I recently bought my Axe Fx Ultra by Fractal Audio after doing a lot of research online. It was supposedly the big thing that all guitarists and home-studio owners had been looking for – A way to sound like a high quality tube amp without buying a high quality tube amp. That and pretty much every effect under the sun you could possibly need for your guitar.

But is it worth it? In this video, I’ll be taking a look at the Axe Fx Ultra and seeing whether it lives up to the hype…

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve recently been given the opportunity to check out the “XXL Hip Hop Drums Sample Pack” from primeloops.com – I used it in my 7 day song Hip Hop tutorial, so I’ve got a decent amount of experience with it!

Before anyone asks – I do get paid for adverts on my site from primeloops, but I was not paid to make this review – I do completely independant reviews so they can be credible and objective – if this pack sucked, I’d say so. Read the rest of this entry »

In the interests of furthering my video content, I’ve decided to, instead of just playing the song with a write-up, make a proper video review of the sample pack as well as the text review if you prefer to read than to listen!   If you have any suggestions to improve the review, be sure to leave a comment!

Oh, and before anyone asks – I do get paid for adverts on my site from primeloops, but I was not paid to make this review – I do completely independant reviews so they can be credible and objective – if this pack sucked, I’d say so. Read the rest of this entry »

I had an e-mail from boyinaband.com reader Ash…

Hi David,

Firstly thanks for putting in so much time & energy making a great website that I’m sure many people such as myself get to benefit from.  It’s great that you’ve done all those brilliant tutorials, well filmed and narrated.  It’s funny how I found your site – my new american girlfriend told me about this Saturday Night Live sketch – “I’m on a Boat” and that eventually led me via Youtube to your site.  Being into music production, I of course then spent hours reading your site and looking at the tutorials – I love how serendipitous the internet can be!

Anyway enough waffling and onto my main question.  I’m getting back into music production (as a hobby for now but I’d like to make more of it) after a break for a few years.  Last time I was playing around with this stuff it was Cubase SX 2.0 and Reason (2.0?).  Anyway, I am looking at what software I should use now – the market has changed a lot, all the packages have tried to become all-encompassing – even Ableton Live is now purporting to be a production/recording suite.  I’m tempted to have another play with Reason 4, but I want to make sure I invest my learning curve in something that can go “all the way” …

So, the question is: do you believe that Reason 4 is a serious music production tool – can it be used to produce a professional quality track to the standard that other software (e.g. Logic, for example) can?  That is really my only doubt about Reason, holding me back from buying a copy.  I’ve had fun with Reason before and I guess it’s easy to see it as a scratchpad, something for prototyping, because it is quite dinky and novel to use – but perhaps I’m judging it unfairly and missing its power?

Anyway – I hope you can find time to answer me!

Best wishes

Ash Dando

Yeah, I left in that first paragraph partly for my ego’s benefit and partly because I frickin’ love the word “serendipitous“.

But yes – the question.   Can Reason be used as a production tool to rival the big players like Logic?   My answer…

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll have to do this review a little differently to the other boyinaband.com reviews – The Pure Chronic Hip Hop Grooves pack from Primeloops.com isn’t a set of individual samples, so I won’t be making a song out of it. Instead it has taken a different approach.

Read the rest of this entry »

Since discovering the genre I’ve wanted to make a Glitch Hop song, but wasn’t sure where to start.

And since Boyinaband is sponsored by the awesome Primeloops, I offered to do a review for their Glitch Hop sample packs, since the demos on their site sounded frickin’ ace.

As will become customary with my reviews, I believe the best way to show how good a sample pack is is to make a song with it. So here it is: My first ever glitch hop song, made with the Glitch Cuts sample pack and the Glitch Hop Drum Loops sample pack.

Read the rest of this entry »