At Production Expert, we are often asked what is the best connectivity format for my new interface? Should I be using USB or Thunderbolt? Should that be Thunderbolt 2 or 3 or USB-C? Well, the team at Audient set out to right some of the common misconceptions about the different types of USB this article.
Our very own "Mr RX It" Mike Thornton is back in another iZotope video. This time Mike shows us a range of common recorded dialogue issues that Post Production engineers face along with some easy RX6 workflows that quickly fix poorly recorded audio.
In this free tutorial Production Expert team member Julian Rodgers demonstrates some ideas on how to get the most out of Solid from UJAM.
Reformer Pro from Krotos has been upgraded adding features that that will delight sound designers, musicians, DJs, composers, mixers, remixers, and more. Improvements include significant enhancements in audio quality and workflow along with other key features.
We are delighted to announce that Woody Brown has joined forces with Production Expert and created this excellent new video tutorial "How To Get A Killer Vocal" - 5 tips to make sure you never have to worry about getting it right at the start.
Antares Technologies has announced that Auto-Tune Pro, first announced in January at NAMM, is now shipping. The software offers a completely redesigned GUI with many features requested by users including ARA (Audio Random Access) support and Classic Mode for creating the legacy sound of Auto-Tune 5
In this video we test Tegeler Audio Manufaktur's latest creation, The Raumzeitmaschine Tube reverb.
Watch the video to get an overview of the four main Raumzeitmaschine controls (size, decay, density & pre-delay) and to hear a selection of reverb settings on a full folk ballad mix and lead vocal example.
In this free video tutorial you will learn a handful of essential EZkeys and EZ Drummer features that will inspire you to creatively start a song in your DAW. Both these instruments by Toontrack come bundled with a wealth of MIDI loops that can be quickly changed in a variety of ways to suit any section of a song.
The recent announcement of Plugin Alliance's Pick Pack rent to buy offer got me thinking. What would I choose...? For a flat fee of $29 a month you can choose any 10 plug-ins from the Plugin Alliance catalogue and after 29 months, they are yours to keep them forever.
In this free tutorial video from the team at Audient, producer and engineer Nuno Fernandes takes you through seven important things to consider when it comes to recording vocals.
The fact is there are tens if not thousands of people who can do your job, make sure you don't lose work because you don't pay attention to the small things.
Our friends at Audified have released RecAll, a simple multitrack recorder application specifically aimed at the live sound sector where multitrack capture of live performances has become standard practice but all too often is a last minute afterthought for already busy engineers.
The team at Slate Digital have just announced an update to the Virtual Mix Rack or VMR. Version 2.0 adds a number of tweaks to the already very popular VMR system but the main feature is something called Dream Strips, a quick and easy way to populate your VMR from the moment you open it up.
The team at Miloco Studios in South East London are very pleased to announce their second Pro Audio Showcase open day to be held on Thursday 3rd May 2018.
After last November's hugely-successful event, Miloco Studios is running another Pro Audio Showcase, this time with more gear shootouts, masterclasses with top producers, gear demos, more competitions and a fantastic pro audio goodie bag!
The AV10mLF is an after-market woofer replacement solution from Avantone Pro. The company has taken 10 years of speaker driver experience and recreated the components, updating all materials to comply with RoHS requirements. The driver is $149 and available from major dealers worldwide.
Monitor stands are very simple devices that provide a wide range studio monitoring benefits. By and large, the biggest benefit of placing monitors on stands is that this setup improves studio monitor performance thus the overall sound quality that monitors can produce in studios.
The cost of purchasing Pro Audio software such as third-party plug-ins can amount to quite a sizable bill over the course of a year, but fear not, a vast majority of Pro Audio software developers and plug-ins brands do offer a wide range of different deal opportunities that we can take full advantage of to purchase their products at a fraction of the full price.
In this article we list the most common types of deals and promotions that Pro Audio software developers and plug-in brands offer.
In this video from the team at Audient, producer, engineer and drummer Hamish Dickinson of Phoenix Sound in Nottinghamshire, UK, takes us through his ideas and techniques for microphone selection and positioning when using a limited number of mics on a drum kit.
It doesn't matter if you have a small studio setup in a college dorm room, a bedroom, a garden outhouse or a multi-million dollar complex... thieves are everywhere and they are very smart... and organised.
