WHY You Should Consider Setting Up Custom Cue Mixes When Tracking

I recently had a live off the floor session, where I was tracking Percussion / Drums and Guitar in order to get the best possible “Lock” in terms of Groove from the artists. Quite often I try to treat these types of sessions as if though the takes we capture, could potentially be the takes that end up on the record. Because In MANY cases - they are.

One interesting thing happened during that session - was both the Percussionist and Guitarist made mention of the fact that they were both really appreciative with the fact that I ‘even bothered’ to offer each of them a custom Cue Mix. In all honesty, I found it a little odd - because from my personal experience, giving a really decent Headphone Mix to an artist as he/she is tracking has got to be one of the easiest ways a tracking Engineer can improve the odds of them capturing some magic.

That being said, it’s an easy thing to say - but slightly harder to grasp without actually “hearing” exactly what I’m referring to. Also, this article / video isn’t really about HOW as much as it is about WHY! With this in mind, this will be the first of many new articles and video’s that will go further into exploring these types of concepts. 🙂 Watch this space…

But if you are interested in the HOW - A simple youtube search should kick back some video’s from multiple fellow content creators, and I myself have a video I did when I was with Studio One Expert, that covers everything you’d need to know about Setting Up a Cue Mix in PreSonus Studio One.

In this first video of a new series I'm launching, (Why vs How) we take a look at WHY, as a Tracking Engineer - You should consider creating custom Cue Mixes / Headphone Mixes for artists while tracking in PreSonus Studio One.

My Production Workflow - Cleaning Up a Tracking Session and Preparing For Overdubs

Last week I shared some tips and work-flow concepts with respect to the Pre-Production phase of working on a project in Studio One. Sidenote: This is something that (providing I have clearance from the artist) I’d like to do a lot more of in the coming months.

If you haven’t had a chance to catch that article / video yet - You can find it here.

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to have received a lot of positive feedback - and thought to myself, what better way to pick up from where we left off, then to continue along the same course for this week.

But this time, pealing back an additional layer of the production process - with the basic tracking session(s) having been completed, and literally opening up up a Song and once again, working in real-time - explaining my decision’s and work-flow as I go.

In this video, I demonstrate the basic steps I take after a tracking session in PreSonus Studio One - including, session clean-up, editing, pre-mixing, optimizing phase on multi-track Drums, and more.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Pre-Production Workflow Tips In PreSonus Studio One

The Pre-Production Process

Although this phase of the Production Process isn’t the most exciting, It can be VERY useful depending on the genre. I will say this though - if I’m writing & producing ‘on the fly’ with (or without) an artist, than I don’t tend to separate this step from Producing. It tends to be one fluid process as I work. Creating Arranger Sections, dropping in Markers, adjusting BPM, all as I’m working..

That being said, this isn’t usually the case if I’m hired to produce a Record, EP, or Single. In those cases, the basic idea’s of the song, and rough chord progressions, arrangements and Hooks are usually already determined. The client / artist would send me the above (in varying degrees of quality / completion) and I would then need to set this up in my DAW to get started on the project. This is really where good Pre-Production comes into play for me.

What is Pre-Production?

Well, simply put, I like to think of Pre-Production as being organized before the main tracking / writing sessions take place when developing a song or musical idea with an artist.

Although nothing is yet “set in stone”, for me personally - at a basic level, this would involve having a basic BPM, maybe some Markers, Key Signature, Time Signatures, and some basic arrangements in place. Essentially, I want to make sure that I’m familiar with the material and the different sections of the arrangement, so that I can run a tracking / writing session. However, this happens to be one area that Studio One really outshines the competition - because it’s actually capable of doing SO much more - and I personally love the way Studio One’s tool aid in the above process.

