Just had to quickly post about the release of Max for Live. Something that I think will change the face of music production and bring it into the 21st century. Its like being able to pop the hood of a car and customize and tweak to your liking - except you can now do this with instruments, effects and midi effects... while the Ableton is running... WOW.
Thanks to my lovely wife for snagging this for me for my B-Day. I'll be deep in the programming game for a while but hopefully this will enable me to customize my APC40 to my liking. But of course, I will be making some tracks over this time as well (Also picked up Camel Audio's Alchemy, an awesome, powerful and easy to use synth).
I'll be finishing up the build post today as well, need to finish that up as I have tons more I want to post on! I also need to post about my new gear! I should have some time over the next couple of days, so expect lots of new posts over the next few days.
Peace.
11/25/09
11/14/09
Check this out!
Just wanted to point out a really nicely produced track by someone who frequents the Ableton Message Board - Jeskola01, also known as Breakitdown on Soundcloud. Low Winter Sun - This track is a great piece of work in the DEEP techno realm. Put on those waders, cuz its going deep...
Low Winter Sun by breakitdown
Enjoy, and support him if you like the track, I did.
Low Winter Sun by breakitdown
Enjoy, and support him if you like the track, I did.
11/10/09
The Build pt. 2
So I have my light foundation with the drums, just a shell that I can build over top of - again nothing special, but gives the track its first identity and usually is a good indicator of what type of track it will be. I originally started this track with the idea of a dubstep tune in my head (idea being that I wanted to make a dubstep track, not conscious yet of the elements).
With the bass line, I'm using Native Instruments MASSIVE which is a nice flexible synth and one that is easy to use to get a nice big sound (and I believe it is a well used weapon in dubstep). This is a new synth to me, but one I like because, as I said, it's pretty intuitive to use which is a big bonus. So I set out to make my own patch, something I've been working on lately instead of using presets. The process involves using Oscillators to create waveforms, and then use filters and efx to shape the waveforms into something you would use. I was able to get a decent sound pretty quick and used the LFO (low frequency Oscillator) to make the bass wobble by assigning it to the filter cutoff of the onboard efx (what this does is make the filter cutoff, the frequency which is allowed through the filter, to move in either a synched or non-synched way, giving you a decent 'wobble' effect on the bass). Had this in place and used a simple 2 note bass line with some wobble applied.
Now I have my drums and bass, I usually look to add the synth/keys here or I focus on adding rhytmic elements to the drums to add some depth and movement. On this track, I decided to go with the synth/keys first and use a new Virtual Synth I picked up for a steal (regular $150, got it for $15!!) which is Applied Accoustics Ultra Analog VA-1. Another easy to use synth that resembles the 'analog' world. For those of you who don't know, there is the eternal debate of digital vs analog. Some people think digital sounds like crap and analog is warm and fuller sounding - and you get those who say you can't tell the different. I really don't care as long as it sounds good in the context of my tracks... and digital is cheaper and more accessible. Anyways, a great synth that I wanted to start incorporating into my work flow and what better chance to use it than here!
I found a nice pad like sound and, keeping things in key, sequenced out a simple 2 note synth line. Nothing special cuz my music theory sucks, so I have to keep things simple - hwoever, to me, the simple stuff usually sounds the best (or maybe I'm just biased!!). The riff was sitting ok in the mix, but was hitting the same time as a kick and the bass, so things were a bit clogged in this space. To make things breathe a bit better, I eq'd all these elements to carve out some space and give the sounds room to breathe - this worked pretty good, but had to do something else to bring the kick out.
This brings out another tool from the toolbox which is very handy if used correctly (although this is probably over done in todays dance music). Side Chain Compression. Quick overview - compression is simply the idea that you set a threshold in db, and set a ration (ex. 1:2). What this means is that everytime the signal is below the threshold, it is brought up 1db. If the signal goes over the threshold, the signal is reduced by 2 db - so you can manage the levels or db of your tracks better with Compression. Side Chain compression takes that idea and instead of setting a threshold manually, you use a secondary signal in order to set the threshold. So, in my case, I use Side Chain compression on the bass line track, and set the input (threshold) to the kick drum - this means that everytime the kick drum hits, the bass line track will be turned down based on my setting. As you can tell, this is a good technique for giving tracks room to breath, so here, this gives my kick drum space/room to breath over top of the bass line. You can use this technique in extreme ways to get a 'pumping' effect - something very prevalent in French House (ex. Daft Punk).
I think that's good for today, so in the mean time let me post the finished product of this process. I'll talk about the other aspects of the production in the next couple of posts.
