Computer Music

Whenever you see this icon, you can grab the files on your PC or Mac by going to filesilo.co.uk/computermusic. Tutorials featuring this icon make use of our own Plugins – find out all about them at filesilo.co.uk. This icon means there are extra

This issue’s cover feature has been decades in the making or (if I’m to be slightly less dramatic) it’s an article that I’ve had in the back of my mind since we launched this magazine many years ago. The concept is simple: to show you how to do as ma

Right about now we’d usually just be returning from our annual NAMM pilgrimage where we all claim to have been in LA for a week finding out about all the latest music tech releases. The reality is this massive music gear show is in the rather less ma

As you probably know, it’s totally unlike us to abuse space in our news section to plug something that we’ve done, especially on the very first page of it. But here’s news of The Music Producer’s Guide To Synths that we might well have had a hand in.

cm How did you get into music software? CS “I have been studying, performing and composing music in various forms since I was ten. Much later I moved to London where I studied Music Information Technology at City University, London, under the inspi

You can always rely on AudioKit to deliver a free iOS music-making app, and its latest is the simple but “pro-sounding” Reverb. Designed to be used as an AUv3 effect within your favourite host — GarageBand, AUM or Cubasis 3, for example — this has

We explored the world of ‘future synths’ in 175 (March 2012), showing you how to create cutting-edge sounds with “instruments that are boldly looking to the future rather than trying to recreate past glories”. Of, course, some of the synths we were u

HALion owners rejoice, because among the slew of free releases at the end of last year, Steinberg’s Lo-fi piano for HALion stands out as one of the best. Firstly, Steinberg don’t do rubbish freebies and secondly, we liked the lo-fi picture that comes

Not only is Brad Pitt reopening Studio Miraval in France (used by the likes of Pink Floyd, AC/DC and Sting) but he’s also co-designing its new digital/analogue hybrid mixing desk with producer and project partner Damien Quintard. Is there anything th

What is it about Berlin? Not only do a large proportion of the software companies we deal with here at Computer Music hail from the city but so do an almost endless list of the artists we interview. And while Sissi Rada was born in Greece, with a pas

Bass plays both a rhythmic and melodic role in music and can sometimes be very prominent in a track, while at other times almost invisible, providing a supportive role holding down the low frequencies. In our three bass walkthroughs we’re going to pr

Programming beats is a fundamental aspect of most modern music production and for those at the top of the game it’s a specific job. This is why we regularly dedicate big tutorials to beat production, looking at the specifics of different genres, and

In our bass and leads sections, we’ve essentially focused on sounds and techniques that apply to single-note parts. As we’ve seen, these parts may well be generated by synths, and using said synths in monophonic mode often achieves the best outcome.

In these pages we’ve grouped together a couple of key aspects of music production — leads and special effects. Both require bespoke sounds and both tend to play quite a prominent role when they happen. Lead parts in a music track can be vocal or ins

“I know Martina from the time when she was living in Baltimore and we actually started working on a few things before she went back to London. Life kinda got in the way for a while, but the pandemic was the perfect time to get reacquainted. “Basicall

EQ, or equalisation, to give it its full name, is the tool we use most in music production. It’s a frequency modifying processor that changes the tone of whatever you’re processing, and if you’ve ever used bass and treble controls before, these are a

“I remember being, like, 13 or 14 and really struggling to work out who I was,” explains a thoughtful Martina Topley-Bird. “My mum was Afro-American and my dad was white. I was keenly aware that most of the black people I knew were either African or

Dynamics processors are used to modify sounds based on their signal level. There are a number of different types of processors including compressors, limiters, gate/ expanders, frequency dependent compressors and transient processors. Some of these

Hip-hop has evolved massively over the decades, but much has stayed the same in terms of how a sound engineer approaches the mix. The vocals are so important in this genre because they are carrying the song: a story is being told over a beat. Electr

Ashley Thorpe (aka Breezewax) is a producer and musician who has created electronic music for over a decade. He typically uses a mix of samples, field recordings, synthesis and live instrumentation in his work, which covers a variety of styles includ

Use multiband compression to control specific frequency bands when you’re listening to your raw vocals. Do you need to fix harsh frequencies? More grit in the lower end of the vocalist’s range? You can do so much to tailor a single frequency band rat

There was a stir of excitement back in the 90s, as a style of garage emerged from the underground, forever associated with legendary producers such as Todd Edwards. While much of this format made exceptional use of sample chopping, in a technique whi

Dave Gale is an Emmy award-winning media composer, producer and orchestrator, with an enormous passion for synthesisers, in all their forms. His varied composing style embraces everything from full orchestral and hybrid scoring, to fully electronic s

Apart from the obvious notion of EQ’ing our new bass sound, it’s worth mentioning compression in this context. There are many compressors that will do a very fine job on a sound like this. In line with most bass sounds, a degree of compression will p

In the first three parts of this series we have looked at virtual guitar instruments, creating the right tone, and virtual amps and effects. Now, for the final part of this huge series, it’s time to mix everything up! The traditional setup of guitar

1-4 A seriously flawed product that should be avoided 5 This product’s problems outweigh its merits 6 A decent product that’s only held back by a few flaws 7 Solid. Well worth considering 8 Very good. A well-conceived and executed product 9 Exce

Exquisitely performed and curated by Justin Hodges of Terre Grande, Opacity II is a godsend if you want creative guitar textures in your mixes and can’t craft them physically. Highly modifiable, expressive atmospheric licks and sequences. audiomodern

We bring you honest, unbiased appraisals of the latest computer music products. Our experts apply the same stringent testing methods to all gear, no matter how much hype or expectation surrounds it. ■

Have you ever played that game where you build a shopping list of vintage synth classics? Scour the auction sites for the machines you couldn’t afford when you were a teenager, and you’ll likely find that it’s an even worse financial prospect now! Al