In this video I demonstrate my basic workflow that I use when doing my Pre-Production Sessions to prep for tracking / writing in PreSonus Studio One - Covering everything from working with scratch tracks, Arranging, to utilizing the Chord track in PreSonus Studio.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

How to Create Lead Sheets in Minutes - Using Studio One with Notion

The concept of generating Lead Sheets (Sheet Music) from a production can be a daunting task, especially if this is something that may be out of one’s comfort zone. And although it doesn’t happen often, you may very well find yourself in the circumstance where you need to convert your DAW session into Sheet Music that can be read by musicians for either a tracking session, or live performance.

Thankfully this is rather easy to do in Studio One with a valid Notion Licence.

In this video I demonstrate how seamless and easy it is to generate Lead Sheets from a Studio One Song - using the "Send to Notion" option in PreSonus Studio One. **Requires a valid Notion Software Licence**

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

The Return of Record Level Input Metering In Studio One 4.5.3 and Above

In general, I like to keep things simple with respect to my monitoring. So since getting the PreSonus Quantum, due it’s extremely low latency and stable performance - all of my monitoring is done via Software Monitoring inside Studio One (utilizing Studio One’s Native Low Latency ‘Green Z’ Monitoring).

However for those using other 3rd party interfaces, such as a Universal Audio Apollo system, Studio One offers the ability to disable software monitoring all together. The main reason for this being that another application (UA’s Console, for example) “takes over” the task of providing a low latency monitoring mix for tracks that are Record Enabled in Studio One.

Although as many people have reported, there has been a longstanding issue where the Record Level Meter’s in Studio One essentially disappear the minute the transport kicks into Record Mode.

Well, I’m happy to report that as of the Version 4.5.3 update - this is no longer the case… 🙂

In this video I demonstrate a welcomed Bug Fix in Studio One - being that as of Version 4.5.3, the Recording Level "Input Meters" for Record Enabled tracks - now work as expected.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Muteomatic - A Must Have Free Plug-In For Anyone Tracking In PreSonus Studio One

One thing is for certain, communication is KEY when it comes to the recording process - More specifically, being able to communicate with an artist as he/she is recording. If you’re working in a home studio, or small environment, this may be quite simple. ie: It might be as easy as having a conversation within ear shot of eachother. But the minute, you introduce any degree of separation, closed back headphones, or a Control Room / Live Room scenario - you need to set up a Talkback Mic.

The concept is simple - A Microphone that’s patched into the artists headphone Mix that allows them to hear you. Conversely, depending on the type of signal you are recording, this may also mean a additional Microphone set up for the artist / Band that’s used to clearly pickup any communication that’s happening in the live room.

Quite often, when working with Talkback Mic’s, it’s preferable that they’re not always “open” or active. For example, If a vocalist is about to cut some intimate vocals, the last thing they most likely want to hear is the engineer shuffling around in a squeaky chair or sipping on a Coffee. Also it can be awkward to have a conversation with a Large Plate Reverb and Ping Pong delay firing away over a conversation.

So, for this reason, we have the ability to toggle a talkback switch, and mute FX returns as needed. But wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to worry about any of those tasks?
Well, thankfully - we don’t - thanks to the FREE Muteomatic by SoundRadix.

In this video, I demonstrate one on my favourite FREE plug-ins - Muteomatic by SoundRadix, in use in PreSonus Studio One. An incredibly useful utility plug-in that aims to simplify / automate the "Talkback Mic" workflow when tracking in a modern day DAW.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

3 Tips For Working With Layers In PreSonus Studio One

Amongst the many comforts afforded by working in a modern day DAW - the ability to work with multiple “Layers” with a given track is definitely one of the top features in my opinion. They may go by a different name from DAW to DAW, but in the end, the concept is pretty simple. One track can contain multiple Layers that can be utilized for anything from lightning fast comping, to archiving un-edited versions of performances.

That being said, there’s also a few other areas in terms of workflow, that can really benefit from incorporating Layers as well.

