Computer Music

Whenever you see this icon, you can grab the files on your PC or Mac by going to bit.ly/cm322downloads Tutorials featuring this icon make use of our own Plugins – find out more at bit.ly/cm322downloads This icon means there are extra files to help you follow a tutorial feature: project files, audio examples, etc There’s extra video content wherever you see this icon musicradar.com/computermusic computermusic@futurenet.com facebook.com/computer.music.mag twitter.com/computermusicuk youtube.com/computermusicmag instagram.com/computermusicmag SCAN TO GET OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER…

When you really think about it, all music-making is essentially about storytelling. Yet, as both creatives and producers, we can frequently find ourselves getting bogged down in the minutiae; questing for that perfect snare sound or fastidiously EQing our mix. While we might be enthralled by the production process, we want people to hear our tracks, right? Making music that the crowd beyond the door of your studio will love forces you to think what your music is saying – and how it’s saying it. Arranging is really about making your track communicate its intentions. If you’ve written a blinding hook or earth-shaking drop, you’re going to want to signpost their arrival by building suspense and teasing the ears of the listener. It’s these type of choices that come under…

NAMMaste The world famous music tech show went low key but still saw some highs This year’s NAMM may have been in April, and lacked some of the big kahunas on which the industry pivots, but in all other aspects, the magic of the show remained. What we’re always hungry for is, of course, new stuff, and NAMM 2023 was full of surprise announcements, hastily covered by a flock of journalists pretending to work for three days, while really just seizing the chance to grab a bit of sun. In terms of what we were most excited by, one of our favourite plugin developers, Soundtoys, dropped SuperPlate, a new reverb plugin that features emulations of an EMT 140, 240, an Audicon, EcoPlate III and Stocktronics RX 4000, alongside some classic…

Suki Sou was born in Macau, to a Burmese father and half-Japanese, half-Chinese mother whose philosophy when bringing Suki up was very much to throw her in at the deep end: “My parents sent me to a Catholic boarding school in Berkshire to study when I was eight years old. I travelled to the UK on my own with just a dictionary; my mother’s theory was that I needed to learn the language by myself, without anyone’s help.” This DIY attitude stuck, and with some influence from her electronics engineer father, Sou developed a fascination with synths and software. She has now married some of the best of both into a jaw-dropping studio in which she composes an eclectic mix. It’s music that she describes as ‘neo-morning electronica, kosmische and…

In 2023, computers, phones, and tablets are readily accessible conduits to the music-production process, and all of them can host some kind of DAW (digital audio workstation) within which all manner of tracks can be crafted. However, having access to the right software is only the beginning; if you want to end up with a piece of music that might change someone’s life, we need to really focus on building our track’s arrangement. Learning how to bring out the key areas of the song is often what’s needed to imbue our compositions with the maximum, lasting impact that most of us aspire toward. In this feature, when we refer to arrangement we mean the process of creating a song structure that effectively supports a melody and chord sequence, and assembling…

arrange tracks like a pro One of the great thrills of music-making is seizing on those flashes of inspiration, and jotting down a quick sketch demo of something that one day could become a chart-busting masterpiece. Getting round to finishing it however, requires investment of time, careful editing and consideration, as well as detailed listening – pretty much the opposite of the instantaneous buzz of coming up with a killer hook out of thin air. One of the main culprits to blame for us not being able to finish (or even make further sections) of a track is knowing how to build an effective arrangement. Ableton Live Session View users might have eight tracks of one-bar loops turning on and off, while users of more linear DAWs such as Logic…