this will have at least one sampled kit at their
on the keyboard, making it enjoyable to disposal. That said, Jason Bonham’s kit has
play. Again, like the Jason Bonham been so well recorded and immaculately
produced that we’re fairly confident that if you
library, there’s a wealth of controls. buy HZ2, it may well become your favourite
As expected, there’s plenty of virtual drum kit.
leap-out-of-your-cinema-seat material
on offer here, but it’s not all blood and
MT Verdict
thunder. There’s a good deal of quieter,
more delicate, detailed percussion to be + Great engineering
found if you root around a bit. + Great sound
+ Outstanding drum kit (HZ2)
Teamwork - GUI has tiny text
Both of these libraries have been - Online manuals only
beautifully recorded and immaculately
These two libraries are both
produced and offer a huge array of
outstanding, each in its own way.
Jason Bonham’s kit has been
Alternatives recorded as a cinematic product,
There are so many percussion and drum but it also makes for an excellent
libraries out there that choosing a good standalone virtual drum kit.
alternative can become quite confusing. Veteran percussionist Frank
For creating epic cinematic percussion, Ricotti’s skilful performances have
Native Instrument’s Damage is a good choice. been beautifully captured by an
Drums Of War from Cinesamples has been award-winning team of engineers,
used in many a blockbuster, as has True Strike including Hans himself. First-class
from ProjectSAM. If you want some of the
material all round.
work done for you, NI’s Action Strikes has
many designed rhythm sets, making it easy to
drum up a thunderous cinematic atmosphere. 10/10
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 83
04/04/2016 11:34
 Novation/Blocs Wave iOS Reviews MT

However, as easy as it all is to

arrange, of course we all know that the
real beauty and joy of composition is
crossing the line from messing with
someone else’s ideas to creating
something that you can truly call your
own. Fortunately, the wave editor makes
this part a reality, as does some pretty
impressive pitch-and-time adjusting,
where you simply select your key, or
plus and minus your tempo value to
adjust. Both approaches work very well,
particularly the tempo.
But wave editing is Blocs Wave’s real
strength, and utilises all that iOS touch
power for ease. Open a sample, shorten
it, increase and decrease volume – it’s
all possible, and everything you do just

NOVATION/BLOCS
fits with what you already have. And
Innovation while editing audio is the best feature,

Wave iOS
the most important one is the ability to
import your own audio and export what
you come up with.
Now this is key, because I like Blocs
Wave and I want to work with it, but with
Wave hello to a new kid on the iOS music-making Bloc. Andy Jones more of my stuff. I want it to connect up
ponders whether Novation’s new Blocs brand could usher in a with my Dropbox (Drop Blocs?) and to
batch-add a load of my loops. At the
fresh era of composition for Apple-based music producers… moment, I can do this more slowly via
the AudioShare App which connects to

N
Details ovation seems to be doing its house, indie, dark trap and more, and Dropbox, but maybe I’ll also want Blocs
Kit Blocs Wave iOS
utmost to surprise us these you arrange whichever ones you fancy Wave to chain to the outputs of Logic
Manufacturer days. When we expect one into eight ‘blocks’ to come up with your and Live and for all of my ideas to flow
Novation thing to come along, we get own tunes. So far, so sample arranger, into Blocs, so I can experiment with
Price £3.99/$4.99
Distributor another. Circuit was a Groovebox for the but fortunately, there’s a bit more to it them on the move? So, clearly, I want
Novation/Blocs 21st century. I said a Groovebox for the than that. And potentially a lot more… some things that it doesn’t do… yet.
Contact via website 21st century, for pity’s sake. Who So each one of Wave’s sounds will But this is very much V1 and I think
Web www.blocs.cc/
thought we needed one of those 12 play in time and in pitch with another the important part is done – the editing,
blocswave
months ago? Turns out we did, and it’s one, so everything will sound great the ease-of-use, the real-time pitch
bloody amazing. when combined – indie with trap, house and tempo stuff – and the fact that I’m
Now we have Blocs, a completely with hip hop and so on (okay, it won’t even thinking ahead to future versions
new brand and its first product: Blocs always sound absolutely great, but you means Novation/Blocs has done this
Wave for iOS. It’s an arranger/composer know what I mean). So, if nothing else, well. So let’s look to a potential future.
app, of sorts. It’s not quite what I we have a great way of mixing musical V2 could sync direct to Dropbox. V3
thought it could be at first. Nor is it ideas up in a very easy and intuitive way. could well have a layer of cells that
quite what I wanted it to be five minutes That’s because arranging sounds is trigger loops – let’s call them Clips…
after that. But an hour into playing with very easy. You use a hexagon-shaped See where I’m going? MT
it, it turns out to be something I didn’t grid (the Discover tab) with your six
Key Features know I wanted it to be, but now do want song elements – bass, drums, melodic, MT Verdict
● iPhone and iPad
it to be! Just like Circuit then. Typical percussion, vocal and FX – and you use
ideas/composer + Easy. You don’t need instructions
● 8 sound Novation. Or Blocs. Whatever! it to fill the eight slots in your main
+ Good range of sound packs
combinations song/project. You can then audition + Like the newsfeed that offers
● includes 6 sound On your starting Blocs each sound from the six sound packs in more of them (for free!)
packs (300 sounds)
We would dearly love something like the next two tabs, either by sound-pack + Can import and export audio
● 12 additional
Ableton Live for the iPad and initially, I type (genre) or sound type. + Great touch design and workflow
sound packs
available (more
+ Mix trap with hip hop
thought that Blocs Wave might well be Press Auto, and ideas are randomly
to come)
just that. But while it’s not, it does have placed together. You can easily ditch a - Mix trap with hip hop!
● uses 3D Touch
on iPhone 6s elements of Ableton’s finest DAW that sound by replacing it with another (or - A bit dark
● Real-time tempo make it quite beautiful and usable in its undoing in case you make a mistake), - We’re at V1, lots of potential…
and pitch change own right. plus easily mute and unmute tracks by
● Low-latency Blocs Wave could be what we’ve
recording
So Live is what Blocs Wave isn’t (yet) swiping up and down. The programmers been waiting for and, at present, is
● Import and but what it is is an arrangement tool, have thought this through; the swiping a great ideas-mangling app. Loads
export audio via and an ideas cruncher. You start with and touch are so well implemented, you of potential, get your loops in!
Mail, AudioCopy,
AudioShare
someone else’s ideas, 300 of them
across six sound packs, for hip hop,
don’t realise you’re doing it after a while,
as it becomes so second-nature.
8/10
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 85

MT158.REV Novation Blocs.indd 85 04/04/2016 15:15

 MT Reviews Sonnox Oxford Envolution

SONNOX
Oxford Envolution
When it comes to transient shaping, Sonnox is pushing
the envelope. Mike Hillier explores Oxford Envolution…

