News FROM the LAB!

Hey, welcome to TweakHeadz Lab! There is a LOT of stuff here pertaining to the craft of electronic music.  This page can get you to most of it. I have put a lot of effort into making this site newbie friendly, but if you are experienced, you will also find many worthwhile items within the content.  For those of you with experience in craft, I invite you to help me with answering questions from those that are new.   2-2-08 My how time flies!  I get to this page about once a year.  Right now i am finally learning how to do CSS for this website.  Tweakheadz Lab is now the #1 site on google when you search for "home studio".  Alexa gives us a rank of 82,711 of all sites worldwide.  Thank you for your support.    3-15-07 The forums have stabilized nicely in the past year and TweakHeadz Lab has grown considerably. January 2007 was our second highest month for web traffic.  We now have a new website for blogs at www.audio-pro-central.com and many of our regular members have signed on.  Many improvements have been made to tweakheadz.com  I am now revising articles as fast as I am making new ones, which is a good thing.  The important articles have been revised nearly 30 times.  I am also adding content from studio-central to send you directly to relevant discussions one whatever page you are on. 2-10-06 We had a major forum meltdown from Sept 23 to November 5, when I finally removed the RSS feed.  That took a heavy toll from the TweakLab and all its operations, especially making music and writing articles.  But we have that all sorted now and we are rapidly moving up the internet charts.  TweakHeadz Lab has been rated in the top 100,000 websites in the world 07-12-05 Summer is here and its hot, hot, hot outside.  A great time to kick back and check out the new articles and and the zillions of posts in the forums now.  I am so pleased that any of you have made studio-central part of your routine. Thanks for being here! Look at the huge spike in traffic we had in January!  Thankfully it has settled down a little.  Best wishes from my studio to yours! 12/29/04 Happy Holidays from the Lab. Many new features were added this month. We have a new showcase of home studios and some new articles and quite a bit of code crunching under the hood. Happy New Year! Studio-Central Pageviews per mo.  29,378 Sep 2002  71,760 Oct 2002  83,793 Nov 2002 121,283 Dec 2002 213,987 Jan 2003 222,366 Feb 2003 238,583 Mar 2003 236,561 Apr 2003 260,736 May 2003 316,763 Jun 2003 391,350 Jul 2003 428,084 Aug 2003 464,739 Sep 2003 529,801 Oct 2003 481,725 Nov 2003 495,596 Dec 2003 537,748 Jan 2004 557,108 Feb 2004 558,546 Mar 2004 574,003 Apr 2004 606,761 May 2004 625,587 Jun 2004 598,536 Jul 2004 660,537 Aug 2004 599,102 Sep 2004 607,103 Oct 2004 621,205 Nov 2004 667,376 Dec 2004 747,961 Dec 2004 929,375 Jan 2005 824,303 Feb 2005 832,987 Mar 2005 730,395 Apr 2005 727,764 May 2005 742,245 Jun 2005 approx 800,000 July 2005 approx 800,000 Aug 2005 approx 600,000. Sept 2005 543,666 Oct 2005 692,531 Nov 2005 635, 900 Dec 2005 802,567 Jan 2006 678,990 Feb 2006 749,109 Mar 2006 690,135 Apr 2006 681,982 May 2006 694,908 June 2006 634,024 July 2006 739,430 Aug 2006 614,426 Sept 2006 703,552 Oct 2006 701,803 Nov 2006 831,220 Dec 2006 851,826 Jan 2007 708,748 Feb 2007 791,638  Mar 2007 772,320  Apr 2007 717,490  May 2007 782,322  June 2007 751,164  Jul 2007 626,794  Aug 2007 648,194 Sept 2007 666,825  Oct 2007 742,198  Nov 2007 761,992   Dec 2007  796,439  Jan 2008   05-31-04 Summer has arrived and it is Hot in the Lab. You should be noticing some changes soon as I am migrating out of Front Page to Dreamweaver, slowly but surely. I finally have my G5 stabilized and productive, having learned a few tricks here and there. Logic is screaming fast and totally stable. 10-27-03 As you see by my articles on the left I have been working with Sonar 3 lately.  Its making a big splash here.  It's hard to believe how powerful the software is getting.  All this as I prepare, albeit slowly, to go Mac. Believe it or not, I have written music (check my Juke box) and done a lot of remastering in this period (though very little sound dev.) working with Sound Forge and Waves plugins.  A big thanks to those of you helping me out on the forums.  