Computer Music August

FREE AMAZING FULL REVERB! PLUS!
80 FREE
PLUGINS IN THE
NEW! HYPERSPACE CM2 FOR MAC & PC CM STUDIO SUITE
3 FREE
SAMPLE
PACKS
AUGUST 2022 / CM310 ULTIMATE
VOCALS
GET PERFECT TOP-LOOP

GROOVES
FOLEY
FACTORY
MIX-READY 1475
VOCALS AMAZING
SAMPLES
Fix, mix, and Auto-Tune

your vocals like the pros!
SYNTH
WERK!
Create the perfect
wobble bass and
Aphex Twin pad
PLUS
EZ DRUMMER 3
The ultimate drum
production software?
welcome / computer music <
DOWNLOAD
See page 87 to find out
HOW TO USE how to download this
issue’s exclusive content
Whenever you see this icon, you can grab
welcome
the files on your PC or Mac by going to
filesilo.co.uk/computermusic.
DOWNLOAD
Tutorials featuring this icon make

use of our own Plugins – find
out all about them at filesilo.co.uk.
In more than three decades of music making, I think I’ve
This icon means there are extra files
TUTORIAL to help you follow a tutorial feature:
worked with a vocalist… mm, let me see… once. It didn’t
FILES project files, audio examples, etc. go particularly well. We started off at opposite ends of
the page, as it were. Actually quite literally, come to think
There’s extra video content of it. They wanted to sing. I wanted spoken, whispered
wherever you see this icon.
words from a fantasy series of books I was reading at the
time. Of course I did. Needless to say, I didn’t get out
much in those days. Communication was therefore just
computermusic.co.uk
WWW
one of the issues and it all went terribly wrong. So,
naturally I did what any frustrated geek of the late ’80s
computermusic@futurenet.com did at the time: turned to
facebook.com/computer.music.mag
“Communication technology! Only
technology of the late
twitter.com/computermusicuk was just one of ’80s didn’t really help. It
was digital – just – but
youtube.com/computermusicmag the issues” Atari’s didn’t have Auto-
instagram.com/computermusicmag
Tune (the inventor of
Auto-Tune probably wasn’t even born). So I vowed that,
going forward, I would simply do the vocals myself. And
then, after realising I can’t sing, quickly vowed again that I
would simply wait until technology caught up to make
my vocals sound half decent. Fast forward 30-odd years
and computers are good enough to make
even my poor singing great. So I’m
using and abusing my job to bring
you (aka me) a great feature on how
you (aka me) can make your (aka
my) terrible vocals sound great. It
Subscribe to starts on p16 and covers just about
Computer Music! everything – tuning, effects, mixing
See p46 and gear – to make anyone’s vocals
passable. I’ve waited more than three
decades for this. Now to dust off that
Where to get vintage microphone and get
PRINT ZINIO recording. Now where are
in stores and online for PC, Mac, Android, iPad & more those Tolkien books?”
magazinesdirect.com zinio.com
iOS APP STORE GOOGLE PLAY Andy Jones Editor

for iPad, iPhone & iPod touch for Android & Chrome for PC/Mac
computermusic.co.uk/cmdigital play.google.com andy.jones@futurenet.com
ISSUE 310 AUGUST 2022
contents
Cover feature
50 62
/expert Reviews
guides 62 TOONTRACK
50 SYNTH EZDRUMMER 3
MASTERCLASS 66 TRACKTION
Dave Gale gets all Aphex
Twin with his pad sounds
WAVEFORM 12
68 BABY AUDIO
HOW TO GET 52 P
RODUCTION
MASTERCLASS
CRYSTALLINE
GREAT VOCALS Ashley Thorpe delivers the 70 SPITFIRE

perfect wobble bass HEIRLOOM
72 SONNOX
Without a great vocalist! Back to LISTENHUB
Your guides to pitching, effects and mixing
basics 74 VOCAL PLUGINS
ROUNDUP
54 DIGITAL AUDIO 82 MINI REVIEWS
16 GUIDING YOU THROUGH THE A complete guide to the ones and
MAIN VOCAL PROCESSES zeros that make up the very heart of
the audio you use…
You can make a bad vocal great with our main
guides to pitch correction, effects and mixing
Essentials
30 HANDS-ON TUTORIALS 6 NEWS
AND WORKSHOPS
464 SUBSCRIBE
We look at five in-depth vocal treatments in these
hands-on, step-by-step workshops 97 BACK ISSUES
98 NEXT MONTH
/ 15 Questions with… 54
12 JIMI JULES
If you haven’t yet heard Jimi Zany bass
Jules’ irreverent dance
music, his latest album
sounds
should serve as a fitting
introduction to his 38 BASS
extraordinary sound. Here ALTERNATIVES
he delivers 15 answers to the How to use everything including the
questions that matter… kitchen sink to get some great,
alternative low-end sounds. Get your
12 38
pots out and start making some noise
4 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

downloads / contents <
downloads
Download this content from filesilo.co.uk – see p87
free plugin!
JMG HYPERSPACE CM2
How to download and use our latest
88 giveaway – an amazing free reverb!
FOLEY
FACTORY TOP-LOOP
free samples
GROOVES
ULTIMATE ULTIMATE VOCAL SAMPLES!
VOCALS
We’ve got the ultimate sets of vocal
samples plus a special Loopmasters pack
92 Download via File Silo (see p87)
free videos
SYNTH + REVERB ON FILM
Our masterclasses on video plus a guide to
using JMG Audio’s Hyperspace CM2!
96 Download via File Silo (see p87)
plugin suite
THE CM PLUGIN SUITE
An all-new PDF detailing our new Plugin
Suite of instruments and effects
DOWNLOAD Download from File Silo (see p87)
August 2022 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 5
> news
NEW RELEASES • COMMENT • INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS
Kilohearts update ecosystem to v2

A free update to existing users and an attractive world to enter for non users
If you are not familiar with the
Kilohearts world of effects and synths,
it’s a place of joy that can be experienced
in a ‘standard’ DAW way or in Kilohearts’
own modular way. And they’ve just
upgraded the whole shebang to version 2
for free for existing users. First up, before
we look at the update in more detail, let’s
take a look at the concept as it requires
some explanation.
Kilohearts produce many fantastic
individual effects (VST/AAX/AU) that can be
run within your DAW just like any other
plugin. Load them on a channel, tweak and
enjoy. They also produce the excellent
Phase Plant, a semi-modular softsynth you
can basically make into any kind of synth.
However, the company also take the
concept of using all of their plugins up a
couple of levels by allowing you to use them
It’s all (well mostly) about the modulation in Kilohearts v2, so get in and enjoy a ‘heap’ of Snapin power
as ‘Snapins’ within the Kilohearts ecosystem.
Basically, you can combine Snapins within
three Snapin Hosts to make all manner of modulators added include Curve (multi- There are further workflow improvements,
modular effects and instruments, that can stage envelope generation, the Kilohearts optimisations, and factory content, but the
then be used in almost any situation. These way), LFO Table (for wavetable modulation), best news is that this update is free for all
hosts are Snap Heap (for serial or parallel and Remap (to force input modulation existing users. Those new to Kilohearts can
combinations), Multipass (for multiband values to specific output values). Other access a broad collection of their effects for
processing), and the Phase Plant synth. features include Modulator Triggers that free in the Kilohearts Essentials bundle (then
The new version 2 upgrade gives allow one modulator to kick off another in a upgrade and purchase Snapin Hosts).
everything in the Kilohearts universe a range of ways; MPE support and – we like You can also subscribe-to-own for $9.99 a
boost with a focus on increasing an already this one – LFOs that go down to zero so your month via the Kilohearts Subscription, for
powerful set of modulation options and modulations can last, well, forever! You can access to all plugins, Content Banks and
adding the same system found in Phase also apply external automation to pretty rewards to spend on perpetual licences.
Plant to both Snap Heap and Multipass. New much any parameter – a welcome addition. kilohearts.com
Cherry Audio have the Lowdown

The Moog Taurus was an odd, bass-pedal-style synth much loved
by various pro-rock outfits in the ’70s and a synth you played with
your feet. But don’t let either fact put you off Cherry Audio’s
recreation which you can happily play with your mouse. Lowdown
Bass Synthesizer models Taurus’ circuits and uses an animated
virtual ‘footboard’ – a word we possibly just made up but like a
keyboard with foot pedals. There are 40 presets and 14 styles of
‘board’ to choose from. The synth is available now for the
introductory price of $25 (otherwise $39).
You can’t kick it, but Lowdown is mightily progressive… cherryaudio.com

news <
Audient’s EVO goes up to 16 App watch

We’re big fans of Audient interfaces here at
Computer Music and have even heaped a
couple of awards on the company’s EVO 4 We report on the latest
(2-in, 2-out) compact interface. As expected
with compact interfaces, though, they tend
developments in phone
to get less compact as time passes and and tablet music making
since looking at the 4, Audient have
released an 8 (4-in, 4-out) interface and now
– hot off the press – the EVO 16. VHS Synth
If you’ve paid attention thus far, you’d The premise of
EVO 16 certainly delivers a lot of i/o and a rather
probably expect that the 16 features eight Audiokit’s VHS Synth
great screen for a shade under £400
inputs and outputs. Well, you’d be wrong as app is pretty simple:
the number refers to the number of “award- take a load of famous
winning EVO Preamps” so the EVO 16 EVO 16 also has the rather brilliant Smart analogue and digital
actually features a massive 24 ins and outs. Gain feature that we loved about the EVO 4 synths (the likes of Dave Smith’s
It’s not just breaking the ‘compact’ mould (that lets you set an automatic gain with a Prophet-6, The Moog Realistic
in terms of connectivity but also in terms of single button press) but applies it to all eight Concertmate, the Novation Bass Station
form and function. It’s now a wide desktop mic pre inputs. and Korg Volca FM) record them to VHS
or rack interface and brings with it a rather “We wanted to super-size the EVO tape and resample them.
superb-looking colour screen that uses concept,” says Audient’s Andy Allen. “EVO 16 The result is a crusty, characterful set of
Audient’s new Motion UI technology. We’ll offers the same intuitive user experience, sounds that could go well in synthwave,
let them explain: “Motion UI uses the wide professional sound and technical quality hip-hop, indie and lo-fi productions, or
angle screen to intelligently display with plenty more I/O, yet it still fits firmly into anything else that needs an ’80s feel. You
information on your session, making any the ‘affordable’ audio interface category.” get more than 250 presets and controls to
interaction with EVO 16 a fully immersive, EVO 16 will cost you a minimum retail dial in the VHS vibe, plus a free expansion
easy-to-use experience.” Basically it looks price of £399.99/€469/$499. pack that features OP-1 sounds that have
damn fine and imparts lots of information. audient.com been given the video tape treatment.
VHS Synth currently costs £3.49/$3.99.
audiokitpro.com/vhssynth/
The sound of ABBA,
Roxette, The Hives and Panflow
more… in your DAW! Want to get more
Softube have announced a reverb plugin creative with your
that gives you the sound of Atlantis Studios, panning?
a Swedish recording facility which has been Audiomodern has
used by some iconic names like Swedish just the thing in the
stars ABBA, Roxette, The Hives, Robyn, shape of Panflow, a new – and free –
Ghost, The Cardigans, and Max Martin. panning modulation app.
Several non Swedes (but still huge stars) “Fans of ABBA know how great their There’s fun to be had in shaping
Lenny Kravitz, Quincy Jones, and Green mixes were and how huge those vocals complex, evolving panning patterns,
Day, have also decamped to Stockholm just sounded in all that great reverb mixed at which will add movement to any track you
to experience the studio. Atlantis Studios,” adds seven-times-Grammy happen to throw them at. Curves can be
The new plugin, Atlantis Chambers, -winning engineer Michael Brauer. created and edited on a graphical
focuses on the reverb chambers in the The plugin, which certainly looks the interface, so you should be able to get your
studio which, according to Softube “create vintage part, is out now and retails for €199 audio dancing left and right (and back
the best-sounding reverb you didn’t know with an intro offer of €159. again) in no time.
you’d already heard”. softube.com Panflow runs standalone and as an
AUv3 plugin and can be downloaded free.
audiomodern.com
‘Hybrid Synth Odyssey’ and it even looks
pretty cool too.
Forbidden Planet is based on samples CoSo
rather than oscillators but East West seem to Decide for
have thrown everything at it so there’s a yourself if it
heck of a lot you can do with its core sounds. deserves to be
You get 600 “expertly crafted morphing called a ‘music-
synths” that include Arpeggiator, Bass, making app’,
Drones, FX, Leads, Pads, and Poly Synths. but if you just
Then you morph between layers of sounds want to throw together a bunch of
that can include everything from acoustic compatible samples, Splice’s new CoSo
instruments to Foley sounds. app is as easy as it gets.
Forbidden Planet also includes “insane You get started with this “intelligent
filter modulation” and a dual arpeggio musical sketchpad” by selecting a style.
section and is ideal for everything from CoSo will then create a ‘Stack’ of sounds,
EastWest go off world for creative EDM to film soundtracks (of course). which you can either edit, build on with
their new forbidden synth You can get it as part of EastWest’s more samples or completely discard.
Hollywood sound experts EastWest have subscription service, ComposerCloud+, or as A free version is available for iOS and
gone pretty much as far away from LA as a one-off payment of $299 if you’re old Android – Splice subscribers get access to
you can get (if you invent a spaceship) with school like us. We’d like a cardboard box too. the full content library and feature set.
their new synth, Forbidden Planet. We And a floppy disk or two while you’re at it. tools.splice.com/coso
already love the name and the fact that it is a soundsonline.com

> news
Get with the Check their pulse!

JMG Sound, one of the brands under the
programmers
United Plugins umbrella, have just
announced Nanopulse, a transient designer
with a difference. Most such plugins
allow you to tighten up the attack part
of your sound, so allowing more
JMG Audio have provided us with a superb update to attitude and clout to come through on
your drums, for example. Nanopulse
Hyperspace CM this issue, so it’s time to catch up with does that, but also allows you to use
the company’s Jason Gibbins… profiles of other “expertly crafted
attack sounds” on your sound, so allowing
you to morph the character of something
How did you get into music software? else on your sound. It’s an interesting
JG “I’ve had a keen interest in plugins for a very concept and a cheap one until 3rd July as
long time. I followed the latest developer news the intro price is just €19 (normally €79).
and always wished I could one day make my own. unitedplugins.com
Now that is a reality, and I spend a lot of my time
(even when asleep) dreaming up some new
concepts for plugins.” It’s massive. And passive.
We have to say that we don’t just publish
What makes your plugins stand out? news stories about companies we like, but
JG “When thinking up new ideas for plugins, I Pulsar Audio are another of our faves. They
have two main goals. First I like to find a way to meticulously model famous hardware
offer as many features and options as possible, and add modern tweaks along the way.
JMG Audio while simultaneously making the plugin easy and Their new Massive Passive EQ is based
Jason Gibbins fast to use. This balancing act is important to me. on a famous EQ starting with the word
Secondly, I try to innovate in some way. Either with ‘Manley’ and ending ‘Massive Passive’
a completely new concept or a more efficient or interesting way to and a piece of hardware that will set
achieve an existing process.” you back over four grand of anyone’s
currency. The new stuff in Massive includes
What are your most important plugins? an on-screen curve editor, digital metering,
JG “My first plugin, Hyperspace, is still my favourite and most feature- drive control and auto gain controls and
rich. It is an algorithmic reverb that does it all, from vintage to modern to more. It’s €89 until June 26, then €149.
outer space, with built-in mixing tools for spectral separation, transients, pulsar.audio
ducking and a total of almost 400 different algorithms. Expanse 3D is an
enhancer that works in three dimensions to make the sound wider, deeper
and bigger. There are a lot of advanced psycho-acoustic tricks at play Novation launch another
while being super easy to use, but most importantly, it sounds great. Launch (key)
Finally, Mirror is the world’s first reverse negative delay. It reverses your Novation have added to their award-winning
audio (with optional reverse reverb) LaunchKey controller keyboard range with
“I like it to have as many and plays it back before the dry signal.
This achieves the reverse snare or
the LK-88. As ever with controller keyboards,
the clue is in the name
features as possible but reverb effect in seconds and allows
fine-tuning in real-time.”
and this is an 88-note
keyboard to add to the
be easy to use and fast” What are your favourite
mini 25, 37, 49 and
61-note boards already in the range. However
plugins made by other developers? the new model has semi-weighted keys that
JG “Soundevice Digital UniChannel has a beautiful analogue style mojo the rest lack, leading it to have what Novation
that adds warmth and glue to my busses. Muramasa Bassment is great call the “best feeling keymech to date”. Lots
for adding fire and beef to my Cyberpunk basslines. Minimal Audio Rift is of high fives all round. Good price too: just
the most powerful and flexible distortion I have ever used. Steinberg £379.99/€369.74/$399.99 is pretty good for
Backbone is a drum sample manipulation tool on another level, including an 88-noter. (What we like to call them.)
resynthesis and noise separation. XLN Audio XO speeds up my drum novationmusic.com
workflow massively. I have a lot of drum samples and this tool helps me
find the perfect sample, fast.”
Spitfire Resonate with
What would you like to see developed in plugin technology? Evelyn Glennie
JG “Inter-plugin communication. When multiple instances of a plugin are According to Spitfire Audio, half the magic of
aware of each other, it opens up a set of useful features and uses: percussion scores has been missing all these
separating elements in a mix, controlling multiple parameters at once, the years: the sound of resonance, the
ability to see analysis of a whole project from a single interface and more.” reverberations that “rumble, pierce,
rattle, and sing” long after the initial
What advice do you have? strike is made. They’ve teamed up with
JG “Take regular breaks. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself this percussion legend Dame Evelyn
before I damaged my hearing. Also, breaks help to keep you from getting Glennie to produce Resonate which
too familiar with the sound and to make better decisions.” “unlocks the other-worldly mystery,
magic, and tension of orchestral
What have you got planned for the future? percussion”. You’re basically getting the
JG “My latest creation is Nanopulse, a transient tool like no other. It allows other – less obvious but more interesting
you to morph your transient’s sound character with the frequency profile – side of percussion here, by the sounds of it.
of another. It also has a multiband attack shaper to balance the overall Price TBA, review soon.
dynamics. Next, I have a concept for a new type of freezing effect.” spitfireaudio.com
unitedplugins.com

> news
Orchestral
Tools’ big
years string things
back Berlin-based Orchestral
Tools have announced
Our monthly shake-of-the- a new set of strings
head at our earlier selves’ initiatives and an
news choices… upgrade to their Sine
‘What was making the headlines in Player (essentially their
August 2012?’, you ask. Well, it was the
time of Traktor 2.5, the latest version of version of Kontakt).
NI’s DJing app, and we were also
introduced to the company’s presumably
First up, Berlin Con
speedy F1 controller. Vroom, vroom, etc.
The burning question of the day was
Sordino Strings is “a
whether it was possible to play your richly textured collection of gentle string sounds
laptop like an instrument – it was starting
to dawn on us that not everyone was with a wide range of articulations ideal for softer
plugging in a MIDI keyboard anymore,
timbres, delicate compositions” with an intro price
“a distinction that a very of €349. Then there is a new strings bundle called
small number of people Berlin Strings that combines all of OT’s string
collections into one discounted package (€999
care a great deal about”
for €2,800 worth of packs). Finally, SINE gets M1
although hitting your computer with
drumsticks wasn’t/isn’t recommended –
compatibility and quite a few workflow tweaks.
and we had a bleepy tutorial on creating orchestraltools.com
‘fakebit’ music – ie music that sounds like
it was made using ’80s hardware but was
actually powered by ‘chiptune-style’
plugins. A distinction that a very few
people care a great deal about.
Finally, it transpires that we reviewed
Ins & outs
Roland’s R-Mix – a piece of ‘demixing’ UNCOMPRESSED TO IMPRESS? VANGELIS RIP
software we’d completely forgotten We’ve had noodly rock Widely seen as the master of the
about – and a reader asked why we didn’t supergroups for years, why not an Yamaha CS-80, Vangelis left an
feature more female producers in the electronic one? That’s the thinking indelible mark on music tech and
mag. Valid question; we didn’t give a very of Look Mum No Computer, Cuckoo pop culture. His Blade Runner
satisfactory answer then, but we’re and Hainbach, who make their live soundtrack is the stuff of legend,
continuing to work on it since. debut – in a new outfit known as and who wouldn’t recognise the
Uncompressed – at this year’s theme from Chariots Of Fire if you
Sonar festival in Barcelona. played it to them?
YOU CAN BE MY WINGMAN… OP-1 FIELD

The new Top Gun Maverick got us Fans of Teenage Engineering’s
excited for all sorts of reasons – you iconic mini synth/sampler have
can’t trump the topless beach waited more than a decade for a
volleyball scene from the original – sequel (the OP-Z didn’t count), but
but our biggest joy came from the we’re not sure they were waiting
revival (in our minds) of Harold for the price hike to £2,000 (the
Faltermeyer’s supreme Top Gun original retailed for €800). Are we
Anthem. An ’80s synth classic. missing something here?
A RED LETTERMAN DAY BYEPOD

The subject of comping got some Apple finally said goodbye to its
mainstream airtime last month iPod range last month – once
when a clip emerged of Billie Eilish current supplies of the iPod touch
and brother Finneas explaining to (the final model still on sale) have
US talk show host David Letterman run out, it’ll be retired. Most of us
that her vocals aren’t actually moved on years ago, but it’s
recorded in one take. His mind was worth remembering how
180: the subsequent years have gone by in an visibly blown by this. revolutionary it originally was.
FX flash similar to that depicted above

Photo: Studio Siebrecht Photography
15 questions with…
Jimi Jules
If you haven’t yet heard Jimi Jules’ irreverent dance music,
his latest album should serve as a fitting introduction to his
extraordinary sound. Packed with personality, + is an eclectic
collection that brings to mind the synth-laced extroversion
of artists like DJ Koze and Modeselektor, serving up
productions with a wink, a nudge and a wry smile
jimi jules / 15 questions with <
Released through the house music sounding the way you want.”
institution that is Innervisions, + forgoes “UAD Space Echo RE-201: In my perspective it’s
the crisp and minimal stylings that typify the the best sounding Space Echo emulation, and I
music of label heads Âme and Dixon. Instead use it in every production for dubby delays or
the album explores a varied palette that strange sounding rooms, etc. But honestly, since
stretches from exultant electro to moody I bought a real 501 two years ago, I don’t use it
deep house, with unexpected detours into that much.”
dub techno and experimental hip-hop, “UAD Lexicon 224: This is a wonderful-
making for some of the album’s most sounding reverb. In my DAW it’s always set up
arresting moments. We caught up with Jimi on send 4, for long reverbs. Sometimes I also use
following the record’s release to hear more it on vocals, but most of the time I like it in the
about his studio set-up, favourite plugins and Intelligent Sounds & Music BAZZISM background to give the tunes a bit more of an
how he keeps his electronic music feeling atmospheric feel.”
intensely human. “UAD EMT 250: Most of the time I use this
JJ: “Just do it. Be honest and respectful with plugin on chords and pads to give them a bit
Tell us about how you first got into your music, whilst having fun at all times. That is more depth, with short delays or chorus. But I
1 music-making. what’s most important for me.” also like to play around with it while recording.”
Jimi Jules: “I started playing the trumpet after “Sugar Bytes WOW: It’s a cheap, not so good-
my grandfather gave me one for my second or Talk to us about your most recent sounding filter plugin, but I like to work with it.
third birthday. I played in a lot of bands and 4 project - what makes this one special? The LFO and distortion work really well to
orchestras, and had multiple different teachers JJ: “My most recent project is my new album, +, muddy your sounds or to let certain frequencies
weekly to improve my skills as a musician. When which came out in March on Innervisions. shine in the mix.”
I was around 20, I did my BA and MA at the Working with Dixon, Trevor Jackson and the
University of Art and Science in Zurich. whole Innervisions team was definitely a dream How do you usually start a track?
“Around the same time I realised I was more for me. Besides having the most fun, I also 7 JJ: “It’s always different. Sometimes I start
interested in experimenting with new sounds, learned so much. whistling a melody, sometimes I just tap on the
producing and writing music than playing in a “The whole project microphone.
classical orchestra, a jazz combo or a random
pop band. So luckily it was the inner punk that
was very inspiring and
special to me. Navigating “I realised I was living Sometimes I jam
on my horns and
showed me the way to Rome.” everything during a guitars and
When and how would you say you

pandemic, the whole
team used all of their
the life I always sometimes I
stumble upon a
2 became successful, or at least able to
make a living from music?
strength and resources
to help the project to
dreamed of as a kid” funny voice-note of
my kids.
JJ: “I’ve never had a normal day job, and I really succeed.” Sometimes I start
earned money through music from a very early with cutting some noise and sometimes – albeit
age. I played in bands, arranged tunes for other Tell us a little more about your current rarely – I start with a gabba kick. There is more
bands and wrote music for different people, just 5 studio set-up and your most essential ‘sometimes’ in my music than ‘usually’! [laughs]”
to survive. Later on my best buddy, Prince studio equipment…
Boogie, taught me how to DJ. So what is JJ: “Besides my computer, the heart of my How do you generally know when a
‘successful’?! From my perspective, making a studio is a Universal Audio interface with many 8 track is finished?
living from music doesn’t necessarily make channels. A friend recently helped me move my JJ: “A track is never finished, in my opinion. Like
you successful. studio around, setting up everything properly a drawing, a book or… life. It’s never quite
“It’s more about being happy with what you for the first time. perfect, there are just different days, moments
are doing and how you treat others on this “However, sooner or later I jumped back to and perspectives. At the end it’s just a decision
journey called life. The feeling of success the chaotic way I was working before. For me, to release or deliver, but you are always free to
became more intense when I realised I was making music is more about having fun and start working on a track again, even if it’s already
living the life I always dreamed of as a kid. Of letting accidents happen than being set up in a released. In life we are always working on
course, I’m happy to earn money as a musician, nice professional way. In my studio, everything ourselves anyway.”
but working with people I always wanted to is possible!”
work with, whilst feeding my family and paying Talk us through a production trick or
the bills makes me feel even better. What a life.” What are your most used plugins? 9 process that defines your sound.
6 JJ: “BazzISM: This is a kick synth plugin JJ: “I try not to use MIDI. I record most things
What is your overall philosophy or that’s really easy to use, from a German with my two hands, even arpeggios. This
3 approach when it comes to music company called ISM. You can tweak every method gives me a human feeling in our
(playing, recording, production)? parameter to make sure that your kick is computer-music scene, which I like. Of course it
can be a big struggle sometimes, because you
need to decide if you are tweaking the cutoff,
the ADSR or the FX pedals. In the end I always
come up with some strange but simple ideas a
lot faster than just programming things to
perfection with the mouse.”
Have you been involved with any

