Reviews of the tools of the trade for the Independent Musician
Making a Scene Brings you the Top 10 Last Minuet Christmas Gifts for Musicians that don’t require shipping! Are you looking for the perfect gift for the musician in your family and you have run out of time? Well we have the perfect list of gifts any musician will love to receive this Christmas! Presonus […]
daw, Fender, fender musical instruments, making a Scene, presonus, studio one, Studio one 6
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 […]
daw, Home Recording, indie music, presonus, recording, studio one
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 […]
Christmas Gifts, indie musicians, Last Minute Gifts
Making a Scene Presents 10 Last Minute Gifts for the Indie Musician With only a few days left before Christmas, the shipping window has closed for many gift options. Fortunately for your favorite indie musician there are some options that you can get them in plenty of time for Christmas! Here is out list of […]
creative writing, film scoring, lyric writing, making a Scene, music business, songwriting
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 […]
making a Scene, music compositiion, plugin boutique, Scaler 2, songwriter
Making A Scene brings you a review of Plugin Boutique’s Scaler 2 If you are a songwriter or music composer, you know that sometimes you run into that dreaded writers block. Sometimes it only takes a new sound, or chord progression to break you out of it and allow the muse to inspire you. Scaler […]
2 channel, making a Scene, vca buss compressor, warm audio
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 […]
daw, indie artists., indie music, Presonus Sphere, recording software
Making a Scene Reviews Presonus Sphere One of the most important tools for Indie artists and songwriters today is the home recording studio. The Advantage of building a home based studio allows you to demo your work before going into the studio, create song structures to write against or, with the right equipment you can […]
custom guitar, j walker Guitars, making a Scene
Home Page Making a Scene Presents a Review of J Walker Guitars Jeff Walker was “Born and raised in Atlanta, and is a lifelong musician. His professional experience includes years of retail guitar sales and touring professionally as a bass player. Jeff has also played both guitar and bass with many regional bands over the […]
Christmas gift, indie artists., making a Scene
Making a Scene Presents our Top 10 Choices for your Musicians Christmas List If you have a special indie artists that you are stuck finding a good gift for this Christmas, we at Making a Scene have just the list for you! This is our top 10 Indie Artist Stocking Stuffers that we recommend for […]
Content creation, live stream, making a Scene, obs studio
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 […]
AKG C414, making a Scene, wa-14, warm audio
Making a Scene Reviews the Warm Audio WA-14 The AKG C414 The AKG C414 was introduced in the early 1970s and it sound was centered around an all-brass “CK12” capsule. The CK12 capsule featured a versatile polar patterns selector that made the C414 a versatile tool in the studio. It was known to have a […]
making a Scene, Plugins, recording, tape emulations
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 […]
making a Scene, Microphone, Neumann, review, U47, WA 47, WA 47 jr, warm audio
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 […]
daw, making a Scene, presonus, recording software, studio one
PreSonus Releases Studio One 5 When you invest in a DAW for your studio it is important to remember you are also investing in the company and their ability to continue to develop the software to not only innovate add new features but also to stay abreast (if not ahead) of the technology. PreSonus has […]
gear reviews, john pagano, making a Scene, pick slinger
Making a Scene Presents a Review of the Pick Slinger There are a lot of gadgets and products for the guitarist out there, but once in a while one comes along that makes you think “Why didn’t I think of that”. The Pick Slinger is one of those products! Simple in it’s design it solves […]
gear review, making a Scene, presonus, speakers
Making a Scene Presents a Review of the PreSonus Eris 3.5 Media Reference Monitors I had gotten an invitation from Peachstate Audio, a local pro audio supplier to attend a PreSonus mixer and live sound demonstration a while back, and being a techno geek I always want to keep up with what is new, so […]
amp modeling, guitar amps, Guitar Tone, Kemper Profiler, making a Scene
Making a Scene Reviews the Kemper Profiler www.kemper-amps.com When you have owned a recording studio for as long as I have you tend to collect amplifiers as part of the tools of the trade. I have amassed a collection of “Tone Monsters” that run from a 1964 Fender Vibrolux Reverb and a 68 Super Reverb […]
gear review, making a Scene, neve 1073, neve preamp, recording gear, warm audio
Making a Scene brings you a Review of the Warm Audio WA-273 Preamp What is the Neve 1073? When you think about the sound of the early 1970’s music you cannot escape the sound of Rupert Neve’s 1073 preamp and EQ! Starting at London’s Wessex Studio in 1970 Rupert Neve installed the first console with […]
gear reviews, making a Scene, mega bundle, plugin alliance, recording software
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 […]
diy recording, Home Recording, making a Scene, warm audio
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 […]
diy recording, making a Scene, microphones, recording studio, warm audio
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 […]
