tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-796947131823518352024-03-22T02:17:42.715-07:00DaMuseBlogElectronic Music Production Techniques and Tools for Beginners. Samples, reviews and ideas to elevate your productionsnowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-36446186268929787482011-09-16T07:21:00.000-07:002011-09-16T07:21:16.395-07:00Electronic Music Beginner's Setup GuideOkay, have a new page over on my new website. It is a guide for those wanting to get started producing electronic music. It is a bit long, let me tell you, feel no compunction to read it, but if you are just starting out, or wanted to know what it would take to get started. Read that guide!<br />
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I'll give you a preview now:<br />
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You'll need COMPUTER --> DAW software --> AUDIO I/O --> MONITORS(speakers)<br />
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now add to that 10,000 words and you will get the picture!<br />
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Also, don't hesitate to tell a friend, +1 it, facebook it, tweet it, or write it on a note and keep it under your pillow. <a href="http://www.electronicmusicproduction.org/beginner-setup-guide.html">Electronic Music Production</a> beginner's setup guide.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-37417406644463501062011-09-09T04:57:00.000-07:002011-09-09T05:26:41.575-07:00An Article I WroteHere I go again! I've recently written an article, it is posted here: <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/compression-for-beginners">Mixing Fundamentals: Dynamic Range</a> if anyone cares to read more of my warbling about dynamic range. I would publish it here but I'm trying new things out. Also there is a photo and a colon joke over there, might just be worth the click, I can't guarantee that.<br />
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Will be catching up with ch'all in just a few hours. Slept 3 hours yesterday, and need a few more today!<br />
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</span></span></h1>nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-27456507476030074502011-09-08T00:28:00.000-07:002011-09-08T00:28:08.379-07:00Electronic Music ProductionHey producers! Sorry I've been slow to post and comment, I've been working on a pretty big project. I've been putting together <a href="http://www.electronicmusicproduction.org/">electronic music production</a>. Just coding everything on electronicmusicproduction.org has been taking ages, so sorry if I've been scarce. I'm about to get back on the blog horse. If you don't mind hoping over there and taking a look around? Any kind of feedback on the layout or general glitchyness would be <b>greatly</b> appreciated.<br />
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Also, plus one'ing, facebook liking, tweeting, would be supremely (that is even more than greatly :) ) appreciated. I'm trying to build a resource for young producers getting started with electronic music production (that I didn't have, but sorely needed) and anything that could help me spread the word would be very helpful.<br />
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Anyway, thanks again, you will be seeing me haunting the halls again soon, my friends!nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-39782766760434303172011-08-25T04:40:00.000-07:002011-09-08T02:17:12.817-07:00Pro Tip #2 Softening Your Beats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://damuseblog.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/peace1.jpg" /></a></div>After the last post, <a href="http://damuseblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/pro-tip-1-strengthening-your-beats.html" target="_blank">Strengthening Your Beats</a>, follower Dwei asked an insightful question, "So what do you do if you want [the beats] a bit softer?"<br />
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This is a great question that reveals my tendency to make everything somewhat in your face. But there are definitely times when the beat of the music should be softened. This can work for an entire track, or even sections of a track to produce dynamic movement across the track. Hit the read moar button to learn three techniques to soften your beats or check out <a href="http://www.electronicmusicproduction.org/">Electronic Music Production</a> to learn all you ever wanted.<br />
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<b>To soften your beats</b>, one obvious solution is the inverse of the suggestion made in <a href="http://damuseblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/pro-tip-1-strengthening-your-beats.html">Strengthening Your Beats</a>, simply turn up your drums as you are writing the rest of your track. The natural effect of this will be for you to write musical phrases that avoid the beat because of the drum's predominance.<br />
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Once you've written the rest of the elements within the track, turn your drums back down to their reasonable levels, and you should hear that the beat has been de-emphasized, the pulse will be weaker. This can be helpful in writing background tracks, tracks that the listener doesn't have to consciously pay attention to. This type of music can slip into the background and set a mood. But be careful, if you want to hold the listener's attention, it may be difficult once the pulse falls below a certain threshold.<br />
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Assuming you have already written your song and you feel your beat is a little too strong, there are three simple techniques to soften your beat. Before applying these techniques, you must first determine what is making the beat so strong. More often than not it will be the drums hammering away on the beat. But if you've been dutifully following my suggestions, you will likely have other musical elements strengthening your beat. For the examples below, we'll consider that it is the drums that are providing the foundation of your strong pulse, but whatever it is that is beefing your beat up, apply these techniques to those elements and you should have a softer pulse.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/1.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: -.5em; margin-right: 1em;" /></div><b>Decrease the level!</b> It is obvious, but in the great big world of music production, the single most powerful attribute of a sound is its volume. The only trick here is to make sure you only turn down hits that occur on the beat. Pulse is created by the dynamic between loud and quiet; what we want to do here is decrease the dynamic range between the pulse occurring on the beat and the sounds in the off beat (sounds after the 1 but before the 2, after the 2 but before the 3, etc.).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/strengthenbeat1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/strengthenbeat1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Here the peaks are quite high on the quarter note beats, emphasizing the pulse for a very strong beat.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/softenbeats1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/softenbeats1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Here the level of hits on the quarter notes have been decreased, while the level of all other sounds off the beat have been increased, de-emphasizing the pulse, ultimately producing a softer beat. </td></tr>
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</div><img border="0" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/2.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: -.5em; margin-right: 1em;" /><b>EQ!</b> Another technique to soften your beat is to remove high frequencies from hits occurring on the beat. As sounds travel through the air, high frequencies are naturally attenuated. Because of this phenomenom, the brain perceives dulled sounds to be further away. If you remove high frequencies from hits occurring on the beat, the pulse will sound more distant, and therefore softer.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/3.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: -.5em; margin-right: 1em;" /></div><b>Transient Shaper!</b> Get out that handy transient shaper, and soften the attack of elements landing on the beat. A transient shaper is a dynamics processor somewhat like a compressor or a limiter, but it functions in a slightly different, but significant way. Compressors and limiters are triggered when the level of the incoming sound exceeds a certain predetermined threshold. Transient shapers, on the other hand, are triggered by the rate of change between a quiet and a loud point of the sound. That means that the transient shaper is listening for the attack portion of sounds only, it doesn't really care about the raw amplitude of the sound like a compressor does. Therefore, you can turn down just the attack of hits that are occurring on the beat, the effect of which is to soften the pulse.