Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

In this tutorial we are going to make a create an animated web-like animation that you can use for any tech-oriented project you may have on the horizon. We’ll be using basic shapes, precomps, and a quick expression. The process is simple, but the options are endless…

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Preview

Want access to the full AE project files and assets for every tutorial on Aetuts+, including this one? Join Ae Premium for just $9/month. You can view the final effect preview video below.

Tutorial

In today’s inspiration roundup, we’re taking a look at a specific and fascinating type of photography; tilt-shift. This technique of making everyday objects and settings seem like tiny “miniatures” is a great theme to explore, and hopefully you’ll be inspired to give it a try yourself!

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What is Tilt-Shift?

Without going too deep into technical principles, tilt-shift mostly is a process in which photographs of real life objects are manipulated in such a way that they look like photographs of small miniatures. This can be either done in post processing, or through the use of specialized lenses. As you’d expect, ideal images are usually produced with a specific lens, but Photoshop lets you experiment with greater ease.

Today we’re showcasing a huge collection of inspiring tilt-shift photographs. The collection mostly consists of images captured with tilt shift lenses, but we have also included some Photoshopped images to showcase the digital artist’s skill of accurately simulating depth of field. Feel free to share your own work inspired from this post in the comments below!

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Stunning Examples of Tilt-Shift

Yousef Askool

Matt Daniels

roevin

Ed McGowan

Barry Broussard

Veronica

Rich Legg

Eric Verspoor

Ian Sobolev

Brian Mottershead

Pepijn Sauer

Paul Hillier

Javier Robaina

Brian Talbot

Janne Moren

Sheng Han

Jay Lee

Yueh-Hua Lee

roevin

Hyaground

Steve O’Brien

Camila Martins

Eric Lafforgue

Glenn Karlsen

sick.fiction

Alex

akosihub

Jon King

Carlos

lisa weatherbee

Piero Campilii Photograhpy

Christiana

Dalzine

James Young

Kenny Louie

Steve O’Brien

Alan

Nicolas Suraud

Lawrence Whittemore

overoften

Dave DiGiacomo

Amian Zannini

Chris Mc Roberts

Andrew Evans

JM Andrade

Ole Mikael Sørensen

Danny Zveglic

Andrew James

Deniz Hotamisligil

izamree

Shamil

Neville Gawley

darktiger4u

Tim Grimshaw

Alex Boyce

Roland Hauck

Calle janson

João Pedro Neves

Nick Key

Aku

Toshio Kishiyama

hburrussiii

Eric Verspoor

Sam Javanrouh

Modest and JillJanicki

roevin

Francisco Antunes

mokastet

rock-badger

Marco

Dane

T.Oechsner

Kimberly Balevre

Niyazi Genca

mechwolf42

Umberto Luparelli

pforbinesque

Maria Netsounski

Tariana Mara

Sérgio P

Andrew James

Gnarfield

Jon Law

leiyagami

Will Slegg

Nitrogliserin

Doug

David

Michael Tan

paintspills

Bre Pettis

therealjasonruff

ExplodedSoda

Christopher Chan

tomotubby

Carolyn Chan

Koji Nakatani

Phillip

Daniel

nra24

jeffreyhing

Today, we have another Psd Premium tutorial exclusively available to Premium members. If you want to take your photo manipulation 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

In Photoshop, sometimes we need to combine several types of elements to complete our compositions. In today’s tutorial, my good friend Bram Vanhaeren and I will demonstrate how to combine stock photography, 3D objects, patterns, and digital painting techniques to create a robotic woman in Photoshop.

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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!

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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Dusk Ullman’s Gift Shop by Itheme

Description of the track:

Psychadelic rock. I used two handed tapping on some custom 8-string guitar and Kaoss pads. Two tracks fully improvized plus Ableton drums, synth and a heavy filtered choir sample on the background. Really appreciate any feedback!

Download audio file (DuskUllmansGiftShop.mp3)

Terms of Use: Users can stream the track for the purposes of giving feedback but cannot download or redistribute 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.

Different bands and music appeal to us for all sorts of reasons. Which band’s sound do you prefer in terms of production.

Each Tuesday we open our mic to readers and lurkers alike to come out of the woodwork and tell us your thoughts and opinion, your experiences and mistakes, what you love and what you hate. We want to hear from you, and here’s your chance.

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In a recent Quick Tip, Björgvin talked about how he was inspired by Radiohead’s sound, and tried to emulate their tremolo piano sound.

Which band’s sound do you enjoy for the production value? What is it about the sound you enjoy? Have you tried to emulate it, and did you succeed?

As many of you will know by now mastering is a subject with many facets. Learning how to successfully treat your tracks after your mix is complete generally requires a good amount of experience but some solid technique will get you going in the right direction.

To get this essential theory embedded I have decided to chop a typical mastering chain into nice bite-sized pieces. This way we can focus on each processor one at a time. At the end of the series we’ll look at the whole chain in action. This tutorial concentrates in the all important equaliser and it’s role in a typical mastering session.

I have not supplied any audio examples here as the clips in the previous part of this series were pretty hard to tell apart if I’m honest. I plan to show the full mastering chain action in the final part of this series.

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Step 1: Picking the Right EQ

When it comes to picking the right EQ for your mastering chain many of you may be looking for a dedicated mastering processor. Although there is hardware and software products that are labelled as such, the truth is any decent EQ plug-in can be used. Obviously sonic integrity is paramount here so the best you can afford is usually a good guideline to stick to. Saying that there are some really excellent equalisers that won’t break the bank.

Although ‘dedicated’ mastering EQs can include some very handy features for shaping your final mix, what we are looking for here is a clean interface, pristine signal path and plenty of flexibility. For those of you new to the area of mastering a spectrum analyser can always be useful as well.

It’s highly likely that you already have something in your plug-in collection that meets these criteria. You may even have something bundled with one of your DAWs thats up to the job. Logic’s ‘Linear Phase EQ’ for example is certainly suitable. If you are finding it difficult to come up with the goods you might want to take a look at something like Fabfilter’s excellent ProQ plug-in. This features everything the budding mastering engineer will need and it’s very reasonably priced too.

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Step 2: Modes, Latency and Physical Models

Before we get into any EQ techniques let’s have a little look at the various options a lot of more advanced plug-ins may offer.

The first thing to think about is the algorithm our EQ is using. Now most run of the mill EQ plugs will use something called phase distortion to create their final effect, this process essentially adds noise to the signal and is a pretty brutal way of enhancing a sound. The upside is that it can often add character and induces extremely low latency values due to the small amount of CPU resources this process uses.

This sort of rough and ready EQ is just fine during the mix stage, especially on non crucial elements. In fact these plug-ins can reduce CPU usage and help keep latency to a minimum, so usually its a green light. When it comes to mastering we might want to be a little more selective and a more refined approach is often needed.

You may have heard of linear phase equalisers. Without going too heavily into any maths, these plug-ins use a process that create absolutely no phase distortion when applying equalisation. This means they are perfect for mastering duties but the extra number crunching does mean high latencies and CPU loads. Of course during mastering this rarely an issue as all your mixing and performance has been completed.

