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The Producer Blog - Tutorials

Workshop 
5 Tips: Turn any sound into an instrument – featuring Even...
When it comes to reverb and sound manipulation, Eventide is at the forefront. Just think of the Blackhole and the legendary H9000 effects processor. With the H90 there is now a pedal that is based on ...

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What makes CLAP better than VST? 
In talk with Bitwig & u-he: The ultimate plug-in format?
A few months ago it almost appeared out of nowhere when Bitwig and u-he presented the jointly developed CLAP format. Better performance, per-note automation, open source, MIDI 2.0 support and other fe...

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Training 
Why study music production?
Music producers often wear many hats: they are composers, songwriters, mix and mastering engineers, remixers and sound designers - sometimes all in one person. This requires a broad range of skills an...

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Self-improvement 
From bedroom producer to star? Why study at BIMM University ...
Music production is an art form that is constantly changing. But how do you stay up-to-date and relevant in an industry that is changing faster than ever before? Should you make the effort to educate ...

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Workshop 
The easy way to save mixes – with Oeksound Soothe 2 and Sp...
Soothe 2 “intelligently” suppresses resonances, or in other words: frequencies that are too bright, annoying or oppressive are automatically softened. And it does it so well that the plug-in has b...

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Power Producer 
Elektron Digitakt insider: Using reverb as an instrument
Reverb is a room builder and stylistic device at the same time; and sometimes even an instrument. Even the smallest sound can be turned into a true giant with proper reverb. But here‘s the rub: the ...

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Power Producer: Reason 
Reason DAW hack: Randomiser & Sequencer for your hardwar...
Reason is quite a force to be reckoned with when wiring up various racks. But what goes under the radar for many users is that all sequencers, LFOs and other CV signals can also control external hardw...

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Perfect your podcast sound 
Stumbling blocks and how to avoid them (4/4)
Finally! The first episode is recorded, so upload quickly and - bang - listeners, fame and fortune come all by themselves. Or? Well, something like that. Before that, there are at least a few things y...

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Streaming Tricks: Stumbling blocks and how to avoi... 
Make the podcast run smoothly
The concept is in place, the episodes are planned and the technology is there, so the stream can start. Theoretically. Now it's time to prepare for all the realities of a live show, so you don't run o...

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Phase 2: Arrangement 
Artificial Intelligence - Arrangement: From Loop to Track
The well-known problem: The beat is there, an idea has been found, maybe even the hook for the whole song. But anything beyond the infamous 8-bar loop just won‘t work. No wonder, arranging is usuall...

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Artwork - Perfect pictures to the sound 
Artificial Intelligence - Release artwork designed by the AI
Midjourney... ever heard of it? The „drawing artist“ is celebrated on social media, it „paints“ complex artworks in seconds, which only need a few keywords as instructions. The results are tru...

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Power Producer 
How to solve problems in the mix - with Studio One 6 (+FREE ...
The Pro EQ equalizer is even more powerful in Studio One 6. A particularly exciting feature is the ability to dynamically boost or cut frequency ranges of a signal depending on its volume. This dynami...

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Fabfilter Mix-Tricks 
Mix-Tricks: Compressor before or after EQ?
Time and again, the question arises as to which order should be observed when placing effects plug-ins. The great classic: Compressor, then EQ or vice versa? There is no one-size-fits-all answer to th...

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Power Producer: Studio One 6 
Get that Weeknd & Daft Punk Vocoder sound into your DAW ...
Studio One 6 is finally here! One of the highlights of this new version of the DAW is the 20-band Vocoder, which makes robot vocals à la The Weeknd, Daft Punk and Zedd a breeze. We‘ll show you how ...

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Special Studioakustik 
Checklist: Good acoustics in 8 steps
The bass is boomy, the treble is sibilant, mixing is tedious, and in general, tracks just don‘t sound as fat as they should. Such problems are almost always due to poor acoustics. But no matter if y...

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Studio Acoustic Special 
How to properly dam my studio? Answers to the most common qu...
Long before it comes to the actual treatment and optimization of a room or studio, some basic questions usually arise. About costs, materials, ways and means or simply about „how“ or „why“. We...

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Studio acoustics special 
The studio acoustics rumors - debunked
They are widespread and lack any truth or scientific evidence, yet they persist. But we‘re going to clarify things for you now and refute the most common rumors about studio acoustics, which go far ...