T
Details ransient shapers combine buttons, which opens up a basic Rather than pulling the sustain out of
Kit Oxford Envolution elements of compressors and one-band EQ, which can be switched the kick as a whole, we could fine-tune
Manufacturer Sonnox expanders into a single tool for from Focus (think standard parametric, the Sustain portion to work on the
Price Native £170, controlling the envelope of a with variable Q) to Tilt (which provides low-end only, with the Focus EQ
AAX DSP and Native
£275 signal. By splitting the signal into the either a hi- or low-frequency shelving enabling us to pinpoint the
‘attack’ and ‘sustain’ portions, the user EQ, with 6 or 12dB/octave slopes). fundamental frequency, leaving the
T
Contact
www.sonnox.com can then turn up or down each portion The main output section has its own harmonics to ring out without using up
Minimum System as they desire. Transient shapers are fader for gain staging, a mix knob, all the bottom end in the mix. Using the
Requirements
PC Windows 7, 1GB most commonly used on drums and and a Warmth control which adds in Hold, Attack and Release controls, we
RAM, iLok 2, VST or other percussive signals, to add either additional harmonic saturation. could further control the gain reduction
AAX-compatible DAW
Mac OSX 10.7, 1GB
presence or distance to the signal, but

The Oxford Envolution

RAM, iLok 2, VST, they can also be used on many other
AU or AAX-compatible instruments to either bring up or push
DAW

provides parameter junkies with

back the transients or the room sound,
just as you otherwise would with a

everything they could want

compressor or expander.
While many transient-shaping
tools, such as the highly revered SPL
Transient Designer hardware, offer
only basic tools – the SPL Transient Additionally, there’s a DIFF button, curve, dialling the boom of the kick
Designer having just two knobs, Attack which outputs only the changes in sustain down just how we like it.
and Sustain – the Sonnox Oxford the signal, which can be useful for On snare, the Tilt EQ was a little
Key features
Envolution provides parameter junkies hearing what the processor is doing, or more useful, letting us bring up the
● Frequency
dependent
with everything they could want. The conceivably for creative sound design. snap in the top end, without muddying
control of ‘attack’ portion, referred to here as the bottom end of the snare. Similarly,
T
Transients ‘Transients’, has attack, hold, release Punching through on the bottom end, we could pull out a
and Sustain
● Tilt/Parametric
and sensitivity controls in addition to We often use a transient shaper on kick little low-end muddiness, while leaving E
targeting of the main gain knob, while the ‘Sustain’ and snare duties, pulling a little sustain the sweet top-end of the tail alone.
frequencies In
portion has hold, attack and release out of a kick drum to control the low Finally, we ramped up the Warmth
● DIFF button to
solo the effect
controls alongside the main gain end, or for shaping the snare to bring control, to give our kick and snare some F
● Warmth control control. Both Transient and Sustain attention to the initial snap of the stick extra harmonic content, and the end
● Requires iLok 2 portions can be made frequency hitting the skin. With Envolution, we result was not dissimilar to tape
conscious, by clicking one of the FREQ were able to fine-tune those decisions. emulation. Although with so many tape

86 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.Rev Sonnox.indd 86 04/04/2016 12:35


emulators available now, this function
is likely to get less play than the other,
more immediate, parts of the plug-in.
The end result was a tighter,
punchier drum sound which helped to
Dig in and craft the envelope of
each element in a loop to achieve
the perfect sound for your mix
clean up the imperfect room problems
in the recording. Envolution needn’t
only be applied to individual kit pieces,
though. It could work wonders on
overheads or room mics, and really
shines when used on loops, enabling
you to dig in and craft the envelope of
each of the elements in the loop to
achieve the perfect sound for your mix.
Natural selection
In many ways, Envolution is a little like
using a multi-band dynamics tool, but it
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MT158.Rev Sonnox.indd 87
Sonnox Oxford Envolution Reviews MT
was definitely much easier to get to
grips with. All the additional parameters
won’t be to everyone’s taste, though,
and we’re not going to be giving up
our other transient-shaping tools
completely in favour of this one.
There are plenty of occasions where
broad brush strokes with a simpler tool
will give us all we need, but for those
sounds where we need to dig in,
Envolution will be ideal.
Overall, Oxford Envolution is a very
useful tool. People after options will
love the control, not only over the
frequencies that are processed, but
also the attack and release envelopes
for both the Transient and Sustain
portions of the signal. MT
Neve 1073DPX available now. Visit ams-neve.com/dealers to find your local Neve dealer
Alternatives
The Elysia Nvelope (available as either software
or hardware) has similar frequency-focusing
tools to the Sonnox Oxford Envolution, although
it doesn’t have the same level of control over
the envelope, with no attack, hold or release
parameters. The SPL Transient Designer (also
available as both software and hardware) has
only attack and sustain gain controls, making
it the least flexible, but also the easiest to use.
Flux BitterSweet is another great simple option,
and is available for free.
MT Verdict
+ Focus the gain change on just the
frequencies needed
+ Add or remove attack or sustain
+ Great for use on loops
- Not as instant, or as intuitive,
as the alternatives
Envolution has everything needed
to survive and thrive. Great control
especially for the fine detail and
extra options.
8/10
rel
04/04/2016 12:35
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 MT Reviews Pigtronix Keymaster

PIGTRONIX
Keymaster
The Keymaster intuitively impedance-matches inputs and outputs,
and with its two effects loops, enables you to connect and combine gear
Details in new, creative ways. Marcus Leadley asks: are you the Gatekeeper?
Manufacturer

P
Pigtronix
Price £249 igtronix’s Keymaster is one of blend of effects. This crossfade can be sockets are along the forward edge.
Contact those devices, which, in itself, controlled by an expression pedal, so Although supplied with an 18-volt
John Hornby Skewes
Tel 01132 865 381
doesn’t process sound. As the creative potential for both live and power supply, the unit will run on
Web a universal signal-routing studio situations is huge. And once anything between nine and 24 volts,
www.pigtronix.com device, what it does instead is enable you’ve processed your signal, it can exit with the upper level providing the
you to get a whole lot more out of the the device at mic level using the XLR maximum headroom. There are two
Features gear you already own. You can convert out, or at line level via the balanced/ gain controls – one for the input stage
● XLR and ¼” mic or line-level signals to instrument unbalanced ¼-inch connection. and one for the output. Each offers a
(balanced
/un-balanced)
10dB boost to help you manage any
signal-loss issues through the chains of
As a universal signal-routing
inputs & outputs
● Dual instrument- effects. There’s also a mini toggle switch
level FX loops,

device, the Keymaster lets

true bypass
to switch the effects loops between
● Impedance- series and parallel mode.

you get more out of your gear

matching,
all-analogue
audio path
In Use
● Series /parallel The question is, really, where do you
operation start? Possibly the most obvious use of
● Crossfade level – balanced to unbalanced, and The Keymaster is a chunky, the Keymaster is on a pedalboard, as a
function with
expression- visa versa. You can get any signal into a business-like package with the controls means of managing a guitarist’s effects.
pedal option group of guitar pedals (or other neatly laid out over the green-and-
● 10dB input-gain processors) and then back out again. white graphic. The XLR input/outputs In use tip
boost /10dB
output-gain
Or, as it happens, into two groups of are on the top while the TRS In/Outs are If you don’t have a patchbay in your studio, the
boost guitar effects; there are two unbalanced on the right and left sides of the unit Keymaster can function as a convenient point
of connectivity through which to connect
● Pigtronix 18V DC pedal-level effects loops – both with respectively. The send and return external hardware processors to your DAW.
adaptor included
true-bypass switching. And you can sockets for loop A are on the right side Its ability as an intuitive impedance-matching
● Size (cm): device means you can use a wide range of kit
14.48x11.93x3.81 either alternate between loops or of the unit and for loop B on the left. The
while maintaining sonic integrity.
crossfade between them to create a power socket and expression pedal