10 collaborations for this project?
JJ: “Shakin’ was actually made a few years ago
with my dear friend Nathan Daisy, but
unfortunately we never finished it. Fast forward
a few years and Nathan called me to tell me that
Dave Aju did a rap for it. I only knew Dave as an
amazing producer, I didn’t know he was a
vocalist too.
“Nathan then asked Aquarius Heaven to give
UAD EMT250: used by Jimi to thicken up chords and pads the whole piece a raw second verse. In my

> 15 questions with / jimi jules
Photo: Studio Siebrecht Photography
opinion, this song was the missing piece in phones and tablets. That would make things
making the album more diverse. Some time much easier. Imagine if you could change
later I was on my way to the studio of Hannes things without a computer. It’s 2022 and
Bieger [aka Airmate] in Berlin, to mix my EP we’ve shot cars into space, so I feel like it’s HEAR MORE
Ham The Monkey. long overdue!”
“While I was swiping Instagram in the cab I
came across the account of Tugg the What advice can you give to
Drummer. His outstanding drumming skills 12 newcomers to music-making?
and uniquely grainy drum sound impressed JJ: ““Just go for it, don’t be afraid to make
me so much I had to contact him about mistakes. Have fun. Work hard and let the
collaborating on a demo I did with talented good things find you.” My City’s On Fire
singer Joy Tyson. Luckily he got back to me bit.ly/mycity_jimijules
right away, and sent me the drum parts two What track by any other artist do you Ham the Monkey
days later. What a guy!” 13 wish you had produced? bit.ly/ham_jimijules
JJ: “Oh, there are too many. If I have to choose
What would you like to see one it’s Hikers Y, by Matthew Dear. What a
11 developed in terms of studio masterpiece.”
instagram.com/jimi_jules
jimijules.bandcamp.com
technology and why?
JJ: “I would be super happy to finally have a Jimi Jules’ new album + is out now on the facebook.com/jimijulesofficial
proper working DAW and interface for Innervisions label

> cover feature / vocals
GET GREAT
VOCALS
Behind pretty much every great song, hit record or
memorable performance lies a great vocal. But what
do you do if you, like us, can’t sing for toffee? Luckily,
this is what Computer Music is all about: using
technology to boost a lack of skill! And there’s plenty
we can do to make a bad vocal great…
If you are anything like us, you have taken the music using other vocal effects and mixing vocals, but there’s a lot of
technology route simply because it makes music other vocal ground covered along the way.
production a lot easier. (Almost to the point that it’s One of the main processes used over the last three decades
embarrassingly easy, but *whisper* don’t tell anyone else!) We has, of course, been automatic tuning, the ‘hoover’ of which is
first started using and abusing computers for music because Auto-Tune. We’ll explain in detail how you can use that – and
we couldn’t play anything, or afford the gear to try and play. But many other pieces of tuning software – to create better vocals,
also, we assumed at the time, that it would eventually help with and also to produce ‘that’ contemporary effect. But we’ll also
one other distinct skill we lacked: singing! cover how you can keep humanity in your vocal recordings, if
The human voice is probably the most distinctive, that is your target rather than the (arguably overused) effect
memorable, recognisable, flexible and any other word you can used in much of contemporary chart music.
think of ending in ‘ble’ instrument ever. But in the wrong hands There are plenty of buyer’s guides too, covering the
– usually ours – it can also be the most awful. So we’ve decided aforementioned pitch effects, vocal booths, microphones and a
to take the voice by the microphones and use technology to do lot more. And the feature closes with six pages of hands-on
something about it! workshops that will hopefully have you tweaking software to
We’ve covered vocal recording before in Computer Music, tune and improve your own vocals in no time.
but this feature is a little different. We’ve enlisted music On page 74 we also round up some of the best vocal
technology journalist – and actually pretty good vocalist – Andy processors that we have reviewed in Computer Music. There’s
Price to approach ‘getting a great vocal’ from another everything included there from mix plugins to tuners, multi-
perspective: that of employing your own tones (or lack of effects to vocoders.
them) and making them great. Essentially we said to him: “write And if all of that isn’t enough, there’s a bumper batch of
a feature about turning our bad vocal into a great one.” vocal samples to download with this issue (see page 87 and 92
And with that, over the next 18 pages he covers everything for more on these) so you don’t really have to do anything to
you need to make your – or someone else’s – vocal sound get a great vocal: just load in one or two of those!
better. He’s essentially breaking it down into pitch-shifting, So turn the page and turn that bad vocal into a great one!

vocals / cover feature <

How to make a bad vocal good

While there are many fun ways to morph, twist and chop your vocals into a
huge range of sonic shapes, what about the most straightforward of aims –
simply making an out-of-tune vocal not just passable, but stellar?
For many years, since the advent of recorded vocalist on earth can sound utterly soulless mouth for the general volume of the type of
music, those lacking natural singing prowess recording with inadequate gear. While your vocal track you’re laying down is also a top
would have to work extra hard to lay down their tone, pitch and frequency can be shifted after priority – if you’re going to be belting out a
vocal takes – recording again and again until the fact, it’s critical to make sure that the clarity raucous rock track, you’ll want to keep some
their caterwauling had been strenuously slotted of the vocal recording is as clean as possible. space between your mouth and the grill, while
into tonal alignment. The controversial Capturing your vocal, with a mind to working on closer-mic’ed vocals are more malleable for
appearance of Antares Auto-Tune in 1997 not the take further in software, needs to entail softer-toned genres. Keeping tabs on your input
only salvaged time back from end-of-their- making sure the recording space is as gain, and avoiding hitting the red is even more
tether producers and panicking, self-doubting acoustically ‘dead’ as possible. We want to limit essential than usual when you’re recording your
vocalists, but opened up a whole new window reverb at this stage (as it’s uncontrollable when vocal with a mind to using it as the raw material
on how the human voice can be worked with, hard-baked into the recording). Positioning your for software processing.
irrespective of natural ability. microphone at the right distance from your There’s a whole lot more nuanced
Here in 2022, there’s no shame if you can’t considerations when vocal recording of course,
quite reach the high notes, you’re struggling though that would be worthy of an entirely
with intonation or just not able to flawlessly
imitate the confident character of the stars. As
“In 2022, there’s no separate feature. We’re going to assume then,
that your vocal take has been captured as
long as you’ve got a clean vocal take (from an
audio POV at least), software from the likes of
shame if you can’t spotlessly as possible, in an acoustically suitable
environment. For those lacking the ‘X-factor’,
Celemony, Synchro Arts, Soundtoys and Waves
can grant us the means to mould a sparkling reach the high notes here’s where the nitty gritty begins.
vocal from even the most atonal of takes. Crank my pitch up

Wrangling the raw material
or flawlessly imitate Ever since Antares Auto-Tune’s launch nearly 25
years ago, we’ve seen a wide-range of software
Before we delve into how software can help, it’s
worth stating from the outset that even the best
the stars” that not only provides the means to hard-snap
to a key, but also facilitates gradual, precision

Keep the humanity

tuning. This is an essential thing to note: Auto-
Tune in a technical sense is the automation of
pitch correction, while pitch correction software
as a whole can enable you to adjust the
sharpness, or flatness, of your note to the Ever considered that maybe your imperfect vocals
required position. The more regimented global
application Auto-Tune has ceased to be don’t really need to be that perfect? Depending
regarded as a route to perfecting duff vocals,
and instead has now morphed in the minds of what kind of track you want to make, you’ll need to
many into a creative tool that engenders the
type of vocal experimentation that we hear in consider where you want to sit on the gradient
the likes of tracks by Billie Eilish, Akon, Stormzy
and Radiohead. between tightly-locked Cher-esque Auto-tune, and
Celemony’s Melodyne 5 is widely hailed as
one of the most essential pitch-correcting
your raggedy, untreated voice. Leaving your
powerhouses. Melodyne requires you to import
the sections of the stem that you wish to edit (or,
rougher takes uncoloured could possibly add that
as one long vocal take). Detecting the notes
within the audio, Melodyne displays a series of
more human element that your track might have
red and orange blobs – representing the been missing, without you even realising. If your
chromatic area, snapped to a grid of keys, with
your vocal information rendered as a line within. vocals definitely need work however, then it’s critical
This visualisation allows us to see just how badly
out of tune we are. that you don’t go too far down a pitch-correcting
Using Melodyne’s ‘Main’ tool, you’re able to
manually heighten and lower the pitch at those rabbit hole, and end up with a track that sounds
specific points that need attention. Better than
that, any out-of-time sections, or inconsistent overtly robotic (unless that’s what you’re specifically
note-holding can be snapped to the grid, or
dragged to fit the length of time you wish it to be after). If you want to just smooth the harsh edges,
held for. While you may imagine that the end
result will be a clunky mess, Melodyne is yet maintain a raw edge, avoid doing anything
renowned for not showing these joins.
While Melodyne is often put on a pro’s
globally. You’ll need to tackle those issues more
pedestal, and is now integrated within the
architecture of Pro Tools (in its ‘Essential’
surgically. Only adjust those notes that are
iteration), this same principle can be sampled by
using Logic’s Flex Pitch or Cubase’s VariAudio.
absolutely screaming for it a few cents in the right
Flex Pitch can be used as either a global chromatic direction. Once you’ve got a version of
‘up-tuner’, or a manual pitch correction chisel.
VariAudios’ approach is reminiscent of the vocal that works, bounce it down and use that
Melodyne. Both allow deep editing controls,
such as the adjustment of the amount of pitch as a benchmark on which to comp further takes –
variation within the stem, manipulating the
levels of vibrato present, and such factors as this can help you get to where you need to be,
aligning how far your general pitch is naturally
drifting away from where it should be. without losing your vocal personality, and avoiding
With tools such as these, it’s now no longer an
impossibility to gradually carve your vocal into the sonic equivalent of the ‘uncanny valley’.
something that resembles something delivered
by a vocal powerhouse.
Logic Flex Pitch gives an accessible way to fix pitch issues

Vocal microphones
Lewitt
Aston LCT 440 Pure
Microphones £220
Spirit £285 A true condenser vocal
The release of the Spirit superstar, Lewitt’s 440
marked the moment Pure has garnered
when the industry giddy acclaim for its
suddenly listened up and capacity to handle the
took proper notice of human voice – from
UK-based manufacturer impactful rap to soaring
Aston Microphones. With falsetto. Its gold-
a triple-state switchable sputtered 1” capsule
polar pattern and large and shock mount
diaphragm condenser, ensures faultless audio
the Spirit delivers crystal capture, with its gold-
clear vocals with ease. Its plated XLR connector
durable build means it’s and design showing off
ready for regular use. its build quality.
astonmics.com lewittaudio.com
Shure SM7B £299 Audio Technica AT2020 Røde NT1 £190 IK Multimedia iRig Mic
The undisputed gods of workhorse £89 Available as a bundle pack, Studio £140
microphone design, Shure’s SM7B For those who are on a budget, the complete with pop filter and XLR, IK’s mobile-friendly pro studio
presents all-round vocal dynamite. quality of vocal recordings you get the NT1 brings a vintage character mic is surprisingly robust for its
Whether you’re wanting to speak, with Audio Technica’s AT2020 has to vocals, despite its ultra-modern size. Its low-noise, high definition
rap, sing or host – the SM7B’s air to be heard to be believed. With its internals. The mid-range response preamp, onboard gain control and
suspension shock isolation and heart-shaped sound capture area, of the NT1 is particularly notable, large-diaphragm capsule bely its
internal pop filter eliminates any this cardioid condenser presents while extremely low handling small size, and let you grab your
unwanted interference, leaving just an isolated and accurate voice. It’s noise and shock-mounted capsule voice, wherever you are, with
your vocal to sparkle as intended. exceptionally well-balanced and guarantees no interruptions in its absolute class. Its diverse array of
The classic cardioid pattern rejects can also serve as an all-rounder in job, to help give your voice clarity connectivity options mean it’s not
any off-axis audio. the studio. and focus. limited to one studio setup either.
shure.com audio-technica.com rode.com ikmultimedia.com

Pitch correction software
Celemony Melodyne 5.1 Zynaptic Pitchmap

Mac/PC From £82 Mac/PC £260
The ultimate pitch-correcting software, Zynaptiq’s real-time wonder allows for the
Melodyne’s very clever DNA technology editing of pitch while it’s being played,
presents a uniquely detailed way into your correcting any tuning issues on the fly.
vocal recordings, providing the means to This could be a great choice for live
carefully nudge the pitch and intonation performance assistance, or to use as a
of your voice, and also create doublings, vocal-bending instrument for melodic
harmonies and formants. It’s the real writing. You can also use a MIDI keyboard
pinnacle of vocal adjusting tools. to define a new musical playing field for
celemony.com your voice.
zynaptiq.com
Logic Flex Pitch Waves Tune iZotope Nectar 3 Antares Auto-Tune

Mac only Included within Mac/PC £30 Mac/PC £107 Pro Mac/PC £530
Logic Pro (£174.99) Waves’ modern classic has a The masters of audio surgery are The original, and some say, the
Logic’s in-built pitch corrector huge user base, with some even also a dab hand when it comes to best – Auto Tune Pro has evolved
allows you to edit the position, preferring it to Melodyne. It has a vocal bolstering. Nectar 3 isn’t just far beyond the initial bad rep for
timing and length of notes in much similarly broad assortment of vocal a pitch-correcting powerhouse, heavy-handedly applying rigid
the same way as a piano roll editor, tweaking tools, with its waveform but assists with vocal mixing, vocal tuning, and is now a nuanced,
while also affecting its qualities by overview, piano roll and pitch polishing and production. With manual-editing beast. While more
adding vibrato or gain to the vocal editor, as well as three timeline vocal accentuating unmasking than capable of being used to
take. The characteristically simple modes. The Waves Tune family tools and 12 vocal processing form Cher-like pitch leaps, this
interface is easy to grasp if you’re also includes Real-Time, which can modules, Nectar 3 is a fluid route to latest version is jam-packed with
au fait with Logic. instantly re-work live vocals. achieving vocal excellence. humanising features and tools.
apple.com waves.com izotope.com antarestech.com

Processing your vocal

While fixing of out-of-tune or messy vocal performances is an achievable aim,
tuning is not always the central issue with vocals. There’s an array of routes to
make your voice a far more interesting sonic element of your mix
Pitch-correcting and Auto-Tune software can
help to massage and sculpt a duff performance Mouth monster
into something that shines. But that’s not Now we’ve got a handle on how we can manage
necessarily something that every track calls for. our vocal’s broader characteristics from a mix
It’s become a truism that vocal manipulation – management point of view, and before we take a
be it formant shifting, stuttering/glitching, walk on the wild side and explore some
extreme compression, distortion or rigidly particularly gnarly vocal effects, let’s take a look
aggressive use of Auto-Tune to replicate a sort at some calculated use of EQ filters. Using high-
of vocoding effect – is so ubiquitous in today’s pass filters in dramatic ways can impart a radio-
pop landscape that it’s more unusual to find a type, low-frequency quality to your vocal which
track that doesn’t exhibit it in some degree. you probably don’t need for the whole take, but
Creative vocal effects can lift certain can colour certain areas of your mix. While your
moments of a track, bolstering not just the basic vocal EQ should be attenuated to
impact of a vocal performance. Effects and eliminate anything below 100Hz, by increasing
treatment can add dirt, space-age surreality, the attenuation to nothing but the highest
transform the character of the singer entirely, frequencies of your vocal, you can conjure a
scaling between a sinister-voiced demon or a thin-sounding, razor sharp vocal effect that
high-registered chipmunk, or re-imagine the periodically emerges at key points of your track.
vocal as bendable instrument, leaping into The reverse is true of automating a murky low
ranges that no natural human voice could. pass filter at a certain point.
While extreme mixing is one thing, there’s
Ghost note rider also a slew of products that deliver a huge range
Aside from these extreme swings, it’s common of colourful vocal effects instantly. Waves OVox
practice, irrespective of genre, to rely on subtler is one particular plugin effect with the power to
automation of volume, gain, and for spatial contort your vocal dramatically. “OVox is literally
effects like delay and reverb. Harnessing playing a synth into your vocal envelopes, and
automation to scale with the dynamics of the both the synth and the envelopes can be further
mix allows for your vocal characteristics to tweaked and modified.” Waves’ Or Weisinger
sonically adjust to peaks and troughs. explains. “You can add special effects and
While now managed by your DAW, this orchestrate the entire plugin using the different
principle stems back to the hands-on days of modulators. You can also replace the built-in
fader riding, whereby a recording engineer synth carrier by any other audio and experiment
would manually scale the gain of a vocal with uncharted territories. The results are
recording live. As the singer delivered a take, the usually everything other than a polished vocal!”
engineer would adjust the gain level of the input Waves Vocal Rider mimics a manual studio action Check out our buyer’s guide for our choice of
signal, responding to the volume of the vocal. vocal-mangling tools.
You can still control your gain this way today, in movements across multiple plugins as the track
software, by using the likes of Waves Vocal Rider plays back, recording your setting tweaks and Stabs and stutters
or TB Pro Audio GainRider 3. In terms of wider repeating those steps as you go. You can also Beyond the shaking up of that lead vocal, what
vocal mix automation, such as applying filter create auxiliary channels containing the about using additional vocal recordings as a
sweeps, delay, reverb levels and more, most of required effects, sending the volume from them flexible, tone-shifting supplemental instrument?
today’s DAWs offer the means to latch your at certain predetermined points. These kinds of sounds are often the foundation
of trap, house and techno arrangements. It’s
easy to find vocal stab samples around the web
(and in fact, you can find quite the free collection
over at musicradar.com/news/tech/free-female-
vocal-samples). Using these raw samples as a
starting point, you can use your DAW’s sample
editor, such as Logic’s Quick Sampler, Cubase’s
Sample Editor or just Ableton Live’s main
sample/resample-oriented workflow to map the
vocal onto your controller, allowing you to glide
between pitch-adjusted variants, playing and
performing the vocal stabs as if they were a
synth patch. You can adjust the legato
(smoothness of note transition) between keys
and which note plays which pitch. Once you’re
ready to go, you can begin dabbling in using
your vocal samples to create harsh stabs,
morphing and winding vocal backings, chords
and – if your Glide is set to a harsh cut-off –
Waves Ovox offers a slew of creative effects sharper rhythmic stabs and stutters.

Sing sang sung

While Cher’s Believe was notably the first example of extreme
digital Auto-Tune used in a chart-smash, vocal manipulation in
the context of pop goes back a long way. Even prior to
Kraftwerk’s pre-eminent use of the vocoder, way back in 1939,
Bell Labs’ Homer Dudley created the ‘Voice Operating
Demonstrator’ – essentially a synth for the human voice that
could limit the bandwidth required for military communications
in World War II. Though he wasn’t aware at the time, he’d
created the prototype of the vocoder. These principles were
applied by such pioneers as Robert Moog and Wendy Carlos
on their influential A Clockwork Orange soundtrack, and by the
BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop in the ’70s. But, even back in the
’60s, groundbreakers like The Beatles pushed the vocal
envelope in pop. On the fab four’s epic closer to 1966’s Revolver,
John Lennon’s vocals were run through the Leslie speaker of a
Hammond organ, creating a shimmering tremolo effect. Just
one element that made Tomorrow Never Knows so innovative.
Slap delays, wrought from tape bouncing, were also common
in this period, and added depth to a vocal’s timbre.
Vocal multi-effect plugins
Soundtoys Little AlterBoy

iZotope Vocal Synth 2 Mac/PC £75
Mac/PC £150 Garnering huge respect for their exemplary
With five bendable, infinitely manipulable plugin range, Soundtoys are dab hands
modules, Vocal Synth 2 presents one of the when it comes to vocal adjustment.
most focused ways to re-shape a vocal into Specialising in formant shifting, pitch
something colossal. Its advanced spectral adjustment and melodic tweaking, Little
display responds to the characteristics of AlterBoy is a one-box pathway to a range
vowels, and reacts to your effect choices. It’s of cool new vocal worlds, you can even use
a sure-fire route to instant vocal splendour, it as a hard-tuner, and layer your track with
or ragged edge. authentic saturation.
izotope.com soundtoys.com
Klanghelm SDRR Antares Mutator Acon Digital Multiply Waves Ovox

Mac/PC £20 Mac/PC £55 Chorus Mac/PC £40
If you want your vocal to ripple Leaning more into the ‘I want to Mac/PC £FREE A vocal-twisting powerhouse,
with the burning fire of classic sound like an alien’ approach, You can’t really go wrong with Ovox goes beyond a conventional
tube saturation, you’re going to Antares’ Mutator is a sound design free swag, and for no outlay, vocoder to result in a multihued
want to invest in something like tool that can carve your voice or Acon’s Digital Multiply Chorus software voice-shifting synth like
Klanghelm’s SDRR. Harnessing vocal into a modulated, pitch- can pay dividends for your vocal. no other. With its classic talkbox,
its four different modes based on mutated extraterrestrial. Deep Processing your voice with a and artist-tailored presets, Ovox’s
vintage outboard gear, you can automation effects allow you to phase randomising filter, it can dual high-resolution engines grant
create complex, rich saturation and get more nuanced while real time simulate the effect of multiple a huge scope to totally transform
deep stereo width enhancements, processing gives direct feedback. vocalists playing the same tone your voice, all rooted in the built-in
leading to a hardy vocal character. It’s a versatile addition to any vocal simultaneously. There’s a heap of 8-voice polyphonic synthesiser.
klanghelm.com tweaking arsenal. scalability controls, too. waves.com
antarestech.com acondigital.com

Vocal mixing plugins
Oeksound Soothe 2 Valhalla DSP Vintage Verb

Mac/PC £119 Mac/PC £40
Oeksound’s smart dynamic resonance To work with Vintage Verb’s epic room,
suppressor is one of the finest plugins of ambience and concert hall reverb can
the last decade. Fact. Using astoundingly make you feel like you’re delivering the
programmed clever algorithms, Soothe 2 hefty top-line to a massive power ballad.
can isolate problematic frequencies and Taking its cues from the hardware digital
warring resonances on the fly, and trim reverbs of the 1970s and 80s, Vintage Verb’s
them out before you even notice they’re incredible range of spatial tones can lift
there. It can also take away the harshness of even the flattest of vocal takes up directly
a close-miked vocal with ease. into the stratosphere.
oeksound.com valhalladsp.com
Universal Audio Sonnox Toolbox FabFilter Soundtoys

1176 Classic VoxDoubler Pro Q 3 Decapitator Mac/PC
Limiter Collection Mac/PC £30 Mac/PC £130 £159
Mac/PC (£175) VoxDoubler is focused on one of One of the most beloved mixing Another entry for Soundtoys,
Now a decade old, Universal the most recurrent vocal mixing tools around today. FabFilter’s Decapitator can apply some
Audio’s 1176 emulation was among issues: enhancing a weedy vocal Pro Q 3 is the last word in pro sumptuous and authentic
the first examples of the startling take. Doubling the vocal to make equalisation, and is an effective hardware-modelled saturation to
faithfulness of UAD software’s it sound either more thickened sculptor of tonally sublime vocals. your vocal. Once the secret sauce
design. Recreating a true studio or spread out wider in the stereo Its GUI isn’t just pretty, its deep behind truly legendary vocal takes,
legend, the 1176 collection lets you image is the dual-pronged spectrum analysis allows you to Decapitator makes it easy to mould
track and mix with the same gain, route that Voxdoubler takes. It’s easily apply notching, transient a classic-sounding top-line, or can
distortion and compression as that an extremely slick way to get taming, and dynamic band EQing be cranked up to unleash some
one-time staple of hardware. impactful vocals quickly. to your mix. fiery overdriven textures.
uaudio.com sonnox.com fabfilter.com soundtoys.com