gear review, making a Scene, wireless guitar
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, […]
gear review, in-ear monitors, live performance, making a Scene, monitors
Making a Scene Present Top 4 In-Ear Monitor Systems Below $500 One of the most important aspects of a live performance is the ability of the performers to hear themselves onstage. For vocalists this prevents them from having to strain their voices and to feel the groove of the band. For many touring artists many […]
avb, making a Scene, motu, recording interface
Making a Scene Presents a Review of the MOTU AVB Interfaces! Last Year it became clear it was time to invest in new AD/DA converters for my studio. I have been a fan of MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) interfaces for some time. I had started with their 2408 interfaces back in the early 2000’s […]
acoustic guitar, making a Scene, recording acoustic Guitar, Recording microphones
Top 4 Microphones For Recording Acoustic Guitar Under $100 Finding the right mic to produce the highest quality sound for your acoustic guitar can be difficult. Making things tougher is when your in the beginning stages of your home studio where budget is limited. The end goal for most is not necessarily to find a […]
gear reviews, making a Scene, Wireless Guitar systems
Top 3 Wireless Guitar Systems For Bass On top of a high-quality reliable wireless instrument system, there are two solid factors that a wireless guitar system needs to be suitable for a bass guitar. A wireless guitar system needs to have a high dynamic range of at least 120dB. A wireless guitar system for bass […]
all access pass, making a Scene, recording studio, Slate Digital, Software Review
Making a Scene Takes a First Look at the Slate Digital “All Access Pass”! When a software company announces they will be having a major announcement in the coming days, one of the first things that come into my mind is “How Much is it Going to Cost Me”. I have been a “Everything” bundle […]
bass guitar, Bass preamp, making a Scene, Preamp, recording bass
Making a Scene Presents Nitewalker Bass Pre-Amp: Full Review About a week ago I was honored to try out the Nitewalker Bass Pre-Amp for a show. I didn’t know what to expect considering I have never even heard of the Pre-Amp. Overall, my review on The Nitewalker Bass Pre-Amp is that it’s probably the best […]
console, ramsa, rm-2, vst plugin
Making a Scene presents a first look at the Audio Assault RM-2 Analog Channel This one has me excited, and not just because that’s my voice on the walkthrough video. I’ve been getting in touch with developers for a while asking if anyone was interested in modelling my Ramsa. I looked into Acustica’s Nebula technology, […]
choosing the right microphone, Home Studio, making a Scene, Microphone
Choosing the right Microphones for your home studio is one of the most important decisions you are going to make. The quality of your microphone will determine the quality of the sound that you capture. Some of the high end microphones can run you into the thousands, but fortunately there are some really good alternatives […]
Analog Modeling, audio plugins, Home Recording, making a Scene, Slate Digital, slate digital everything bundle, software reviews
Whether you are a home recording musician, or you own a commercial recording studio one of the biggest ongoing investments you make are for good quality plugins. Keeping up with what is new in analog modeling plugin technology can be daunting to say the least. If you are at all like me, you have a […]
Bass Solo, making a Scene, Micro Pog
The Effect Pedal Bass Players Need For Their Solos Dear fellow bass players, I’m going to speak a bit on the topic that increases our blood pressure. But we must face it, and we must find a way overcome it. It’s the topic of when we take the bass solo, the audience of non musicians don’t […]
buyers guide, gear reviews, making a Scene, wireless mics
Which Wireless Microphone’s Have The Longest Range? We know what you want, you want to jump in the audience as you crowd surf through out the entire Festival as you sing in to your wireless mic. Or maybe, that has absolutely nothing to do with the reason you want a long range wireless microphone. For […]
gear reviews, Guitar Wireless Systems, making a Scene, Touring
By Tony Hossri Performwireless.com John Pagano Band What Makes a Good Wireless Guitar System? Here it is, the million dollar question………..more like $500 or so. What makes a good wireless guitar system? When you google this question, what typically pops up are a bunch of payed ads of wireless guitar systems. Yet, never give you […]
boz digital labs, ik multimedia, izotope, kush audio, making a Scene, Software Review, vst plugins
Plugins I’ve Been Using That I Recommend Brandon S Hire The Noise Floor It’s not the tool, it’s the user. But as a blogger and content creator, I get to play with a lot of cool tools. Here’s a few of them that I highly recommend checking out. 1. The Plugins From My Walkthroughs. Obviously […]
blues, indie Blues, making a Scene, plugin, recording, REDDI, VST
You wouldn’t think of a direct box as having a certain character, unless you’ve worked in a facility that has really good character DI’s. After all, in the age of Multi-I/O converters with DI inputs, it’s easy to forget the role that a quality DI box plays. High end DI boxes were used to help […]
4 Handy Guitar Pedal Hacks that You Probably Don’t Know While owning and using a guitar pedal can be a great way to bring new life into your performances, these awesome little devices don’t come without their fair share of problems. From connectivity issues and power problems to residue and faulty dials, there are plenty […]