So long story short, if you have the option, go for a linear phase EQ plug-in as opposed to a bog standard stock version. Most DAWs include them and plug-ins like Fabfilter’s Pro Q that I recommended in the previous section have an option to engage linear phase processing.

There are some situations when you may want to consider using an EQ that actually compromises your signal path somewhat, now I know this goes against the grain but stay with me. Some equalisers use physical modelling to recreate the sound of specific hardware and this modelling gives us the ‘warm’, ‘phat’ sound we love but in reality these qualities are just the sound of random anomalies and saturation (i.e. distortion) introduced by the modelling algorithms.

So the question you have to ask yourself is do you want a coloured, characterful equaliser or a clean, transparent one. The choice is very much a creative one and the results are subjective but if you are in any doubt here I would advise a nice clean linear phase model. When it comes to mastering transparency is generally the better option.

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Step 3: Less Is More

When it comes to enhancing or attenuating frequencies in our master less really is more. Not only should you be using small amounts of EQ but also low ‘Q’ values. This means we are working with large, broad brush strokes and ultimately we should be able to manipulate our master without over colouring it or any frequency becoming hyped or over cooked.

There are generally no hard and fast rules in mastering but as a guideline if you are adding more than about 3-4dB in any one frequency band you may want to think about why. It’s highly likely that the need for extreme equalisation in the mastering stage means that something is wrong at mix level. Remember in most cases you can go back and alter things and this is often a much healthier approach than adding large amounts of processing.

Some dedicated mastering EQs only supply limited scope for adding processing in watch band for this very reason. If you look at Universal Audio’s precision mastering EQ for example, you’ll notice that not only do the gain knobs move in 0.5 dB increments but there is only the option to add up to 8dB in each band. This is nothing compared to the 20dB+ some modern EQ plug-ins are capable of.

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Step 4: Nice Curves

As well as small amounts of boost and cut you should also try to stick to low ‘Q’ values when mastering. This means gentle sweeping curves and avoiding any unnecessary peaks. This subtle approach combined with small amounts of boost gives us equalisation at its most transparent.

These settings will ensure you change the qualities of groups of instruments as opposed to one specific area. This will not only blend instruments but also add extra cohesion to your mix which is always welcomed at this stage.

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Step 5: The Final Cut

One part of mastering equalisation that is hugely important is the use of a solid high pass filter. This is something that a lot of novices forget and it can effect your final outcome in a few ways, none of them good.

Even the largest sound systems go down to around 30Hz and this is low, very low. Your average nearfield and even mid-field motors will go down to around 40Hz and active subwoofers to about 30-35Hz. With all this in mind it’s usually pretty sensible to filter off any subsonics below around 30Hz, if you feel this is too high then move down to 25Hz. But make sure that you remove some of these super-low subs.

Low frequency energy this far down moves extremely slowly and although you can’t hear it can push a huge amount of energy into mastering processors, forcing them to deal with it. This can cause general mayhem all the way down your signal path but is especially troublesome to the final brick wall limiter, robbing it of the ability to produce that all important loudness.

So make sure you have a high pass filter in place and if you are concerned with these frequencies re appearing later in your chain, after some heavy processing there is no harm in inserting another down the line.

Sometimes you just don’t want to work with MIDI. I must admit, I’m not the biggest fan of midi notes. Having too many synths open at one time eats up your CPU power and looking at long bars of MIDI notes is just much less flattering than the audio waveform. Maybe I’m the only one who likes the form of a waveform but anyway, sometimes it’s just better to render your MIDI to audio.

In the following quick tip I’m going to go through a very basic process of recording a loop into a Logic Pro audio track from Reason’s Dr. Rex loop player. This doesn’t only come in handy with recording loops, but is actually more convenient when you want to play through any of the synths available in Reason but record them into Logic.

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Step 1: Logic Pro & Reason

To make sure you are using Reason as a slave to Logic you must first open up Logic Pro and then open up Reason. After you open up both programs go ahead and create a new session for both programs. When you create a new session in Reason it usually creates a session with the 14:2 mixer already set up. Insert the Dr. Rex loop player and select a loop from your loop library. Don’t worry too much about the routing to the mixer. Just make sure that the loop is coming out of the master bus of the mixer.

Hit the preview button and make sure that your loop is playing by watching the meters. You shouldn’t be hearing anything yet.

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Step 2: Route Reason to Aux

Now we are going to create an aux track in Logic. We need to set the input of the aux track to the master bus of Reason. In the mixer window of Logic Pro create a new aux track by selecting Options>Create New Auxiliary Channel Strip. Now we have an aux track to feed our loop into.

Select the input of the aux track and find the Reason folder in the input window that pops up. Since the loop is coming out of the mixer’s L/R main bus we can just select the RW:Mix L/R for now. If you were routing a keyboard synth of some sort to a different channel in Reason that you wanted to record you would have to select the appropriate channel. But for now, L/R works nicely.

Notice in the picture that the channel fader is turned all the way down. This is a common stupid mistake that everybody makes when they wonder why there is no sound. For some reason we always forget to check our volume knobs.

Be sure to turn it up before you take the next step.

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Step 3: Send Your Loop to an Audio Track

Now, if we have the loop running in reason and everything patched correctly with the fader up we should be hearing the loop come through into Logic. Because this is an aux track we can’t just hit record and be done with it. We need an audio track to record audio. Therefore, we use the sends on the aux track and send the loop to a bus. Select Bus 1 and turn the send to unity gain. The easiest way is to click the send button while holding down the ALT key. That way it instantly pops up to unity gain.

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Step 4: Inputting Your Audio Track

Now we need an audio track that can receive this audio. Create a new audio track and select its input to Bus 1.

Now we should have an aux track that’s being fed by Reason. From the aux track we send the loop to an audio track via a send. By selecting the same bus as the send in the audio track we can receive the audio from the aux, hit record and end up with our loop in audio form.

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Conclusion

Recording loops like this might sound fairly basic but it can come in handy for a lot of things. It’s also very convenient to record any synths, pianos or other sounds from Reason into Logic so you can concentrate on processing everything using only one computer program, focusing your efforts and saving your processing power at the same time.

Making music can be both intuitive and technical, emotional and rational, so there is always something to learn. In a recent Open Mic, Audiotuts readers shared which books have been most useful in their musical education.

Here is a list of 12 books – actually there are more, since some recommendations are sets of books – that were recommended in the comments to that Open Mic. With the comments, I’ve included a brief summary of each book, and a link to Amazon (or elsewhere) where you can buy the book. Buying from Amazon helps support Audiotuts in a small way.

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1. Bobby Owsinski’s Audio Books

Bobby Owsinski’s books are well-known. We gave a copy of each book away earlier in the year, and many of you expressed your appreciation for his books in the comments of those competitions. Learn more about them from Bobby’s site.

