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12-26-2013, 03:00 PM
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#1
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: near Memphis, TN
Posts: 531
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What did you learn in 2013?
Looking back over the last year, what was a single lesson that you learned which improved your audio?
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12-26-2013, 05:11 PM
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#2
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Near Cambridge UK and Near Questembert, France
Posts: 22,754
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I need to learn ALL my software thoroughly.
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12-26-2013, 09:18 PM
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#3
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: KW, Ontario
Posts: 268
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Single Best lesson:
-Trying/switching to Reaper (Best decision yet)
Other lessons:
-Reading more into LUFS and other measure of loudness
-More knowledge of acoustics
-Clearing out my plugins folder
-Field recordings
-Sampling from vinyl
Hmm probably a lot more, but yeah. Been learning a lot!
__________________
Ambition, Transmission, Transition.
Last edited by Kamil; 12-26-2013 at 09:24 PM.
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12-27-2013, 01:32 AM
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#4
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 298
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The most important thing I learned was something I once knew but had forgotten:
Quote:
If you wait for inspiration before you start creating something be prepared to wait for a long time. Do, do more and then some more and inspiration will find you.
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The more I did the better the results, although the pile of discards is growing as well, of course. But it really helped that I decided on a goal around August, to release an album.
Technically the most important thing I learned were actually two things: I learned a lot about sound synthesis so I'm much better at getting the sounds I want from my synths. Additionally I'm getting better and better at working with Reaper!
__________________
Latest Album made with Reaper: "Growing Old Disgracefully" - Songs for Imaginary Films
Electronica & Psytrance made with Reaper: NowoTone (Artist Profile on Spotify)
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12-27-2013, 01:58 AM
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#5
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Jazz City
Posts: 5,065
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Small room acoustics. No matter what you do, no matter how often you may tell yourself "now, that's it" - they're not suited for mixing music.
__________________
Windows 10x64 | AMD Ryzen 3700X | ATI FirePro 2100 | Marian Seraph AD2, 4.3.8 | Yamaha Steinberg MR816x
"If I can hear well, then everything I do is right" (Allen Sides)
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12-27-2013, 02:00 AM
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#6
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 5,646
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I learned :
-Less is more and am using Reaper stock plugs only for my eq , compressor and delay needs.
-Better to have a few tools and master them then many and not knowing them inside out
-sometimes you have to spend money to get what you want (Alchemy, Jamstix, the ethnic sample libraries, Roland audio interface)
-its fun and rewarding to support and interact with small developers
-Reaper now has a killer drum machine = jnif seq + new RS5k
-Kuwait still sux for finding jam mates / band mates
-there is fine line to walk between music and work / family
-i still crave the bi annual drugz n alcohol binge
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Salamat
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12-27-2013, 04:38 AM
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#7
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: IKEA
Posts: 2,779
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That Music/Daw is going to be my active! hobby again, starting 2014 for sure.
So much! cool stuff out there to try, we are really spoiled silly nowdays aren't we?
Think i even developed a mild headache in attempting to try them All! at once.. just not possible.
So ive learned that i just need to enjoy the ride and there is more days tomorrow.
__________________
_Ohh.))::_Linux_::((.Xoxo_
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12-27-2013, 08:24 AM
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#8
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: KW, Ontario
Posts: 268
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NowoTone
The most important thing I learned was something I once knew but had forgotten:
The more I did the better the results, although the pile of discards is growing as well, of course. But it really helped that I decided on a goal around August, to release an album.
Technically the most important thing I learned were actually two things: I learned a lot about sound synthesis so I'm much better at getting the sounds I want from my synths. Additionally I'm getting better and better at working with Reaper!
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Wow that quote really hit close to home. Very inspirational and will definitely motivate me this year. Thanks!
__________________
Ambition, Transmission, Transition.
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12-27-2013, 09:53 AM
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#9
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Northeast Michigan
Posts: 3,460
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I learned that even though I learned a TON of things about Reaper and its capabilities I have only scratched the surface of what Reaper is FULLY capable of.
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12-27-2013, 10:48 AM
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#10
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Seattle
Posts: 5,635
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That I would rather have crap gear in a great room than great gear in a crap room.
And that some people will never, ever, no matter what, be able to make that connection.
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12-27-2013, 11:01 AM
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#11
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,173
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Just do it.....
