In part 2 of this 3-part series, Rob Toulson explains how to optimise the drum sound for recording by experimenting with drum head, damping system, tuning and drum shell combinations.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:09 - Drum Heads01:44 - Mersenne's Laws04:05 - 1 and 2 Ply Drum Heads05:45 - Damping Systems07:10 - Centre Dot Drum Heads09:27 - Choosing Your Timbre11:44 - Selecting Your Drum Shells14:25 - Optimising The Whole Kit19:41 - Tuning The Kick DrumProfessor Rob Toulson BiogRob is Director of RT60 Ltd, who develop mobile apps for musicians and sound engineers. RT60’s iDrumTune Pro app assists drummers with learning the skills of drum tuning and has been the number one music app in over 100 countries since its launch in 2012. More recently, Rob and RT60 developed Songzap, which simplifies the process of recording and capturing musical ideas, enabling songwriters to focus exclusively on their creativity.Rob stared his career as a mechanical engineer with a doctorate in digital signal processing, before following his passion and moving into the field of music technology and specialising in percussion acoustics and audio software development. Rob has held a number of academic research roles in his career, including Professor of Creative Industries at University of Westminster and Director of the CoDE Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. Rob’s also a successful musician, music producer and sound designer, having worked with many artists including Talvin Singh, Wilfy Williams and Mediaeval Baebes, who have previously topped the UK Classical Music Chart.Rob is author of a number of music related books and articles, including ‘Drum Sound and Drum Tuning’, published by Routledge in 2021, and co-editor of the ‘Innovation In Music’ book series, which is also published by Routledge. His sound design work has been included in films by BAFTA Winner Shreepali Patel and has been showcased at Glastonbury Festival, The V&A and The Natural History Museum.https://www.robtoulson.com/https://www.rt60.uk/

Rob Toulson dives into the science behind how drums produce sound in this three-part series. In part one he talks us through the different pitches, frequencies and overtones, to help producers, recording engineers and indeed drummers to better understand the essentials of tuning. Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:16 - Dealing With Multiple Frequencies 05:19 - Tuning The Fundamental Frequency10:56 - Smoothing Out Modulation13:31 - Harmonic Overtones19:12 - Controlling Decay And Damping 23:11 - SummaryProfessor Rob Toulson BiogRob is Director of RT60 Ltd, who develop mobile apps for musicians and sound engineers. RT60’s iDrumTune Pro app assists drummers with learning the skills of drum tuning and has been the number one music app in over 100 countries since its launch in 2012. More recently, Rob and RT60 developed Songzap, which simplifies the process of recording and capturing musical ideas, enabling songwriters to focus exclusively on their creativity.Rob stared his career as a mechanical engineer with a doctorate in digital signal processing, before following his passion and moving into the field of music technology and specialising in percussion acoustics and audio software development. Rob has held a number of academic research roles in his career, including Professor of Creative Industries at University of Westminster and Director of the CoDE Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. Rob’s also a successful musician, music producer and sound designer, having worked with many artists including Talvin Singh, Wilfy Williams and Mediaeval Baebes, who have previously topped the UK Classical Music Chart.Rob is author of a number of music related books and articles, including ‘Drum Sound and Drum Tuning’, published by Routledge in 2021, and co-editor of the ‘Innovation In Music’ book series, which is also published by Routledge. His sound design work has been included in films by BAFTA Winner Shreepali Patel and has been showcased at Glastonbury Festival, The V&A and The Natural History Museum.https://www.robtoulson.com/https://www.rt60.uk/

Eddie Bazil dives into some of his favourite plug-ins and gives us a series of examples on how to use these tools creatively for designing unique and interesting beats, sequences and mixes. Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:21 - What Makes A Tool Creative?03:25 - Example 1: A Cinematic Piano Effect07:03 - Example 2: Creating A More Dynamic Beat10:19 - Example 3: Sequencer-Based Multi Effects On A Drum Beat13:26 - Example 4: Reshaping A Musical Sequence 21:21 - Example 5: A Sound Design Exercise Credits‘Puppet’ track written, performed and recorded by John WaldenVocals by Yvonne McKeownEddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/

In this fourth and final episode, David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, delves into Gain Staging your plug-ins and how to avoid clipping during the mixing and mastering stages.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:50 - Gain Staging Your Plug-ins08:08 - 32-Bit Float11:35 - Mixing And Mastering16:27 - Gain Staging The Mix19:32 - Headroom21:50 - Mastering Using LUFSDavid Mellor BiogDavid Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.https://www.audiomasterclass.com/

