Links
Sequencing and Recording Software
- Ableton Makers of Live, a unique real-time sequencer
- Apple Home of the wonderful Logic Pro. Good forums are at Sonikmatter, the LUG, and the discussions at Apple. LogicUser is a bit rubbish (sorry). Logic is mature and just wonderful.
- Arturia Makers of Storm, a complete virtual studio in the mould of Propellerhead’s Reason
- Cakewalk Makers of Sonar and other software
- Digidesign Makers of Pro Tools HD, LE and the (now outdated) TDM systems…check out their forums (lots of pro users)
- Finale Excellent score-writing software; the question is…Finale or Sibelius?
- Fruity Loops Step-based sequencer; good simple dance music tool
- Hermode Adaptive tuning system, as used in Logic Pro 7
- KVR-VST A great place for open-source sequencer/softs/effects info with a good forum
- Magix Makers of the highly regarded Samplitude
- Making Waves Ultra-cheap dance sequencer
- MIDI Manufacturers Association Includes the General MIDI 1 sound set
- MOTU Makers of Digital Performer, very nice pro Mac sequencer. Unicornation host the semi-official forum. Also the manufacturers of Studio B’s 2408 mk3
- Propellerhead Makers of Reason, ReBirth, ReCycle and other useful stuff
- SADiE Pro DAW
- SAWStudio The DAW software used in the college’s Studio A; try to find anyone in the country who’s even heard of it, let alone used it
- Shareware Music Machine Great site loaded with freeware shareware and demos of almost any music software you can think of
- Sibelius Battles with Finale for the honour of being the industry-standard score-writing software; very good indeed!
- Sonic Foundry Makers of Sound Forge and Acid Pro
- Steinberg Makers of Cubase SX, Nuendo, Wavelab and more. The forums for Cubase and Nuendo are worth a look if you want to see what people really think about their software
- Synapse Audio Software Formerly known as Sonic Syndicate; makers of the dance-oriented Orion sequencing software
- Versiontracker Very useful in keeping your OS X (and Windows if you really have to) software up-to-date
Computers
- Addon Building your own PC? You’ll need some components…
- Apple The home of professional digital audio (and the best looking machines on the planet); famously tight-lipped about developments so MacCentral is worth a look too. OS X has the best audio and MIDI handling of any current OS. Keep an eye on OS X Audio for developments in this exciting area…Audio Units is worth a look too. Learn your shortcuts too!
- Ars Technica Computer geek site; seperate Mac section
- Build Your Own Advice on building your own PC
- Carillon Very high quality audio PCs
- Dabs The biggest computer component retailer
- Red Submarine Custom made audio PCs
- Unix The most awkward and powerful code on the planet, and the source of Mac OS X, Linux and Lindows. One of it’s derivatives will surely take over as the premier music OS…won’t it? My experience of OS X has been nothing but positive (Mac switcher bore alert). This is a good source of Unix help, or try here or here.
Microphones
- AKG Quality dynamic and condenser mics
- Audio Technica Good studio and stage mic range
- Audix Fine studio mics
- Beyer Dynamic Good mic manufacturer
- BLUE Some microphones of real quality
- Brauner Are these the finest mics in the world?