In this video I demonstrate 3 simple tips that can be used when working with Layers in PreSonus Studio One.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

How To Use the IR Maker In PreSonus Studio One

If you’ve ever searched through the different categories of plug-ins within Studio One, there’s a good chance you may have come across the IR Maker. The “IR Maker” is a Native FX plug-in developed by PreSonus that essentially allows Studio One users to capture their own custom Impulse Responses for both Open Air, and Ampire.

Although it sounds a bit confusing - The concept of an IR (Impulse Response) is actually quite simple. You record the sonic finger print a piece of hardware. ie- the way that hardware reacts to a sound…

Whether it’s a Reverb preset from an external effects processor, or a Guitar Cab - by passing a “sweep” (frequency based) through the hardware, and recording the resulting file, we can essentially recall that “sound” for use in future productions. Without the need for having the hardware connected.

In this video, I demonstrate how to properly set up and use the IR Maker utility plug-in that ships with PreSonus Studio One, to record an Impulse Response of a Reverb in an External Hardware Effects Processor.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Adding Tags To Your Custom Sound Set In PreSonus Studio One

In last weeks article - we took a deep dive into the world of creating Sound Sets in PreSonus Studio One. If this is something that interests you, and you haven’t check out the 2 part video series yet. You can find it by clicking here.

Although we covered a lot - there is one small area that I forgot to speak about, and that is with respect to adding tags or “tagging” your content.

Why use tags you ask? well, it’s actually pretty simply. Tagging your content, whether it’s presets, one-shots, Audio loops, or Musicloops gives the end user a way of seeing your content pop in in their search results.

Don’t get me wrong, nothing beats a properly named file, for basic browsing when it comes to trying to determine what something sounds like, but tags can offer a further level of refinement when it comes to searching.

Just imagine trying to fine an electronic, aggressive, wet, snare, one shot, suitable for the rock genre based on filename alone!

Picking up from where we left off last week - In this video I demonstrate how to add Tags to your custom Sound Sets made by using the Sound Set Builder in PreSonus Studio One.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Working With The Sound Set Builder In PreSonus Studio One - Video Series

First off, let me say this.. I have wanted to do this particular video series for a long time now. At least 1 year or more. BUT - this particular topic can become really complex, because Studio One offers so many different options in terms of the way we can store and recall presets and content.

That being said, I made a point to slowly cover all of these different formats in my weekly content, so that when the time came (today is the day) I could finally do a video series on the mystical Sound Set Builder in PreSonus Studio One.

I wanted to split this up, into a 2 Part series, with the 1st video being more of an overview on how to install the Soundset Builder, some general tips on folder structure / organization, and the basic “rules” to follow. We will also deal with some simple points, such as creating a basic Impact XT Kit - from One-Shots located in the Soundset Folder structure, and also generating a Musicloop (in the form of a Pattern with 2 variations) that was created with our custom Impact XT Preset.

The 2nd video will dive a little dive a little deeper - focusing on how to deal with Packing (Exporting) Soundx files, when working with Presence XT instruments & the Presence XT Editor Add-On, and how to use the Soundx File to create Presets of your Presence XT Instruments. And lastly, we will talk about how to finalize and “Pack” your Soundset, so that it can be tested & shared with colleagues or the PreSonus Studio One User Community.

One thing that I realized that I forgot to cover, is how to use the “Tagging” system when working with the Soundset Builder, and more specifically how it works and what it does, so this is something that I’m going to cover next week, and I will insert that video on this landing page, so that there will be ONE URL that covers literally everything you need to know.