When it comes to packages which offer a calling toward the vintage classics, they tend to fall into one of two camps; sampled or modelled. The process of sampling has largely come of age, as represented by the colossal sampling suites that will allow

Amid much secrecy, Spectrasonics released a teaser video as a warm-up ahead of their latest release. “It’s not going to be what you think,” they said, and it isn’t! It’s probably fair to say that many were hoping for something along the lines of a mu

How does an electronic musician attempt to create an electronic sound with acoustic ideals using software-based sound generation? Expressive E might just have an answer for you, being, as they are, an organisation that likes to push boundaries in ter

One of the unique facets of Omnisphere is its multi-use potential; it’s superb in the studio, where up to eight patches can be loaded into a single instance of the plugin, helping with CPU loading, although we did find the EXtensions to be quite CPU

Expressive E are an incredibly interesting company, creating a number of inspiring products in both software and hardware form. Their first commercial release was the Touché, which to the uninitiated appears to sound a little like a sustain pedal. No

Fiery, powerful, destructive, aggressive – all overly-used synonyms for the kind of sound mangling for which Heavyocity is renowned. Ever since 2012’s game changing Damage blew the lid off home cinematic percussion, the company has been central to di

Most musical sounds consist of a transient element – that is, the initial onset and attack of a note played on an instrument – and a tonal element that follows the transient. It has long been known that the majority of the individual character of an

The removal of mix-ruining resonance in music production has long been a careful balancing act, best left to those (often expensive) ears who can discern which elements of your track are negatively impacting each other. Developing the right kind of m

Symphonic Destruction’s third designer is the whallop-packing Braam Designer, intended to provide those huge subby tones and impacts that are now quintessential in modern cinema. The sub, mid and tail of your Braam can be switched between 36 sounds

There’s always a concern, when using these sorts of level-taming plugins while still actively working on a mix, that specific peak levels that you manually create, say when adding a node in Reso, will be affected if the input gain changes. But, don’t

While a background in music theory can be a mighty useful foundation for sonic creativity, more often than not we as songwriters and track-builders let our ears – and our feelings – make the all-important chordal and melodic choices. Some of the grea

While dragging and dropping into Mixed in Key Live is one way of organising your loose samples, the software will automatically stay on top of your DAW screen as you root through samples within the likes of, say, Ableton Live. It’s fair to say that i

If you were to ask a roomful of producers what their favourite modulation effect is, it’s unlikely any would shout ‘tremolo’. Originating as a guitar effect back in the mists of time, today, tremolo’s simple LFO volume fluctuations don’t quite entice

Dragonfly is also available on iOS as an AUv3 for the ridiculously great price of £4.50. To use it properly on mobile/iPad, you’ll want to use it in tandem with a supporting music workstation app, such as GarageBand or Steinberg’s Cubasis. Performanc

Web presonus.com Gear USB audio interface with DSP processing It’s fair to say that the small audio interface market is a pretty crowded one, full to the brim with units from SSL, M-Audio, Native Instruments, UA, Focusrite (we looked at their latest

Can something be simultaneously timeless and futuristic? Only an oxymoron would scratch their head over that when there’s banging house samples to be poked at. This perfectly processed pot of dancefloor-focused beats will have you far more concerned

An absolute loony bin of bonkers beats and pieces to rifle through, here. A quick dive in and you’ll be pulling out in-the-pocket drums, sly slapping bass riffs, classy synths, hits, horns, and music lines so groovy they’d send Bootsy round the bend.

You should have a pack of presets included. If not, download them from the Bazille Tutorials Folder at File Silo which also has an in-depth PDF for programming Bazille and many tutorial files. To load these (or any other) presets, right (Control)-cli

As Computer Music readers, you really know your synths. So, when we gave away the all-new Zebra CM synth – one especially created for us by plugin masters u-he – four months ago, we thought you might like it. But we didn’t expect the response we got

We’ve gone for a waveform theme for our new sample packs this issue (and with twice the usual amount!), so both of our sampling experts have created their own analogue and digital waveforms. You can either use these as source waveforms in your own sy

An array of menacing sustained sounds await in this classic sample pack from issue 241. Whether you’re setting the scene with some dark atmospherics, mangling them to create evolving pads, or turning them into something entirely different, these dark

This issue’s first classic sample pack – inspired by the experimental sounds of the BBC Radiophonics Workshop – will take you back to a pre-synthesiser era of tape splicing, signal generator tones and radio static. Aside from one-shots and loops, the

01 Blind Audio Heavy Cinematics 02 ODD Smpls Diamond: Future Vocal Pop 03 Aim Audio Hip Hop Don’t Stop 04 Singomakers Old School Atmo DnB 05 Loopmasters Soul Squeeze Vol 2 06 Loopmasters Hugel Sounds - Vol 1 07 Loopmasters Untidy Trax Hard Hous

Our resident music production gurus walk you through their specialist fields every month A massive 18 videos to download, covering the six main production processes listed above. Each video demonstrates a composition or mix technique that you can tr

There’s a sea of freeware out there and rather than just list the best, we’re going to save you some time and suggest just a few prime apps to download depending on the genre and type of music you make. All free. All next month! A fantastic new, free

Editor: Andy Jones, andy.jones@futurenet.com Art Editor: Mark White, mark.white@futurenet.com Managing Editor: Kate Puttick, kate.puttick@futurenet.com Ben Rogerson, Jon Musgrave, Robbie Stamp, Danny Scott, Oli Bell, Roy Spencer, Andy Price, Dave Gal

Founded half a century ago as an offshoot of Sound Exchange studios in New York, Eventide are probably best known for their long-running Harmonizer product line. Although still in the business of hardware, the company has kept up with modern, in-the-