90 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.REV Pigtronix.indd 90 06/04/2016 14:36 Fos e


As well as switching between or
blending groups of effects, there are
some simple, very practical uses. For
example, I put a delay in loop A, put B
into bypass mode, and connected an
expression pedal: this gave me a very
effective way of controlling the wet/dry
effect blend while playing. I also set up
two distortion pedals with very different
characteristics in loop A and B. The
Keymaster made it possible to switch
rapidly for different parts and create a
range of hybrid tones. Older pedals that
aren’t true bypass can also be ‘truly’
bypassed. It’s also very easy to connect
a single instrument to the input and
connect to two different amps via the
loop sends. This means you can
effectively turn the amps on and off
using the loop buttons. This is an
example of the Keymaster’s credentials
as a ‘sonic Swiss Army Knife’, which can
facilitate any number of audio
solutions. In the studio, I recorded some
clean parts to Pro Tools and then
passed the signal out to the Keymaster.
One of the Keymaster’s sends was then
used to connect to a physical amp and
the other to a Kemper Profiler Amp
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Fos e e Pigtronix.indd
MT158.REV Series al MusicTech
91 2 -8-15.indd 1
Pigtronix Keymaster Reviews MT
modeller, to create a range of reamping MT Verdict
configurations. It was also possible to
+ Ideal for musicians who need to
put two different instruments in the control multiple effects
loop’s return jacks and run both out to a + Useful tool for any producer’s
single desk channel and use crossfade kit bag
to blend between the two, especially + Ideal home-studio tool for
getting the most out of
interesting when using vintage synths.
instruments and effects
Next, I connected a mic to the
Keymaster and, using various - While good for studios, it is more
combinations of loopers, delays and a suited to pedal-based set ups
pitch-shifter, had a lot of fun pretending - A more basic solution might
well suffice
to be a beatbox artist. Finally, I split the
stereo signal from my laptop into The Keymaster combines several
discrete mono signals using a splitter audio-utility concepts in one place
cable and fed each side to a different and will definitely enable you to
pull a range of new sounds from the
loop. This let me process and blend a equipment you already own. It’s an
range of field recordings and found impedance-matching device, so it
sounds into a dense sound-art-style automatically optimises any input
montage. In all instances, the sound for use with effects pedals and
then optimises the output to an
quality was excellent. MT
amp, mixer or DAW. The unit is
transparent in operation and with
Alternatives
two effect loops, you can process
Not too many products offer the same range of characteristics as the both mono and stereo sources.
Keymaster. If you need a basic true-bypass dual effects-loop pedal,
No matter what setup you plan
Radial’s Big Shot (£79.13) is a practical solution. Want to go totally
crazy with multiple effect loops and pedal combinations? How about the to use it in, it’s likely to perform
faultlessly and become an invisible
JOYO PXL8 (£139), which offers no fewer than eight switchable effects
loops? Alternatively, if you need to connect equipment operating at facilitator of your process.
-10dBV with +4 or 8dBM systems, drive long lines or split an unbalanced
mono signal into two balanced outputs, then the Aphex 124B (£309) is a
very professional piece of kit.
8/10
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06/04/2016 14:22
 Produce a track part 3 Feature MT

MT Cover Feature Produce a track from start to finish

10 WAYS
Part
TO MIX A TRACK
3
It’s our ‘produce a track special’ – and it’s time to mix
your tune. Here are some pro ideas to take your mix up
a level and let your musical ideas shine through…

01 Keep it simple
With technology comes options – many, many
options. You can layer many audio tracks together,
plus a whole bunch of soft synths and instruments. 02
But do you really want to do that? Wouldn’t your
tune work better with one great sound, rather than
10 mediocre ones? Do classic pieces of popular
music all rely on massive mixes? Okay, some do,
but more memorable songs rely on a great hook or a
well-produced individual sound, rather than walls
of many sounds. With dance music, especially, if you
get a great kick or bass sound, you are 90-per-cent 1. Keep it simple, with just one or
two great sounds which could
there, and the rest is all about the arrangement.
make your track
Spend time on getting your core sounds right and
the rest will follow… But not too much time, mind… 2. Yes, we are recommending
playing video games. Only maybe
not Fallout 4, as you might be
playing for a while…

02 Take a break
As cool as spending the whole night mixing sounds
or how good a day’s eight-hour session at the
monitors feels, the truth is that the longer you spend
listening to one mix, the more negatives will come
from the experience than positives. Firstly, your ears
will get tired and then so will your brain. You’ll start
01 edging volume levels up across the board until you
are mixing at excessive levels and your ears will
soon start ringing. Your brain will start to turn to
glue and your decision making will suffer; you’ll
soon go from making vital and essential tweaks to
undoing all the good work you put in at the start of
your sessions. So, stop! Hold on a minute! While
distractions can be regarded as your enemy at the
start of the production and compositional process,
they might well be your friends here. A good video
game or pool table might be just the accessory your
studio needs. Just make sure you return to your mix
at some point, though…