Bobby’s books include:

• The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook
• The Recording Engineer’s Handbook
• The Mastering Engineer’s Handbook
• The Drum Recording Handbook
• The Music Producer’s Handbook
• The Studio Musician’s Handbook
• Music 3.0: A Survival Guide for Making Music in the Internet Age

Comments from our Open Mic:

• “Bobby Owsinski’s books are the absolute best for me. I always find them a good read.” (Robert)
• “Bobby’s The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook is a great read as well.” (Björgvin)

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2. “The Golden Ears Audio Ear Training Program” by Dave Moulton

An audio ear-training course for recording engineers, producers and musicians.

Buy it at KIQ Productions.

Comments from our Open Mic:

• “I’ve been looking at the Golden Ears program from Dave Moulton and I have to say it’s helping here and there in different situations in sessions.” (Robert)
• “Yeah, I’m a big fan of the Golden Ears program. They’ve helped me out immensely, although I haven’t gotten the chance to complete it. Those last few chapters look intimidating though, recognizing reverb and delay times.” (Björgvin)

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3. “Modern Recording Techniques” by David Miles Huber & Robert E. Runstein

“The authors, both industry professionals, explore everything from microphone placement and studio design to desktop CD recorders and signal processing.” (Book News, Inc.)

Comments from our Open Mic:

• A favorite book of Björgvin.

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4. “Behind the Glass” by Howard Massey

In this prime collection of first-hand interviews, 37 of the world’s top record producers share their creative secrets and hit-making techniques – from the practical to the artistic. George Martin reveals the technical and musical challenges of working with The Beatles, while Phil Ramone, producer for such artists as Billy Joel, discusses studio wall treatments. Offering real-world advice on everything from mics to mixing to coaching a nervous singer, producers interviewed include Arif Mardin (Aretha Franklin), Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys), Alan Parsons (Pink Floyd) and more.

There are two books in the series:

• Behind the Glass: Top Record Producers Tell How They Craft the Hits
• Behind the Glass, Volume II: Top Producers Tell How They Craft the Hits

Comments from our Open Mic:

• “Howard Massey’s Behind the Glass I & II are inspiring to say the least.” (Björgvin)
• “Anyone thinking about recording popular music should read “Behind the Glass”. (Sam)
• “Behind the Glass by Howard Massey – a must read.” (The Modest Brothers)

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5. “The Hal Leonard Recording Method” by Bill Gibson

Bill Gibson has created the only full recording course you’ll ever need, in plain-English, with easy-to-understand explanations of the entire recording process using both classic equipment and the latest state-of-the-art recording technology. Each of the six books has hundreds of pages of text, full-color photographs and illustrations, plus dozens of audio and video examples to aurally and visually illustrate everything taught across the entire course.

The series of books includes:

1. Hal Leonard Recording Method Vol.1 Microphones and Mixers
2. Hal Leonard Recording Method Vol.2 Instrument and Vocal Recording
3. Hal Leonard Recording Method Vol.3 Recording Software and Plug-ins
4. Hal Leonard Recording Method Vol.4 Sequencing Samples and Loops
5. Hal Leonard Recording Method Vol.5 Engineer and Producing
6. Hal Leonard Recording Method Vol.6 Mixing and Mastering

You can also purchase these books together as a 6-pack:

Comments from our Open Mic:

• “The Hal Leonard Recording Method by Bill Gibson are amazing guides too, for easy to understand information.” (Björgvin)

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6. “Mixing Audio: Concepts, Practices and Tools” by Roey Izhaki

Mixing remains one of the most illusive arts of recording practice and can take a life time to master. Looking at practices, concepts, tools and mixing instruments the author provides a comprehensive insight to the art and science of mixing.

The book is accompanied by the website www.mixingaudio.com, featuring a sample chapter, illustrations, audio and a user forum.

Comments from our Open Mic:

• “I’ve always been fond of ‘Mixing Audio: Concepts, Practices and Tools’ by Roey Izhaki. It’s not terribly in-depth, but gives a good foundation and pretty much instantly made my mixes better. It gave me a better understanding of how certain things work (compressors, expanders, modulation, etc.) which definitely helped more than simply knowing what they do and how to use them (if that makes sense).” (David)
• “Great book. It helps me clarify and learn a lots of things. The compression part really helped.” (LC)
• The Modest Brothers also recommend this book.

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7. “Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science” by Bob Katz

“In the book’s 22 chapters and 13 appendices, Katz presents a text that is clear and easy to understand with just enough mathmatics and ‘technical jargon’ to explain the technology behind the theory, philosophy, and methodology of the mastering processes, but without overwhelming the reader.” (Ron Streicher, Journal of the Audio Engineering Society)

Comments from our Open Mic:

• “My number one choice is easy: Mastering Audio: The Art and Science by Bob Katz. Lots of fundamentals, certainly not just for mastering engineers.” (ngarjuna)

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8. “Mixing With Your Mind” by Michael Paul Stavrou

“Two years in the writing, 20 years in the making. At last, Stav’s book of Closely Guarded Secrets of Sound Balance Engineering. Browse through the pages, have a look and a sniff.”

Foreword by Sir George Martin: “a remarkable insight into the most important piece of equipment in the recording studio – the human brain.”

Buy it at www.mixingwithyourmind.com.

Comments from our Open Mic:

• “I’m currently enjoying ‘Mixing With Your Mind’ by Michael Paul Stavrou. Interesting ideas and a slightly different approach to the norm. Not finished yet, but quite inspiring.” (Pipecock Jackxxson)

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9. “Quick Guide To Analogue Synthesis” by Ian Waugh

Even though music production has moved into the digital domain, modern synthesisers invariably use analogue synthesis techniques. The reason is simple – analogue synthesis is flexible and versatile, and it’s relatively easy for us to understand. The basics are the same for all analogue synths, and you’ll quickly be able to adapt the principles to any instrument, to edit existing sounds and create exciting new ones.

Comments from our Open Mic:

• “A book that catapulted me over some of the hurdles of my understanding of music production was the ‘Quick Guide To Analogue Synthesis’ by Ian Waugh. If anybody reading this is really new to production and are just messing with samples, get looking into simple guides to analogue synthesis because this fundamental knowledge is the the key to making original sounds.” (Phil Blunt)

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10. “Good Vibrations: A History of Record Production” by Mark Cunningham

From Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” through “Telstar”, Pet Sounds, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Dark Side of the Moon, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Vienna”, “Two Tribes”, Zooropa, Older, to Britpop albums from Oasis, Kula Shaker, Cast and Radiohead, Good Vibrations follows the development of popular music recording from the perspective of the producers, engineers and session players.

Comments from our Open Mic:

• “Absolutely love Good Vibrations by Mark Cunningham a history of record production with great recording techniques.” (The Modest Brothers)

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11. “Temples of Sound: Inside the Great Recording Studios” by Cogan and Clark

All great music has a birthplace. Temples of Sound tells the stories of the legendary studios where musical genius and a magical space came together to capture some of the most exciting jazz, pop, funk, soul, and country records ever made. From the celebrated Southern studios of Sun and Stax, to the John Coltrane/Miles Davis sessions in producer Rudy Van Gelder’s living room, to Frank Sinatra’s swinging cuts at state-of-the-art Capitol Records, each of the 15 profiles in this book brings great music to life at the moment of its creation. With a trove of never-before-seen photographs and fascinating, all-new interviews with the musicians and producers who made the records, Temples of Sound is a rich inspiration for music fans.