Mixing your vocals

Though you can correct the pitch, tuning and vibrato of your voice in
software, as well as contort it into all manner of extraordinary sonic shapes
and characters, it’s all for naught if you can’t actually hear your vocal in the mix
Regardless of how tightly in-tune your lead intrusive low end sounds. Though this can be
vocals, or how bizarre and idiosyncratic the
treatment you apply to it, if a colossal synth lead
“It’s critical that we instantly helpful, be mindful of how your vocal
sounds with this more extreme barrier applied.
is daubed all over it, or if pounding sub-bass
renders it a mere distant echo in your mix, all
take the time to listen You don’t want your vocal to sound too
unnatural, so more selective low-end notching
that hard work will ultimately still lead to a
disappointing, ineffective vocal. Therefore, it’s to our vocal within in software may be preferable.
critical we take the time to listen to our vocal Breathing room

within the overall sound of our mix.
A primary question we need to ask ourselves
the overall sound of With your vocal now a punchy mid-frequency
range aspect of your mix, you’re going to need
from the get-go is whether we want our vocal to
be the top-line element – as is traditional in most
our mix” to be very mindful of your stereo image, and the
instruments that compete with your vocal for
contemporary genres. We’re going to assume attention in the same frequency space. Guitar,
that this is the case, though we’ll also look at piano, violins and synths are particular culprits
effective mixing of vocals-as-instrument later in As we explained in the previous section, here. While the high-pass filter serves to build a
this ‘mixing’ section of our vocals feature. using a high-pass filter on frequencies sitting great barrier which keeps the low frequencies
between the 80Hz to 150Hz range will eliminate out, more surgical subtractive EQing is required
Roll deep the rumble of extreme low end, as well as that when dealing with extremes in the mid-high
By the mixing stage, you should have already all-too-common vibration that comes from frequencies. In fact, it’s often an idea to apply a
comped the best performances into your final things such as passing traffic when recording. frequency sweep to your vocal. Using a
mix element, and used the appropriate amount Though we emphasised that some aggressive parametric EQ such as FabFilter Pro Q 3 or
of pitch-correction. Whether you’ve run the high pass filtering can concoct odd vocal iZotope’s Neutron, we can sweep across the
vocal through a vocoding or effects plugin chain characteristics, in a general mix context you frequencies and spotlight serious problems. We
isn’t massively pertinent at this time. What is should apply caution at every turn. Low-end roll set the band frequency to somewhere around
fundamental to take into account, is whether off is fairly easy to apply even before you get to 30Hz, with around 10dB of gain. Once you play
your vocal is rubbing up alongside other your DAW – most microphones have a low-end back your track, gradually raise the peaking
instruments within the mix. roll-off switch that physically eliminates those filter frequency across all the frequencies of the
Sonnox Oxford SuperEsser stops your take sounding hiss-terical

Waves Sibilance is another hero for saving us from the

agony of unwanted vocal noises
track. When you notice the particular problems

getting better (or worse) then stop and zoom in
Choirmaster
– you’ve found the area which you need to either While lead vocals and supplemental vocal chops
reduce or boost.
Compression is another major factor to and stabs are to be treated as individual mix
consider when mixing vocals. Though typically
used as a means of reducing or enhancing gain, components when marking out your frequency
apt use of a compressor on a vocal can also
impart space and depth to the sound. Though space, when it comes to larger-scale vocals within a
there are all manner of ways to approach your
vocal’s compression level, consistency is the
track, such as when you’re juggling several backing
general rule of thumb – you don’t want extreme
dips or peaks in gain levels, and they need to
vocals to craft something akin to a choir, then you’re
find a place somehow above the mix.
Taming transients is a little different with
going to need to be extra careful that your voices
vocals, as – unlike drums – there’s no ‘hit’ to
tackle; instead, we’re mainly dealing with
coalesce, and don’t sound disjointed, or have
plosives, consonants and other lip-smacking
sounds. More delicate use of EQing,
wayward tracks spinning off into busy areas of your
compression and de-essing plugins such as mix. Typically, backing vocals will always need to be
Waves Sibilance and Sonnox Oxford SuperEsser
can eradicate those unexpected vocal tics and quieter than your lead vocal take, particularly if
lingering ‘s’ sibilant sounds. Careful use of all of
the above is key to moulding a vocal that has they’re seeking to bolster or enhance the mood of
both clarity and punch.
your song. With this lower volume comes a more
Chopscotch
Aside from the lead vocal, backing vocals or broad brush approach to spatial effects such as
vocal stabs/chops need to be approached with a
very different, more mix-considered mindset. reverb. Hall or chamber reverbs on multiple
Chops in particular, are essentially sliced-up
samples of vowels, typically played back in new background vocals present a quick means to mesh
rhythmic shapes. Therefore, they generally need
to be considered not so much as standout mix them together within the same (virtual) space. It
components that battle with your lead vocal, but
supplement it by being placed at less
helps to use a different type of reverb, and different
conspicuous corners of the stereo field. Often,
vocal chops can be emphasised by either
vocal treatment altogether for that matter, than the
extreme pitch-correction and warping (to make
them sound robotic) or daubed in reverb (to
lead vocal. Placing your backing vocal tracks in one
give them more natural sounding space).
We’ve now explored how pitch-correction,
specific area of the mix (as opposed to panning
effect processing and mixing can enhance even
the most amateur of vocalists’ takes. Ultimately,
them around) aids the perception that you’ve
with the gamut of software solutions available, actually recorded a small group of human beings for
lacking natural ability is no reason to feel a lack
of confidence about working with your voice. real. If reality is your aim then, don’t over-do the
Now we’ll explore some vocal hardware and get
hands-on with some software workshops. pitch-correction; it sounds more organic.
Best interfaces for vocal mics
Universal Audio Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 3rd Gen

Apollo Twin Mk II Mac/PC £175
Mac/PC From £850 Focusrite are dab hands when it comes to
One of the world’s most acclaimed affordable studio quality interfaces, and the
interfaces, the Apollo Twin MK II is a real Scarlett series is among the industry’s most
winner for vocal recording, as well as ubiquitous I/Os. Now sporting an Air switch
anything else you might throw at it. With – giving more high frequency space and
internal DSP handling the processing strain, clarity to the vocals that it captures – the
it’s easy to enhance even a dry vocal take 4i4 is an affordable route towards awesome
with UA’s Unison modelling technology. vocal takes.
uaudio.com focusrite.com
Steinberg UR44C Native Instruments Audient iD4 Mk II Apogee Duet 3

£240 Komplete Audio 6 £105 £499
Steinberg’s I/O powerhouse is more £209 Audient’s iD4 makes a serious case This modern version of Apogee’s
than ready to handle the rigours Software titans NIs’ foray into for being the best interface that renowned Duet interface sports
of a full-band recording. But it is the world of studio interfacing money can buy, especially in the hardware DSP underneath its tiny
particularly adept at vocal capture, is a triumph. The best of these is vocal domain. With an Audient hood, as well as two world-class
thanks to its D-PRE microphone Komplete Audio 6, and features six console hybrid discreet mic pre preamps. The DSP is controlled
preamps, delivering warm, detailed pristine in and six-out connections, and class-leading converters by a software channel strip, tuned
and transparent reproduction of ultra-low latency, 48v phantom within, every vocal take is captured by American classic rock studio
the human voice, with zero latency. power and easy to understand LED with beautiful accuracy, and with legend Bob Clearmountain himself.
Even if you’re not a Cubase user, VU meters to keep tabs on signal low noise and classic analogue It’s the ultimate vocal hub.
the UR44C is certainly worth a test. strength. It’s a real beauty. warmth. Top drawer stuff. apogeedigital.com
steinberg.net native-instruments.com audient.com

Vocal booths and accessories
Aston Halo SE Reflexion Filter Pro

£205 £158
A portable vocal isolation booth without SE really established the benchmark when
peer, Aston’s Halo re-imagined the concept it comes to portable vocal isolation, and
from the ground up, creating a supremely their Reflexion Filter Pro is still very much a
effective tool for isolation, absorption, top-tier vocal isolating solution to this day.
diffusion and 360 degree filtering. Its PET With its multi-layer acoustic fabric design, it
felt design and ease of mounting make it a works to eradicate intrusive room noise
no-brainer if you want completely isolated and keeps everything squarely focused on
vocal capture. It looks pretty cool, too. your vocal.
astonmics.com seelectronics.com
GIK Acoustics VISO Soyuz The Launcher Kaotica Eyeball Cloud Microphones
Booth £175) £150 £189 Cloudlifter CL-1 £145
Harnessing their many years of Able to impart the character of a Described as a ‘microphone Bringing up to +25dB extra of
experience as acoustic treatment range of classic tones onto your isolation ball’, the Kaotica Eyeball clean gain, the Cloudlifter’s superb
specialists, GIK’s VISO Booth is mics, Soyuz’s The Launcher is a is placed over your mic to keep attributes can push your vocal
both an aesthetically pleasing nifty way to get superior quality the sounds it captures immune performance to new heights.
and technically brilliant tool for vocal takes even if you’ve got a from room reflections, pop and Harnessing JFET circuitry, the
isolating the voice. The company low-budget mic. It significantly intrusive external sound. Aimed Cloudlifter is an able tool to assist
uses exactly the same high quality boosts gain, reduces background at those working in untreated your vocal’s prominence in a mix in
rock wool core that they use in noise and applies a secret formula environments, the Eyeball can both studio and on stage. Its plug-
their patented room treatments to the signal path. Soyuz’s device enhance and underline your vocal, and-play simplicity makes it all the
when crafting the VISO Booth. can really give you a lift. keeping its characteristics in focus. more appealing.
gikacoustics.com soyuzmicrophonescom kaoticaeyeball.com cloudmicrophones.com

> Step by step 1. Enhancing vocals with Antares Auto-Tune
1 2
Antares Auto-Tune is a remarkably dexterous suite of voice- We’ve got a demo we’re working on, with a vocal melody
manipulating software, and is now capable of far more, particularly concocted of samples. However the samples are dry and entirely
via the family of sub-plugins such as Auto-Key and EFX. out of tune and roughly in tempo with our track pitch. (Check out the
file ‘Sample 1’ at the Tutorials folder downloaded via FileSilo).
3 4
Opening Antares Auto-Tune, the first thing we do is snap our vocal Setting the Re-Tune speed higher can make our vocal snap more
track to the correct pitch key using Auto-Key. This recent addition sharply to the key of the track. Cranking it right up, and reducing
to the Antares family intelligently discerns our root key. We can then Humanize controls gets us something more aggressively tuned
send the key to Auto-Tune. (Sample 2).
5 6
Using the Flex Tune control can dial back some of the harshness For this second section, we’ve opened the Auto-Tune EFX plugin,
for the first part of the vocal, but we want to keep a more electronic and applied a Duet effect. We can add up to four effects here,
time for the second part. including spatial effects, to expand our now quite pretty vocal into
something that’s starting to sound much cooler (Sample 3).

> Step by step 2. Vocal mixing tips
1 2
Getting our vocal to sit well in a mix often requires some delicate For certain sections, we want to bolster our vocal in the mix, while
wrangling. Firstly let’s take a look at compression. Our vocal take is other parts we need it quieter. This is where gain automation comes
bolstered by a 5:1 compression ratio, but the lower the ratio, the more we in. Every DAW will enable you to do this. In Logic we can raise our gain at
hear the natural vocal dynamics. these key points
3 4
EQing our vocals requires us to listen to our vocal in context – how Trim out unnecessary gaps in your vocal stem, and use a De-Esser
well is it playing with other instruments in the mix? Cut and boost to get shot of plosives and lip-smacking. Loop a small section and
frequencies accordingly. You’ll want to scoop out some low end to isolate what frequency area is the most troublesome before applying
eradicate rumble, but be careful you don’t lose character! to your whole mix.
5 6
Unless you’re being super surgical for a specific reason, never mix Adding new effects can be dangerous if you’ve already
vocals in isolation. You should always find the correct gain balance painstakingly sculpted your mix. So make sure you add any extra
and compression settings by playing all your mix elements together, treatment as an auxiliary channel so you can dial them in as needed
avoid the solo button and hear how your track is working as a whole. and not disrupt your vocal equilibrium!

> Step by step 3. Getting creative with Waves OVox
1 2
Waves OVox is one of the most comprehensive vocal FX suites that At the top left of the UI, you can select which signal to be used as
money can buy, able to vocode, double, synthesise and re-wire any OVox’s modulator. We’re going to choose Track, but you can also
vocal into a tantalising new musical form. use a Sidechain input.
3 4
On the OVox 1 and 2 controls, we can adjust Tune, Formant and Clicking the top right expansion icon reveals the hidden depths of
Gain rotaries to taste, while the bottom of the UI features the mixer OVox’s twin oscillators. Here we can adjust deeper settings such as
section. Here we can play with Voice Correction and Sibilance. Note Harmonics, Noise and Formant Speed for each oscillator.
5 6
It’s simple enough to create a new modulator too. Dragging an LFO Once you’ve crafted a new sonic flavour for your vocal sound, the
or a SEQ to a rotary will allow you to control the levels of the central Note Mapper can force your vocal’s pitch to notes, and the
modulator. There are also up to five effect slots to further distort and harmoniser can expand your single notes into chords – if you want to
enhance your vocal. get ultra-robotic.

> Step by step 4. Pitch correction with Logic Flex Pitch
1 2
We’ve got an idea for how we want our vocals to fit in our Logic Next we press E to enter the Editor for our vocal. In Editor we click
track, matching our lead line, yet our vocal take seems a little off- Show/Hide Flex which opens our Flex options. Clicking Flex Pitch
pitch. Let’s sort that out. gives a visual representation of our vocal – clicking on the circles around
each box indicates how far from the required pitch we are, numerically.
3 4
It’s apparent that aside from a few of our early notes, we’re quite We’ve done a broad correction to our vocal pitch – adjusting our
far off the required pitch – clicking and dragging the centre circle – notes to between 0 and 10 each way. However, as we can visually
and we now have to adjust our notes to reach the right position. see, our vocal’s sound really isn’t a consistent pitch. The waveform
drifts way out of the required boxed-in pitch area.
5 6
Clicking the top right and left allows us to reign in this ‘pitch drift’ – It’s also an idea to carefully trim down any elongated notes by
reducing the natural off-pitch vibrato and swooping. Clicking the grabbing the side of each box and incrementally shortening their
bottom centre Vibrato circle allows us to further mould the pitch and duration. This can help eliminate any prolonged off key warbling.
reduce wobble.

7 8
Now our vocal is looking and sounding a little more palatable. There’s still some problematic pitch drift. Click on the Scissors icon
However some parts of our vocal sound a little too ‘corrected’. to make cuts to those parts of the vocal where there are more
Keep a considered grasp on the overall sound of the voice, and don’t let extreme issues with curves wandering out of the pitch marker area.
it get too robotic.
9 10
Using the Scissors tool to slice out those sections creates new Once you’ve got a finer focus on these wayward areas in your
pitch boxes more aligned to their specific location. There’s no limit project, zoom in and use the Pitch Drift/Vibrato circles in Logic to
to how deep into the audio you can go – but again, retain a close ear on adjust the pitch frequency to fit.
the overall artificiality.
11 12
Other qualities, like Gain on specific sections, and Formant While we’ve got some way to go before this track is finished, some
transposition (represented in circles) can underline parts of the adjustment with Flex Pitch has aligned our vocal to a more
performance that weren’t as prominent before, and enhance sections. consistent pitch zone. How much you need to apply is down to you.

> Step by step 5. Making a vocal sample instrument
1 2
Making your own playable vocal chops, either from your own Zoom into your vocal, and hone in on a section that you think
voice or from an existing sample, is a great way to start thinking could be worked with. We’ve found a section in ours where we’ve
about approaching your voice in a more musical and rhythmic context. got a little note sustain. Create a loop around a section and trim it out
of the track.
3 4
Next we’ll take this vocal section, and open it in Logic’s Quick You might notice popping or clicking from where the sample was
Sampler. Here we can choose between assigning the sample in trimmed out of the original vocal stem. It’s often a good idea to
Classic Mode, which spans it across our MIDI keyboard range, or in adjust fade in and fade out points to smoothen out this harshness.
One Shot mode, where any note will play the whole sample regardless
of other notes played.
5 6
Using Quick Sampler’s synthesis and sound shaping controls, we For more impactful stabs using a saturation plugin, such as
can begin to manipulate the tone, filter settings and overall pitch of Soundtoys Decapitator, can further energise the sound, while extra
this now playable sound. An automated LFO, in sync with your project compression can help this new vocal instrument stick out in your mix.
tempo, can really help to give the impression of movement. That’s it! We hope we’ve armed you with enough tips and tutorials to
help make your vocals work better in your music!

> bass alternatives
bass
B A S S D E S I G N
A LT E R N AT I V E S
Bass doesn’t have to be… well, bass! Pretty
much any sound can be pressed into low-end
service, as we’re about to demonstrate
One of the defining characteristics of driving force behind the track, and often the Over the next six pages, we’re going to build
modern music is that it has thicker, richer, most instantly recognisable part of it. a solid bass-driven groove without an actual
fatter bass than anything that has gone But with so much synth power at our bass patch in sight, combining percussion, pads,
before. It’s fair to assume that we, as a fingertips, is there still room for creativity or has pianos, everyday household items and just a
species, have always appreciated low it all become too comfortable and formulaic? smidgeon of sub-bass. We should point out that
frequencies in our tunes, but it’s only in the Well, in fact, thanks to the incredible power of when using any of these kinds of techniques, it’s
last couple of decades that we’ve been able to today’s software samplers and effects plugins, a good idea to do so right at the start of a
reproduce the kind of ultra-low rumbling we can now easily capture any sound we like project. Finding an out-there, mangled non-bass
depth that used to be reserved for from the ‘non-musical’ world, and pitch and bass riff that fits perfectly with an existing track
earthquakes and other acts of God. shape it into a musically viable tone. Whether is likely to be a mission in futility. Consequently,
Dance music, in particular, is driven by its pitching down voices, beefing up beatboxing or such strong and noticeable basslines are, we
bottom end to such an extent that you can get a recording the sounds of household items, we believe, best handled at the same time as your
dancefloor rocking with nothing more than a now have everything we need to be able to turn drums – right at the start – to form a foundation
basic beat and a massive single-note bass. Some these sounds into solid bass elements – or, at the on which to build the rest of the track.
of the most recognisable basslines – Michael very least, to be a rich, sub-sonic part of a We use Ableton Live in our examples but the
Jackson’s Billie Jean, for example – are the modern, digitally produced track. principles apply to any DAW.

bass alternatives <
Somebody say ‘bass’

Ever since the advent of the affordable sampler, proved, sometimes non-bass bass parts are at
people have been recording the sound of their
own voice and playing musical riffs with it. In
“Sometimes non-bass their best when used for just a few sections of a
track while the rest is underpinned by a
fact, we’re willing to bet that after shelling out
for a Fairlight CMI (the first sampler, costing
bass parts are at their conventional bassline. The key is to make sure
that when you don’t have any other bassline
around £20,000 in 1979), even the likes of early
adopters Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder best when used for playing, your other elements can stand up alone
without a gaping hole in the low end.
weren’t shy about burping into the mic and Another option is to reinforce your bottom
playing the result up and down the keyboard. just a few sections” end with a deep, sub-heavy kick or simple sub-
Fast forward to the mid-80s and early rap hit bass part, while placing your pitched-down
(Nothing Serious) Just Buggin’ by Whistle took a sampled vocal in the essential bass range
single syllable of a sampled vocal and played a These days we have much more advanced between sub-bass (60Hz or lower) and low-mids
riff with it, achieving UK chart success in the processing at our disposal and we can add (250-500Hz). In such cases, it’s usually best to
process. Other global hits doing the same thing artificially generated sub-harmonics to any cut everything out of the part below 60Hz to
included Yello’s Oh Yeah, and while that one sound, including making full-on sub-rattling leave space for the sub to breathe cleanly.
actually features a separate bassline in some sampled vocal riffs that can serve as basslines in Whichever approach you choose, though,
sections, much of the track consists of nothing their own right. But there’s no reason why any of make sure that what you have sounds awesome.
but drums and the deep, rich artificial baritone the sounds discussed here have to be the only Let’s have a look at how to create, edit and tune
of a sampled vocal. bass element in your track. As Yello’s seminal hit vocal samples that work well as basslines.
> Step by step 1. Turning a vocal into a bassline
TUTORIAL
FILES
1 2
We start by recording a few spoken words, as low as we Next we edit the start point to make sure we have a crisp, sharp
comfortably can, and keep them short and punchy – stick to single attack, then play a simple riff. We tweak the tuning to taste – deep
syllables – so that they still sound tight when pitched down a little. We but not so deep that the sample starts to break up. It’s also important
employ two versions of the word ‘Yo’, making one slightly longer than to keep the note lengths to something tight and punchy, and make
the other. We then load the shorter, punchier one into Ableton Live’s sure the timing fits the drums nicely.
Sampler and add the loop LWK_122_Down_Full.wav from FileSilo.
3 4
Now we add the longer ‘Yo’ every other bar, filling a gap in the We add a gate to tighten up the vocal further (keeping the
groove, and tune it to match the tuning of the main vocal riff. We envelope punchy), followed by an EQ to remove messy subs below
now have a nice vocal riff comfortably occupying the lower mids and around 90Hz. We also EQ out a little notch around the 250Hz area to
bass range. We add a limiter to it to lend further weight, so that when tame those muddy, boxy frequencies. Finally we add some reverb to fill
we turn up the volume we really feel some weight in the vocal. out the part, giving it a bit of size and space, followed by another gate
to ensure that the reverb doesn’t loosen things. (Audio: Yo bass riff)

> bass alternatives
Give us a sine
Before synthesisers came along, the only but you can always reinforce the sound with
instruments capable of producing deep bass
sounds were thick strings with a suitable
“Many modern another, separately processed sub-bass layer,
applying much the same techniques as those
resonating medium (cellos, double basses,
washtub basses), large orchestral drums, and, in
musical genres have we’re covering here.
Another advantage to having a separate sub
more recent years, amplified electric bass
guitars. With the invention of the synth, it all but ditched the layer becomes apparent when you reach the
arrangement stage. Pure sub notes are often
became possible to reinforce less bass-heavy quite hard to even notice unless you’re a
grooves and riffs with long sub-bass notes, or conventional bassline” producer who’s listening for them or an
even layer in duplicate parts following the riff exceptionally sharp-eared customer – a fact that
but playing a lower sub note. We’ve covered can be used to great effect during breakdowns
sub-bass before in Computer Music, but there example, many modern musical genres have all in club tracks. Breakdowns can easily sound a
are a few other things to keep in mind when but ditched the conventional bassline in favour little thin and empty in the bottom end, but
layering subs with recorded samples – namely, of big, brash gated lead pad riffs featuring a featuring the sub layer of your bass riff turned
tuning and group processing to pull the real- huge bottom end. down very low in the mix so that it can be felt
world bass sounds and the synthesised sub Producers (and ghost producers) of EDM, (just) without really being heard can fill the gap
layers together. pop and hip-hop are using these kinds of sounds out very nicely. You can also mute the upper
It’s also worth noting that the same tricks can reinforced with a sub layer. Many synth patches bass layer at different points and just allow the
be employed with other synth parts, too. For actually mix in their own onboard sub-oscillator, sub layer to play.
> Step by step 2. Reinforcing our vocal bass with a sub layer
1 2
Picking up where we left off in the last walkthrough we create a We tune the notes so that they match the tuning of the vox riff.
new MIDI track and add an Analog synth in Live. We just want a Now we can either tweak the fine-tuning of the sine bass or the
single sine wave to act as a reinforcing element underneath our Vox sample. In general, it makes sense to tune the samples to match the
Bass, so that’s what we set up. We keep the tuning high to judge the synths, as the latter will be properly tuned to definite notes whereas
notes, then copy over our Vox Bass MIDI part (the notes themselves samples – particularly those you’ve recorded yourself – often won’t be.
will most likely be wrong but the intervals between them will be right).
3 4
It’s important that the sub layer is tightly compressed so that it The last step is to process the sub and vocal bass layers together
matches our tight, clipped vocal riff, so we add a compressor, to pull them into a tight whole. We route Vox Bass and Sub to a
setting a long Attack and short Release to ensure punch. We also tweak group channel and apply some gluing tube/tape emulation. Next
the Release time to complement the release of the vocal sample. Too comes compression and gating, making sure the envelopes of both
short and it’ll sound unnatural; too long and it’ll cause the whole vox/ layers are tightly matched. A limiter avoids clipping and, finally, a
sub riff to feel loose. bitcrusher adds a little edge and further merges the sounds. (Audio: Yo
bass sub-layer)

bass alternatives <
Rattle those pots and pans

Throughout the history of recorded music, an microphone, the recording environment and the The next thing to consider is the envelope of
endless array of weird and wonderful objects qualities of the sound itself are all important the sound. The best way to achieve bass sounds
has been employed in the quest for the perfect factors. For example, strike too far from the mic with found sound samples usually involves
bassline. Some of them were chosen based on and you’ll capture too much ambience, which pitching them down, but this will always extend
pure inventive spirit, but others came about will become very messy indeed when your their length and soften their transients, making
through simple pragmatism. The washtub/ samples are pitched down by any significant them less punchy and well-defined.
broomstick bass, for example, consisted of a amount. If you’re sampling something being Finally, layering other, lower sounds or a sine
piece of string, a metal tub and a broomstick, struck, it should be beaten with optimum speed wave under your found sounds can help to add
and was invented because many people didn’t and force, ensuring a good balance of attack more oomph to a given sample.
have the money to buy a proper double bass. phase and release reverberations when the In the end, the most important thing is to
The result was a classic and characterful sample is slowed down. have fun and, crucially, make sure the sound
instrument. More modern examples include The decision to use a hand or a stick can be quality is up to scratch. Badly recorded sounds
sounds like explosions, footsteps, beatboxing or an important one, too. If you’re hitting a pillow, will always sound terrible in a musical context –
wooden spoons on pots and pans – all potent for example, the deepest, more bass-heavy particularly so-called ‘experimental’ ones. But
sampler fodder in the right hands. sound will be achieved with an open palm; but get yourself a well-chosen, well-recorded and
There are three main things to consider when on a pan or other such hollow, resonant drum creatively played sound and it will imbue your
trying to turn everyday (aka ‘found’) sounds into substitute, a wooden spoon, perhaps wrapped track with tones and textures that you simply
playable, bassy versions of themselves. First is in a tea-towel to soften the strike while keeping can’t achieve with synthesis, adding real
the recording process itself. The type of the attack, can work wonders. character and depth to the final mix.
> Step by step 3. Found sound basslines
1 2
We start by selecting a decent microphone that can handle high We select a wooden spoon and two medium-sized saucepans, and
sound pressure levels. There are plenty of drum mics out there, wrap a tea towel tightly around the spoon to ensure that the strike
but as top quality isn’t a priority we select our trusty Shure SM58 isn’t too harsh but still hard enough to elicit a good strong attack and
dynamic stage mic and send it to an input in our DAW. We locate reverberations. Then we engage record and start hitting the pans.
ourselves in the kitchen for no other reason than that we have a good We’re going for clean, reverberating textures, so we strike them in
supply of things to hit and other things to hit them with there. various places (see the Raw Files folder).
3 4
For each of the two pans, we record about 10-20 seconds of strikes. Next, we relocate to the bathroom and start bashing various things
You’ll notice that how and where you hold the saucepan will affect with a large bath loofah (dry, naturally). We try the bathtub, the
the amount of reverberation. For maximum note lengths, try medium- towel radiator and the window. It’s always worth experimenting, as you
strength hits in a tapping motion with the pan dangled loosely from simply won’t know what works until you slow it down. Finally, for good
two fingers (holding the handle). Note: it’s important to start a new measure, we retrieve our wooden spoon and spank a medium-sized
recording for each object. inflatable gym ball (see the Raw Files folder).