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Studio Acoustics Special 
Hands-on: Measuring the studio correctly and optimizing soun...
The conditions in desktop or home studios are usually anything but acoustically optimal, as the rooms are often used for other purposes, for example as a study or bedroom. So on the way to good room s...

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Education feature: BIMM Institute 
Spotlight: Studying at the BIMM Institute
As Europe‘s largest provider of musical and music industry education, the BIMM Institute has eight locations in Great Britain, Ireland and Germany with over 7,500 students. A very dynamic and creati...

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Education feature for music production 
Producer-Schulen und Kurse - Das bringt die Weiterbildung!
Anyone who produces music usually has several roles: composer, songwriter, mix and mastering engineer, remixer, sound designer, etc. The required know-how is correspondingly broad. To acquire this kno...

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Education feature 
Weiterbildung - 3 Kurse für Trailer-Komponisten
There‘s no question that trailer music is one of the most lucrative areas to make money with music. And what would be cooler than listening to your own music in a stunning blockbuster trailer at the...

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Power Producer: NI Maschine 
Deep Techno with Maschine
Although it shines with its reputation in the world of Hip Hop, Trap and Urban and enjoys a large fanbase, Maschine stands nearly as much for Techno as a 909. And this not only because of its pattern-...

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Mastering trick: Limiter stacking 
Loud mixes at full pressure
The Limiter is the standard tool for getting wild transients under control and generating loudness. The trick is to always find the best compromise between loudness and dynamic loss. We will show you ...

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Power Producer: Cubase 
More vibe using stereo guitar
In this workshop, you‘ll learn how to create an interesting sound with a cool stereo vibe from a mono guitar recording. This way, more width, movement and character are brought into the sound. Among...

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Power Producer: Ableton Live 
Comping with audio and video
Comping is a recording technique that allows you to record multiple takes one after the other without interruption, and then assemble a final take from the best parts. Not only does this work for audi...

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Power Producer: Bitwig Studio 
Generate hooklines & melodies
Generative music sounds pretty technical at first, wouldn‘t hookline automation be much nicer? Either way, the first part of our workshop series with Bitwig is about both. We‘ll build a foundation...

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Power Producer: Akai MPC 
Finest Acid in the box
MPCs have long since moved on from their reputation as tools exclusively for Hip Hop, Trap and other forms of Urban music. But honestly, can you do Acid with it? The answer is a resounding yes, even w...

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Power Producer: Ableton Live 
Chance as an inspiration
With the new random and probability functions, you can derive countless variations from a single basic beat. For example, you can constantly change the velocity of selected MIDI notes on each loop pas...

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Power Producer: Studio One 
Inspiration with ease
Particularly in the search for new hooks, inspiration is a welcome partner. Unfortunately, he has other appointments now and then or simply does not feel like it hanging out. So why not look for templ...

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Power Producer: Akai MPC 
Akai MPC Workshop: Endlich Hardware-Effekte einbinden
Sure, most MPC‘s offer various outs that can be used to send samples and programs to external effects. But what if there are several of them? Or if the returns are to be recorded in the MPC, for exa...

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Power Producer: Native Instruments Maschine+ 
Maschine+ Workshop: Eingängige Melodien & Akkorde (er)finde...
1 Choose SoundThe basis of the track is a simple drum loop. To give the song a melodic component, you should select sounds that are suitable for this application. For melodies, instruments like pianos...

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Sluggish hi-hats and the thickest bass 
Deconstructed: Boris Brejcha - Sad but true
Theoretically, Boris Brejcha‘s beats and basslines are rather unspectacular: kick, snare, hi-hat ... everything can be found exactly where everyone else places it. Nevertheless, it grooves a lot mor...

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Massive pressure and a crystal clear mix 
Deconstructed: Masked Wolf - Astronaut in the ocean
Typical trap beats, but with more behind them than the first impression might reveal. The „Astronaut in the ocean“ combines fantastically dark melodies in a trap style with a crisp beat and groove...

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Melodic kick & groovy triplets 
Deconstructed: Billie Eilish - Bury a friend
Powerful drums and hectic beats are not exactly the trademark of Ms. Eilish and her brother Finneas. Instead, the sound and groove are based on the basic mood of the songs. So properties like dull, mu...

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Hip-hop, Trap & Electro Punk 
Deconstructed: Deichkind – Dinge
Deichkind have always had their very own, refreshingly snotty sound. In “Dinge” the northern band around Kryptik Joe and Porky lets massive hip-hop beats meet striking electronic sounds such as a ...