Comments from our Open Mic:

• “Temples of Sound by Cogan & Clark – another great one on the original techniques used in studios.” (The Modest Brothers)

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12. “Production Mixing Mastering with Waves” by Anthony Egizii

Master the signal process techniques and learn the tricks for professional production in contemporary musical styles, including: R&B, Rock, Country, Alternative and Urban. This book offers a complete interactive training course featuring a 7 CD set of session files for use on Mac or PC with these popular applications: Pro Tools, Logic Audio, Cubase, Nuendo, and Sonar.

Comments from our Open Mic:

• Recommended by The Modest Brothers.

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Thanks to everyone who participated in the Open Mic and gave these recommendations. Have you read any of these books? Did we miss your favorite book? Let us know in the comments.

Being a musician can be expensive. With musical instruments, equipment and software you normally get what you pay for, and we want to sound good! So we pay, and pay big. But it’s good to know you can get some things for free.

This article was previously published on the AudioJungle blog, which has moved on to a new format in 2010. We’ll be bringing you an article from the AudioJungle archives each week.

Joel previously wrote an article called “8 Free, Cross-platform Apps for Musicians“, listing some really useful music utilities and programs that you can get at no cost. Many of you are Windows users, and pointed out that there is some useful Windows software that was not included in the article because it doesn’t cross-platform. Well, this article is for you!

Of course, Windows has its own problems when it comes to recording music. It can slow down over time, is susceptible to malware that slows it down further, and doesn’t have the best latency out of the box. Next week we’ll look at some ways of tuning your Windows box for the best results.

In the meantime, here are 7 digital audio recording apps for Windows:

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1. KRISTAL Audio Engine

License: KRISTAL Audio Engine is free for personal, educational and non-commercial use. A commercial license is available. Website: www.kreatives.org/kristal.

From the website, “KRISTAL Audio Engine is a powerful multi-track recorder, audio sequencer and mixer – ideal for anyone wanting to get started with recording, mixing and mastering digital audio. It is designed as a modular system. The main application provides a mixing console, while the audio sequencer, live audio input and so on are loaded as separate Plug-Ins”

The program records up to 16 tracks at a maximum of a 192 kHz sample rate. It supports WAV, AIFF, FLAC, and OGG Vorbis audio formats. It includes plug-ins for sequencing, effects (including KristalMultiDelay, KristalChorus, KristalReverb, Kristalizer), and for using VST effects in realtime.

The program is no replacement for a high end DAW, but should get you started in the world of recording digital audio.

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2. Wavosaur Free Audio Editor

License details on the website are sketchy, but the program is free to use. Website: www.wavosaur.com.

From the website: “Wavosaur is a free sound editor, audio editor, wav editor software for editing, processing and recording sounds, wav and mp3 files. Wavosaur has all the features to edit audio (cut, copy, paste, etc.) produce music loops, analyze, record, batch convert. Wavosaur supports VST plugins, ASIO driver, multichannel wav files, real time effect processing. The program has no installer and doesn’t write in the registry. Use it as a free mp3 editor, for mastering, sound design.”

I haven’t tried the program, so it’s difficult for me to compare it with KRISTAL. I’d be interested in your comments. The specs on the features page indicate it may be a better program. Like KRISTAL, it has a sample rate up to 192 kHz and support for VST effects, but there is no mention of a track limit like KRISTAL has.

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3. Audacity

License: GPL (open source). Website: audacity.sourceforge.net.

This well-known program was mentioned in Joel’s article, and also deserves a mention here. It’s an awesome light-weight dedicated audio editor capable of editing multiple tracks. It supports Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.

From some of the comments left on Joel’s article, it sounds like some of you use Audacity for just about everything. It’s the Swiss army knife of audio apps. I used it to MP3 my cassette collection years ago.

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4. trakAxPC

License: Seems to be free of cost for any use. Website: www.trakax.com/software/pc.

Their website boasts, “TrakAx empowers you to create professional music and video mixes in an easy-to-use and fun environment. Whether you are creating a music track for your MySpace page or a video for YouTube, TrakAxPC is the most powerful FREE application on the web.” Features include beat matching, a drag-and-drop interface for mixing and adjusting tracks, and video editing features. Audio formats supported include WAV, MP3, OGG, and WMA.

Trakax.com’s website is very slick. If the software is comparable, it may just deserve a place in your software toolkit. It may be a great DAW to get started on. The site also sells royalty-free loops, beats and tracks for a price.

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5. Aktiv MP3 Recorder

License: The software is listed as the “free version”, which is confusing, since I can’t find a version you pay for on the site. Website here.

This software doesn’t seem as professional as the other programs, and is described like this on the website: “Aktiv MP3 Recorder is an all-in-one audio software built to convey CDs, tapes, DVDs, live performances, TV, Internet radio, video games and any other sound source into audio files stored on your computer. The program supports a large variety of popular formats such as MP3, WMA, OGG, VOX, AU, AIFF.”

The program seems to be designed with home audio in mind: particularly converting records, tapes and TV shows to digital audio. It includes “smart silence detection”, which should help break music from records and tapes into multiple MP3 files automatically. The program may also be useful to musicians, especially those looking for a simpler program. If you try the program, let us know how useful you find it.

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6. AVS Audio Editor

License: The software is listed as a “free download”. There is a registration cost to be able to use “all of their software”, but I don’t think that needs to be paid to use this program alone. Website: www.avs4you.com/AVS-Audio-Editor.aspx.

Update: WARNING! In the comments to the original article, Josh clarifies that the “free” version watermarks the output, and that the paid version only works on one computer and is not transferable. In my opinion these are deal breakers. Use at your own risk!

This program seems quite similar to Audacity. It is described on the website as a “feature-rich audio production software. AVS Audio Editor supports all key audio formats. It makes the program the complete tool for audio production. AVS Audio Editor will be interesting for professionals and amateurs, it is very easy to use, it enables you to perform a lot of operations without any difficulties.”

The program includes effects and support for VST effects, no limit to the number of tracks, and support for MP3, WAV, PCM, WMA, OGG, OGM and others. As a basic editor, it looks quite promising.

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7. Quartz AudioMaster

License: Freeware. Website: Digital Sound Planet’s Quartz page isn’t behaving, but you can download the program from the Shareware Music Machine.

Software description: “Quartz AudioMaster Freeware is a powerful though easy-to-use multitrack recorder and MIDI sequencer, and the best way to try the Quartz Audio Family software concept for FREE. It is intended for people who want to record, compose, mix, play and share music using a computer and a sound card. It features 4 stereo audio tracks, 16 MIDI tracks, effect plug-ins, per-track EQ, Aux buses, Video sync, Score, GM/GS/XG and “Piano roll” editors and all the functionalities required to easily share musical projects across the internet up to its multitrack compressed file format.”

The program looks fairly full-featured, and includes MIDI sequencing. Some users report some lag (I assume with MIDI), but overall seem happy with the product.

