Field notes.
Updates, announcements and technical guides from the Tensormix team.
When to reach for a transient designer instead of a compressor
A compressor squashes everything past the threshold. A transient designer reshapes the front and back of a sound independently, leaving the rest untouched. That's the difference between a blunt tool and a surgical one.
Five guitar amp sims worth owning if you mix metal in the box
Nolly X, ToneHub, Amped Roots, Spark and Ampknob: what each one is genuinely good at, where they overlap, and which to buy first if you mix modern metal.
How Fred again.. turns voice memos into hooks on Actual Life
A bar clip from a guy called Carlos, a voicemail from The Blessed Madonna, an Instagram poetry rip. Here's the workflow Fred again uses to turn phone audio into the hooks on Actual Life.
Inside Burial's Weird Production Flow That Made Untrue
Burial made Untrue inside a single-track waveform editor with no piano roll and no grid. The constraint shows up in every drum slip, pitch-shifted syllable, and rain-soaked interlude.
How Jack Antonoff makes drums sound like 1976
Ribbon mics in the corners, close mics muted, the whole kit smashed into a Watkins Copicat. The Antonoff drum sound is documented, and most of it translates to a bedroom rig.
How Charli XCX got the blown-out vocal sound on BRAT
The lead vocal on 360 sounds like it's already been through the PA. Here's the Logic chain (Auto-Tune, parallel valve saturation, a clipper on top) that gets you there.
Changelog - April 2026
Dashboard overhaul and engine upgrades
How to Sidechain in FL Studio (Two Stock-Plugin Methods)
Sidechain compression is one of the defining sounds of modern electronic music, and you don't need a third-party plugin to do it. A walk through the two main stock-plugin methods in FL Studio - Fruity Limiter for proper sidechain compression, and Gross Beat for a faster preset-based duck - and when to reach for each.
The Rock Chart Has a Time Machine Problem
Rock is the biggest genre in live music, and simultaneously the weakest on the singles chart for new material. A look at why the UK rock chart reads like a 2003 playlist - and why that's not actually a sign rock is dying.
In Stereo - Mid/Side Processing Explained
Mid/side processing lets you work on the centre of a stereo image and the sides as two independent channels, unlocking moves that L/R processing can't reach. A look at how the sum-and-difference matrix actually works, some things M/S is particularly useful for, and the traps - mono collapse, phase drift, and why hard-panned elements aren't where you think they are.
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Parallel Compression: What It Is and How to Use It
New York, New York.
Tensormix vs LANDR vs eMastered vs SoundCloud
A technical, measurement-based comparison of Tensormix, LANDR, eMastered, and SoundCloud, examining how each automated mastering system handles loudness, dynamics, tonal balance, and stereo processing across the same source material. The analysis focuses on observable trade-offs rather than subjective listening impressions or marketing claims.