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/4.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: -.5em; margin-right: 1em;" /></div><b>4!</b> 4! There were only supposed to be 3? Well if you take anything away from this article, please take this: small changes to various attributes of a sound or the mix will likely produce better results than making one big change. So in this case, it might be helpful to drop the volume of hits landing on the beat a bit, pull out some of their high frequencies, and then soften the transients a touch. All of these slight adjustments together will help you to soften your beat in a natural, almost spookly transparent way.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-3915550573317299522011-08-17T11:30:00.000-07:002011-09-08T02:22:17.067-07:00Pro Tip #1 Strengthening Your Beats<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="http://damuseblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/pro-tip-1-strengthening-your-beats.html"><img border="0" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/strongbeats2.jpg" /></a></div>So you've been making some beats, but they are sounding a bit weak. What to do? Strengthen those beats!<br />
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First off, we need to look at successful beats that just seem to work. You know the one's I'm talking about, the ones where they come on and you just start moving, nodding your head. In these beats you'll find that there is a constant pulse in the music. But pay closer attention and you will discover that it is not necessarily the drums that are producing the pulse.<br />
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Drums may comprise a few of beats, but more often than not, other instruments or sounds will come in and hit on the beat to keep that pulse alive. The beat is not just your drums. The beat is all sounds together pulsing to a tempo.<br />
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Knowing that, how can you change the way you create your beats to make them stronger? Visit <a href="http://www.electronicmusicproduction.org/"><span id="goog_428069376"></span>Electronic Music Production<span id="goog_428069377"></span></a> to find out, or hit the read moar button bellow!<br />
<a name='more'></a>Write your beginning drum lines first, then try turning your drum sounds down as you are write the rest of the elements of the song. Note the level of each major drum element, usually kick, snare and hats, and then turn them down, not so that they're totally gone, but so that they are not driving the pulse of the music. This will force you to emphasize other sounds on the beat and will ultimately strengthen the voicing of your other sounds.<br />
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Now turn your drums back up to the range they were before you pulled them down. Now, not only is your beat going to be pulsing very hard, your phrasing of other lines is going to be emphasizing your pulse.<br />
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You may also note that the peaks of your sounds are all adding up in the mix to create potentially unmanageable peaks on the beat, maybe even some peaks exceeding 0db. First off, this <i>shouldn't</i> be the case. You should be writing and mixing with enough headroom so that your signal isn't exceeding 0db. To do this, when you start your beat making session, turn your monitors up, and as you start to bring sounds into your beat, turn them each down. As you do this, you'll be able to add more sounds, without constantly worrying about clipping your output. A good rule of thumb is to set your kick drum anywhere from -18db to -12db. This may be a hard habit to start, but if you take anything away from this blog, please take this idea.<br />
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Assuming we have enough headroom to work with, lets reduce the dynamic range of the mix by knocking those peaks down a bit. A great way to deal with this, is by playing your parts in by hand. Unless you are Rain Man, your hits are going to be slightly out of time. This likely will mean that the peaks don't add up into super peaks. If you did write in your beat with a pencil tool, or over quantize hand played parts, you can manually nudge sounds back off the beat <i>a bit.</i><br />
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Another way to manage super peaks is by the use of dynamics tools like compressors, transient shapers and limiters. For this purpose I love to use transient shapers. This is my favorite:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ooqP0EygRvHCT2motpbkEfc3lgRnGPOkiiQtPdwwCMciKv6zz6aJNSAtkY03GFRrH972K__CNd9MlT50ONGEmdEX7DUaGcCBFRsfurNODt6KQA4L0S9T1YqHiIUtU5ceryW1WztQBa4/s320/Transient+Shaper.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 1em;" width="535" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.schaack-audio.com/transientshaper.html">http://www.schaack-audio.com/transientshaper.html</a></span></td></tr>
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Just whack a transient shaper like Schaak Audio's (good sound / low price = good deal) onto your individual channels that are hitting on the pule of the beat. For drums sounds, turn the release down a smidge (sorry for the technical term), for your other sounds, turn down the attack until the sound gets too soft. There are three little humps under each knob in Shaack's shaper, they represent the time scale to be effected by the knob, little hump for short time, big hump for long time.<br />
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Watch your mixer's stereo two buss, as you drop the attack of the other elements, that super peak will be tamed. To complete the process consider some very slight limiting from a quality limiter like:</div><div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhySDojLB8W5d9OfVqSGIatPXLl359wUexhyphenhyphenQM6RjNi59EfLiTspEMJcEZP4ZOdxBIy0LvtZARB0dPnmliBiy_z-YPkpBhnv220cYOEzKJdZvje-vzpOJt5S2ScQU7Vp7OEC0fY2pvrM2k/s1600/FabFilter-Pro-L.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhySDojLB8W5d9OfVqSGIatPXLl359wUexhyphenhyphenQM6RjNi59EfLiTspEMJcEZP4ZOdxBIy0LvtZARB0dPnmliBiy_z-YPkpBhnv220cYOEzKJdZvje-vzpOJt5S2ScQU7Vp7OEC0fY2pvrM2k/s320/FabFilter-Pro-L.png" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.fabfilter.com/products/pro-l.php">http://www.fabfilter.com/products/pro-l.php</a></td></tr>
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</div><div>FabFilter's Pro L (quick one here - turn down the out, found on bottom right quite low, and turn up the gain until you see about 1 or 2 db reduction in the meter in the upper right, the red line shooting down, to get a more accurate view, click that little -32db button on the bottom right, and switch it to -16db), sum your various components into a buss and apply a little light compression and maybe a touch of limiting again.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Your drums will have that hard punch, your phrases will be strongly augmenting the beat, and your dynamics will be in control. A job well done, but don't forget, it helps to have a good musical idea first!<br />
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If your beats are too strong, check out <a href="http://damuseblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/pro-tip-2-softening-your-beats.html">Softening Your Beats</a> to tame the beast!</div>nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-12144219454966456882011-08-14T01:13:00.000-07:002011-09-08T02:25:21.910-07:00Rob Papen Delay *audio samples*Okay, follow up to Rob Papen's Delay super hype... This delay rocks. Still haven't dug in, just preset surfing, which is totally fine by me for right now.<br />
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So Sub-Rad-Mike asked for some audio samples, and I fully intended to comply with that request. But I got to busy messing around. So here you have a sample of the delay potential. Papen's delay is doing a tun of work here, in this mathewdavid-esq snippet. My apologies for invoking the name vainly.<br />
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<embed flashvars="audioUrl=http://www.nowaysj.com/sound/fm110mathewdavidclone.mp3" height="27" quality="best" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400"></embed><br />
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I have delays that delay, but this delay is capable of mangling. Mangling is a major part of my process of <a href="http://www.electronicmusicproduction.org/">Electronic Music Production</a>.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-63619060496807254852011-08-12T01:05:00.000-07:002011-09-08T07:34:21.160-07:00A new day, a new blogOkay friends, blogrymen, lend me your ears! I've started a new blog. I've seen that some of you don't know what the heck I'm talking about with all this music production mumbo jumbo (no I'm not building a time machine [for now]), so I've decided to start a general interest blog. It is called Chest Kittens, and it focuses on wait for it... chests and kittens, and oddly gold, as I've recently been interested in purchasing some gold from an online retailer.<br />