Lastly - Here is a list of some companion Videos / articles that might come in handy - because as was stated in the video - Soundset’s can contain multiple file formats (some that are unique to Studio One). So if you REALLY want to take advantage, it’s worth knowing all the different way in which we can create content:

• Exporting Stems (this is useful for Construction Kits)

• Audioloops

• Instrument + Fx Presets

• Musicloops

• Working with One-Shots

• Presence XT Editor Add On (Overview)

• Presence XT - Adding Keyswitches

• Working With Soundx/Sampler/Multisample Files

• Batch Processing Files Using The Audio Batch Converter

• The Splitter (useful for creating unique FX Chains that can be recalled with Instrument + FX Presets)

• Macro Controls (recalled with Instrument + FX Presets)

• Impact XT Layer Modes Part 1 - Velocity - Round Robin and Random

• Impact XT Layer Modes Part 2 - Stack Mode and Edit Sample Offsets

If you’ve read this far, you’re probably interested in checking out the videos, which you will find below:

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Adding Key-Switches to Custom Instruments in Presence XT

Before I get into the topic of today’s video, I just want to take a moment to point out one thing. In order to create custom Presence XT Instruments in PreSonus Studio One - You will first need to purchase (and install) the Presence XT Editor Add-On from the PreSonus shop, so that you can access the EDIT tab in Presence XT. That being said, if you enjoy creating custom sample libraries for your own personal use, or have any desire to create libraries to be sold - than this purchase is 100% worth the cost of entry.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about articulations in Sample Libraries. If you’ve ever accidentally triggered some keys on the lower range of an instrument, and found yourself swimming through a bunch of odd sounding Samples, or Sound FX - then there’s a good chance that you know exactly what I’m talking about.

When playing a Virtual Instrument, it’s often preferable to be able to trigger different playing styles with the same range of keys, without having to load a new instrument preset. This allows you to be able to have one preset, that can cover a lot of different ground. A great example of this would be an Orchestral String Library. Within a single patch or preset - we have the ability to load multiple different playing styles or articulations such as: Sustain, Pizzicato, Tremelo, Trill (Half Steps & Whole Steps) Staccato, etc, etc.

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In the above example we can see the different articulations in the centre of the Presence XT GUI dropdown section, as well as being indicated with a red horizontal bar over top of the notes in the keyboard.

So needless to say, having keyswitches on your custom instruments can really help add value to the playability factor. In some sampler instruments, this task can be rather convoluted, and may involve complex scripting. But one of the things I love about Presence XT, is how easy this can be accomplished.

In this video I demonstrate how to add Key-Switches to your Custom Sample Library instruments created in Presence XT.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

MIDI Workflow Tip - Aligning Sweeps and FX In PreSonus Studio One

I personally love working with transitional FX such as sweeps, Reverse Cymbals / Vocal FX, Risers, and Impact hits when it’s appropriate for the genre. When I have the time (and budget) I will often try to make my own, by pulling from content within the production, and layering / adding Spatial effects to taste. That being said, I’m not opposed to using samples / Virtual Instruments as well.

But one of the issues that comes up with these types of FX, is that they’re not necessarily linked to a specific BPM. If they are an Audio Sample, this is fairly easy to combat, but (for obvious reasons) it can be a little difficult to align them perfectly when working with MIDI.

In this video, I demonstrate a workflow tip that can be used to help align Sweeps & FX when working with content generated by Virtual Instruments in PreSonus Studio One.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

How To Extract Groove Templates From Audio Files In PreSonus Studio One

In last week’s article / Video - we took a look at how we can create custom Groove Templates when working with MIDI Files in Studio One. If you haven’t checked it out already, you can do so by clicking here.

Although having MIDI files is a great way to create Groove Templates, let’s be honest, this isn’t always the case. In fact, I’d say that it is much more likely that one would have access to an Audio Loop (in some file format such as Wav, MP3, or Aiff, etc) vs an actual MIDI file of a performance.

Luckily, Studio One is able to perform a similar task when working with Audio. That being said, there are a few things that one needs to be aware of, in terms of how Studio One performs this task, and more specifically some things that user’s can do to help the process go a little smoother.

Audio vs MIDI

When working with MIDI files - things are pretty simple. We have Musical Data that gets translated to a Musical Performance. Hence, the concept of extracting a Groove Template from a MIDI File (or an “Instrument Part” in Studio One terminology) is relatively straight forward. The Note Data within the instrument part, and more specifically it’s timing, and Velocity become MIDI “triggers”.

