News

In today’s music production climate, the computer has become a key element of many creator’s processes. Whether you’re using a DAW and producing music completely in the box, or you’re incorporating some computer based synthesis into a studio session, there is always space for a computer. The rise of this inclusion of software in the music production world has led to some truly ingenious inventions, from synths to unique DAWs like Ableton Live, or as we’ll explore today, programs like Max/MSP, and its Ableton linked sibling, Max for Live. For many users, the first time interacting with Max for Live...

  Ableton Live Suite comes with two built in Samplers. There's the creatively named Sampler and its younger, less experienced sibling named Simpler. In this article with Top Music Arts, we will take a look at both, what their key functions are, how they differ, and what functions they share. But before we start... What is Sampling? Sampling is broadly defined as the use of all or part of another recording within a musical composition. This could be as basic as dragging an audio sample of some dialogue from a movie into a track (see Kanye West & Jay Z...

Tired of your desk job? Not feeling the grind of the 9-5? Do you just dream of making a living through making music? Seems like a pipe dream doesn’t it? How many people in days gone by have wished their days away wanting more? But that dream can be a reality. There are now more resources, and therefore more opportunities than ever to earn an income from your skills as a musician, producer or engineer. So, today with Top Music Arts, we will take a look at some of the strategies you can employ to build yourself from the ground...

Have you ever just used an effect in your DAW of choice when you’re making a track and been a bit puzzled by all the controls it has? Do you feel like you’re using some of the features it has to offer, while you don’t even know what the rest of them do? You’re not alone! The 80/20 Rule (or Pareto Principle) states that in many things, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Does this sound like you when you load up a plug in? How many of those controls do you actually use or...

A Compressor is a versatile tool in all music producers' arsenals. Compression can be applied as a creative effect in certain contexts, or it can be used in a more engineering and technical setting, the variety of scenarios in which you'd use a compressor are numerous. Chances are, every time you’re making a track, you’re using compression in some way or another, but if you're like many producers, you may not know the full breadth of its capabilities. Or, you may have an extensive background in compressors and have favourites and ones you hate, but all the same, hopefully there's...