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So, jump over to <a href="http://chestkittens.blogspot.com/">http://chestkittens.blogspot.com</a> and enjoy the chests, and the kittens. I hope to see you there!<br />
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Not only Chest Kittens, but I've also been working on <a href="http://electronicmusicproduction.org/">ElectronicMusicProduction.org</a>.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-61682325131301341162011-08-10T21:20:00.000-07:002011-09-08T02:42:04.778-07:00Rob Papen Delay micro reviewHey back in town with solid internet access! Cheaa!!! Have caught up with my blog reading!<br />
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And had a little time to try out Rob Papen's Delay plugin big upped in my prior post. I think it sounds good. It sounds like digital trying to be analog, and failing, but I happen to like the sound of that failure. That is about the extent of my review for now! Cheap huh?! I didn't really get a chance to work with it so much, but I did slap it on a few channels. One channel, I just could not get right, the other two worked fine. I definitely didn't get into it though. I know there is some whacked out deepness in there (like step sequencing delays) and some reverse mode. Still think it is a killer deal for $10. I will post up a more definite review when I get a chance to really take it for a spin, so check back peoplez of america and beyond.<br />
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After further reflection on this tool, I think it would make an excellent addition to anyone's arsenal for <a href="http://www.electronicmusicproduction.org/">Electronic Music Production</a>. I hope to produce a few tutorials on this in the near future as it seems to be somewhat underrepresented.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-10120372743306500162011-08-06T12:42:00.000-07:002011-08-06T12:42:45.301-07:00Super Affordable Delay PluginOkay, I occasionally post up about stonkin deals on audio tools. Well I've got a real special one for you this time.<br />
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It is <a href="http://www.robpapen.com/rp-delay.html" target="_blank">Rob Papen's Delay</a> available from <a href="http://www.audiomidi.com/cust_search/csr_PCAL_Steinberg_DAW_SOS.aspx" target="_blank">audio-midi.com</a><br />
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I've never used this delay, but I know that Papen's Albino remains a very powerful synth used on many many releases, it really does have a special sound. That alone would be enough to consider it, but for a limited time, it is available for only $10. An incredible deal. <br />
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If you produce contemporary music of any genre, but in particular any electronic or dance related genre, a good delay is a necessity. If you produce any genre that has any relevance to dub, a delay is more than necessity, it is at the heart of what you do (or should be doing ;) )<br />
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Follow this link for an incredible deal:<br />
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<a class="postlink" href="http://www.audiomidi.com/RP-Delay-No-Brainer-P16526C0.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.audiomidi.com/RP-Delay-No-Br ... 526C0.aspx</a><br />
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By the way, would just like to point out that I'm not affiliated with Rob Papen or Audio-Midi in any way. I just started making music when something like this would be several hundred dollars and you could only use it on one channel at a time. So a deal like this is extraordinary. But also, it seems most young producers feel that it is necessary to steal their software, when that is largely not the case. Incredible deals like this do come along. Just bide your time and strike when appropriate, and your tool set will be complete in no time, for pennies on the dollar.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-25026855400424455482011-08-03T11:10:00.000-07:002011-08-03T11:10:08.789-07:00Opposite DayOkay, for today, we've got an art/music production technique. It is a simple one, but worth mentioning for those that have kind of languished into a rut.<br />
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Do everything the opposite of what you would normally do.<br />
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For example, if you normally progress through your tracks from drums, to bass, melody, and finish with pads. Start with the pads, then melody, then bass, theeeeen drums.<br />
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But how and what you choose to inverse is where the creativity can really come in. <br />
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Maybe make the pads out of your drums, and make the drums out of your pads? Get in there with your sampler and flex that sampling muscle. To turn a pad into a drum, sample your pad sound. Into a sampler, shorten the sample, pitch it into the appropriate frequency range, and then start working that adsr envelope for amplitude. Looking for a very fast attack, a bit of a hold or decay, a short or nonexistent sustain and no release. But don't stop there. Consider a pitch envelope as well. Start with a very high freq with the pad sound, and then pitch down very rapidly into the real range of the target drum sound.<br />
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To turn your drums into pads... its not so hard, and again, the sampler is your friend (notice the trend?). Whack your drum sounds into your sampler. For this example, assume a kick, stretch the sample out quite long, like four, or eight, or even sixteen bars. Because the kick likely started with a low frequency, and the stretching, depending on your algorithm, you've likely got an inaudibly low pad. Now pitch it back up in your sampler (also can use plugins to pitch up, probably introducing different but no less interesting artifacts). You'll probably be hearing an assortment of artifacts now. Look on these favorably, as now you have character, and weird things happening in your pads that you likely wouldn't normally have. And again, don't stop there. Maybe a really long lfo very slightly modulating the pitch of the sample. Filters are a powerful sound shaping tool, so don't neglect to use them in your sound design. Use either high, low, band pass, notch, formant, comb, or any other goofy filter type you can find out there (or any combination of filters), being modulated by an lfo, or even an envelope with an extremely slow attack. <br />
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The inversion process can be applied anywhere and everywhere, especially where you have developed rules. Like never put reverb on your bass or ... whatever the particular rules that you've heard and internalized (maybe without reason) or have actually developed for yourself.<br />
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When doing techniques like this, don't forget to be brutal. Follow the rule, you might find yourself slacking, or falling back into your previous routines (and where did they get you? into the doldrums?). This exercise is to break those habits.<br />
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I'd like to hear some of the silly rules that you follow or have heard, as in art there are many of them, and they often hold the potential for the greatest surprises.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-45674655845562047092011-08-02T11:37:00.000-07:002011-08-02T11:37:47.157-07:00TravellingHey followers!<br />
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Miss you guys. Am on a short trip here, so won't be as fastidious with my posting and reading up on all of your blogs for a few days. Am in the wilds of America and internet access is hard to come by.<br />
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Also, my laptop screen seems to have been smashed during my travels. Think I might need a new laptop. Was thinking about picking up a little mac book pro i7 with a dual core 2.7ghz. If anybody has experience with this or any other recent macbook pro, I'd love to hear it. Also if anybody is aware of intel's release plans in regards to their 3d transistors, I'd really love to hear it.<br />
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Chears peoples.<br />