I appreciate your efforts, your answers, your patience with the newbies, and for you just being there.   7/01/03 Does it ever let up? Nope, it never does. The forums continue rapid traffic increases.  I was thinking it would have leveled off in June but it didn't.  We now have 2,212 registered users and 54,590 visits in June. We may have to migrate to a dedicated server by year's end.  A major system crash in May forced me to replace aging hard drives and stalled the World Cafe.  Then I got into surround and learned Vegas 4 and mastered a few DVDs of old material to get my feet wet.  Might seem like the websites have not changed much but under the hood they have.  Note the search boxes that link to a zZounds Data feed.    4/4/03  Man, it has been busy.  I am back into the World Cafe project and as regular members know, been logging some hours on the forums.  In addition to the unrelentless programming for the next cd rom, I am learning to play bass, hand drums, flutes, even digerido.  I am pushing my E5000 hard to get it to yield its secrets in terms of world/ambient sound.  Stay tuned for demos and visit the World Cafe Page if interested. As always I want to thank you for supporting my sites.  I also want to thank regular posters at the forums who help me out with answering newbie questions and post their insights into the recording studio enterprise.  We really have a nice thing going. 1/15/03  The Tweaklab and its online forums are rocking hard, with many new members from many walks of studio life.  You can now post pics of your studio.  Cool huh? I think so. There's a new Google Powered Search of the Lab and new and old Forums which really works well, if you want to find the needle in the haystack of over 10,000 posts.  Winnie and I just finished a remix of the old classic by Nat King Cole "The Girl from Ipanema" not available yet for d/l due to copyright stuff.  I am moving more and more into electro-jazz.       Search studio-central.com Search tweakheadz.com Search WWW   12/21/02  Many, many changes to the sites to make the information more easy to get at have been done.  The forums have almost doubled in users in the past 45 days. I did a site redesign of tweakheadz and just finished a migration to a new server with a little more bandwidth.  Musically speaking, I am investigating the "latin beat" and will soon be uploading more experiments. 11/8/02 The Forums at studio-central.com have taken off quite well and we now have over 300 registered users. It's been great meeting many of you, listening to your music and talking about gear.  Exactly the kind of community I was hoping for.  I'm starting to take a close look at digital multitrack recorders, a big topic, to be sure.  I am hoping to build a strong resource here so if you know of any great sites, let me know.  10-12-02 Help Tweak build a Database of Gear Reviews. Review All you gear if you want.  Our community will appreciate it.  Add your reviews here! 10-09-02 Want to get your song reviewed?  It's easy.  Join the studio central community, agree to review two other members songs and yours will get reviewed. Free! 10-03-02 The Lab now has it's own community forums at www.studio-central.com  Talk about any piece of gear, learn about making music on a computer, post urls to your songs and have them reviewed by other users.  Benefit from a goldmine of tips and studio secrets.  Registration is free!  You get your own personal mailbox and direct access to the Tweak! Just finished 9/20/02: Letter from a Dungeon hear Winnie and  my new Mx9000 in action Sept 18 Status Report: Tweak has opened a web domain at http://www.studio-central.com  New Song August 14, 2002 Paradise One New Song Aug 8, 2002:  The Sea of Dreams direct link More recent songs: Eye of the Moon Goddess, Your daily Weather Report, Cosmo's House n the JukeBox Song Released The MoonGoddess as a Young Girl in the JukeBox Status Report:  The World Cafe Sample CD Rom is ON HOLD at about 1/3rd completion.  I will be getting back to it when I decide on format.  Check out the draft of Spice done with Winnie Cakewalk has sent me Sonar for Review.  Check the review. ! Just about finished with beta testing Logic 5 and Logic Control.  The Tweak will be open for big projects shortly. Web page hits for TweakHeadz Lab has gone from 40,000 pages a month to 115,000 in the last 8 months.

