guides
Guides.
How to do the things these plugins are for - written to be useful whether or not you own any of them.
How to de-ess a vocal
Find the sibilant frequency, set the threshold on the esses rather than the vowels, and take 3-6 dB. What to do when the vocal starts to lisp.
Gain staging, and why it still matters
Why -18 dBFS is the number worth knowing, what 32-bit float does and does not fix, and how to set levels across a whole session without guessing.
What a dynamic EQ is, and when to reach for one
A dynamic EQ band only acts when there is something to act on. How it differs from a multiband compressor, and four jobs it does better than a static EQ.
AU or VST3 - which should you install?
What the two formats are, which DAW takes which, whether the format changes the sound, and why Pro Tools does not appear in either list.
How to gate drums without killing them
Set the threshold in the window between the loudest bleed and the quietest hit, then use hold rather than a long release to stop a gate chattering.
Mid/side processing, explained honestly
What the M/S matrix does, why side processing cannot change what a mono listener hears, and where widening goes wrong.
What a console channel strip actually does
The preamp is most of the sound, the EQ is fixed on purpose, and the character is cumulative. What a strip gives you that a clean EQ cannot.
Setting attack and release on a compressor
What the two controls actually time, how to hear each one, and why the same numbers sound different on two compressors.
How loud should a master be?
What LUFS measures, what streaming normalisation actually does to your master, and why chasing -14 is the wrong thing to aim at.
What order should a vocal chain go in?
A default order that works, the reasoning behind each position, and the four places it is worth breaking on purpose.
Phase cancellation, and what actually fixes it
Why polarity and phase are not the same control, how to hear cancellation, and why an all-pass cannot fix a problem that is really a delay.
Saturation, distortion and what they actually do
The same process at different intensities. Why even and odd harmonics sound different, and why saturation is quieter than you expect on a quiet track.
Reverb settings, and which ones actually matter
Pre-delay is the clarity control, decay should follow the tempo, and the return wants more EQ than the source. Three settings do most of the work.
Delay settings, and how to stop repeats cluttering a mix
Synced or in milliseconds, how much feedback is too much, and why filtering the repeats matters more than any other setting.
What order should guitar pedals go in?
The standard order and the reasoning behind each position, why delay in front of a dirty amp sounds muddy, and the four places to break it.
Making a DI'd acoustic guitar sound like a mic'd one
Why a pickup sounds thin and quacky, which frequencies to fix, and what a microphone captures that no undersaddle pickup ever will.