Point Blank Techtorial: UA LUNA Challenge with Jonie

Universal Audio a.k.a. UA recently unveiled their ground-breaking free software, LUNA. To continue their deep dive into what this powerhouse can do, Point Blank’s Jonie has created a tutorial, showcasing exactly what LUNA is capable of by creating a song from scratch.

LUNA gives Apollo owners the fastest recording environment for music production, editing, and mixing. In addition to its seamless hardware‑software integration with Thunderbolt‑equipped* Apollo interfaces, LUNA Recording System allows capturing audio through DSP‑powered UAD plug‑ins with no discernible latency, as well as offering new Accelerated Realtime Monitoring. Its new update (LUNA 1.1) also features more than a hundred user‑requested features and fixes, such as Session Versions, Track Groups and MIDI Enhancements.

To inspire new users to get stuck into LUNA, UA launched the LUNA Challenge, which tests users to create a track from scratch (60-seconds minimum) using all the main instruments and features, including Neve Summing, Tape and more.

During the tutorial, Jonie explores the LUNA software showing where the main features are and how they work, including some handy keyboard shortcuts to speed up workflow. He demonstrates how to lay down chords using SHAPE, as well as drums and percussion from LUNA’s high-quality sound library, before recording in some of his own to add organic shuffle to the beat. For the track’s low-end, Jonie uses the DAW’s in-built Minimoog to create a catchy bassline, which he doubles up with a Fender Precision Bass, utilising the Unison Ampeg Bass Amp designer. On top of all this, the producer shows off some essential LUNA workflow tips using the software’s different view layouts. Finally, he mixes his track, giving a summary of the export settings available.