Journal
Plain guides to the tones people spend years hunting: the shoegaze wall, the doom low end, one bass that fills a whole room. Written by a working composer, not a marketer. Where a Siesta plugin gets you there in two knobs, I'll say so. Where a free one does it better, I'll say that too.
The shoegaze wall, doom that doesn't collapse, one bass that fills a room, and 2000s lo-fi haze. What actually makes each sound, and how to get there in two knobs.
Read → Free tools · CalculatorsAn online guitar tuner, a metronome with a speed trainer, BPM to delay and pre-delay times, frequency to note, drop tunings, WAV file sizes and an EQ chart you can hear. All in the browser.
Open the tools → Lo-fi · Plugin guideWhat RC-20 actually does, and the free and paid plugins that cover each part of it for less than $99.
Read → Lo-fi · Plugin guideA complete lo-fi chain for $0, and how to set it up in FL Studio, Logic and Ableton.
Read → Shoegaze · Plugin guideThe fuzz, delay and reverb plugins behind the wall of sound, free and paid, in the order they go.
Read → Bass · Plugin guideHow to fuzz a bass without losing the low end, and the plugins that do it for you, including octave fuzz.
Read → Reverb · Plugin guideFree and Linux-friendly stand-ins for VintageVerb, Shimmer and Room, and what to buy instead.
Read → Reverb · Plugin guideWhich reverbs can hold a sound forever for ambient and drone, and how to use the freeze.
Read → Guitar · Plugin guideFree (NAM and TONE3000), Linux, and paid alternatives, plus the two-knob route.
Read → Guitar · Beginner guideInterface, latency, the chain in the right order, and where to get great tones for free.
Read → Bass · Plugin guideSansAmp, Ampeg and Darkglass sounds, and the free route through TONE3000.
Read → Effects · Plugin guideFree replacements for Little AlterBoy, Radiator, Decapitator and Crystallizer.
Read → Logic Pro · Plugin guideFree AU effects and instruments worth installing, and how to get them to show up.
Read → Reaper · Plugin guideFree plugins for Reaper, with Linux and CLAP support noted for each.
Read → Bass · Sound likeThe short answer up top, then the history, Mike Kerr's split-bass gear, and the exact plugin chain. One bass, two rigs, a whole band.
Read → Shoegaze · Sound likeGlide guitar, reverse reverb, and reverb before the fuzz. How to get convincingly close to Loveless.
Read → Doom · Sound likeThe tone that invented heavy metal and doom. Down-tuned, dread-filled, and how to keep it huge.
Read → Grunge · Sound likeThe grunge tone is a dynamic and a fuzz, not a secret pedal. The history, the gear, and the chain.
Read → Shoegaze metal · Sound likeCrushing riffs and dreamy atmosphere at once. The two-worlds tone, and the chain for each side.
Read → Lo-fi · Sound likeTape wobble, filtered warmth and nostalgic haze. Turning a clean recording into a memory.
Read → Psych / lo-fi · Sound likeSwirling phaser, tape warmth and drenched drums. The psychedelic lo-fi glue, step by step.
Read → Lo-fi hip hop · Sound likeThe drunk off-grid MPC swing and dusty samples. The technique, plus a free plugin chain.
Read → Dream pop · Sound likeCascading reverbs, long delays and shimmer over fuzz. The dream-pop wash, explained.
Read → Genre history · GuideWhere it came from, what defines it, and the bands that built the wall of sound.
Read → Tone guide · GuideWhy distortion eats your low end, and how the heavy bands keep the floor under it.
Read →Every guide