Windows may complain about a missing wmdvi.dll file. The missing file can be downloaded from here.

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7. Quartz Studio Free

License: Freeware. Website: Digital Sound Planet’s Quartz page isn’t behaving, but you can download the program from the Shareware Music Machine.

Another program from Digital Sound Planet’s Quartz range, but this time for those looking for a much simpler interface.

Software description: “Quartz Studio Free is an easy to use multi-track digital audio recorder, perfect for quick creation of music tracks or audio assembly and…. Free ! Moreover, it features the basic functionalities required to use the Digital Sound Planet Virtual Studios – also Freely available registering on the Digital Sound Planet site. The program also includes, among other features, 4+2 audio tracks, real-time processing effects (Reverb et Chorus) on each track, along with volume and pan, audio track data editing functions, a spacialization interface, Skin change, etc.”

Honorable mention: If you don’t mind spending a little more than zero, REAPER is an excellent multi-track audio and MIDI recording app with a non-commercial license for only $50. It’s not free, but it’s great value.

This article only scratches the surface of free music-related apps available for Windows. I’ll post a follow-up article in the future. Some cross-platform apps that work in Windows mentioned in Joel’s article that I haven’t repeated here include Traverso DAW and Frinika.

Feel free to mention your favorite free apps in the comments.

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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After They Have Gone by Mothers Bad Son

Artist’s website: soundclick.com/mothersbadson

Description of the track:

I composed this song using an online “studio” called Jam Studio. Once I had the basic structure down I recorded the tracks in my home studio and mixed it down. I believe I ended up with 10 audio tracks and 4 MIDI tracks.

I have dedicated it to every musician, singer and recording artist that has passed before us, giving us songs that we will listen to forever.

My wish is for someone to play this song in 50 years and relate to its message long after I’m gone.

BTW a video of this song is here.

Rick Hansen
aka Mothers Bad Son

Download audio file (Aftertheyhavegone.mp3)

Terms of Use: Users can stream or download the track for the purposes of giving feedback.

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.

Some sounds are ubiquitous standbys, familiar friends that even define and carry the name of a music genre. Others are rare sounds that catch your ears and surprise you. This tutorial is about one of those effects, it will show you how to make a “reverse glass effect” inspired by a sound from the soundtrack of Halo.

To be specific, the track I’m referring to is “Orbit of Glass” from the Halo 2 Soundtrack.

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Step 1: Oscillators

We’ll begin by designing a stabby, high-pitched synth sound. Then we’ll play a pattern, render the audio file with reverb, and reverse it. This will be the result:

Download audio file (10revglass.mp3)

First, Load ZebraCM. This is a freeware synth that comes with Computer Music Magazine.

This is the default patch:

Download audio file (01revglass.mp3)

We’ll turn the volume of the first oscillator off, and change second oscillator’s waveshape to “12″, which is a rich-sounding waveform with a little bit of bite.

For a thicker sound, I’ll change the unison to Quad, and to make it higher, I’ll change the pitch by 36, using the Tune knob.

Download audio file (02revglass.mp3)

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Step 2: Filter

Next we’ll work on the filter. ZebraCM’s KeyFollow feature makes the filter’s cutoff change according which key you’re playing, but we don’t want this in this situation. Let’s turn the KeyFollow knob to zero to make the filter cutoff sit permanently in one place. We’ll also change the Filter type to LP Middrive, and adjust the cutoff to 20. We’ll need to turn up the volume of the oscillator as well.

Download audio file (03revglass.mp3)

We want to adjust the sound so that it fades from bright to dim, but not as fast as it does now. We also want to make the sound a bit sharper, so that when it’s reversed it will have that “glassy” sound. We have to think backwards and adjust our parameters so that when played backwards it will start out dim, move quickly to a sharp sound and then fade slightly and abrubtly, much like the sound you get when sharpening knives. By default, the filter cutoff is linked to Envelope 2, and we’ll take advantage of it.

With this in mind, let’s adjust the Attack to 13, Decay 40, Sustain 60, and Release 40. I also recommend reducing this envelope’s Velocity knob, so that our note velocities don’t affect the filter envelope.

Download audio file (04revglass.mp3)

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Step 3: Volume Envelope

We’ll shape the volume envelope similarly. Adjust the Attack to 16, Decay 35, Sustain 40, and Release 25. Also, let’s set this envelope’s Velocity knob to 100 to make the velocity-volume relationship stronger.

Download audio file (05revglass.mp3)

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Step 4: Pattern

Now we’ll work on the pattern. The next steps we’ll take will change the sound dramatically, and it’s difficult to imagine how a pattern will be transformed by them. The best way to find a pattern that works is trial-and-error. I’ve found that the best patterns that work in this context are ones that move up or down a scale quickly and have a feel of acceleration or deceleration. I’ve also noticed that having a melodic zig-zag in faster parts is easier on the ears in this situation. Here is the pattern I made:

Download audio file (06revglass.mp3)

For those following along, this is at 100bpm. We’ll need to reverse the pattern so that we can bounce the sound with reverb and then later we’ll reverse that audio file to get the note order back to normal. Fortunately FL Studio has a flip tool (keyboard shortcut ALT+Y). Be sure to uncheck “Preserve start times”.

Download audio file (07revglass.mp3)

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Step 5: Reverb

A bit of reverb is essential for this effect. It smooths the transition from silence and adds something special when the effect is reversed. Let’s load EpicVerb and start with the default patch. We’ll need quite a bit of the effect, so turn the DRY:WET balance to 50-50. Also increase the Predelay to 50ms, and increase the Time to around 1600 ms.

Download audio file (08revglass.mp3)

Now we can bounce the audio file. I recommend selecting the timeline in a way that gives the reverb effect some time to fade out.

If we bring the resulting file into the project and reverse it, here is the result:

Download audio file (09revglass.mp3)

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Step 6: Spot Delay

It has the sound we’re going for, but it has a rather abrupt ending. We can fix this by using a technique called Spot Delay. To do this, we’ll need to link this audio clip to a Mixer channel, and then set up a Delay on a Send track. We’ll want to set the Dry Knob to zero, because we’ve already got the audio file sending to the Master track.

Next, select the audio file’s mixer track, and the send knobs should appear. Adjust the first send knob to hear the Delay effect. This knob allows us to send audio to the delay plugin.

Download audio file (10revglass.mp3)

Right now, the track is sending audio the whole time, but we can use automation to send only the parts we want. In this situation, all we wanted was to make the sound fade smoother, so let’s automate this knob to send only the end of the audio clip to the effect. Let’s also have a little bit of the beginning as well.

Download audio file (11revglass.mp3)

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Final Tips

The Spot Delay technique can be useful in many situations. For example, you can send certain words in a sentence to the delay plugin or send only the snares in a complete drum mix, by opening and closing the send knob.

For a stereo effect, set up copies of the synth with slightly different pan settings and have the synths play different parts of the pattern.

To speed up the process of finding good note patterns in Step 4, consider bouncing three patterns at once (any more than that and it can be difficult to remember which is which with all the double reversing going on).