OLDER NEWS

Its a massive music making 128 meg bank of over 990 presets. It's called the Post Industrial Cybr Depot It will turn your  Emulator Ultra into an artist's palette of unique and usable sounds. It's finished! Read up on it.

New Song: God is an Alien.  Way out there. Sort of Techno-trance  Go ahead and download (3.2 meg)

SoundFonts from the Mystik Garage! Volume 1 is ready and you can download it right now!  Tell me More! Skip the talk! Take me to Voice Crystal!

Songs with Winnie Released: Check Out "How Are you Today" #1 at MP3 again! And now another hit.  "DeepSpace", an ambient song made with Winnie back in 1997 has made it to #1 of MP3's Spoken Word Genre. Download I am really happy a Winnie and Rich song finally is getting recognition, as we work hard on these.  Thanks to you all for your support! Song with Juli released "Her Secret Cave" Still a draft and I'm happy to accept feedback.  Needs some work? Download

Woo-Hoo! Gee, good things are happening here.  The TweakMeister makes "musician of the week" in zZounds "Soundz" series.  Go read the Interview

Old Songs Released:  I've started to upload some of my older stuff from the 80's and early 90's.  You'll get to hear old classic analog synths, cz's, tx's, and drum machines in action.  Look for the "Vintage" label at my MP3 site.

My Song "I am Contacting you from the Next Plane" on MP3.com made #1 in the experimental/post rock genre Oct 24-Nov 5th. And on Dec 8th it did it again! I am thrilled to no end!   It uses an unusual mastering technique done in sound forge4 to really get wild and crazy.  Help the cause and go listen! Download.

Tweaks Gear picks.  Check out my hand picked deals from zZounds vast warehouse of gear. I've featured my Gear picks over various pages so its mixed with content from my articles New Gear Keyboards Loop Software General MIDI Studio  Accessories Dance Stuff Sampling Software Sequencers Mixers Synth Editing E-Drum Virtual Synths Emu Gear Mastering

The TweakMeister is working with Jillian Jillian is a hot new female vocalist on the rise.  Listen to our first song "The Brightening Path".  As always feedback is welcome! MIDI Drum Tips    SoundFont KnowledgeBase  Hot New Products announced at Namm 2000 Celestial Windowpane: Its Majestic, Awesome and its Shipping!   Listen a demo  Real Audio     MP3 Read more.

Getting the Most out of ACID The Tweak Speaks on the Korg Electribe A and gives you the real truth after a month of heavy use.  More gear Reviews QS8/7/6.1/R programs uploaded on my Patches page.  The Tweakz Speakz On the Roland JV1010 and gives you his personal picks on Expansion boards.  Tweakheadz now has a download pages on the new ACID Planet site and on IUMA.com.  Go check them out!  But make sure you come back here, OK?   Album is Happening! Sessions With Ana  If you like HOT female vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar on a highly crafted synth landscape this album is for you!  This is an album with intense substance.  You are warned!