Quit making excuses & just get on with it....
Freeware is NOT equal to good pay-for stuff 90% of the time.....
__________________
Yep's First 3 Years in PDF's
HP Z600 w/3GHz 12 Core, 48GB Memory, nVidia Quadro 5800, 240GB SSD OS drive, 3 480GB SSD Sample/Storage drives, 18TB External Storage, Dual 27" Monitors
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12-27-2013, 11:23 AM
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#12
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: IKEA
Posts: 2,779
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Also, remember to squeese in some fun somewhere in your busy schedule people! that's an order!
Stay curious and keep learning, or you will get bored and grumpy.
This is Peter Pan speaking!
__________________
_Ohh.))::_Linux_::((.Xoxo_
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12-27-2013, 01:45 PM
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#13
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Adelaide, South Australia (originally from Geelong)
Posts: 5,598
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MiniMoogs are legendary but I don't need one.
A Juno 6 does not sound 'fatter' than a Juno 106. They sound almost exactly the same.
I've spent FAR too much time on the REAPER forum!!! I need to spend more time using the tools I have and less time talking about them.
Running two instances of REAPER on two different computers at the same time works FAR better (timing is much more accurate) using LTC SMPTE sync than using MIDI SPP. (and yes, I have two REAPER licenses)
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12-27-2013, 02:02 PM
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#14
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: near Memphis, TN
Posts: 531
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I learned how important gain staging is inside the box in order to properly drive certain plugins.
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12-27-2013, 02:22 PM
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#15
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: KW, Ontario
Posts: 268
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome_oneil
That I would rather have crap gear in a great room than great gear in a crap room.
And that some people will never, ever, no matter what, be able to make that connection.
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+10000000000
__________________
Ambition, Transmission, Transition.
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12-27-2013, 02:44 PM
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#16
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: San Rafael
Posts: 11,594
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three big lessons for me
and 2013 was a breakthrough year learning about music and recording -
(1) sit down and don't get up until you FINISH a piece,
(2) finishing a piece works better when you work fast, make decisions and don't fuss,
(3) let the music - the notes and chords - tell you what to do.
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My religion is all or none.
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12-27-2013, 03:05 PM
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#17
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Belgium
Posts: 10,474
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Using parallel processing is way more faster, easy, natural and great sounding than Chaining 5 plugs per tracks
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12-27-2013, 04:42 PM
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#18
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Down Under
Posts: 2,148
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I really always knew this but this year it really hit home.
Recording good quality raw tracks is all that matters!!
Find the groove and capture it, thats where the music is.
No matter how tired, frustrated, at the verge of breaking point you are, don't settle for a take you know in your gut dosen't quite cut it, it will haunt you till the end of time
Trying to edit this out, patch this up, can this bit and copy and paste that bit to here just dosen't do it, for me anyway.
As always, ymmv.
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12-27-2013, 04:42 PM
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#19
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Kalispell
Posts: 14,745
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome_oneil
That I would rather have crap gear in a great room than great gear in a crap room.
And that some people will never, ever, no matter what, be able to make that connection.
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Yes, that's a good one.
For me it's just learning more and more of the possibilities that Reaper gives us. Although it's not entirely true, I feel almost like there's nothing I can't do with Reaper. I haven't even dug into the scripting yet.
A week ago I recorded a fiddle player for an old client of mine. He did okay but the timing was not too good. Actually it was really bad.
Anyway, I remembered something about one of the recent updates, Stretch Markers. I dug into the manual, finally figured them out and within 3 hours I turned an unusable fiddle into something that was usable.
Heh heh, every day is a learning process with Reaper.
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12-27-2013, 09:35 PM
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#20
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 20,859
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Dsp distortions/saturators/compressors/limiters can really mess up the clarity of recorded tracks. If I learned anything, it was more confirmation of what I already knew: use as few of these types of plugins as possible.
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It's time to take a stand against the synthesizer.
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12-28-2013, 01:52 PM
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#21
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Polandia
Posts: 3,578
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The fact the compressor lights the shit of "gain limiting" indicator won't kill you. Also high pass filtering is a thing.
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12-28-2013, 03:11 PM
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#22
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Seattle
Posts: 5,635
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tod
Yes, that's a good one.