> bass alternatives
5 6
With all our recordings in place, we use Live’s Transpose to tune Live’s clip pitch control, as good as it is, can sometimes damage the
the recordings down until we find the optimum tone for each (this sound quality, but it doesn’t alter the timing and envelopes. We
is why it helps to have them in separate recordings). Now we select our now load our chosen samples into a sampler and tune them there. This
favourite strikes and note their ideal pitch settings. Some don’t sound potentially alters their length and envelope, so with our optimum
that good, so we simply discard them (this kind of procedure is all tuning set for each sample, we might decide to re-bounce these audio
about trial and error). files with the tuning – although in this case, we don’t.
7 8
Time to play some bass with our chosen samples. Our original bass After experimenting with a few riffs, we select our favourite.
riff leaves plenty of space, so we can just play some riffs into our Depending on the range of your riff, the sound quality/envelope
existing project. Using a single sampled sound, you won’t be able to could start to break down as it reaches the top or bottom of the note
play a riff up or down by more than a few semitones before it loses range. If that’s the case, you can go back to your original sample and
quality and weight, so try to keep things within that range. tune it closer to the difficult notes, or create a multisample patch.
9 10
With our riff working well, it’s time to add some final tweaks. You The final touch is the application of compression and reverb. We
may need to tweak the envelope Decay and Sustain a little to want a fairly long Attack and short Release to make the hits
maximise punch, and the Release to keep things tight. As we’ve sufficiently punchy. For the reverb (applied as an insert), we keep
mentioned, sampled notes will increase and decrease in length, things fairly dry, so as not to swamp the mix. For the same reason, we
making things sound a little loose, so we pull in the Release and tweak apply a low-cut filter to the reverb signal – rolling off the top end
the MIDI note lengths. ensures that the hits stay defined. (Audio: Pot riff)

bass alternatives <
Tom tom club

Ever since the early days of electronic music, time on it already, you’ll then probably feel
many tracks have dispensed with proper
basslines altogether. After all, bass exists largely
“Bass elements don’t committed and waste the next day doing
exactly the same – nothing is more dangerous in
to give sonic weight and groove, so bass
elements don’t actually have to make a
actually have to the studio than something that almost works!
Instead, we find it best to start out with drums
significant musical contribution – at least, not in
a conventional melodic way. For that reason, make a significant and toms, creating a big, chunky tom-bass
pattern upon which to build the rest of the track.
tom toms, both real and electronic, can make an This is fairly easy to do, but there are a few
excellent bass substitute. Classic house number musical contribution” things to keep in mind that make the process
Break 4 Love, for example, relies entirely on big, much more effective.
rich, super-tight toms to provide the low end for For this walkthrough we’re using Ableton
much of the track. you always have the option of tuning them to fit, Live’s sampled drum machine toms, but real
This type of percussive bass part usually but that can be tricky and often involves lots of ones can work just as well. Their natural
works best if used as a starting point. Toms (as fiddly, vibe-dampening editing. Quite often you harmonics can really enrich an otherwise
with all drums) should almost always be tuned, end up with something that sounds like it’s digital-sounding track, but there’s often
but however perfectly pitched they are, it can be almost there, then waste an hour or two trying something jarringly ‘pure’ about them. A simple
quite hard to get them to fit an existing riff or to get it right, only to realise the next day that way to bridge the sonic gap between acoustic
song when they’re used as a bassline substitute. you’ve been trying to push a square peg and synthetic is subtle degrading, so try using a
It can work, and with electronic or sampled toms through a round hole. Having spent so much bitcrusher to reduce the bit rate to 12-bit.
> Step by step 4. Turning toms into bass
1 2
We’re ignoring our own advice here, but we aren’t trying to get our We play in a very fast rhythm on the low tom, giving the track a
toms to fit anything particularly musical – just our saucepan riff rolling vibe. Miraculously, the tuning is pretty much spot-on for our
from earlier. We mute the vocal and sub-layer group and load Live’s purposes, so we move on and play in one note each on the high and
version of the king of synthetic tom devices: the Classic 909 Drum the mid toms. The high tom requires significant tuning, so we do that
Rack, based on samples of the seminal Roland TR-909 drum machine. next. The mid tom doesn’t play with any other parts, so we can leave it
at its default tuning.
3 4
It’s important to tame the more troublesome frequencies of any Finally, we add a limiter and a little gain, ensuring that the toms
highly harmonic element like electronic toms, so we remove have the weight we need to really push things forward. Now it’s
everything below 60Hz, leaving space for our vocal subs. A little gain just a matter of getting the right placement within the track. The key to
nudge at that 60Hz mark gives a touch of extra fatness, and we roll getting toms to work well in a busy mix is to make sure they don’t play
some of the top end off to around 12kHz so that the toms don’t sound alongside anything they might clash with, so we reserve ours for when
too shiny – for a brighter, more ‘pop’ sound, don’t bother. our vox and sub riff isn’t playing. (Audio: Tom riff, Full loop)

> bass alternatives
In the pit
Recording household objects is great fun, but There are many other great sites out there for
it’s by no means the only way to create tasty
basslines from sources other than synth bass
“Orchestral and free sounds, including more commercial and
professional outfits like splice.com and
and bass guitars. Orchestral and world music
are no strangers to the bottom end. Beethoven,
world music are no loopmasters.com who all offer free demo
sample packs.
Schubert, Britten… these guys were fully au fait
with arse-twitching rumbles, and the only thing strangers to the Other less well known sites include
Samplefocus (which has some great tuba
they lacked were the tools to channel naturally samples to use in our walkthrough below) and
deep instruments like the tuba into funky, bottom end” sampleswap.org. You’ll need to register to
compressed basslines. search and download on most sites.
Of course they probably didn’t see things that The other sample we’ve used is taken from
way, but the world keeps spinning, and if they To follow along, then, you’ll need to get hold freesound.org. It’s free to sign up and we highly
were alive today, no doubt they’d be excited by of some tuba and didgeridoo samples. Feel free recommend you do. Whether you’re after
the possibilities afforded them by modern kit. to source your own or, of course, you can bizarre street recordings, esoteric instrument
In this walkthrough we’re going to show you download all sorts of free samples from the net. solos or just some stock Foley, it’s one of the
how to take real instruments (tuba and As ever we should plug our own site musicradar. best soundware resources on the net.
didgeridoo, to be specific) and tweak their com which has a vast amount of samples under We’ll be using a didgeridoo sample from the
sounds to create funky and playable sampled the site of Sample Radar (do a search and site which you can download from http://
bass patches. Google will take you direct to the main menu). freesound.org/people/8767yy/sounds/212704.
> Step by step 5. Didgeri-tuba-bass
1 2
Start by loading the sample into your sampler (we’re using Live’s Our long, smooth tuba note now sounds much more like a
Sampler). It plays the note A2, so set that as the root key on the hammering bass monster, so we load the beat LWK_123_Before_Full
keyboard. Edit the Start point to remove any silence. The sample is (courtesy of Loopmasters’ Leftwing & Kody Depp House Tools
rather quiet, so add some gain. Flipping to the amplitude envelope, we collection) and play in a grooving bassline. Single sampled notes can
pull the Sustain right down and set the Decay to about 180ms for an include odd harmonics, so we filter them out using EQ Eight and roll off
almost percussive hit. the bass below 30Hz.
3 4
The riff still lacks a bit of edge, so we add some subtle chorusing, Now to add some didgeridoo to fill the gap in our tuba bassline.
providing extra body and shape, then top it off with a little tape Load the sample 85780__sandyrb__didgeridoo-05.wav into a
saturation. We apply strong compression with a slow Attack to let the sampler and listen for a good snippet. We choose one from around the
punch come through, and add a limiter for more weight (the tuba is 21s mark, draw in a MIDI note, then tune the sample so that it fits the
simply not as fat as a synth bass otherwise). Finally, a gate gives even bassline. We then tweak the sample start point to get the right timing
tighter control of the envelope. (Audio: Tuba bass) at this pitch/speed. An EQ boost at 70Hz fills things out, and reverb
gives space. (Audio: Didgeri-tuba)

SUBSCRIBE TO
TODAY AND GET
3 ISSUES
Pay just £1.67 an issue | Save on
the shop price | Delivery straight to
your door or device
+ NEVER MISS AN ISSUE!
subscriptions <
Choose your package…
PRINT PRINT + DIGITAL
ONLY £5 ONLY £5
FOR 3 ISSUES FOR 3 ISSUES
IT’S EASY TO SUBSCRIBE

Click magazinesdirect.com/cmu/A28M
Call 0
330 3331113 and quote ‘A28M’
Offer closes 12th July 2022. Offer open to new UK subscribers only. * After your first 3 issues, your subscription will continue at £18.75 (print only), £22.50 (print + digital) by 6 monthly Direct Debit. Please allow up to six weeks for delivery of
your first subscription issue. The full subscription rate is for 12 months (13 issues) and includes postage and packaging. If the magazine ordered changes frequency per annum, we will honour the number of issues paid for, not the term of the
subscription. For full terms and conditions, visit www.magazinesdirect.com/terms. For enquiries and overseas rates please call: +44 (0) 330 333 1113. Lines are open Monday- Friday 9am- 5pm UK Time or e-mail: help@magazinesdirect.com.
Calls to 0330 numbers will be charged at no more than a national landline call, and may be included in your phone provider’s call bundle.

WHY NOT ?
SUBSCRIBdeEals
Check out our ould
c
online and you
SAVE ££s
NEW ISSUE
AVAILABLE NOW FROM
MAGAZINESDIRECT.COM
ALSO AVAILABLE DIGITALLY ON THESE DEVICES
tutorials <
Become a better producer now

with pro advice, expert videos and
audio examples from our gurus
50 Aphex-
style pad
Dave Gale gets woozy to create the
Synth
Masterclass ultimate Aphex Twin drunken pad
with Dave Gale
sound in Zebra CM
52 Creating a
wobble bass
Ashley Thorpe explains how to get
Production
with Ashley Thorpe movement from your bass by using
a classic Logic synth

Synth
masterclass
with Dave Gale
#16
Aphex modulation pad
Pads can do far more than fill out chords. This month we DOWNLOAD
Download the accompanying
video and the MIDI/audio files at
create a set of Aphex Twin-inspired modulating pads filesilo.co.uk/computermusic
Synth pads are among the most iconic you may find yourself with a more subdued and This woozy sound is heavily reliant on pitch
elements of electronic music production. mysterious sound. modulation, generated by a low frequency
What we find most interesting about synth This is definitely one of the calling cards of oscillator. What makes this placement even
pads is how they can so easily morph from the production styles employed by Richard D. more interesting, is the fact that it’s often
one sound to another, depending on the style James, also known as Aphex Twin. Nestled employed in a more melodic fashion, rather than
of music and production you’re trying to amongst a seemingly often chaotic soundscape, simply shoring up the harmony of a chord.
work within. you will often hear a relatively subdued synth We re-create the nucleus of this sound, using
In one genre, you may have a brassy- pad or two in there, which is the audio our very own Zebra CM plugin, which offers
sounding stab, which overtly sounds like a equivalent of a pad that’s had that little bit too potential for both creating something similar, or
throwback to the ’80s, but in another setting, much to drink! acting as a spark to further pad development.
>Step by step 1. Windowlickin’ good pads
1 2 3
Let’s start with an initialised patch; Moving to Osc1, click-hold and drag Moving over to Osc2, we want to leave
open your DAW and load up an upward on the waveform icon, until the waveform set to its current default
instrument channel, armed with an you see a value of 3.20 in the upper wave, which should be a sawtooth, but we
instance of the ZebraCM plugin. Once the display. Remember, when altering pots do want to alter the volume to a value of
plugin window is open, move to the and settings on the Zebra CM, the value is 77. Click-Hold on the Volume pot and alter
central display at the top of the window, displayed in the uppermost window of the it accordingly.
click to reveal the drop-down menu, and plugin. Also, alter the volume of Osc1 to a
select Init from the bottom. This will value of 88.
initialise the patch.
4 5 6
As experienced users of the ZebraCM To dull the sound slightly, we need to The ‘woozy’ element of our sound will
will know and appreciate, there are alter the filter’s Cutoff frequency value be generated by a modulation source
plenty of filter colours available within the to 76. We will also add a little bite at the from LFO1. Ensure that you have LFO1
plugin. You can certainly experiment with front of each note, by applying some filter selected, then alter the Rate value to a
these, but we think that the LP 12dB filter is modulation from Env2. Increase the user figure of 46. This is a relatively low and
an excellent place to start, so ensure that assigned pot, to a modest value of 11. slow value, which we will clearly hear in
this is the selected filter, from the drop- our sound, once we’ve set the modulation
down filter menu. reception point.

chaotic pads / synth masterclass <
Dave Gale
PRO TIP
Dave Gale is an Emmy
ORGANISED CHAOS
award-winning media
Throughout a relatively long and illustrious necessarily the case, but what is the case is that
composer, producer
career, Aphex Twin’s style of production has much of his music employs relatively
varied considerably, from pseudo sophisticated harmonic chord progressions,
and orchestrator, with
electroacoustic instrumentals (on Drukqs), to the where our pad sound may float across the top an enormous passion
seemingly frenzied examples heard elsewhere. playing melodies, as well as interjecting the odd for synthesisers, in all
While at first sight some of his music may seem harmony. If you hope to construct a track with a their forms. His varied
entirely chaotic, nothing is further from the similar sonic construct, a good starting point will composing style
truth. It’s one of life’s mysteries that in order to be to work on a significant chord sequence, embraces everything
make something sound chaotic, you often have before you become embroiled in grooves. Once from full orchestral
to go to extreme lengths to organise it. This is you know where your chords are going, you will and hybrid scoring, to
firmly the case with Aphex Twin, where the pad- be able to punctuate any rhythmic elements fully electronic scores, employing
like sound we have created here might float accordingly, which will make for a far more synths wherever possible. He also
above a highly programmed rhythmic construct. coherent track, and hopefully inspire you not so happens to own some of the finest
Moreover, the harmonic and melodic content much to copy, as to move in a different direction, synths in existence but we’re not
may also appear haphazard; again, this is not in order to create your own sound. jealous, OK?
7 8 9
Moving back to the Osc1 section, set We’re also going to need to apply Envelope 1 will be used to dictate the
the Vibrato pot to a value of 30. This similar values to Osc2; set the Vibrato volume of our sound, and we need to
pot dictates the amount of modulation pot to a value of 79, and we will also set make some subtle adjustments; set the
sent to the pitch of the oscillator, from the Detune pot to a value of +5. Using two Attack pot to a value of 16, the Decay pot
LFO1. As an addition, we’ll also thicken our different modulation amounts like this, to a value of 45, and finally the Release pot
overall texture, by detuning Osc1 to a across the two oscillators, will unnerve our to a value of 23.
value of -5. pad even further!
10 11 12
Envelope 2 will be used to modulate Our synth settings are now complete, Finally, to add to the ethereal nature of
the Cutoff frequency of our filter. We however you will notice that there is the sound, use a relatively long
also need to make some alterations to plenty of bottom end in our sound, and reverb, but while also reducing the wet
these values; set the Attack pot to a value most likely too much for the way we wish volume amount, so that it is not
of 50, the Decay pot to a value of 56, the to use it. Using an EQ, plugged into your overpowering. You could also add a delay,
Sustain pot to a value of 35, and finally the instrument channel strip, use a low-end after the reverb, to extend the reverb tail
Release pot to a value of 24. roll-off to reduce the bottom end even further while also adding some back-
frequency content, from around 500Hz. end colour.

Production
masterclass
with Ashley Thorpe
#05
Wobble bass
In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create a wobble DOWNLOAD
Download the accompanying
video and the MIDI/audio files at
bass from scratch using the ES2 synth filesilo.co.uk/computermusic
OK, so we’re at least a decade or more past Experiment, understand the techniques, then bass so it’s interesting to see how the techniques
the peak point of wobble bass appearing go off and forge sounds of your own. evolved. But what’s next? It’s time to get your
in popular drum & bass and dubstep tunes – Although the wobble (or wub as some people experimentation hat on!
but hear me out! Although this tutorial is called it in the ’90s) is thought to go back to the Those who’ve followed my tutorials
aimed at recreating the wobble synth bass acid house scene, the first notable track that I previously will know that I primarily use Logic,
that you’ve heard in these genres, what I’m remember hearing, in days gone by, that used and for this I’m going to use the stock synth
going to walk you through will hopefully the technique was 1999’s Flat Beat by Mr Oizo. plugin ES2. However, there are core elements of
inspire the type of experimentation that will (Amazingly, this track still feels exceptionally the ES2 synth that match many synths, meaning
help you come up with your own unique sonic fresh in 2022). that you may still be able to take a lot of the
qualities. After all, at some point the wobble Dubstep in the ’00s is pretty much concepts from this tutorial even if Logic isn’t
was an innovation rather than a recreation. synonymous with wobbles and growling synth your DAW of choice.
>Step by step 1. Wobble bass
1 2 3
Once you’ve opened Logic, add the Open up a channel EQ, hit a low note The wobble effect is essentially
ES2 plugin to an instrument channel. on your MIDI keyboard and take a look making use of low pass filters to mask
The default sound is not what we want at the waveform of a sawtooth wave. You’ll the higher frequencies in the synth sound
here. So under the ‘User Default’ visually see the progression of the we’ll create. In the filter pane of the ES2
dropdown menu select ’12 Tutorial harmonics on the frequency spectrum. synth (the circular dial with numbered
settings’ and then select ‘Analog Saw Our job today is to alternately filter sides 1 and sides 2) we’ll be using filter 2’s
Initialized’. This basic sawtooth wave will between the lower and higher harmonics cutoff to achieve our goal.
be our foundation sound. to create the wobble.
4 5 6
If you, again, hold down a key on your The effect we’ll create is basically just Using LFO 2, you can set the oscillator
MIDI keyboard, while turning the a faster version of this to create the rate by frequency but also, for our
cutoff filter down too, you’ll hear the wobble sound! And of course we’ll purposes, by grid type (grid 1/4 in my
higher frequencies being masked and will automate it rather than doing it manually. case). We then need to switch the LFO
see them disappear in real-time on your We’re going to use an LFO (Low Frequency target from ‘Off’ to ‘Cutoff 2’ to ensure the
channel EQ. Push the cutoff back up and Oscillator) to essentially act as a remote LFO controls what we want it to.
the higher frequencies will return. control for the cutoff parameter.

wobble bass / production masterclass <
Ashley Thorpe
PRO TIPS
TOOLS OF THE TRADE Ashley Thorpe (aka
Breezewax) is a
MASSIVE BY SHAPERBOX producer and musician
NATIVE 2 BY THE who has created
INSTRUMENTS CABLEGUYS
electronic music for
There’s a reason Since I left
Windows and FL
over a decade. He
Massive is so
Studio for Apple typically uses a
popular. It’s a super
and Logic Pro X mix of samples,
broad wavetable
many years ago, I’ve been looking for a tool that field recordings,
synth that is
incredible for musicians and sound designers alike. matches the inbuilt plugin Grossbeat. Finally I synthesis and live
Native Instruments get a lot right in their array of found something great for time effect, stutters, instrumentation in his
programs, and Massive has been a sure-fire winner. scratches, half-time effects, filters. If you’re looking work, which covers a variety of
While I’ve used the free tool that comes with Logic for creative bass experimentation then this is a styles including hip-hop, chill-hop,
in this tutorial, for practitioners who want to great tool. I am a little bit in love with what I’ve been neo-soul and RnB. He also works
expand further, I highly recommend this. able to accomplish on a simple sine wave bass as a music facilitator and freelance
with minimal effort. audio engineer.
7 8 9
After the target has been set correctly, You’ll now hear the LFO automatically That’s your basic wobble effect using a
change the source from ‘LFO 1’ to ‘LFO shifting the cutoff filter. If you raise the single type of sound wave. However,
2’. Then we get to the fun part! Raise the slider to its highest point, it will maximise there is plenty of room for
slider to the right of the LFO target and the effect. You can also adjust the ultimate experimentation beyond the typical
source parameters and this will change range of the cutoff filter by going back to sound wave types. Let’s go back to Osc 1
the amount by which the LFO will affect the filter pane. and switch from sawtooth to sine wave. If
the cutoff. we right click on sine, we’ll see a whole
bunch of digi wave options to expand our
palette of sound.
10 11 12
If there are Massive users here, these To go even further with sound design, You can also make the tone of the
options are very similar to the wave you can use the settings on the right synth brighter or darker as fits the
tables in that synth. They go over and pane of the synth. You can add distortion type of overall soundscape of the track
beyond the simple sine, square, triangle to the sound or make a sound hard rather you’re working on. All of this
and sawtooth waves giving your synth a than soft for example. I recommend just experimentation might inspire a new track
whole lot more character. having a go at creating sounds and saving immediately, or you might come back to
anything you like the sound of as a preset. presets you save at a later time when the
right track comes along!