What?!  Your other half just does not understand  your art?  Show them you care!   BUY A PIECE of GEAR NOW!  You'll feel much better!  And when you do, they do!   Great Prices on GEAR HERE! Tweakheadz is a zZounds affiliate. Hey, I wouldn't go with these guys unless I knew they could really deliver great products and prices to you guys.  They can.  I buy from them regularly myself. There is free shipping on some items and no sales tax if you live outside Illinois--saves you big dollars on expensive items.  If you click through my advertisements before you buy, I get a little credit --so help keep Tweakheadz alive. My service does not cost you a cent. I monitor zZounds every day to find their best deals. You will find my links directly link you to products rather than just to zZounds main page like most affiliates do.   And I have something to tell you about the products.  It makes sense to shop from my site.   Regarding Tweak's Picks on zZounds gear, I only recommend products I know are great values.  Usually, I have the product myself and love it. I won't link to items that I know are about to be discontinued, or are duds, or if there is a better price at other stores.  And I give you the straight scoop in my little reviews. You can even ask questions about gear in my Guestbook I know how it is to buy gear on extremely limited budgets and I hope I can steer you right and help you avoid expensive mistakes.

zZounds.com offers the widest selection of name-brand instruments at guaranteed lowest prices. You can purchase over 125,000 different products from their website 24 hours a day.  The perfect music store for the late night Tweak-head.  Ohmygod, I just looked at the clock!  Help! The sun is up! zZounds Tweak's  Pick for jaded Tweakz:  Steinberg Rebirth 2 Super Price at zZounds.  Logicians! VST'ers! Emagic's Logic 4.1 now supports REWIRE, ie. Rebirth! Works great with VST too!  Put a propeller on your head and do some techno 303/808/909 style.  Records real time filter changes and yes, it does sync to Logic. Type "Rebirth" in the search box. Unless you have a real 808 and 909 and 303 in your studio, you need this piece!  By the way, Logic has 4.2.2 on their website ready for download by registered users.

MP3 Flash! You can hear demos of The Celestial Windowpane project on mp3.com.   It's 'd Go to MP3 and Listen! All my Audio CDs are for sale at MP3.com.  Hear the Tweakmeister's work and make my day by buying one   (Some only $5.99) Hint Hint!  Nudge Nudge!   <Click-to-hear- The-getting laid-mix> OK, OK, I was kidding! mp3.com is gone by the way

View the Old Guestbook from Eden.com

Thanks! to you all for making "Coming of the Ninth Moon"  # 1 in MP3's Spoken Word Genre for two weeks between Aug 15 and Sept 2.  And on November 4th, it made #1 again and again April 25, 2000! I appreciate you all for your support! And I just found out this song made the TOP TEN for all of '99 in the Books and Spoken genre.  Tweak's mini-soapbox:  MP3.com went south when Vivendi-Universal lowered, then eliminated the payout for mp3 artists.  I am now with Soundclick.com.

You can now buy   more than books in my   Amazon Affiliate BookStore. You can get all kind of yard tools for that next sample cd rom!  Hee!  You might even fool the sig. other into thinking you might mow!

Your Webmaster
Rich the TweakMeister

Web Traffic on TweakHeadz.com

Article Index
(starting with newest)    

Which Microphones and Preamps are Best for my Studio?

The Virtual Recording Studio- Software Instruments, Synths and Samplers

Keyboards and modules

Audio Interfaces and Soundcards

Comparison Chart of Multi-timbral synthesizers

Comparison chart of USB2.0 interfaces

Tour of Tweak's Own Signal Path

The News from Namm 2007

The Blogs are up and running

New Polls on "Which Mixer?"

A catalog of high end preamps

High end sample libraries

Review of East-West Symphonic Choirs

The Blogosphere

The Systems Page

The Concise History of Home Recording

Review of FMR's Really Nice Preamp

Review of the Yamaha AW1600

Take a peek into Tweak's New Site: Audio Pro Central

Review of Kore

Komplete 4

Great River NE-1NV

Hip Hop Beat Construction

HipHop Production and Mixing

Tweaking Hip Hop Drums

Gear Pics from Summer Namm 2006

Guide to Compact MIDI Controllers

Review of the ReMOTE 37 SL by Novation

Getting a Great Guitar Tone in a Sequencer

Epiphone Casino

Mac vs. PC for Music

Korg Legacy MS-20

iLife '06 and GarageBand 3

Winter Namm 2006 Report

Updated: Mixer Article

Updated: Keyboards Article

GarageBand Jam Packs 1-5

Review of Altered States

Review of the MOTU MX4

A Primer on Mic Preamps

What to watch out for when buying a Multi-Track

Doing Video Projects in your Home Studio

Using your studio to make Podcasts

Studio Signal Flow

The History of Logic

Various Studio Rigs (updated)

Mastering in the Home Studio

New Guide Articles:
Understanding VSTi, DXi, MAS, RTAS and AU,

What is a Soft Sampler? 

