Back to basics: the beginner's guide to headroom and levels
Where’s your head(room) at? Why do you have to be careful with levels? Here’s our guide to signal-to-noise ratio, gain staging, headroom and a lot more
Music software
All the latest music making software news, reviews and tips on MusicRadar
Latest music software news
Sampleson says that its 60MB modelled grand piano plugin “sounds like a 30GB one”
Time to give your overstuffed hard drive some spectral healing?
5 ways to celebrate 808 day: a free Roland online studio, tips, techniques and emulations
More 808 content than you can shake an analogue maraca at
Chicane: "There were times when I came very close to smashing the sh*t out of the studio in frustration"
Dance music legend Nick Bracegirdle is revisiting the blissed-out, Balearic beats he’s renowned for, produced with an all-digital computer music setup
e-instruments’ Pure Upright is a “professional” upright piano for your iPhone and iPad
Use it standalone or within your favourite iOS DAW
Learn piano in the metaverse with the PianoVision augmented reality app
You can plug in a MIDI keyboard or go completely virtual by playing the Air Piano
Zero's 5 things I've learned in music production: "These days just making music isn’t enough. You need to be a real person that real people can connect with"
One of the most exciting names in bass music drops some knowledge for aspiring producers
Yamaha’s concept music device turns your smartphone into a ‘vinyl’ turntable
There’s also a wind-up digital music box, a ‘smart’ candle and a set of time-keeping robots
Watch Ian Kirkpatrick, co-writer of Dua Lipa’s Don’t Start Now, overcoming his “music theory shortcomings” with Reason’s Chord Sequencer
See how this MIDI Player device can inspire a new song
Latest music software tuition
How to create a wobble bass from scratch using Logic's ES2 synth
Recreate the sound that's beloved for giving dubstep its womp-womp and wallop
How to produce creative vocal FX with Waves OVox
This vocal effects suite is capable of some serious sound-mangling. Find out what it can do
How to enhance your vocals with Antares Auto-Tune
Antares Auto-Tune is a remarkably dexterous suite of voice-manipulating software, and is now capable of far more than just pitch correction
How to use AI to build a responsive reverb with Adaptiverb
Find out how to use Zynaptiq's Adaptiverb, a plugin that adapts its reverb to your source audio using artificial intelligence
How to create microtonal music using Ableton Live's Microtuner
This new plugin, free to Live 11 users, allows you to escape the boundaries of conventional tonality
How to create a lush ambient chord progression
In this tutorial we show you how to write a harmonically engaging four-chord cycle for use in ambient soundscapes
Fantastic (free) synths and how to use them: TAL-NoiseMaker
We deconstruct this powerful freeware synthesizer and show you how to build a patch from the ground up
How to use Ableton Live’s audio-to-MIDI conversion to reimagine your loops
Use Live’s Audio to MIDI conversion to creatively customise tonal characteristics and the sequence of an audio loop
Music theory basics: why diminuendo and crescendo still mean something in modern music production
Dynamics are just as important as they always were
Latest music software reviews
Focusrite Clarett+ OctoPre review
- £710
Need more mic inputs and already have a suitably equipped interface? This unit could be ideal
Karanyi Sounds Poly Space review
- $49
This latest reverb plugin will take you to outer space, but only has a couple of controls to get you there. Can ‘simple’ really sound ‘great’?
Arturia V Collection 9 review
- £419
The latest edition of Arturia’s popular bundle takes a slight left turn. We get Augmented
Cherry Audio Miniverse review
- $59
Endorsing the fact that “everyone should have a Minimoog”, Cherry Audio re-modes the early 70s classic into a highly desirable plugin form
Audient EVO 16 review
- £400
If you need eight mic inputs, there aren’t that many USB interfaces to choose from. We plug up Audient’s EVO 16
Tracktion Waveform Pro 12 review
- $149 upwards
With multiple new features, now could be a good time to try this impressive and competitively priced DAW
Spitfire Heirloom review
- £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?
Sonnox ListenHub review
- £59
Monitor controllers that mimic the capabilities of a console’s master section are increasingly popular. But in software? Listen up…
Nicky Romero/Cableguys Kickstart 2 review
- $16
A longtime favourite for automated ducking in the EDM world, has Kickstart 2 got enough flexibility to appeal to users beyond the 4/4 realm?
Leapwing Audio UltraVox review
- £59
Delivering a consistently sparkling vocal sound every take is the goal of this new algorithmically-directed vocal plugin
