Fix The Mix: Don’t let a muddy sound ruin your tracks
A muddy sound can absolutely ruin a mix. But with the right kind of audio ear training and some tips and tricks, you can take your mix from average to awesome.
Sabrina Peña Young
An intermedia composer, percussionist, author, and obsessive sci-fi buff, Sabrina Peña Young creates mind-bending electroacoustic works that have been heard throughout Australia, Asia, North America, and Europe in media festivals, radio, film, dance clubs, random boom boxes in France - and as not-so-pleasant background music.
Critics have described her music as “daunting,” and “marvelously abstract,” and she has received a wide range of awards for her compositions, including New Genre Award from the International Alliance for Women in Music for her work "Creation" and the Cintas Foundation's Brandon Fradd Fellowship in Music Composition, as well as awards and nominations for her film-making work.
Sabrina has a passion for writing too, and recently published "The Feminine Musique: Multimedia and Women Today", available at Amazon.com. She has also written for the Kapralova Society Journal, Percussive Notes, Panpipes, the IAWM Music Journal, the SEAMUS Music Journal, and various fine arts websites.
Learn more about Sabrina:
Posts by Sabrina Peña Young
Life After Ear Training: A Drummer’s Tale
I would be lying if I said that ear training came easily to me. Like most percussionists I knew in college, rhythm exercises and sight singing were a breeze, but trying to transpose Mozart after three listens seemed like a torture specifically designed to punish those...
Music & Life: Musical Resources for Home Schooling
You don’t have to be a skilled musician yourself to teach music in your home school. Here are some tips and resources for bringing music to your home classroom.
Open Your Ears to Modern Electronic Opera
When they think about opera, many folks envision Bugs Bunny wearing a Viking hat singing loudly to Wagner or remember sitting bored in a concert hall as a robust soprano belts out some serious Italian. For many reasons, opera has gotten a pretty bad rap in the last...
The Secret Aural Life of Drummers (or "How to Play Percussion by Ear, Confessions of a Rhythm Queen"!)
Next up in our playing-by-ear series, we have another of our “home team”: Easy Ear Training author Sabrina Peña Young, sharing her perspective on playing percussion by ear. Rhythm is more than a drum set backing a jazz band, an excited crowd clapping in...
Halloween Ear Training Insider: Horror Film Music Secrets Uncovered
What makes a Halloween film score creepy? Turn down the volume on your favorite Halloween horror film and suddenly the movie goes from scary to silly. Why is that blonde running around a haunted house anyway – and didn’t anyone notice that weird guy with the...
Improvisation: How to Score Halloween Horror
Learn how to improvise your own Halloween horror music. Before laptops and Logic, TV and and Technicolor, early horror film composers at the dawn of the 20th century used improvisation to enhance the silent silver screens. They composed hauntingly dramatic scores,...
Music & Life: The Back-to-School Edition
It’s back-to-school time! Music educators and parents have been getting started on another exciting school year. Need some fun music activities for your classroom? Check out some of these great online resources on ear training, kid’s songs, karaoke and more! Teach...
Why (and how) to develop your "Mind’s Ear" for music
Wish you could transcribe that crazy guitar lick?Or spout out pages of music like a modern day Mozart?Learn how to transcribe music and develop your mind’s ear through ear training and audiation.Don’t know how? Easy Ear Training will get you started! The...Sound FX Secrets, Free Whisper Sound Effects & DIY FX
Want to learn how to make free sound effects using the tools in your home studio? Look no further! Find out here and train your ears for sound effects.
Music & Life: Fun Rhythm Activities for Valentine’s Day
Develop your ear lovingly with these Valentine music activities and ear training songs like the Chocolate Triplet Boogie Woogie and the Valentine Rhythm Song.