What is a Soft Synth?

Using Soundtrack Pro

Review: Kontakt2

Review: StormDrum

Review of the Garritan Personal Orchestra

Working with the Emu 1820M and Emulator X Desktop System

Various Studio Rigs (updated)

The Noob's checklist for installing a sequencer

Tweak's Picks of the Winter Namm 2005

Pics of Various Home Studios

EQ and the Limits of Audio

Review of Stylus RMX

Review of the Fantom S/X

Overview of Logic 7

16 vs. 24 bit demystified

Review of the SM57 Microphone

Review of the Shure SM81 Microphone

A Tour of Various Home Studio Rigs

 Review of Intakt by Native Instruments

Review of Sound Forge 7

Review of Antares Filter

New Guide Article: Using Harmonizers

Review of Digital Perfomer 4.12

All about Large MIDI interfaces

Review of Logic Pro 6

Review of the MOTU 828MK2

Review of the Mac G5

Review of GarageBand

News from Namm 2004

Review of the Ableton Live 3

Review of Logic Audio Platinum 6.3 Basics of switching from PC to Mac Logic

Comparative Review Of Waves 3.2 vs. Platinum

How to Write a Sonar Instrument Definition Script

Review Sonar 3 by Cakewalk

Review of Project 5 by Cakewalk

Review of Kompakt by Native Instruments

Review of the Akai MPD16

Review of Spectrasonic's Atmosphere

Review of Absynth 2

Summer Namm 2003 Review

Overview of Assembling 4 Home Studios

Review of the Neumann TLM 103  Perhaps the best sounding mic for a home studio?  Read Tweak's take on this.

 Review of the Focusrite Voicemaster Pro I have finally chosen a preamp and am here to tell you all about it.

Using Pan Controls Effectively  I show you how to set those things using the difficult example of the orchestra

Review of Reaktor Session.  The long awaited Reaktor 4 is now here with it's next-of-kin:  Reaktor Session.  Over a thousand ensembles for your virtual studio at half the price of the big one.

Setting up your Studio for Surround Sound  The Tweak has done it.  Now he shows you how to do this complex operation in simple language.

Tweak's Guide to Control Surfaces.  Tweak walks you through some of the basic issues when considering a control surface, with some handy links for your research

Recording Electric Guitar.  There's many ways to record your guitar now, thanks to the new digital amps and amp modelers.  But we will also get into tried and true mic techniques

All About Cables  Newbie?  Everything you were afraid to ask in discussion groups about cables.  The Tweak walks you through all the different cable types at a very basic level.

 2 part article: Part I: How to Record Vocals and Part II How to Process Vocals

New Products at Namm 2003

Review of the Mackie HR824 Studio Monitors.  Are they as good as the hype? The Tweak knows, and tells all.

The Total M-IDIot's Guide to Music Technology.  If you ask a question in my forums that demonstrates Xtreme knowledge deprivation you will be sent here.  May as well go now?  Uh Huh!

The Truth about Studio Monitors and Sound.  Never ask a philosopher turned producer the truth.  Unless you want the real answer. 

 All about Compressors  Just about everything you need to know to understand how a compressor can fit into your studio's scheme of things.  Do you need one? Yes!  Now find out why.

 Reviews of MIDI Plugins.  They are here and they offers some surprisingly powerful capabilities.  Here's the cutting edge of the art.

How to Connect your E-mu sampler to your PC.  Step by step tutorial. Will get you around the baffling "driver not found" issues.

