Music Production Resources

Music production resources

See also the list of software/plugins/virtual instruments that I use [here]. Feel free to copy this list to your own website but an acknowledgement and link to my website is always appreciated.

Plugins

• Recommended plugin producers
  • Brainworx
  • Maat
  • Fabfilter
  • SoundToys
  • iZotope
  • Softube
  • Waves  (Waves alternatives; see also End of Waves?)
  • Sonible (e.g., Smart plugins)
  • Sonnox (e.g, Fraunhofer Pro Codec, Inflator)
  • Lindell Audio (e.g., SBC)
  • HorNet (e.g., Tape MKII)
  • Voxengo (several free plugins, eg SPAN)
  • iZotope
    • Rx 9. Audio repair tool.
    • Nectar 3 Plus. Vocal processing.
    • Insight II. Metering.
    • Ozone (Mastering)
    • Tonal balance 2
    • Audiolens (reference from streaming)
• Reverb and Delay
  • Vintageverb (Valhallah).
  • Echoboy (delay; SoundToys). See also other plugins of SoundToys
• Equalizers
  • Bax EQ (Dangerous Music; for mixing, mastering).
  • Good tube tech EQ
  • Eventide SplitEQ. (separate EQ for transient and sustain parts)
  • Maag EQ4. Has an AIR bus (up to 40kHz). Opens the top high.
  • Kirchhoff EQ (Three-Body Technology)
  • Surfer EQ (SoundRadix)
  • DynaQ (Masterlab; Dynamic Split Processing: dynamic EQ for loud and quiet parts; see also [here])
  • Michelangelo (Tone Projects; all-tube stereo EQ and harmonics generator)
• Automatic gain
  • MAGC (Melda Production; free)
  • Outlaw Gain rider (W.A. Production; has a free version)
  • AutoGain Pro MK2 (HoRNet)
  • Vocal Rider (Waves)
  • Bass Rider (Waves)
  • Nectar 3 Plus (Izotope)
• Comparing to reference tracks
  • Metric AB (ADPTR Audio).
  • Reference 2 (Mastering the Mix).
• Mastering
  • Bx digital V3 (M/S EQ).
  • Unisum (compressor).
  • Weiss (Softube; compressor, equalizer, maximizer).
  • TDR Limiter 6 GE
  • Youlean Loudness meter
  • Loudness meter (Free; Goodhertz)
  • MeterPlugs
    • Perception AB. Loudness level matching.
    • Dynameter. See the dynamics of your music in realtime, and avoid the Loudness Penalty.
  • Ozone (iZotope).
  • Tonal balance 2  (iZotope)
  • Bitter (Bitscope & Intersample Clip Monitor)
  • Sonoris (Mastering software, e.g. DPP creator/player)
  • Loudness Penalty (of different streaming platforms)
  • Fraunhofer-pro-codec (Sonnox; audition and compare up to five audio codecs in real time)
  • Inflator (Sonnox; increase loudness, without sacrificing sonic quality or dynamic range; used by Justin Perkins)
  • SimuLathe REF (TDR; complete simulation of the vinyl disk mastering process; see also [here])
  • Learning Wavelab for mastering (used by Justin Perkins)
  • Kid3 (audio meta-data)
• Other
  • VST Hostss (Landr)
  • SoundID Reference (Sonarworks)
  • Pi (Sound Radix). Phase check
  • Trackspacer (Wavesfactory)
  • Transgressor 2. Transient design.
  • Dear VR Micro. Binaural panner.
  • StandardCLIP (SIR Audio Tools). One of the best clippers.
  • Immersive audio (alternative to Waves Nx, or Acustica).
  • VSX (From Steven Slate; an alternative to Waves Nx, or Acustica)
  • Unchirp (Zanaptiq; Plug-in for removing the most obnoxious artifacts associated with lossy audio encoding and other FFT based processes, such as spectral de-noising)
  • Timecode plugins
  • Plugin analyzers
    • Plugin doctor (DDMF Supreme Audio Software)
    • EQ Curve Analyzer (Bertom Audio) (YouTube 1, YouTube 2)
    • Blind test (Hofa)
  • Audio gridder. Running plugins/instruments over the local network.
  • Silencer (Black Salt Audio; drum gate to remove cymbal bleed; see [here])
  • Sooth 2 (remove harshness; Oeksound)
  • Trigger 2 (Steven Slate; drum replacement)

