Create Better Music, One Plugin at a Time
Your mix has a solid drum groove, a good melody, and sounds you like. But everything seems crowded together. Before adding another EQ or stereo widening plugin, listen to where your instruments sit between the speakers. If nearly every sound occupies the center, your mix may feel narrow and congested. Thoughtful panning can help separate … Read more
How to Make Your Mix Sound Wider Without Ruining Mono Compatibility Have you ever listened to a professionally mixed song and wondered how the producer managed to make everything sound so wide, spacious, and immersive? The vocals sit perfectly in the center, the drums sound powerful, and the instruments seem to extend beyond the speakers. … Read more
How to Sidechain in Reason (Step-by-Step) If you’ve ever struggled to get your kick drum and bass to sit together in a mix, sidechain compression might be exactly what you need. One of the biggest challenges in music production is getting low-frequency instruments to work together without fighting for space. Your kick might sound powerful … Read more
How to Compress Vocals in Reason (Step-by-Step) Vocal compression is one of the most important techniques to learn when mixing music. Whether you’re producing Hip-Hop, R&B, Trap Soul, or Pop, knowing how to compress vocals in Reason can help your recordings sound more consistent, controlled, and professional. One of the biggest challenges when mixing vocals … Read more
How to Build a Vocal Chain in Reason (Step-by-Step) Getting professional-sounding vocals doesn’t necessarily require expensive plugins or a complicated recording setup. Sometimes, the difference between an amateur vocal mix and a polished one comes down to understanding how to use the tools already available in your DAW. If you’re producing music in Reason, you … Read more
How to Mix Vocals in Reason: A Beginner’s Guide Learning how to mix vocals in Reason is an important skill for producers who want to create professional-sounding music without relying on expensive third-party plugins. Whether you’re producing Hip-Hop, R&B, Trap Soul, or Pop, vocals are often the centerpiece of a song. Even a great vocal … Read more
FabFilter makes some of the most popular mixing and mastering plugins available today. You’ll find FabFilter plugins in professional studios, home studios, YouTube tutorials, and plugin folders belonging to producers and engineers across practically every genre. But there’s a problem. Opening a plugin like FabFilter Pro-Q or Pro-C for the first time doesn’t automatically tell … Read more
How to Use Reverb on Vocals Without Making Your Mix Muddy Reverb can give vocals depth, atmosphere, and a sense of space. But when you add too much—or leave the wrong frequencies ringing—it can blur the words and push the singer behind the instruments. The solution is to control how the reverb starts, how long … Read more
How to Make Vocals Sit in a Mix Without Sounding Buried Getting a vocal to sit properly in a mix can be surprisingly difficult. Push the vocal too loud, and it sounds disconnected from the instrumental. Turn it down, and suddenly the words disappear behind the drums, synths, guitars, or keys. The goal isn’t simply … Read more
How to EQ Vocals: A Beginner’s Guide to Clear, Professional Vocals Learning how to EQ vocals is one of the most important skills you can develop as a music producer or mixing engineer. You can have great drums, beautiful chords, and an expensive collection of plugins, but if the vocal sounds muddy, harsh, thin, or … Read more