> back to basics / pro producer’s guide to digital audio
Back to
BASICS
The Pro Producer’s Guide To
DIGITAL
AUDIO
If you want to achieve the best mixed and mastered tracks
within your DAW, an understanding of how digital audio
works is essential. Let’s find out exactly what’s going on
‘inside the box’ as we go back to first principles

pro producer’s guide to digital audio / back to basics <
Fig. 1: Quantisation
It’s entirely possible to make music on a
computer without having the faintest idea of
how digital audio works, but a little
knowledge can go a long way when it comes 15
to pushing the medium to its limits.
For those unfamiliar with the basics of how 14
sound works, let’s start at square one. Some of
the following explanations might seem a little 13
abstract out of the context of actual mixing, but
introducing these ideas now is important, as
12
they’ll be referenced when we get more hands- 11
on later in the issue.
Sound is the oscillation (that is, waves) of 10
pressure through a medium – air, for example.
When these waves hit our tympanic membranes 9
(eardrums), the air vibration is converted to a
vibration in the fluid that fills the channels of the
8
inner ear. These channels also host cells with 7
microscopic ‘hairs’ (called stereocilia) that
release chemical neurotransmitters when 6
pushed hard enough by the vibrations in the
fluid. It’s these neurotransmitters that tell our 5
brain what we’re listening to. 4
The process of recording audio works by
converting the pressure waves in the air into an 3
electrical signal. For example, when we (used to)
record using a microphone feeding into a tape 2
recorder, the transducer in the mic converts the
pressure oscillation in the air into an electrical 1
signal, which is fed to the tape head, which 0
polarises the magnetic particles on the tape
running over it in direct proportion to the signal. The smooth sine curve is the original analogue waveform; the squared version is the quantised digital waveform
The movement of sound through air – and,
indeed, the signal recorded to tape – is what 20,000 oscillations (or cycles) per second. This 3000Hz), we’ll instead get 19,050Hz (22,050Hz
we’d call an analogue signal. That means that it’s is where we encounter the Nyquist–Shannon minus 3000Hz). As frequencies above 20kHz or
continuous – it moves smoothly from one ‘value’ sampling theorem, which deals with how often a so can’t be perceived by the human ear, they’re
to the next without ‘stepping’, even under the sample of a signal needs to be taken for it to be not massively useful anyway.
most microscopic of scrutiny. reconstructed accurately. The theorem states In ADC, what’s known as an anti-aliasing filter
that the sampling rate needs to be double the is used to band-limit the sound, stopping any
By the numbers highest frequency, lest what’s known as aliasing frequency higher than half the sampling rate
Computers are, for the most part, digital, which occurs (see Fig. 2). Aliasing causes unmusical from getting through. So, that 44.1kHz rate gives
means they read and write information as artefacts in the sound, as frequencies higher us double our 20kHz, plus a bit of extra room for
discrete values – that is, a string of numbers. So, than the sample rate will be “reflected” around the low-pass filter to filter out the unwanted
how do computers turn a smooth waveform of the Nyquist frequency, which is half the sample high-end signal. 44.1kHz was the de facto digital
infinite resolution into a series of numbers that rate. So at 44.1kHz, Nyquist is 22,050Hz, and if playback standard through the CD era, although
they can understand? we try to sample, say, 25,050Hz (22,050Hz plus much higher sample rates are now common.
The answer is a method called pulse code
modulation (PCM), which is the main system
employed when working with digital audio
information. It starts with the process of
analogue-to-digital conversion (ADC), which
Fig. 2: Aliasing
involves measuring the value of the continuous
signal at regular intervals and creating a
facsimile of the original waveform. The higher
the frequency at which the signal is referenced –
or ‘sampled’ – and the greater the precision of
the value that’s recorded, the closer to the A
original waveform the digital recording will be
(see Fig. 1).
The number of samples taken per second is
called the sampling rate. CD-quality audio is at a
sampling rate of 44.1kHz, meaning that the
audio signal is sampled a whopping 44,100
times per second. This gives us a pretty smooth
representation of even high frequencies – the
higher the frequency we want to measure B
accurately, the higher the sampling rate
required. That figure – 44.1kHz – is pretty
specific, and there’s a reason for that: the
highest frequency that can be represented by
PCM audio is exactly half of the sample rate, and The grey waveform is the original; the purple is the digital version. The vertical lines represent samples taken from
the human ear can hear frequencies from the waveform. If the sample rate isn’t at least twice the frequency of the highest frequency present in the signal, the
around 20Hz to 20kHz, so at the top end that’s waveform won’t be accurately recreated

Fig. 3: Bit depths

Once our sample has been taken, it needs to
be stored as a number. You probably already
know that CD quality audio is 16-bit – but what,
exactly, is a bit? A bit (short for binary digit) is
the most fundamental unit of information in
computing, and can have one of two values –
usually represented as 1 or 0. If we add another
bit, we double the number of available states:
for two bits, the number of available states
would be four (two to the power of two) – that is,
00, 01, 10 and 11. Four bits would allow for 16
states (two to the power of four), eight bits
would allow for 256 states (two to the power of
eight), and 16 bits a massive 65,536 possible
states (two to the power of 16). So, we’ve gone
from a primitive ‘on or off’ state at 1-bit to having
quite a fine resolution at 16-bit. See Fig. 3 for a
visual representation of this.
1-bit (two possible states)
A bit random
When an analogue-to-digital converter samples
an analogue signal and rounds it up or down to
the nearest available level, as dictated by the
number of available bits, we get ‘quantisation
error’ or ‘quantisation distortion’. This is the
difference between the original analogue signal
and its digital facsimile, and can be considered
an additional stochastic signal known as
‘quantisation noise’. A stochastic signal is non-
deterministic, exhibiting different behaviour
“A stochastic signal is
non-deterministic,
2-bit (four possible states)
exhibiting different
behaviour every time
it’s observed”
every time it’s observed – a random signal, in
other words.
So, in a digital recording, we get our ‘noise
floor’ (the smallest measurement we can take
with any certainty) from the number of bits
we’re using. This is known as ‘word size’ or ‘word
length’. For every bit we add to the word length,
we get twice the number of possible states for
each sample, doubling the dynamic range with
another 6dB or so of headroom over the noise
4-bit (16 possible states) floor. For example, a 16-bit digital recording at
CD quality gives us a hypothetical 96dB of
dynamic range. It might surprise you to learn
that this is actually higher than the dynamic
range of vinyl, which is more like 80dB. If you’re
unfamiliar with decibels and dynamic range,
don’t worry – we’ll come back to them shortly.
As you can see by looking at the same sample
at different bit depths, changing bit depth
doesn’t affect how loud a sample can go; it just
affects the volume resolution of the waveform.
A common misconception is that increasing bit
depth only improves the resolution at lower
volume levels, but this clearly illustrates that the
increase in resolution improves the accuracy of
the signal across the entire amplitude.
If you’re new to music production and this all
seems very abstract, perhaps a practical
8-bit (256 possible states) example will bring things into focus. Install the
free audio editor Audacity (download it at www.

audacityteam.org), launch it and set the input to

your computer’s built-in microphone. Click the
record button, and repeatedly speak the word
“test” into the microphone, quietly at first, then
getting louder each time. You should see
something like Fig. 4: a series of similar
waveforms that increase in size on the vertical
axis. If your computer doesn’t have a built-in mic
and you’re unable to connect a microphone to it,
you can find a pre-recorded audio file (Test.wav) TUTORIAL
in the Tutorial Files/Back To Basics folder at this FILES
month’s FileSilo.
Fig. 4: As the recording of the voice gets louder, the waveform increases in amplitude
Testing, testing
Let’s take a look at our recording up close. Click
the first “test”, then hold the Cmd key on Mac or
Ctrl on PC and press 1 to zoom in on the
waveform. The waveform will look continuous,
but once you’ve zoomed in close enough, you’ll
see discrete points representing the levels of
individual samples – see Fig. 5.
Hold Cmd/Ctrl again and press 3 to zoom out
and see the entire waveform. The increase in
vertical size represents the words increasing in
volume, or amplitude. Now click the loudest
“test” and zoom in on it. At the loudest points,
the waveform will approach or even reach the
+1.0/-1.0 points of the vertical axis. No matter Fig. 5: By zooming into the waveform horizontally in Audacity, you can see the positions of individual samples
what bit depth you use, +/-1 is the loudest level
your recorded signal can be.
“Having a broad
dynamic range is
important in film
soundtracks, as well
as classical music”
However, the greater the bit depth, the more
accurate the waveform, and this is particularly
important when dealing with signals that
contain both loud and quiet elements –
percussive sounds, for example. This is because
more bits give us more dynamic range. Dynamic
range is the ratio of the largest and smallest TUTORIAL
possible values of a variable such as amplitude, FILES
and it can be expressed in terms of decibels
(dB), which we’ll get into in more detail later. In Fig. 6: The top waveform is the original drum beat. The second is the compressed version with less dynamic range,
simple terms, it’s the difference in dB between but an overall louder level. The final waveform has been compressed too much, and sounds weak
the loudest and softest parts of the signal.
Here’s an example of dynamic range in action
that most of us will be familiar with: you’re
watching a movie late at night, trying to keep
the volume at a level that isn’t going to disturb
anyone. The trouble is, the scenes in which the
characters talk to each other are too quiet, while
the scenes with guns and explosions are too
loud! Wouldn’t it be better if the movie’s
soundtrack was at a consistent volume level?
Well, for late-night home viewing, maybe; but
in a cinema, it’s the difference in amplitude
between the characters’ dialogue and the
explosions that gives the latter their impact. As
such, having a broad dynamic range is
important in film soundtracks, as well as
classical music, where you’ll get much quieter
sections than you ever would in a dance track. Fig. 7: The top waveform is the original version. The lower one has been reduced in amplitude by about 6dB, and
For example, take a listen to the fourth peaks at half the amplitude of the original

Fig. 8: Inter-sample peaks
Inter-sample peak
0dBFS
-1nf
movement of Dvořák’s New World Symphony, clipped waveform and produces erroneous average amplitude. RMS (the square root of the
which features very delicate, restrained sections higher frequencies. Although clipping can have mean of the squares of the original values)
and intense crescendos. Dynamic range is its uses – which we’ll look at later in the issue – works better because it always gives a positive
important in club music too, though, because it it’s generally undesirable and is the reason why value by negating any negatives – it’s a measure
helps keep the percussive sounds punchy. we can’t just keep boosting the level of our of the magnitude of a set of numbers. So, a
mixes to get them as loud as we want. signal that has been compressed may have the
Range finder As a music connoisseur, you’ve probably same peak level as the uncompressed version,
The importance of dynamic range becomes already noticed that some mixes actually sound but its RMS level will be higher, making RMS a
very apparent when compressing drum sounds. a lot louder than others. Sometimes this is better indicator of perceived volume.
For the uninitiated, compression is a process because their waveforms simply peak at a
whereby the dynamic range of a signal is higher level, but not always – you might load up Talkin’ loud
reduced to get a sound with a louder average two tracks in your DAW and see that they look When we talk about signal levels, we use a
level. Once the level of the signal exceeds a similar in terms of amplitude, but hear that one logarithmic unit known as the decibel, or dB for
certain volume, the amount it goes over that sounds a lot louder than the other. This is where short. Decibels represent the ratio between two
threshold is reduced by a ratio set by the user. perceived volume comes into play. The human different values, so we use them to describe
To compensate for the overall drop in volume amplitude relatively. For example, in digital
that this introduces, the compressor’s output is audio, a signal at 0dBFS (0 decibels full scale)
then boosted so that it peaks at the same level “Decibels represent reaches the maximum possible peak level (+/-
as the uncompressed signal. As the average 1.0) on the vertical axis. Putting it simply, +6dB
level is now higher, thanks to the reduction in
dynamic range, it sounds louder – see Fig. 6.
the ratio between two doubles the amplitude of a signal, and -6dB
halves it. If you want to get technical, it’s actually
However, too much compression can suck the
life out of a sound, making it feel flabby and different values, so we approximately +/-6.02dB (derived from 20 log
2). So, if we had a sine wave that peaked at
weak. You can hear some examples of this in the 0dBFS, and amplified it by -6.02dB, it would
Tutorial files folder: Original beat.wav, use them to describe peak at about +/-0.5. Each time we amplify the
Compressed beat.wav and Over-compressed signal by -6.02dB, the peak level will fall by
beat.wav. Getting the right balance between
sounds with punch, but also maintaining high
amplitude relatively” approximately half again. In terms of RMS,
amplifying a signal by +/-6.02dB will give us four
average volume, is one of the most important times the power or a quarter of the power
aspects of mixing for club play. mind’s perception of loudness is based not just respectively (see Fig. 7).
Generally speaking – and up to a point – the on the amplitude level at which a waveform We calculate a period’s crest factor (the
louder music gets, the better it sounds. Sadly, as peaks, but also on how long it remains that loud. extremity of peaks in a waveform) by dividing its
we’ve seen, our waveform can only get so loud: Consequently, a better way to quantify the peak value by its RMS value. The resulting dB
once all the bits have been set to 1 and we’ve perceived volume of a sound is by measuring value will give us some idea of how dynamic a
reached the 65,536th step, there’s nowhere else not its peak volume, but its RMS level. signal is. You can measure peak, RMS and crest
for the audio information to go! So, what RMS stands for ‘root mean square’, and is a factor dB using metering software such as Blue
happens if we’re recording a signal that’s too method of calculating the average amplitude of Cat Audio DP Meter Pro (www.bluecataudio.
‘hot’ (that is, too loud) for our system? In this a waveform over time. Say, for example, we try com). Simply put it on your master channel, and
situation we get what’s known as digital to calculate the mean amplitude of a sine wave. as your track plays it’ll update the peak and RMS
clipping. When a signal exceeds the maximum The result is going to be zero, no matter what its averages (the time settings of which can be
capacity of the system, the top of the waveform peak amplitude, because a sine wave rises and adjusted) and resulting crest factor in real time.
is simply cut off, or ‘clipped’. This loss of falls symmetrically around its centre origin. So, part of the reason why two tracks can
information misrepresents the amplitude of the Clearly, then, this isn’t a useful way to measure have such different perceived volume levels

Fig. 9: Visually represented dithering

when they peak at the same level is that they
likely have a higher RMS value. That’s not the
whole story, though. There are many
psychoacoustic factors that affect how loud
something sounds to our ears, including its
frequency content, how long it lasts and,
crucially, its context in a track.
In the mix
This is where we actually get into the realms of
arrangement and – finally! – mixing. At the most
fundamental level, mixing two waveforms
together is a really simple process: all your CPU
has to do is add the level of each sample state
together to calculate the total. This happens in
exactly the same way in all DAWs, and if
someone tells you that a particular DAW’s
summing engine has a certain ‘sound’ to it,
they’re sadly misinformed. In fact, there’s a very
simple test you can do to see for yourself how all
DAWs sum signals in exactly the same way:
simply load two or more audio tracks into the
DAWs you want to test and bounce out a
mixdown. As long as you use the same settings
(including any automatic fades, panning law and
dithering) and haven’t done anything to alter
the audio (such as apply timestretching), you’ll
find that each DAW produces an identical file.
Then load the exported files into a DAW and 8-BIT GRADIENT 8-BIT GRADIENT 24-BIT GRADIENT
apply some polarity (often erroneously called DITHERED
phase) inversion – as long as all the files have
been imported correctly and no effects have
been applied by the DAW, they will cancel each Running your DAW’s master channel into the WAV and AIFF are uncompressed audio
other out perfectly, leaving nothing but silence. red is a bad idea, because even if it’s not formats, which means that they’re suitable for
Another thing worth bearing in mind about producing any audible distortion, you won’t using to transfer audio data between DAWs and
DAW mixers is that they use 32- or (now much really be able to trust what you’re hearing any audio editing applications. Compressed audio
more; this is due to the fact that different digital- formats such as MP3 and M4A have the
“Compressed audio to-analogue converters handle signals
exceeding 0dBFS differently. Distortion can
advantage of much smaller file sizes, but use
psychoacoustic tricks to remove data from the
formats such as MP3 even be caused by signals that don’t clip!

This is known as inter-sample modulation,
signal that the human ear finds hard to perceive.
As such, these ‘lossy’ formats still sound great
and it doesn’t occur within your DAW – it only under normal consumer listening conditions,
and M4A have the happens once the signal has been converted
from digital to analogue by your audio interface,
but they don’t behave exactly like their
uncompressed counterparts when subjected to
advantage of much specifically the digital-to-analogue converter’s
(DAC’s) reconstruction filter. It’s what turns a
processing. While using an MP3 file as a source
for, say, a master isn’t necessarily going to sound
smaller file sizes” stepped digital signal into a smooth analogue

one, and as Fig. 8 (above left) shows, this
bad, the results will really depend on the
material, the context it’s used in, and the
process can cause problems when used with encoding algorithm that’s been used to
more commonly) 64-bit ‘floating point’ especially loud digital signals. compress the sound. To be sure that the finished
summing to calculate what the mix should Whenever audio leaves your DAW – be it as product sounds as good as possible, it pays to
sound like before it’s either delivered to your sound or an audio file export – it’s converted ensure that you use the highest-quality source
ears via your audio interface and speakers or from a 32- or 64-bit signal to a 16- or 24-bit one. material you can.
bounced to an audio file. When this happens, resolution is lost as less bits
Floating point means that some of the bits are used. This is where an oft-misunderstood Moving on
are devoted to describing the exponent, which process known as dithering comes into play, The human ear and mind are surprisingly
in layman’s terms means that it can be used to whereby a very low level of noise is added to the sensitive listening devices, and, as a result, it’s
store a much wider array of values. Whereas signal to increase its perceived dynamic range. easy for someone who knows nothing about
fixed-point 16-bit has a range of 96dB, 32-bit It works a little like this: imagine you want to production to identify a bad or weak mix – it will
floating point has a range of more than paint a grey picture, but only have white and simply sound less ‘good’ than other tracks.
1500dB! This is clearly more headroom than black paint. By painting very small squares of This is especially important in a club
we’d ever have any practical use for, and is the alternating white and black, you can create a environment, where the music is usually
reason why pushing the level faders extremely third colour: grey. Dithering uses the same delivered in a non-stop stream, mixed together
high or low in your DAW’s mixer doesn’t really principle of rapidly alternating a bit’s state to by a DJ. When the DJ uses the crossfader to
have a negative effect on the sound unless it’s create a seemingly wider range of values than quickly cut between channels on the mixer, it’s
passing through a plugin that doesn’t cope well would otherwise be available. See Fig. 9 for a just like A/B-ing tracks in a studio environment:
with extremely high or low values, or is clipping visual example of dithering in action. any deficiencies in the mixdown of either track
the master channel. In fact, you could run Dithering should be applied when lowering compared to the other will be glaringly obvious!
every channel on your mixer well into the red, the bit rate. It’s therefore sensible to apply To get your mixes sounding as good as the
but as long as the master channel isn’t clipping, dither to your 32- or 64-bit mix when competition it’s necessary to push your digital
no distortion of the signal would occur: 32-bit exporting it as a 16-bit WAV file to play in a club, audio to its very limits, and it’s only through
float can handle practically anything you can or when supplying a 24-bit WAV file to a understanding what those limits are that you
throw at it. mastering engineer. can achieve this.

ARTIST VIDEOS
ON THE
CHANNEL
SUBSCRIBE FOR:
Exclusive hands-on sessions Producer Masterclass | Mousse T.
with the latest software

Classic Producer Masterclass
videos from the archives
650+ videos, with more
added every month
Producer Masterclass | Fourward
Producer Masterclass | Kideko
youtube.com/ComputerMusicMag
reviews <
The latest computer music gear tested and rated!

Our promise
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.
What the
ratings mean
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
62 TOONTRACK EZDRUMMER 3 9
and executed product
Excellent. First-rate and
The ultimate beat software gets a makeover and some feature among the best you can buy
injections. Is it time to fire your drummer? Of course it is… 10 Exceptional. It just doesn’t get
any better than this!
66 68 70
Tracktion Baby Audio Spitfire Audio
Waveform Pro 12 Crystalline Heirloom
72
77 74
77 82
Sonnox Vocal plugins Sample
Listenhub roundup pack reviews
Awarded to products A product has to really If the product In the opinion of the
that challenge existing impress us with its exceeds expectations Editor, the best product
ideas and do something functionality and for its price, it will reviewed in the
entirely new features to win this one receive this gong magazine this month

> reviews / toontrack ezdrummer 3
Change selected drums Menu area, for switching Room selections within Percussion instrument
from this drop-down menu editing views EZdrummer 3 settings and selection
Main drum working area Drop-down menu, for presets

and curated mixes
Toontrack
EZdrummer 3 €165
As night follows day, so does this much anticipated update from
Toontrack, but does the magic follow the number? We find out!
In what feels like a very long time ago, but very swiftly, with a fully resounding “it’s The latest addition to this lineup sees
not necessarily in a galaxy far away, unbelievably good!” EZdrummer move to its version 3 incarnation.
Toontrack created the original EZdrummer Make no bones about it, for existing users this is
package, to provide DAW-based musicians the EZ now! a sizeable update, while anyone jumping on the
ability to combine great drum performances in a As the years pass, the EZdrummer ecosphere EZ bandwagon for the first time is going to be
MIDI format, with ultra realistic-sounding drum has grown to huge proportions. With a vast utterly delighted.
samples. Back then, there were some very array of sample expansion and MIDI groove Let’s begin with the basics; EZdrummer 3
pessimistic musicians and producers, packs, EZdrummer has proven to be a monster ships with 18GB of all new content. This includes
questioning exactly how good this concept hit for many styles and genres of music, from a sizeable number of new MIDI Grooves,
could really be. That question was answered pop, funk and jazz, to the heaviest of metal. encompassing a considerable number of

toontrack ezdrummer 3 / reviews <
“Enlist the help of In detail

EZdrummer 3 gives the perfect balance of presets and controllable
Michael Ilbert, and assets, allowing the user to easily obtain the groove they need
enjoy some of the
finest sounding drum
spaces in the world”
stylistic genres. It will come as no surprise that
the vast majority of data is related to the drum
samples themselves, and again these are all new
to the EZdrummer series, but with a small
degree of association with its bigger brother,
Superior Drummer. A couple of years ago,
Toontrack conducted some major sampling
sessions, for the creation of their SDX expansion
library called ‘Rooms of Hansa’.
Based around the legendary Hansa studios in
Berlin, this library has been one of the most
successful to date. So why wouldn’t you go back
to these studios, enlist the help of supremo
producer Michael Ilbert, and take full advantage
of some of the finest sounding drum spaces in
the world? It’s important to stress here that
these are all-new samples, and not a repeat of Groove menu, Categorised Visual Build your MIDI
the Hansa SDX suite. What we get is a beautiful genre of music, interpretation of
within drum track within
combination of seven different kits, recorded in
EZdrummer 3 for quick MIDI grooves EZdrummer 3
three different rooms; the Main Room, the Bright
Room and the Tight Room, all under the location of style
watchful eye of Ilbert, who has also curated a
superb set of signature production-ready mixes.
There’s also a matching complement of
percussion instruments, such as tambourines,
shakers, cowbells and even claps, snaps and might resonate with your production style, that diversity to provide you with a pallet which is
foot-stomps. is until you suddenly find a place to use them! usable, to the greatest possible degree.
Unsurprisingly, each and every room and kit It’s really due to the fact that you have the
sounds stunning, leaving the user to merely load choice to either go with a tight snare, or the next Grids and Grooves
their desired kit, with the option of swapping out time a deeper toned snare, that makes this Moving away from the samples for a moment, it
individual instrument elements, at will. Another package so appealing. is very clear that Toontrack have been listening
important point to make is that with the ability The characteristics and behaviour of the intently to their users, and in doing so have
to swap out kit components, there is drum elements can be so radically different initiated a significant number of new features
considerable variety. Not all of the components from one room to the next. There is plenty of and improvements, to allow for easier editing
Three rooms in
Hansa Studios
are realistically
depicted

> reviews / toontrack ezdrummer 3
and more realistic performance.

One of the most obvious additions to
EZdrummer 3 is the inclusion of a Grid Editor.
While this will be nothing new to DAW users, it
now opens up the possibility for use within the
EZ realm. You can now build your song template,
within EZdrummer 3, and then edit as desired.
Moreover, new humanise facilities allow the
potential to engineer even greater levels of
controllable humanise.
The extent that you might make use of this
grid editor is obviously dependent on your way
of working, and whether you prefer to keep
things within the DAW. We have to point out that
in employing some of these features, the ability
to drag and drop into the DAW, and maintain
those levels of realism, is not only useful, but
something of a coup.
First seen in EZDrummer 2, the Power Hand
parameter allowed easy embellishment of
Getting in the Groove
leading drum parts, such as ghost notes on a One main reason for the rise in MIDI to your own template or
snare. With EZdrummer 3, this has moved on a popularity of the EZdrummer series, is specification, or change basic
level, with the addition of smart AI algorithms, the vast amount of control that the user elements, such as the appearance of a
that intelligently and musically alter the way has over the drum and groove crash symbol on beat 1, at the start of a
these components interact. As before, this can elements, supplied with the package or loop. Talking of loops, while these have
be dialled in sympathetically, and once applied as an additional quotient. There are a become an established part of
can be exported out to your DAW, although it is few ways to look at this. If you consider production for certain styles of music,
also easy to build a song construct within the drums to be the backbone of a band it can often be worth persevering, by
EZdrummer 3, and get it to sync and play along. or group, it makes sense that when adding and building a drum track, for a
Staying with the intelligent angle, the new working to a drum template which is more authentic outcome. Thanks to the
Bandmate feature allows the drag and dropping played live, as they are with way that EZdrummer displays its
of MIDI or audio, requesting EZdrummer 3 to EZdrummer, you can and should lock grooves in a hierarchical form, it is
compile and suggest appropriate grooves, to right in to the groove being played. This incredibly easy to both audition and
accompany your analysed file. It’s actually quite is important for certain genres, create the perfect drum track. And in
an impressive and useful feature, which can act whether heavy rock or jazz and funk. most cases, it will perplex any listener
as a clever springboard to creativity, without But thanks to the intrinsic flexibility of into thinking that they are listening to a
halting the writing process. the package, you can re-quantise the live drummer, playing in the studio.
Mix it up
All of the other EZdrummer stalwarts remain,
such as an improved easy access to grooves, via
a very easy to read menu hierarchy, and a newly and highly usable content. It sounds pretty Alternatively
refashioned mixer, which is clear and concise. awesome, with a level of realism which is one of Ujam – Virtual Drummer
There is simplified control of bleed elements, the best in class. Toontrack continue to push from £83 each
and of course it is fully expandable, in line with those boundaries, while maintaining One of five packs in the virtual
the entire EZdrummer brand. That has always exceptional quality throughout. drummer lineup; for the heavier
been one of the selling highlights for us; the end of production business
ability to expand as you go, although Web toontrack.com
EZdrummer 3 is in no way lacking impressive Info Upgrade from €89 Toontrack – Superior Drummer 3
249 » 10/10 » €289
If you like EZdrummer 3, but want
to take it further, this provides all
the bells and whistles
Verdict
For Exceptional collection of drum
sounds and grooves
Choice of Hansa rooms is quite
wonderfully diverse
There is a huge amount of drum choice,
right off the bat
Michael Ilbert’s mixes really rock!
It sounds incredibly realistic, both in and
out of context
Against You’ll probably want to

expand it, because it’s so good
EZdrummer has always been the drum

Michael Ilbert (right) suite of choice, and the update to EZD3
and the (EZ) drummer merely seals the deal. It is stunningly good!
Norman Garschke
10/10

> reviews / tracktion waveform pro 12
PROJECTS MIDI FOLD VISIBILITY MANAGER
Waveform Pro 12 uses a project system that New MIDI editor view options including Use the eye icon to open this
incorporates easily accessible tabbed edits one which just shows used notes handy workspace panel
BROWSER NEW
This has been INSTRUMENTS
revamped and There are new
the search option instruments in
now has a proper Waveform Pro 12
folder scheme including a single
and colour oscillator bass synth
coded favourites and basic rompler
QUICK MASTER TRACK

ACTIONS The new master
Use the track can now
customisable host up to
quick action bar 16 plugins
to access views
and functions
MAIN MENU 8-BAND EQUALISER REVERBS