Sure, there are some opportunists out there that will attempt to smash and grab (given the chance) but thieves these days will most likely break into your studio because they have done research and worked out a plan of action. Our job as studio owners is to counter as many opportunities that thieves could use to illegally gain access to our studios.
I'm sure we've all been in sessions where in spite of our best laid plans, someone is just a little too far away from their headphone amp and the lead there never seem to be quite enough of is headphone extensions. While there often isn't a headphone extension lead available, there is always an XLR lead handy. Find out how this can help using this useful tip.
I bet you read that headline and were already running for the toolbox ready to yank your dishwasher out of the kitchen shouting aloud "I'll do it!"
Let me put that post title into context.
In this short video example Production Expert team member Julian Rodgers compares the results achieved by rotating an XY array of small diaphragm condensor mics through 90 degrees so they are arranged vertically with the conventional horizontal orientation.
The team at Antelope Audio are proud to be demonstrating their new Edge Strip mic modelling solution for the first time in Europe at Musikmesse 2018 in Frankfurt, Germany.
The term "trash mic" refers to a microphone used to record anything including vocals, guitars, and in this case drums. This mic can be lo-res by design or created by the engineer by using guitar pedals, a wah pedal, or anything else that will render a distorted and chaotic-sounding result.
The team at Synthax Audio UK has announced a new addition to the Ferrofish lineup of analogue to digital converters.
The new Pulse16 DX is a high-quality AD/DA converter that can now be directly integrated into audio networks. The 1U rackmount unit features 16 analogue I/O over TRS Jack, ADAT, MADI and Dante conversion allowing full 16x16 expansion across a Dante audio network at a low cost for such a feature set.
In this free video tutorial, joins our own 'Mr RX It', Mike Thornton, is joined by iZotope's Education Director, Jonathan Wyner,iZotope's Education Director, Jonathan Wyner. Mike shows just how easy it is to remove click track and speaker bleed with the De-bleed module in RX 6 from iZotope.
Ultimate Ears has released a new flagship IEM, the UE Live ($2,199) and the latest studio In-Ear Monitor in their product line, the UE 6 PRO ($699.) The release also heralds an upgrade along the entire UE CIEM product line to the Ultimate Ears IPX Connection System. The durable new connection system is designed to withstand sweat, temperature changes, and repeated connection/disconnections with different cable types over the life of product.
One year after inviting a select group of journalists to chat with key Apple personnel, Apple invited TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino back to talk to the Apple team responsible for bringing the new Mac Pro to fruition.
Post Production Specialist Alan Sallabank reviews Weaponiser Fully Loaded, an incredibly powerful Weapon Sound Design Tool and Custom Sound Effects Library by Krotos Audio.
In this Production Expert review, Pro Tools Expert Technical Editor James Ivey takes a look at two new preamp emulations from Universal Audio. In this video James tests the new Neve Pre and the Helios Type 69 on a track. Watch the video to hear the effects of both preamp emulations in a mix.
Windows and Post-Production Specialist Alan Sallabank takes a look at the Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Windows Thunderbolt 3 Gaming Laptop to replace his MacBook Pro 2011 and sees how it performs for Post Production.
In this video review for Production Expert, Pro Tools Expert, Technical Editor James Ivey takes a look at the new ML-32D from Tascam. A 32 channel Line Level I/O to Dante converter. James shows you around the unit, explains the connectivity and how he is using the ML-32D in his studio set up and then goes on to let you hear the unit in a short track featuring full drum kit, bass and lead guitar.
In this video review for Production Expert, Technical Editor James Ivey takes a look and listen to the Series Black range of condenser microphones by Lauten Audio.
I think I have said many times now, in articles and on the Podcast that it's the little things in our studios that make little differences and that lots of little differences add up to a big difference in our sound. The little gizmos and gadgets that fix a specific problem or issue. CRS from Norway have designed the Cymbal Resonance System that can be quickly fitter to all professional cymbal and percussion stands and just makes your instruments sound better.
T-Racks 5 is the latest version of IK Multimedia's popular plug-in suite. It features a wealth of great sounding EQs, dynamics and effects. The latest version of T-Racks 5 debuted a new standalone mastering application along with four new modules. We take a look at Master Match, which automatically matches the sound of the songs you are mastering with up to three source tracks used as reference tracks, it's very good.
