Vital Tools For You as a Musician!

1. Audiotuts+

As you’re reading this article, Audiotuts+ needs no introduction. Several commenters mentioned Audiotuts+ – thanks for the support!

2. Musictheory.net

This is a great Flash site with many resources to help you learn music theory. “Welcome to Ricci Adams’ Musictheory.net. To begin your journey into the realm of music, please select a lesson, trainer, or utility from the lists below.”

The site content is split up as follows:

• Lessons, including topics that cover notation, chords and scales
• Trainers, that teach you notes, keys, intervals, triads, keyboard, guitar and brass. There are also “ear trainers” that teach you to hear intervals, scales and chords.
• Utilities, including a chord calculator, staff paper generator and matrix generator.

Michael comments: “I have found http://www.musictheory.net very helpful. I am working my way through a Bachelor of Education with a major in music, and the aural training apps on the website are very useful for helping to train my ear, something that I’ve never worked on before now.”

3. Scalerator

This is a site that helps you with scales and chords. “Generates scale charts and tablature. Choose the scale you would like to learn from the drop-down boxes below, then click the button marked ‘Scalerate.’”

The charts are guitar-based, and there are options for various alternate tunings and other stringed instruments. It helps guitarists visualize what they are doing.

4. Scale Finder

A website that helps you learn musical scales and chords.

5. Sonic Academy

Subtitled “Learn music technology”, this site is all about learning audio. The site contains video tutorials, industry news, and a great forum.

6. Serious Sounds.net

Tutorials and information on MIDI sequencing, arrangement, sample use, soundfonts, using DAWs and VST/VSTis. “Providing Music Producers with Tutorials, Help & Advice on Music Production.”

7. Nick’s Tutorials

Joe comments: “Great Ableton/sound design videos.”

“My goal with this site is to provide high quality video tutorials to professionals and hobbyists alike. In the videos, I cover various topics such as sound design and production workflow. The product list is always growing as I complete new projects.”

8. Production Advice

A great site by Ian Shepherd. Here is a quote from his About page:

When I’m recording, mixing or mastering, I have only one goal in mind:

I want people’s jaws to drop.

I want them to look at me, thunderstruck, and say – “This sounds incredible !”

Or maybe even better, I’ll be chatting casually to someone and something I’ve worked on will be mentioned, and they’ll say – “wow, I love the way that sounds, it’s one of my favourite albums ever”.

My guess is that if you’re reading this, you feel the same way.

If so, then this is the site for you – because I want to help you make people’s jaws drop. I’m lucky enough that this has happened to me numerous times in my career, and I know I can help you achieve it, too.

9. Music Software Training.com

“Welcome to MusicSoftwareTraining.com and welcome to what many consider to be the most in depth and easy to follow Ableton Live tutorial Videos available ANYWHERE! My Goal is that you are able to come here as a beginner or as a professional and still take away a wealth of valuable information that will set your musical creations in motion.”

10. Key of Grey

“As the technical barriers of creating music are lowered, what was once only the domain of technical wizards has become accessible to everyone, everywhere, at anytime. With the abundance of new computer software that makes music easy and fun to create, a whole new group of enthusiasts is able to do in minutes what would have taken an expert days to do only a few years ago. “Key of Grey” is a resource for new songwriters and producers who want to learn how to produce a quality product with a minimum of technical jargon.”

11. Youtube

And don’t forget there are a lot of video tutorials available on Youtube. Many tutorials from other sites also find their way here. Just search!

Online Magazines and Blogs

12. Sound on Sound

Calling themselves “The Worlds’ Best Music Recording Magazine”, the site is full of useful articles and reviews. “Welcome to SOUND ON SOUND, the world’s premier music recording technology magazine. Based in Cambridge, England and independently-owned, we’ve been around since 1985. This web site houses our continually-expanding archive of highly informative articles (from January 1994) that chart the impact of technology on the music production and recording processes.”