You’ll find the main menu is Some new processors Three of them, including a
accessed from the bottom left including an 8-band EQ non-linear design and the
algorithmic Natural Reverb
Tracktion
Waveform Pro 12
From $149
With multiple new features, now could be a good time to try this
impressive and competitively priced DAW
Tracktion Waveform Pro is a music focused Waveform Pro 12 sports a shiny new audio Beyond this the main headline changes are
DAW that over time has gradually combined engine, with perfect plugin delay compensation, more in keeping with a full update and include
its innovative object-based rack environment substantially improved CPU performance and 15 new and refreshed audio plugins, new
with more traditional DAW elements to create a better support for multiple CPU cores. Also no instruments (BassOSC, Rompler and Micro
quick yet powerful production system. It works surprise are the various operational Sampler), a low latency Guitar IR plugin,
on OS X (including Apple Silicon), Windows and refinements, including many new MIDI features improved hardware controller support and six
Linux and, as we have mentioned before, is one (see boxout), an improved Browser and floating utility tools. As far as the effects are concerned
of the most cross-platform-capable DAWs plugin menu. you now have more choice. The EQs have been
available. There’s also a very decent Free reworked so you have four options including a
version and 90-day trial of the Pro version simple DJ EQ and powerful 8-band parametric.
should you want to try before you buy. “We particularly like the Meanwhile, the reverbs are also extended with
new and rather excellent sounding Non Linear
Building Blocks floating panel visibility and Natural algorithmic processors. Insert and
We last looked at Waveform Pro at version 11.5, send effects are also now incorporated into the
and although this was only a point update, there
were substantial improvements, including much manager accessed via Drum Sampler and Multi Sampler.
The six utility plugins include a new
slicker menu systems, more shortcut options, Spectrum analyser, Mid Side encode/decode, AB
improved scripting and better mouse
implementation. The most significant change
the eyeball icon in the Switch, Mono switch, and two MIDI plugins – CC
and Note Name. The new synth additions are all
was the option to try an in-development audio
engine, so it should come as no surprise that
top right corner” reasonably simple, with BassOSC’s single
oscillator offering a decent choice of wave

tracktion waveform pro 12 / reviews <
“We found it very easy

to use… and of
course the whole
process is
non destructive”
shapes that you can morph through, and the
Rompler providing a good set of about 25 core
instruments (grand piano, electric bass, Spanish
guitar and so on).
Waveform Pro 12 adds a new advanced strip
silence option. Accessed directly in the
arrangement area, you adjust the open and
Create more realistic sounds with the new MIDI strum feature
close threshold in the floating Remove Silence
panel and can immediately see the effect that
this has. Further options allow you to tailor pre
and post roll and fade in/out. We found it very
MIDI
easy to use… and of course the whole process is There’s no doubt MIDI options get a big More powerful new features include
non destructive. uplift in Waveform 12, and we found a Randomize option for velocity, pitch,
both regular and advanced features start point and note length. Also in the
Design add considerably to the user MIDI editor you can set the MIDI
Waveform’s panel-based workspace is pretty experience. There are simple additions controller data to follow notes, which is
similar to many other DAWs, and – although not such as the Event List Editor, Drum Grid, handy when moving notes. For Step
a new feature – we particularly like the floating and a particular DAW favourite of ours, clips there is a new Probability option.
panel visibility manager accessed via the MIDI fold. This allows you to set the playback
eyeball icon in the top right corner. Waveform This allows you to view just the used probability on a note by note basis,
Pro 12 now expands the visual aspects with a notes or those in the global key. which we found was great for creating
new colour editor and over 20 preset colour They’ve even added a MIDI knife tool new ideas from existing beats.
schemes accessible from the Settings page or for quick position specific note splitting Finally, we love the new strum
directly in the Welcome screen. Editable options either in the MIDI Editor or within MIDI feature. Using the mouse click plus
include colour saturation and highlights, and clips in the Arrangement Panel. As you modifier (CTRL/CMND) you can quickly
you can also select the primary and secondary would expect, this follows the selected spread the note timing of chords to
accent colours. Panel open/close can also be snap value. create more realistic playback.
animated. We found this allows for a pretty mind
boggling set of options, and with handy light
and dark themes it’s easy to match the look to
your working environment.
In a further move away from its modular has slightly reworked the product offering, Alternatively
roots, Waveform Pro 12 adds a dedicated Master removing the Basic, Standard and Extreme tags
track. Visible in both the Arrangement and Mixer used for version 11. So, it’s now much clearer for Steinberg Cubase 12
panels you now have a quicker route for adding buyers to see that Waveform Pro 12 is available 308 » 10/10 » from £85
up to 16 processor modules to the mix bus. The on its own with the core DAW Essentials, One of the best cross platform
Master arrangement track is made visible via Collective, Auto-Tune Access and Melodyne DAWs available and recently
the visibility manager, making it easy to hide. Essential, and that it’s also available with three updated to version 12
The Browser is already a key feature of different tiered content bundles –
Waveform, but it’s been updated for Pro 12. With Recommended, Studio and Everything. Presonus Studio One 5
the inbuilt categories and favourites, the Search Each bundle includes more sounds, with 286 » 10/10 » from £85
tab is now considerably more user friendly. extras such as the BioTek 2 synth and RetroMod With its many advanced and
Collection. The Everything package also adds all excellent features, Studio One 5 is a
Versions the latest sound packs, which retail for about serious contender
With the release of Waveform Pro 12, Tracktion $50 each. You can buy the content separately
but this works out more expensive than buying Verdict
it bundled with the application. Finally,
Waveform 11 users can also get a discounted For Revamped, extended audio plugins
upgrade to Waveform Pro 12 ($99). Some excellent new additions to
Overall this latest version update adds plenty MIDI functionality
to the Waveform Pro user experience. We also New audio engine features improved
think that given the extensive standard features, CPU efficiency
the price for the core application is extremely Expanded MIDI instrument offering
competitive. Weighing up the tiered bundles is
much harder as this will very much depend on Against More plugin presets please
whether you need what’s included. Either way,
Waveform Pro 12 is an excellent DAW with its A surprising number of large upgrades and
own way of doing things and a selection of additions keeps Tracktion Waveform Pro at
awesome features. the top of the cross platform DAW pile
Tidy up your audio recordings with the new Remove

Silence option Web tracktion.com 9/10

> reviews / baby audio crystalline
INFO
Gives more info
SYNC OPTIONS PRESETS VISUALS on parameters as
One of the key buttons; keeps everything Step through 300 Lovely view of your you adjust each
in time, no matter what you do plus presets here reverb in full effect
CLEAN UP
Contains
REFLECTIONS some options
Set your room to rein things
size, width and in, should you
hi-end effect go too mad!
TRANSIENT
Enforces the
attack or
creates a
more washed
out sound
DEPTH DUCK & MORE
START & END SHAPE EDITOR’S CHOICE
Lighten your The Ducker, Reverse
These options can add EQ, Smoothing
processor load, and Freeze options
lots of effects but and Transient
modulate or deliver even more
everything can be options are here
shimmer your highs
kept in time
Baby Audio
Crystalline $99
Baby Audio are on a roll with their releases, but can they crystallise their
reputation with their latest algorithmic reverb? The answer’s crystal clear
Baby Audio have only been around for a Crystal tips of easy edit parameters (with three buttons
relatively short period of time but have made There’s a set of 300+ presets to get stuck into in each) along with Output and Timing sliders.
a big impact thanks to a set of plugins that the central window: user presets and those Starting top left, the Reflections block has a
focuses on what the user wants, rather than programmed by various Baby Audio experts. simple Size control (choose between five) which
blinding you with specs, data sheets and direct The sections around these comprise four blocks is one of the most dramatic, tweakable options
emulations of rusty old hardware. With plugins and obviously dictates the size of your space.
like Spaced Out, they take the concepts behind Sparkle adds high end shimmer or air which we
that hardware (in that case a Space Echo) and
transfer them to the 21st Century, putting the
“We love them for found especially pleasing on the usual suspects
of vocals, snares and acoustic guitar. Width fills
controls you want in front of you, and leaving
much of the science to the white coat brigade. putting the music first out your spectrum according to how narrow
your mouse makes the circle, up to an extreme
And we love them for that; it’s putting the
music first, and the company’s latest Crystalline and Crystalline takes ‘extra wide’ where it breaks in two. This is
especially useful if you don’t want reverb
reverb takes that ethos along very nicely indeed. enveloping your entire spread; keeping vocals in
It’s an algorithmic reverb in the vein of classic
Lexicon hardware and exudes that quality but in
that ethos along very check but still effected, for example.
So far so easy, but beneath these you get
software, the kind of quality you can only now
get with today’s processing power.
nicely indeed” three less obvious controls. Resolution controls
the level of the reverb algorithm so can cut

baby audio crystalline / reviews <
“We love Baby Audio’s

description of it leaving
an ‘angelic halo’ as
Shimmer can be
rather ghostly”
down your CPU usage. Set it on Basic for light
use and Pristine for heavy. Modulation is more
of a pitch effect that can add a sense of swirling
fatness and works great on keys, electric guitar
and more for a lot more presence. Shimmer
grabs the higher frequencies of the effect and
retains the effect with them for longer and we
love BA’s description of it leaving an ‘angelic
halo’ as it does leave a certain shimmer that can
be rather ghostly.
We particularly like the third Clean Up section
as, if you’re like us, you will have maxed
everything out and therefore have a wall of
sound which this section can rein in without
hopefully lessening the best parts of the reverb’s Timing is everything
impact. Damping simply filters lower and higher
frequencies; Sides lets you set a frequency The central area has a Start slider which these, a Ducker also introduces time-
below which the sides won’t be affected by so sets a time for the reverb to take effect like effects where the reverb is released
keeps the low end unaffected and the higher – a great effect on vocals, leaving the after the attack of the dry signal – great
end spread. Gate is another obvious one, sound dry for a determined time before on kicks and vocals. Finally a Reverse
allowing you to set a level by which the release the lush reverb comes in. The End slider button does just that on the reverb and
kicks in as fast as you like. is useful as you can set it so the reverb a Freeze option instantly freezes the
Finally the Shape section contains Tone, an ends at a point so that your mix doesn’t effect. The best option with all of these
adjustable tilt EQ; Smoothing which makes the become too carried away and washed options is Sync. It keeps everything in
impact of the reverb less harsh and more subtle; out. Finish it at a bar, for example, or time with your DAW, allowing you to
and lastly Transients is a great way of before the next beat comes in. Beneath experiment to your heart’s content.
emphasising either the attack or sustain parts of
the sound for impact or atmosphere. This is
obviously great to beef up drums or to leave any
sound more washed out with less attack.
Like we say, there’s a lot to play with here,
much of it dramatic and fun. Alternatively
And tweaking is what Crystalline encourages
Clear as daylight and does best overall. You’ll be amazed with Fabfilter Pro-R
With Crystalline, Baby Audio are using today’s many of the quality presets that, in the main, 239 » 9/10 » £149
processing power to create a great algorithmic make everything sound great in an instant. But One of the best algorithmics out
reverb that is easy to use, fun but, most you’ll have the most fun just experimenting with there. Easy controls, great sound
importantly, sounds exceptional – both clean the easy-to-understand options, safe in the
and experimental when you want it to be. Not knowledge that whatever you do can be in time Logic Chromaverb
only that, but the central timing options – see should you wish it to be, and will almost £free
box, above right – and that Clean Up section give certainly sound great. It’s yet another ‘yeah Logic users rejoice as Chromaverb
you complete control over everything, the Baby, yeah’’ for Baby Audio. is a great inclusion in your DAW
former almost completely automatically and the
latter allowing you to tweak everything. Web babyaud.io
Verdict
For Fabulously clean reverb
Can go completely wild and keep
everything in time
Lovely easy controls
Great timing and ducking options
Against Would have liked presets

ordered by type rather than
programmer – a minor gripe!
Baby Audio once again put the control in

the musician’s hands rather than the
programmer’s. Crystalline sounds fab
The Ducker, Reverse and Freeze (at the bottom centre) are all great inclusions for extra effects 9/10

> reviews / spitfire heirloom
GLOBAL PARAMETERS REVERB VOLUME & PAN

Show CPU usage, Choose from various types Plus tuning, overall
number of voices, with this menu levels and other
memory and disk meter settings options
PRESETS
Select here. This is a
string preset and CENTRAL KNOB
will determine what Assignable to
else is on screen Reverb, Release and
Tightness options
MAIN SCREENS
Choose from this
screen, microphone
EXPRESSION positions and more
& DYNAMIC
Two sliders
control the TRIGGER
levels of each OPTIONS
Select parameters
here and other
options for example
the Transpose option
PERFORMANCE STYLES
Choose from several options including short
or Brushed as indicated for strings
Spitfire
Heirloom £199
Get your hankie ready as Spitfire’s latest toolkit promises quick-fire access
to devastatingly affecting instrumental flavours. But are Heirloom’s
emotion-tickling samples worth your money?
What is it about certain film, television and approach of composer Keaton Henson. Its bends and harmonics, delicate small ensemble
video game scores that can move us so sensitive palette of samples stem from strings and a curated platter of woodwinds.
much? Is it some alchemic combination of recordings of a weathered piano, chiming guitar Perhaps the best explanation for the style of
melody and tone, in simpatico with the ups and textures, including volume swells, plucked affecting music that Heirloom serves as a toolkit
downs of the characters that we’re rooting for, for is a simple quote, found throughout
which makes them so frequently affecting? Or is Heirloom’s marketing; “It’s the audial equivalent
it something deeper? Some textural quality
within the music itself, that if you could
“With the intricate, of the worn away seat of your father’s favourite
chair. Traces, marks and imprints left behind by
somehow bottle, would form a never ending
repository of heartbreaking cues and themes. honest sounds of those who are perhaps no longer with us. Gone,
but never forgotten.”
Spitfire Audio would certainly plump for the
latter notion, and with the intricate, honest Heirloom, Spitfire have Fruit of the loom
sounds of Heirloom, the company have sought Simply installed via Spitfire’s Audio App, this
to build such an emotive storehouse.
Recorded at the atmospheric environs of The
sought to build an 34.2GB library arrives surprisingly quickly on
our hard drive, and is fired up as an AU
Church Studios, Heirloom compiles an array of
instrumental flavours, built around the style and
emotive storehouse” instrument within a skeletal Logic Pro project.
The UI will be familiar to all who’ve used

spitfire heirloom / reviews <
“Heart-tugging
character suggesting
the fleetingness of
memory… or
something”
Spitfire’s canon over the last five years, defined
as it is by its central circular knob – assignable to
any of the library’s parameters (Reverb, Release
and Tightness). Beneath this is the technique
switcher, allowing you to choose between
performance styles for the selected instrument.
Cycling through the samples on offer
suggests at the type of arrangement we should
be thinking about. Twinkling the delicate ivories
suggests that we keep a restrained poise on the
piano, while the swelling, ghostly guitar textures
Heirloom offers Spitfire’s usual extensive range of articulations
leave us with a haunting impression – even in
isolation. When coupled with the rawness of the
piano sound, the heart-string tugging character Traces of memory
of this guitar craft flourishes, suggesting at the
fleetingness of memory… or something. To further accentuate the pack’s recorded. However, Spitfire do provide
From these basic yet effective beginnings, we reflective USP, a series of plate and routes to carving your own variations
can build our arrangement out with the small spring reverbs can be applied: from the of the pack’s recordings. Of particular
string section. Consisting of three violins, two cavernous Dark Chamber with its note is the Technique Editor, wherein
violas, two cellos and a bass, we can gradually seemingly never ending tail, to the you can build and modify your own
weave sweeping and silky legatos, chilling Abrupt Plate, which oddly makes the instrument presets by melding and
flautandos and softly delivered brushed playing already intimate sounding recordings re-organising techniques. How much of
to raise our track some more cinematic weight. sound even tighter. It’s easy to overkill this you want to do, though, depends
Contrabass clarinet is a nice addition too, used the reverb, but doing so would erode on how far you want to deviate from
to craft either pulse-quickening stabs or airy the intentionally intimate nature of the pack’s, myriad, and already good-
breaths, while the Tubax (a modified sax) lends how these instruments have been to-go presets.
some murky low end to proceedings.
Take me to church
While the recordings – overseen by AIR’s Fiona
Cruickshank – are an exemplary starting point,
Spitfire’s typically broad sculpting controls allow undoubtedly turn their nose up at the pack’s Alternatively
us to cycle and mix between different attempts to offer an engineered machine for
microphone groups. getting people ‘right in the feels’, others will Best Service Emotional Violin
While these groups include traditional ribbon certainly get much out of Spitfire’s most simply £150
and close condenser microphone options, human sample library to date. The meticulous four-year building
there’s also a heavily saturated tape signal, and These are thoroughly timeless sounds, and process results in extraordinary,
the ability to place your mics at the most really could be all that you need to help you weepy string textures
extreme position away from the instruments write a series of affecting cues, bolster your
– soaking up the full flavour of The Church’s songwriting or simply lose yourself in a spot of Spectrasonics Keyscape
fabled acoustics. reflective composing. £280
Heirloom is an all-in-one route to achingly For a much more diverse array of
emotional compositions. While some will Web spitfireaudio.com piano sounds – some similarly
intimate – Keyscape is a good call
Verdict
For Recorded beautifully
Deep microphone and reverb options
Versatile playing styles, with the ability
to craft your own presets
Against Occasional CPU slowdown

Limited appeal outside its niche
An excellent source for the types of sound

that will really get a lump in your
audience’s throat, Heirloom demonstrates
the nuanced side of the orchestral titans
You can also choose microphone positions and more via the Signal Mixer option from the main screen 8/10

> reviews / sonnox listenhub
PSR DYNAMICS METERING PSR HISTORY

LOUDNESS METERING PSR History graph shows how
Current short-term LUFS Meters the difference between
peak level and short-term loudness dynamics have changed over time
loudness metering of the
active input
INPUT SELECTION
Select the source signal STEPPED
that you want to feed MONITOR LEVELS
through your monitors Preset output levels
help you maintain
LOUDNESS MATCHING volume consistency
Automatically match the and familiarity
loudness of all ListenHub
input signals
DIM AND MUTE

OUTPUT SELECTION No monitor controller
The active input is routed would be complete
to either main or alt without dim and
monitor outputs mute controls
MONITOR FX CHAIN BAND SOLO

SPECTRUM ANALYSER Isolate different
Each output buss can host up to Realtime analysis of the active
three AU plugins frequency bands and
input’s frequency spectrum control stereo channels
Sonnox
ListenHub £59
Monitor controllers that mimic the capabilities of a console’s master
section are increasingly popular. But in software? Listen up…
We all strive to achieve perfect mixes, but Virtual I/O ListenHub’s tools (more on which in a moment)
with so many considerations and ListenHub is a CoreAudio device – in essence a and on to one of two possible stereo outputs
judgements that are unique to the music you software-based virtual audio interface. The that are routed to your audio hardware’s
are creating, achieving this perfection can be an device provides three (and sometimes four) physical outputs. Unfortunately for Windows
uphill battle. Many tools and techniques have stereo inputs, only one of which can be active at users, being a CoreAudio device means that
been developed over the years aimed at making a time. The active input is fed through ListenHub is Mac only.
life easier at mixdown time, but these often The device’s first stereo input always carries
assume you’re working with a full-featured the system sound. This allows reference music
studio console and don’t translate so well to
mixing in the box.
“Geared to help you from Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, or whatever
platform you’re using, to be easily fed into the
With this in mind, Sonnox have developed
ListenHub, a blend of input switcher, monitor contrast your mix with device. How ListenHub’s remaining inputs are
used depends on the way that it’s been
controller and audio toolbox. This is all geared
towards helping you compare and contrast your other recordings, and configured, but the most straightforward
method is to assign the ListenHub device as
mix with other recordings, and identify problem your DAW’s output device.
areas within your mixes. It also encourages a
“best practice” approach to monitoring levels
identify problem areas With this done, you route your DAW’s monitor
output buss to ListenHub’s Main input, and route
and loudness, and protects your speakers from
inadvertently high signal levels.
within your mixes” a secondary DAW output buss to ListenHub’s
Reference input. The point of this Reference

sonnox listenhub / reviews <
“ListenHub’s control
panel acts as more
than just an input and
output switch”
input is that it allows you to feed reference

tracks from within your DAW directly to
ListenHub where you can quickly switch ListenHub makes creating the
conditions for comparisons easy
between it and your mix.
ListenHub’s pair of stereo output busses are
intended as main and alternate monitor output
busses. Each buss can have its own chain of up
to three AU plugins assigned to it, which is ideal Monitor levels
for inserting speaker calibration EQ and other
monitor corrections. A key feature of ListenHub is that it lets the output volume control and
Switching between input sources and you make swift and accurate matching this with a specific acoustic
monitor outputs is performed within the comparisons between different decibel level.
ListenHub control panel, which is also where sources. For these comparisons to be This creates a consistent “normal”
you work with the device’s other tools. Being a accurate, the sources need to be level- monitoring volume, and lets you
system level device, the control panel is a matched, otherwise you’re just become familiar with how that
standalone app, but there are a couple of other comparing apples with oranges! “normal” volume actually sounds. This
ways to access it. ListenHub deals with this for you by consistency lasts beyond the session
The first is to use the ListenHub plugin within automatically measuring and matching and project you’re working on too.
your DAW which creates an in-DAW duplicate of the loudness of the input signals. Of course, we don’t always want to
the control panel. The other, and perhaps most Also important for making accurate be monitoring at the same volume
elegant method is via the ListenHub app comparisons is the output volume level level, and a good way to deal with this is
running on your phone or tablet. The app talks and, more relevantly, how the position to create a number of predefined
to the ListenHub device via WiFi, and as long as of the monitor volume control monitoring volumes so that, again, you
both computer and phone/tablet are on the translates to the actual acoustic decibel can retain a degree of long-term
same local network, connecting the two level spat-out by the speakers consistency. To enable this, ListenHub
together is a doddle. themselves. Pro studios deal with this includes four preset monitor output
by choosing a “standard” position for levels: loud, normal, quiet and soft.
DAW plugin
Using a software device such as ListenHub as
your DAW’s output device can have downsides.
Firstly, just like any hardware or software audio
device, ListenHub introduces additional I/O along with a PSR history graph that lets you see Alternatively
latency. But a bigger issue arises if your DAW how the dynamics of your mix change over
does not support using separate input and time. (To clarify, PSR refers to the difference PreSonus Monitor Station V2
output devices – many don’t. In this situation, between the peak signal level and short-term Circa £260
using ListenHub as your DAW’s sole audio I/O LUFS level.) This hardware monitor controller
device means your DAW loses access to your Below these meters is a spectrum analyser switches three inputs into three
audio hardware inputs. and a set of buttons that isolate different possible monitor paths
Neither of these things is a problem during frequency bands so you can focus in on them –
the critical mixing and mastering phases of Sub, Low, Low-mid, High-mid and High. A further Process Audio Decibel
production, which is where ListenHub is set of buttons solo the different channels of the £119
particularly useful, and for other situations, the stereo image – Left, Right, Mid and Side – and Decibel includes an app that lets
ListenHub plugin provides a workaround. can swap the left and right channels. All of these you hand-off its display to your
Inserted as the last plugin on your main mix tools can be massively helpful when checking phone or tablet
buss (or monitor buss, if your DAW has one), the specific aspects of a mix, and when comparing it
plugin routes the audio from the buss directly to against other material.
a special fourth input of the ListenHub device. ListenHub sits alongside Claro and Verdict
This allows you to configure your DAW to use VoxDoubler as part of Sonnox’s Toolbox range.
your hardware interface in the normal way, As such it has a particular focus on workflow For Great value compared to hardware
which it then shares with the ListenHub device. and making it easy to follow professional best Plugin slots for monitor calibration
This workaround configuration loses some practices no matter how big or small your Elegant app-based control panel
convenience though. The feed from the plugin studio. The system works very well in its most
bypasses ListenHub’s output processing stage, streamlined guise, although is a bit lumpier Against Shared driver configuration
and so you have to apply an identical processing when relying on sharing the audio hardware disables important features…
chain in your DAW in order to keep things driver with your DAW.
consistent across all of ListenHub’s sources. That said, the streamlined configuration is This inexpensive and powerful monitor
just fine for mixing and mastering, which are controller system encourages best
Toolbox where ListenHub’s full usefulness lies, and at this practices aimed at helping you create
ListenHub’s control panel acts as more than just price it’s worth it even just for those tasks. perfect mixes and masters
an input and output switch. It features both
short-term LUFS and PSR dynamics metering, Web sonnox.com 8/10

