With the dawn of ‘smart’ production tools, we could be on the cusp of a major leap forward, in all forms of electronic production, although beatmaking in particular. It’s this, along with a host of more immediately usable techniques, that we’re exploring in the latest FM cover feature.
We’ll help you rethink your drum production for 2023. We show you how to put a spin on classic dance music drum formats using creative tricks, the latest cutting edge plugins and modern mixing techniques, and we ask, is AI the future of beatmaking?
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Interviews
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Ahead of sixth album V, Ruban Nielson shares his wisdom on the joy of rejecting ‘polish’, eBay oddities and more
Avey Tare – For his last solo work, Animal Collective’s Dave Portner found himself revisiting country tropes… with his usual twist
Miss Grit – The US artist on her captivating debut album, Follow the Cyborg
Classic Album – Palm Skin Productions on his ‘96 major label debut Remilixer
Technique
Future beats – We leapfrog beatmaking’s past, to its, at-times, bewildering future… and check out the future-facing options already on the shelf!
Must-try drum plugins – From advanced kick designers to AI-assisted sequencing
Modern drum effect treatments – Compression, EQ, spatial effects and more
Knowledge – Your need-to-know guide to bus mixing
Reviews
Roland SH-4d
Donner B1 Analog Bass Synth
KRK GoAux Series
Apple MacBook Pro M2
Noise Engineering Jam Jam
Eventide H90
Entonal Studio
& more
Samples
Tape Loops – Capture the unique, characterful textures of vintage tape with this varied pack of instrument loops and one-shot samples.
Rhythmic FX – We take simple sounds and turn them into complex, ear-catching rhythms with a focus on delay, glitches and granular processing.
Access the FM sample archive: Download the ‘Archive’ packs and get over 18GB of loops, hits and instruments from our back catalogue of high-quality and royalty-free samples. From vintage synths and drum machines to esoteric instruments and FX – think of it as our best of. All the samples you need to create great music!