13. Musicradar.com

Musicradar confidently calls itself “The No. 1 website for musicians.” It has sections for guitar, tech and drums. They have a forum, podcast and tuition section.

Their About page describes the site: “Created by musicians for musicians, MusicRadar.com is the number one website for guitarists, drummers and producers. Check out the latest gear updates and artist news. Read expert reviews on the best new kit. Play along with our expert video lessons or try our handy tips and projects. Add on our blogs, podcasts, competitions and a vibrant forum and MusicRadar.com has everything the modern musician could want!”

14. Create Digital Music

A site with lots of great articles and reviews on everything audio.

15. Innotune.net

“It’s quite simple. Electronic music needs more juice. More stories. More entertainment. More of that viking touch. That’s what we’ll bring you. We’ve got a team of well known dj’s and producers as well as some you won’t be able to miss out on in the future. And we’re all on a mission: Bringing you the best up to date electronic music, the best stories from the industry and breaking news.”

16. Beatportal

“Beatportal aims to be the world’s best electronic music blog and resource. The blog offers up-to-the-minute news about electronic music, informed music recommendations, DJ technology news, remix competitions with top artists and labels, and live blogging coverage from the most important artist tours and industry events. Beatportal’s Beatwiki – an index of 72,000+ artists and 8000+ record labels – is the biggest publicly editable database for electronic music available online. Beatportal is powered by the recognized leader in electronic music downloads, Beatport.com.”

17. Remix

“Remix educates DJs, engineers, producers, and performers of electronic music about the latest applications and new products specific to the electronic and urban music markets. Remix is the premier consumer magazine in North America dedicated 100 percent to the tools, techniques, and production syles of electronic and urban artists.

“Remix focuses on recording and live-performance gear, electronic musical instruments and music-production hardware and software for the electronic and urban music markets. Remix also features comprehensive product news and reviews about music-production and live-performance gear as it hits the market.

“Remix is the ultimate magazine devoted to keeping readers up-to-date on producing groundbreaking music: everything from house to hip-hop, trance to techno, experimental to electronica, drum ’n’ bass to downtempo and all other underground sounds that evade categorization”

18. Electronic Musician

“Electronic Musician is the #1 magazine in the U.S. for musicians who record and produce music in a home or personal studio environment. Its editorial focuses on music-production technology and techniques for musicians. It includes coverage of recording and live-performance equipment, electronic musical instruments, and music production hardware and software. EM provides comprehensive product news and reviews on the latest equipment and services.”

19. Wire to the Ear

“The popular pro-audio weblog with daily articles on creating music with computers, sequencers, plug-ins, synthesizers, microphones and more. On going discussions about song writing, the music business, promotion, live performances, publishing, royalties and great music recommendations.”

20. Home Studio Corner

“Tips, tricks and advice for home recording studio owners.”

21. The Music of Sound

An audio blog by Tim Prebble. “Tim Prebble is a film sound designer & supervising sound editor based in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand. While most of his waking hours are spent working on film soundtracks other interests include making ambient/alaetorical music, collecting records, playing double bass, making electronic dubwise beats, planting sunflowers & wishing he was on holiday in Japan.”

22. New Music Strategies

A blog about independent music business.

23. Steve Lawson.net

Blog and tutorials by a solo bass player.

24. Audio Geek Zine

Joe comments: “Great tips and gear talk.”

25. Musformation

“Daily musicians’ news tips, gear, business and gossip.”

26. Tom Cosm

Blog of Tom Cosm, who gives all of his music away for free. The site includes video tutorials, and Ableton Live packs.

27. You Produce

Interesting magazine about music production.

28. Gear Junkies

This is another great forum and website about audio gear. “Gearjunkies is a website dedicated to Gear enthusiasts, people who love to play with gear for electronic music production and DJ-ing. The idea for Gearjunkies was born in 2002 by a group of three gear enthusiasts, and in 2003 we went online. Ever since we are working on the website to create a humongous online information archive for everybody to use and to share.”

