Performing out in the open can be challenging when it’s windy. Not only can wind literally carry the sound of the band in the wrong direction and make it harder to hear, but a light gust can easily send your sheet music flying. Luckily, there are a few simple solutions to tackle the latter, no matter what kind of music stand you use.

Put simply, the dynamics refer to the volume range of any given piece of music, so the difference between the loudest and softest parts along with everything in between. Songs, albums and even entire shows can greatly benefit from enhanced dynamics, yet many bands and artists sadly pass up on the opportunity. Since they’re definitely missing out, here are eight tips that can help enhance the dynamics of your music.

The shorter the distance between the source and the microphone, the more low frequencies are registered at the cost of high frequencies. This is what’s known as the proximity effect, and it applies to a lot of microphones. In practice, this usually means that the closer you close-mike your voice or instrument, the fuller it’ll sound. Read on and learn how to take advantage of it.

It’s a classic issue in the life of drummers. You hit the smallest, highest pitched tom and your snare makes a buzzing sound in response. Even when you try to dampen the snare with a bit of tape, a slip of paper or card, or even a tea towel, the snare wires still vibrate when you don’t want them to. So, how does this even happen and how can it be solved?

Mixing is a lot like baking. Just throwing stuff into a bowl and hoping for the best will never give you the best results. In this blog, we seek to explain what a mix bus actually is and how you can best prepare your instrument groups before sending them all through the master bus of your mixer or DAW. In other words: we explain how to bring structure to audio mixing.

While removing cables from the setup gives you freedom to move around the stage, life isn’t made easy for wireless microphone users. With mobile internet and other wireless traffic only getting busier and busier, there’s little room left in the ether for wireless microphones. To solve this issue, Shure has developed an impressive, all-new system: the Shure GLX-D+ Dual Band Series.

Since we get so many questions about it, it’s about time we tackle an age-old debate in drum-land with a dedicated blog about bass drum holes. The question is: should your resonant head have one and why (not)? Allow me to explain!

The world of percussion is home to a near-infinite range of unique sounds, yet many pop and rock musicians seem to pay it no mind. Maybe it’s because they don’t know their way around percussion gear, or perhaps they simply don’t know how to put any to good use. Either way, since rock and pop music can benefit greatly from percussion in terms of rhythm, melody and even harmony, here’s a list of seven solid percussion instruments along with a quick rundown and examples of well-known tunes they feature in.

You already know the feeling: you stay up into the wee hours of the morning working on what feels like the best thing you’ve ever made then get up the next day to find that your carefully crafted mix actually sounds like a complete shambles. Or you’ve put those finishing touches on the final mix and stuck it on the car on the way home, only to be greeted by a sonic horrorshow that sounds dead and lifeless. Here, Guestblogger Melvin Rijlaarsdam lists the most common mistakes you can make during the mixing process so you can avoid them all and get the best results.

If you’ve been flipping through our range of microphones, you’ve probably come across the terms ‘electret’ and ‘true condenser’. But what’s the difference? And are ‘real’ condenser microphones always better than electret microphones, like the name suggests? In this blog, we’ll explain it all.

Though it is often referred to as the guitar’s baby cousin, the ukulele has many differences that make it a singular and special instrument. From its unique history and tone to the way it has penetrated popular culture, guest blogger Matthew Quilliam discusses how the ukulele can so easily stand on its own merits…

As soon as you start working with cables, you run the risk of cooking up cable spaghetti. To help you organise your set-up, we’ve listed five cable management tips. Dive in before you tie yourself up in knots.