Category: Music
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I liked Akira Rabelais’s music and wanted to achieve the same kind of sound created by his Argeïphontes Lyre plugin so I set out to get it directly and took an unexpected turn. Here’s what happened…
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Boards of Canada is a personal favorite of mine, and I have studied their music to learn how they achieved their distinctive sound. Here is what I think I have learned so far (I will continue to add to this page as I learn more). Last updated: 25-March-2026
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For a track that was only on the original vinyl release, this one is a beauty, and lots of people like it a lot. I’d like to know how it was made and I think I can come close to understanding it. Here’s what I have so far. Last updated: 19-December-2025
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Setting your music up for success on streaming platforms can be overwhelming, but here are some things I’ve learned, and maybe they can help you, too. Updated: 11-June-2026
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I’ve long been a fan of William Basinski’s works with tape loops and have admired his techniques so I set out to understand the nature of his work with analog gear and to try and replicate it in my DAW with plugins.
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One of the more difficult things for artists is composing, but what if you could let nature take control here and provide you with a melody? You can and here’s how.
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Intervals in music are important for understanding the sounds of chords and dyads. Even melodies can benefit from a clear understanding of intervals. Unfortunately, a lot of the information I have found out there is confusing. I’m trying to unravel it for myself and you may get something out of it as well. Last updated:…
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In my latest work, “The Archaeology of Obscured Presences,” I needed a piano that I could always hear in my head but not find “out there’ anywhere. So, I created it, and here’s how I did it.
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It is not always easy for me to name my tracks. I’m starting to favor using abstract names for tracks to prevent having to think about them so much. Here are some ways I’m starting to use for naming my tracks in abstract ways and maybe the same approach could help you too.
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There are a lot of ways to measure the levels of sound in your music production. Meter scales vary widely, and there are many misconceptions about what are the correct levels. Here below is what I have found currently works best for me. Last updated: 19-August-2025. There’s another, more current post about this: Levels in…
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Here are some examples of the kinds of things I do to create my music and maybe they can inspire you to do the same. Last updated: 8/26/25
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When you like to make all different kinds of music, how do you make good albums? Here are my thoughts on that.
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I looked for a way to add binaural beats to my music, and I found it in the most unusual place – Valhalla’s FreqEcho. It is so easy; it is unreal. Oh, and it’s free.
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I like the idea of console emulation plugins so that I can have the sound of a console in my DAW. It gives my tracks a more polished sound and implies I am using a hardware console which is more of a high-end mixing situation. Here are what I found console emulations are producing.
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Ever heard a song and liked the drum track in it? Ever wanted to use that beat in your own tracks but without outright copying it? You can convert it to MIDI and insert it with your own drums. Here’s how…
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Like most people, my hearing lacks in some frequency bands. But now I can hear what I’m mixing thanks to a plugin, and it’s changed my music production – for the better!
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Here’s a free (yes free) way to adjust your headphones when mixing and mastering so they are sonically neutral and you are getting unbiased results out of them.
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The piano plays a significant role in the Blade Runner movies. Here are my observations.
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I think some artists struggle with the question, “What is my style?” If that’s not you, then don’t read this, but if so, then maybe what I did could help you too.
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Here’s how to read a correlation meter and why it matters.
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I like ambient music and would like to expand my expertise in making such music, so I’ve begun a study of some of what I consider the best ambient drone-type of music. This will be an ongoing collection of information, and you are welcome to check back when it has been updated. Last updated: 28-June-2024
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Why do you often hear Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” played before rock concerts while you’re walking into the venue and they’re testing the sound system?
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Here below is a selection of synth plugins that I have found have that nostalgic, lo-fi, vintage sound epitomized by Boards of Canada and others. Last updated: 27-August-2024.
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I like Biosphere’s (Geir Jenssen’s) music very much and one of my favorite albums is Shenzhou. The album is made up of repeated looping of Debussy orchestral track samples. The title song is particularly interesting to me as I like the depth and width of the sound. I was able to figure out how to…
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Sometimes two things just go together like ham and cheese. Here are two of those things. This one-two punch will kickstart your creative process. It does mine.
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“Better” is subjective but here are my preferences when it comes to listening to Spotify.
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I have found that I like a certain kind of music from a mastering and quality point of view, and I set out to determine why I like it based on several factors that I think could be relevant. I used the Youlean Loudness Meter to make the measurements. I took downloaded song files from…
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After having made ambient music and professed to be an ambient musician, I thought I would take a step back and find out exactly what it is. It turns out that it can be surprisingly complex to define. Updated: 15-February-2023
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Definitions of Single, EP (extended play), or Album (or LP, long play):
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Using a reference track when mastering is a kind of standard practice, but it can be done much better with the wonderful EQ matching functions found on so many equalizer plugins. Here’s what I’ve tried and how it’s worked out for me. Last updated: 10-July-2023
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Psychic Modulation has made a synthesizer that combines that “lo-fi” sound with vintage tape and synth type of processing, for a synth that sounds remarkably similar to artists such as Boards of Canada and others of that type. It comes as a low-cost vst file type of plugin that works in your DAW (digital audio…
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In general, you should not expect to make much, if any, money from music. Do the music for you and not for anyone else. Don’t do it for the money because that is a really rough road to travel – and it leads to poverty (in my opinion).