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Ps, feel free to attempt to break into my place. Have a cadre of security black widows gaurding the entrances to my house. Think on that a minute.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-65655793182486262282011-07-28T08:40:00.000-07:002011-07-28T11:53:30.740-07:00Tabletop Beatmaking Software for the iPadHey peoples,<br />
<br />
I mentioned earlier that I'd been working on a project and would share information when I could. Well, finally I can! I've spent the last few months developing content for Tabletop, a revolutionary beatmaking tool releasing today for the iPad.<br />
<br />
Check this link for the deets:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://retronyms.com/index.html" target="_blank">http://retronyms.com/index.html</a><br />
<br />
If you own an iPad and like making beats on the run, please check out that link, your iPad will never be the same. This is a project developed by <a href="http://retronyms.com/index.html" target="-blank">Retronyms</a>, a San Francisco (and beyond) based team of developers who've done some very interesting things on the iPad. Recently, they brought <a href="http://rebirthapp.com/" target="_blank">Propellerhead's ReBirth</a> to the iPad. If you've ever had a tweak on ReBirth back in the day, you owe it to yourself to try it out in a multitouch environment.<br />
<br />
But Tabletop! It is like a Westcoast beatmaker's wet dream. It contains virtual turntables for playing and mixing .mp3's, a pad based sampler akin to the legendary MPC for recording and bashing out beats, a tone matrix similar to a Monome or Tenori-On for plinky lead and bass lines, a synth with some very funky patches, a block based sequencer that is triggerable for on the fly beat mashing, and a host of stomp box style fx for live tweaking. And live tweaking is the idea. Everything is playable and accessible in real time. Basically all of the devices are laid out on a... you guessed it, a Tabletop, and you can just sweep around, grabbing, playing and wiring up the devices you want. And on top of that, you can resample, and just start mashing and reprocessing your own beats.<br />
<br />
I'm not going to lie, I'm frothing a bit as I'm writing this. Jokes. If you own an iPad and have ever nodded your head to beat, pick up this app, it is a lot of fun. And to my musical peepz, you know who you are, hit me up, I've got some promocodes, you can get started smashing out some Tabletop beats right quick.<br />
<br />
Maybe we could post up some microwave beats here in a couple of days?nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-45179362459848382692011-07-26T23:13:00.000-07:002011-07-26T23:22:11.071-07:00Maschine - Background on the Beast -Okay, so everyone wants to know about Maschine. Deservedly so. This is the single most useful, inspirational, FAST, extensible, *fun* music making device I've ever used. Hands down, nothing comes close, how does that sound?<br />
<br />
In a previous post, I was mulling finding a balance between hardware tactility found in the old pad based samplers of yesteryear, ie the asr-x pro's, the mpc's, and the flexibility and creativity of software devices a la your garden variety daw like FL Studio or Abelton Live. The catch was always that the hardware was more fun, more real, more emotional, more groovy, but limited and slow. Something like naming a few samples could take an afternoon. We went through that back in the day because we had to, there was no other way. But once you've experienced the facilities afforded by mouse, keyboard and computer, with a screen roughly 50 times larger than the basic lcd screens found on these old boxes, well... it is very hard to go back.<br />
<br />
So, software is strong on the speed and flexibility, but it has always lacked that tactility the boxes encouraged. Software has always felt cold, uninspirational. Just a bland piano roll'ed grid... it is kind of hard to get excited. Spend most of your time staring at a screen to figure out what is going on. Yuk, it can just kill creativity, any kind of flow or vibe you get while working on music.<br />
<br />
But Maschine has come along and kicked that ying yang duality in the nutz. It is literally the tactility and grooviness of hands and ears based music, but when you need the keyboard and screen and mouse (and eyes), they're there. For naming files, or instantiating fx, or any of the myriad mundane tasks that go into making music with technology.<br />
<br />
This thing is literally what I've been waiting for since music making/production moved to the computer.<br />
<br />
Ni is a bit of a gnarly company, and maybe they are getting too big for their own good, maybe too big for our own good, as I can see them choking out smaller developers, especially in these "difficult economic times", but by god I love them for making Maschine, and all the while, the notion sits squarely in the background of all thoughts of Maschine... this is embryonic. This is the beginning of what Maschine will really come to be. NI themselves have really just realized what they have, so much so that they are dumping Kore entirely to make Maschine the centerpiece of what they do.<br />
<br />
With that said, there is a lot that is wrong with Maschine, and I'd like to do a few posts about that, because, honestly, when you encounter some of Maschine's limitations, you have to ask yourself, have these Germans ever actually used a beat box, so glaring are some of their omissions. But I'm late to the party, I bought in at 1.6 where many of the most ridiculous oversights have been corrected. There are still some, and you'll be hearing about them. The first will be the pads, as that is what this post was supposed to be about, but larger thoughts entered. Though I've got a secret decoder ring hint: they suck.<br />
<br />
More later, thanks for reading.<br />
<br />
And to that ox guy, no wasn't stoned, just psyched to be posting again!nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-54409404798349898042011-07-26T14:00:00.000-07:002011-07-26T14:00:01.155-07:00Fl studio 10 FinallyOkay, finally got around to installing FL Studio 10. Waited too long. The refinements that they've made... are long overdue but extremely welcome. FL studio was always a very quick environment, something I find to be extremely important in electronic music production, but now, some of those gnarly rough edges that remained from the days of yor have been chiseled down and rounded off, the speed is incredible.<br />
<br />
Am having a problem with scrolling fx in the fx stack though. Can't figure out if I'm the only one experiencing this or not, so any FL users, please chime in if you have this: When I attempt to move and fx up or down in the fx stack with the scroll wheel, the fx will not move. If I then click the fx, the mixer jumps to the master channel. Then... if I go back to the channel with the fx, it is scrollable. Very odd behavior. I haven't found a solution, if I do, I'll post it up. If you've experienced this, please let me know, I'd like to present this to ImageLine for a possible fix.<br />
<br />
Maschine posts coming. Count the days.<br />
<br />
Oh, and what is with all the typos in this blog, who is writing this shnips?nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-67347363946961367342011-07-24T22:37:00.000-07:002011-08-20T23:17:56.680-07:00D16 Plugins, follow up to the group buy.Just wanted to post up a follow up to the D16 group buy. I love the "shit depression" (runt brother of the great depression), cause there have been some great deals on software (and why shouldn't there be!).<br />
<br />
The D16 group buy was like the best deal of the century. Redoptor and Devastor are great plugs, but Decimort is fncking priceless. Decimort's chief aim is to simulate old school reduced fidelity samplers, and it does a smashing job of it. Your average knob (no offense to knobs) thinks it is just a bit crusher, which are beyond free in vst land, but no, you would be wrong to think that. It is all about that old school crunchy, mushy and generally fncked up old school sampling sound. I'm finding I use it on almost all of my drums now. It is like an addiction. Like yeah that drum sounds good. Drop decimort on it, omg, that drum sounds like it just dripped off of Pete Rock's greasy fingers.<br />
<br />
Also of note in their silver line is fazortran, which bills itself as a phaser, but you can create some serious choppage with it's square wav'ed lfo. In the words of my long lost kiwi homie, chea!!!!!!!!<br />
<br />
Get read for a sh1t tun of posts regarding Maschine. I've finally started digging in. Find some serious holes and oversights in its fundamentals, but this thing is an embryo. We're talking some serious potential. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/10/20/128690379222563802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/10/20/128690379222563802.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Guaranteed this concept will change the shape of digital audio workstations in the midterm future. That is a nwj guarantee (assuming the world can hang on to the Pax Americana sans the Americana).<br />
