Ten Things You Gotta Know to Make Dance Tracks

Sep 1 2010 1:00AM
Ten years. That’s how long I’ve been writing the Dance column for Keyboard. It has enabled so much for me—from meeting heroes, to receiving letters thanking me for my insights, to compiling dozens of columns for my book, The More...

Michael Brauer On Playing Your Mixer Like an Instrument

Sep 1 2010 1:00AM
“This is what I wanted,” beams the multiple Grammy-winning mix engineer from amidst the glow of his NASA-sized collection of vintage outboard gear at Electric Lady Studios. “I wanted a job where I’m totally responsible for my More...

Dance - The Rise Part I

Jul 1 2010 1:00AM
For dance floor mayhem, one of the most dramatic, hands-in-the-air effects is “the rise,” which usually happens after a big breakdown in your track. Often starting quite low, then rising in pitch over the course of eight, 16, or More...

Robert Palmers Addicted To Love

Jun 1 2010 1:00AM
Who could forget the suit-and-tie clad Robert Palmer surrounded by a “band” of five vapid models obviously only pretending to play? Considering the small fortunes spent on videos then, “Addicted to Love” was cheap, simple, and More...

How To Rescue Old Stereo Mixes

May 1 2010 1:00AM
Mixing in a home studio can be hazardous to your music. Over the past few years, I’ve finished and mixed a number of synth instrumentals, but I never took the essential step of burning them to a CD and listening to them on More...

Duran Duran39s 39Hungry Like The Wolf39

May 1 2010 1:00AM
Duran Duran were the poster children of the ’80s with a string of MTV-era hits that still rock the clubs today. Nick Rhodes’ mix of swirling atmospherics and percolating arpeggios went a long way toward establishing the More...

Extreme Triton Extreme 80s

Nov 1 2010 1:00AM
By Paul Armento When I perform with New York-based ’80s cover band Rubix Kube, a great deal of my energy is devoted to reproducing the keyboard sounds of well-known songs. I get a lot of mileage out of a compact keyboard More...

Producers Roundtable Go-To Synths Of EDM

Oct 1 2010 1:00AM
This month, we’re kicking off a series of roundtables with today’s hottest producers. Each time, we ask a different question to a panel from the electronic dance music or indie-pop worlds. Reach out to us by your favorite means More...

Tutorial: How to Make Five Legenday Minimoog Sounds

Oct 1 2010 1:00AM
Without a doubt, the Minimoog is the classic analog synth, so much that early recordings often attributed any synth simply as “Moog” on album sleeve credits. The progressive rock and jazz-fusion movements pushed the Mini into More...

Steal This Sound Madonnas “Lucky Star”

Sep 1 2010 1:00AM
Most folks think of ’80s-vintage Madonna and remember the hair, rubber bracelets, and attire that spawned a generation of dress-alikes. Listen to the Material Girl’s early hits, though, and you’ll find some pretty sweet vintage More...

Dance The Rise Part II

Aug 1 2010 1:00AM
Last month, we learned how to create dramatic pitch rises using soft synths. This time, we’ll add rises to audio from beatboxes or drum loops. Drums that rise? Hell, yeah! This is a fantastic trick for constantly increasing More...

Erasures “A Little Respect”

Aug 1 2010 1:00AM
Vince Clarke has cemented his place as a legend of synth pop. In the ’80s, he penned numerous hits with Depeche Mode prior to forming smash duo Yaz with singer Alison Moyet. Yaz disbanded after just two albums, but Vince More...

Ask Mike August 2010

Aug 1 2010 1:00AM
For your playback duties with Mariah Carey, are you still touring with the two G5 Macs, multiple MOTU HD192 interfaces, and the 72 x 24 Clair Brothers audio switcher? I’m considering just carrying laptops on tour. What do you More...

Steal This Sound Herbie Hancocks “Chameleon”

Jul 1 2010 1:00AM
Herbie Hancock’s music has traversed many paths over the years, but in the early ’70s, the album Head Hunters set the standard for jazz-funk fusion. Using a combination of Clavinet, Rhodes electric piano, and ARP synth, Head More...

Synth Workshop Modular Mayhem On the Kurzweil PC3

Jul 1 2010 1:00AM
On Kurzweil’s PC3 series synths, a layer of a sound program can have up to four “units” of DSP—measures of how hard the chips work to create sound. You can spend DSP units on a modeled analog oscillator, a filter, or other More...

Previous

Next