Streaming 

• Audiomovers (listento plugin)
• SonoBus: high quality network audio streaming (gratis + DAW vst plugin)
• Jamulus. (more difficult to integrate with a DAW; may not sound good)
• Satellite
• Jamkazam
• SessionLink Pro
• Steinberg VST Connect

See also [here]

DAWs

• Cubase (Steinberg)
• Reaper (Cockos inc.)
• Cakewalk (BandLab)
• Pro Tools (AVID)
• Studio One (PreSonus)
• Logic Pro
• Ableton Live (Ableton)
• FL Studio (Image-Line)
• Audacity
• GarageBand
• Reason

See also  [here]

Music Notation 

• Dorico (Steinberg; currently the number 1 software for music notation)
• Finale (MakeMusic)
• Sybelius (Avid)

Virtual Instruments

• Vintage synths
• Native Instruments (Komplete)
• East West (good vocals and choirs among others)
• NotePerformer (for use with music notation programs)
• Steinberg (Halion, Iconica)
• Vienna Symphonic Library
• Spitfire Audio (BBC Symphonic Orchestra)
• Presonus Symponic Orchestra
• Drums
  • BFD3 (FXpansion; Drums)
  • Superior Drummer (Toontrack)
  • Groove Agent (Steinberg)
• EZbass (Toontrack)
• Band in a Box (PGMusic)
• Roland virtual instruments
• Arturia V-collection
• Art Conductor (Expression maps; Collection of over 10000 articulation switching presets; Babylon Waves)
• Pianoteq (MODARTT)

Sample libraries

• Splice
• BBC sound effects
• Samples, vocals and loops (Audentity)
• Ghosthack

Acoustics

• REW (room acoustics software).
  • GIK Acoustics (very basic intro):
  • Marcel Schechter (includes use of REW EQ):
  • An Inconvenient Truth About Room Acoustics (The Myth Of The Flat Frequency Response)
• Falstad (audio math and physics).
• Winflag.
  • Designed for material acoustic performance estimation
  • This software is no longer available. There is a new commercial version: NorFlag (expensive).
• Good and cheap acoustics shop in Poland.
  • Address for Dacron (ideal to cover glas/steenwol): [here] and [here].
• Alternatively, covers for acoustic panals.
• Rockwool/Stonewool absorption.

Other

• Tools
  • SOS music tools
  • SOS Problem solvers (DI boxes, splitters, etc)
  • Virtual Cable (VB-Audio software)
  • Midi-OX (all-purpose MIDI Utility)
  • JACK (JACK Audio Connection Kit; API)
  • LV2 (extensible open standard for audio plugins)
  • X42 plugins (professional audio processing units available as JACK-plugin and JACK-application)
  • BPM Counter (AbyssMedia)
  • The Lyons’ Den Delay Time Calculator (calculate length (ms) of note given bpm)
• DIY projects.
• Oor check
• Spectralayers (Steinberg; Spectral editing. Can de-mix a song into different tracks (eg vocals, bass, drum)
• Additive Syntheses wave form generator  (generates waves by selecting fundamental and adding the harmonics
• Samply (to share mixes and masters with clients; see also [here])
• nOb Control (nOb; very precise and versatile knob controller)
• GearSpace. The No. 1 Website for Pro Audio
• ReelCrafter (build personalized, trackable showreels)
• Song evaluation
  • Tunecore – Get Reviewed
  • Song Write Universe – evaluation
  • Crowd mix reviews.
• Session Musicians and audio services
  • Fiverr
  • Studio Pros
  • Air Gigs
• Webshops
  • Thomann
  • Klundert Music (Oisterwijk, the Netherlands)
  • Bax Music (Goes, the Netherlands)
  • Studio Lobbes (rent or buy of studio equipment)
  • Noise floor audio (microphones and workshops)

Multitrack libraries

• Cambridge Music Technology
• Telefunken. Live from the lab
• Mix challenge
• Shaking Through (indie-rock; not free)
• Pure Mix

Mixing

• Mixing Music (PodCast; Dee Kei and Lu Moreno)
• Recording and Mixing (PodCast; Sound on Sound)
• Reference tracks (provided through Sound Education Nederland)

Mastering

• Mastering Essentials (YouTube; Sound on Sound; Ian Shephard)
• The Mastering Show (PodCast; Ian Shephard)
• Production Advice (Ian Shephard)
• Are you listening? (Izotope video series; Jonatha Wyner)
• WaveLab (Steinberg; Dedicated mastering DAW)
• WaveLab Help (Learning and Mastering WaveLab; Justin Perkins)
• WaveLab user group (Facebook)
• Mastering PROS (Facebook)
• Mastering Nerdz (Facebook)
• Gearspace (Mastering forum)
• Mastering compressor comparison (with audio samples; Gearspace)