Tweak's Guide to Digital Multi-Trackers.  The Tweak gives you the basic overview of everything you need to know to talk sensibly about these things.

Understanding and Using Reason The Tweak gives you an illuminating background and tips for understanding this mighty virtual tweak machine. 

Review of Battery by Native Instruments Add virtual drumkits to your sequencer.  The quick way to make your drum machine the most expensive doorstop you every owned. 

 Review of the Delta 1010 Audio Interface.
Tweak's Pick!  Need I say more?  OK I will. 

 Review of the Rode NT 1  Great home studio Mic.  Tested in the Tweaklab.

 Rack 'em Jack  Review of the Music People 12 space rack.  Just cause its cheap don't mean nuthin'

How to Build a Quiet Workspace that enhances musical creativity. Oh sweet silence at last with the hard drives far, far away.

Review of Sonic Foundry's ACID 4.0  Is it better? You bet, now with a bunch of MIDI features.

The Intelligent Newbie's Guide to building a Studio.  Even the Tweak was a newbie once, and he promises not to insult you (much).

The "Best" Soundcard for your Home or Project Studio  But of you ask me this question again, I might...arghh....(sound of hammer hitting PCI cards)

Review of the Behringer V-AMP2  Even a guitarist could use this piece o kit (ducking).

Review of Kontakt, a new Soft Sampler by Native Instruments bound to take over the world

Review of Cubase SX  Yeah, Logic is a goner so its sort of like voting for politicians now.  Lessee, which is going to ruin things least...

Review of the Behringer MX 9000 Analog Console  Tweak has it and has not broke it yet. 

Wanna Go Mac? Explore the options (under construction)

Building a DJ ReMix Studio How to get started, how to add a DJ setup to your DAW

Using a DAT recorder in your Studio Everything you wanted to know about digital ins and outs plus a little review of cables.

The Tweaker's Guide to Midi Controllers  You can control many synths from one using my guide.  If you gotta tweak'n twitch you better read it.

Review of the Korg Kaoss Pad  An underrated controller for real time MIDI finger-tweaks. 

Using FX Processors in the Studio.  Tweak takes you back and shows you where all the basic terms came from, to the old tweaksters screaming in caves.

Review of the Ableton Live Sequencer Instrument  If you did use it Live, would you blow away the clubbers? You could!

Mixing in the Digital Domain.  You asked for it, now I give you some principles to observe setting up your software mixer

Review of the Triton Rack  The Tweak takes the Rack out for a spin and tell you it's merits and demerits

Review of Sonar 2.0  It's hip, it's hot and it's ready for your audio, your loops, your clips.

Using your Hardware Sampler Creatively.  How to really put the hardware box to excellent and innovative use that a software sampler can't do.

How to write Original Drum Tracks Fast and Furious in a MIDI Sequencer. A simple, effective method that works with MIDI drum tracks

Snap, Crackle, Pop! Get rid of those Nasty clicks and pops in your audio!  Read Tweak's Guide to Troubleshooting Audio Interfaces and Soundcards.

Tweak's Guide to Microphones for the home studio.  I just upgraded mine and here's what i found.

 Using Plugins for professional sounding audio.  So where do you put all these little plugs? Where's the best plugins and how can they transform my mix?  Get the answers

Review of Logic 5.0 and Logic Control.  Yep, I have them, and have been using them for months before the throng.

 Tweak's Guide to Midi Modules.  This is a new page devoted to the tough choice of which module to get, and you get to find out which I think are the best.

 Getting Started with MIDI and building a recording studio.  This article is for the absolute beginner who know nothing at all.  We'll get your soundcard hooked up and you'll be up in a few minutes.  Then I'll show you the basics of setting up a recording studio with very little cash.

The JukeBox is now a really full Juke!  I've managed to link up over 100 songs that I have online and they all play in hi-fi and lo-fi.  Included some of my stranger stuff that I usually keep hidden.  :)  Find out why....but take your medicine 1st, OK?

