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Recording Tips

Looking to multiply your DAW’s effects options? Here are 14 possibilities to consider for coloring and expanding the spectrum of your recordings.

Sure, DAWs come with their own stock effects plugins, but there’s an entire universe of other options available. Some can be individually downloaded, some come in packages, some are good all-around workhorses, and others recreate treasured sonic aspects of vintage gear—even from specific, history-making studios.

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Steve Albini in the control room at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago.

Photo by Kevin Tiongson

Words of wisdom from the legendary engineer, proprietor of Chicago’s Electrical Audio, World Series of Poker champion, and, in the band Shellac, the compass for brutal guitar aesthetics.

“All day every day, we’re grinding it out,” says engineer Steve Albini of his team at Electrical Audio, the Chicago studio he built and has run since 1997. “We’re constantly in session, constantly under fire.”

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Your DAW and a simple plug-in can match your guitar lines in weird and colorful ways. Blast off, space cadets!

Hello everyone and welcome back to another Dojo. This time I'm going to do something a little unusual and give you some ideas on how to use a vocoder for creative harmonies on your guitar within the DAW of your choosing. Get your belts tightened; the Dojo is now open.

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Recording vocals and a flattop at the same time can be tricky for a number of reasons. Here are some techniques to try when attempting to mitigate the sometimes-conflicting concerns of this common studio scenario.

On a recent record I produced at Blackbird in Nashville, I had to track an artist who played acoustic guitar and sang at the same time. While not an infrequent occurrence by any means, it dawned on me that this would make a great Dojo topic. So, this month I'm going to share a technique that may help you achieve great results when this situation or similar ones arise.

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Photo 1: Waves Audio IR-1

Defy the laws of physics by following Bryan Clark's tips for generating fresh and articulate sounds with reverb plug-ins.

Welcome back to another Dojo. Last month, I shed light on the benefits of room recording and using the natural reverb of given spaces. This time I'll briefly explain reverb's four main parameters in layman's terms (it's actually a very deep and complex subject), and, by tweaking those parameters, how to make new, interesting, and physically impossible spaces for use in your recordings.

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