In this video review, Pro Tools Expert team member Kevin Becka puts the Wavesfactory SPECTRE plug-in through its paces. This unique processor introduces sophisticated harmonic content to your tracks ranging from chocolatey tones to outright bit-crushing anarchy.
In this video review for Production Expert, Pro Tools Expert Technical Editor James Ivey takes a look at the new Neve 1073DPX two-channel mic preamp with EQ.
In this video review Production Expert team member Julian Rodgers reviews Solid from UJAM, a virtual drum instrument which bucks the trend by embracing simplicity over comprehensive control and prove that this approach can set us free to get on the what's really important - creating music, without compromising the results.
In this brief overview/video review we show you around UK Pop EZX within EZ Drummer 2. Watch the video to hear how a small selection of the drums featured in this library sound and to hear a quick example of the beginnings of a Royal Blood style track using UK Pop EZX.
It was a little under 2 years ago, back in April 2016 that James first reviewed the Focusrite Red 4Pre and to say he was impressed and loved it would be an understatement. Little did he know then that the Red range would grow to include the Red 8Pre, reviewed in May 2017 and now the new Red 16Line the latest in the Focusrite Pro Red range.
In this review Julian Rodgers takes a look at the RZ062 equaliser plug-in. A model of a vintage European valve equaliser which is particularly well suited to use of busses and for mastering.
In this Production Expert video review, we take a look at the VTRC Vari Tube Recording Channel by Tegeler Audio Manufaktur.
The new Softube MM-1 plug-in is based on the Weiss DS1-MK3, a very popular digital dynamics unit that can be found in many mastering studios across the world
The MM-1 plug-in is a "slimmed down" version of the original DS1-MK3 hardware that Softube claims features exactly the same algorithms from within the original hardware.
In this video review, Production Expert team member Julian Rodgers looks at the new bx_delay 2500 plug-in from Brainworx, a comprehensively equipped delay plug-in.
In this video review for Production Expert, Technical Editor James Ivey takes a look at the new Chroma 500 series mic pre/line preamp. The Chroma offers the same A & N modes of mojo mic pre circuit found on its big brother the Silver Bullet but adds the ability to add your own flavour of tone shaping with a "Colour" module.
In this review for Production Expert, Technical Editor, James Ivey takes a look at another of the new plug-in in the Universal Audio UAD 9.5 software release, the A/DA Flanger by Brainworx.
In this video review for Production Expert, Technical Editor, James Ivey takes at the new Buxom Betty guitar amp simulation for the Universal Audio Apollo interfaces and the UAD-2 platform by Brainworx.
Boom - Our friends at UVI have just released a new rise & impact sound effects library for both UVI Workstation and Falcon instrument platforms called Meteor. Production Expert was given early access to Meteror in order to provide The Production Expert Communities with an exclusive video review.
In this video review for Production Expert, Pro Tools Expert Technical Editor James Ivey takes a look at the new Convert AD+ from Dangerous Music.
In this review Julian Rodgers takes a look at the newly announced DW Drum Enhancer from Audified. This plugin, developed in collaboration with the highly respected drum manufacturers at Drum Workshop, is a channel strip type plug-in which is tightly focussed on drum processing.
In this video review for Production Expert, Pro Tools Expert Technical Editor, James Ivey takes a look at the new Hammer Audio HA-872 condenser microphone.
Pro Tools Expert post-production specialist, Alan Sallabank takes a look at using 2 PreSonus Quantum interfaces together with Pro Tools HD Standalone software on a Windows Pro Tools computer. See how he got on...
In this video review, Production Expert team member Julian Rodgers looks at Evolution, a Kontakt Instrument which gives access to a library of over 4.5 GB of drum samples, 25,000 sounds presented via a custom UI which offers flexible and comprehensive editing, processing and sequencing.
Post Production Specialist Alan Sallabank reviews the Source Elements Source-VC Volume Controller AAX Plug-in and iOS app remote, capable of 7.1.2 monitor control.
In this review, Mike Thornton take a look at the new compressor plug-in from Sound Radix. POWAIR isn’t just another compressor, it is a two-stage loudness leveler and compressor plug-in with a number of features that set it apart from other compressor plug-ins.