Ask your Questions here! My discussion groups are alive and well under the new organization. 

Articles                                              

How to Tweak your Music PC So your prized 3,000 dollar computer you bought 2 years ago is choking and gasping under the strain of your new softsynths and audio plugins.  You look at your bank account and curse the gods of Wintel!  Chill, its not that bad.  Let me show you the inexpensive way to always have a fast machine. 

Sequencing with REASON and Logic.  Hot off the press.  I find Reason to greatly extend Logic's power and vice versa.  There's a few things you gotta know though so give this article A READ.

Doing it with Digital.  This is a primer that tells you how to make a fully digital recording with as few passes through converters as possible. 

Major Redesign of Tweak's Gear Picks to help you figure out what you want.  Unlike other stores, I am not hear to convince you to buy anything, but to help you make the right choice for your studio.  Lots of helpful tips!

Your Music, Inspiration and Style This article gives common sense advice extracted from the writings of the great Igor Stravinsky, put in a modern language for today's electronic composers.

Fun tips for setting up a Home Studio on a budget.  Things you might not of known that will really help. 

Which Sequencer is Best?
Comparing  Logic,  Cakewalk, Cubase   Tough choice it is, but let the Tweak guide you through the maze of issues.

Mobile Audio Computers, the how, the why, and before you buy info you need if considering this option.

Check out The BUZZ.  Browse the newsgroup feeds in a clearcut way that lets you find all the info you want while searching for information on gear.  Read juicy gossip from inside the industry.  Read all the rants, flames, and slams from those who already bought the gear you are considering.

Vintage Sequencers--take a look at the sequencers of the past, and I'll show you how to download them and run them on your current machine, even those from different platforms!

Upgrading to Windows XP what it is and what it isn't

Sequencer City!  More links and timely info on the sequencer war

Tips on Using Emagic's EXS24 Software Sampler  Some general musings on using the EXS and assembling a massive library with minimal effort.

Using dual video monitors with your DAW.  It's inexpensive with a ton of benefits.

 Secrets to making Great Sounding Samples  Making samples is a craft, and the Tweak has been sampling since the day the Akai S-612 hit the market in 1986.  Dating myself...I know!

How to Burn an Emu CDR   You've got a CDR machine, but how do you burn it in the proprietary format your Emulator will recognize?  The secret lies in a little DOS program....  DOS?  Yeah!

How to Network a Second computer in your Project Studio.  General tips on setting up a local area network with additional computers to dramatically extend the power of your studio.  It's Easier than you think! 

The Perfect Mix Tips on setting up your mix, applicable to both analog boards and digital audio sequencers, plus notes on the arts of mastering and post-production

Surviving SCSI Hell.  This is a primer for the new samplist facing the daunting technical task of connecting a digital sampler to a PC.  It's not so bad when you know what you are doing, and this article spells it out in terms that make sense to musicians.

Choosing the right mixer can be a really hard thing to do when you have no idea what you need.  I'll get you up to speed real fast. 

Secrets of Making a Large SoundFont  Want to build your own virtual synth?  One that has all the samples you always wanted in a synth.  Here's easy steps towards making your own, complete with all the patches and drum kits you want. Let the Tweakmeister show you how to avoid the pitfalls of the novice and get professional results your first time. Go to the New SoundFont Knowlegebase

MIDI Drum Tips  Do people say your drum tracks sound mechanical?  Blow their doors off next time with some authentic sounding trap patterns.  The Tweak lets out a few insights into the construction of drum tracks.

Tips on buying a keyboard  For all of you getting started with building your MIDI enterprise, the tweak gives you some thoughts to consider to help you find the right one for you.

A Recipe for  song construction.  If you are new, this is for you.  Learn how to create new songs fast and efficiently.  Plus you get lots of Tweak's thoughts on the matter....he-he you can "think like a tweak" after you read it. 