For a “glassier” sound, use very high notes and extreme high-pass filtering. This, plus a lot of delay feedback, was in the Halo sound.

Here’s a quick tip for a really obscure but quite helpful feature in Logic if your collaborating with someone on a project based in Logic.

Introduction

I totally stumbled on this the other day with a client who bought in some stems for a programming job. Unfortunately I found this after we’d finished!

The jist of this is that if somebody sends you just a raw .WAV or.aif file that’s been ‘Bounced’ in Logic you can extract some very useful information about the project it came from!

Step 1: Somebody Sends You An Audio File!

I get this all the time! Somebody sends or brings in a rough mix of a track to add some guitar or programming to, I either have to work out the tempo by hand or phone them to get it. To make matters worst it might have a load of tempo changes in it!

I can’t tell you the amount of times this has happened. Lining up bars with peaks in the audio file only to find it goes out half way through. This isn’t such a problem with live instrument takes as you can turn the click off and just play to the track, but for programming!!! Nightmare!

Now as most of my clients use Logic anyway I think this might be a thing of the past thanks to a nifty little feature that must have crept in to Logic without me knowing!

It’s called Import from Audio File.

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Step 2: Get The Project Tempo Information

Import the .WAV or .AIF file into a new project. You can do this any way you like. In this case I’ve got a drum track about 40 seconds long. Now I don’t know any thing about this file. What’s the BPM? Does it have any tempo changes? What key is it in??? (Just kidding!)

Logic defaults to 120bpm like most other programs. Listening to these drums against the click it becomes apparent very quickly it’s not at 120bpm!

Download audio file (outoftime.mp3)

If this track was bounced in Logic as a .WAV or .AIF (which it was) I can simply select the audio file and choose Options -> Tempo -> Import Tempo Information From Audio File.

Bingo! Now you can see in the Tempo list all the information Logic embedded in the Bounce. As you can see there’s a lot of subtle hidden changes and a rall (rallentando) at the end. Try working that one out!

Now when I play back the track it’s bang on!

Download audio file (intime.mp3)

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Step 3: Import the Marker Information

You can do the same for any embedded markers. This time select the audio file and choose Options -> Marker -> Import Marker From Audio File.

And there you have it! Done!

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Dealing With Time Signatures

As of yet there is no way to import time signatures via the audio file, which is a shame. This would be incredibly useful, even more so than markers.

I’m sometimes presented with film cue stems that are laden with signature changes. I often get the Logic arrangement too, so thankfully now I can Import them via the ‘Selective Track Import’ function. Just choose File -> Import, select the Logic file you wish to import from and using the Browser choose ‘Global’.

Before this was available it was a case of either copy and paste everything from one Arrange to another. Signature, Tempo, Markers, audio and MIDI. Or rebuild or Replace the environment of the Logic song. Why? Well everyone sets up Logic differently. Working with an unfamiliar Default layout or environment can waste a lot of time working out Ports, Outputs, ergonomics etc. Either way was a hassle!

For instance my setup use ‘Outputs 3-4′ as the main outs (Don’t ask! It’s a MOTU thing!!). The first thing I have to do it’s set all outs to ‘Stereo Out’ if it’s somebody else’s project file. Boring! Plus I just really like working in my default setup because I know exactly where everything is! OCD maybe!

If all you have is a rough mix/idea as an audio file to work with your going to be in for a bit of setup time! Being able to extract ‘the lot’ (signature, tempo, marker) from that file would be a true timesaver!! It would make collaborating in Logic super easy. Think of the size difference between an entire Logic project and a WAV file!

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Conclusion

It’s worth noting you can export this data out to an audio file too without bouncing. Have a look at the file menus above. Next time your collaborating or adding tracks to a song made in Logic this might come in handy. You just never know!

This tutorial is an overview of different glitch techniques to spice up your music, we will go over stutter, stretch, algorithmic cutting and other glitch editing techniques used to create complex effects simply.

For this tutorial we will be using Logic Pro, but the plug-ins we are going to be looking at are available for both Windows and Mac operating systems, so the information will still be relevant. We will look at four different plug-ins popular for glitch and learn how they process audio.

To install audio units (if no .dmg is provided) all you have to do is drag and drop the .component file, into a folder named components. The folder components can be found here: User–>Library–>Audio–>Plug-Ins–>Components.

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1. LiveCut

First we will look at algorithmic beat slicing using LiveCut made by Smartelectronix, it is a free plug-in available for both mac and windows operating systems. Download it for free here: mdsp.smartelectronix.com/livecut.

Step 1

Open a new project file, I am using an empty template to begin, create a new audio track, click on one of the empty insert boxes, and go down to audio units –> MDSP@Smartelectronix –> LiveCut.

Step 2

Pick any sound file you want and drop it onto the audio track, here I have used a 90bpm hip-hop drum loop, set the loop points and have a listen.

Download audio file (livecutdefault.mp3)

Step 3

LiveCut has rearranged the loop automatically, how cool is that? There are different algorithms such as warp which emulates the non-linear glitch techniques made famous by the label of the same name, and a squarepusher algorithm which emulates how squarepusher chops up drum loops.

Download audio file (livecutwarp.mp3)

Step 4

There is also an awesome effects section which can create some really interesting glitchy sounds, what I like to do is bounce down a section and take the parts from the loop I like and sequence the audio myself, as because it is random you have no control of the placement of the glitch.

Download audio file (livecutwarp2.mp3)

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2. Super Trigger

Next we will look at algorithmic beat slicing using Super Trigger made by Bram@smartelectronix, it is a free plug-in available for both Mac and Windows operating systems. Download it for free here: www.smartelectronix.com/~bram/plugins.php?id=6.

Step 1

We will continue to use the same loop for this example so all you need to change is the plug-in. Click on one of the insert boxes, and go down to audio units –> Bram@Smartelectronix –> SuperTrigger.

Step 2

This is a very simple algorithmic cutter, but can be very useful to chop up drums and make fast alterations to your original loop. The tape stop effect is especially nice in this plug-in.

Download audio file (supertrigg.mp3)

Step 3

Again this is an algorithmic loop slicer, so to get the best results it is useful to bounce to audio and chop and take the segments you like to re-trigger in a fashion that suits you.

Download audio file (supertrigg2.mp3)

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3. Buffer Override

Next we will look at stutter techniques using BufferOverride made by Destroyfx, it is a free plug-in available for both mac and windows operating systems. Download it here: destroyfx.smartelectronix.com.

Step 1

Load the plug-in, this may be a slightly different process if you are using something other than Logic. Click on one of the insert boxes, and go down to audio units –> Destroy Effects–> BufferOverride.

Step 2

This is a very simple plug-in that can create some crazy sounds, there are two main controls on the front of the interface, buffer divisor and buffer size. Move the buffer divisor control and take a listen to the effect is has.

Download audio file (bufferunsync.mp3)

Download audio file (bufferslow.mp3)

Step 3

Pretty wild! This is a really useful plug-in for making quick glitch on, you can also hook the buffer divisor to be controlled by MIDI data such as a rotary knob on a keyboard using the MIDI learn function.