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Deconstructed: Eminem – Godzilla 
Monstrous bassline and minimal beats
Eminem‘s hit “Godzilla“ thrives on the hip-hop superstar‘s insane flow as well as a truly monstrous groove. This arises from an irresistibly grooving bassline and a relatively simple beat wit...

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Traditional hip-hop and catchy melodies 
Deconstructed: Sido – High
Sido is without a doubt one of the most successful German rappers. With his hit “High“ the Berliner once again proves a sure sense of outrageously modern hip-hop with outrageously catchy melodies...

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Deconstructed: Alison Wonderland - Easy 
Trap beats and great pop melodies
Trap elements such as deep bass and syncopated beats have become an integral part of the mainstream and have already shaped numerous pop hits. The Australian singer, DJ and producer demonstrates impre...

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Power Producer: Novation LaunchKey mkIII 
Keyboard as an Inspiration
Keyboards are generally not considered the ultimate creative tools, but rather a means to an end. Some, however, can do a bit more, like Novation‘s LaunchKey, now in its third generation. Thanks to ...

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Power Producer: Studio One 
Live with Studio One – Part 2/2
Live performance with a DAW is usually associated with Ableton Live; however, Studio One users should listen up because Version 5 offers its own show page for this very purpose. In part two, we‘ll s...

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Power Producer: Novation LaunchKey MkIII 
Freestyle live performance
It‘s a fact that Ableton Live is made for performance, but without a concept it can quickly become hectic. And nothing‘s less sexy than a performer hunched over in front of a laptop, controlling t...

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Power Producer: Studio One 5 
Live on stage with Studio One
Live performance using a DAW is usually associated with Ableton Live. Users of Studio One, however, can take notice, because version 5 offers its own show page for just that purpose. The concept is di...

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Power Producer: NI Maschine 
Send Effects with Maschine+
The Maschine has recently been made available in stores. This standalone production system is impressive with its great workflow and its inner values. In this first episode of our Maschine workshop,...

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DJ Set & Synth Performance 
Set Up a Live Stream
Product presentations, tutorials or complete DJ sets; the trend of live streaming has been unstoppable for months. No surprise, as Youtube, Facebook and others offer seamless integration. That‘s why...

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Easily compose catchy melodies 
FL Studio Workshop: Better melodies with FL Studio
A song lives, above all, through a catchy melody that listeners can‘t get out of their heads. In this episode of the FL Studio Power Producer series, we will show you how you can easily compose catc...

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MPC as mastering unit 
Akai MPC Workshop: Mastering in the box?
An MPC as a Mastering Unit? Right, this sounds unusual at first, but it‘s not that far-fetched because, on the one hand, there are an astonishing number of users who would like to produce without th...

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Power Producer: FL Studio 
Workshop: Powerful Hip-Hop-Vocals
Producing powerful and assertive hip-hop vocals is an art in itself. The following six steps show you how to professionally edit your recorded vocal tracks, to reach your desired goal without any trou...

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Power Producer: Ableton Drum Design 
More Drive with Hi-Hats
Okay, building hi-hats yourself doesn‘t sound that exciting at first, but the power is not to be underestimated. On the one hand, synthetic hats can easily be tuned to the right pitch, which helps t...

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Techno-Liveact without laptop 
DJ interview: Simina Grigoriu - DJs have to respond to their...
A bold move: a performance without a laptop, comfort and overview of the DAW. The performance has to be roughly in your head and all the moves have to be right. That takes time and sometimes nerves. B...

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Foundation of arpeggios and pads 
How to achieve Psytrance with machine: Pads & Chord
With positive vibes and crisp sequences, Psytrance sets itself apart from other music styles. And Native Instruments‘ Maschine can also demonstrate its strenghts in this genre. In the last episode o...

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Mix Tricks for Vocals 
That's the way to do it: Extract Vocals 2.0 - with your...
Extracting vocals from finished songs is definitely one of the supreme disciplines in mixing and sampling. There are many possibilities, but none of them works 100 percent. But it doesn‘t have to! B...

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Mix-Tricks 
More Atmosphere with Gates?! Signature Sounds with FabFilter...
Ok. Gates aren‘t necessarily known as the ultimate in inspiration, but they do serve well as tools along the way to a unique signature sound. We‘ll show you how this works with an Eighties basslin...

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Ableton's Wavetable makes drum design a breez... 
Punchy kicks with Wavetable
Welcome to our four-part workshop series on drum design with Ableton! If good vocals are like the holy grail of music production, there‘s really no shortage of drums. Nevertheless, even the supposed...

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