Slow & Steady by Ypsi Kid
With the bass line, I'm using Native Instruments MASSIVE which is a nice flexible synth and one that is easy to use to get a nice big sound (and I believe it is a well used weapon in dubstep). This is a new synth to me, but one I like because, as I said, it's pretty intuitive to use which is a big bonus. So I set out to make my own patch, something I've been working on lately instead of using presets. The process involves using Oscillators to create waveforms, and then use filters and efx to shape the waveforms into something you would use. I was able to get a decent sound pretty quick and used the LFO (low frequency Oscillator) to make the bass wobble by assigning it to the filter cutoff of the onboard efx (what this does is make the filter cutoff, the frequency which is allowed through the filter, to move in either a synched or non-synched way, giving you a decent 'wobble' effect on the bass). Had this in place and used a simple 2 note bass line with some wobble applied.
Now I have my drums and bass, I usually look to add the synth/keys here or I focus on adding rhytmic elements to the drums to add some depth and movement. On this track, I decided to go with the synth/keys first and use a new Virtual Synth I picked up for a steal (regular $150, got it for $15!!) which is Applied Accoustics Ultra Analog VA-1. Another easy to use synth that resembles the 'analog' world. For those of you who don't know, there is the eternal debate of digital vs analog. Some people think digital sounds like crap and analog is warm and fuller sounding - and you get those who say you can't tell the different. I really don't care as long as it sounds good in the context of my tracks... and digital is cheaper and more accessible. Anyways, a great synth that I wanted to start incorporating into my work flow and what better chance to use it than here!
I found a nice pad like sound and, keeping things in key, sequenced out a simple 2 note synth line. Nothing special cuz my music theory sucks, so I have to keep things simple - hwoever, to me, the simple stuff usually sounds the best (or maybe I'm just biased!!). The riff was sitting ok in the mix, but was hitting the same time as a kick and the bass, so things were a bit clogged in this space. To make things breathe a bit better, I eq'd all these elements to carve out some space and give the sounds room to breathe - this worked pretty good, but had to do something else to bring the kick out.
This brings out another tool from the toolbox which is very handy if used correctly (although this is probably over done in todays dance music). Side Chain Compression. Quick overview - compression is simply the idea that you set a threshold in db, and set a ration (ex. 1:2). What this means is that everytime the signal is below the threshold, it is brought up 1db. If the signal goes over the threshold, the signal is reduced by 2 db - so you can manage the levels or db of your tracks better with Compression. Side Chain compression takes that idea and instead of setting a threshold manually, you use a secondary signal in order to set the threshold. So, in my case, I use Side Chain compression on the bass line track, and set the input (threshold) to the kick drum - this means that everytime the kick drum hits, the bass line track will be turned down based on my setting. As you can tell, this is a good technique for giving tracks room to breath, so here, this gives my kick drum space/room to breath over top of the bass line. You can use this technique in extreme ways to get a 'pumping' effect - something very prevalent in French House (ex. Daft Punk).
I think that's good for today, so in the mean time let me post the finished product of this process. I'll talk about the other aspects of the production in the next couple of posts.
Slow & Steady by Ypsi Kid
11/6/09
Back to Basics
So as you know, I've been hobbled for the last 2 months. While this has been a weird time for me as I've never been this inactive for this long, I'm trying to keep a positive spin on things and focus on what makes me happy... Music. I've finished a few songs in the last couple of months (or somewhat finished, good enough for me) and have been trying to keep the momentum going. I'm currently finishing off a downtempo piece whose bass has been shaped by my fascination with dubstep. I'm going to walk everyone through my process for building this track.
First off, I'm really trying to focus on my mixing skills and getting everything its own place in the mix in terms of frequency range. You see, if you have different sounds that occupy the same frequency space, you begin to get muddiness where those frequencies cross (nice technical term for all you readers - HA!). Until you start to mix tracks or you are an audiophile you probably wouldn't be able to notice the muddiness too much unless you A/B'd it with something that was done correctly. So, that is a point of emphasis now when I sit down to make tracks, especially with the dubstep bass because you not only need the very low frequecies to stand out over top of the kick, but you have mid and hi frequencies that can help to define the sound as well, so getting your EQ'ing and compression right is key. Just a quick point here for non-producers, when I talk about EQ'ing, what that means is either increasing or decreasing the volume (or dB) within a certain range of the frequency band (ex, I want to ensure the kick drum and bass line don't interfere, so I would lower the volume of the Kick drums frequency on the bass line track or vice versa - for an example of muddiness, check out my track called I Will Go (to the bass) - you can see that when the bass comes in, it kind of drowns out the kick drum - not a good job on my part of getting the elements to sit right in the mix). So anyway, that's a big emphasis when I sit down to make a track and something I've kept in mind for Slow & Steady.
