In our other blog about modulation effects, three mod-based taste-makers were conspicuously missing and, even despite their instantly recognisable sound, these effects are used more often than you might think. If you want to take your guitar sound a little further than your more standard modulation effects can, then why not consider throwing a little tremolo, a bit of vibrato or a rotary effect into the mix?

While most people play a musical instrument because they simply love making music, it’s worth pointing out that starting out at a young age has several positive side-effects on the brain. In other words, that starter kit that you got your kid for Christmas last year might yield some unexpected results in the long run!

Acoustic drum kits are often configured to match a specific style, which is why rock-based drummers usually opt for a rock-configured kit, while jazz drummers are more likely to go for a little bebop kit. That said, there’s no reason why you can’t lay down jazz patterns with a rock kit or vice versa. Besides, a good drummer will always make sure that the sound of their kit matches the style of music, no matter how the kit is configured. Want to pull a more jazzy sound out of your kit? Read on for a few tips and tricks.

While the sound of nothing but your guitar and amplifier is undeniably awesome, sometimes you might want to be able to throw in a touch more variation. By sticking a few effect pedals between your guitar and amp, you can put a whole world of sound at your feet. But do you go for a bunch of separate stompboxes loaded onto a pedalboard or would you prefer a more one-stop-style solution in the form of a multi-effects unit? In this blog, we take a look at both, so you can kit yourself out with exactly what you need, whether you’re a guitarist, or a bassist who wants to be more than just part of the rhythm section.

It’s always a great excuse when composers and songwriters are struggling to put pen to paper: writer’s block! Within the space of a short blog, I want to show you that writer’s block might just be a choice, not an affliction, and that you’re actually capable of inspiring yourself to force out ideas and unclogging your own creativity. We’ll just cover five simple tips. Try them all out and I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

If you like going for a walk with your headphones on, the first thing that you probably do every time you step out of the door is turn the volume up to drown out the sound of traffic. But if you’re doing this regularly, you actually run the risk of causing hearing loss or worse. Thankfully, technology has paved the way for noise-cancelling headphones and noise-cancelling in-ears, which actually eliminate the need to turn the volume up to max. Time for a closer look.

Re-amping is a studio recording technique that’s been picking up more and more speed. Compared to recording electric guitars, guitar amps, drums and other instruments the traditional way, re-amping offers a number of benefits which I’ll tell you all about by using guitarists, who re-amp the most out of all musicians, to illustrate the idea.

Compressors, equalizers, reverb effects, delays… for the weekend-producer as well as the serious home-studio owner, kitting yourself out with some real hardware units can prove pretty costly. The big question is whether or not the virtual audio plugins designed to emulate real hardware and that you can use from the comfort of your DAW, do just as professional a job. So how good are current plugins at modelling hardware and how does it actually work?

“The mp3 era is over! Streaming is the future!” Is that right? While it is kind of right, and while a lot of beginner DJs can fall into the trap of believing that they can use their DJ controller with Spotify, unfortunately that might not be true because, a couple of years ago, Spotify stopped working with any DJ apps.

Welcome to the world of music production, where time is of utmost importance. In this fast-paced environment, being efficient is crucial, and Studio One provides a variety of tools to help you optimize your productivity. Follow guest blogger Mike Rosa as he reveals ten time-saving methods that will take your music production workflow to the next level.

While it isn’t the most obvious, live editing is actually one of the best ways to create music using Ableton Live, especially when it comes to genres where quick-switching is the name of the game, like drum-and-bass and other glitchy styles. Guest-blogger Hens Zimmerman is back to show you how to remix in real time via seven simple steps.

If you’ve already read my other blog on FM synthesis, then you’re ready for part two: an extensive tutorial on how to design sounds using FM synthesis. To give ambitious beginners a helping hand, I’ll be covering terms like operator, carrier, modulator, envelope, scaling and feedback, giving you all the basic knowledge you need to use either FM-based hardware such as real synthesizers, or FM-based software such as the Native Instruments FM8 virtual synth (included with Komplete) to sculpt your own sounds.