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 93

MT158.10 ways to mix a track.indd 93 06/04/2016 12:22

 MT Feature Produce a track part 3
03 Loud. Loud. Loud
While we’re talking volume, you might find that
you end up with the kind of ‘mix creep’ mentioned
earlier, especially over longer sessions; but you
should always try and reduce volume levels, no
matter how long your sessions are. You can give your
mix the odd big blast just to make sure it kicks at
high levels, but always bring it back down for the
main mixing session. Remember that a really
well-engineered mix will sound good at any level.
04 Fill it up, but not right to the top
One of our favourite mix analogies is to consider
your mix not only as a stereo left-to-right picture,
but also as one going up and down. By this, we mean
that when panning, think about filling the space ‘left
to right’, and if it’s a band you’re mixing, consider
using the positions of the band members as they
would play on a stage as references for your main
positions within the mix. And when EQ-ing, you
could do worse than thinking ‘top to bottom’. Your
low-end frequencies are at ground level, and your
highs are, well, at the top. In this way, you can use
judicious panning and EQ to ‘fill up’ the entire
picture. But having said that, don’t fill your picture
up completely…
04
94 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.10 ways to mix a track.indd 94
03
3. Don’t let those levels get too
loud. Here they are in Live and
Logic, going into the red…
4. One simple way to mix is to
consider your mix in the positions
that a band traditionally takes on
stage, and pan the instruments
accordingly
5. If you have a vocalist like Adele
in your song, then the last thing
you want to do is crowd her out of
the track
6. Use a compressor in your DAW
mix for extra clout and power
05
06
05Breathe
more easily
Use your mixing
skills to allow the
most important
parts of your mix
to breathe. If you happen to have Adele in your
studio, the last thing you want to do is mask her
voice with a bunch of things that sit in the EQ range
or pan position of her vocal part. Move everything
away from the most important part of your mix and
give it room. If necessary, don’t shy away from using
EQ reduction to help take other mix elements away
from the most outstanding part of your tune.
06 Compress and limit
Getting your levels right is not just about adjusting
faders per channel. More subtle adjustments can be
made with compression, while less subtle ones can
be made with limiting. In general, the entire mix is
compressed and limited at the mastering stage, so
don’t use this method so much in mixing. However,
do consider applying compression to individual
parts, so that your bass can pump and your snares
can have more bite. Limiting helps cut out stray
levels across the board, too.
07 Use references
As well as using several different reference monitors
to check your mix – see the boxout – you should
remember to use musical reference material to check
your mix against, too. This could be as simple as
loading in a similar type of music to the one you’re
mixing as a reference point. You aren’t so much
checking the volume here, as this will be done in the
mastering process; it’s more the style and the mix.
You can get a great idea on EQ types and levels here,
too. How does their bass cut through the mix
compared to yours? Does your kick have as much
clout? It’s a great way to learn from the pros, by just
hearing their efforts side-by-side with yours.
Beware, this can be a little depressing at first, but do
bear in mind much of the extra shine comes from
mastering, so don’t get too down.
08 Effects
With effects, as with virtual instruments and synths,
technology is spoiling us rotten. Back in the day (oh,
06/04/2016 12:22
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 MT Feature Produce a track part 3

07

09

9. Grouping tracks together can

don’t you just hate it save time, and allow changes
to be made quicker. It’s also a
when old timers say quick, non-destructive way to
that?), you might only apply experimental changes
have had a couple of to whole portions of a mix

effects to use, so you had to 10. You need to make your

make do with just those and nothing more… and this mixes sound good on any
device, including mp3
was not necessarily ‘a bad thing’. Today, it’s tempting
players. Okay, this was an
to smear effects across everything simply because excuse to put a pic of
you can, but the technology message is, once again, the new iPad in
that it’s great to have it on tap, but use it sparingly.
So don’t, for example, slather reverb on everything,
or your mix will sound like it’s recorded in a
cathedral, which could be a bad thing.*
* Unless you want it to sound like it’s recorded in a cathedral, in
which case this could be a good thing.

09 Groups
Grouping is a powerful feature. Your DAW should
allow you to do this, so learn how to do it now!
Grouping can save a lot of time and a lot of effort as,
essentially, groups allow you to process several
(usually similar) mix elements at the same time. Your
vocal harmonies, for example, might all use similar
effects, so group them – as might your percussive
elements. Then you can automate, mix, and process
multiple tracks to your heart’s content… MT
08
7. (Above) Juxtapose some
reference material with your mix
so you can compare your efforts
with the best music out there
8. Just because effects are
available, it doesn’t mean you
should automatically use them
10Best mixing
tip ever?
And the most popular mixing tip award goes to…
Listen to your mix on as many different systems
as possible. And this top tip still holds true, today
more than ever. People consume music on a vast
array of different devices: from minute players
and phones right up to high-quality recording
studios, so you have to make sure your mixes
sound as good as they can on as many of these as
possible. This means that as well as sounding
great within the confines of your own studio and
on your expensive monitors, they should also
sound good through the headphones of your
phone, compressed down to mp3; they should also
sound great on the CD player in your car; and they
should also sound great on your mate’s hi-fi. In
the olden days, people even made them sound
great in mono for radio play – it’s not so vital now,
but if you can, then why not?

96 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.10 ways to mix a track.indd 96 06/04/2016 12:22

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T
he new edition of Tim English’s
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but they have been designed from
scratch to be different from your
average ’phones (rather like Blue did
with its microphones). As we found out
when we reviewed the Mo-Fi model
from the range, this new ground-up
thinking has resulted in headphones
that work very well in terms of comfort,
but also sound very good.
So on to these, the Lola model from
the range. The first thing that strikes
you is the aforementioned brand-new
design, which helps the ’phones sit and
fit around your head. There’s no shifting
of parts to extend straps, as the ’phones
expand width-ways to cover your head
MT158.REV minis.indd 99
Mini Reviews MT
riff to More Than A Feeling to Mike Batt
apparently settling out of court for
recording a minute’s silence which was
too similar to John Cage’s own silence
(yes, that happened), it’s a list of stories
that will help to fill your anecdotes for
years to come (if you are as dull as us,
that is).
We’d have liked some more facts
about what people won – probably hard
to get – and also firm advice on what is
allowed (there’s a feature right there).
And while some cases are more obvious
than others, some are less proven than
others and it does sometimes lead you
to feel that all music is art and that all
Key Features composition must be inspired from
● Over 400 pages
something, so why don’t we all just get
(although one of
them has a single the scenes (and not so behind the on with it and have fun? Peace and love
word on it which scenes), together with some pretty and all that. But when there’s money to
really annoys us)
● Musical family
inept defence work. All of which was be made, there will always be court
trees section gleaned from this rather great book on cases. Perhaps when all music is free
● Oasis quiz! the subject of plagiarism, inspiration then no-one will care. MT
● Chapters cover and sometimes, it would seem, simple
bands like The
Beatles, Rolling subconscious idea transference. MT Verdict
Stones, Dylan The book details some of the most
and Oasis A bit random in terms of order, but
well-known cases, but also covers there are enough facts to keep any
● Covers new
music including some lesser known works and songs party going here and several
Uptown Funk that sound like other songs from the hundred lessons to be learnt…
and Sam Smith’s
Stay With Me
last 70 years of music production. From
Smells Like Teen Spirit using a similar
8/10
Choice
voice’ says you shouldn’t be using these
when out and about anyway – the
isolation is very, very good, so you won’t
9/10
9
9/10
hear what is around you.
Sound-wise, this isolation is
important. These are effectively the
passive version of the Mo-Fis, with
no built-in amp, but the isolation is so
good and the design makes them so
snug-fitting, that you don’t feel any lack
of volume at all.
For listening to and monitoring on
(arguably not critical monitoring, but
certainly good enough for reference),
the Lolas are a very good buy. For the
money, we’d even say that these are the
better buy of the two Blues we’ve now
Key Features looked at – with the Mo-Fis you might
● Sealed enclosure be paying extra for volume levels you
with tuned might not need – but we’d recommend
damping materials
and the pads angle forwards to fit your both as good reference sets. Like all
● 50mm,
fibre-reinforced ear height. They therefore fit snugly on ’phones with good isolation, however
dynamic driver when you use them, and when you’re (adopts dad voice) – just don’t take
● Over-ear design done with them, they return to their them out and about, kids. MT
for isolation
original ‘compact’ position with just a
● Imp: 42 ohms
● Multi-jointed little gentle nudging. It’s a very cool MT Verdict
headband design concept and well executed.
Another great set of ’phones from
● Frequency Some may criticise these for being
response:
Blue. Not so great for monitoring on
15Hz-20kHz too heavy and large for mobile use and the move, but great isolation and
● Weight: 397g they are heavier and larger than our sound – plus a comfortable design.
● Dimensions (mm)
210 x140 x120
AT reference ’phones (less heavy than
Mo-Fi). However, our grown-up ‘dad
9/10
MAGAZINE May 2016 | 99
06/04/2016 08:41
 MT Mini Reviews