- CAD Good value fixed and multi-polar pattern mics
- DPA Amongst the finest mics available
- Neumann Top-rank studio condensers
- RØDE Amazingly good mics for the price; the NT1 is a bargain and the NT2 in omni mode is great on an acoustic guitar. NT3’s are nice overheads and beat the C1000S in a Pepsi Challenge test I did…
- Royer Labs Quality studio microphones
- Sennheiser Microphones and headphones
- Shure Makers of the famous SM58 and SM57; loads more too…
Desks and Hardware
- Amek High quality desks using designs by Mr Rupert Neve; absolute top rank
- Ampex Tape and recording equipment manufacturer
- AMS Neve More Neve designs; top UK recording/post-production desks
- D&R Excellent broadcast desks (such as Studio B’s Orion)
- Dolby Laboratories Massively influential signal processing company
- Edirol Good value audio and MIDI interfaces and sound modules
- Euphonix Top recording and broadcast desks
- Fostex Recorders and integrated machines
- iZ Technology Makers of the very highly regarded RADAR digital multitrack recorder
- Mackie Top US analogue and digital desks
- M-Audio Audio and MIDI interfaces; new name for Midiman
- Oram John Oram has produced some classic gear here and at Trident Audio
- Otari Distinguished recorder manufacturer
- SSL Solid State Logic; classic desk design. One of the best around
- Studer The finest analogue reel-to-reel machines
- Sony Quality broadcast and post-production equipment
- Soundcraft Good value British desks like the HAC’s Spirit Studio
- Tascam Good range of digital recorders and desks
- TLAudio Modern valve-based desks and outboard gear
- Trident Audio High-quality UK input channels EQs and consoles
Effects and Processors; Hardware and Plug-Ins
- Alesis Good value reverb and multi-effects units; also manufacturers of the industry-standard ADAT (such as the HAC’s original Blackface ADAT and Studio B’s ADAT XT and HD24)
- Antares Makers of the hugely influential and popular Auto-Tune; it’s hard to find chart music without it
- Aphex Systems The company that makes the Big Bottom (not the Spinal Tap one)
- Audio Ease Makers of the jaw-dropping Altiverb, one of the first convolving reverbs. This is the future of reverb and will change the way we record and manipulate psychoacoustic space
- Behringer Cheap(er) but solid and useable gear
- BIAS High-end audio software for the Mac platform
- Bomb Factory Plug-ins for Pro Tools and MOTU gear
- Celemony Makers of the amazing Melodyne
- dbx Dynamic processors, aural enhancers, input channels…
- Digitalfishphones A strange name for a German man who writes free plug-ins in his spare time…and they’re good. I use the AU version of Fish Fillets (have a look and it should make sense)
- Drawmer Classic compressor and gate manufacturers
- Eventide High quality effects units
- Focusrite Great-sounding preamps and channel strips
- IK Multimedia Makers of the great T-Racks mastering software, the Sampletank software sound module and more
- Izotope Makers of Ozone, good mastering software (excellent mastering manual too if you like that kind of thing [needs Adobe Acrobat Reader)
- Joe Meek Famous opto-compressors input channels and more
- Lexicon The classic reverb unit manufacturers
- Line 6 Amplifier modelling in soft- and hardware formats
- Massenburg Design Works High-end plug-in manufacturer
- PSP Nice and well-priced plug-ins
- Quantec Makers of the legendary Room Simulator reverb
- Samson Wireless mic manufacturer moving into the processor market
- TC Electronics High quality hardware effects
- TC Helicon Cutting edge vocal processing/pitch correction/formant manipulation
- TC Works Software division of the German effects company
- Waves High quality plug-in effects
Retail
- Academy of Sound General music shop chain
- Brilliance Hi-Fi The most underlooked area of audio is the humble cable; quality cabling such as this makes a huge difference
- Canford Audio Specialist electronic suppliers
- Connectronics Cabling and connectors
- CPC Specialist electronic suppliers
- Dawsons North-West based retailer; all types of gear stocked
- Digital Village Good range of studio gear
- Jigsaw Good stock of modern music production equipment
- Maplin Specialist electronic suppliers
- MEC Education retail site
- Raper & Wayman Useful online catalogue
- Sound Control Probably the biggest music chain in the UK
- Studio Spares We use this lot! Good range
- The M Corporation Good stock and a regular turnover of end-of-line bargains
- Turnkey Massive London-based retailer; some bargains!
