Tips and Tech

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) - Mixcraft Pro Studio by Acoustica
Why? It is easy to learn, POWERFUL and extremely feature rich. People have asked me why not use such and such, and I keep coming back to the same "Mixcraft is Simple to learn and Powerful, I get more done faster and with great quality." It simply does all I need with grace.
Scoring - Sibelius, Overture, (I really like Overture by SonicScores.com) and Musecore, which is free.
Keyboard MIDI Controllers: - ALESIS Q88, Roli Seaboard Rise 49
MIDI Guitar Pickup - Fishman TriplePlay Wireless MIDI Pickup
Speaker Calibration - Sonarworks "Sound ID Reference" - An incredibly useful tool I never knew I needed and solved my problem of my mixes sounding different on multiple audition devices, (i.e. different speakers and headphones). If you are reading this you are familiar with how your track sounds great on your studio speakers (or you think), then not so well on your car or home stereo, yet sounds different on your iphone or your head phones. This changes everything. It recalibrates your headphones or studio speakers to your room. Tremondously Recommended.

VST Name	Maker/Source	Price	Why
Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra	SonicScores.com	$149	BEAUTIFUL, absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! Especially the "Symphony" orchestral patch, it is so richly playable having the most sensitive velocity layers which really allow you to express your music. I'm honored to have one of my pieces used at Sonic Scores as a demo for this library. (see the Audio Demos tab when you go there.) Also the solo violin can be played beautifully on the Roli Seaboard!
Kontakt Komplete 12	Native Instruments	$599	Lots of great sounds, and mostly I need Kontakt to play other vendors vst products.
Blakus Cello	embertone.com	$99	Nice, can play on Roli Seaboard with some amazing results. Please note, Emotional Cello is far better when played on a regular keyboard.
Sensual Sax	embertone.com	$20	BEST SAX SOUND I've ever played! Simply the BEST!!!
Wavestation (VST)	Korg	~$50	Wonderful Wonderful!!!! Love those deep pads from the 90s.
M1 (VST)	Korg	~$50	It's a virtualized M1 Workstation - whats more to say. Great!!!
TrioBroz Solo Violin	fluffyaudio.com	$119	nice violin
TrioBroz Solo Cello	fluffyaudio.com	$109	nice cello
Ethera 1.0 and 2.0	Zero-G.co.uk	$99	Virtual Female Vocal instrument with great synth. Featuring the amazing voice of Clara Sorace
Ethera EVI	Zero-G.co.uk	$95	Virtual Female Vocal instrument with great synth. Featuring the amazing voice of Clara Sorace. Great to use as a layered sound using the vocal synth and phrases.
ETHERA Soundscapes 2.0	Zero-G.co.uk	$95	Virtual Female Vocal instrument. Featuring the amazing voice of Clara Sorace. I find the Ethera EVI a better library.
Voices of Passion	EastWest / Quantum Leap soundsonline.com	$199	Virtual Female Vocal instrument featuring artists from Wales, Syria, India, Bulgaria and America. The Bulgarian vocalist (with full keyswitch) is my go to female vocal instrument. Stunning.
Hollywood Solo Violin	EastWest / Quantum Leap soundsonline.com	$199	Lovely violins. But spend your money on the Joshua Bell Violin by Embertone. It's just better.
Miroslav Philharmonik	Ikmultimedia.com	$500	Orchestral sound library of carfully recorded instruments. Has the most excellent brass/horn section.
Roli Equator	Roli.com	free w/ Seaboard Rise	Equator is the world’s first software synthesizer built for MIDI Polyphonic Expression, designed for the Roli Seaboard. Favorite sounds: Breath Flute and Soaring Synth Guitar Lead
Acoustica Instruments	Acoustica.com	free / built in to Mixcraft Studio Pro	Around 300 virtual instruments, some are really great. Pianissmo is an excellent deeply modeled grand. And the bagpipes! I have other libraries bagpipes, but I just love these the best. (Since 2015)
Bohemian Cello	Virharmonic.com	$165	Very nice deep cello.
Cello Freebie	Virharmonic.com	Free	Fantastic cello sound playing looped 16th notes
Violin Freebie	Virharmonic.com	Free	Fantastic violin sound playing looped 16th notes
Cantus	bestservice.com	$199	Gregorian Choral vocal instrument. Awesome. Created by Eduardo Tarilonte, Cantus, a vocal instrument, offers a real Gregorian Monk Ensemble featuring the sounds of the dark Middle Ages. Note, also used by the composer of Enigma, Michael Cretu.