Icicle Key Features

● Drum ’n’ bass Terry Grant
Dark Dub
synthesis,
Publisher Producertech mixing and
Key Features

Odyssey
arrangement
Price £29.95 tips ● 2.31GB of
● Three hours of 24-bit audio
Contact via website
streaming video ● Over 500
Web www.producertech.com ● Uses Ableton Publisher Loopmasters loops in WAV,
Live, Fab Filter Apple Loops

D
rum ’n’ bass production plug-ins, and Price £34.95 and REX2 format
NI FM8 and ● 80, 100 and
wizard Icicle has teamed Massive Contact info@loopmasters.com 120BPM
up with Producertech for ● Includes 9 Web www.loopmasters.com ● Live bass
a tip-filled three-hour course on Live projects guitar, drums,

modern d’n’b production
techniques. The tutorial is
available to stream from the
Producertech website and is
divided into 16 chapters covering
synthesising and processing
drums, creating and resampling
complex bass sounds, bussing
and mixing techniques, and
adding effects and automation.
Icicle mostly uses Ableton Live,
but also explores the Fab Filter
plug-ins and NI’s FM8 and
Massive, with some great tips on
FM synthesis. You also get nine
Live projects, plus a varied and
decent 100MB folder of samples
taken from Icicle’s Loopmasters
pack. The quality of the video and
and 100MB of
d’n’b samples
● Written and
presented by
Icicle
spoken audio could be a bit better,
but this is an excellent tutorial for
anyone looking to learn d’n’b
techniques from a pro. MT
MT Verdict
Some great synthesis and
production techniques from
a d’n’b master who’s not
afraid to explain how to
break the rules to get a big,
modern sound.
8/10
L
ong-time Loopmasters
collaborator Terry Grant
is back with a massive
collection of cinematic
soundscapes and dubbed-out
beats. Dark Dub Odyssey has over
2GB worth of loops divided into 80,
100 and 120BPM, with your choice
of WAV and REX, and Apple Loops
and REX formats. You’ll find a
mixture of live dub bass guitar,
reverby pianos, and acoustic
drums and percussion, alongside
fat analogue bass riffs, electronic
beats, and 206 atmospheric,
ethereal pad loops. The sound
design is excellent and there are
some decent loops spread across
this giant library. However, the
pianos, synth
bass and pads
● Produced by
Terry Grant
drawn-out pads are a little samey
and we found some drums and
sounds to be a little dated. That
said, some of these textures could
work really well in media projects
and ambient productions. MT
MT Verdict
Despite some of the loops
sounding a little dated, this
is a large collection with
some deep and atmospheric
sound design.
8/10

Deep Analog PanShaper

Tech Developer Cableguys
Price €34
Publisher Loopmasters
Contact Via website
Price £29.95
Web www.cableguys.com
Contact info@loopmasters.com

P
Web www.loopmasters.com Key Features anShaper is a new plug-in
● 847MB of 24-bit from Cableguys that

S
loops and hits
ometimes a pack will tell combines elements of
● Arps, bass,
you it’s been made on its free PanCake plug-in with Key Features
chords, drums and
analogue hardware, but percussion features from the useful ● Multiband
● Recorded with a stereo
you struggle to hear it in the VolumeShaper 4. PanShaper is a modulation
range of analogue
loops. However, Deep Analog hardware
three-band stereo modulation plug-in
Tech from Loopmasters wears effect that allows you to draw or ● VST and AU
its analogue heart on its sleeve,
Excellence ● 123 sampler
patches for NN-XT, load in complex pan position ● Independent

10/10 Kontakt, EXS24 curves for all

with a rich and varied collection and SFZ
curves for each band, along with three bands
of gritty loops and hits dripping ● Inspired by the width and volume controls, and Choice ● LFO with tempo

9/10
9
9/10
with raw energy. Inspired by the Kompakt label LFO control of the overall speed. sync and Hz-via-
MIDI mode
Kompakt label and artists such The LFO can run freely, or sync to ● Comprehensive
as Gui Boratto and Agoria, house, there’s plenty of sonic tempo or input MIDI for some preset library
sounds were created using a variety and the quality is crazy audio-range FX. An excellent and curves

Roland Juno-60, MS-20 Mini,
Roland RE-201 Space Echo,
Elektron Analog Rytm and Korg
Volca Keys. You’ll find folders of
twisted arps, throbbing basses,
haunting chord progressions and
beats and percussion, crunchy
drum hits, weird FX, and fat bass
and synth hits. Although this
pack is aimed squarely at tech
100 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
exceptional throughout. MT
MT Verdict
A stunning pack of rich
and characterful analogue
loops and sounds with
interesting quirks and
details in every folder.
10/10
GUI means it’s easy to see the
waveform position and edit nodes
to build complex sweeping
patterns, and there are also plenty
of presets to try out. We found it
excellent for pinpointing and
panning specific drum hits in a
loop, adding subtle movement to
arps and pads, and for pseudo-
widening without phase issues. MT
MT Verdict
A great value plug-in that’s
easy to use, with a clear GUI
and some decent presets.
PanShaper is a useful tool for
controlling your stereo width
in new, creative ways.
9/10

MT158.REV minis_p100.indd 100 06/04/2016 12:24

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 Six of the best Buyer’s Guide MT

Six of the best

Hardware Software Mobile Technology Samples
Welcome to the MusicTech Buyer’s Guide where we round up some of the best
products recently reviewed in the magazine. After last month’s round up of
hardware synths, it’s time for our favourite soft synths – including multi-touch,
dance-based, classic and a whole lot more besides…

W
e predicted that GForce’s Details
BEST Analogue classic Oddity would make Price
numerous appearances in $129 to $379

GForce
Contact +90 312
our Six Of The Best and we 265 0558
were correct – here it is again! The Web
Oddity – a virtual recreation of the www.synthmaster.

Oddity 2
com
original hardware ARP Odyssey synth
– has been around for so long and
made so many famous friends that it
has become a classic piece of software
in its own right. Electronic music legend
John Foxx said of it: “The Oddity is
beautifully realised. All the power,
character, precision, intricacy, grunge
and sonic extremes of the original.”
Reviewer Andy Jones said: “Oddity 2
is a triumph. It comes packed with
many features over the original – we
love the extra mod options and using it
Details as an effect. But the best is Polyphonic BEST Master
Price £139.99 mode, a feature that takes Oddity to

KV331
Developer GForce
new heights.” He concluded: “If ARP
Contact Via website
Web www.
had carried on as a company, this is
gforcesoftware.com the synth it would have made now.”