Step 4

You can create a more tame effect by clicking the tempo sync button in the top left of the plug-in window, now the buffersize will change to buffers per beat, have a listen…

Download audio file (buffersync.mp3)

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4. Effectrix

Next we will look at a rather complex plug-in called Effectrix. This is the only plug-in that you will have to pay for, but it is well worth it if you like your glitch effects. Again it is available for both Mac and Windows operating systems. You can find it here: www.sugar-bytes.de/content/products/Effectrix/index.php?lang=en.

Step 1

First load the plug-in. Click on one of the insert boxes, and go down to audio units –> Sugar Bytes–> Effectrix.

Step 2

This plug-in has many effects, but we will only be looking at a few, specifically the glitch effects available. The first one we will start with is the stretch effect, this is a very simple but powerful sound design tool, the effect has two main parameters: Time and Grainsize. Take the time parameter all the way down to zero and adjust the grainsize.

Download audio file (drumstretch.mp3)

Download audio file (voice.mp3)

Recognise that effect anywhere? This is a lovely technique for create anything from a build-up or drop to ambient weirdness, I especially love putting vocals through it.

Step 3

The next effect I will show you is the reverse function, this pretty self-explanatory but it is a very fast alternative to manually processing the audio.

Step 4

The scratch function is a handy little tool useful for vinyl scratch type effects, it has five main parameters, that allow control over the forward and backward spin the slopes of the two respective spins, and the overall loop size of the scratch.

Download audio file (scratch.mp3)

Step 5

The loop function is very useful in producing fast stutter glitch effects, and all parameters in Effectrix can be modulated by the step sequencer below the main matrix of effects. Select the parameter you want to automate in the assign section of the modulator tracks, in this instance the size, and draw in how you want it to be effected over time.

Download audio file (loopup.mp3)

Step 6

The X-loop function is amazing for producing crazy build-ups or breakdown sounds. The X-loop function takes a loop of the audio you feed into it and can either speeds the loop up or slows the loop down. This effect is similar to modulating delay times on effects boxes such as the Roland space echo.

Download audio file (x loop.mp3)

Download audio file (loopfiltrup.mp3)

I suggest playing with these audio units for yourself, as the sounds covered here are just a starting point for your exploration into the exciting world of glitch.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a hyper-realistic illustration of a flashlight. This style of illustration is particularly popular for icons and technical illustrations. Although this tutorial is more advanced than others, don’t let that dissuade you from giving it a go, you will find it’s written in an easy to understand format and the results will be worth the perseverance.

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Step 1

Open a new 1280px by 1024px document. Load this photo from Stock.xchng inside your document. Resize it so it fits your Artboard. You can select the photo than click on the Transform button from the top bar and insert the numbers shown in the image below. Use this only if you want to use the exact size and position that I’ve used. In most of the pictures below, I lowered the opacity of the flashlight image to 30% so that you can distinguish the shapes. When I normally work I leave the opacity at 100%. Experiment and see which is best for you. Create a new layer and name it "IMAGE" and place it in the bottom of the Layers palette. Move the flashlight image inside the "IMAGE" layer and lock the layer. That way you won’t select or move accidentally the image.

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Step 2

Select the Pen Tool (P) and create the shape of the entire flashlight. Try to pay extra attention at the areas zoomed in the picture below. Name this shape "FLASHLIGHT".

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Step 3

Duplicate "FLASHLIGHT" then select the Pen Tool (P) and create a shape like the one shown in picture #1. Select this shape and the duplication of "FLASHLIGHT" then click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette. Name the resulting shape "Section1".

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Step 4

Duplicate "FLASHLIGHT" and "Section1". Select the Pen tool (P) and create a shape like the one from picture #1. Select this shape and the duplication of "FLASHLIGHT" then click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette. Move the resulting shape below the duplication of "Section1" then select both shapes and click on Minus Front button from the Pathfinder palette. Name the resulting shape "Section2".

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Step 5

Duplicate "FLASHLIGHT" then select the Pen Tool (P) and create a shape like the one shown in picture #1. Select this shape and the duplication of "FLASHLIGHT" then click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder pallete.Name this shape "vvv" and duplicate it. Reselect the Pen Tool (P) and create a shape like the one shown in picture #4. Select it along with the duplicate of "vvv" and click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder pallete. Name the resulting shape "Section6". Duplicate "Section6" and move iv above the original "vvv" shape. Now, select these two shapes and click on Minus Front button from the Pathfinder palette. Name this new shape "Section5".

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Step 6

Duplicate "FLASHLIGHT" and "Section5". Select the Pen tool (P) and create a shape like the one from picture #1. Select this shape and the duplication of "FLASHLIGHT" then click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette. Move the resulting shape below the duplication of "Section5" then select both shapes and click on Minus Front button from the Pathfinder palette. Name this new shape "Section4".

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Step 7

Duplicate "Section5" and "Section2". Select the Pen tool (P) and create a shape like the one from picture #1.Select this shape along with "FLASHLIGHT" then click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette. Move the resulting shape below the duplications of "Section5" and "Section2" then select these three shapes and click on Minus Front button from the Pathfinder palette. Name the resulting shape "Section3".

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Step 8

Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and create a squeezed circle like the one shown in picture #1. Rotate it, play a little with the anchors point and the handles, until you get a shape like the one from picture #4. Finally name this shape"Section7".

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Step 9

Now you should have 7 shapes in your Layers palette.

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Step 10

Create a new layer and name it "SECTION1". Move the "Section1" shape inside this layer then fill it with R=40 G=40 B=40.Now you need to add the gradient shown in image #2. You can go to the Appearance palette. and from the flyout menu choose the Add New Fill option. This will add a new fill for your shape. I don’t use to do it that way. Whenever I want to add multiple fills to a shape I use to make as many copies as I need. You can try it both ways and decide which one is the best for you.

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Step 11

Create a new layer and name it "SECTION2". Move the "Section2" shape inside this layer then fill it with the color and the gradients shown in the image below.

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Step 12

Create a new layer and name it "SECTION3". Move the "Section3" shape inside this layer then fill it with the color and the gradient shown in the image below.

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Step 13

Duplicate "Section3" and name this new shape "Section3.RedStroke". Fill it with none then add a 1pt stroke (Align Stroke to Centre), color R=236 G=28 B=36. Turn off the visibility for all the other shapes left in "SECTION3" layer. Duplicate "Section3.RedStroke" and for the moment turn off the visibility of this duplicate. Select the Direct Selection tool (A) and click on the top line of "Section3.RedStroke" then hit the delete key from you keyboard. Repeat this step only this time click on the bottom line. Now you should have only two lines, one to the left and the other to the right. Select them and go to Object > Blend > Make. Go to Object >Blend > Blend Options (or double click on the Blend Tool) and set the blending steps to 70. Select this Blend then go to Object > Expand. Next, turn on the visibility for the "Section3.RedStroke" duplication and delete the left and right lines. Increase the length of the remaining lines, then select them and go to Object > Blend > Make. Go to Object > Blend > Blend Options (or double click on the Blend Tool) and set the blending steps to 50. Select this Blend then go to Object > Expand.