<br />
Peach out Bartches.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-38751245573760014542011-06-10T21:29:00.000-07:002011-06-10T21:29:07.806-07:00D16 Group Buy Best Deal EVEROkay guys, I posted earlier about D16's group buy of their SilveLine plugins. <br />
<br />
The group buy went all the way to the maximum, that means you get the full line for the price of one plugin. I cannot express how crazy of a good deal this is.<br />
<br />
You get a Multiband Distortion, Tube Distortion, BitCrusher (more than a bit crusher, this is a vintage sampler emulation, al la MPC 60, SP-1200, and it sounds ace), Reverb, Chorus, and an incredible Phaser. I got the Phaser last, thinking why do I need a phaser, and it turns out it is one of the most unique plugs from the whole line.<br />
<br />
Fazortran is a beast. It does relatively ordinary phasing, but it's got a very analog sound to it, a high fuzz that is very VERY rare in the plugin world. It also has the ability to pretty seriously mangle up your sound (in a really really really x3 more really's) good way.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.d16.pl/groupbuy" target="blank">Head over there and check it out for yourself. Cannot beat this deal for $55. Cannot. Beat. This. Deal.</a>nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-21728006078275354152011-06-02T02:01:00.000-07:002011-06-02T02:06:52.316-07:00Cheap Killer Vst Plugins<a target="blank" href="http://www.d16.pl/groupbuy">http://www.d16.pl/groupbuy<br />
</a><br />
Felt like I should spread the word. D16 makes some killer plugins, both instruments and fx and they currently have a group buy going where the more people that buy, the better the deal gets.<br />
<br />
They're at the threshold of buy one plug for $56 get three free. Their silverline plugs are great quality, really have a unique sound. One of the best bit crushers, multiband distortions, and tube distortions out there, as well as very interesting reverb, chorus and phaser.<br />
<br />
This runs until the 13th of June. This is a great opportunity to own some quality inspirational plugs at a great price.<br />
<br />
footnote -> a lot of producers, especially young producers, look at the price of all of the software they use (illegally) and want, and think I can't afford all that. Well you can't if you want to buy it all at once, and at regular retail price. But slow down a little bit, and just wait for good deals to come along. This is a great deal and will give you some quality tools to work with, without messing up your computer, and without stealing from some guys with a lot of talent and love of music who've dedicated their lives to making tools for us.<br />
<br />
Footnote to the footnote -> I'm a cheap bastard, almost every piece of hardware and software I own, I've gotten through some type of deal, used, majorly discounted, whatever. <br />
<br />
Over time, honestly, you will build up an arsenal of creative tools, I swear it!nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-68319384536894841362011-05-11T00:03:00.000-07:002011-05-11T00:10:00.838-07:00This Shouldn't Be as Touching as it is.<img src="http://www.nowaysj.com/images/uBYbJ.jpg" />nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-5142067845878728992011-05-03T21:46:00.000-07:002011-05-03T21:46:53.819-07:00The Value of Art MakingMaking art is valuable because it reveals the artist. <br />
<br />
You <i>are</i> the myriad decisions and intuitions that go into the making of the piece. When you look upon (or listen to!) a piece of art, you are looking at the material embodiment of the artist. <br />
<br />
The ability to transfer your thinking, and what some would call soul, into inanimate objects is a minor expression of the divine. You literally breath your life into it.<br />
<br />
I took my 4 y.o. daughter to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition a year or so ago. She stopped in front of “The broken column (self-portrait)”<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0W-oiMdWqE/TW6v1A5L2gI/AAAAAAAAAYs/AvkRooJ6FRo/s1600/the_broken_column_1944c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0W-oiMdWqE/TW6v1A5L2gI/AAAAAAAAAYs/AvkRooJ6FRo/s320/the_broken_column_1944c.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><br />
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<span id="goog_898714654"></span><span id="goog_898714655"></span><span id="goog_898714656"></span><span id="goog_898714657"></span><br />
<br />
She started tearing up, and looked like she was about to cry. I asked her why, and she said, "she hurt so much". Indeed Frida did, and 70 years later, in another country, a little girl felt her pain for a moment. <br />
<br />
Art making is amongst the most profound human activities.<br />
<br />
Everyone should make art.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-77241540680212971042011-04-26T22:42:00.000-07:002011-04-27T00:01:13.111-07:00Analog Sounding Vst Synths Pt. 1So, you've heard lore about the olden days of analog synth richness, or perhaps your favorite producer is rumored to be using analog synthesizers to get that unobtainable sound. Where does a broke chump like you start?<br />
<br />
With a virtual analog vst of course. Software synths have come a LONG way from the early days, and some vst soft synths can really move air like their older meaty grandpas (especially in the context of a mix). But which vsts are capable of that low ballsy sound with breathy whispering buzzy highs?<br />
<br />
Here is a list that should get you going. Feel free to comment with additions, especially freeware!<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong><a href="http://www.xils-lab.com/pages/polyKB.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Polykb</span></a></strong> - <strong>amazing</strong> sounds. A lot of soft synths tend to sound similar. This synth actually really has its own sound. Really lush spacious pads, and a whole assortment of other unique sounds. But it uses a dongle. A dongle, in this day and age! People can use a crack for free, with no dongle, but XLIS' customers get to pay for it, AND buy/be burdened by a dongle. It is laughable. I recommend skipping this one until they come around. Come on XLIS! I really want to buy this one!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="173" src="http://www.gearwire.com/media/xils-lab-polykb-2-player-storypic.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
Okay, here is a video by Torely. This guy is a trip,<br />
if you've never seen him before... let's just say he<br />
is high on life.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/cK0_Y5UPanY/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cK0_Y5UPanY&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cK0_Y5UPanY&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><strong><br />
</strong><br />
<strong><br />
</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.admiralquality.com/products/Poly-Ana/" target="_blank"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Poly-Ana</span></b></a> - This synth sounds good. Bottom line. It sounds good. 3 oscillators, 3 envelopes, 2 lfo's, and some mad modulation options. All that is actually meaningless. It just sounds good. A little pricey for such a small company. I like my synths around the $100 mark. But still. Just demo it and you might be opening your wallet.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img border="0" src="http://stereoklang.se/blog/wp-content/uploads/Poly-Ana112-300x225.png" /></div><br />
Whatever you do, don't watch this video! <br />
Trust me, Poly-Ana is WAY better than this. <br />
But a balding guy playing a keytar...<br />
okay, maybe you should watch it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/XZLnHY3kang?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong><a href="http://www.cableguys.de/curve.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Curve</span></a></strong> - This synth is capable of analog sounds, but it also has a lot more going on than that. Fast envelops, drawable waveforms, an active community with patch sharing, and more than that, this is a hungry company that wants to make incredible music making tools. They are always updating this thing. Take the demo for a spin, see what you think. They just did an Easter discount, and they're always up to satisfy their customers, so check em out.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><img border="0" src="http://stereoklang.se/blog/wp-content/uploads/df0cf5afeguys_curve-300x222.png" /></div><br />
Check this vid. I think they've updated this synth<br />
since this was made, but it sounds incredible, and<br />
there are now some modulation options.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/hY7d9ychW7Q?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