guitar amp, Guitar amp simulation, making a Scene, PRS, Software, vst plugins, Waves
As many of you may have noticed, the long awaited Paul Reed Smith amp models from Waves were released. From the moment I downloaded and plugged in a guitar (In this instance a cherry red 1998 Godin LGxT) I was completely hooked. Finally the holy grail of smooth satisfying clean tone was available at my fingertips, and […]
making a Scene, Smart eq, Software Review, sonible
Do we REALLY need another EQ? We have stock eq’s, free eq’s, hardware eq’s, dynamic eq’s, analog modeled eq’s, digital eq’s that can do a zillion cool things… I find it hard to get excited about another eq these days, unless there’s something truly new and unique it brings to the table. More developers should […]
cakewalk by bandlab, cakewalk sonar, FREE DAW, making a Scene
SONAR relaunches as ‘Cakewalk by BandLab’: Iconic DAW now free to download for everyone World-leading DAW SONAR, with the entire SONAR Platinum feature set, is relaunching as Cakewalk by BandLab Full authentication and unlimited feature-access will be available free Early access to Cakewalk by BandLab is available now on Windows SINGAPORE, 4 APRIL 2018 — Today, […]
amp simulation, audio assault, daw, death metal, diy recording, making a Scene, Metal, recording plugins, vst plugins
Top 5 Audio Assault Plugins Brandon Shire We all have our favorites, and in this post I want to share my top 5 from Audio Assault! Let’s countdown, starting from number 5. FREAKQ 305 5. FreakQ 305 It’s hard to see what’s so special about FreakQ 305 on the surface, because it looks like a typical […]
audio plugins, daw, IK Mutimedia, making a Scene, recording plugins, Recording Techniques, VST
Top 5 IK Multimedia Plugins Brandon Shire We all have our favorites, and in this post I want to share my top 5 from IK Multimedia! Let’s countdown, starting from number 5. MASTER EQ 432 5. Master EQ 432 The right amount of the right eq on the master bus can really bring your mix […]
audio plugins, daw, making a Scene, Plugins, Recording Techniques, VST, waves plugins
Top 5 Waves Plugins! Brandon Shire We all have our favorites, and in this post I want to share my top 5 from Waves Audio! Let’s countdown, starting from number 5. MY DEFAULT HLS SETTINGS 5. Kramer HLS Channel This thing is just meaty. I use it as a low end enhancer more than anything, […]
abby road, abby road plugins, Home Recording, making a Scene, recording plugins, Recording Techniques, vocal recording, Waves, waves plugins
In the sea of plugins available to home recording musicians, it is not very often that I run across one that actually becomes part of my “Must Have” Toolbox. The Waves “Abby Road – ADT” (Artificial Double Track) is just that plugin. Since day one, I have found that the ADT to be an essential […]
blue tubes, daw. recording, making a Scene, nomad factory, Plugins, VST
Why you shouldn’t sleep on Nomad Factory Brandon Shire [I realize this entire post reads like a giant advertisement, but I assure you that it’s my honest opinion about a product line that I am personally passionate about. Nomad Factory have never given me a plugin to review, I have no NFR’s from them, and […]
boz digital labs, Home Recording, making a Scene, plugin reviews, recording, Recording Techniques, transgressor
Recently Boz Digital Labs released Transgressor, which is a transient designer that allows you to eq the transient and the sustain separately. This plugin seems like it was created with my workflow in mind, so when I got the chance to get a review copy I was stoked! Let me explain. I tend to […]
Addictive Drums 2, Audio, Ballou, beato, Channel, Compression, Custom, Cymbals, daw, demo, DRT, Drum, Drumagogg, Drumforge, drums, Effects, EQ, GUI, Instruments, Jay, Jigsaw, Joey, Kick, Kick 10, Kit, Kontakt, Kurt, Libraries, Library, Maas, making a Scene, Massey, MAutoAlign, melda, MeldaProduction, Midi, Mix, Mix Ready, Mono, Multi, Multichannel, Native, One Shot, Pack, plugin, Plugins, Processed, Producers, Production, Randy, Randy Staub, Raw, REAPER, rick, Room, Room Sound, Routing, Sample, Sampler, Samples, Slate Digital, Snare, Sound, Sound Radix, SSD4, SSD5, Staub, Stereo, Steven Slate Drums, Sturgis, Trigger, Unprocessed, wav, Workflow, XLN Audio, youtube
Understanding Drum Sample Libraries From bedroom producers, to the top brass mixing engineers with multiple grammies, there are a lot of people who use drum samples in their mixes. Joey Sturgis is famous for using Kick 10 from Steven Slate Drums in many of his productions (although now Joey Sturgis has his own sample library […]
adobe, cakewalk, content mangaement, making a Scene, music business, music marketing, protools, software subscribtions, sonar, soundcloud
To Subscribe Or Not To Subscribe Whether you’re an aspiring artist or seasoned industry vet, you undoubtedly have noticed the subscription trend getting picked up by more and more software developers. On December 12th 2016, Softube announced their new subscription model for their plugin collection and it very closely mimics The Everything Bundle promotion that […]
1081, Analog, Analog Modeling, EQ, Factory, Hardware, Model, Modeled, Modeling, NEQ-1972, Neve, Nomad, plugin, Software, Software Modeling, V-Eq4, VST, Waves
Plugin manufacturers are on a never ending quest to develop the holy grail of plugins…the perfect digital model of a classic analog piece that everyone in the industry embraces as the most accurate, bar none. This is admirable in that it pushes the technology further and further, and now we have top tier mix engineers […]