> reviews / vocal plugins roundup
Best vocal processing plugins

It’s our vocals special, so if you want that Auto-Tune effect, or need to
make a bad vocal great, then these vocal processing plugins will help
turn bad singing into perfect vocals, whatever music you make
If singing is important to your songs and
recordings then there are plenty of
software plugins available to assist your
Buyers’ advice
recording and editing endeavours. Vocal When it comes to buying a plugin Little AlterBoy that nudge your
processing plugins are many and varied specifically for vocals, you need to pitch manually.
and can be used to help make great vocal decide what your needs are from The Auto-Tune effect is
the many issues vocalists have. It probably the biggest decider
recordings, or turn bad takes into
might well be that a simple EQ is when it comes to vocal
recordings that can be used in any mix. all you require, just to bolster processing. This is the slightly
Vocal processing plugins include certain frequencies to give your synthetic, quantised vocal sound
general mix plugins for adding EQ solidity vocal more body, or remove mid that’s been a chart staple in many
and sparkle to male or female vocals, or and high frequencies to reduce dance and rap genres since Cher
classic, colourful compression for a vintage overall harshness. made the effect famous in the
vibe. For vocalists with tuning issues or the More likely than not, you will song Believe in 1998. As arguably
contemporary ‘Auto-tune’ effect, there are have tuning issues from time to worn out as this effect is, you can’t
automatic tuning plugins to help your time. Even the best vocalists will deny its continued popularity, and
vocalist hit the right notes or recreate the have an off day in the studio those predicting its demise have
sometimes and you might be left been many and all mistaken over
classic Cher-like jumping effect. Finally
with the odd note to put in place the last couple of decades.
there are more esoteric and bespoke vocal
or simply need software to help With that in mind, an ‘Auto-
processors that focus on specific tasks like ‘guide’ your vocalist as they sing. Tune’-like plugin is a good tool to
de-essing or double-tracking. With all such tuning issues, there have in your armoury and at least
In this roundup we’ll be covering the are lots of options available, from four of our options deliver it, from
best vocal processing plugins we’ve software that gets right into a mix the simple AlterBoy right up to the
reviewed. There’s more vocal advice – plus to edit tuning issues (Celemony one that started it all, the famous
walkthroughs to go with some of these Melodyne) to simple plugins like Auto-Tune Pro.
plugins – in our main feature from p16.

vocal plugins roundup / reviews <
Antares
Autotune Pro £288
TYPE: Automatic tuning plugin | KEY FEATURES: Real-time autotuning, graph mode for manual editing, advanced scaling, MIDI and vibrato options | SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS: AAX/AU/VST3 (64-Bit), Mac OSX 10.14 or later, Windows 10 or later; 4GB RAM
Antares kickstarted the automatic detect the key and scale of the audio in
tuning revolution with Auto-Tune back your track, and transmit the results to all
in 1997. Like all Auto-Tunes, Pro takes an running instances of Auto-Tune.
incoming signal and corrects any Advanced view has a few extras on
pitching, therefore putting an out-of- offer like Create Vibrato, ideal for adding
tune singer in tune. It can do this a bit of wobble via an LFO, plus options
transparently, or with the famous ‘Cher/ to set minor and major modes, edit
T-Pain’-style sudden jumps in pitch. across multiple octaves, and MIDI input Verdict
It’s operated in either of two modes: editing features. For Superb real-time auto-tuning
Auto and Graph, the first enabling real- Auto-Tune Pro is the most powerful – Low-latency monitoring for live input
Auto-Tune 5 Classic algorithm option
time automatic repitching, the latter for as well as usable – incarnation of this
detailed manual editing. You also get standard yet, and it easily maintains the Against Still only monophonic.
two views: Basic and Advanced. With software’s position as one of the best
Delivers in-vogue pitch and formant
Basic, choose a voice type, select the retuning solutions available, and may
modulation effects by the bucket load with
target key and scale, set specific pitches well prove to be the ultimate pitch- ease and speed!
for removal (or leave unchanged). You manipulating toolbox.
can also use the Auto-Key plugin to antarestech.com 9/10

Celemony
Melodyne 5 €99 - €699
TYPE: Automatic tuning plugin | PRICING: Melodyne 5 Essential (€99, edit your vocals using the basic functions for pitch and timing); Melodyne 5 Assistant (€249, the
toolkit for pitch, timing, vibrato, phrasing, formants and dynamics); Melodyne 5 Editor (€399, all the pro vocal functions plus the DNA algorithm for polyphonic audio);
Melodyne 5 editor (€399, the complete Melodyne, with all Melodyne’s functions and possibilities) | KEY FEATURES: Edit pitched and noise components separately with
‘Melodic’ algorithm. Musical analysis of pitch deviations. Fade Tool and Levelling Macro. ‘Percussive Pitched’ algorithm | SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: AAX/AU/VST3 (64-Bit)
Where Antares have made the ‘Cher pitch editing is also now incredibly
sound’ famous with Auto-Tune, natural due to features like a Levelling
Celemony’s Melodyne brings more Macro that balances quiet and loud
natural tuning to vocals – and indeed, elements, and even the tiniest of pitch
anything else. You can even edit deviations can be tweaked. Verdict
polyphonic material, part of the black Melodyne 5 Studio offers the full For Great ‘Melodic’ algorithm
magic tech that Celemony have been panoply of multitrack polyphonic Edit pitch and noise separately
Melodyne feels like part of your DAW
fine-tuning since 2009. And with the editing options, but, if you mainly work
Excellent tools such as Sibilant
latest versions – there are several price with monophonic material, the more
bands you can buy into – integration affordable Melodyne 5 Assistant still Against Takes some work to get the
with your DAW has never been better. delivers many essential features. best out of it
Recent additions include a Melodic Whatever version, Melodyne remains an An exceptional tool for manipulating audio
algorithm that allows editing of noise- exceptional tool for manipulating audio in functional and creative ways
based sibilants to be carried out in functional and creative ways.
separately from pitch-based parts. Vocal celemony.com 9/10

Oeksound
Soothe 2 €199/£169
TYPE: Dynamic EQ/resonance suppressor for removing harsh frequencies | KEY FEATURES: Soft/hard mode, Attack and Release parameters, frequency graph, optimised
performance and lower latency, external sidechain input | SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: MacOS 10.10 (Yosemite) and newer as 64 bit VST, AU, and AAX, Intel-based Macs;
Windows 7 and newer as 32/64 bit VST and VST3, 64 bit AAX (PT11 and newer); iLok account and iLok License Manager installation required
Soothe is an automatic dynamic the world. The latest version (2) reduces
frequency editor, and designed to CPU load and latency and has much
remove harshness from instrumental faster rendering plus a wider frequency
and vocal recordings. It uses spectral range that covers the lower end down
processing to detect unpleasant to 20Hz. It also comes with many more Verdict
resonances, and dynamically attenuates EQ options than the debut version. For Very easy to use dynamic EQ
Particularly good on harsher vocals
them via numerous level-sensitive notch Add in extra envelope controls to Features great envelope controls and
filters. You might think this sounds like control the shape of the attenuation, a flexible filters
an EQ, but the band nodes control the Balance option – to adjust the depth of Excellent features like Balance and a
sidechain input
reduction sensitivity dynamically within processing between the left and right or
their specific frequency ranges. If you mid and side channels – and Soothe 2 is Against Attack and Decay options per
raise a node on screen, it will notch out a great, but not obvious tool for a frequency band would be good
the resonances within that band more producer’s vocal armoury.
An easy to use, adaptable and transparent
profoundly as the volume increases. It will make any vocal (or instrument)
dynamic EQ that no serious producer
Soothe makes this a beautifully recording that much less harsh, without should be without
realised process and the plugin has losing the punch and impact.
been a big hit with producers around oeksound.com 10/10

> reviews / vocal plugin roundup
Synchro Arts
VocAlign Ultra £285
TYPE: Pitch and timing alignment software | KEY FEATURES: Instantly match timing and pitch of two or more signals. Great for vocals, instruments and sound effects |
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: AU, AAX and VST3, Audio Suite for offline editing in Pro Tools and ARA2 (Audio Random Access) format. Requires Intel Processor macOS 10.8 or
higher, Windows 10. Most DAWs supported bar Reason, Digital Performer and Garageband
VocAlign is a long-established market- allowing you to see timing and pitch

leading tool that adjusts the timing of an both before and after processing. The
audio file (Dub) so it matches that of a display can be used to add manual
source (Guide). It works well with any Guide/Dub sync points or establish
audio and is used for many music and protected areas that won’t be processed
post-production tasks. However it’s – handy for more creative applications.
particularly in demand for vocals and You can use VocAlign Ultra without
speech, where accurate pitch and delving too deeply into the advanced
timing alignment can be crucial. features. In that respect, we managed to
VocAlign Ultra sits between the tighten all manner of doubled and
affordable but basic VocAlign Project layered vocals. The results are very
and Synchro Arts’ flagship processor, impressive and in many cases Verdict
Revoice Pro 4. pleasantly transparent. For Fantastic timing and
pitch algorithms
The software has three core It’s also very easy to adjust the Impressively transparent results
processors – Match Timing, Match Pitch amount of timing and pitch correction, Multiple ways to tweak outcome
and Formant Shift – each accompanied and loosening things a bit is often the
by a parameter control to determine key to getting the most natural results. Against Expensive
how loose or tight the matching It’s a bit pricey but if you do a lot of Industry-standard plugin that makes
processing is. It has great visual editing and aligning, it will improve your editing and aligning vocals a breeze
feedback with the three zoomable views productivity considerably.
– waveform, pitch and signal energy – synchroarts.com 10/10

Computer
Music
choice
If you have tuning
issues or want that
‘Auto-tune’ effect then
there are a couple of
obvious contenders, the
most obvious being the
daddy of them all, Auto-
Tune Pro. It’s managed
to stay ahead of the rest
by heaping in some
wonderful and easy to
implement features,
over and above that
classic vocal effect and
FabFilter has almost become the

‘Hoover’ of plugins
Pro-Q 3 £134
along the way. That said,
if you want the quick,
down and dirty version
then Soundtoys’ Little
AlterBoy impresses us
TYPE: EQ plugin with up to 24 bands | KEY FEATURES: Filter shapes include Bell, Notch, High/Low Shelf, High/ with its simplistic but
Low Cut, Band Pass, Tilt Shelf, Flat Tilt; Dynamic EQ mode, EQ Match, spectrum analyser, external spectrum beautiful approach to
visualization, per-band mid/side or left/right processing and many more features | SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: VST,
VST3, Audio Units, AAX Native and AudioSuite formats (all both 64-bit and 32-bit) not only Auto-Tune style
effects, but brilliant
male to female and
female to male formant
While not a dedicated vocal processor, bass and kick drum for example. And
editing and more.
Fabfilter’s Pro-Q is one of the best EQs finally Dynamic EQ mode allows you to
For more refined
on the market, and every producer create frequency nodes which respond pitch editing,
dealing with vocal recordings needs a dynamically to the input level of a signal, Celemony’s Melodyne
great EQ to tame all those frequencies so that more attenuation is applied as will always be the black
around a vocal. There are many reasons the input signal gets louder. magic plugin that will
why Pro-Q has become the number one Many EQs give characterful results – impress with its
choice, but the main attractions are its and we heartily recommend Waves’ abilities, particularly
sound, features and beautiful display. Puigtec Bundle for warmth or Plugin the Editor version
Double-clicking the spectral display Alliance’s MAAG EQ4 for ‘air’ in this upwards that contains
creates a new EQ band, with its regard – but Fabfilter’s Pro-Q has carved the DNA algorithm and
polyphonic audio
adjustable parameters appearing so its own, brilliant path. Not just for vocals,
editing. But it does cost,
you can easily tweak frequency, gain, Q, yes, but you won’t find a better EQ to
so if you are after its
plus the band’s filter shape and slope. shape your singing. basic functionality and
And there’s a good variety of shapes to fabfilter.com a whole lot more, we
quickly adjust a signal’s tonal balance. have to throw iZotope’s
But as good as its UI is, it’s features Nectar 3 Plus into the
like Spectrum Grab that have made the ring as a great option,
headlines, allowing you to control errant which gives you module
peaks and troughs with ease; or the Verdict upon module of vocal
Piano Roll display which was introduced editing options, the
For EQ Match works brilliantly
in v2 to make it easy to target your cuts Loads of useful shapes and slopes miraculous Vocal
External Spectrum Visualization sorts Assistant feature and
and boosts at specific pitches. EQ Match
overlapping frequencies with ease even a version of
makes it easy to imbue the
Melodyne thrown in – all
characteristics of one source signal on Against Dynamic EQ implementation for $249!
another – something since attempted could be a touch more clear
by many other EQ designers. External
Possibly the best EQ plugin on the market.
Spectrum Visualization introduced in v3 Pro-Q is amazing and unstoppable
allows you to see where frequencies
conflict enough to cause problems – 10/10

iZotope
Nectar 3 Plus $129 - $249
TYPE: Full vocal editing suite of modules | PRICING: Nectar Elements £129 (contains Vocal Assistant and enough modules to carry out most vocal processes); Nectar 3 Plus
$249 (adds Melodyne 5 essential and extra Unmask features) | KEY FEATURES: Vocal Assistant: Get polished vocals with AI; automatically set reverb, compression EQ, and
more; automatic De-esser cleans up your sibilance | SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: AAU, AAX, VST2, VST3 (64-bit only for Nectar 3 Plus; 32- and 64-bit for Nectar Elements); Mac:
macOS High Sierra (10.13.6) – macOS Big Sur (11.6.x; Windows: Windows 10
Nectar has become a go-to plugin for Moderate or Aggressive as the

the pro producer looking to easily get processing ‘Intensity’. The input signal is
vocals of all kinds sounding their best. It analysed for a few seconds, while the
uses an array of reorderable modules to modules are set up in the background
apply voice-optimised dynamics to correct for dynamic fluctuations,
shaping, EQ, pitch correction, resonant peaks, sibilance, and even
harmonisation, de-essing, distortion and adjust pitch correction and reverb mix.
effects to your audio. In Unmask mode, Vocal Assistant
One of the many highlights is a clears space for the vocal by applying Verdict
machine learning-driven system for equalisation to any other track that’s For Sounds superb from top to bottom
automatically setting the plugin up fighting with it for space. The results are Intuitive, focused range of modules
Vocal Assistant is miraculous
based on analysis of the input signal. invariably well judged and effective, Dynamic EQ modes work brilliantly
Called Vocal Assistant, it creates a giving the vocals a perceived lift that’s
custom preset to make your vocal almost always beneficial. This feature Against Upgrade is expensive
sound objectively ‘better’ and more mix- has also been enhanced for Nectar 3
Whether your vocals are sung or spoken,
ready. Select Assist mode, point the Plus, the latest incarnation of Nectar. Nectar will help you get them sounding like
algorithm in the right direction by Nectar 3 sounds incredible and flows a million dollars
choosing Vintage, Modern or Dialogue beautifully. Highly recommended.
as the source ‘Vibes’, and Light, izotope.com 9/10

Waves Soundtoys
Vocal Bender £110 Little Alter Boy $99
TYPE: Vocal processor plugin | KEY FEATURES: Real-time monophonic voice TYPE: Vocal pitch and format editor | KEY FEATURES: Pitch and Formant, three
manipulation, zero latency, LFO, SEQ, Amplitude and Pitch modulators, ‘Flatten’ Mode options (Transpose, Quantize and Robot) and Drive and Mix | SYSTEM
feature, Mix knob | SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: AAX/AU/VST2 & 3 (64-Bit), Mac OSX REQUIREMENTS: AAX Native, AAX AudioSuite, VST 2, and Audio Units 64-bit only;
10.13.6 or later (Intel only), Windows 10 64 bit (version 2004 and above); 8GB RAM, macOS X 10.10 or later; Windows 7 or later
8GB free disk space | CONTACT: Waves Audio (waves.com)
Waves have some great that professional-sounding If there’s one plugin that interesting. After a simple
plugins for vocalists – vocal manipulation at speed comes up more often than Transpose option, you get
particularly in their bundles and with no processing lag. It any other in our producer Quantize, where notes are
which include the classic is certainly one of the slickest interviews as an all-time forced to the nearest semi-
De-Esser and Doubler. vocal plugins we’ve favourite, it’s Soundtoys’ Little tone for that Auto-Tune-like
However Vocal Bender is all experimented with – best in AlterBoy. This simple but effect that has seemingly
about the pitch and formant class for quick-fire, modern cheap plugin only boasts a been a mainstay for years. It
editing, vocal processing that pitch manipulation. few controls but can deliver works well and very simply,
has remained enduringly waves.com wide-ranging results on any although you’ll probably get
popular across many genres. audio, and is specifically more finesse out of the real-
There are two knobs, Pitch aimed at vocals for both pitch deal reviewed on p75.
and Formant, controlling the and formant editing. Finally you get Robot
central tone of the human You get three main modes: Mode, where the pitch is
vocal and the resonant the main controls for Pitch frozen to one note, no matter
frequencies that shape the and Formant, three Mode what the original input
timbre of the vocal. A Flatten options (Transpose, Quantize singing. Pitch and indeed
button allows you to force and Robot) and then a Drive formant can still be changed
the input to snap to a and Mix area. The Pitch with the left hand dials.
predetermined note, a control alters incoming audio A wonderful, diverse plugin
speedy tool for building up by semitones but the beauty that does the job very well.
any augmented choruses of AlterBoy is that it’s more Great for beginners and
and harmonies. natural than the chipmunk superb value.
Experiment with the effects you get elsewhere. soundtoys.com
modulation and automation The Formant option can,
options, and vast creative again very naturally, sweep a
scope presents itself. male vocal into a female, or
Automation can be a superb vice versa. It’s incredible to Verdict
way of introducing vocal Verdict hear it in operation because For Instant and great results
For Incredible levels of manipulation So easy to use
effects (such as sudden pitch one of AlterBoy’s main
Simple and accessible UI Very cost-effective way to treat vocals
drops) that activate based on No latency or sync loss attractions is the fact that it
the volume of the input does it with no nonsense, Against Sometimes processing is a bit
signal, so the intensity of your Against More complexity elsewhere one dial with all the science hit and miss
performance can be the In vogue pitch and formant modulation

bits hidden away. It just gets Easy, cheap and much loved vocal pitch
triggering factor. effects by the bucket load – easy and fast on with it, with brilliant results. and format editor
The aim of the game with The central Modes are
Vocal Bender is really getting 9/10 where things get even more 9/10

> reviews / mini reviews
Soundware round-up
Sustain
Cosmic Deep House £19.50
Intergalactic fusion of black hole deep house business and acid-washed
melodies. The rip in this space time continuum means that you get plenty of
old skool flavours with that modern spit and sparkle, too. The one-shots and
loops in this 700MB offering are versatile, each fit to furnish your classic
house stylings to a tee. And the throwback drums and trippy synths mix
Loopmasters perfectly with the ambient chords and warm keys found elsewhere. Throw in
some stellar bass tones and riffs, and you’re ready to blast off.
Howie B Drops Some samplemarket.co.uk
n7/10n
Trip Hop £24.95
A sample pack with a title as laid back
as the beats inside. However, as real
heads will know, when it’s made by a
living legend with fingerprints on
countless seminal releases, you’re
going to get well excited by the results.
For his debut LM release, the trip-
hop architect has teamed up with a
close circuit of tight live musicians to
add some fly grooves to his signature
palette. Dope keys, drums, bass, brass,
Zenhiser
and percussion make up the eight Seduce £35
heavyweight crates on offer. Each one Hand-on-the-thigh and nibble-on-the-ear vibes in this sultry set of sexed up
samples. The tingling riffs, smooth as eggs rhythms, and breathy vocals are
feels like part of a late night jam on all on their second glass of cold champagne wine, and ready to take it to third
bass. Proper ‘80s grooves, in song stem form. The nostalgic synth work is
grooves that run from 73-123bpm. giving us Bette Davis Eyes, and every drum is swinging like it’s Shalamar, and
we love it. This kind of stuff felt like the future, even back then. And now, it’s
loopmasters.com giving us real deal feels. Relax!
zenhiser.com
n 9/100 n8/10n
82 / COMPUTER MUSIC August 2022

mini reviews / reviews <
Goldbaby Audiotent
EPROM Grind $39 Pure Hi-Hats £17
Say hello to Goldbaby – purveyors of tip-top sample-sourced instruments and 176 one-shot, hi-hat samples, sound-designed and captured with style from
sounds, straight outta NZ. On this standout pack from their recent crop, the quite the shelf of iconic hardware. The analogue drum machines and
team have painstakingly created a whopping batch of raw and rugged DMX Eurorack modules plundered boast the names Moog, Soma, Jomox, and
drum machine sounds and filthy modular synth samples from a stack of Arturia. And, to give the results the respect they deserve, they’ve all spent an
vintage machines, customised kit, and even layered firework sounds, and afternoon in the company of the Neve 88RLB preamp.
given them the 8-Bit Prommer treatment. Everything is super punchy, with If it’s meaty and plonky hi-hats you’ve been missing, pick up this cost
old skool sampler vibes, run through high-end chains. It makes for a wildly effective pack. You get open and closed hi-hat variations. And, with the right
usable and unique pack. shuffle, they can completely drive your tracks.
goldbaby.co.nz audiotent.com
n8/10n n8/10n
Mode Audio UNDRGRND Sounds

Downtempo Synth Loops £10 Tech House Vocals £14.95
Cracking little mini pack of 70 music and MIDI loops, which will go straight to Nice laid back and loved up lead lines, ripe for looping. Perfect for tough and darker
the top of your current minimal electronica crates. It’s all very deep and musical backing, and less ‘hands-in-the-air’ cheese than a lot of these type of packs.
decayed, and easy to lose an hour in. The woozy bass riffs, hypnotic The three soulful and seductive male and female performances come off classy,
synthwave styles, and heavy-lidded chord sequences, will have your head rather than desperate for your attention, which will let them slide in a wider range
nodding from 78-105bpm. And the crusty and dusty beats and percussion, of song selections. And the implications in the lyrics are a little sexually charged,
when let loose over the analogue arp workouts, will have you thinking you’re making them a shoo-in for any tracks you have on the go that are getting you hot
about to drop the chillest Warp white label of ’92. Give in to it… under the collar.
modeaudio.com undrgrndsounds.com
n8/10n n7/10n

> reviews / mini reviews
Soundware round-up
2Deep
Sample Addicts $19.95
Take a big fat hit of trap and hip-hop dope, in this seedy set of dusted drums,
spooky keys, emotional strings, and beautifully dark bass samples.
Presented as a 10-track album, and feeling like you’re lifting loops straight
from ill wax stacks, these stems are a treasure trove of moody track ammo.
Inspired by a vinyl digger’s attention to rare break crates and their crackly
grooves, you’ll find plenty of song-starting sounds in this 1.5GB set to chop
and re-trigger in your sampler of choice.
waproduction.com
UNDRGRND Sounds n8/10n
Euro House & Hi-NRG

£34.90
A glorious continental breakfast of
golden era Euro dance samples, with all
the best bits of this euphoric genre laid
bare for you to pick and choose from.
There’s a phat stack of mono bass riffs,
Italo-disco synth lines, stabby chords and
layered stabs. Plus, punchy Linn and 808
drum rhythms, built to drive you wild.
Served at 122bpm, with key/labelling
SoundGhost
and MIDI files where possible, this
DRM Drums £12
shameless ’80s clubland flashback will Ruff and raw dog drum machine samples, pulled with care from the Vermona
DRM MK3. This analogue wonder, much loved by the IDM scene and found in
have you grinning from ear to ear as you works by everyone from Nils Frahm to Moderat, has a style and tone all of its
own. Its big room kicks are here, along with the sizzling clap sounds, tough
tuck greedily in. Oh-la-la. toms, and iconic FX. And everything gets pushed through cool signal chains
for added weight. And you get six sweet pre-formatted drum kits for all the
undrgrndsounds.com big DAWs to add to the fun.
soundghost.net
n 8/100 n8/10n

mini reviews / reviews <
Frontline Producer
Latin Funk Drums £19.95
Drum legend Mark Fletcher, who has a ton of great sample packs to his name,
turns his sticks south of the border. His highly coveted live and loose playing
spans 99-180bpm, and each groove has an insatiable energy that you’ll have
a hoot beefing up if you’re taking these loops into chunkier dance territory.
There are Latin rhythms galore, full of slick brush work, and salsa-style
percussion top notes. All with lovely rhythms a million times more interesting
than that uneventful old 4/4 beat you’re currently sat staring at.
loopmasters.com Bingoshakerz
n7/10n
Vintage Synthpop
$19.95
Time to turn back the clock, roll up our
cream suit sleeves, and get busy with a
900+ MB of ’80s chart-ready dance
music loops, hits and MIDI.
In the retrospective of the big
phones era, robots take the mic and
rock out phrases, as lace-gloved
fingers prod at a variety of analogue
keyboards for your amusement. It
makes for a welcome trip down
Ghost Syndicate
memory lane, if you lived through it.
Alphabet Breaks: Jungle £19.95
Blistering beats for jungalistic bad boys and girls craving that old skool funk Or, a history lesson for young bucks
break flavour. If you love that vintage sound of chopped up Ultimate Breaks &
Beats, but find those classic samples a bit played out, you’re gonna wanna wanting to add a fake nostalgic flourish
check this. Inspired by the foundation loops of DnB, the crates in here
recreate the vintage tone and texture of real sampled drums. All the dust and
grit of MPC captured hits are there, and the rhythms have that finger-
to their modern day beats.
triggered vibe that’ll have you screaming amen to that. bingoshakerz.com
loopmasters.com
n8/10n n 7/10n
The No.1 website for musicians
Love this magazine?