Garritan Personal Orchestra 5	Sweetwater.com	$125	Good go to collection of orchestral instruments. Recommended by composer JJ Abrams. Works well with Overture 5 for scoreing.
Joshua Bell Violin (Stradivarius)	Embertone.com	$200	Absolutely THE BEST virtual violin I have ever used. Instantly playable, with amazing velocity layers that make you feel you are playing a living instrument. It will take your breath away. It is the $4 million 1713 ‘Huberman’ Stradivari violin, deeply sampled and programmed with 20,000 samples. Played by Joshua Bell, recorded in Avatar Studios, NY. This virtual violin "utilizes intelligent and predictive programming using a diverse array of musical tendencies and rule sets." (source Embertone.com) Runs inside Kontakt. If you can have only one violin for your tool kit this is absolutely it. Period. (2019)
Emotional Cello by Harmonic Subtones	bestservice.com	$259	The BEST cello virtual instrument I have found to date. Very very expressive and realistic. Recomended by film composers: Paul Haslinger, Jeff Beal, Reinhold Heil, Robert Allen Elliott, Christoph Spendel. (2019)
SynthMaster Player	kv331.com	$29	Incredible synth!!!!! No joke, this is amazing. Especiallly for the crazy price.
Dominus Choir	FluffyAudio.com	$379	BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! Latin speech Choral instrument, "Dominus Choir utilizes an engine which intelligently connects the different syllables by the vowels which both precede and follow the consonants. Dominus features beautiful true-legato transitions for all the vowels in the library, capable of dealing with movements from the softest to the strongest dynamics, and, an intuitive polylegato engine that simply works as it should. " You can assign a note value to each phonic in your words.
Dominus Choir Pro	FluffyAudio.com	$649	Same as above with "the possibility to sing in English and Marcato and Staccato articulations." (Check for sales and upgrades to save some bucks)
Popelka Bassoon	Embertone.com	$39	Beautiful bassoon. Highly playable with a delicate lovely response. (2020)
The Orchestra	BestService.com	$300	This quality library provides some of the best fun I've had in ages. The tools and instruments are simply delightful. The animated orchestral patches will make you gigle with joy. "The Orchestra is a revolutionary all-in-one 80 player orchestral library whose heart is our breakthrough Ensemble-Engine that empowers you to turn your ideas into music. Simple and incredibly fast." Catch a good sale and save some bucks. (2020)
more to come....			Some libraries I'm using, but have not the time to go into details, the ones listed here are all great and worth every penny: 8DIO: Blendstrument Motion Textures, Alien Drums, New Rhythmic Aura Vol 1, Symphonic Shadows / Audio Modern: PATHS I & II / Red Room Audio: Cue Builders Cinematic Rhythms, SAGA (fantastic stuff!), Snaps Claps Slaps Stomps & Shouts, Sound from Hell Hits & Transitions / Best Service: Celtic ERA, Dark ERA, Desert Winds, Shevannie, Forest Kingdom II, Forest Kingdom III, The Orchestra Complete & The Orchestra Complete 2, Elysion, Elysion 2 / ToonTrack: EZkeys, EZbass, EZdrummer / Manda Audio: MT PowerDrums / Spitfire Audio: BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover, LABS, Arctic Swells / RealiTone "Sunset Strings" (stunning first class strings) / Orchestral Tools: Modus - Jeff Russo / Project SAM: The Free Orchestra, Symphobia 4 Pandora Core, Symphobia 1 / Frozen Plain "Wraith" / Xtant Audio "Dicky Deegan's Uilleann Pipes" / Bunker Samples "Off World" & "Bunker Strings Vol 1" / Audio Ollie "TASTE", "TASTE Multi Pack 01", "Mute" / Auddict "Angel Strings I & II" / Audio Modern "Opacity", "Atom" / 8Dio "Anthology Strings", "Agitato Legato Arpegio" (includes the very excellent "Ostinato Strings designer" very useful.) / Zero-G.co.uk "Ethera Gold" / Danheim "Asgard Sampler" (wonderful Viking age instruments) / Heavocity "Symphonic Destruction", "Play It Forward", "Damage", "Evolve" / Kirk Hunter Stdios "Kinetic String Motion Engine" (wonderful & powerful ostinato designer), "Diamond Orchestra"/ ... Hint: check out AudioPlugin.deals for great specials.

