Create Better Music, One Plugin at a Time
Bloom Synth Atmosphere Plugin Review: Is It Worth It? Creating atmospheric music is about more than choosing the right chords or finding an interesting melody. Sometimes, the sounds surrounding those musical elements are what give a production its character. A subtle drone, evolving synth pad, or distant melodic texture can transform an otherwise ordinary beat … Read more
Arturia V Collection for Electronic Music: The Complete Guide for Producers If you produce electronic music, you have probably heard producers rave about the Arturia V Collection for electronic music. It is one of the most popular software instrument bundles ever released, and for good reason: it puts dozens of legendary synthesizers, keyboards, and workstations … 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
Best Excite Audio Plugins 2026: Which Ones Are Actually Worth Buying? Excite Audio has quickly built one of the more interesting plugin catalogs in music production. Rather than releasing another collection of conventional EQs, compressors, and reverbs, the company tends to take familiar production tools and approach them from a more creative angle. Its lineup … 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
How to EQ Vocals to Sit in a Mix: A Beginner’s Guide You can have a great vocal recording, a great beat, and a collection of expensive plugins—and still end up with a vocal that doesn’t sit properly in the mix. Maybe the vocal sounds too far forward. Maybe it disappears behind the instruments. Maybe … Read more
How to Make Your Mix Sound Professional: 10 Things Beginners Get Wrong You don’t need an expensive studio, a collection of analog hardware, or thousands of dollars in plugins to create a professional-sounding mix. What you need is a solid understanding of the fundamentals. One of the biggest mistakes beginner producers make is assuming their … Read more
Getting a mix ready for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and other streaming platforms doesn’t require a special EQ preset. You don’t need to boost a particular frequency because you’re uploading to Spotify. You don’t need an expensive mastering EQ. And you definitely don’t need to carve frequencies out of every track simply because an … Read more