Check back in for part 2. I haven't saved the best for last this time, as all of these sound great and have their own little things that make them special, so you'll just have to try the demos.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-80333641372549708402011-04-18T11:18:00.000-07:002011-04-18T11:36:45.055-07:00My Snare Sucks - Music Production Questions<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Quote: MikeCatlin</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">===================================================================</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Im pretty new to producing and just got Logic Pro...now i ve gotten pretty good with everything and making the beats themselves, but my snares just dont have that explosion sound to them..any help?</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">===================================================================<br />
<br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #323d4f; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>First</b>, really figure out what you want your snare to sound like, like in the track. There is near infinite variety of good sounding snares, but only a handful that will sound right in a particular track. Keep that in mind when you're working. What should that particular snare sound like? Then work towards that. Knowledge of your tools and general solid production knowledge will help you shape the sound to your liking, once you know what it should sound like.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><b>Second</b>, turn everything else down in the mix. When producing digitally, 0db is the maximum volume, so the relationship between the volume of all of your elements is of paramount importance. When you turn everything else down, your snare will get explosive. You can't have everything exploding all the time.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><b>Third</b>, use a parametric eq on the snare's channel, create a peak and sweep it around starting at 1khz on up to around 4 or 5khz. Find where the bite is. Leave that band at that frequency, kill the boost, and gently roll off the frequencies around that point.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><b>Fourth</b>, once you have your snare figured out, start looking at other elements that are sounding at the same time as the snare. Make sure that other simultaneous sounds don't sit in the same frequency range as the snare. Now a snare should occupy a broad range of frequencies because noise is a major component of its sound, but there are usually two main sections of a snare, the body, the low end, and the snap, the high end. Using that parametric eq technique in #3 up there, find each of these, and clear up the eq space in other instruments that sound at the same time.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #323d4f; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #323d4f; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">When building a track, the kick and snare are usually the foundation in terms of the beat structure, the tonal relationships in the track, and the overall volume of all of the various elements, so getting the kick and snare right, and building around them is an excellent way to take your mixing to the next level.</span></span></div>nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-53650620105897340242011-04-14T22:54:00.000-07:002011-04-14T22:55:51.192-07:00Which Daw Do Professional Producers Use?Sorry for the general slowness of the posting the past couple of weeks. I've been contracted to produce a loop library for a very interesting and innovative product that I wish I could talk about, but I'm sworn to secrecy! When I can spill the beans, I will spill them all over your hot waiting chests (god I wish some of you were women!).<br />
<br />
Okay, which daws do professional producers use? And largely limited to EDM, with an emphasis on dubstep. Please take this with a grain of salt, as this information may be either totally untrue, old and even when correct, it is likely that the artist's sound isn't strictly tied to the daw itself. Then again, it may be. Also, you may see a daw underrepresented in this list only because I either don't have the info, or the daw itself is new. If you see a producers name listeded under two or more daws, it is because they may use them in conjunction. Not an unheard of practice.<br />
<br />
If you have any relevant info about which daw pro producers use, please put it in the comments and we'll get to the bottom of it.<br />
<ol><li><b>Ableton Live</b></li>
<ol><li>Jazzy Jeff</li>
<li>Netsky</li>
<li>Shlohmo</li>
<li>Flying Lotus</li>
<li>Bassnectar</li>
<li>Borgore</li>
<li>EPROM</li>
<li>Current Value</li>
<li>Blawan</li>
<li>Martyn (performance only)</li>
<li>Bok Bok</li>
<li>Samiyam (rumor) </li>
</ol><li><b>Cubase</b></li>
<ol><li>Excison</li>
<li>Mistabishi</li>
<li>Noisia</li>
<li>Distance</li>
<li>Pendulum</li>
<li>Venetian Snares</li>
</ol><li><b>Fl Studio</b></li>
<ol><li>Skream</li>
<li>Benga</li>
<li>Dayn</li>
<li>Feed Me</li>
<li>Current Value</li>
<li>Appleblim</li>
<li>Ramadanman/Pearson Sound</li>
<li>Pangaea</li>
<li>Spor</li>
<li>Mount Kimbie</li>
</ol><li><b>Logic</b></li>
<ol><li>Funtcase</li>
<li>Skism</li>
<li>CTRL Z</li>
<li>Widdler</li>
<li>Skream</li>
<li>Benga</li>
<li>Artwork</li>
<li>Graphix</li>
<li>Alix Perez</li>
<li>Sabre</li>
<li>Downlink</li>
<li>Reso</li>
<li>Datsik</li>
<li>Torqux</li>
<li>Jack Beats</li>
<li>Joker</li>
<li>Mala</li>
<li>Martyn</li>
<li>Breakage</li>
</ol><li><b>ProTools</b></li>
<ol><li>You thought 1 was the loneliest number, try 0!</li>
</ol><li><b>Reaper</b></li>
<ol><li>Soon Reaper, soon.</li>
</ol><li><b>Reason</b></li>
<ol><li>Funtcase</li>
<li>Stagga</li>
<li>Widdler</li>
<li>Caspa</li>
<li>L-wiz</li>
<li>Fused Forces</li>
<li>Koan Sound</li>
<li>Coki</li>
<li>Current Value</li>
<li>Shackleton</li>
<li>Jakes</li>
</ol><li><b>Renoise</b> <br />
</li>
<ol><li>B-complex</li>
<li>Venetian Snares</li>
<li>Akira Keteshi (suspected!)</li>
</ol></ol><div><br />
<br />
Again please remember that this list is for entertainment purposes only, and this is not intended as a factual statement (inside personal joke). I don't think this should effect anyone's choice in which daw to use. This is more idle train spotting.</div><div><br />
And post in the comments if you've got any info, or if there are any mistakes in this list.</div>nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-1347202626449029782011-04-14T22:04:00.000-07:002011-04-14T22:04:39.581-07:00Music Production Questions!If you have music production related questions, feel free to post them in the comments below. I'll answer them in a new post. <br />
<br />
My specialty is Fl Studio, but I can answer questions regarding Ableton Live, Cubase, Reason, and many of the popular vst synths and samplers, as well as fx. Genre is irrelevant.<br />
<br />
Bring it!nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-73036453289222711622011-04-05T14:39:00.000-07:002011-04-05T14:43:02.577-07:00Hardware with Software, Where to Place the Fulcrum in Hybrid Setups.<img align="top" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/dmb/images/fulcrum.gif" style="float: left; margin: 0px 12px 0px 0px;" />This post is for intermediate level producers with too much time on their hands. These are my idle musings as I grapple with a decision regarding my production setup. Of all my posts so far, this may be the least rewarding read, and for that I apologize. I'll get back on my projected course shortly.<br />
<br />
Music production was traditionally based in hardware. But as more and more production moved to software, and the quality of software (and the hardware required to run it) improved, we've come close to the point of parity between the sonic quality of software and hardware. Close. For raw quality, high end hardware likely produces a sound deemed better by most trained and untrained ears alike, and even run-of-the-mill hardware still may be preferable to some. But for raw creative potential, the digital manipulation of sound through software is untouched by pure hardware. For the sake of argument, let us consider both of these factors as equally counterbalanced.<br />
<br />
That leaves us with the paramount consideration: <b>WORKFLOW</b>. I don't know if workflow has a solid definition as it relates to music production, but I tend to think of workflow simply as the way that you do things. Not too lofty, indeed, but workflow is extremely important to the results we actually achieve.<br />
<br />
For example, I once lived in a house with six different floors (thank you Los Angeles hillside living). If I was on the top floor, and needed something on the bottom floor, I often didn't make the trip down and back up all those flights of stairs unless the thing was extremely important. Sounds lazy, right, but after the tenth time you've made the trip that day, it gets old, fast, and excuses are made! This is the way that workflow impacts music production. That which is difficult to do, often is not done in the presence of less onerous alternatives. All devices, both soft and hard, can more easily achieve certain types of results, and it is only natural that we more often produce those types of results when we use that device.<br />