NAME	Maker/Source	Price	Why
TouchNotation	Kawai	Free or around $33 for all modules	WONDERFUL handwriting music notation tool when used with a stylus (like the Jotpro) or Apple Pencil. Using this wonderful tool helped me in my understanding of music theory and hand writing of music profoundly. One can write notation and hear the playback from a variety of instrument samples. Very user friendly. (2018)
Odesi Chords	Mixed In Key	free or around $20 for more features	An inspiring little composition tool to create chord, bass and drum ideas for 4 measures. Export as midi in to your DAW or scoring program like Sibelius or Overture 5. (2019)
You Compose	Elstar / Wout Bremer	$5.99	A really great composing tool, allows one to create 4 part harmonies using an AI expert system to generate 3 harmonies based on your own melody. One can edit via virtual keyboard, real midi keyboard, music notation or midi notation. Exports great looking full and parts scores in pdf, as well as export midi and mp3 audio. Pure genius, and for just $5.99, a no brainer. (2017)
Blocs Wave	Ampify Music	free / sound packs extra	"Blocs Wave is a fun and beautifully designed music app for making and recording new music quickly". Great with loops or sound packs. Most useful when exporting to Launchpad. Fun to generate ideas, send to Launchpad, then export your created ideas to your DAW for further work. (June 2020)
Launchpad	Ampify Music	free / sound packs extra	See above. Launchpad for me needs Blocwave to be useful. (June 2020)

NAME	Maker/Source	Price	Why
Rhythm Training (Sight Reading)	LEI CHI TAK	Free or $1.99 for full	This little Apple IOS app helped my music theory practice immensly. Used on my iPad. Reccomended by my cello teacher. (2018)
Lurssen Mastering Console	Native Instruments	free 30 day demo and $159 for full version	This tool is excellent for ones mastering chain. I've run tracks from two albums through this with great results. Intuitive and simple. Depending on the track(s), I may run all the audio tracks though this, then upload to the distibutor or if I feel it necessary, put the tracks through Platinum Notes. (2020) Note: since acquiring Ozone 9 I use Ozone first then finish with Lursan for a very nice sound (2021)
Platinum Notes	Mixed In Key	$99	An important tool in my final mastering chain. I use this to expand the volume and dynamics of an audio track before distribution. It is also really great at batch adjusting all the tracks in an album to be close to the same volume. It is very good but not perfect. If it adjusts too high or low I may put the tracks through Audacity and adjust by AB'ing with another track till my ears are happy. This really is a critical tool in my mastering chain. (2020) Note: I use this on almost every track after mastering with Ozone 9 in my DAW (2021)
Audacity	AudacityTeam.org	free	"Audacity is a free, easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS." (Been using this forever for editing.)
Mobirise Website Builder	Mobirise.com	free / $99	Website builder. I use this to create and manage this website. I have the paid version as it offers much more. The quick site templates and style blocks are such a timesaver, similar to the feel of Weebly. (2019)
Filmora	Wondershare.com	$39/year subscrition and up OR $69 Liftime ownsership or more depending on the version.	Filmora 9 is the video editing tool I use for creating my videos. It is excellent. There are two vesions, Filmora 9 and Filmora 9 Pro. Also a avariety of subsciption options are avaialbe for you. Intuitive, well designed and feature rich. Highly reccomended. (2019)

