Studio & Recording

Ever wonder how some producers churn out a track a day while it takes you months to finish just one? Guest-blogger Melvin Rijlaarsdam shares his top ten tips for speeding up your music production workflow without compromising the quality of your tracks.

Guest-blogger Hens Zimmerman returns to show you how you can draft up tracks with Ableton Note before turning them into fully-fledged songs in Ableton Live.

The imaginative power of a podcast is a great way to take your audience on a journey in their own head. Step by step, you evoke mental images through storytelling, but what’s the best way to tell that story? Guest-blogger and radio DJ Sander de Heer is here to explain the nitty-gritty.

When it comes to figuring out who to ask to be on your podcast, the answer is simple if you ask guest-blogger and radio DJ Sander de Heer: anyone who’s got a story to tell and can tell it well. Of course, that story does have to be relevant to the subject of your podcast. You’re the one who’s in charge of the format, prepares the interview or conversation, and takes your listeners by the hand.

Record a little rhythm guitar, vocals and a few piano chords, then back everything up with a drum beat and some other instruments on your computer – that’s all you want to do. While you don’t have to be a producer or recording engineer to do any of it, it can take a little time to figure out exactly what you need to make a bit of music on your computer.

It sounds like the most anti-creative thing you could do: copying and pasting and analysing, rather than playing in a sandpit of sounds and seeing what happens. But the truth is that a more measured and ‘anti-creative’ approach can actually help you get unstuck. You know all too well that around three-quarters of those amazing sparks of inspiration you have end up in that little folder marked ‘Ideas’. Here, Guestblogger Hens Zimmerman reveals how using arrangement templates can really help free those locked up ideas and bring them kicking and screaming into the world.

In his previous guest-blog, radio DJ Sander de Heer explained how you can get into podcasting. If you’ve come up with a plan in the meantime, then you’re ready for the next step: getting more people to listen to your podcast. Sander points out a number of important things you need to pay attention to.

Want to start a podcast but don’t think you have the right voice for it? Don’t worry, the trick is actually not to engage in deejay-speak, talk very loud or constantly spout esoteric lingo. Using your normal voice and speaking as if you’re talking to a friend is always the best approach. Guest-blogger and radio DJ Sander de Heer is here to talk shop again.

Mixing any audio puts both sides of your brain to work, with the technical side of things calling on the left brain and the creative stuff calling on the right brain. When you’re having to constantly switch between the two, it can slow things down. So, when inspiration strikes, and you can already hear what you want the track to sound like and you’re itching to get started, it can be a bit of a buzzkill to have to make sends and seek out plugins before you can actually get stuck in.

Looking for a way to get that pure, modern pop sound on your vocals? Guestblogger and home studio coach, Ben van Essen shares three tips to help you gain radio-ready sound.

While you can’t actually ‘see’ a voice-over, it’s the element that conveys the message. Some voice-overs are so well expressed, that you not only hear what’s being said, but see images, feel things, smell things and even taste things. But how can a voice artist pull this off? A little empathy and some acting talent can go a long way, of course, but it’s just as important to know what you’re doing and really know the material you’re working with so that, when you speak, you’re speaking consciously. In this article, Myra Grünning explains how to make your voice-overs more expressive. Myra is a qualified speech therapist and speech coach and also works as a voice-over artist herself.

Pretty much everyone and their brother has a podcast nowadays. If you’ve been thinking about getting in on the action too, there are a few things you should know. Guest-blogger and experienced radio presenter Sander de Heer is here to share some of his wisdom and help keep you from calling it quits after your second episode.