Gear Reviews

Reviews of the tools of the trade for the Independent Musician

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Ace Studio 2.0 Artist Edition: The Deep-Dive Review Every Indie Musician Needs

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Ace Studio 2.0 Artist Edition is an AI-powered platform empowering indie musicians with professional-quality vocal and instrument production capabilities from their home studios. It seamlessly integrates with Studio One Pro, enhancing workflow efficiency. Features include AI voice cloning, instrument generation, and stem separation, aligning with the shift towards decentralized music creation and community engagement.

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Top 10 Christmas Gifts for Recording Musicians (No Shipping Needed!)

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This guide offers ten digital Christmas gifts for recording musicians that require no shipping. Items include software subscriptions, sample libraries, and educational resources aimed at enhancing workflow and creativity. These instant upgrades provide practical value, helping musicians improve their craft and keep their careers moving forward without delays or backorders.

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Top 10 Gift Ideas for the Indie Musician!

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This content outlines essential gift ideas for independent musicians, emphasizing tools and resources to enhance their recording and mixing processes. Recommendations include audio interfaces, microphones, headphones, and an automatic tuner for instruments, all aiming to support indie artists in navigating the evolving decentralized music industry and maintaining creative control.

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Deep Dive into Cubase 15

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Cubase 15 marks a significant evolution in music production, integrating advanced features like AI stem separation and a melodic pattern generator that enhance workflow for indie artists. It offers comprehensive tools for recording, editing, and mixing within a single platform, empowering musicians with accessible technology while preserving the legacy of Cubase’s innovative trajectory.

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DaVinci Resolve 20: The Ultimate Free Video Editor for Indie Musicians

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DaVinci Resolve 20 is a powerful free video editor tailored for indie musicians, allowing them to create professional-quality videos without expensive software. Its integrated tools for editing, color grading, and audio mixing streamline the production process. While the free version is extensive, the paid Studio upgrade offers advanced features and AI tools, enhancing workflow efficiency.

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Neutron 5: A Friendly, Deep Dive Review For Real-World Mixing

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Neutron 5 is an advanced AI-assisted mixing plugin by iZotope designed for efficient and creative music mixing. It consolidates various mix modules into one interface, allowing users to tailor their processing chain. Key features include smart EQ, gating, compression, and reference matching, streamlining the mixing process and enhancing sound clarity.

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A Deep Dive Review of Sonible’s Learn:Bundle

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Sonible’s learn:bundle is a set of five AI-driven plug-ins designed for mixing tasks like EQ, compression, reverb, limiting, and unmasking. It offers both Assisted and Advanced modes for learning, providing intuitive guidance and real-time feedback. While beneficial for beginners, users need to apply their judgment alongside AI suggestions.

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Slate Digital VSX Headphone System: A Deep Dive Review

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The Slate Digital VSX headphone system offers a hybrid approach to mixing, combining high-quality headphones with software that simulates various listening environments. This tool aims to help musicians produce mixes that translate well across different playback systems without costly studio setups. While not perfect, it enhances accuracy and efficiency for home producers.

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Suno Studio: A Deep Dive into the First True Generative Audio Workstation

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Suno Studio is a groundbreaking Generative Audio Workstation that redefines music production by integrating AI as a creative collaborator rather than a mere tool. It offers features like modular Song Blocks, intelligent stems, and built-in AI enhancements that support recording, mixing, and real-time collaboration, democratizing creative processes for musicians and producers.

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Cubase 14: A Deep Dive into the Future of AI-Powered Music Production

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Cubase 14 represents a significant evolution in music production, incorporating AI throughout its workflow to enhance creativity and efficiency. Key features include AI-driven audio analysis, vocal editing, chord suggestions, and mix assistance. This update solidifies Cubase’s role as a leading DAW by making professional music production more accessible and intuitive for musicians.

