Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

At Audiotuts+ we irregularly put up a reader track for workshopping and critique (find out how to submit a track). This is how it works: you upload your song, and every week or so we’ll publish one here and step away from the podium. The floor is yours to talk about the track and how the artist can fix problems in and improve upon the mix and the song.

This track has been submitted for your friendly, constructive criticism. They have put their track (and their heart and soul) in your hands to learn and get useful feedback.

• Do you enjoy the song or track itself? Does it have potential?
• Can the arrangement be improved?
• How did you find the mix? What would you do differently?
• What do you enjoy about the rhythm track? What can be done to improve it?
• Is the choice of instruments relevant and effective for the style/song?
• Are the lyrics (if any) effective? Does the style, arrangement and genre of the song suit them?
• Can you suggest any specific techniques that might improve the track?
• Do you have any other constructive feedback?

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Blue Sky by MichaelBrown

Description of the track:

This is an instrumental I recorded recently. Kind of a Pink Floyd/David Gilmour thing. I used Sonar 7 Studio, a Ramsa DA7 digital console (still the best bang for the buck for out of the box tracking and mixing), a Behringer V amp pro for guitars, a Martin D15 acoustic miked with an AT 2020 ( great all-purpose mic for the price). Drums are programed, with a touch of blue egg shaker to humanize it a bit. Let me know what ya think!

Download audio file (BLUESKY.mp3)

Terms of Use: Have at it! Share with your facebook friends if you think they will dig it.

Have a listen to the track and offer your constructive criticism for this Workshop in the comments section.

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Submit Your Tracks for Workshopping

Need constructive criticism on your own tracks? Submit them using this form.

It’s a wrap. This session has covered a mix of interface design topics. We’ve looked at quite a bit of inspirational icon and graphic user interface design articles, after reviewing theory on topics like creating user friendly interfaces. We’ve reviewed both in depth detailed tutorials and case studies. This session posted across numerous Tuts+ sites: Nettuts+, Psdtuts+, and Mobiletuts+. We’ll continue to expand each session as we cover new topics and integrate your feedback. Let us know what you think of this session’s material.

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Interface Design – CS Content

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  Getting Started with Interface Design

  In this article we look at five fields that you should aim to learn more about in order to rock at interface design. These fields include Experience Design, Interaction Design, Information Architecture, User-Centered Design, and Graphic User Interface (GUI) Design.

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  Three Steps to Fostering a User-Centered Design Culture

  As responsible designers we must educate clients on the importance – both the validity as well as the viability – of the user-centered design process, one that gives due consideration to the needs of potential users. With the three steps that follow, we’ll go over techniques that you can use to get your team thinking about what’s really important with regards to the design of their websites you’ll help them create.

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  Roughly Speaking: Working within Mobile UI Design Limitations

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  Showcase of Macintosh Dashboard Widget UI Designs

  This inspirational compilation post showcases a collection of 32 creative, unique and easy to use Apple Macintosh Dashboard Widgets, including a selection of default widgets that ship with your Apple Mac, and a good handful or two of third party widgets.

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  Designing Realistic Interfaces – Part 1

  You have to be great in many areas of Photoshop to be good at interface design. So along with the actual steps needed to create this particular interface, in this series I will also provide as many references to other tutorials, resources and concepts as possible. That way, you can have access to some of the tools that will allow you to create completely original interfaces utilizing the same methods I teach in collaboration with your own creativity. Let’s get started with Part 1 of this two part series.

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  Designing Realistic Interfaces – Part 2

  You have to be great in many areas of Photoshop to be good at interface design. So along with the actual steps needed to create this particular interface, in this series I will also provide as many references to other tutorials, resources and concepts as possible. That way, you can have access to some of the tools that will allow you to create completely original interfaces utilizing the same methods I teach in collaboration with your own creativity. Let’s move on with Part 2 of this two part series.

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  Know Your Icons Part 1 – A Brief History of Computer Icons

  As with great works of art, you must look into the past to appreciate the future. With roots as far back as the 1970?s, the humble icon has come a long way. Following is a collection of icons though history. Although there have been many other operating systems in the time between 1981 – 2010, I’ve hand picked the ones of the most significance to modern icon design. These designs show just a small fraction of the icons in the many and varied User Interfaces throughout the years.

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  Know Your Icons Part 2 – Modern Icon Design

  In the last installment you learned about the history of icon design and how it has evolved from black and white representations of office items into full colored, glassy, hyper-rendered, isometric representations of… office items. In this installment I will be delving further into the world of icons and exploring what icons mean to us today.

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  Exploring Graphic User Interface Styles – from Minimal to Futuristic

  A user interface (UI) can come in many styles ranging graphically from very simple, all the way to extremely complex. In this article we are going to explore a range of styles demonstrating that there isn’t just one recipe for creating a good looking, and ultimately successful user interface. Of course, not every style is represented in this article; we will be exploring several high-quality examples, representing a wide range of graphical styles from simple to complex. Enjoy!

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  iPad Magazine Interface Design

  A great magazine is more than just a collection of articles around a theme or idea, it’s a curated editorial experience. Through layout design and copy it can take you to different places and teach you new things. The release of the iPad has kicked off the latest chapter in the history of magazine design. I’ve been working with a startup, Sideways.com, to create our own magazine publishing platform and here is what we’ve done.

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Your Thoughts on this Digital Illustration Session

We’d love to here your feedback and suggestions on how to improve Creative Sessions. We’re actively working to improve this project, by consistently adding more high quality material, and new intensive two week sessions releasing each month. We look forward to your comments.

Today, we have another Psd Premium tutorial exclusively available to Premium members. If you want to take your design skills to the next level, then we have an awesome tutorial for you. Learn more after the jump!

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This Premium Tutorial is Filled with Creative Tips

Urban art has fast become the de-facto graphic style for practically all things associated with youth culture. Extreme sports, clothing, and music have all been heavily influenced by its gritty, low-brow appeal. Today’s premium tutorial by author Mark Mayers will show you how to re-create a popular style of stencil graffiti art without getting your hands messy or winding up in jail!

Mark is a talented designer and illustrator from the UK. He has worked as a designer and creative director for several design/advertising agencies and specializes in print, branding, packaging, and exhibition graphics. Mark began his career when the tools of the trade were markers, layout pads, and most importantly, the ability to draw, but he embraced the digital revolution in the early 90′s and swapped his drawing board for a Mac. Today, Mark freelances from his studio in Cornwall for such clients as American Express, BMW, Future Publishing, IDG Communications and Imagine Publishing. Log in or Join Now to get started!

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Professional and Detailed Instructions Inside

Premium members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are some sample images from this tutorial.

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Psd Premium Membership

As you know, we run a premium membership system here that costs $9 a month (or $22 for 3 months!) which gives members access to the Source files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! You’ll also get access to Net Premium and Vector Premium, too. If you’re a Premium member, you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!