Producer’s Guide to Stutter Edit 2 TUTORIAL
iZotope’s Stutter Edit 2 is an invaluable tool for creating everything from simple beat repeats to crazy sonic mangling, which help to add interest and variation to any performance or production. On this 4-hour course from Producertech Senior Tutor Rob Jones, you’ll be guided through the software and taught everything from basic usage to more advanced effects progression design.
The course begins with some simple techniques for using the software presets to add fills to a track, before starting to explore one of the key areas of the plugin, the Stutter section. Simple beat repeats are created to start with, which eventually evolve into more complex stutters with shifting rates and gate lengths. The Buffer is then incorporated, showing how it changes the nature of a stutter and allows different stereo effects and sample reversing to be introduced.
To demonstrate the versatility of the stutter section, Rob makes a pair of contrasting gestures, one that uses the Dry/Wet gains to create stutters on certain beats and another that turns a beat into a melodic line. He then moves onto the filters, making an assortment of gestures, from simple sweeps, to custom LFO modulation, stepped filtering, comb filtering and also phaser application. In the first half of the course, effects are mostly used in isolation, but as the tutorials progress, they are increasingly combined to create additional shaping, movement and colour.
After guiding viewers through some other key effects, including distortion, lofi, reverb and delay, the bonus bank is demo’d, explaining how it was put together and the best ways to use it when producing or performing. The course then concludes with a pair of more complex gestures that combine tape stop with stutter freezing, filters and delay.
Signing up to the course gets you immediate access to over 4 hours of tutorials, all the presets made along the way, plus an additional bonus bank of presets to help add subtle touches or gnarly, twisted FX to your production. Check out the sample module for an example of the course content, which will give you a detailed insight into the plugin and how to use it to take your tracks to the next level!
Course Breakdown
Introduction
Rob introduces the course, explaining the learning goals, as well as the materials that come with the tutorials. There is also a guide to installing the accompanying Stutter Edit banks.
Module 1 – Overview & Setup in Ableton Live
A guide to setting up the plugin in Ableton Live, along with some simple techniques for using presets to add interesting variation to an arrangement. (Logic Setup in Module 7) – 11.55.
Module 2 – Stutter Introduction
Making simple, static gestures (fixed beat repeats) with increasing speeds, to add basic stutters to a track (9.42).
Module 3 – Exploring Stutter
Starting first with a look at how to vary parameters throughout gestures using their curve displays, Rob then moves onto other important stutter parameters such as quantise and gate. There’s also a look at global gesture controls determining length and release behaviour.
- Lesson 1 – Stutter Rate Curve and Gesture Length – 8.20
- Lesson 2 – Gesture Release and Bank Locating – 11.30
- Lesson 3 – Stutter Quantize & Gate – 10.19
Module 4 – Buffer Explained
A detailed explanation of the stutter buffer, showing how it defines the nature of beat repeats. Sticking purely to grid mode, Rob shows how changing the timing, range and direction affect the sound (21.17).
Module 5 – Using Stutter Rate to Create a Melody
A quick gesture is created that uses Stutter Edit to make a melody out of some beats, showing how relevant MIDI notes can be selected on the stutter rate curve and then alternated to tune the effect to a song (7.09).
Module 6 – Curve Presets and Dry/Wet Gain Controls
Rob makes another gesture, showing how curve presets can be incorporated to create more complex shapes or LFO-like behaviour. He then shows how Dry and Wet levels can be manipulated to bring effects in and out throughout a gesture (20.24).
Module 7 – Filters & Phaser
After showing how the plugin is set up in Logic Pro, Rob explores the various filters in Stutter Edit, demonstrating how to create basic sweeps, more rapid LFO-like modulation and glitchy, stepped curves. He then moves onto the Comb filter and phaser, showing how to use them to create additional shaping and coloration.
- Lesson 1 – Logic Pro Setup – 3.45
- Lesson 2 – Low-pass Filter Sweep – 6.30
- Lesson 3 – Low-pass Filter LFO Mod – 10.49
- Lesson 4 – Low-pass Filter Stepped – 13.28
- Lesson 5 – Comb Filter – 5.34
- Lesson 6 – Phaser – 10.37
Module 8 – Other Effects
A guide to some of the other effects available in Stutter Edit, including distortion, lo-fi, reverb and delay. These are used to create a number of gestures, which incorporate filters for additional shaping. Rob also introduces ‘transitional gestures’, which use reverb and delay to create a tail that can be useful for smoothing over gaps between sections of a song.
- Lesson 1 – Distortion – 12.58
- Lesson 2 – Lofi – 11.05
- Lesson 3 – Reverb & Delay – 22.08
Module 9 – Bonus Bank & More Gesture Creation
Rob provides a quick demo of a bonus bank he’s created for the course, followed by 2 more advanced gestures, which combine tape stop with stutter, filtering and more.
- Lesson 1 – Bonus Bank Walkthrough – 8.49
- Lesson 2 – Wow Wind Up Gesture – 16.22
- Lesson 3 – Frozen Tape Stop with Combed Delay – 16.09
Features
- Over 4 Hours of Streamed Tutorials
- Access 24/7/365
- Exclusive presets from the course
- Bonus bank of presets to help add subtle touches or gnarly, twisted FX to your production.