Whenever I sit down to write a track, I usually always start with the drums. Why do I do this, probably because I'm pretty good with rhythm and not so good with melody - do my rhythms usually drive the track as opposed to melody. I find that by doing things this way, melody usually falls in line with the groove of the track. Kind of an ass-backwards way of doing things as I know most people start with a melody and derive the key and then go from there. My lack of understanding the melodic elements is probably the sole driver for my approach. No formal music theory, so I try and and go with rhythm and use my ears as to what sounds good to me - I find this usually works out well for me.
For this track I decided to use Ableton's native drum rack and used one of the CR-78 kits. This kit has some nice percussion and a nice kick that I though I could work with. I'm bad in that fact that I start out with a 1 bar loop and because of this my stuff (or at least the drums) tend to be a bit tracky - my formative years in Detroit has made a mark on me in this respect! - so I do some other things to get movement and add interest whic I'll get to later. The obvious I start with is the kick, snare and highhat. True 4 to the floor style which usually hits nicely and gives a lot of options in terms of rhythmic structure for other percussive elements. For this piece I movement the 4th kick to change the rhytm a bit and added a rim shot in the space that was not occupied by either the kick, snare or HH (this is another approach I use, I like to have things sit in their own physical space within the track, especially with drums).
Now I have the drums, I usually go after the bass next since I like the bass to be one of my main elements and also because a bassline does not need to be very dynamic in terms of melody. Great basslines are usually pretty simple and interact with the rest of the track in a unique way (at least in my opinion). I'm going to stop here for now and will continue with the rest of my track buidling process with the next post. I'll also put the track up so people can take a listen.
So, until next time. Turn up the bass and do a 2 step.
First off, I'm really trying to focus on my mixing skills and getting everything its own place in the mix in terms of frequency range. You see, if you have different sounds that occupy the same frequency space, you begin to get muddiness where those frequencies cross (nice technical term for all you readers - HA!). Until you start to mix tracks or you are an audiophile you probably wouldn't be able to notice the muddiness too much unless you A/B'd it with something that was done correctly. So, that is a point of emphasis now when I sit down to make tracks, especially with the dubstep bass because you not only need the very low frequecies to stand out over top of the kick, but you have mid and hi frequencies that can help to define the sound as well, so getting your EQ'ing and compression right is key. Just a quick point here for non-producers, when I talk about EQ'ing, what that means is either increasing or decreasing the volume (or dB) within a certain range of the frequency band (ex, I want to ensure the kick drum and bass line don't interfere, so I would lower the volume of the Kick drums frequency on the bass line track or vice versa - for an example of muddiness, check out my track called I Will Go (to the bass) - you can see that when the bass comes in, it kind of drowns out the kick drum - not a good job on my part of getting the elements to sit right in the mix). So anyway, that's a big emphasis when I sit down to make a track and something I've kept in mind for Slow & Steady.
Whenever I sit down to write a track, I usually always start with the drums. Why do I do this, probably because I'm pretty good with rhythm and not so good with melody - do my rhythms usually drive the track as opposed to melody. I find that by doing things this way, melody usually falls in line with the groove of the track. Kind of an ass-backwards way of doing things as I know most people start with a melody and derive the key and then go from there. My lack of understanding the melodic elements is probably the sole driver for my approach. No formal music theory, so I try and and go with rhythm and use my ears as to what sounds good to me - I find this usually works out well for me.
For this track I decided to use Ableton's native drum rack and used one of the CR-78 kits. This kit has some nice percussion and a nice kick that I though I could work with. I'm bad in that fact that I start out with a 1 bar loop and because of this my stuff (or at least the drums) tend to be a bit tracky - my formative years in Detroit has made a mark on me in this respect! - so I do some other things to get movement and add interest whic I'll get to later. The obvious I start with is the kick, snare and highhat. True 4 to the floor style which usually hits nicely and gives a lot of options in terms of rhythmic structure for other percussive elements. For this piece I movement the 4th kick to change the rhytm a bit and added a rim shot in the space that was not occupied by either the kick, snare or HH (this is another approach I use, I like to have things sit in their own physical space within the track, especially with drums).
Now I have the drums, I usually go after the bass next since I like the bass to be one of my main elements and also because a bassline does not need to be very dynamic in terms of melody. Great basslines are usually pretty simple and interact with the rest of the track in a unique way (at least in my opinion). I'm going to stop here for now and will continue with the rest of my track buidling process with the next post. I'll also put the track up so people can take a listen.
So, until next time. Turn up the bass and do a 2 step.
