14 tried and tested CM arrangement tips

welcome

When you really think about it, all music-making

NAMMaste

The world famous music tech show went low key but still saw some highs

App watch

We report on the latest developments in phone and tablet music making

10 years back

Our monthly shake-of-thehead at our earlier selves’ news choices…

The baby with the power

Softsynths are landing thick and fast this month,

Ins & outs

JON’S HOPS We’re fans of both Jon Hopkins

WAVETABLE SYNTHESIS

Get the best from your wavetable synths

COMPUTER MUSIC

ISSUE 322 JULY 2023 Future PLC Quay House,

Suki Sou

Musician, sound designer and radio presenter Suki Sou may have a studio full of bespoke hardware and software that denotes a precision-based mindset, but she’s also big on adaptability. And her music – influenced by everyone from Raymond Scott to Joanna Brouk, Aphex Twin to Teresa Teng – puts that multifaceted approach on show

Tom Salta

Not content with being one of the video game industry’s most acclaimed composers, Tom Salta has turned his attention to plugin development, with the wonderful Auto-Bounce taking the sting out of finalising Logic productions. We spoke to Tom about this life-saving new tool and what motivates his creativity…

ARRANGE TRACKS LIKE A PRO

Taking the time to work up your sketches into fullyfledged tracks can be a tricky process. That’s why it’s important to understand how an effective arrangement works to take listeners on a journey…

What’s your goal?

Writing an effective arrangement starts with determining just where you’re aiming your track

Ways of working

Although the default for arrangement might be DAW-based, other alternative routes can stimulate fresh angles…

Elements

The vast majority of arrangements orient around the same key structure…

The song’s structure – writing drama

Treating your track like a narrative journey is key to holding attention

Excitement-building plugins

Are your track’s energy levels low? These tools can help…

Make a Gorillaz ‐style synth string patch

This month, we use a retro sound in an über-contemporary setting, as our synth strings get the Gorillaz treatment

Gain staging

Being in control of your levels is a vital aspect of mixing, but how should we approach this when mixing in the box?

MANON GRANDJEAN

From working to bring Stormzy’s decade-defining debut to life to switching tracks from studio engineer to mixing specialist, Manon Grandjean’s expertise has been widely acclaimed by the industry. Following a trio of MPG Award wins, Manon is now keen to expand her career into new areas. We caught up with Manon to learn more about her studio work, and glean some insight on how to make it as a mix engineer…

Mercury-6 $69

Cherry Audio’s latest softsynth arrives from the orbit of Mercury, with vintage stimulus from one of the biggest gas giants of them all

Retronaut $95

Promising to infuse the crackle of yesteryear into your tracks, Retronaut goes beyond its lo-fi headline to deliver thrilling sound-shaping abilities

Cmpsr £299

A hardware controller that merges accessibility, music, and gaming practices into something everybody can use… with a very large joystick!

FL Studio 21 £85 to £409

FL Studio 21 is not celebrating a birthday, as the previous version did, but is introducing some significant additions to this most popular of DAWs

EZKeys Synthwave & EZX Expansion $79/€89

Want your track to sound like it was birthed in the technicolor 80s? Toontrack are on hand, transporting us to when synths ruled the waves

Harmonic Bloom £119

Bloom is all about extracting harmonics and chaotic waveforms based on noise… but fortunately, it’s a lot better than that sounds

Supermodal $99

By using 27 models – ranging from physical bodies to maths formulae – Supermodal could well be the filter you didn’t know you need

KSHMR Reverb $49.99

Globally acclaimed music producer KSHMR collaborates with W.A.

Twisted Trees Sonic Extension $149

If you go down to the woods today, you’ll be surprised to find a sounddesigner not so much hugging trees as hitting and twisting them!

Soundware round-up

Loopmasters Havana Meets Kingston £39.95 This sample pack

Soundware round-up

W. A. Production Evolved Trap & Dubstep $24.90

MODALICS EON-ARP

If your synth arpeggios just aren’t cutting it, this month’s giveaway could be just what you need

Distorted and Mangled

This month, we’ve smashed, crunched and tortured a number of sources to create two packs of gritty goodness. Download from bit.ly/cm322downloads

Classic samples Transition Tools

As we’re exploring the depths of arrangement this month, we felt it was a perfect time to give our Transition Tools a second airing…

Loopmasters 322 samples

This month’s demo sample selection highlighting Loopmasters’ latest releases

cm/video

Download this month’s videos: bit.ly/cm322downloads