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RipXDaw and RipXDaw Pro: The AI-Powered Future of Music Production

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Making a Scene Presents – RipXDaw and RipXDaw Pro: The AI-Powered Future of Music Production If you’ve been around music production, you know the names of the usual suspects: Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, FL Studio. These digital audio workstations, or DAWs, have been the backbone of recording studios and bedroom setups for decades. They let […]

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Ozone 12: How iZotope’s New Mastering Plugin Is Changing the Game

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Making a Scene – Ozone 12: How iZotope’s New Mastering Plugin Is Changing the Game Introduction If you’ve ever finished mixing a song and thought, “Why doesn’t this sound like the tracks on Spotify or the radio?”—you’re not alone. That final polish you’re missing is called mastering, and it’s the step that takes a track […]

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PreSonus Studio One 7.2 — A Deep Dive Review

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Making a Scene Presents PreSonus Studio One 7.2 — A Deep Dive Review If you want a DAW that feels fast, flexible, and seriously pro, Studio One 7.2 hits that sweet spot. It’s built for songwriters, beat-makers, mixing engineers, and mastering folks who want one home for everything. In this review, I’ll walk you through […]

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From DAW to GAW: How BandLab Studio Is Using AI to Redefine Music Production

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BandLab Studio is revolutionizing music production by transforming Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) into Generative Audio Workstations (GAWs) using AI. Following the shutdown of Cakewalk Sonar by Gibson, BandLab revived its capabilities, offering an accessible, cloud-based platform with features like AI-driven song generation, collaboration, and mastering tools, reshaping creative processes for all artists.

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How UA’s LUNA is Reimagining the Recording Studio with AI

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Universal Audio’s LUNA is reinventing recording studios with its update, v1.9, incorporating AI as a creative partner. Features like Voice Control, Instrument Detection, and Smart Tempo offer intuitive, hands-free workflows. LUNA adapts to musicians’ needs, streamlining the creative process and making it more responsive and collaborative, without needing specific hardware.

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The Warm Audio WA-44 Bringing the Classic Sound to Home Studios

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The Warm Audio WA-44 Ribbon Microphone is a modern reinterpretation of the legendary RCA 44, known for its warm, rich sound. It excels in recording guitars, vocals, and drums, providing smooth tonal quality. Built to last with a vintage design, the WA-44 is an accessible option for both studios and home setups.

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Suno.com: A Collaborative AI Co-Creator for the Indie Songwriter’s Toolkit

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Suno.com is an innovative AI-powered platform designed for indie musicians, enhancing the songwriting process by facilitating collaboration and fast idea prototyping. It allows artists to generate melodies, lyrics, and arrangements based on prompts, enabling real-time co-writing and experimentation, thereby amplifying creativity without replacing the human artistic touch.

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Vocoflex AI Based Voice Synthesis

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Vocoflex by Dreamtonics, priced at $199, is an AI-powered voice synthesis software designed for musicians, voice actors, and content creators. It offers realistic vocal performances, a user-friendly interface, and ethical safeguards. The software supports real-time voice conversion and customization, making it a versatile tool for creative applications.

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DataMind Audio Unveils Virtual AI Instrument and Ethically Sourced “Artist Brains” 

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DataMind Audio Unveils Virtual AI Instrument and Ethically Sourced “Artist Brains” Wildly creative music tech trailblazers team up with sound designers and music producers to set an ethical, green paradigm for AI in music. While much of the AI-powered tech for music creation spits out replicas or facsimiles, DataMind Audio does something radically different. Founded […]

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Review of Izotope Ozone 11

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Making a Scene Brings you a Comprehensive Review of Izotope Ozone 11 Izotope Ozone 11 is a highly acclaimed audio mastering software that has been widely praised by audio professionals for its exceptional range of features and tools. With its intuitive interface and advanced capabilities, it provides users with everything they need to enhance and […]

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A Review of Captain Plugins Epic

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A Review of Mixed in Key’s Captain Plugins Epic Introduction If you’re a music producer or a musician, you might be familiar with the struggle of finding the right tools to enhance your creativity and streamline your workflow. In today’s digital age, there are countless plugin options available, each claiming to be the ultimate solution. […]

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Review of Captain Plugins Epic

Making a Scene Brings you a review of the new Captain Plugins Epic AI Based Music Composition Suite Introduction If you are a music producer or composer, you know how tedious and time-consuming it can be to create music from scratch. This is where Mixed in Key‘s Captain Plugins Epic comes in. It is a […]

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Bandlab Discontinues Free Version of Cakewalk by Bandlab DAW

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Bandlab Discontinues Free Version of Cakewalk by Bandlab DAW Bandlab, the company behind the popular digital audio workstation (DAW) software Cakewalk, has announced that they will no longer be offering a free version of the software. Bandlab acquired Sonar by Cakewalk DAW after Gibson discontinued the software after it purchase it from Cakewalk, leaving their […]