11/3/09
Bromont Pics
I thought I would throw up a couple of quick pics from the biking trip in August:
That's me hitting the Road Gap with Fergie lining up the table
That's Colin hitting the 50 footer (I broke my foot on the jump to the immediate right)
That's me hitting the Road Gap with Fergie lining up the table
That's Colin hitting the 50 footer (I broke my foot on the jump to the immediate right)You can see the teaser video footage in the link I have in the last post (nice work Colin!). I'll post a couple more pics some time over the next month, but this give a quick glimpse as to what we were up to. Fun stuff.
11/2/09
Snap Foot
So, I was saying I got injured. Here's a shot of my foot when I was waiting to see a doctor in an Emergency room on Bromont, Quebec. Check this out:
As you can see, my ankle and foot looked f*&@#d to put it mildly. Your probably asking, 'what the hell happened?' right?! Well, me and the boys were on a biking trip up in Bromont, Quebec, which has some awesome trails, not to mention an insane bike park. We had planned for 3.5 days and had just about gotten through the last day when we were ripping down a trail and decided to hit the bike park in the rain (more like light mist). I was hitting everything nice and decided to hit the road gap, hit it with good speed and landed it big. But I was going pretty fast and had a zesty moment trying to hit the bridge for the next section... hit the bridge and was carrying my speed nicely and decided I was going to hit this 20/25ft table. Hit the table and both my feet slip off my pedals - I managed to get my right foot back on, but ended up landing and my left foot slammed into the ground and twisted inward. I stayed on the bike but knew something wasn't right so I stopped before the next jump and got out of the way. When I tried to put my foot down, I dropped in pain and new I had at least broken something. Managed to make my way down the hill on one pedal and then pretty much collapsed in the medical center, the pain was getting to me and I knew something was messed up pretty bad (as you can see from the pic above). I ended up in the below after 2 shots of morphine and the doctor saying I just broke a bone in my foot (although my foot did hurt near as bad as my ankle - more on that later). This is after the nurse said to me "we may have to rebreak the foot/ankle, it doesn't look good). All things considered, I'm glad that did not need to be done.
No crutches, so the boys had to carry me!
As you can see, my ankle and foot looked f*&@#d to put it mildly. Your probably asking, 'what the hell happened?' right?! Well, me and the boys were on a biking trip up in Bromont, Quebec, which has some awesome trails, not to mention an insane bike park. We had planned for 3.5 days and had just about gotten through the last day when we were ripping down a trail and decided to hit the bike park in the rain (more like light mist). I was hitting everything nice and decided to hit the road gap, hit it with good speed and landed it big. But I was going pretty fast and had a zesty moment trying to hit the bridge for the next section... hit the bridge and was carrying my speed nicely and decided I was going to hit this 20/25ft table. Hit the table and both my feet slip off my pedals - I managed to get my right foot back on, but ended up landing and my left foot slammed into the ground and twisted inward. I stayed on the bike but knew something wasn't right so I stopped before the next jump and got out of the way. When I tried to put my foot down, I dropped in pain and new I had at least broken something. Managed to make my way down the hill on one pedal and then pretty much collapsed in the medical center, the pain was getting to me and I knew something was messed up pretty bad (as you can see from the pic above). I ended up in the below after 2 shots of morphine and the doctor saying I just broke a bone in my foot (although my foot did hurt near as bad as my ankle - more on that later). This is after the nurse said to me "we may have to rebreak the foot/ankle, it doesn't look good). All things considered, I'm glad that did not need to be done.
No crutches, so the boys had to carry me!Anyways, long story short, the doctors didn't pay attention to my ankle (despite my attempts at asking them about it), and started physio 1.5 months later to find out I had 2 tendons detach from the bone. That would explain why I still can't walk right. So no physical activity for me, it will be a long road to recovery - I'm hoping sooner rather than later.
In the mean time, I've tried focusing on music more - I've been liking dubstep stuff lately (which is a mix of jungle and techno/breaks really). Mostly been loving the deep twisted bass coming from the genre. Trying to emulate that in the studio has been a lot of fun and resulted in some interesting productions (M-Step'n, Broken LFO, I Will Go (to the bass), Game Changer). Also picked up some new gear which I'll talk about in some future posts. So, as you can see, I'll be focusing primarily on the music side of things with the odd biking pic and video thrown on to let you see what the guys have been up to.
In the mean time, I've tried focusing on music more - I've been liking dubstep stuff lately (which is a mix of jungle and techno/breaks really). Mostly been loving the deep twisted bass coming from the genre. Trying to emulate that in the studio has been a lot of fun and resulted in some interesting productions (M-Step'n, Broken LFO, I Will Go (to the bass), Game Changer). Also picked up some new gear which I'll talk about in some future posts. So, as you can see, I'll be focusing primarily on the music side of things with the odd biking pic and video thrown on to let you see what the guys have been up to.
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