For anyone into home recording.

[Beaker]

I've not posted for a while as I've been too busy tring to get my campervan build finished, so building pedals has taken a back seat recently.

Anyway, my son who is busy working on his next album has just started a new blog that some of you home recording artistes might be interested in. It's all about gwtting the best results and most realistic sounds from VST plug ins and samples - and all for free. I mean free and not stolen, pirated, hacked, illegally downloaded or anything else nefarious.

Here is the link:

http://rockinginthefreeworldfreevst.blogspot.co.uk/

[tracer03]

Very cool, thanks for the link!

[Neil mcNasty]

Great idea for a blog!
Amazing what you can do with just the free plugins.
Like all gear, it all about knowing your stuff/gear and how to tweak it.
I'm definitely going to paying attention to this one!

[StephanCOH]

Good job. Been into home-recording for a couple of years. Using VSTs for drums. Bass & guitar are miced amps.

Did our first Iron & Stone full length (which is about to be out soon on cd and vinyl) with free plugins only. The only paid software used was Reaper. First time I recorded real drums, so no need for a vst-instrument there. Fantastic experience to record a real drumkit.

The level of quality of the free that are out there is amazing. They may not have the well known name or the fancy GUI, but they can sound just as good as the big shots.

[Beaker]

Good to see interest already - thanks for the replies.

Luke is really getting his head around this now and has made up some amazing drum sample kits already, which he is happy to share with anyone that wants them.

All velocity sensitive, they go from the tiniest tap to a full on hammer blow. The best thing about them is that they include all the ambient squeaks and rattles that accompany playing the drums - all crucial sound information that traditional drum machines and samplers don't have. This ambient "trash" is what makes a recording sound alive, so it's a major step forward in getting a decent home recorded drum sound, when you don't have access to a drum kit.

He has info on guitar and bass sims as well as percussion, synths and keyboards and includes tips on how to best use some of them.

[Travis]

Thanks to you and your son for sharing!

I absolutely cannot stand the sound of digital drum tracks. I need your son to change my opinion haha

[balazs.bencs]

Thanks, this is really cool! I wanted to get into the world of impulse responses, maybe now it's the time.

[bogey]

That's a very interesting and well written blog.

That image of Terry Wogan will stay with me forever.

[helveticat]

Thanks (to you & your son) for sharing all this info. I'm putting it off but I really need to address my home recording setup (current lack thereof) and this is has been firmly bookmarked. Impulse responses and suchlike have always been a mystery to me. I still need an extra few hours in the day of tinkering time but with all these free options I have one less excuse.