BEST For everyone

Synth
U-He Master
S
Details
ynthMaster claims to be all

Hive
Price $149
synths to all people, but
Contact
U-He via website wrestling with it does not
Web (necessarily) send you running
www.u-he.com
for the hills. The ‘Everything Bundle’ has

U
-He’s Hive was designed to around 3,000 sounds and a very easy
run light on any system and routing system to get your head around.
run smooth, so that anyone Andy Jones said: “I love the options to
can use it. You get everything use SynthMaster on a more basic level.
in one window and while that window Sonically, it should be all you need, but I
may seem initially confusing, it’s could say that about many soft synths
actually not that hard to get your head – Blue II, Omnisphere and so on do what
around. We said in our review: “Hive you want and a lot more, if you get to
covers a great deal of sonic territory know them. And it’s testament to KV331
and should find a home in almost any that I’m putting SynthMaster on the
setup as a great ‘go-to’ synth for same level as those. It really does an
cutting-edge production,” and then incredible amount in a no-nonsense,
concluded: “A very solid and adaptable almost calm way. So sit back, don’t
synth for a range of electronic and panic and enjoy the ride. It does what it
other styles of production. Great says. It truly is a master of synths.
workflow and tons of presets.” Simple as…”

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 103

MT158.6OTB.indd 103 04/04/2016 11:09

 MT Buyer’s Guide Six of the best

BEST Big, big sound

Spectrasonics
Omnisphere 2
S
pectrasonics spent a good features almost as long as a fully
seven years updating fledged DAW upgrade.” New features
Omnisphere and while the include the ability to import audio,
update is a complete more sounds (included in a new
overhaul, it pleasingly keeps all that 20GB download) and masses of new
Details
was good about the original. “Look flexibility. “It’s hard to imagine any
Price £285
under the bonnet, though,” said software instrument delivering the
Contact
Spectrasonics reviewer Mark Cousins, “and you’ll soon same breadth and sheer sonic
Web see how far-reaching the improvements excellence as Omnisphere 2 does.
www.
spectrasonics.net
are in Omnisphere 2, with a list of new An essential purchase for all.”

“It’s hard to imagine any software instrument

delivering the same breadth and sheer sonic
excellence as Omnisphere 2 does…”
BEST Multi-dimensional Details

ROLI Equator
Price Free with a RISE or app
Contact ROLI
0207 254 2155
Web
www.roli.com

S
trictly speaking, you’ll need
a ROLI Seaboard RISE
‘keyboard’ to get the best
out of Equator. That is the
futuristic controller with the latex
multi-touch keyboard that allows you
to play and record dimensions you
simply can’t get to with a regular
keyboard. However, Equator is a great
synth in its own right. It looks pretty
bland, but can sound incredible.
Reviewer Andy Jones said of the
software: “Equator obviously sits
excellently with RISE, but also works
quite well standalone. It has enough
sonically to make what you do with it
incredibly creative.” There’s also a free
version of Equator, called NOISE,
available for iOS, which utilises the
iPhone 6’s 3D-touch features.

Details BEST Dance

Price $99/£59

Plug-in Boutique
Contact
Plug-in Boutique
Web
www.pluginboutique.
com

Carbon Electra
N
ever judge a synth by its
specs. Carbon Electra
could be ‘just another
subtractive synth’, but behind
its featureset and rather blusterous
name lies a great synth, with lots of
movement and a sound that really cuts
through your mix. Reviewer Andy Jones
said: “It turns out that this is one synth
that is not as easy to lazily pigeon-hole
as I’d originally anticipated. It’s easy, fun
and packed full of potential.
“The synth sounds great, and is
very easy to get more from. It also has
a sound that will not only act as the
backbone to many a dance track, but
one that could bring a lot to a variety
of genres.”

104 May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.6OTB.indd 104 04/04/2016 11:09

 Read
on any device,
anytime!

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MT App ad A4.indd 1 06/04/2016 09:21

 Produce a track part 4 Feature MT

MT Cover Feature Produce a track from start to finish

7 WAYS
Part
TO FINISH A TRACK
4
We’re nearly at the end of our ‘produce a track’ special
and now it’s time for some advice on that hardest
of tasks: finishing a track…

01 Learn to delete
One of the things that gets in the way of finishing a
track can be having too many ideas kicking around
1. Got a load of old song ideas?
on your hard drive. Opening up a folder crammed
Maybe just get shot of them…
full of half-finished songs can be depressing and fill
you with dread – when will you ever get around to 2. Bounce, bounce and
bounce again!
completing some of those tracks that you’ve had for
so long? One of the key secrets to composition, then, 02
is actually learning when to discard old ideas. What
is good? What is worth keeping? More importantly:
what can you delete? Getting rid of old ideas can be
nerve-racking at first, but actually binning rubbish
can be surprisingly rewarding. Have a clearout once
in a while and you will be surprised at just how
focused you become on finishing what you have left.

02 Bounce, bounce and bounce again

No matter how far you are into making a track, it’s

01

always a good idea to bounce your work down to a

stereo file so you can listen to it away from the
studio. Load it on to your phone, play it in the car…
you’ll be inspired on where to take it and how to
finish it. This is also a good exercise to do to keep
focus. If you keep all the versions you have made of
a song and then go back to an earlier one every so
often, you might rediscover the original direction
and point of the tune, which might have got lost
along the way. Making music with technology can
take you in all sorts of directions, very often far
away from where you originally wanted to go, so
using this technique can help you stay on your
original path.

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 107

MT158.7 ways to finish a track.indd 107 05/04/2016 12:26

 MT Feature Produce a track part 4
03
03 Work to a deadline
If you have someone waiting in the wings demanding
you finish something, there’s a much better chance
that you’ll actually finish it! We’re not advocating
employing someone to stand next to you looking at
their watch and shaking their head every few
minutes, but having a deadline is a good way to get
focus and, as you might be realising by now, focus is
the key! Set your own deadline, if you must, but try
getting a track done within a certain time period and
you are almost certain to get more done (whether you
finish it or not).
04 Accept that it won’t be perfect
Don’t take this the wrong way, as it’s always good to
aim for perfection – the higher you set your sights,
the better your results. But – and it’s a big but – if
your level of perfection is too high, there’s a very
good chance you won’t hit it. If you accept your work
will never be perfect, you will finish it. Why not
deliberately add subtle mistakes, so you know
perfection will never be achieved? Flaunt that
imperfection – at least your music will be out there.
Get more ears…
05
but not too many
Getting bogged down?
Been working on the
same loop for hours?
Losing focus? Perspective
gone? Get someone else
in! Having a fresh set of
04
108 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.7 ways to finish a track.indd 108
05
3. Set your own deadline if you
have to and try and stick to it
4. Accept that no track is going to
be perfect and you might finish
it. You could even consider
deliberate imperfection!
5. Astronautica offers advice at
www.novationmusic.com
6. Novation has created a video
asking artists such as Floating
Points how they finish their
music, at uk.novationmusic.com
/finish-something
ears to comment on what you are doing or even
help it along is always a good idea but – as with
everything to do with music production – don’t
overdo it. More ears can mean more ideas and even
less focus. Did we mention the ‘focus’ word again?
06 Limit your options
This one could be applied to the whole process, not
just finishing a track. If you limit your options, you
can get things moving and get to an end point
quicker. So you might want to consider keeping your
track-count down – why not go old-school with eight
tracks? – or keep the number of instruments and
effects you use to a minimum. With far fewer options
you’ll not only start your productions more quickly,
but you’ll also finish them sooner, too.
07 Know when something is finished
It’s the ultimate question: how do you know when a
track is finished? When it’s ready to be shared? When
you’ve played it to death and not criticised it? When
you play it back after a week of not hearing it and it
makes the hairs on your arm stand up? The answer is
all of these and more, but don’t let it fester on your
hard drive for too long. Finish something today!
We nicked some of these from a rather good video
that the folks at Novation have put together
on finishing music. You can see more here
uk.novationmusic.com/finish-something. MT
06
05/04/2016 12:26
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MTF42.ad.indd 1 06/04/2016 09:23