David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, introduces us to Gain Staging in a brand new series of podcasts. In the third episode David continues looking at preamps, outlines the use of VU Meters and talks about the benefits of balancing a track prior to mixing. Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:56 - More About Preamps05:38 - Preamps With Valves09:20 - The Mixing Process16:17 - Using VU Meters24:05 - Mixing During RecordingListen to Gain Staging Episode 1Listen to Gain Staging Episode 2David Mellor BiogDavid Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.https://www.audiomasterclass.com/

David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, introduces us to Gain Staging in a brand new series of podcasts. In the second episode David focuses on gain staging during recording, by balancing mic input, preamps and gain within your DAW to achieve the optimal sound level.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:40 - Dynamic Microphones05:19 - Capacitor Microphones11:25 - Gain Staging First Step14:00 - The Pre-amp16:39 - Headroom20:49 - Audio ExamplesDavid Mellor BiogDavid Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.https://www.audiomasterclass.com/

David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, introduces us to Gain Staging in a brand new series of podcasts. In this first episode he teaches the correct use of terminology and gives his three golden rules of Gain Staging.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:38 - Using The Correct Terminology05:56 - Why Use Gain Staging?11:04 - The Benefits Of Gain Staging15:31 - Working In Digital Audio27:17 - Three Golden Rules Of Gain StagingDavid Mellor BiogDavid Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.https://www.audiomasterclass.com/

Eddie Bazil demystifies Compression and Expansion with a detailed explanation of their uses and with a range of practical examples using plug-ins. Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:22 - Compressors And Expanders Explained01:33 - Compressor Behavioural Types02:40 - Common Compressor Topologies06:06 - Example 1: Boz Digital Manic Compressor On Drums10:26 - Example 2: FabFilter Pro MB On A Synth Line13:28 - Example 3: PreSonus Studio One Expander On A Drum Beat15:26 - Example 4: A Drum Beat Using Different Topologies20:24 - Example 5: Using Sidechaining On Reverb 23:28 - Example 6: FabFilter Pro MB On A Vocal Line27:16 - Example 7: Sidechain Compression And Expansion To Create Texture And MotionCreditsExample 6 - The song and the poem are both called Everyone Sang. The poem was by Sigfried Sassoon and was set to music and performed by Anne Gregson.www.annegregson.co.ukRecorded at www.mrpunch.infoEddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/https://theaudioproductionhub.pivotshare.com/

Paul White takes us through the history and evolution of guitar synths, from early attempts at creating onboard sounds and audio to MIDI pick-ups, through to using pedals and plug-ins to emulate synth effects. Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:13 - Types of Guitar Synths 04:03 - The Introduction Of MIDI05:19 - Pitch To MIDI Pickups08:04 - Alternative Systems10:38 - Using Pedals To Emulate Synths13:31 - Introducing Plug-ins15:10 - The Future Of Audio To MIDIPaul White BiogPaul White joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1970s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/

Paul White explains how to get the best out of Amp Simulation software, from getting a good guitar input signal, setting up effective monitoring for encouraging the best performance and tips on achieving the desired end-effect.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:50 - Getting A Guitar Signal03:39 - Dealing With Latency04:42 - Monitoring05:54 - Using Your Own Pedals08:15 - Using Speaker Cabinet Emulations09:11 - Adding Room Ambience10:00 - Creative Sound Design10:27 - Using Amp Modelling With Other InstrumentsPaul White BiogPaul White joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1970s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/

Paul White and Hugh Robjohns pick their hardware and software highlights from the last 12 months, plus feature some late arrivals.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:14 - ASM Hydrasynth Deluxe 02:01 - Boss RE-202 Space Echo / IK Multimedia Amplitube X-SPACE Reverb / Red Panda Particle 2 Granular Delay02:57 - Moogerfooger Plug-ins / UAFX Amp Emulator Pedals04:12 - IK Multimedia Amplitube TONEX Amp Simulation Software04:47 - Arturia Efx Fragments Granular Delay / Eventide Physion II05:25 - PMC6-2 Monitors07:00 - MiMU Jellyfish Granular Synth07:45 - The Great Chip Shortage09:11 - Rob Papen eXplorer-8 Bundle / Sub51 and Soundtrax Drop Pad10:26 - Sonnect Audio Sound Bullet11:46 - Eventide H90 Harmonizer® Multi-FX Pedal / Two notes ReVolt Amp Simulator Pedal13:38 - Waves BB Tubes Plug-in14:27 - Hardware Recorders17:05 - Synth Sounds For GuitarPaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!