Hardware and Soft Synths/Samplers
- Access The Virus virtual analogue synth manufacturer
- Akai Archetypal hardware sampler manufacturers
- Cycling ‘74 Home of Max/MSP, sound development software which could be described as a graphical version of SuperCollider. It plays rather better with the outside world, however, thanks in part to Pluggo
- Emu Shares the pro hardware sampler market with Akai
- Korg The Triton is arguably the ultimate synth workstation
- Native Instruments Superb soft synths and samplers
- Nord Fabulous virtual analogue hardware; makers of the amazing Modular
- Roland The JV range of synths is responsible for a huge amount of modern music
- SuperCollider 3 The OOP synthesis software I use, and the one we use at New College on the HE courses. Takes time to learn, but it is more powerful, flexible and better-sounding than anything else. Open-source, so the support is excellent. The price is good, too.
- Synth Zone Indie site with loads of good info on synthesis
- Vintage Synth Explorer A site specifically designed for the anoraks of the synth world; seemingly every synth ever produced with histories and audio clips
- Waldorf Quality hard- and software synths
- Yamaha Classic synths; they make virtually everything
Business
- AIM Association of Independent Music
- APRS Association of Professional Recording Services
- AURA Association of United Recording Artists
- British Academy of Composers and Songwriters
- BPI British Phonographic Industry
- E-Centre All recordings need a barcode…
- Intellectual Property Useful government site on property rights
- ISRCs Info on International Standard Recording Codes
- MPG Music Producers Guild
- MMF Music Managers Forum
- Millward Brown The chart people
- Label List Small labels that sell direct
- Official UK Charts Company Mostly fluff, but some good info on how charts are compiled
- PAMRA Performing Artists’ Media Rights Association
- PPL Phonographic Performance Limited
- MCPS Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society
- MU Musicians Union
- PRS Performing Right Society
- International Showcase Big list of useful contacts
- ADA Big independent distributor
- Shellshock Another independent distributor
- Think Tank Has a good marketing and promotion area
- Dance music distributors
- …and, just to cheer you up, have a read of the classic The Problem With Music by Steve Albini
Periodicals and Industry Sites
- All Music Massive, comprehensive site run by AMG which covers all styles of music. Very useful artist/genre searches
- Audiohead.net A music production features site
- Audio Media Online Pro Audio Magazine
- Auldworks Homepage of Robert Auld
- Billboard US music business magazine
- Broadcast The website of Broadcast, the main TV and radio industry paper
- Computer Music UK software/hardware mag, with some good tutorials
- Dotmusic Regularly updated site
- Electrical Audio Steve Albini’s studio. Great virtual tour, gear list and prices (very unusual)
- Electronic Musician American hi-tech magazine
- Future Music UK recording mag
- Gearslutz Pro audio forums
- Harmony Central Useful articles user reviews and discussion boards
- IBE International Broadcast Engineer news
- Industry Central The American Film and TV industry site; has a section called Clef Notes about film and TV music
- Intermusic Future Publishing’s music site
- Keyboard Magazine Not just for players; good synthesis sections too
- Mix Online version of Mix magazine
- Multimedia resources directory of Multimedia related websites
- Musicians Tech Central Useful indie site with some good advice
- Music Player Links to Music Player magazine sites
- Music Week The industry magazine
- NME UK magazine; excellent (and massive!) site
- Prorec Big American professional recording site
- Prosound News American Pro Audio news site
- Prosoundweb Pro audio forums
- ProStudio Very useful site search engine; link to What’s New in Pro Audio
- Q Website of the popular monthly music mag
- RID Glossary Another good glossary, this one from the US
- Sonic Arts Network Unique UK-based electroacoustic music network
- Sound On Sound UK’s biggest recording magazine; good search page for past articles and a lively forum…check out their glossary too
- Soundspeedmovie A production sound site with a nice set of resources
- SoundtrackNet Features useful interviews with film composers
- Studio Covers A good central collection of recording articles from around the web
- TVB Europe UK and European Broadcast Magazine
- Webopedia A very useful technology-based online dictionary; quite IT based, but great for general stuff
Other Stuff
These are some interesting, non-music sites. In no particular order…
Updated 29/09/06
© Matt Bellingham 2003 – 2006
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