 MT Feature Produce a track part 5
MT Cover Feature Produce a track from start to finish
8 WAYS
TO MASTER
Part
5 A TRACK It’s the final part of our ‘produce a track from start to
finish’ feature and it’s the big one: how to give your
final mix the pro sheen it deserves…
01
01 Zoom out
In the mixing process, you will be considering the
detail: the levels, the effects, the EQ, plus perhaps
some automation, including fades and other
parameters. With mixing, then, you are very much
looking ‘inside’ at every aspect you can. With
mastering, you need to forget that and step back,
zoom out, rise above it, look down and consider
everything as a large picture with everything you
were working on in the mix all joined up as one
whole. You need to consider the track – a stereo mix
(usually!) – as a single entity and now start to think
about it in the context of other tracks on an album or
110 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.8 ways to master a track.indd 110
1. Trouble with your output file?
You’ll need to go back into the
mix, so sort all of these problems
out before mastering and
consider the bigger picture
2. Research expert mastering
services like Abbey Road and
Metropolis, where a named
engineer can master your
music… for a fee. But do learn
the process yourself, as well
3. Mastering software like
IZotope’s Ozone 7 can make the
process easier, but don’t use
presets just to do the job quickly.
Explore and expand…
reference material you are trying to put it against
and to perhaps sound like (in terms of its sonic
character, anyway). If, during this process, you notice
some glaring things wrong with the mix, then you’ll
need to go back into the mix and process it again
(or return it to whoever did it). Hopefully, this is
something that can easily be done, either by you or
the original mix engineer – so that you can consider
the whole rather than having problems with the
parts get in your way…
02 Don’t be afraid not to do it
And this leads nicely on to our next point, especially,
if you have mixed your own music. You might be just
like us and want to handle every single aspect of
music production yourself (yes, making music does
turn you into a control freak, we know!), but don’t be
frightened to let someone else master your mixes.
There are many online companies that offer very
reasonably priced mastering services for as little as
£50 a track. Obviously, these do vary in terms of
quality – although we’ve been impressed with a
couple of very cheap ones that we’ve tested (see
www.musictech.net for more), but you could consider
a ‘named’ service like Metropolis or even Abbey Road
where you can pretty much guarantee a good job if
you have more budget (£110 per track for a named
engineer). So why pay someone else to do it? Two
main reasons: the first is that you are paying for
experience. We know for a fact – because we’ve
interviewed them all – that the mastering engineers
at Metropolis, as just one example, have had their
ears around just about every single piece of music
you can imagine (and several you can’t). So no matter
04/04/2016 15:12
 Produce a track part 5 Feature MT

02

04

what you throw at them, they will have someone on

their team who can handle it. Secondly, simply
having another set of fresh ears listen to your music
and can offer a new perspective. This should always
be encouraged (at any step of the production process,
actually). By the way, don’t consider this point as us you’re new
telling you not to give mastering a go. We would to mastering, by all
encourage you to learn the craft and to work with means use a mix of both methods;
others doing it. Get to a point where you can master check what the presets are offering, listen to what
another person’s mix and they master yours. Fresh they do and how they do it, and experiment. Can you
perspectives all round! make the presets sound better? Of course you can –
just like preset sounds on a synth!

04 The actual processes are…

03
4. The processes you need
include compression, EQ and
limiting. The smile EQ is a
commonly used EQ shape
5. Limiting will help you boost
your levels, but don’t make
mastering all about loud. That’s
a war you don’t want to be in…
03 Don’t follow a preset path
Now we can’t prove this, but there’s every chance
that a less reputable mastering engineer could just
charge you to whack your mix through a set of preset
Here are some typical mastering processes to
consider, all detailed more at www.musictech.net.
Compression does what it says – you’ll create a
more even mix with louder quiet bits and fewer
deafening louder parts. Think about that song which
brings loads of instrumentation in after a quiet
interval without you having to reach for the volume
control – it’s compression in action. It smooths out a
mix, and multiband compressors allow you to
smooth out certain parts of a mix. With EQ, it’s more
about a general look at the overall picture, where
high end will add fizz and low end cuts will reduce
some sub rumble. And the final general process
is limiting, which brings us to…
05 Don’t make it all

EQ, limiting and other process presets, depending on about the volume
your music’s style (or even not!). And you know what, Volume! Or rather, limiting your
this might just work! Indeed, many of the specialist volume. Don’t let volume take
mastering plug-ins we’ve reviewed have similar
presets, where they’ll ‘suggest’ a signal path with 05
certain parameter values for certain styles of music.
And they often do result in a better-sounding master.
But while this can be a good way to go as a first stab
at mastering, we think that the best way to master is
to treat each track on its own merits – or lack of
them – and not just according to a genre it is
supposed to be from. On a broader level, you could
probably get away with applying a very slight ‘smile’
EQ curve to any track to give it a bit of welly at the
top and bottom and then add some width – this
could also be a good start. Or you could listen well,
decide what you think it needs and then do it. If