In the final episode of this 5 part series, Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, gives us an in-depth look at how to process and mix the various elements of a song recorded using live instruments.Chapters00:16 - Introduction01:36 - Mix Preparation: Performance Edits and Mix Groups01:00 - Polarity Summation07:27 - Waveform Edits and Gating09:48 - Multing10:20 - Drum Sample Implementation10:57 - Three Approaches To Mixing12:56 - Master Buss Processing14:28 - Compression and EQ: Signal Chain Order16:07 - Compression Topology19:43 - Drums: Compression, Signal Stability, Transient Design and Colouration32:53 - Drums: Parallel Compression37:09 - Drums: EQ47:45 - Drums: Reverb Processing49:40 - Bass: Compression and EQ54:38 - Acoustic Guitar: Compression and EQ56:19 - Harmonically Distorted Electric Guitar: EQ, Dynamic EQ and Multi-band Compression60:28 - Vocals: Compression and EQ65:46 - Vocals: Effects ProcessingMark Mynett BiogAs well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”.Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)

Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, presents part four of his recording series. Here he details how to prepare a vocalist for studio recording and how to select and set up your recording equipment for optimal results.Chapters00:15 - Introduction00:31 - Preparing For Vocal Recording 05:08 - Recording Vocals At Home06:53 - Microphone Selection14:41 - Microphone Placement24:05 - Printed Compression30:27 - Headphone Cue MixMark Mynett BiogAs well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”.Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)

Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, details best practices for setting up and recording rhythm and lead guitar parts.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:40 - How To Manage Distortion06:10 - Pre-Recording Preparation07:16 - Double Tracking And Quad Tracking09:07 - Finding A Clear Midrange Tone14:20 - Isolation And Ambience15:46 - Microphone Selection19:23 - Mic Placement25:17 - Multitracking Tips34:03 - Recording Guitar Solos36:39 - Adding EQ At The Recording Stage Mark Mynett BiogAs well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”.Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)Audio Clips: Baron CartaBaron Carta at Spotify

Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, talks us through prepping for and recording a bass session, including ways to generate multiple layered tracks for use in your final mix.Chapters00:00 - Introduction01:30 - 1. Intonation And Tuning02:54 - 2. Active DI Boxes06:00 - 3. Amp, Cab And Mic Setup14:01 - 4. Layering Bass Sounds17:51 - 5. Introducing DistortionMark Mynett BiogAs well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”.Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)

Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, talks us through the setup and recording of live drums.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:36 - Recording Multiple Instruments01:12 - Pre-Recording Preparation03:46 - 1. Miking The Kick 12:08 - 2. Miking The Snare 24:24 - 3. Miking The Toms29:24 - 4. Miking The Cymbals38:54 - 5. Overheads For Room AmbienceMark Mynett BiogAs well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”.Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)

Grammy Award winning engineer Bob Clearmountain details his unique approach to mixing music in Dolby Atmos using an analogue desk.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:26 - Mixing In 5:104:16 - Setting Up Studio Monitoring06:24 - Upgrading For Atmos 08:24 - How To Approach Atmos11:14 - Placing Sounds 15:25 - Beds And Objects19:11 - Working From An Analogue Console23:11 - Using The Centre Speaker27:23 - Incorporating Plug-in Effects 28:40 - Adding Compression In Surround34:29 - Checking The Mix37:21 - Frustrations With Atmos41:34 - Recommended ListeningBob Clearmountain BiogBob Clearmountain is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many prominent names in music including Bruce Springsteen (mixing Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. and 25 other projects), The Rolling Stones (re-mixes of the singles "Miss You" and "Out of Tears" ) as well as their Tattoo You album amongst  over 20 album, movie and concert video projects, Bryan Adams (producing and/or mixing nearly all of his albums since 1983), Robbie Williams, Huey Lewis & The News, Toto, Bon Jovi (These Days, Crush, Bounce), Simple Minds, The Pretenders, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, INXS and 235 other artists. Bob has released some signature plug-ins with audio hardware and software manufacturer Apogee Electronics. https://www.mixthis.com/Apogee Electronics BiogApogee originally made their name with special anti-aliasing filters that solved many of the early problems associated with digital audio. Later, Apogee’s complete conversion systems pushed the envelope of digital audio quality and established Apogee as a key innovator in the field of professional digital audio. Today, Apogee converters and audio interfaces are regarded as the reference standard in the audio industry.Products such as Symphony I/O, Big Ben, Ensemble and Duet all set the benchmark by which digital audio recording hardware is judged. Now with their latest products JAM and MiC, designed especially for Apple’s iPad, iPhone and GarageBand software, Apogee continues to be at the forefront of recording technology. Apogee’s mission is to build products that offer ultimate sound quality and innovative design to all music creators from the aspiring artist to the discerning audio professional.https://apogeedigital.com/Sam Inglis BiogEditor In Chief Sam Inglis has been with Sound On Sound for more than 20 years. He is a recording engineer, producer, songwriter and folk musician who studies the traditional songs of England and Scotland, and the author of Neil Young's Harvest (Bloomsbury, 2003) and Teach Yourself Songwriting (Hodder, 2006).https://www.soundonsound.com

