onomo blog
Tutorials, production craft, music theory, and the business of music — free, from the team building Onomo.
Straight from the team building it
The why behind Onomo, the craft inside the tools, and what we’re shipping — the pieces we’d want to read about a studio we love.
Why We Built Onomo
Every tool to make and release music lives in a different app — and most of them cost more than a bedroom artist makes. We thought that was backwards, so we built the whole thing into one browser tab and made the creative half free. Here's the thinking.
How Motion Hears Your Song
The Free Tier Is the Real Product
Latest
Modern Producer · Lesson 14: The Modern Workflow — Putting It All Together
The finale. You've got the techniques — now here's how they fit into an actual day of making music, from blank project to finished release, the way modern producers really work.
Voice Effects, Explained: Robot, Telephone, Formant Shift & Underwater (Free, Online)
Fundamentals · Lesson 24: Ear Training and Analysis — Where Theory Becomes Instinct
Modern Producer · Lesson 13: Building a Sound and Identity
Fundamentals · Lesson 23: Reharmonization — New Chords Under the Same Melody
Quick Riffs
18
Space & Width: Reverb, Echo/Delay and Stereo Widening (Free, Online)
Give your mix a third dimension — stadium-sized reverb, dub-style echo, and stereo widening, all free in your browser with nothing uploaded.
The Complete Guide to Modulation Effects (Chorus, Phaser, Tremolo, Auto-Wah & Trance Gate)
Texture & Character: Distortion, Bitcrush, Noise, Drones & Reverse Audio (Free, Online)
Transition FX: Risers, Shepard Tones, Tape Stops & Stutters (Free, Online)
Voice Effects, Explained: Robot, Telephone, Formant Shift & Underwater (Free, Online)
Modern Producer
14
Modern Producer · Lesson 2: Sampling and Flipping (Without Getting Sued)
Sampling built hip-hop and powers half of modern music. Lesson 2 of Modern Producer covers how to chop, flip, and transform sound into something new — and the line between a legendary flip and a takedown notice.
Modern Producer · Lesson 1: The DAW Is Your Instrument
Modern Producer · Lesson 3: Sound Design From Scratch
Modern Producer · Lesson 4: Sidechain and the Pump
Modern Producer · Lesson 5: Mixing in the Box
Fundamentals
24
Fundamentals · Lesson 4: Intervals — The Distance Between Two Notes
Every melody, chord, and bassline is really just intervals — the gaps between notes. Lesson 4 of Fundamentals teaches the handful of distances that define every sound you'll ever build, and how to recognize them by ear.
Fundamentals · Lesson 1: What Music Is Actually Made Of
Fundamentals · Lesson 2: Rhythm, Beat, and the Grid
Fundamentals · Lesson 3: Scales and Keys — Picking the Notes That Sound Good Together
Fundamentals · Lesson 5: Chords — Stacking Notes Into Feelings
By the Numbers
9
The 86% Under 1,000 Streams: What They Have in Common (And the Small Things That Move You Out)
86% of tracks get fewer than 1,000 plays a year. Everyone quotes it as a death sentence. But look at what's actually in that 86% — and the boring, repeatable things that correlate with climbing out of it.
Why Songs Keep Getting Shorter (and Whether You Should Care)
What a Stream Is Really Worth: The Exchange Rate Nobody Shows You
The Real Cost of Making a Song: 1990 vs. Now
Old Music vs. New Music: Who's Actually Winning the Streaming War?
Artist Life
19
What to Do When a Song Flops (And Why It's Not the End)
You poured weeks into a song, hit release, and… 40 plays. The silence after a release you believed in is one of the most demoralizing things in music. Here's how to handle it and what to do next.
What to Do When a Song Blows Up (Before the Moment Passes)
The Myth of the Overnight Success (What Actually Happened Before the Viral Moment)
How to Actually Take Your Music to the Next Level
How to Stay Consistent With Making Music (When Life Gets in the Way)
Mastering Onomo
19
A Songwriting App With a Built-In Rhyme Engine (134,000 Words, Fully Offline)
Stop tabbing out to a rhyme website mid-verse. Onomo's Journal has a 134,000-word rhyme engine built into the lyric editor — perfect, near, and slant rhymes, even multi-word ones, all offline.
A Voice Memo App That Transcribes — Built for Songwriters
Train Your Ear With Games: A Tour of Onomo's Music Arcade
A Guide to Onomo's 20 Synth Engines (Which One to Reach For)
The Fastest Idea-to-Release Workflow in Onomo (Song, Cover, and Video in One Sitting)
Music Business 101
19
Split Sheets: How to Decide Who Owns a Song (Before It Blows Up)
The worst time to figure out who owns a song is after it's making money. A split sheet — a one-page agreement you fill out the day you finish — prevents the ugliest fights in music. Here's how.
AI Music Is in Legal Chaos. Here's How to Use AI Without Risking Your Copyright
Taxes for Musicians: A Plain-English Starter Guide
Sync Licensing: How to Get Your Music in TV, Film, and Ads
Release Strategy: How to Actually Plan a Song Drop
The Producer's Craft
15
Sidechain Compression Explained (The 'Pumping' Sound, and How to Use It)
That breathing, pulsing 'pump' under house, EDM, and pop tracks? That's sidechain compression. Here's what it actually is, why it works, and how to use it well — including the subtle version.
How to Mix on Headphones (When You Don't Have Studio Monitors)
How to Mix Vocals So They Sit in the Mix (A Producer's Guide)
How to Make Your Mix Loud (Without Crushing the Life Out of It)
How to Make an Amapiano Beat (Free, in Your Browser)
Power Tools
9
How to Get an Acapella for a Remix or Mashup (Free)
You want the vocal off a song to build a remix or mashup, but the official acapella doesn't exist. Here's how to pull one yourself in the browser — and how to actually use it.
Separate Vocals from a Song Online Free: How to Extract Stems Instantly in Your Browser
Free Online Metronome: Tap Tempo, Time Signatures, and Cross-Tab Sync
Free Online Guitar Tuner: Chromatic Pitch Detection with Reference Drones
