Category: Tips & Tricks

In this video, I discuss what backups are and why they are important. If you’re not backing up your data then you could be setting yourself up for a massive data loss.

Losing your music is the worst feeling ever, so if you need an explanation on what backups are and why they are important then make sure to watch this video. I go over different storage mediums you can use to backup your data as well as a program that I use religiously. I explain my process to backing up daily and I can safely say I have never lost my music data (although I have lost some pictures before and I learned NEVER to let that happen again!). Don’t let that be you with your music or your clients music!

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In this video I discuss the Ableton Live Utility plug in. This plug in is a very handy tool if you get to know how to use it. I go over some my my advanced tips while using this plug in so if you’re an Ableton user this is not one you want to miss!

Ableton’s Utility does exactly what the name implies. The amount of applications and usability are tremendous, especially if you get creative. You can use it to simply mono your sounds, mono your low end, control width, eliminate a side, flip audio phase, and even automate volume, pan or mutes. Not sure how all this works, then check the video out to learn more!

Continue reading “Ableton Live Utility – Ableton Live 11 Tutorial”

Want some unique tips to using Little Alter Boy? This plug-in is a great plug-in for pitch shifting and audio manipulation. I use this tool for a variety of features. It’s simple, easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and a great tool for vocals and instruments.

It can help get things pitched properly to your production. Or help things sit in the mix. Want to alter a voice to change the tone, how about alter pitch and add drive and character to an instrument or synth? The possibilities are endless. In this video I go over the basics of the alter boy plug-in and some unique tips and tricks I use weekly in my music productions.

I share three tips of mine that I use all the time on vocals with this unique plug in. Using formats or pitch adjustments can alter the sonic characteristics of a sound. Another tactic is to layer the alter boy, and the link button makes the pitch shifting and formant knob do some wacky stuff. It’s pretty nifty what this thing can do!

Continue reading “Using Little Alter Boy – Little Alter Boy Soundtoys”

In part three on our series in creating acapella’s we show you how to make an acepella from any song using A.I. We’ve personally never used online artificial intelligence to create an acapella so we thought we would give it a shot.

Starting out by using Google and searching for the term ‘extract vocals’ we came across the Acapella Extractor. This service is free for up to two songs daily and has an instrumental version as well called Remove Vocals.

If you’re looking for a cheap alternative to the expensive RX7 or RX8 from Izotope and do not have the instrumental this might be the way to go to create your acapella.

Continue reading “How to Make an Acapella from Any Song Using A.I.”

In part two of our series on creating acapella’s we show you how to use Izotope’s RX7 and RX8’s music rebalancing tool to craft an acapella out of a song. It works pretty good most of the time, and there’s a fair chance you’ll get a usable acapella by using this method!

Before the only method to isolate vocals was by using phase cancellation. This used to never be possible and with today’s technology it use, so why not take advantage of it. If you’re looking for a tool to isolate vocals from any song then look no further.

Continue reading “Isolate Vocals Using Izotope RX8 and RX7”

Have you ever taken a song and the song’s instrumental and used phase cancellation to isolate the vocals? Today we show you how to make an acapella out of any song using phase cancellation.

This trick has been used for many years. This is part one of a series on creating acapellas. It’s not secret that phase cancellation can be used to remove and isolate elements in a mix if you have the equal and opposite. So why not give this one a try for your next remix!

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Do you ever check your mix in mono? This is one of the best approaches to getting things sitting to sit right in the mix is by hitting that mono button.  If your mix sounds wonderful in mono, when you turn off that mono button and go back to stereo it’s going to sound amazing.

Don’t believe me? Give this one a shot. When I first started doing this I would forget that I even turned the mono button on on the master and when I would realize I was amazed at the stereo imaging. It was insane to me that things could sound so wide and perfectly balanced across the stereo spectrum when mixing in mono. What you’re looking for is to balance all of the instruments in mono.

Essentially mixing in mono is like mixing with one speaker. Lots of systems are mono including club systems, some mobile phones, bluetooth speakers and more.  Plus you’ve checked to make sure there are no phase issues in your mix.  When hitting the mono button you are summing both Left and Right signals together,  and each speaker is giving you the same sound. Your overall goal is to get everything balanced and in place and if you can do that while in mono it’s going to sound that much better in stereo. You can add EQ and compression just as if you were mixing in stereo just do not forget to turn off the mono button once you’re ready to export your track!

Continue reading “Check My Mix In Mono – Mono Sound vs Stereo”

What does out out of phase mean? Have you experienced sounds that go missing while listening in mono. In this video we discuss audio phase and why it’s important to understand what this means to your music. Audio phase problems can occur while recording and mixing so it’s very important to pay attention to phase in your mix. Tips and tools that you can use to check for phase problems in your mix are discussed so you can ensure that you do not have audio phase issues.

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In this video, we discuss the noise that the Waves Analog button makes. Watch Out! The Waves Analog feature can create unwanted hiss that you might not hear while working on your music productions. But if not taken care of, once we master your tracks this hiss can become very apparent. Sometimes it may be wanted but if it isn’t it’s something you need to be paying attention to. We run into a lot of clients that send us some mixes and somewhere in their signal chains they might have an analog emulation plug-in that creates unwanted to noise. Be sure to take care of that in the mixing stage before going to mastering.

Continue reading “Waves Analog Button – Watch Out!”