Studio & Recording

On the technological side of the glass, everything is properly sorted. A sizeable mixing console, a couple of vintage valve amps, high-end studio monitors and a solid PC running DAW software. You’re ready to have a performer on the other side of the glass sing or play into that equally expensive microphone. Right?

Bax Music has a wide range of microphones in its catalogue. On the microphone product pages in the webshop you’ll find a list of specifications, which we’re going to take a closer look at. To understand what these specs actually mean, we need to start with the basics.

Suppose you’re ready for a different audio-interface or you want to upgrade your current one. In that case, it may be worth taking a look at the options that include an external DSP chip. DSP stands for Digital Signal Processing, and the DSP chip (co-processor or accelerator) takes some of the load off your computer when you’re working with plug-ins. You might already know that this is what you want, but have you also heard of FPGA? This blog post can help point you in the right direction when choosing your new audio interface.

The impulse response (IR) is a relatively new technology that can simulate a specific environment—a hall, room, studio space, the body of an acoustic guitar, and so on. At first, impulse responses were used for reverb effects, such as plug-ins in a digital audio workstation (DAW). These days, they’re also used for other applications.

You’ve probably heard the term ‘podcast’ mentioned at some point over the past few years. In the United States, it’s been hugely popular for a long time, but in the UK it’s still a bit behind. That’s a shame, because it’s a fantastic medium that’s well on its way to replacing radio (and, to a lesser extent, TV). Guest blogger Dick Hoebée – from The Polarizer Podcast – explains what a podcast is, where you can find and download podcasts, and which ones you should absolutely give a listen!

Virtual hybrid, er… what? Plenty of keyboard players and producers wonder what virtual-analogue and hybrid (i.e. analogue-digital) synthesisers are, and what the difference is. Guest blogger and studio expert Freek Roffel, from Freaky Studio, explains how these VA synthesisers and hybrid synths originally evolved from the ‘pure’ analogue synthesiser. And where does Freek’s preference actually lie: analogue, virtual analogue, or analogue-digital?

This is, in a nutshell, what people generally mean by sampling (or samplen in Dutch): re-using a fragment of someone else’s music in your own. That fragment could be a beat, a vocal line or an instrumental hook. In this blog, guest blogger and musician Jemy Gijsman from music school Let it Rock takes you through the history of sampling. And what about sampling and copyright?

Guest blogger Freek Roffel from Freaky Studio takes you through his second blog about sound synthesis. Or the lack of it. To understand what a rompler is, we’ll take a deep dive into the history and discover that old techniques still shape today’s music. And what exactly is the difference between romplers and samplers?

Guest blogger Freek Roffel from Freaky Studio is writing this time – instead of about gear with knobs – about the man who has been behind the knobs for a very long time: the famous producer Alan Parsons. A studio pioneer who’s been active for 50 years and can still count himself among the very best in the world. How did that happen? Freek explains!

On his long and winding road past productions, studio gear and producers, guest blogger Freek Roffel of www.freaky.studio now writes about George Martin, known among other things for The Beatles. Here, he tries to answer the question of whether the Fab Four would have gone as far without the influence of this famous producer (who often preferred to stay in the background). And did Martin actually do anything particularly special after The Beatles?

One of the most challenging stages of making your own music video is the edit. This is the moment you take the footage you’ve worked so hard on and start shaping it into an impressive music video. It’s a tough job, but the end result can be stunning — and a real calling card for your band. You can make the process easier by following the step-by-step plan in this article!

Forget the image of the traditional songwriter, who builds a song from scratch and – with or without a co-writer – delivers the full package of vocal line, accompaniment and lyrics. In the vast majority of industrial music productions today, especially in pop, hip hop, EDM and commercials, an important role is reserved for ‘topliners’. Guest blogger Peter van Vleuten from the Songwriterschool explains what topliners do and what they need to be able to do.