Jason Lyon Music

Category: j) Sound & Vision

  • Audio Plugin – the PSG

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    Jason
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    I had planned to release this freeware FX plugin on 1 April, but things got delayed a bit. Okay, a lot. Introducing the all-new PSG™ – put it on a spare channel strip and it will instantly double your productivity, guaranteed. Using carefully formulated psycho-socio-acoustic algorithms, the PSG™ can automatically do anything your client wants…

  • Cutting to the Chase (Reaticulate)

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    Jason
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    I’ve been asked to explain a bit about the really groovy looking window that appears on the right-hand side of my REAPER orchestral template. What is it, why is it there, how do I get it and so forth? Well, one of the old problems for MIDI musicians concerns what is known as “chasing”. You’ve…

  • REAPING Rewards

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    Jason
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    Sorry again for my absence. That time of year when you take stock (and there’s been some weird stuff to take stock of this past year…) So what better way to kick off than by starting weird. I’ve extolled the virtues of a DAW called REAPER before (see here), and one of the reasons I…

  • Mr PC

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    Vielen Dank to Tomas, who enjoyed the Beethoven Buddhist Choir and added a question. What kind of a computer do I think a musician needs? This raises two immediate thoughts. First, most musicians don’t tend to have great wadges of money falling out of their trousers. Second, most musicians do tend to go without to…

  • Om to Joy

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    Jason
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    A recently unearthed collaboration between Beethoven and a bunch of Tibetan monks who happened to be wandering around Vienna at the time. In a letter dated 1822 to his patron Count de Thalern, Beethoven wrote “These bald blokes in spa attire are extremely amiable company and they make the very floorboards resonate. It has been…

  • Note Perfect

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    Jason
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    Well, there’s no such thing of course, but I needed a snazzy headline for another software review. If you don’t use Sibelius, you are excused and can run and play. If you do, I’d like to tell you about the best playback option I’ve ever found for it. It’s called NotePerformer. There’s always been a…

  • Boxing Clever

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    Just been through a complete tech clean out and revamp chez Lyon. And I’ve decided to fess up and say something extremely unfashionable. Band in a Box (hereafter BIAB) is a great program and a seriously useful tool. Let’s get into some backstory… I used hardware MIDI sequencers for many years to practise and write…

  • Less is More – Mixing Jazz

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    Jason
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    Been busy working on a little mixing duty recently and thought I’d share a few observations about recording and mixing jazz. The usuals apply – use the best and most appropriate mics you can; get your gain staging right so your waveforms don’t look like trembly bits of string; aim for as much separation as…

  • Foxtrot Oscar Mic…

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    Jason
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    Bad mic technique is a real bugbear of mine. Sigh – the wedding speaker, the gobbler, the cupper, the wanderer, the human hurricane, the yoyo champ… Never mind those people who insist on using cheap “vintage” toys because they “look good”… Thank you for this, hairy sweary dude… (this stuff doesn’t just apply to metal and…

  • Don’t Screw with the Crew

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    I rather doubt that it’s made international headlines, but there’s a furore over a fracas going on here in the U of K over a certain TV presenter being suspended for alleged abusive behaviour towards an assistant producer while out on shoot. Jeremy Clarkson is a celebrity star and the show he presents, Top Gear, is a…