<br />
But then there is this: <br />
<br />
<b>Quote:</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.vbs.tv/watch/motherboard/mbd-vbs-electric-independence-ulrich-schnauss" target="_blank">Ulrich Schnauss</a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,Utopia,'Palatino Linotype',Palatino,serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">==================================================================</span></span> <br />
We shouldn't forget that the instrument itself doesn't make the music, it depends on the person, the human, that's actually using it, what comes out of it. It's not necessarily the machine itself.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia,Utopia,'Palatino Linotype',Palatino,serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">==================================================================</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">(it helps reading that with a giant frontal lobe under a receding hairline with leather pants and a German accent) </span><br />
<br />
Very true Ulrich! which is why I wrote <a href="http://damuseblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/mind-versus-vst.html" target="_blank">The Mind Versus VST</a>. Our artwork must be the product of our intention, otherwise it is meaningless to call it ours. But to deny the impact that our tools have on our artwork denies a manifest reality observable by anyone that has used two different tools to achieve the same result.<br />
<br />
I initially started making music with traditional wood and metal musical instruments. I began to get into a more nuanced sound with fx pedals and outboard fx units. Then I moved into analog tape to capture those sounds, then into digital tape. Through this process, no personal computers were involved. But as technology marched on, the personal computer entered the studio. At that time I had what is called a hybrid setup. I had outboard synths, samplers and fx running into a computer. The computer acted as a mixer with some signal processing capabilities, an arranger, and a tape deck.<br />
<br />
Then software like <a href="http://www.rebirthmuseum.com/" target="_blank">ReBirth</a>, <a href="http://flstudio.image-line.com/" target="_blank">Fruityloops</a>, <a href="http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/" target="_blank">Hammerhead</a>, and ultimately <a href="http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason/" target="_blank">Reason</a> made software synthesis and sampling accessible to bedroom producers, and the outboard hardware started to fade away. More recently, I got to the point that I was producing with a laptop, a mouse, and a couple of speakers, that's it! That is about as minimal and software centered as you can get. So, it is for this reason that I can say I have experience with this spectrum of different workflows.<br />
<br />
And through this experience, I've discovered that the hybrid setup is the most productive and inspirational for me. A hybrid setup is generally in the middle between hardware and software, and anyone who is working in one or the other exclusively, I really recommend moving towards the center and at least experimenting with the possibilities and new potential workflows or workflow variations afforded by a hybrid setup.<br />
<br />
With that said, even within hybrid setups, there is a balance between hardware and software. You could simply have one external synth and then everything else in software, or you could have an array of synths and samplers, fx and signal processors, running through a mixer and simply record into software.<br />
<br />
I have moved around in this hybrid setup range. Currently I have a few hardware sequencers, two outboard synths, a couple of outboard samplers, an eq, preamp, and compressor as well as a couple of fx, mostly organized through a patchbay and not a mixer (for space and money considerations). I'll use all or non of these on a production, but the area that has been the most uneasy for me has been the sampler / sequencer box.<br />
<br />
<img align="top" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/dmb/images/asrx.gif" style="float: left; margin: 0px 12px 0px 0px;" />My start in electronic music production came with an <a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/ensoniq/asrx.php" target="_blank">ASR-X</a> which combined sampling, synthesizing and sequencing in one package. These boxes and others like them, probably more recognizably the MPC series from Akai, were the foundation of modern pop electronic music (i.e. hip hop!) I can't say enough about these types of boxes. Anyone who has never used one should pick one up used and work with it for a while. These things can be difficult to work with, sample editing, for example, is excruciatingly painful once you've developed facility with a good software audio editor. Also sample storage on these old boxes is often outdated and strangely expensive. But there is something about working within a single dedicated box that you can touch and pound on to make music that produces uniquely human music, even though the sound is ultimately digital.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nowaysj.com/dmb/images/mpc_large.jpg" target="_blank"><img align="top" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/dmb/images/mpc.gif" style="float: left; margin: 0px 12px 0px 0px;" /></a>Early in my production journey, I stupidly sold the ASR-X, and was lacking a box like this for a long time. Since then I've owned an ASR-X Pro (which is sitting disassembled on my kitchen table, and likely will remain there until my wife can't take it any longer), an <a href="http://www.akaipro.com/mpc" target="_blank">MPC 2500</a>, and an SP-404 SX from Roland. The MPC was my first experience with Akai's legendary sampler sequencer, and the experience was profound. Working with the MPC, you can see how the MPC workflow helped shape the sound of what Hip Hop is (or, unfortunately, was). But I have to say that once you are used to the speed and flexibility of software music production, it is very hard to limit yourself to a box like this. I could have done it, but didn't feel the economics were right. The MPC's are just too expensive for what they do. I personally feel this is simply because of the strength of the Akai brand (which appears to be decaying, at least in this sampler/sequencer arena). So, I returned the MPC 2500, and picked up <a _blank="" href="http://www.roland.com/products/en/SP-404SX/" target="_blank">Roland's SP-404 sx</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nowaysj.com/dmb/images/sp404sx_large.jpg" target="_blank"><img align="top" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/dmb/images/sp404sx.gif" style="float: left; margin: 0px 12px 0px 0px;" /></a>The economics on this box <i>do</i> make sense for me. The 404 sx is a simple box. 12 trigger pads, one fx with many types to choose from, and a one track sequencer, and is very affordable, it is portable due to its size and battery powered capabilities. Whole tracks can be made on it, but I'm not personally happy with the results when I do this. Further the 404 doesn't properly resample, a cornerstone of my personal workflow. I usually use this box.to generate a basic dirty beat which is then sent via audio into the computer to be developed into a fuller song, or I use it discreetly for its sound design capabilities (both slicing and effecting sounds). I can't recommend this box enough. It is simple and will fight you for simple things, but through that combat, strange unexpected occurrences <i>will</i> result.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nowaysj.com/dmb/images/padkontrol_large.jpg" target="_blank"><img align="top" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/dmb/images/padkontrol.gif" style="float: left; margin: 0px 12px 0px 0px;" /></a>On the other end of the hybrid spectrum, I've also used <a href="http://www.korg.com/product.aspx?pd=414" target="_blank">Korg's padKontrol</a> to trigger software devices. The padKontrol is a midi controller that produces no sounds of its own, it merely sends midi note messages to sound generators or samplers. It is set up in a 4 x 4 grid, similar to the MPC's but has a different feel to the pads, though with an enormous amount of sensitivity. (I think the padKontrol is a far superior midi controller to Akai's later <a href="http://www.akaipro.com/mpd32" target=_blank">MPD</a> line of midi controllers. The Akai feel is just lost on these midi controllers which is such a shame as the original MPC's are the gold standard for finger drumming.) It is also great to be able to bang out beats, but then have the full arsenal of sound creation and manipulation afforded by the use of VST's. The only problem with this is that you still end up with mouse in hand making your music, a condition that many producers, myself included are attempting to leave behind.<br />