In this video review for Pro Tools Expert, Technical Editor James Ivey looks at the final microphone in the Audio Technica 50 series the 5040. The AT504 is once again a quad rectangular diaphragm microphone but this has no transformer in its output stage thus giving it a very very high output.
In this review, Production Expert takes a look at some of the new features and improvements in Pro-L 2. In this video, we test some of the new limited styles, the new 1:1 output feature and more. We use Pro-L 2 to apply limiting to the master track of a song using the new LUFS loudness meters.
In this video review, we take a close look at XTRAX STEMS, a new automatic stem creator software created by the audio separation wizards at Audionamix. XTRAX STEMS is a standalone Mac application that produces individual Drum, Music and Vocal audio stems from mixed and mastered music.
Waves included an additional delay section (not found on the original hardware) that over the years has become a valuable effect in my vocal plug-in chain when I work on rockabilly, country and rock music. Watch the video to hear how I use the delay section in Waves Kramer Tape to add attitude and depth to lead vocals.
A "stack" is a production term used to describe the process of recording multiple tracks of audio. Stacks can be vocals, guitars, strings, or whatever you need to build harmonies or thickness from a single source. If you're doing a simple double then a duplicate, or second track is easy to make in Pro Tools, but when the talent is creating multiple parts on the fly, such as complex background vocal parts, it can be easier to import a proven template.
In this free video tutorial brought to you in with the support of Plugin Alliance, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers demonstrates how the Lindell 354E Multiband conpressor can be used to introduce character and excitement to a mix.
Avid has partnered with iZotope to offer current Pro Tools Subscribers with a loyalty copy of iZotope RX Elements. This offer ends 7th May 2018.
From what we can tell, this offer is only available to Pro Tools users with an active subscription or Software Update + Support Plan. If you are already an active user, RX Elements is available now in your Avid account My Products and Subscriptions.
Russ, Dan and Kevin revisit last week's discussion on studio security, share tips for recording vocals and they answer questions from the community and share their finds of the week.
In this free video tutorial, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers demonstrates using the Page Up and Down Keys to navigate the Pro Tools Edit and Mix Windows. Page Up or Down to move vertically in screen-sized jumps and add Alt/Option to scroll horizontally.
Brought to you with the support of Waves, In this 4th & final video of a 4 part free mini-series, Marcus tackles the last element of his mix, and moves along to the Lead Acoustic Slide Guitar. Using the Scheps Omni Channel plug-in exclusively for all tasks.
This video discusses transitioning from Audio Suite to Event FX.
In this free video tutorial, created with the kind support of Universal Audio, Russ shows how to Auto-Tune Realtime has the control now to tune even the most complex vocal performance and still make it sound natural.
Our friends at PreSonus, the makers of Studio One, have announced that Universal Control 2.6 is now available.
Brought to you with the support of Waves, In this 3rd video of a 4 part free mini-series, Marcus moves along, and begins to process the Bass & various Percussion elements using the Scheps Multi Channel plug-in.
Brought to you with the support of Waves, In this 3rd video of a 4 part free mini-series, Marcus turns to the Waves Element Virtual Instrument in order to craft his bass tone for the song. After coming up with the right sound to fit the track, he then begins to add additional processing using additional Waves plug-ins such as CLA BASS, and OneKnob Filter.
The team at renowned sample house East West are delighted to announce there new library Voices of the Empire is available now either as a standalone product or included as part of the amazing value Composer Cloud subscription.
In this free video tutorial Production Expert team member Julian Rodgers shows how SoundRadix Drum Leveler differs from conventional dynamics processors.
In this free tutorial from our friends at iZotope, Nick Messitte shows how to learn a synthesizer in 3 easy steps with iZotope Iris 2.
In this free tutorial from the team at Arturia, Product Specialist Quincas takes you through the basics of this amazing sounding and massive collection of virtual instrument patches with step by step guides to creating some amazing sounds.
In this free video tutorial, Production Expert team member Julian Rodgers demonstrates a trick using a feedback loop within an analogue mixer to create an oscillator. If you've never tried this you really should as its enormous fun!
Yousician are running an interesting promotion that gives new Yousician members a free acoustic guitar by simply signing up for a free 30 day trial of Yousician's annual premium subscription plan.