Hey guys! 

Yesterday, as the New Year came rolling in, I officially released my debut solo EP called Vision Never Dies. It is a big deal for me, as I have never really released music as a recording artist before, though not for years of pining over such a dream. 

The crazy thing about this EP is that I did it all myself, from writing to mastering; all the parts, the instrumentation, the recordings, performances, editing, mixing, and mastering, all done in-house in my home studio. In a way, it was the…

There are three basic ways to learn how to play an instrument: Teach yourself, go to music school, or get private instruction. There are pros and cons to each choice, so let's discuss them!  

Teaching Yourself 
If you are just starting out on your first ever musical instrument, this is probably not the way to go. When you pick up your first instrument, it's very important to have a structured learning environment. This is because music theory is highly cumulative; meaning that if you are misunderstanding a…

When you open up any given DAW--digital audio workstation--you are almost always presented with a small screen that has multiple templates to choose from. 

For years, I almost always chose "Empty Project" and would then start setting up my session for songwriting, mixing, or whatever I was doing that day. One day, I decided to do some scoring to video, so I decided to check out the corresponding template. That day changed everything. 

All of a sudden, I had all the tools necessary to start composing…

Last time, I showed you guys why it's helpful to arrange your music within your DAW of choice. So in that same vein, I want to talk about Logic's Virtual Drummer and how it can help you realize your musical vision much quicker. 

 I just read a great article over at The Recording Revolution, where Graham called a home studio the ULTIMATE SONGWRITING TOOL. I could not agree more with that sentiment. In fact, I've literally done all of my writing in my home studio. Here's an example, one that Graham uses in…

I know this is the last thing we want to think about as creative musician-types. But we kind of always are anyway... 

Say you're a guitarist or bassist and have a pedalboard. Now, it's pretty common to have a compressor or EQ on it. But, when you were setting it up, did you ever notice that things sounded different when placed in a specific orders? 

That difference is signal flow at work. Without being all science-y, it's basically the path that the audio signal takes through your gear. It's as simple as…

Compressors are one of the most utilized pieces of gear/plugins in audio engineering. So how can we use that to make our songs sound better? 

I really like Graham Cochrane of The Recording Revolution's way of talking about compressors. He says that their basically a "smart volume fader" and that's exactly right. It's actually really simple, which is confusing for such a widely-used tool, at least for me when I was starting out. 

Today's video takes a look at the stock Logic Pro X compressor and how to get…

An EQ can and usually is the single most powerful tool in any DAW. That's why there are stock EQs in the first place! If there weren't, they wouldn't come with literally every DAW, free or paid. 

So what does it really do? How can you use it to your advantage? Here's a quick tutorial on the EQ that comes with Logic Pro X, what it's features are, and what it can do for your tunes. 

Check out the video:


 

A well equalized mix can literally make or break it. We use these tools to shape the sound so that we…

I know this may seem super obvious to some of you, but it wasn't always to me. Using your DAW--digital audio workstation--to arrange your music is one of the most, if not THE MOST important part of the production. Here's why: 

Imagine you spent the big bucks, or even the small bucks, on recording a song that wasn't well arranged. And when something isn't well-arranged, it's pretty easy to tell. If when listening to music, you've caught yourself saying something along the lines of: 

"Man, this song sounds…

The last couple of decades have seen the rise of mixing In-The-Box, or, using a digital audio workstation to do all the audio processing for a project. Why is this so important? 

When we think about writing or producing music, we tend to think about the traditional methods: notating our music, booking studio time, etc. 

But instead of using these time-tested traditional method, I want to make the case to you of composing directly into your DAW. The reason? 

Say you're writing a song, one you want to…

Ever wanted to learn how to use a digital audio workstation (DAW)? Have you ever seen videos about guys sitting behind giant consoles, or pull up an awesome looking program and then just go to town on some tunes? Some thoughts you might have include: 

-What does all that stuff do? It doesn't seem that hard, right? 

-I write music. Can I learn how to use a DAW and produce my own music? 

-It could save some serious cash, especially in the long-run. 

These thoughts are what I found myself thinking over…