Given that when working with drums in particular, each of these triggers, will be triggering an audio sample of some sort, there is a 1:1 relationship between each MIDI trigger and the Audio Sample that’s set to play on each pitch. Providing each sample is cut close to the first Zero Crossing point - this results in a very tight performance - where the Audio “should” follow the MIDI timing extremely well. But when it comes to audio, things are slightly different.

Timing is in the Transient Detection

When it comes to audio, and more specifically creating MIDI Triggers that are accurate and reliable, it’s all about the transients. This becomes a little more complex when we take into account that most of these loops are stereo Mixdown’s that have all of the elements of the drums rendered into a single File. But the great part is that Studio One has some tools to help streamline this process, and the actual workflow of extracting the Groove From a file (after the transient detection has been completed) couldn’t be easier.

In this video, I demonstrate how to extract an accurate Groove Template from Audio Files in PreSonus Studio One. In addition, we will also take a look at how to Quantize other Audio Loops and MIDI Files to the Groove Template - Covering everything you need to know from Beginner level to Advanced.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

How To Create Groove Templates From MIDI Files In PreSonus Studio One

Groove

It’s the thing that makes you bob your head a certain way when listening to a track. The thing that can make you feel a certain emotion, and the driving force of any great song. Also referred to as the pocket, soul, feel, or vibe - A good Groove is hard to beat.

Over the last 3 or 4 weeks, I have been spending a lot of time working on my programming chops across multiple genres, and during this period, I’ve been studying some of my favourite Grooves in an effort to quantify what it is about a Groove that makes it feel so great. The short answer is that it’s tough to define.

Perfection In The Imperfections

If I had to sum it up, I’d say that the perfection of a good Groove lies within the imperfections. This may seem like a cheesy answer, but it’s true. It’s truly amazing what the subtle nuances of timing ‘in between the beats’ can add.

I mean let’s face it, we live in a world of click tracks and quantized performances, and in many ways, our ears have become accustomed to listening to this type of material, but no matter who you are, what genre you listen to, everyone knows a good Groove when they hear it.

The Grid

Working in a Grid based DAW timeline is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it affords the benefits of flawless editing, reliable timing, and in general - a fine-tuned workflow for music production. But on the other hand, it has the ability to strip away the soul of a good Groove if you’re not careful.

So in a world of Quantizing, click tracks, and Grid based music production - how do we inject a little Soul back into our tracks? Well, there’s a number of different way’s to approach this. One of the best options (just my personal opinion of course) is actually “playing” or “performing” vs programming. But this is much easier said than done. Another one that comes to mind is going through the process of “Humanizing” our MIDI tracks - either by adding random (automated) deviations in timing and Velocity, or manual editing. But in the end, getting a Groove to “feel” right can still be difficult.

MIDI Groove Templates

Thankfully there are other ways we can approach this as well, with respect to programming or sequencing. One of which is actually quite a simple concept. “Borrowing” the timing (and potentially the variations in Velocity) of a performance - and applying it to your own productions. MIDI affords us the ability to translate musical performances into musical Data, and it just so happens that the Data extracted from a performance can be stored AND applied to other files, such as Audio and MIDI.

So with all these MIDI Files available - it’s just a matter of importing, and extracting. There are those who say that an MPC has a certain type of Swing, that’s unique to the unit. The same can be said for various pieces of hardware. Quantizing your performances to a Groove extracted from MIDI (from these devices) may be just the ticket. And having the ability to store those Grooves for instant recall at a later date, is super convenient.

In this video, I demonstrate how to create & store Groove Templates from external MIDI Files in PreSonus Studio One.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Impact XT Layer Modes Part 2 - Stack Mode and Edit Sample Offsets

Impact XT is an extremely powerful and easy to use Virtual Instrument that ships with PreSonus Studio One. Although this “style” of PAD based instrument is most often associatewd with Hip-Hop & Pop based productions, I personally find that it’s useful for multiple Genres.