Forums

29. Gearslutz.com

Gearslutz is probably the most helpful forum you’ll find on audio gear. If you have a question about some gear, it’s probably already been answered and discussed there. If not, ask.

30. Harmony Central

“The #1 Online Community for Musicians.” A strong point is its detailed gear reviews by users.

31. Recording Review

Jon T comments: “Great very friendly and fun forum.”

32. The Womb Forums

Jon T comments: “Home of the Mixerman Radio Show. Tons to learn on the forum.”

Resource Sites

33. KVR Audio

This site contains lots of useful resources, including plug-ins.

34. The Covert Operators

The site includes lots of free downloads for music production.

35. Future Music

Axl comments: “Soft synths, gear and more.”

Keyboard Sites

36. Keyboard Magazine

Great magazine with articles and tutorials for keyboard players.

Synth Sites

37. Matrix Synth

“Everything synth.” Ineresting synth site.

38. Muff’s Modules & More

Synth forum. “Cats and modular synths, but mostly cats.”

39. Analog Suicide

“Analog synths and music from the world of Tara Busch.”

Guitar Sites

40. I Heart Guitar

This is a blog dedicated to guitars, and contains interviews, articles, gear reviews, music reviews, and lessons.

The site is put together by Peter Hodgson. “I’m a guitarist and journalist from Melbourne, Australia. I contribute to magazines including Mixdown, Australian Guitar and Australian Musician Magazine.”

41. Guitar Noize

This is the first website I’ve found to have a feature article on guitar toilet seats. Put together by Audiotuts reader Jon, it contains everything you ever wanted to know about guitars (and some things you didn’t). The site’s byline is “Guitar news from the furthest corners of the interweb.”

Sites for Listening to Music

42. Grooveshark

This is a site where you can search for and play music in high quality, promote your band, and upload your music.

“Grooveshark is a revolutionary music community that rewards users for sharing their music. Grooveshark was founded by three University of Florida students hell-bent on changing the music industry, and the world, forever. Grooveshark’s goal is to compensate everyone in the value chain – from users to rights’ holders. Let us know if you are interested in joining Grooveshark.”

43. Soundcloud

A site where you can listen to music for free, and share yours with others. “As you might expect, over the years we’ve grown tired of getting emails with YouSentIt links or FTP log-ins just to be able to check out our friends latest soon-to-be released tracks. Not to mention how annoying it is to try and email a reply with some comprehensible feedback. Music is just kind of tricky to deal with over email. So, we thought we’d change that. SoundCloud is our way of doing it.”

44. Alonetone

“alonetone gives musicians a home for their music

unlimited distribution, sharing tools & warm fuzzies”

Audiotuts reader Sudara comments: “Free of advertising clutter & corporate stank – just a bunch of musicians putting their stuff up.”

45. Flowmi.com (Spanish)

Commenter Raymi describes the site like this: “I normally listen to http://www.flowmi.com, an Argentinian site that has a player called Flowcast which displays all kinds of music and remixes I love. They also have articles for design fashion and new albums that come out on the market.”

Music Stores

We’ll cover places to buy your music online in more detail in a future article. But here are a few sites mentioned in the comments to our Open Mic.

46. Beatport.com

Beatport is an online music store with a focus on dance. The site was a little slow to load, but seems very functional, and has a lot of tracks available.

“Beatport is the recognized leader in electronic dance music downloads for DJs and club music enthusiasts. Download high quality MP3s and WAV file formats. Weekly top ten DJ Charts. Buy from 600k+ tracks of House, Techno, Electro, Trance, Drum & Bass, Minimal, Dubstep and ten other dance music genres. Ten free digital downloads to get you started.”

47. Podcomplex

Podcomplex are a music store, but not just a music store. “Podcomplex produces and distributes independent, high-quality, original music, video and multimedia.” They also have a blog with guides for using DAWs and producing music on a PC.