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A Review of the Warm Audio WA-CX12 Microphone

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A Review of the Warm Audio WA-CX12 Microphone When it comes to recording music, having high-quality equipment is essential. Microphones are especially important to ensure the best possible sound. The Warm Audio WA-CX12 is a microphone that has been gaining popularity among music producers and audio engineers. Warm Audio designed the WA-CX12 as a faithful […]

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AI Songwriting Tools For Words and Music

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AI Songwriting Tools for Words and Music Introduction Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming various industries, including music. The integration of AI in music has led to the development of AI songwriting tools that can compose music and even write lyrics. These tools have become popular among musicians, producers, and songwriters, as they can save […]

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Fender Musical Instruments Releases Presonus Studio One 6

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Fender Musical Instruments Releases Presonus Studio One 6 Introduction Back in November of last year Fender Musical Instruments announced their intention to acquire Presonus Audio Electronics as part of their expansion of their reach into the pro audio market. In January “Making a Scene” interviewed the founder of Presonus Jim Odem about this new acquisition […]

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Studio One 5.5 Update!

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Making a Scene Takes a Look at the new Studio One 5.5 Update Even with the pending acquisition of Presonus by Fender Musical Instruments, the team at Presonus is still rolling out updates to their flagship DAW “Studio One”. The new 5.5 update adds some powerful new features to their “Project Page” that will making […]

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Masterwriter – Songwriting and Creative Writing Software

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Making a Scene Presents a Review of Masterwriter – Songwriting and Creative Writing Software! What is Masterwriter? Masterwriter was created over 20 years ago as a software product to help songwriters and creative writers with their process by giving them access to all the tools they need in a single place. It has over the […]

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Making a Scene Reviews Warm Audio’s Bus Compressor

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Making a Scene Brings you a Review of the Warm Audio 2 Channel VCA Bus Compressor! What is a VCA Compressor? Before we get into reviewing the Warm Audio 2 Channel VCA Bus Compressor, lets take a look at what a VCA compressor is and why you would want one. Even though the compressor is […]

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OBS Studio a Free Solution to Take your Content Creation to the Next Level

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Making a Scene Takes a look at OBS Studio With the shutdown of the gig economy during the pandemic many musicians have been thrust into the world of content creation as a way to stay connected to their fanbase. One of the main avenues that has been most widely used is the Live Stream. This […]

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Tape Plugin Shootouts Don’t Make Sense

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Tape Plugin Shootouts Don’t Make Sense Commonly asked questions in audio groups regarding the use of tape emulations include: “Which tape machine plugin is best?” “Which one should I reach for on my sources?” “I keep hearing that this one is better than that one, but that one always sounds best to me and I […]

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Review of the Warm Audio WA-47jr

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Making a Scene Presents a Review of the Warm Audio WA 47jr History When Neumann discontinued production of the legendary U47 Microphone in the mid 1960’s their engineers started working on a solidstate version of the microphone to take it’s place. In 1969 they introduced the U47 FET using the same K 47 Capsule as […]

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Plugin Alliance Mega Bundle Review

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Making a Scene Reviews The Plugin-Alliance Mega Bundle The Plugin-Alliance The Plugin Alliance is an umbrella company that pulls together a variety of software developers under a single digital marketing and authorization system. The companies that are now under this “alliance” are some of the industries top hardware and software developers with more slated to […]

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Review of the Warm Audio WA-412 API preamp

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There are a few essential purchases you can make for your recording studio setup that will impact your sound. One of those is your choosing the right preamps! Today we are going to look at the Warm Audio WA-412 their 4 channel preamp inspired by the API 3124 . Automated Processes Incorporated or API was […]

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Review – Warm Audio WA-47 Microphone

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Making a Scene Presents a review of the Warm Audio WA 47 Microphone For anyone who has or is considering building a home studio, your microphone collection is one of the most critical investments you can make. Many of the classic microphones we would love to have are more often than not priced way out […]

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Top 10 Wireless Guitar Systems under $200

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Top 10 Wireless Guitar Systems Under $200 Guitar cables…let’s face it, they can be annoying. I like to think of them more like a leash that consistently gets tangled up. The good news is, these easily tangled inconvenient leashes (guitar cables) are relatively cheap. Especially if you’re in the earlier days of a startup band, […]

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