It’s something that every musician and technician has had to deal with at one point or another: stage monitors. When perfectly positioned and correctly set up, you’re looking at a smooth show and maybe a post-gig beer with the band and sound tech, but bad stage sound can lead to dirty looks, the exchange of dirty words and – ultimately – a bad show, simply because the band can’t hear themselves.

A brass section, or horn section is usually made up of one or two saxophones, trumpets and trombones and can fit pretty much anywhere in the music landscape, but in some genres, like soul and funk, having a horn section is an absolute must. In any case, when you add a brass section to the band, you can really make the music explode. A brass section brings in extra soloists, makes everything sound thicker and fatter and looks nothing short of awesome on the stage. But… adding horns into the mix is actually a tougher process than you might think. Here, we offer up eight tips to help you form the perfect collaboration.

Just to be clear, this blog is about traditional music composition, meaning it’s not going to deal with modern EDM-style workflows involving arpeggiators, drum loops, Ableton tools, and so on. So, if you know your way around a piano and want to start writing your own pieces, by all means, dig in!

Given the infinite list of plug-ins you can add to your DAW these days, it’s easy to forget that, back in the day, every single effect was a separate bit of kit that needed to be hooked up. Not only that, parts could break and spilling a cup of tea was a serious job hazard. That being said, hardware-based effects are still made to this very day.

Ever wondered what MPE, or MIDI Polyphonic Expression can do for your Ableton Live productions? Guest-blogger Hens Zimmerman is here to explain the potential of this ground-breaking MIDI feature and show you how MPE can be used to shape super-expressive sounds.

If you just treated yourself to your first guitar, digital piano, drum kit, DJ controller or music production software, then chances are you’re already dreaming of performing on a stage one day. To get there though, you’re going to need a good way to hone your skills. Nowadays, there’s plenty of wisdom to be found online, ranging from tutorials on YouTube to free courses, which raises the question: how does self-teaching stack up against going for lessons with a real teacher?

Our guitar specialists could probably spit out a thousand-and-one facts about acoustic guitars but, since no one’s got all day, we’ll stick to just five!

Discover 10 time-saving techniques in FL Studio with Workflow Hacks. As a music producer, efficiency and innovation are crucial in the studio. Guestblogger Mike Rosa used these hacks, tips, and tricks to save time and avoid headaches. Whether you’re a seasoned user or just starting out, these insights will help take your music  production to the next level.

Strumming is something that every ukulele player is familiar with. Whether it’s the calypso strum, the split stroke or just a simple down-up-down-up, what could be more enjoyable than strumming away on your ukulele and singing a song? But, as our guest blogger Matthew Quilliam explores, many people neglect to consider the fact that how they strum can change depending on what finger (or something else) they are using…

Our guestblogger, Menno leads a double life as DJ Supa-Dupa Rental and, over the last ten years, has racked up plenty of experience playing wedding parties that have ranged from the dramatic to the unbelievable. Back when he was still learning the ropes, wedding gigs would prove stressful undertakings but they were always well worth the hassle. In this blog, he passes his hard-earned tips and tricks on to the less experienced wedding DJ.

The venerable experts of Bax Music could offer up a thousand-and-one fascinating facts about the piano, but since no one has time for that, we’ve hand-picked just five!

Despite all the skill and musicianship involved, cover bands are often looked down on, which is a shame, since putting together a cover band is a big job and a lot of them are actually pretty awesome. So, what is it exactly that separates a great cover band from a mediocre wannabe? In this blog, we take a look at the essential ingredients that go into building a brilliant, successful cover band. We can already tell you that the first thing to be sure of is that you’re creating a band that has its own identity, rather than setting out to make a carbon copy of the original.