It’s worth mentioning that in addition to being used for traditional Drum and Percussion based productions, Impact XT can also trigger Loops in all sorts of different ways, and can also be used for Live Performances as well.

However the focus of today’s article is to build upon last weeks video, which was specifically to do with the different Layer Modes that can be utilized in Impact XT when mapping multiple samples to a single Pad.

In this 2nd Part of a 2 Part video series, I pick up from where we left off with our Layer Modes, and demonstrate how (and when) to use the "Stack" Layer Mode in Impact XT - in addition to the "Edit Sample Offset" function in PreSonus Studio One 4.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Impact XT Layer Modes Part 1 - Velocity - Round Robin and Random

Impact XT is an extremely powerful and easy to use Virtual Instrument that ships with PreSonus Studio One. Although this “style” of PAD based instrument is most often associatewd with Hip-Hop & Pop based productions, I personally find that it’s useful for multiple Genres.

It’s worth mentioning that in addition to being used for traditional Drum and Percussion based productions, Impact XT can also trigger Loops in all sorts of different ways, and can also be used for Live Performances as well.

However the focus of today’s article is specifically to do with the different Layer Modes that can be utilized in Impact XT when mapping multiple samples to a single Pad.

In this 1st video of a 2 Part series, I demonstrate 3 of the 4 Layer Modes in Impact XT - more specifically what each of them do, and when to use them.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Combining Instrument Parts With Pattern Parts In PreSonus Studio One

Working With Pattern Parts

If you've ever used Pattern Parts in Studio One, you'll know that they are an extremely useful tool for quickly building basic drum Grooves - but there's one area where they fall a little short, and that is when needing to add a different Rhythmic pattern for a given element / lane.

So for example, although we have the simple option to add repeats and offset the probability percentage - this is still limited to the resolution and amount of steps within a given lane. And obviously the global amount of steps in the Pattern Part. This is where traditional MIDI editing is still king when needing to vary the programmed sequence.

In this video I demonstrate how (and why) to combine Instrument Parts (Midi Regions) with Pattern Parts, in PreSonus Studio One.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Workflow Tip - Manual Drum Editing Using Fill Gaps In PreSonus Studio One

For anyone who has ever done any manual editing inside a DAW - they’ll understand how useful “back-filling” gaps (where audio has been split) can be.

This is especially true when working with sources like multi-track drums, and / or percussion tracks where manual editing or a slicing workflow is preferred over time compression / expansion style quantizing.

In this video I demonstrate how the Fill Gaps command can be used when Manual Editing in PreSonus Studio One. An extremely useful command when editing sources like multi-track drums.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Working With The Splitter In PreSonus Studio One

Last week I had the great pleasure of attending Summer NAMM in Nashville. Having been there a few times before, I ran into some new friends that I’ve made, and naturally a lot of the conversations steered to Studio One rather quickly.

One thing that came up was working with the Splitter - a fascinating feature that was introduced in Version 3. Although I have done some content on the Splitter in the past, I though it was time for an updated video!

In this video, I thought I'd go over the basics of how to use the Splitter in PreSonus Studio One. An incredibly powerful tool that offer's a SIMPLE alternate approach to creating complex FX Chains in Studio One.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Using The Macro Controls In PreSonus Studio One

Have you ever clicked the Channel Editor icon in Studio One, and wondered what it’s all about? If you have, you’ll note that it opens up a floating window with a Console Fader on the left, in addition to 8 Knobs and Buttons. (X/Y Axis below).

I will be the first to admit that I slept on this feature for a while, but it really only wasn’t until somewhat recently (within the last year or 2) that I started using this feature.

In this video I demonstrate the basics on how to go about mapping out and using the Macro Controls (The Knobs and Buttons) in the Channel Editor in PreSonus Studio One.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus