FAT BERRY DSP GUIDES
Practical production and setup guides from Rory Browne. Read the explanation, check the product specifications and compare the result in your own session.
Control level through the actual signal path. Clip gain changes what reaches inserts; processor input can change an operating point; output trim supports comparison; the fader sets track balance. Host routing and pre/post-fader sends matter.
Read the guideCompression changes the level envelope. If a drum loses useful attack, compare less intervention or another timing response at matched loudness. Detector, knee, timing design and the source matter; the same knob value need not behave alike in two compressors.
Read the guideSaturation changes a signal nonlinearly. A circuit name suggests a design family, not a guaranteed harmonic balance or musical result. Keep a phrase fixed, compensate output and choose the smallest useful change in the full arrangement.
Read the guideBuild programmed drums from purposeful sound, placement, dynamics and note endings. Start with the song pulse, then add detail where it helps the phrase. Check the actual instrument's note and velocity mapping rather than assuming all drum tools behave alike.
Read the guideA delay throw sends a selected event into a repeat path. Fit timing to the song, control feedback and shape the return where needed. Automating a send differs from changing delay input or wet mix; choose the route that preserves the intended tail.
Read the guideClaim the free licences, install a published release your host can load, and make a small bass-and-chord arrangement. Add effects for named jobs. Free Pickings contains different instruments and processors, not fourteen versions of one effect.
Read the guideChoose between tonal correction, repeats and tape colour using the tools' actual functions.
Read the guideCompare a focused tape insert with a tape engine before a mastering rack.
Read the guideChoose how to control sibilance without confusing static EQ with an adaptive processor.
Read the guideEvaluate audible reduction, ceiling control and the delivered file rather than an unsupported league table.
Read the guideCheck host format, operating system and published installer before downloading a plug-in.
Read the guideChoose instruments and effects for Ableton Live 12 by session role. Compare product details, then follow the Ableton setup guide for installation.
Read the guideChoose synths and effects for Logic Pro 11 by session role. Check Audio Unit installer availability, then follow the Logic setup guide.
Read the guideChoose a compact path or separate stages without assuming a CPU or sound-quality winner.
Read the guideChoose free drums, a synth and supporting effects by their actual musical roles.
Read the guideAn explanation of filtering and practical comparison. Unsupported laboratory and listening-panel figures have been removed.
Read the guideWhat tape saturation actually does to a signal — low-end weight, softened transients, eaten headroom — and how speed, bias and placement decide whether it reads as warmth or mud.
Read the guideThree reverb families, three physical behaviours. How spring drip, plate density and church distance actually differ, and how to pick by the space your song imagines.
Read the guideWhy a mix that peaks at -0.3 dB can still clip a phone, what true-peak detection does about it, and how loudness, balance and the limiter divide the work for streaming delivery.
Read the guideWhere each format lives on Windows and Mac, why a DAW sometimes cannot see a fresh install, and the five-minute routine that fixes most missing-plug-in problems.
Read the guideSibilance control for individual vocal tracks: balance first, restrained de-essing next, then hand edits for the remaining distracting consonants.
Read the guideWhat a wavetable actually is, how scanning it makes movement, and how to cast one synth across a whole track without the parts fighting: registers first, modulation with a job.
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