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 111

MT158.8 ways to master a track.indd 111 04/04/2016 15:12

 MT Feature Produce a track part 5
06
over in any sense. By this, we mean don’t master
to make your tunes louder, and while you’re at it,
don’t listen to extreme points of view in the loudness
wars, either. On a (perhaps too) simplistic level,
mastering is about making your music carry more
of an impact. This doesn’t mean making it louder,
although we do advocate brick-wall limiting at the
end of the process to add a small amount of level
and to control the peaks of a mix.
06 Reference, reference, reference
Have we said this in other steps of the production
process? Yes, we have! But it’s sooooooo important to
reference your material with a track that you admire
– one that has been mastered to a high standard.
Load it into the software you are using to master, or
your DAW, and play it side by side with your own
material. As with mixing, this may be a little
disappointing at first, but as you progress and
progress, you will gradually step up level by level
112 | May 2016 MAGAZINE
MT158.8 ways to master a track.indd 112
6. You should reference your
music against your own tracks,
and those of other musicians
7. Additional mastering
processes include M/S or
Mid/Side processing and
stereo widening. As ever,
go easy on these…
8. And reference again. Did we
mention referencing?
07
towards your reference goal. Similarly, make sure
you reference other tracks that you’ve mastered that
will be appearing on the same EP or album. You need
all the tracks within a body of work to gel together,
rather than having them sound as though they were
recorded, mixed and mastered by different artists
and engineers. It’s bad enough playing tunes on
Shuffle from your iPod and hearing the volume levels
jump from decade to decade – you really don’t want
that happening on an album!
07 Go easy
Whereas compression, EQ and limiting are the
mainstays of mastering, it’s not all about these
processes all of the time. There are plenty of other
ones to get yourself involved in. Mid/Side processing
is where the mix can be broken down into its mid
and side areas, which typically allows you to process
only those areas with, say, compression, EQ or
reverb; stereo widening is just as it says, but is also
one that should be considered as a process that is
sorted in mixing – you can widen in mastering, and
many people do, but be careful. Indeed, that is the
message with all mastering processes: go easy. Each
is such a subtle process that you might end up being
unsubtle with certain aspects just so you can easily
hear the results. But some would argue that if you
can hear the results too obviously, you’ve overdone
things (or have a very bad mix to start with!).
08 And finally… reference again
You’ve referenced the track you are mastering
against other people’s music; you’ve also referenced
it against your own music that will be appearing
on the same album, so now it’s time to reference it
against itself. Yes, at every stage, do reference what
you are doing against the unmastered version you
started with, to make sure that you’re going in the
right direction. If you want to get really anal about
it, make and label versions at every step (with
different compressors, etc), so that you’re able to
reference each step of the process and hear the
influence it had on your original mix. Just don’t get
too bogged down in it… MT
08
04/04/2016 15:12
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MT158.next.indd 113 06/04/2016 12:26

 MT Your Disc

Welcome to DVD 158 – we’ve got epic synths,

DVD158 4GB+ PC&Mac chilled beats, dubbed-out instruments and

YourDVD analogue synth loops aplenty. There are tips from

Icicle, Paul Maddox, Hodgson and Stefano Ritteri,
plus demos, software, videos and workshop files…

SAMPLE LOOPS//ROYALTY-FREE & EXCLUSIVE Size 434MB

//EPIC SYNTHS
Format 24-bit/44.1kHz WAV,
Kontakt, NN-XT
Web www.pinknoisestudio.com
Our exclusive lead pack this month comes
courtesy of PinkNoise Studio and includes
14 multi-sampled instruments for Kontakt and
NN-XT that have been crafted on a Kawai K4
Digital synth. Multiple sounds were used to build up

subscriber?
synth, vocal and instrumental layers, with
additional processing using the internal effects
to create epic-sounding instruments for use in
D
Download your DV your tracks and cinematic productions.

from MusicTech.net
code:
with the following
A629BCD
VIDEO TUTORIALS //41 MINS

SAMPLE LOOPS//ROYALTY-FREE & EXCLUSIVE

// ICICLE DRUM
//AMBIENT BREAKS, PAUL
CHILL KITS MADDOX TECHNO
Size 565MB
Format 24-bit/44.1kHz WAV, MIDI
Web www.equinoxsounds.com
GROOVES
Size 229MB Format MP4 Web www.producertech.com
Equinox Sounds has provided 15 inspiring melodies Producer Icicle gives us some insider d’n’b knowledge with
for creating chillout, ambient and downtempo tracks, two videos from Producertech looking at frequency-selective
or for use in film, TV and media work. There are also sidechaining and slicing a resampled break in Live. There’s also Paul
three construction kits packed with piano, guitar, drum, Maddox explaining how to create polyrhythmic techno grooves, and
pad, flute loops and more, with complete mix and a free Live Rack for creating instant house grooves, with an
component parts. All files are key labelled, with tempos accompanying video by Rob Jones.
ranging from 56 to 98BPM.

//SOFTWARE
MMORPH (WINDOWS, MAC OS X)
A powerful spectral-morphing plug-in that lets
you blend seamlessly between two signals, with
extensive sound controls and four highly flexible
DEMO//SOFTWARE modulators. www.meldaproduction.com
TOONTRACK EZKEYS DEMO//SOFTWARE
STUDIO GRAND (WINDOWS,
MAC OS X)
The latest Toontrack instrument
features a carefully sampled Steinway
& Sons B-211 grand piano combined
with the usual EZkeys creative
FULL//SOFTWARE
songwriting features. IGNITE AMPS PTEQ-X
www.toontrack.com (WINDOWS, MAC OS X)
A vintage tube program equaliser
combining three passive EQs, carefully
emulated through advanced filtering
DEMO//SOFTWARE and tube-simulation algorithms.
www.igniteamps.com
SINEVIBES ARRAY 3 ADAM SZABO PHAZOR
(MAC OS X) (WINDOWS, MAC OS X)
A unique spectral-animation plug-in that A free effect plug-in that emulates the
filters incoming audio into eight bands phaser found in Virus synthesisers, with
and allows filter sequencing with 32 selectable one- to six-stage all-pass filters
steps, waveform view and a clear, controlled by an LFO, and spread and
colour-coded GUI. www.sinevib.es feedback controls. www.adamszabo.com
FULL//SOFTWARE

114 | May 2016 MAGAZINE

MT158.dvd pages.indd 114 05/04/2016 11:52

 Your Disc MT

SAMPLE LOOPS//ROYALTY-FREE

//DARK DUB,
ANALOGUE TECH, Size 234MB Format 24-bit/44.1kHz WAV
Web www.loopmasters.com

FUNK AND MORE

Our sample selection from Loopmasters this month
includes plucked arps, warm basses and tech beats taken
from Deep Analog Tech, Synthwerk, and Tech House Tools,
plus spaced-out riffs and instruments from Dark Dub
Odyssey and Lost In Time Dub House. You’ll also find a
handful of soulful guitar, bass and drum grooves from
Undercover Funk Vol 2. Use the code MUSICTECH10 for
an exclusive discount at Loopmasters.com.

VIDEO TUTORIALS//65 MINS

VIDEO FEATURE//30 MINS

//BEATING CREATIVE //LOOP+ STUDIO

BLOCK & HODGSON VIDEO MASTERCLASS
TRACK MASTERCLASS
Size 727MB Format MP4 Web www.pointblanklondon.com
This month’s videos from Point Blank Music School include
a chat with Stefano Ritteri who delivers some top tips on how to
beat creative block using random vocal chops, audio-to-MIDI
conversion, and NI Reaktor instruments. There’s also a
masterclass by Hodgson on his Babylon System track, and an
Ableton Live Quick Tip on how to use key tracking with the Filter
in Simpler.
Size 292MB Format MOV Web loopmasters.com/loopplus/
Loop+ has provided a bumper bundle of studio know-how
videos, starting with a detailed look at the AutoTheory musical
chord and melody plug-in from Mozaic Beats. There’s also producer
Multiplier giving a demonstration of Complete Toy Museum from
UVI, and the EVE-AT1 EQ plug-in from Kuassa. Finally, producer
Rob Jones takes us through some great examples of the new
StereoSavage stereo-widening plug-in from Plugin Boutique.

MAGAZINE May 2016 | 115

MT158.dvd pages.indd 115 05/04/2016 11:52

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