NAME	Maker/Source	Price	Why
OZONE Elements	Izotope	Free / $129	I've been using this with excellent results in many tracks lately as the final mastering FX in my DAW. Recomended. After this I may use Platimum Notes or not. (2021) (I received a couple of copies of this with purchases of different orchestral tool kits I ordered online at differnt stores.) Note: Recently purchased the Ozone mastering suite that includes Ozone 9 Advanced. (2021)
Lurssen Mastering Console	Native Instruments	free 30 day demo and $159 for full version	This tool is excellent for ones mastering chain. I've run tracks from two albums through this with great results. Intuitive and simple. I think they made this just for me! Depending on the track(s), I may run all the audio tracks though this, then upload to the distibutor or if I feel it necessary, put the tracks through Platinum Notes. (2020) Note: since acquiring Ozone 9 I use Ozone first then with Lursan and then maybe Platinum Notes for a very nice sound (2021)
Platinum Notes	Mixed In Key	$99	An important tool in my final mastering chain. I use this to expand the volume and dynamics of an audio track before distribution. It is also really great at batch adjusting all the tracks in an album to be close to the same volume. It is very good but not perfect. If it adjusts too high or low I may put the tracks through Audacity and adjust by AB'ing with another track till my ears are happy. (2020) (Note, still greatly used 2021)
Audacity	AudacityTeam.org	free	"Audacity is a free, easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS." (Been using this forever for editing.)
Hornet Total EQ	HornetPlugins.com		VST - very useful EQ
Hornet 31 EQ MK II	HornetPlugins.com		VST - good, simple EQ
Reference 4 / Sound ID	SonarWorks.com	~$350	Very excellent software & hardware kit that recalibrates your speakers or headphone. Comes with a microphone to calibrate your speakers to your room. Makes a monster huge difference. Highly recomended (2021)
Spectrum 2 (eq)	Schultz.Audio	$59	VST - visual EQ - check it out, very cool. Enable on multiple tracks to compare whats going on. "Spectrum 2 is a VST, AU and AAX multi channel spectrum analyzer plugin that allows you to inspect the frequency content of your mixes. It's ideal to find clashing frequencies and to cleanup your mix. It supports input from multiple channels: just drop an instance at each point in your signal chain you want to measure."
Tonal Balance Bundle	Izotope.com	$699	Ozone 9 Advanced / Neutron 3 / Nectar 3 Plus / Included is the phenomenal Visual Mixer. Caught this on sale at PluginBoutique.com for $200 as an upgrade from Ozone Elements. Watch for those sales. :-) Ozone is a great EQ and tonal tool, I often let the AI analyze either a track or the end master channel and let it create the EQ, it often does a great job but I'll also adjust as needed. Another great part is the Neutron Relay which you plug in to each track then use the Visual Mixer for a really great mix. (2021)

