Music Tech Magazine - Issue 72

Scoring and mixing music for film and TV, what to look for when choosing a new audio PC. Reason 4, Logic Pro, Live 7 and Cubase 4 Workshops. PLUS: Read the full review of Cubase 5 along with all the latest reviews and industry news.

Publish date: 19 February 2009

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Issue 72 of Music Tech Magazine is out now in newsagents throughout the UK.

In the issue…

Features
Music to Picture
Producing music to moving images is one of the most exciting ways of working with audio, enabling you to transform the viewer’s perception and enjoyment of what they witness onscreen. Mark Cousins explains the essential techniques you’ll need to know to get started in this challenging area of music-making.

Choosing an audio PC
The majority of people recording and producing music these days are doing so with a computer, or at least using a system in which a computer plays an integral role. From a bare-bones setup to professional studios running a full-blown Pro Tools|HD system, the computer is central to the tasks of making and recording music.

Ten Minute Masters
Subwoofers
The sensation of earth-shaking bass blasting from a monitoring or PA system is an experience few people fail to enjoy. However, it is this all-important subsonic frequency area – below 80Hz, to be precise – that many smaller nearfield monitors struggle to deliver with any great accuracy…
Digital connections
Digital interconnects are becoming more common as the technology becomes more readily available – but do you choose AES/EBU or S/PDIF? Grant Bridgeman highlights the differences.

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This Month’s Workshops
Cubase 4
Mixing can be a daunting process if you’re working with high track counts, but grouping channels together can simplify things. Hollin Jones gets it all together.
Logic Pro 8
Creating a distinctive signature guitar sound in Logic Studio requires more than just Guitar Amp Pro alone. Mark Cousins polishes his axe.
Live 7
The arpeggiator is a familiar tool that’s enjoyed practically unparalleled popularity, and its implementation in Live leaves few of its roles unexplored. Jon Margulies dives in.
Reason 4
Reason 4 uses clips to manage notes and patterns – and they can help to improve both your workflow and the feel of your tracks. Hollin Jones demonstrates their uses.

Reviews
Another selection of hardware and software is put through their paces in this issue, including Steinberg’s Cubase 5, Pro Tools 8 LE, VSL Solo Strings 2, Nord’s Electro 3, M-Audio’s M-Tron Pro, AKG’s C214 Pair and PreSonus' AudioBox.

ON THE DVD

Microwave Bass
Our friends at PinkNoise Studio have just taken delivery of a Microwave XT and have programmed a selection of chunky analogue basses for us. High-quality 44.1kHz, 16-bit and super-high-quality 96kHz, 24-bit WAV files are provided with patches for Kontakt and Reason’s NN-XT.
www.pinknoisestudio.com

Sitar Nation
Impact Sound Works has created the most deeply sampled sitar, tambura, tabla and baya library ever released! Create realistic performances with three playable instruments (Kontakt 2.2.4 or later required.)
www.impactsoundworks.com

Samples Taster Pack
Dance music producers rejoice! Coldcut, Drumsound & Bassline Smith and the Sample Magic folks have provided a selection of heavyweight drum’n’bass, techno and electronica audio taken from the samples packs reviewed in this issue.
www.loopmasters.com
www.samplemagic.com

Ambient Construction Kit
Forget the cold outside and bring back the summer vibe with these six ambient chill construction kits – a collection of melodic and rhythmic loops in 16-bit WAV and Apple loops formats.
www.equinoxsounds.com

Music Tech Focus

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