Music Industry  and Law

• Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP). Submit music or lyrics in i-DEPOT to protect authorship.
• Top Music Attorney
• CTM Publishing. Internationally operating independent music publisher.
• Merlin. International digital music licensing partner for independents.
• Vakbond voor Musici (NTB)
• Vereniging voor Podium Technologie (VPT)
• Muziek en Recht (Dutch)
• Buma/Stemra (Organization of and for all songwriters (text and music))
• Sena (Organization for artists and producers)
• Norma (Rights organization for performing artists)
• ChartMetric  (Streaming and social data for music industry professionals)

Education

• Sound Education Nederland.
  • Mischa Jacobi (Acoustics)
  • Ben Kok (Acoustics)
  • Dr.ir. Jan A.P.M. de Laat (Audiologist, Audiologisch Centrum, LUMC, Leiden)
  • Bert Kraaijpoel (Microphones. Lecturer Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag)
  • Rens Heijnis (Microphones; Sonodore: Custom-made audio equipment)
  • Ocki Klootwijk (Microphone placement. Rock Town Studio)
  • Ben van Cranenburgh (Music and the brain. Neuroscientist)
  • Sander Scheepstra (Speakers. Brooklyn Audio)
  • Mark de Dong (Outboard gear. Mastering. Multispace studio)
  • Arno Rijpma (Midi and virtual instruments; AMPS Recordings)
  • Holger Schwedt (Mixing)
  • Hans Weekhout (Mixing. Jellywood Studio. Conservatorium Amsterdam)
  • Wessel Oltheten (Mixing)
  • Jos Driessen (Distortion & Saturation. Sandlane Recording Facilities)
  • Allert Aalders (Live Sound. Synthesis. Midi. Sonar Traffic)
  • Lucien Foort (Creative Sampling)
  • Pieter van der Meer (Granular Synthesis)
  • Sebastiaan Vink aka Finch (Beats)
  • Bob van der Boom (Music, Composing, Arranging. Pro Music Training)
  • Julien Chaptal (EMP)
  • Jaap en Chris (EMP. Killing Skills)
  • Niels van der Leest (Games and Audio)
  • Jeffrey de Gans (Mastering. Da Goose Mastering)
  • Erwin Maas (Mastering. eMastering)
  • Attie Blauw (Music Production)
  • Midas van Jaarsveld (Music production and composing)
  • Ewoud van der Linden (Music Industry)
  • Margriet Koedooder (Muziek & Recht; Advocaat)
  • Jurgen de Bree (Release plan; Former SAE lecturer)
  • Joel Kampelmacher (Muziekindustrie)
  • Hilda Nanlohij (Image branding)
  • Rita Zipora (Release plan; Works at Buma/Stemra and BAM. Teaches at Amsterdam University of the Arts)
  • Jim Kreeftenberg (Music Industry Coach)

Studios

• Sound Vision Studio (Recording and mixing. Arnhem, the Netherlands)
• Trypoul Recording Studios (Recording and mixing. Neerkant, the Netherlands)
• Studio Moskou (Recording, mixing, and mastering. Utrecht, the Netherlands)
• Sandlane Recording facilities (Recording, mixing, mastering. Rijen, the Netherlands)
• Jellywood Studio (Mixing and mastering, Amsterdam, the Netherlands).
• Wessel Oltheten (Recording, mixing, and mastering. Boxtel, the Netherlands)
• Holger Schwedt (Mixing. Baarn, the Netherlands)
• Obsidian Mastering (Eindhoven, the Netherlands)
• Da Goose Mastering (Hendrik Ido Ambacht, the Netherlands)
• eMastering (Arnhem, the Netherlands)
• Wisseloord Studios (Hilversum, the Netherlands)
• Studio 1979 (Arnhem, the Netherlands)
• Willem Twee Studios (‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands’ see also [here])
• Roelof Klop Music Productions (Heavy Music; the Netherlands)
• Maspaventi Studio (Marco Spaventi; Barcelona, Spain)

Youtube channels

• White Sea Studio (Wytse Gerichhausen)
• Simply Mixing (Sara Carter)
• Everything Music (Rick Beato)
• Writing music (Ryan Leach)
• Studio Talk (Barry Johns)