For me it's just learning more and more of the possibilities that Reaper gives us. Although it's not entirely true, I feel almost like there's nothing I can't do with Reaper. I haven't even dug into the scripting yet.
A week ago I recorded a fiddle player for an old client of mine. He did okay but the timing was not too good. Actually it was really bad.
Anyway, I remembered something about one of the recent updates, Stretch Markers. I dug into the manual, finally figured them out and within 3 hours I turned an unusable fiddle into something that was usable.
Heh heh, every day is a learning process with Reaper.
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Indeed! I frequently get guitar tracks from Eddie Van Stoner, who refuses to record with a click track because "It's gotta be like organic man! Can you drop a drum track on this for me?" So I learned what a tempo map was, and now the dude is deliriously happy with the EZDrummer (named "Larry") or Reason Kong drum modeler. It takes me about 10 minutes.
He thinks I'm a genius. I'm pooling up percussion tricks in the mean time.
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12-28-2013, 04:11 PM
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#23
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Minneaplis
Posts: 3,317
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How to clean up my mixes and make them more crisp and sharp without sounding shrill and lifeless.
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12-29-2013, 04:43 AM
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#24
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Sweden
Posts: 2,195
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I started up my Music this year after a decade's pause. In the bad old Days, I hated the work with recording where every take had to be perfect, since I had a mixer board and one (1) reverb for the whole mix.
Now with the VST's and powerful computers, I can record without effects and finish it in the mix. I don't have to redo a perfect take because of too much reverb or bass.
Basically, I learned to enjoy the mixing and mastering (even though I suck at it
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12-29-2013, 03:59 PM
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#25
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Kalispell
Posts: 14,745
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tod
Heh heh, every day is a learning process with Reaper.
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Actually there's a little more to it than that.
If you use Reaper a lot (or any audio program), you're going to come up against challenges.
The thing about Reaper is that there are ways to overcome many or most of those challenges. Heh heh, if it doesn't exist now, it might in the next update.
It might not be easy and you might have to dig, but either you'll get there, decide it's impossible, or dig in deeper, maybe see if a friend can make a script to do it.
Reaper has so many possibilities and they just keep growing.
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01-02-2014, 03:59 PM
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#26
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 308
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I learned about proper ITB gain staging using VU meters. (been recording music for 14 years and am just now figuring that part out... i have no hardware background or any kind of formal training)
I learned that marijuana, while fun during the songwriting process, can be rather detrimental to the mixing process.
I learned that buying plugins is addictive and, most of the time, unnecessary for me. In particular, I've come to the conclusion that EQ plugins are more about GUI/comfort/ease-of-use than the actual "sound."
I learned that being somewhere that doesn't have an internet connection makes me far more productive (and more prone to social outings). Of course, now instead of spending all night playing League of Legends, I spend all night with my girlfriend instead...
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01-02-2014, 08:12 PM
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#27
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 64
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Lesson 1: Finished is better than perfect.
Corollary: It's not finished until you don't have to explain it to a random listener.
Lesson 2: Musicians/singers > song/arrangement > room > equipment
Lesson 3: Really coming to grips with parallel compression. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb1...st-squeeze.htm
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01-02-2014, 08:19 PM
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#28
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: KW, Ontario
Posts: 268
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Adrenochrome
Lesson 1: Finished is better than perfect.
Corollary: It's not finished until you don't have to explain it to a random listener.
Lesson 2: Musicians/singers > song/arrangement > room > equipment
Lesson 3: Really coming to grips with parallel compression. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb1...st-squeeze.htm
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Yes, yes and yes! Well put.
__________________
Ambition, Transmission, Transition.
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01-03-2014, 02:21 AM
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#29
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 2,629
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I learned to actually use Reaper
Switching back to a dual-screen setup (had moved one of them out of the studio a while back) and going full-on with the Imperial theme made all the difference for my workflow.
Now I'm cooking like crazy
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01-03-2014, 09:30 AM
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#30
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Human being with feelings
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: KW, Ontario
Posts: 268
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Quote:
Originally Posted by technogremlin
I learned to actually use Reaper
Switching back to a dual-screen setup (had moved one of them out of the studio a while back) and going full-on with the Imperial theme made all the difference for my workflow.
Now I'm cooking like crazy
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The Imperial theme is beastly. I also found it improved workflow dramatically!
__________________
Ambition, Transmission, Transition.
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