You’ll love musicradar.com
Thousands of gear Tips and techniques
reviews and killer to help you create
video demos your own sound
downloads <
downloads
Get this month’s content from filesilo.co.uk
The home of great
downloads, exclusive to
your favourite magazines
free plugin Secure and safe online
88
access, from anywhere
JMG AUDIO Free access for every
HYPERSPACE 2 CM reader – print and digital
How to download, install and use Download only the files
this amazing free reverb plugin! you want, when you want
All the downloads from all
free samples
your issues, in one place
FOLEY
92
FACTORY TOP-LOOP
GROOVES
ULTIMATE VOCAL
ULTIMATE
VOCALS COLLECTION! Get started
Loads of free vocal samples,
double the classic packs + industry demos
free videos
96
MASTERCLASSES AND
YOUR FREE PLUGIN! 01 Register your FileSilo
account and log in. Even
if you have a subscriber ID, you’ll
Synth/production masterclasses
still have to unlock each mag
on film and Hyperspace 2 CM explained separately or migrate your old
Vault account (see step 3)
plugin suite
DL
THE CM PLUGIN SUITE
An in-depth guide to all of the
plugins in our mighty collection
can be found as a PDF at filesilo.co.uk
02 Head back to the
Computer Music page
(filesilo.co.uk/computermusic)
Log in at filesilo.co.uk/computermusic and choose an issue to unlock.
You’ll need to answer one
question to prove you’ve
Register this issue Free purchased the issue
for instant access to for digital
our plugins, samples, readers, too!
videos and files on your Read on your tablet,
desktop computer download on your
computer
to update 03 You can migrate your

old Vault account over
to FileSilo to retain the issues
you’ve added – head to
filesilo.co.uk/vault and enter
your Vault email address.
Reset your password via the
email you receive, and log in
> Free software
JMG AUDIO
HYPERSPACE CM2
Are you a reverb lover with control freak tendencies? DOWNLOAD
Get this great plugin for your
PC/Mac at
You’ll love this newly updated CM Suite plugin filesilo.co.uk/computermusic
JMG Audio Hyperspace is a highly (including reverb Time, Early/Late balance and In this tutorial we’ll show you how to get up
creative and rather unique reverb plugin high pass/low pass Filter), three algorithm and running, and then take you through the
that combines typical reverb parameters Modes (Classic, Modern and Cosmic), and main features. We’ll then put Hyperspace CM2
with some deep control over the core further dynamic and effect processing through its paces and finish up with a look at
algorithms. We are very lucky that the (Resonate, Inertia, Focus and Duck). The Modes some of the more creative uses for this highly
developer, Jason Gibbins, in conjunction with can also be adjusted using the Character XY flexible reverb.
United Plugins has created a special Pad, for quick changes to the reverb tonality. And of course it goes without saying, if you
Computer Music version of this plugin and The new version features an upgraded like this free version you’ll probably like the full
are super honoured that he’s continuing to interface, 2x oversampling and the CPU-saving version too, which has more than 300 presets, a
support us with this new version 2. option ‘intelligent sleep on silence’. You now more extensive set of adjustable parameters
Hyperspace CM2 (VST, VST3, AU and AAX) is a also have the option to activate online from and control over the core algorithms. They’ve
slimmed down version of the parent plugin, but within the plugin interface. There are a few even thrown in a special 50% upgrade discount.
still has loads of tweakable parameters. other new options in the settings menu, and an For more information on this and more head to
Features include nine regular reverb controls expanded preset library. unitedplugins.com
LEVELS FILTER & TILT MODE LIMITER RANDOMISE

Set the main In/Out Use these two controls to Select from three Activate the If you fancy creating
and Wet/Dry levels adjust the reverb EQ algorithmic presets integrated limiter some interesting effects,
and use the handy - Modern, Classic to prevent apply one of three
link option if required and Cosmic output clipping randomisation amounts
REVERB
PARAMETERS SETTINGS
Adjust the MENU
Time, Size and Right click
Damping for the on the plugin
reverb effect background
to reveal the
settings menu
EARLY/LATE CHARACTER RESONATE/INERTIA DUCK

Set the balance between the Adjust the frequency Get creative, applying Use this dynamics control
early reflections and reverb tail ranges, routings and delay comb filtering or freeze to duck the source signal
times of the algorithm to the reverb when present

hyperspace cm2 / free software <
> Step by step 1. Download and installation
1 2 3
Hyperspace CM 2 is included in our Hyperspace CM2 requires a licence file Run the relevant installer file. Once
free software resource, and this is (Hyperspace CM v1 users can use their complete, launch your host DAW and
available via FileSilo. To get started, head current licence). Head to https:// load up an instance of Hyperspace CM2.
to www.filesilo.co.uk/computermusic and unitedplugins.com/HyperspaceCM/, Right click on the plugin background,
either login or create a new account as create an account (if you don’t have one) launch the licence manager and login to
required. Unlock the content for this issue and purchase the free licence. This will your United Plugins account to authorise.
and download the required Hyperspace then be available in your user area so you Alternatively download a licence file and
CM2 installer (both Mac and PC versions can download it and authorise the plugin drop that in manually.
are there). manually or online.
> Step by step 2. Navigating the plugin
TUTORIAL
FILES
1 2 3
Now let’s take a look at Hyperspace On the top left are the Wet/Dry To keep things visually clear,
CM2’s features. Load an instance on an controls and In/Out levels. Use the Hyperspace CM2’s key parameters are
auxiliary bus and grab a preset from the little arrow icons to link each pair of colour coded. The blue controls are the
preset tab. We’ve loaded in Church. You’ll controls. We have our reverb set up as an main reverb parameters and include Time,
see the presets are categorised by size, auxiliary, so we’ve linked the Wet/Dry Size and Predelay. You’ve also got a
and, as mentioned, version 2 increases the controls and set the Wet to 100%, and this combined high/low pass Filter and Tilt-
preset count considerably. makes the direct level 0%. style EQ to help tailor frequency content.
4 5 6
Main controls also include parameters The pink section is home to the Mode Finally, Hyperspace CM 2 has four
for early and late reflections. Early/ option and XY pad. These are key macro-style controls that influence
Late is a straightforward balance control, creative aspects of Hyperspace CM2 and multiple aspects of the reverb sound. The
while Par/Ser affects how much these are let you select the core algorithmic green controls influence dynamics (Duck)
fed in series or parallel from the input. Try structure (Mode) and then manipulate its and the noise/tonal aspects of the reverb
different settings. You’ll find a more serial sound using the XY control. All very (Focus). Meanwhile, the Orange controls
setting creates more resonances and a far powerful and we’ll demonstrate this more apply comb filtering (Resonate) or freeze
more coloured metallic effect. on page 91. the reverb tail (Inertia).

> free software / hyperspace cm2
> Step by step 3. Reverb basics
1 2 3
Hyperspace CM2 is ideal for the Let’s try a couple of very different Use the auxiliary sends to add a small
algorithmic spaces we typically use on effects by tweaking this preset. First amount of effect. Note, we’re not
beats. To get started, load up a new up, adding width and depth to a regular looking to add too much here. The reverb
instance on an auxiliary and set the Mix to snare. We’ve included some example sound is OK, but needs tweaking. First up,
100% wet. Now head to the preset folder audio for you (download from FileSilo) to reduce the decay time slightly. Here we’ve
and from the Real Spaces – Small folder use and the Kit Snare is ideal, but any double clicked on the parameter to reveal
choose a preset – we’ve picked Bedroom. regular dry snare sound will do for this. the number entry and we’re changing the
Time parameter to about 500ms.
4 5 6
Now the sound is tight as required but Now let’s start again with the same For a metallic effect that works well
is still maybe a bit too bright. There original preset. This time we’re going with the electro snare, start by
are various ways we can change this on for a more obvious effect and for this reducing the Damp parameter (we’ve
Hyperspace CM2. We’re going to use the we’re using an analogue snare – Electro gone for about 20%), then finesse the
Damp parameter. Increasing this to about Snare from the example audio is ideal. sound further with the Filter and Tilt. If
80% delivers exactly what we’re after. Try Again use the auxiliary to send a small you increase the Filter (we’ve set ours to
A/Bing to hear the difference. amount to the reverb. about 70%) it’s in high pass mode, while a
higher Tilt value further boosts the highs.
7 8 9
Medium size reverbs are ideal for Start by choosing a medium preset – Now let’s try a similar reverb on a
enhancing DI’d sounds and generally we’ve picked Coloured Hall. This is close miked acoustic piano (Acoustic
bringing together multiple overdubbed quite a rich sounding medium space with Piano audio from the tutorial files). We’ve
parts. Here we’re using a mono DI’d a decay of about a second. Try increasing chosen preset Bright Hall. The sound is OK
electric piano (check out the Electric the Modulate parameter for more but a bit congested. Try shifting the Early/
Piano audio in the tutorial files) and once movement and increasing the Tilt setting Late balance to mostly late (we’ve set it to
again we’ve loaded up an instance of to shift the EQ away from the low mids about 80%). Finally, use the Duck control
Hyperspace CM2 on an auxiliary. and towards the higher frequencies. to suppress reverb when the source plays.

hyperspace cm2 / free software <
> Step by step 4. Creating spot effects with Hyperspace CM 2
1 2 3
Hyperspace CM2 is a great reverb for In the preset bar head to the Real Head over to the green controls and
creating spot effects and this is helped Spaces – Large category and load up wind up the Inertia control. This
considerably by the XY pad and macro Football Stadium. Deselect the Wet/Dry freezes the reverb decay creating
controls. To get started, load up an link, setting Dry to 100% and Wet to about beautiful extended effects without having
instance on a track insert. We’ve included 60%. This creates a reasonably short kick to mess around manually with the size
a selection of one-shot sounds to try out boom effect. However, we can quickly and decay of the reverb. Here we’ve set it
(audio file One Shots) and we’re going to transform this with the Inertia control. to about 50% and we’ve got an extended
start with the first kick. effect with the same tonality.
4 5 6
From this point we can also try the The next key control that can quickly Here we’ve moved the XY pad up near
three algorithm Modes. Keeping all and massively influence our effect is the top right corner, and this changes
the other parameters the same, cycle the XY Character pad. This simultaneously the tone of the effect considerably to a
through them. Note, you may need to modifies many parameters, with the much darker and heavier effect. It’s also
adjust the Wet balance. Each has its own vertical position influencing the EQ – worth mentioning that moving the XY pad
clear sound and with the Inertia darker at the top, brighter at the bottom. creates quite smooth changes to the
parameter extending the reverb decay, The horizontal position influences time effect, so you could automate its position
the differences are far easier to hear. related aspects – smaller on the left, larger to add real time movement.
on the right.
7 8 9
Now let’s try a different one-shot. Once again, we can tweak this using Finally, why not remove the dry signal
We’ve loaded the percussion hit with the XY Character pad, and by moving completely. Here we’ve set Dry to 0%
Hyperspace CM2 as an insert and chosen this to the bottom right we’ve got an even and also adjusted the Early/Late
the preset Dreamscape from the Creative more metallic effect. Try increasing the Tilt parameter to 100%, removing the early
– Supermassive folder. First, try increasing control (we’ve set ours to about 60%) and reflections. This final effect is truly
the decay Time to its maximum (20 sec). Focus control (ours is on about 65%) to transformative and far removed from the
Then increase Resonate to the max and make this even more exaggerated. original audio.
increase the Inertia (60% for us). This
creates a pretty metallic sound.

> your free samples / all-new samples
Ultimate vocal samples

It’s a vocal theme so we’ve gathered our best-ever collections together and
have a vox-themed industry pack too. Get them at filesilo.co.uk or WeTransfer
ULTIMATE
VOCALS
Ultimate Vocals Bonus Vocals pack
In case you’ve missed it, we’re going a bit vocals mad this issue, with a Like our Ultimate Vocals sample pack isn’t enough, we bring you a
huge feature on how to get great vocals… without a vocalist! What bonus pack from SampleRadar too…
better way, though, than just using samples? Luckily we have you
covered with a mega vocal samples collection originally put together by SampleRadar is a great free samples resource hosted by our website
Robbie and Oli from Cyclick Samples and Groove Criminals… MusicRadar.com, and there you’ll find a huge resource of audio samples
covering just about every sound and genre that you can imagine. We’ve
We’ve gathered our best ever vocal samples, all in one place (OK two gathered all of their best vocal hits into this bonus pack for this special
places, including the bonus collection opposite). vocals issue.
In the first of these collections, the Ultimate Vocals pack, you’ll find five Within it you get a folder of Ad libs with lots of ‘yeahs’ and ‘oohs’. As
folders of Female Vocals from some of the best singers in the business. with our other samples, the BPM and pitch info is in the sample title but
Secondly there is a folder of FX and Processed sounds with over a that’s not to stop you bending and editing the samples to fit in with your
hundred vocal effects. own mixes. Next up is a folder of FX sounds containing lots of processed
Then there are three vocals. We close with around 40 spoken word samples with “come ons”,
packed folders in our next “do it!” and a lot more.
vocal samples category, That’s more than 1400
called MCs and Rappers, vocal samples (including the
which include hip-hop vocals. ones from Loopmasters – see
Then it’s on to Rhythmic and p91) so you need never use
your own voice in your tunes
Loops samples with ten
folders of varied vox samples.
1000+ SOUNDS ever again! 320+ SAMPLES
We then have a pack of Including Including
Hard Dance Vocals before Again, you can download
things get a little X-Rated as
445 Female vocals them all from this month’s 257 Ad libs
we finish with our XXX Vocal 107 FX and processed folders at filesilo.co.uk or via 30 FX and processed
Sample Collection. 64 MCs and rappers WeTransfer using the links in 40 Spoken word
the text file there. See the
110 Rhythmic loops bottom of p90 for more
Download them all from this
month’s folders at filesilo.co. 86 Spoken and shouts detailed instructions on how
uk or via WeTransfer 216 Triple-X samples to get your free samples

classic samples / your free samples <
FROM THE VAULT
FOLEY FACTORY
FOLEY For the first of our classic sample
FACTORY packs we’re going Foley! From the
cyclical buzzing of machinery to
the organic noises of nature,
sounds from the world around us
can easily be used as raw material
for sound design, or incorporated
597 CLASSIC SAMPLES
into your beats and musical ideas
for unique results. To that end, this
including…
161 Raw Sources
classic sample pack from Cyclick
170 Processed Hits and Sounds
38 Ambience
and Groove Criminals is a
34 Drumstick Hits collection of everyday sounds
32 Foley One-Shots
42 Processed Loops ready to be repurposed in your
35 Processed One-Shots
68 Rhythmic Reality DAW. Download the pack from this
issue’s FileSilo (see over the page).
> Step by step Inside this issue’s Foley Factory sample pack
1 2 3
In the Groove Criminals >> Rhythmic The Groove Criminals >> Processed Cyclick’s Processed Drum Hits folder
Reality folder, you’ll find a bunch of One-Shots folder contains an is full of percussive strikes, knocks,
sounds recorded in a kitchen – rattling assortment of sounds and hits that have clicks and spikes that can be used to form
spoons, bubbling water, scraping food been piped through various effects an entire beat, or as natural-sounding
bags, etc. We suggest you harness the processors. The results range from tonal, layers to combine with more traditional
rhythmic properties of these recordings pad-like notes through to flanging, alien- drum machine sounds. And for a source of
by chopping them up and rearranging the esque rhythms and more. unprocessed sounds to start with, Cyclick
pieces under a beat. has also provided the Raw Sources, too.

> your free samples / all-new samples
FROM THE VAULT
TOP-LOOP
GROOVES
TOP-LOOP Our second classic pack is a
GROOVES treasure trove of BPM-categorised
hi-hat, cymbal, percussive,
synthetic and noise loops, all
weighted towards the high end of
the frequency spectrum and
522 CLASSIC SAMPLES designed to give you maximum
including… inspiration. Simply throw a loop or
114 Layered Top Loops
148 Shaped Noise Loops two into your DAW, chop and
10 Gated Topline Loops
30 Glitched Topline Loops process them, then add your own
30 Processed Hat Loops
50 Processed Perc Loops
one-shot kick and snare. Get the
35 Synth Topline Loops
30 Topline Loops
pack from FileSilo or (quicker)
75 Topline Hits WeTransfer – check the details on
how to get them below.
> Step by step How to get your free sample packs
1 2 3
Now we are DVD-less, there are two Click this month’s cover and answer If FileSilo is running slowly, simply
ways to get your free samples. The the simple question related to a word download the text file called “Speed
first is, as ever, from FileSilo at filesilo.co. in this issue (not the one shown above!). issues with FileSilo”. This has links to all of
uk. Create an account there if you haven’t This will get you access to all of the this issue’s content via our WeTransfer
already, and select Computer Music from samples and plugins to download directly. page. These will be larger files but you
the main page. should be able to download them faster
using this method.

loopmasters samples / your free samples <
Loopmasters 310 samples

To go with our cover theme, it’s a vocal special selection from the loopmeisters
01 Vital Vocals Future Soul & R&B Vocals 04 Monster Sounds Liquid DnB Acapellas
02 Loopmasters Leo Wood House Vocals 05 Looptone Sensual Chill Vocals
03 Aim Audio Poetic Vocals 06 IQ Sounds Future Soul & Vocals 2

video
Download this month’s videos: filesilo.co.uk/computermusic
YOUR FREE
PLUGIN
How to download and use JMG’s
Hyperspace CM2 – all on film!
Read the full article from p88
SYNTH MASTERCLASS PRODUCTION

APHEX THE PERFECT
TWIN PADS WOBBLE BASS
/experts
Our resident music production
gurus walk you through their Read the full Read the full
Read the full
specialist field every month
article on pxx article on p50 article on p52

BACK ISSUES
Catch up on what you’ve missed – all of
these issues include FileSilo downloads!
ISSUE 309 ISSUE 308 ISSUE 307 ISSUE 306 ISSUE 305 ISSUE 304
July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022
• How AI is Rewriting the • CM Plugin Suite 2.0 – our • 60 Years of the Synth – a • The Best Freeware • How to Do Everything • FREE Ableton Live Lite
Way You Make Music world famous suite of guide to the history of plugins guide (with the CM Suite) complete DAW worth
• FREE Maximal 3 CM FREE plugins rebooted electronic music-making • FREE MultiBender CM production guide $29 (ends 14/2/22) plus
Plugin plus samples • FREE Electric Chill Pro • FREE IK Multimedia Special Edition Delay FX • FREE u-he Bazille CM comprehensive guides
• 60 Years of the Synth, Sample Pack worth $25 Classic J-60 synth worth plus 2,000 free samples updated softsynth • FREE 3,200 track-builder
Part 3 – the 2000s • 60 Years of the Synth, €50 and 2,300 free • Reviews: Moog Animoog plus 2,300 samples
and beyond! Part 2 – the 90s samples Z and many more Waveform samples • Logic 10.7 on test
ISSUE 303 ISSUE 302 ISSUE 301 ISSUE 300 ISSUE 299 ISSUE 298
January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 Autumn 2021 October 2021 September 2021
• Get the Sound of the 303 • Make iPad music – huge • Back to the 80s • 300th issue special! • The complete guide to • Plugin synth vs classic
Roland TB-303 history, guide to going mobile production guide • FREE WAVEFORM DAW building a recording synth. Can software beat
tips and more • FREE Fathom • FREE all-new plus extras worth $80 studio… at home! vintage hardware?
• FREE Baby Audio I Heart CM2 softsynth Zebra CM softsynth • Free 300th issue • FREE Minimal Audio • FREE Flux Mini CM filter
NY plugin worth $29 • FREE Ultimate Guitars • 3GB Ultimate 80s bumper DVD – plugin and sounds modulation plugin
(ends 23/2/22) sample packs sample pack Collector’s Edition! • Free funk DVD – 6 free • Vintage sample DVD –
• FREE 2,800 303 samples • New guitar series! • Sound like Dua Lipa sample packs! 7 free packs!
MORE BACK
ISSUES
AVAILABLE
Vault downloads available only from 182 onwards. See bit.ly/cmvaultfaq.
> next month
Next issue
ISSUE 310 AUGUST 2022
Future PLC
Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA
Tel: 01225 442244
Email: computermusic@futurenet.com
Web: computermusic.co.uk
EDITORIAL
Editor: Andy Jones, andy.jones@futurenet.com
It’s time
Art Editor: Mark White, mark.white@futurenet.com
Managing Editor: Kate Puttick, kate.puttick@futurenet.com
CONTRIBUTORS
Ben Rogerson, Jon Musgrave, Robbie Stamp, Danny Scott, Oli Bell, Roy Spencer, Andy
Price, Dave Gale, Ashley Thorpe, Matt Mullen and Stuart Adams
Photography: Getty Images, Shutterstock
to get
ADVERTISING
Media packs are available on request
Chief Revenue Officer: Zack Sullivan
UK Commercial Sales Director: Clare Dove, clare.dove@futurenet.com
Advertising Sales Director: Lara Jaggon, lara.jaggon@futurenet.com
dirty
Account Sales Director: Kyle Phillips, kyle.phillips@futurenet.com
Account Sales Director: Alison Watson, alison.watson@futurenet.com
MARKETING
Direct Marketing Campaign Manager: Will Hardy
PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION
Head of Production: Mark Constance
Production Project Manager: Clare Scott
Advertising Production Manager: Joanne Crosby
Digital Editions Controller: Jason Hudson
Production Manager: Fran Twentyman
Printed in the UK by: William Gibbons & Sons on behalf of Future
Distributed by: Marketforce (UK), 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU
CIRCULATION
Head of Newstrade: Tim Mathers
SUBSCRIPTIONS
New orders: www.magazinesdirect.com / phone orders: 0330 333 1113 / email help@
ON SALE
magazinesdirect.com Renewals: www.mymagazine.co.uk / customer service: 0330
333 4333 / email queries: help@mymagazine.co.uk
Computer Music (1463-6875) is published monthly with an extra issue in September by
WED Future Publishing, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA, UK
The US annual subscription price is $194.87 Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent
named WorldContainer Inc., c/o BBT 150-15 183rd St, Jamaica, NY 11413, USA
13 JULY Application to Mail at Periodicals Postage Prices is Pending at Brooklyn NY 11256.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Computer Music, World Container Inc., c/o BBT
150-15 183rd St, Jamaica, NY 11413, USA
Subscription records are maintained at Future Publishing, c/o Air Business Subscriptions,
Get some analogue

Rockwood House, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3DH. UK
Subscription delays
Disruption remains within UK and International delivery networks. Please allow up to 7
days before contacting us about a late delivery to help@magazinesdirect.com
LICENSING
filth in your sound

Computer Music is available for licensing. and syndication. Contact the Licensing team to
discuss partnership opportunities
Head of Print Licensing : Rachel Shaw, licensing@futurenet.com
MANAGEMENT
Brand Director, Music: Stuart Williams
Content Director, Music: Scott Rowley
As great as computers are, the pristine Head of Art and Design: Rodney Dive
Group Art Director: Graham Dalzell
Head Of Design (London): Brad Merrett
instruments and effects they bring

us – not to mention all of that high
resolution processing – can result
in, well, too digital a sound. So next
month we’re going to show you how
to add distortion, analogue glow and, 2022
most importantly, absolute filth to your

sound. Get ready to get grubby…
PLUS!
Filthy samples! Reviews More how-tos

To go with our cover Nicky Romero Kickstart Guides to metering
2, Cherry Audio
We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from responsibly managed, certified forestry and
feature we’ll bring and creating chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this magazine was sourced and produced from sustainable managed forests,
conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing paper mill and printer hold full
you some audio dirt Minimode and more! cinematic beats FSC and PEFC certification and accreditation.

.
9000 9027

Computer Music August

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Computer Music August

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

FREE AMAZING FULL REVERB! PLUS!

GET PERFECT TOP-LOOP

Fix, mix, and Auto-Tune

Tutorials featuring this icon make

iOS APP STORE GOOGLE PLAY Andy Jones Editor

GREAT VOCALS Ashley Thorpe delivers the 70 SPITFIRE

4 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

NEW RELEASES • COMMENT • INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS

Kilohearts update ecosystem to v2

Cherry Audio have the Lowdown

6 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

Audient’s EVO goes up to 16 App watch

August 2022 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 7

Get with the Check their pulse!

8 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

YOU CAN BE MY WINGMAN… OP-1 FIELD

A RED LETTERMAN DAY BYEPOD

10 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

When and how would you say you

Have you been involved with any

August 2022 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 13

Photo: Studio Siebrecht Photography

14 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

16 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

August 2022 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 17

How to make a bad vocal good

vocal from even the most atonal of takes. Crank my pitch up

18 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

Keep the humanity

Logic Flex Pitch gives an accessible way to fix pitch issues

August 2022 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 19

20 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

Pitch correction software

Celemony Melodyne 5.1 Zynaptic Pitchmap

Logic Flex Pitch Waves Tune iZotope Nectar 3 Antares Auto-Tune

August 2022 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 21

Processing your vocal

22 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

Sing sang sung

Vocal multi-effect plugins

Soundtoys Little AlterBoy

Klanghelm SDRR Antares Mutator Acon Digital Multiply Waves Ovox

24 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

Vocal mixing plugins

Oeksound Soothe 2 Valhalla DSP Vintage Verb

Universal Audio Sonnox Toolbox FabFilter Soundtoys

August 2022 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 25

Mixing your vocals

critical we take the time to listen to our vocal Breathing room

Sonnox Oxford SuperEsser stops your take sounding hiss-terical

26 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

Waves Sibilance is another hero for saving us from the

track. When you notice the particular problems

Best interfaces for vocal mics

Universal Audio Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 3rd Gen

Steinberg UR44C Native Instruments Audient iD4 Mk II Apogee Duet 3

28 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

Vocal booths and accessories

Aston Halo SE Reflexion Filter Pro

August 2022 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 29

> Step by step 1. Enhancing vocals with Antares Auto-Tune

30 / COMPUTER MUSIC / August 2022

> Step by step 2. Vocal mixing tips

August 2022 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 31

> Step by step 1. Enhancing vocals with Antares Auto-Tune

> Step by step 2. Vocal mixing tips

> Step by step 3. Getting creative with Waves OVox

> Step by step 5. Making a vocal sample instrument

> Step by step 1. Turning a vocal into a bassline

> Step by step 3. Found sound basslines

> Step by step 4. Turning toms into bass

> Step by step 5. Didgeri-tuba-bass

>Step by step 1. Windowlickin’ good pads

>Step by step 1. Wobble bass