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Some of what makes Boards of Canada’s songs (or for that matter, any artist’s songs) interesting for me are the chords. If you know the chords, you can get a feel for how to make your own song sound similar or “in the flavor of” so to speak. From the chords, you can often get…
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It may seem strange to want background noise in a recording, but it gives it a certain realism as opposed to the cleanliness of a digitally-mastered DAW creation. I like the sound I hear in the background of Susumu Yokota’s Saku from his Sakura album, so I was able to replicate it using common pink…
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Using the synth “Fundamental” from SonicLab, I made several interesting sounds that producers of music might find interesting to use in their own compositions.
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A lot of people ask what kind of chords work well for Ambient music. That varies a lot. As I research it further, I will post more, but for now here is what I have. Last updated: 2/26/21
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Song structure consists of repeated sections of verse (melody) and chorus (different melody) interwoven, but what exactly is it? Last updated: 28-November-2020
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You can easily recreate the sound of the bass and lead in Boards of Canada’s song “Roygbiv” by using the TAL Bassline 101 synthesizer vst plugin. Here’s how…
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Making music with loops is not a new process. However, after thinking about it, I was surprised at how many different ways there are to loop samples to make music. I’ll add to this as I discover more, but the list is long right now. Last updated: 26-December-2020
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I have been building presets for TAL Sampler for awhile and thought I would share some of them that I particularly like. These have a sound that reminds me of Boards of Canada. I even named a few with telling names based on Boards of Canada tracks and titles. They are free for you to…
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For the aspiring tape loopers out there, I’m sure I speak for us all when I say that we’d all like to have the time to play around with splicing tape into loops and recording through a four-track. But when this is not possible, here’s an easy alternative right in your DAW.
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I use the Modartt Pianoteq vst plugin as one of my main piano instruments and frequently modify or create new presets. This is my page for sharing those presets in the form of FXP files (.fxp). Updated: 1-June-2021 I have used many piano vst plugin instruments and have a page dedicated to that: Getting Authentic Piano…
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It is easy to be a perfectionist, for me. I like things to be just right and as near perfect as I can get them. This extends well into music and my production of it (or lack thereof). But it doesn’t have to be this way.
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Simulating a Real-World Piano After having been to Budapest and found an 1896 C. Bechstein piano in the lobby of The Continental Hotel, I’ve learned much more about how I can make the same sound of it or any other piano within Pianoteq or via other vst instruments and effects. But, in fact, I aim…
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I am not a master at organization when it comes to my music, but I can tell you what works and what doesn’t work for me. Maybe it could help you.
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Where exactly do songs come from? Not an easy question. But, I believe there are two distinct ways that music arrives to the musician.
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Wondering how to get started making music? It’s not hard and I can tell you what I did. Read on and you’ll be able to know my experiences and can adapt these ideas for your own. My background is not music. For me, I had a little piano experience when I was a kid, but…
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Brian Eno is, to me, the undisputed king of ambient music. He coined the term, “ambient music” in his groundbreaking album “Music for Airports.” Here I will revel in his sound-creating process and offer some captured bits of what I know of it – not as an attempt to deconstruct, per se, but more as…
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Cinematic music is fascinating to me. It moves the story of the movie along and the movie itself is nothing without it (at least it is a completely different movie). I’m interested in deconstructing the sound of cinematic music and Hans Zimmer is one of the composers at the forefront. Here I have assembled what little…
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Pianobook is a site self-described as “Curated by one of the founders of SPITFIRE AUDIO pianobook is a collective sample project that aims to bring together a community of likeminded music makers to talk about their stories through the pianos they use, admire and are inspired by.”
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Here’s one of a number of brief guides and details about the microphones available in Pianoteq. Last updated: 7-November-2024
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Here’s one of a number of brief guides and details about the microphones available in Pianoteq. Last updated: 07-November-2024
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There’s not a manual with the Gwylim Simcock Felt Piano by Spitfire Audio, so here are my notes about the microphones used to record this wonderful piano. This piano is excellent and I highly recommend it. Microphones recorded the sound with Neve pre-amps and Cranesong AD converters at 96k. In the interface, the microphones can…
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I really admire deadmau5 (Joel Zimmerman) and his excellent music, including his use of chords and arps. He has a knack for it. I’ve watched him create on Masterclass and he just absolutely knows what he is doing. Moreover, he seems to be a guy who is limitless in his thinking while still knowing what…
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Modes can add interest and really shape a musical piece so knowing the modes and what each is noted for is a good thing. I come back to this post quite often when I am composing so I can choose a mode.
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The blurred faces on the album cover of Boards of Canada’s “Music Has the Rights to Children” evokes an old, nostalgic, feel. While the album cover may have been intentionally blurred (it is not known for sure), the same blurred face effect can be seen in old television commercials on VHS tape.
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Here’s one of a number of brief guides and details about the microphones available in Pianoteq. Last updated: 7-November-2024
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Here’s one of a number of brief guides and details about the microphones available in Pianoteq. Last updated: 7-November-2024
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Here’s one of a number of brief guides and details about the microphones available in Pianoteq. Last updated: 7-November-2024
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Here’s one of a number of brief guides and details about the microphones available in Pianoteq. Last updated: 7-November-2024
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I’ve come to have a new respect for those musicians who say to “keep it simple” when it comes to compositions, melodies, and instruments in songs. Here’s why.
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Composing Electronic Music is a book that has proven invaluable in my equalization settings in my electronic music creations. I would highly recommend it! [click here for a link to it]