Now you should have two groups of strokes. One group of vertical strokes and another of horizontal strokes. Select both groups then go to Object > Expand. Select the resulting shapes and click on Unite button from the Pathfinder palette. Again, select the resulting shape, add a discrete 0.3px Rounded Corners (Effect >Stylize > Rounded Corners) effect then once again go to Object > Expand. Turn on the visibility for "Section3" then duplicate it. Select this duplication along with the shape you’ve just created and click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette. Name the resulting shape Grid, fill it with R=26 G=26 B=26 and with the gradients shown in pictures below.

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Step 14

Create a new layer and name it "SECTION4". Move the "Section4" shape inside this layer then fill it with the color and the gradient shown in the image below.

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Step 15

Create a new layer and name it "SECTION5". Move the "Section5" shape inside this layer then fill it with the color and the gradient shown in the image below. Select the Pen tool (P) and create a shape like the one shown in image #4. Fill it with R=32 G=32 B=32 add a 35px Gaussain Blur lower it’s opacity to 30% and change the blending mode to Multiply. Also with the Pen tool (P) create a shape like the one shown in image #5, fill it with R=6 G=4 B=2 add a 35px Gaussain Blur lower it’s opacity to 80% and change the blending mode to Multiply. Select these two shapes and go to Object > Blend > Make. Go to Object > Blend > Blend Options (or double click on the Blend Tool) and set the blending steps to 2. Finally duplicate "Section5", move this new shape in the top of the layer and fill it with the gradient shown in image #7.

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Step 16

Select the Pen tool (P) and create a path like the one shown in image #1. Fill it with none but add a 2pt stroke, color R=0 G=0 B=0. Select this path then go to Object > Expand. Make a copy of "Section5", select it along with the expanded stroke then click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette. Squeeze a little the shape as shown in the zoomed images below. Add the gradients shown in last images. Create a thin line like the one shown in the last image and fill it with R=148 G=146 B=151.

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Step 17

Duplicate "Section7". Select this duplication along with "Section6" then click on Minus Front button from the Pathfinder palette. Create a new layer, name it "SECTION6" and move the resulting shape inside this layer then fill it with the color and the gradients shown in the images below.

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Step 18

Inside the "SECTION6" layer, create two thin shapes like those shown in the images below. Follow the colors and the effects shown below.

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Step 19

Create a new layer and name it "SECTION7". Move the "Section7" shape inside this layer then fill it with the color and the gradient shown in the images below. Pay attention at the gradients from image #2 and #5, you’ll have to lower the opacity.

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Step 20

Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and create a squeezed circle like the one shown in picture #1. Rotate it and place it as shown in image #2. Duplicate "Section7" , select it along with the circle then click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette. Fill the resulting shape with R=166 G=168 B=171. Create a smaller circle then repeat the steps above. Duplicate the bigger circle, you’ll need this duplicate later. Now, select the original big circle and the small one and click on Object > Blend > Make. Go to Object > Blend > Blend Options (or double click on the Blend Tool) and set the blending steps to 90. Finally move the duplication of the bigger circle above the blend and fill it with the gradients below.

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Step 21

Duplicate "Section7". Select the Pen tool (P) and create a shape like the one shown in image #1. Select it along with the the duplication of "Section7" then click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette. Fill the resulting shape with R=35 G=31 B=32. Create some other shape and fill them with the colours shown in the image below.

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Step 22

Duplicate "Section7". Make sure that this new shape is placed in the top of "SECTION7" layer than fill it with the gradients shown in the images below. Don’t forget to lower the opacity of these fills as the pictures show.

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Step 23

Return to the "SECTION4" layer. Inside this layer, with the Pen tool (P), create a new shape like the one shown in image #1. Duplicate "Section4". Select this duplication along with the newly created shape then click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette. Name the resulting shape "Bar" and fill it with the color and the gradients shown in the images below.

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Step 24

Duplicate "Bar". Select the Pen tool (P) an create a new shape like the one shown in image #1(this shape should have a thin area where it intersect with "Bar"). Select this new shape along with the duplication o "Bar" then click on Intersect button from the Pathfinder palette. Fill the resulting shape with R=40 G=40 B=40 and with the gradients shown in the image below.

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Step 25

Use the same technique to create a right and a middle thin line. Fill them with the colors and the gradients shown in the images below. Also, with the Pen Tool create two thin lines like those shown in the last image and fill them with R=227 G=229 B=223.

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Step 26

Select the "SECTION4" layer and click on Create New Sublayer button from the Layers palette. Name this new layer "BUTTON". Select the Pen tool (P) and inside this layer create two shapes like those shown in image #1 and #2. Name the shape from image #2 "Button" and duplicate it. Select this duplication place it above the shape created in picture #1 then select both shapes and click on Minus Front button from the Pathfinder palette. Fill the resulting shape with R=88 G=89 B=91 and add the Inner Glow shown in image #1. Next,fill it with the gradients shown in the image below.

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Step 27

Create two copies of the "Button" shape. Move the second copy a few pixels down as shown in image #2.Select these two shapes and click on Minus Front button from the pathfinder palette. Fill the resulting shape with the color and the gradients shown in the image below.

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Step 28

Fill the original "Button" shape with the color and the gradient shown in the image below. Make sure this shape is placed in the bottom of "BUTTON" layer.

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Step 29

Create a new layer, name it "FLASHLIGHT" and move all the layers except "IMAGE" layer inside this layer. Now,the flashlight is done. You can continue with the shadows and the background.

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Step 30

Select the Pen tool (P) and create a shape like the one in image #1 fill it with R=187 G=189 B=191 apply a 55px Gaussian Blur and lower the opacity to 45%. Also with the Pen tool (P) create a new shape like the one in image #2 fill it with R=109 G=1110 B=112 apply a 45px Gaussian Blur and lower the opacity to 60%. Create a new shape like the one in image #3 fill it with the gradient apply a 15px Gaussian Blur and lower the opacity to 80%. Create one last shape like the one shown in image #4 fill it with the gradient then apply a 30px Gaussian Blur. Create a new layer and name it "SHADOWS" and move below "FLASHLIGHT" layer. Finally move all the shadow shapes inside this layer.

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Step 31

Select the Rectangle tool (M), create a rectangle like the one shown in image #1 and fill it with R=208 G=210 B=211. Make a copy of this shape and for the moment turn off it’s visibility. Again, with the Rectangle tool (M) create a shapelike the one shown in image #2. Fill it with R=241 G=241 B=242. Select this small rectangle and the large rectangle and go to Object > Blend > Make. Set the steps of this blending to 33. Turn on the visibility of the copy of the large rectangle move it above the blending fill it with the gradient shown in image #4 and don’t forget to lower it’s opacity to 50%. Reselect the Rectangle tool (M) and create a new rectangle in the top area of your artboard(image #5). Fill this shape with R=208 G=210 B=211 and with the gradients shown in images #6 and #7.

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Conclusion

To take your illustration even further you can try and changing the background colour and altering the reflections and luminosity to match. Now your illustration is done.