A list of Digital Audio Tips  General tips and observations on studio set up.   

Get the most out of ACID with the set of tips I developed for users of my CD Rom Celestial Windowpane.  The Tips will work with any set of loops. 

Tips for  Synth Programmers The TweakMeister takes you under his wing and shows you how to program a synth patch.  This is for beginners to get their tweakhead on straight before undergoing the learning curve.  These tips will hold for any synth, though I often reference the QS8 in this article.

Secrets of Making Money on MP3.com.  The TweakMeister interviews Geoff from the band Noisepie which has made a Top 40 success on MP3. Let Geoff tell you the secrets of rising up the charts and earning big bucks.  Update: Well, they changed the rules so nobody is making money there now, but it still has good info. 

Emulator Resources                           

Resources for Emu Samplers I was helping St. Einar with the resurrection of his site.  We're all so busy.  But I try to keep this page up to date.  New discovered links are welcome, and anyone on the Emusaic List can list their site here.  And I dredged up the best of the emu deals at zZounds and found stuff you might not have known they carried. 

Sample CD-Roms                             
Secure Online Ordering  brief descriptions 
International Currency Converter

The Post Industrial Cybr Sound Depot
$79.99 full info demos support  free samples
Massive project started as a revision of Ice Kold tekno and took a dramatic turn through software synths, vintage synths, FM synthesis and acoustic samples.  Fill your Emulator to the brim with 999 samples and 980 presets in a 128 meg bank full of outstanding 21st century sounds

Celestial WindowPane ACID CD Rom (and other digital Audio Sequencers) $39.99
  full info demos support  free samples  reviews
The focus is on blending Space Sounds with modern dance sounds.  It's a real trip! Over 1000 loops.  Majestic, ethereal, weird and very Cosmic!

The  Ice Kold Tekno Orkestra  SoundFonts! $49.99 
  full info  demos  free SF2 bank  support  reviews
Can you do Techno, Big Beat, Euro, Drum N Bass on a soundcard?  Yes!  With this set of 730 analog presets, you will have what you need.  Incredible value. 

The Mystik Garage  Emu Format $39.99 
  full info  demos  free samples  support  reviews
Lo-Fi sounds, unusual drum kits, strange piano, flutes and sound effects recorded in my garage of hi-fi junk.  Get to the cutting edge fast with the Mystik Garage! 

Ice Kold Tekno Emu Format $49.99 
  full info  demos  free samples  support  reviews
I tweaked my vintage Korg MS20 to get every possible sonic nuance out of it, then tweaked all the 575 samples in an editor, and programmed then for over 6 months.  Can you imagine 64 MS20s connected to your desk?  Its Awesome. 

Downloadable SoundFonts               

The Mystik Drum SoundFont .SF2 format

You get the Main drum kit from the Mystik Garage and a few choice other samples.  Its Hot, Its inexpensive and you can get it right now!

Audio  CD Spotlight      
Top rated Techno-Acoustic song The Birth Of Teknostrodomous

An Outer-space Fantasy, The Planet Wonder

Listen to the sound of DeepSpace Vocals by Winnie Marcus

The Sessions with Ana Page

In the Mood for time travel?  Check out the Temple Celestial, one of my personal favorites.  

Essays                                                

Songwriting and  Philosophy  

Tweak's Crystal Ball  I made some predictions for the synth industry in 1997 and they mostly came true.  Now check out what the crystal ball says in 2001! 

Why Everyone Thinks Today's Music Stinks  You are driving to the in-law's house and s/he is yelling at you about the budget.  A 'love song" comes on the radio and you snap, reaching under the dash to rip out the wiring harness

Musical Form and Cyberspace         Some strange ideas which arose after pondering the nature of music and cyberspace.  Thinking cap required!   

An Essay on Redefining Dance Music.  The Tweakmeister, trained in sociological exploration, turns his gaze on what we are really doing in dance clubs and looks into his crystal ball...