NAME	Maker/Source	Price	Why
DistroKid	DistroKid.com	Starting at $20/year for unlimited tracks.	I recently chose DistroKid as my music distributor for a variety of reasons. My observations thus far are they are Super FAST! ♥ I submitted on June 18th, 2020 and it was at Spotify two days later! iTunes was three days, Amazon Music took five days. The system is very simple and user friendly. If you click the link, I have a coupon embeded so you save 7% if you sign up. I use the $40/year package as it allows me to schedule releases. Be aware with the subscription, if you don't renew they will pull your music from the outlets unless you pay for the "Leave a Legacy" option, which is some what reasonable. Though I have noticed the acutal cost per single for this one feature is more expensive then CD Baby to publish a single, plus the optionaI features start to add up. At CD Baby these are included, so per track, CD Baby is a better value/price if you need the nice extras that cost more at Distrokid. Overall, I think this is a good service if you have a lot of music to publish and prefer to skip optional features.(Spring 2020)
CD Baby	cdbaby.com	Starting at $9.95/track and $29.99 album	CD Baby is my first distributor. They have great service, excellent value and are pretty quick to get your music to the outlets. Theirs is not a subscription service. You pay per product and it's up forever. I have noticed other distributors charge for things that CD Baby includes in their price making theirs an overall better value. They also have many perks and have treated me very well. If you plan to license your music skip the opt in to "Sync" and skip the PRO option. Importantly also, if you are licensing your music, as some music libraries do not want any music associated with Google's Content ID system, with CD Baby you need to uncheck distribute to YouTube Music. (Since 2019)
Level Music	LevelMusic.com	Free for 1 artist and two tracks or $20/year for 200 tracks	Level is another distributor for my music. I used them once. Their system is very simple, but they take three weeks to reveiw your tracks before sending it out. (Distrokid took just TWO HOURS on one of my tracks to release to Google Music. CD Baby takes on average 1 week.) (2019) I do not recommend Level Music.
MailChimp	MailChimp.com	Free for 1000 contacts. For more than that a paid plan is needed.	MailChimp is the service I use for my email newsletters. It is simply great. There is no charge when you have less than 1000 contacts in your mailing list, when you grow beyond 1000 contacts the next plan is $10/month. (2019)
TubeBuddy	tubebuddy.com	$43/year and up	TubeBuddy was recommended to me by Aureet, who is a full time musician and YouTuber. It is an amazing tool to help with publishing and SEO for your videos on YouTube. I highly recommend it. (2020)
Canva	Canva.com	Free and up	Canva is a wonderful desktop publishing tool for everyone. It's simple and elegant. I use it at times to design covers for my music. Also great if you want to design letterhead, business cards, posters, etc. (2020)
RenderForest	RenderForest.com	Free and up	RenderForest is a high end multi tool for media, video and assets. The prices are reasonable but not cheap as their products are first class. I use them for video rendering for some of my music videos, animations, and even logo design. (2019)
VideoBolt	VideoBolt.Net	Free and up	VideoBolt is a good service for video rendering. I use them on occasion for rendering video elements for film. Their quality is less and their options a little bit limited compared to RenderForest, however, theirs is a good product. (2019)
Rotor Videos	RotorVideos.com	$18/video	Rotor Videos is an interesting music video creation service. I have used them to generate a film segment based on still images I uploaded then let the system apply an astounding variety of film effects based on criteria I chose. I would take the product then drop it in to Filmora for editing to create the finished video. (2020)
Google Ads	ads.google.com	From $1/day	Google Ads is a great service for promoting your product or service. For my music on YouTube I was assigned a specialist in music advertising and he made all the difference. He had actually managed the ad account for the band "The Black Eyed Peas". I learned a lot from him. You can run an ad as low as a $1 per day and .01 cent per click or, of course, the more you budget the larger your exposure.
Omari MC Promotion & Training	omarimc.com	Free and Up	"Omarimc.com is a professional music promotion agency and music marketing blog." I've used them for a Spotify campaign with satisfying results. Also I've purchased some of their training materials. I believe they are an honest service with high morals, integrity and knowledge.
SoundCloud	soundcloud.com	Free and Up	Soundcloud is a great music hosting and sharing service plus the community is terrific, I've connected with great composers and wonderful fans. I use the SoundCloud Pro Unlimited.
"Get Your Music Licensed" program	NewArtistModel.com	~$500	Joyce Kettering's "Get Your Music Licensed" course is detailed, straight forward with no hype. She's an excellent instructor with a calm and deliberate approach to guiding you throught the licensing maze. Joyce has to her credit more than 2500 placements. Highly recommended. https://newartistmodel.com/get-your-music-licensed/

Tips & Tech

Primary Tools of My Music Production

Basics / Sample Librarys / iPad Apps / Tools / Mastering Tools / Services / Best Free Sample Librarys

Sample Libraries I Use

For a great sound we need great virtual software instruments (VST) or sample library, here's my partial list of the tools I use, like and why. Hope this helps.

iPAD Apps

iPad / iPhone apps I use. Some of these tools have helped so much I can say they changed my life for the better, especially TouchNotation by Kawai

Tools

This is a list of software utilities & tools for music and music production.

Mastering Tools

This is a list of software utilities & tools for music and music production.

Services

This is a list of services for music and music distribution that I use.

Best Free Sample Libraries

Contact:

Links