Practical reference library
Mixing, mastering, synthesis, workflow and equipment writing—clearly dated, deeply linked and built to remain genuinely useful.
30 items in this selection
Version. 2 - updated June - 2018 (After 5 years tweaking the same kick drum...) So as I am getting back into writing some new production blogs, I figured it was high time I updated some of the old ones to add in a few more tips and knowledge about mixing the…
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Soothe2 – At the forefront of the next generation of plugin's Soothe 2, is a Dynamic Resonance Suppressor plug-in which comes of age in V2 with Mid/Side operation alongside External Side chain for expanded usability. A truly impressive plug-in that has been an…
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This pack is a starter project featuring all our reworked Underground Electronics Racks from our NDS-8 Underground House 2 pack, worked up into a fantastic Ableton Rack with Fx for Ableton Live 10 Only. Featuring Bass and Synth loops taken from the pack as…
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This next pack available for free in The Archive, is the remastered, reedited and polished Percussion from our NDS-8 Underground House 2 pack, worked up into a fantastic Ableton Rack with Fx for Ableton Live 10 Only. For those in other DAW's and earlier…
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This next pack available for free in The Archive, is the remastered, reedited and polished Hats & Crashes from our NDS-8 Underground House 2 pack, worked up into a fantastic Ableton Rack with Fx for Ableton Live 10 Only. For those in other DAW's and…
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The fpack available today for free in The Archive, is the remastered, reedited and polished Claps & Snares from our NDS-8 Underground House 2 pack, worked up into a fantastic Ableton Rack with Fx for Ableton Live 10 Only. For those in other DAW's and…
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In our mission to rework all our sample packs into more feature rich (Ableton Racks / FX / Template etc...) versions and give them all away for practically nothing. We had to start somewhere, and it had to be the bassdrums! The first pack available for free in…
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Dj Nav provides the smoothest of House cuts for his remix on AMIR's new Silence in Metropolis EP. Deep as you like with a nice skip, this uses the tone set by the record to keep things on a level. The whole EP is really a step up from SIM, featuring Dj Aakmael…
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Sek's outing on Tahanan is purely intended for big stages, the track itself has the vibe baked in. We have the pleasure to premiere "Warehouse Disco" for you in full. The EP is out now on Traxsource. Don't wait on this one. Banger. Tahanan is a new label off…
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Loving the aggressive blues this song has, lovely work on the remix making this a must have. Aggressive blues, so 2017. The whole roundup is amazing too. Needless to say Heist know there business and the characters in play for this are all killers. VINYL |…
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There is an insatiable appetite for edits of all shapes and sizes, but some people are just a cut above. Roots for bloom's Second Hand Audio Gold series is one such outlet that can be trusted to really bring the heat. Roots for Bloom is the brainchild of the…
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A thoroughbred classic - finally in software form When Manley released what is ostensibly their version of the most venerable of the variable Mu compressor designs - the Fairchild 670 - it quickly became well regarded in the mastering and mixing rooms of the…
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The Culture Vulture, fun and useful. As you know we really are into hardware/analogue sound here at No Dough, but we try not to be snobs when it comes to how we get that sound and in our modern world the possibilities are becoming endless. In fact when we…
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Working as a mastering engineer, over time, you pick up some really handy skills, skills that are totally separate to those you might need during mixing and writing. In many ways it is a completely different way of thinking than that which is needed to master…
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First Impressions count Today I am taking a look at the latest of UADs wonders! I have to admit that, I am utterly smitten with this piece of kit. The saying goes that first impressions count, and that was definitely true here. The first time I tried out this…
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This is our first Sample Pack Review as part of our wider reviews section. Now reviewing and recommending other peoples sample packs when we sell our own may seem a little odd, but here at ND we don't care about that kind of thing. Whats more important is…
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Ok so lately on the production blog we have been sharing some thoughts on some super useful bits of kit we use and we have decided to make it official and launch a Reviews section on the site which I will be adding too regularly from now onwards. These wont be…
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We thought we would do more of our articles which walk the line between editorial and reviews. In fact what we plan to do is just share stuff we think you will find useful, the good stuff, the stuff that's worth checking out. Not only that but tell you how we…
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We had Oli take you through the production of one of his new tracks (unreleased and hot off the press might I add) including the actual jam recording that turned into the final track. We hope to do this more often as I think it provides a really nice insight…
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What is analogue? People really like to talk about “analogue sound” but the way we talk about it often isn't as clear as it could be especially to people with no prior experience of working with hardware. So it is not surprising to me that we also hear a lot…
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Getting your head around EQ should be a priority for everyone learning to mix, so I have put together this blog, sharing some thoughts, tip and practices to hopefully give people a bit of a leg up. So what is EQ? Audio Equalisation is all about adjusting the…
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What is a compressor? A compressor deals in dynamics, which is the difference between the loud and the quiet parts of a sound or a passage of audio. The compressor automatically controls volume levels based upon a few simple settings. Threshold – the level at…
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The smallest of details really matter in music. So I thought this week I would drop a quick blog to tell you about something that has got me excited recently. This is kinda like a review, but as you know we don't usually do reviews...this is more me just…
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This blog is about a big topic, after ranting and raving about the problem we have today with horribly mixed and mastered recordings I thought I would sit down and write my thoughts out in full. Hopefully this will be enlightening, interesting and most of all…
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The blog is back, after a brief hiatus. It’s good to get back to sharing tips and thoughts with everyone. This time I’m going to talk about an issue that has evolved, not through changes in trends, technique or the thinking behind how to make good music, but…
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When creating music, you’re only as strong as your weakest link. If your bridge is flat, your chorus will fall flat; if your kick is anaemic, your groove will drag it's ass along the floor and if your compressor’s pumping the whole thing can go to pot. This…
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When you’re first starting out, one of the biggest challenges can be your own self-doubt. Are you doing things the right way? Is your technique correct? Maybe you feel like you’re hitting your head against a brick wall? We all experience this problem.…
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Input – the first step We get technical again for this weeks tip, and this is a good one. It's just something you can keep in mind to make sure you’re getting the best out of your DAW, it’s mixer and all your plug-ins. First up, let’s look at the differences…
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This is not a tip on how to Side-chain your music – this is a Tip on how to avoid Side-chaining Welcome to the first in our new series focusing on the wonderful and artful world of music production. A lot of this “black art” can seem quite counter intuitive at…
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They say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. By that reckoning, you certainly shouldn't judge a synth by it's cheap plastic casing. On first impressions you would probably not take much notice of this little silver box with it's array of silver knobs and…
Read →Nothing in this part of the archive matches those filters.