<br />
I failed to mention that while software is extremely flexible and packs enormous creative potential, the use of software is usually a visual endeavor. And when we become focused on our visual senses, often our ears take a back seat. Obviously, this is catastrophic for music production. Here we encounter another benefit of the dedicated sequencer/sampler type boxes of yesterday, because lcd displays (on models that even had them) were historically very expensive, so small screens were used that could only display a minimal amount of information. The byproduct of this minimal visual information was a workflow that was centered around actually listening to the music as it was being recorded and played back. Again, the music produced on these boxes tended to be more body-centric, as the body was solely responsible for its creation. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nowaysj.com/dmb/images/maschine_large.jpg" target="_blank"><img align="top" src="http://www.nowaysj.com/dmb/images/maschine.gif" style="float: left; margin: 0px 12px 0px 0px;" /></a>So it is with these thoughts in mind that I may try out <a href="http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/maschine/" target="_blank">Native Instrument's Maschine</a>. This is a new iteration in the endless search for the most useful balance between hardware and software. Maschine is both hardware and software. Maschine is a hardware midi controller with a traditional 4 x 4 grid, an assortment of buttons to control functionality as well as knobs for data entry and live tweaking. The software side of Maschine runs on a computer. One problem with generic midi controllers like the padKontrol is that they are designed merely as a instrument trigger. You bang the pads and sounds are produced by software. That means that you will be able to hammer out a beat on the padKontrol's pads, but you'll still end up with mouse in hand working your daw's functions. Maschine is essentially a daw midi controller. The daw needs to be played and manipulated in an intuitive non visual way, and Maschine just might be the best solution to this persistent problem. The nonvisual groove centered production workflow with all the flexibility of software processing.nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79694713182351835.post-31479731190322040482011-03-25T23:40:00.000-07:002011-03-26T00:10:12.107-07:00Which Daw? A Beginner's Guide pt 2; Dialectic 1<b>Quote: </b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/14005223163925022131">Rotund Alfred</a><br />
==================================================================<br />
yeah, as a reason user I am in a constant dilemma as to whether to abandon the software [Reason] that I have spent so long learning the ins and outs of just to see what a 'real' DAW is like; I love reason but at the same time I fucking hate it too, and its hard to tell how much is down to my own failing creativity and how much is down to the oddities of the program itself. Do other people get as annoyed with their DAWs as reason users do? <br />
==================================================================<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Despite what was said in the comments in <a href="http://damuseblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/which-daw-beginners-guide-pt-2.html">Which Daw? A Beginner’s Guide pt. 2</a>, I've used reason over the years. I remember intently waiting for Reason 1 to be released. Reason at that time was unmatched. Nothing like it existed. Imagine that for a second, a totally new way of producing electronic music. Nothing has come along since its November 2000 release to change the game as much. Well, maybe <a href="http://www.ableton.com/">Ableton Live</a>, wink wink, check Which Daw? A Beginner’s Guide pt. 3.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I've always found Reason to be a really fun (not to be overlooked) and immensely inspirational environment. I think Scream is the best computer based distortion I've ever heard (why has no one cloned Scream in vst form, WHY?), though <a href="http://www.ohmforce.com/ViewProduct.do?p=Ohmicide">Ohm Force’s Ohmicide </a>does kick a fair amount of ass. I also love the rv7000. I think Thor and Maelstrom are really powerful synths with a lot of creative potential, but they cannot compete with the sound put out by top tier vsti's.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now it gets even worse, the samplers are very underpowered and don't allow for the creative manipulation of samples to the extent that something like <a href="http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/kontakt-4/">Native Instrument’s Kontakt</a> does. And even worse, the compression and equalization in reason are extremely limited. You can do just about anything in Reason with clever patching and workflow, but you cannot patch your way out of poor compression and equalization (I suppose you can, by ReWiring, a very common practice amongst professional Reason users).</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Reason just falls off for me. Great environment, great limitations, great synths, great distortion, great reverb, so so samplers, poor eq and compression, and just unspeakable metering, a very important, if nerdy, feature that is essential in proper gain staging. See future post regarding gain staging. If you are just starting out, this coming post will change your life, and shave years off of your production learning curve. I swear to you, that is no joke.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">All of this doesn't really matter, though, if you are a Reason user who produces dope tracks. Whatever works for you, works. That is the bottom line. Results speak for themselves.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But, as I’ve tried to emphasize, learning a daw is a long, sometimes frustrating process. True facility in a daw is equivalent to facility with a musical instrument in many ways. It does take years to feel out all the nuances, peculiarities, propensities of an instrument like a daw. Casting that knowledge aside and starting with a new daw is a painful process, and necessitates years more of learning, and less than optimal performance all the while as the new daw is mastered.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So where does that leave us? For Reason users who have been producing successfully for years, I’ve got nothing to say to you, go for it. But for a young producer who is just getting started, I really can’t recommend Reason. I feel its inherent limitations outweigh its positives with the exception of those with severely underpowered computers and no ability to upgrade, or those who need extreme restrictions to be productive. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And for the extremely difficult case of the midstream producer who has been working with Reason for a couple of years, knows it really well, but is still unsatisfied with the music they are producing… hard choices are going to have to be made. You have to look inside yourself and really try to determine if your own musical ability is holding you back, or if your musical ability is there, but workflow limitations or the sound of Reason is the final barrier to achieving your production goals. If this proves too difficult one potential way to discern this is to demo another daw and rewire Reason into the daw.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Because all or most of the sound design and writing will be taking place in Reason, you will initially be required to learn a smaller set of skills in the new daw. This will allow you to test another daw’s sound against Reason’s, and as familiarity grows in the new daw, you can begin preliminary attempts at sound design and writing. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I have to warn you. Using a new daw will feel like you are on square one again, and square one in computer music can be very frustrating. But you have to try to learn as much as you can, as quickly as you can to really determine if the potential of the new daw exceeds that of Reason's.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I know many producers that have ReWired Reason into other daws, only to eventually abandon Reason entirely over time as they became more familiar with the new daw, but I also know others who are happy to continue in Reason and ReWire into another daw for mixing purposes (where sound is summed together, and much of the compression and equalization of sounds takes place).</div>nowaysjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04537240523607231535noreply@blogger.com14