In this Behind The Brand feature, Nuno Fonseca of Sound Particles talks to Paul White about their rapid rise in the film and audio industry and how they are using their sound particle plug-in technology to bring exciting new developments to sound design and audio recording.Chapters00:00 - Introduction 00:13 - Launch In The Film Industry02:59 - Moving Into Music04:53 - Controlling 3D Sound07:26 - EastWest WordBuilder11:05 - Density14:07 - The End-User Format17:04 - Solving Binaural19:45 - Head Tracking21:42 - Future DevelopmentsSound Particles BiogSound Particles creates 3D Audio Software that brings the power of computer graphics to the sound world, allowing sound professionals to create breathtaking sounds that simply would not be possible to create in any other way. Sound Particles provides the world’s first native 3D audio software combining CGI and audio techniques to create a new audio standard. The software creates the most realistic sound effects allowing perfect coherence between image and sound due to its true 3D CGI integration, while increasing the productivity of audio professionals.Based in Leiria (Portugal) and founded by Nuno Fonseca, a former university professor, Sound Particles has been steadily growing since being founded in 2016 and is now composed of a team of over 30 people (with 1 in the UK and 1 in LA).Sound Particles’ unique software is used in all major Hollywood studios and top videogame companies, in productions like "Dune", “Game of Thrones”, “Ready Player One”, "Frozen 2", "Star Wars" and many others.https://soundparticles.com/Paul White BiogPaul White joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1970s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/

Tony Ni from Soundtoys sits down with Sam Inglis to discuss his mixing workflow and to explain how he uses core Soundtoys plug-ins to achieve his sound.Chapters00:00 - Introduction02:54 - 21 Plug-ins 05:44 - Workflow Tools07:05 - Getting The Balance Right11:24 - EQ And Saturation21:22 - Parallel Processing The Drums28:38 - Using Saturation On Vocals35:07 - Adding And Automating Echo47:06 - Getting Started With SoundtoysSoundtoys BiogBased in Burlington Vermont, USA, Soundtoys (formerly Wave Mechanics) was founded in 1996 by Ken Bogdanowicz, the DSP effects designer behind the legendary H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer and the DSP4000 line of hardware signal processors from Eventide. Soundtoys develops world-class, creative signal-processing software for audio production, mixing, and sound design.Soundtoys users include Mike Dean, David Sitek, James Blake, Ariel Borujow, Jamie Lidell, Greg Wells, Dave Pensado, Tony Maserati, Tim Kelley, and Blake Mills.https://www.soundtoys.com/Sam Inglis BiogEditor In Chief Sam Inglis has been with Sound On Sound for more than 20 years. He is a recording engineer, producer, songwriter and folk musician who studies the traditional songs of England and Scotland, and the author of Neil Young's Harvest (Bloomsbury, 2003) and Teach Yourself Songwriting (Hodder, 2006).https://www.soundonsound.com

Matt Johnson of Jamiroquai talks us through five favourite processing tips that he uses to create movement and interest in synth parts.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:53 - Tip 1: Reverb And Sidechained Compression02:48 - Tip 2: Panned Effects04:47 - Tip 3: Chopped Audio06:53 - Tip 4: Adding Effects To Duplicate Tracks09:55 - Tip 5: Adding Reverb Before CompressionAll music composed and performed by Matt Johnson © Matt Johnson MusicMatt Johnson BiogFor the last 20 years Matt has been the keyboard player for Jamiroquai, co-writing most of the band's output during that time and co-producing the last album ‘Automaton’.In between working with the band he has recorded as a session player with numerous artists in many genres including Duffy, Ashanti, J.P.Cooper, Jax Jones, S.G.Lewis, Purple Disco Machine, Newton Faulkner, Nolwenn Leroy, Will Young and many more.Now Matt has released his debut solo record ‘With The Music’ under the Splash Blue label, with a retro Jazz Funk feel.https://www.mattjohnsonproducer.com/