Computer Music February 2016

My first experience of stereo music production was with Soundtracker on the Commodore Amiga. With just four tracks of hard-panned digital audio – and absolutely no EQ, compression, reverb, or processing of any sort – “mixing” decisions largely consisted of choosing which speaker you wanted the bassline to come out of. But, if you could spare the polyphony, you could play the same sound on left and right channels, whereupon a miracle would occur: the sound would emanate from a point in space between the speakers! Adjust the levels of the two sounds and you had variable panning… Offset their timing a tad for a crude widening effect… Or detune one to get a wickedly thick wodge of stereo chorus/flange. Yes, with a bit of know-how, even the crumbly old Amiga could…

Sibalance CM Get harsh, sibilant sounds under control with this issue’s fantastic plugin from Toneboosters, p10 Samples Over 900 royalty-free samples, created frame by frame just for readers. See what’s inside and how to get them on p12 Tutorial videos High-quality videos to guide you through our tutorials. Wherever you see the icon on the left, there’s a video version to watch Tutorial files All the supporting files and audio examples you need to follow along with our tutorials CM Plugins Our exclusive collection of free plugins for Mac and PC. See what’s available on p14…

TIP 4 Using double tracking for a super-wide sound TIP 7 Hard-panning contrasting sounds 1 Mid/side encoding and decoding explained 2 Controlling a signal’s width with M/S levelling 3 Mid/side referencing with commercial tracks 4 Saturating the side signal to get a wider stereo sound 5 Multiband width control with Ozone 6 Using mid/side as a sound design tool 7 Panning sounds using the Haas effect 8 Making a psychoacoustic panning rack effect Read the full article on p32 SIBALANCE CM De-ess and de-harsh your audio with the intelligent algorithms in this plugin – free with this issue Read the full article on p10 TRONIK YOUTH Watch remix guru Neil Parnell deconstruct his version of William Earl’s Chemical Love Read the full article on p65 THE ART OF NOISE Ten creative techniques for using noise in your productions 1 The classic noise sweep 2 Noise as a drum layering ingredient 3…

1 Programming patterns in Drumazon’s step sequencer 2 Sound editing in Drumazon 3 909-style pattern chaining and performance 4 The preset browser 5 Triggering Drumazon’s sounds via MIDI 6 Assigning Drumazon’s audio outputs 7 Options and MIDI out Read the full article on p69 cm/experts EASY GUIDE Dave Clews explains how these four-note chords can add harmonic depth Read the full article on p76 DESIGNER SOUNDS LAYERING KICKS Break blends together a meaty acoustic and synthetic kick Read Read the the full full article article on on ppxx 78 GEEK TECHNIQUE MIXING WITH VOCODERS Owen reveals how to use these processors to mix drums, synths and more Read the full article on p80 DR BEAT BELLS AND BLOCKS The right way to wield these percussive parts, with Ronan Macdonald Read Read the the full full article article on on p82…

AMOUNT Increase the strength of de-essing, from between 0% to 100% THRESHOLD When this level is breached by the noise component of the signal, gain reduction is triggered ATTACK Determines how quickly the de-essing reacts to sibilance DE-ESS METER Displays gain reduction amount PRESET MODES Choose from four modes: female voice, male voice, stereo vocals and broad de-harshing TONEBOOSTERS LOGO Click to go to the Toneboosters website Innovative and prolific software developers Toneboosters have built an enviable reputation among producers, mixing engineers and sound designers thanks to their comprehensive range of software tools that cover all bases, from high-quality EQ, compression and saturation plugins through to more esoteric devices for headphone mixing, voice transforming and bitcrushing. Their previous Plugin, Barricade CM, is a high-quality limiter that’s seen plenty of use in tutorials, and the company have now returned with another expert creation:…

941 EXCLUSIVE SAMPLES Including 48 80s theme elements104 classic-style cartoon FX132 wacky Foley samples69 orchestral theme elements67 melodic percussion/stings84 hits and boings45 70s ‘beat’ theme elements45 synthesised FX26 vocal sounds Cartoons take us back to our childhood. It was a time when anything and everything was possible – be it talking animals, sky-high survival rates for terminal-velocity falls, or the existence of a company trading solely in dynamite and oversized hammers. Inspired by this limitless possibility, we hatched a devious scheme to commission a nostalgic sample pack – and with a clockwise screenwipe transition, our plan has already come to fruition! Yes, whether you’re injecting delightfully fiendish Foley into a project, looking for some interesting material to manipulate, or just questioning the mental sophistication of your listeners, we’ve got the collection for you! This massive…