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Opal; a cool new Ableton based groovebox.

Posted by James Cullen on

Over the past year I've seen a noticeable wave of DAW-less music producers taking over my social feeds. All over Instagram, I've seen people jamming with little grooveboxes and other synths, and some of the music I've heard come from these musicians has been really fun. As a producer who's worked in the box for a number of years, mainly due to space constraints, it's great to see people working with hardware. I think hardware not only has an innate nostalgia inherent in the process, but in the world of limitless possibility, putting some physical limits in place can be...

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Generative Music; where music writes itself.

Posted by James Cullen on

I've seen a lot of people using generative concepts to create music over the last year. The idea of creating an environment where your music isn't always predictable is something I've found myself drawn to in recent months. Especially because I spent a lot of time in my younger years listening to Steve Reich and Brian Eno, it's fitting that things have come full circle. Both Eno and Reich are   pioneers of the genre, doing a lot of work in the early days of creating generative music.  The reason I think I've been seeing it have something of a...

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Essential Tips for Electronic Music Producers

Posted by James Cullen on

In one of my recent posts, I did a list of essential websites for electronic music producers. These were a really useful collection of sites, ranging from online mastering services to a random obscure music finder.  In this guide today, I'd like to focus on some essential skills you can develop as an electronic music producer.  As a music producer, the learning journey is never over, so whether you're new to the craft or you're a few years in, these are some essential skills that are guaranteed to improve your production. So let's dive right in!   Understanding your genre....

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Different ways to learn music production.

Posted by James Cullen on

There's a common question that I see come up ever so often in music production forums, and even one I've been asked myself in person many times; Do I need to study music production in college or university to be a good producer? There's no one answer to this question, because it's a huge topic, and it's often discussed from a point of view of if formal studies are worth it or not, particularly from a financial perspective. After all, in a lot of places, studying music at a formal level can often come with some hefty fees. There's definitely an...

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Mobile Music Making - the best apps out there.

Posted by James Cullen on

In our last article, we took a look at mobile music making. It's become an increasingly valid and viable option in the past decade or so, as the ever-increasing processing power in mobile phones and tablets has allowed for more and more capable music making apps than producers 20 years ago could have dreamed of. We covered the basics in that guide, so if you haven't checked that out, I'd advise you to do so. If you're a music maker who wants to take things on the go, or if you don't have the resources of a desktop production suite...

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