11/6/09
Back to Basics
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
That's Colin hitting the 50 footer (I broke my foot on the jump to the immediate right)11/2/09
Snap Foot

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!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.
10/22/09
They're baaaccckkkk....
Long story short, I've been injured pretty badly and now have lots of time in the studio. So updates on some biking stuff from this summer, but more importantly, a return to all things production.
In the mean time, check out what I've been up to:
My Soundcloud Account
8/24/08
Over a Month?!
The first thing to note was the riding out in Whistler, BC. I have to admit I was pretty nervous about hitting up the trails at Whistler. When I first arrived, you have a huge, towering mountain shadowing over you, and the chair lifts go out of sight... with bikes! Now I've ridden a mountain - Mount Bromont - but this looked like another level all together! I was also really excited, because if you are a mountain biker, Whistler is like a mecca - everyone wants to ride there at least once in their life time. So with a mix of nerves and extreme excitement I hit the trails on Sunday July 27th.... in the rain no less! So up Colin and I went, and we were literally going into the clouds (and rain!). Arriving at the top, we were a little wet to say the least, we decided to hit a Blue Trail - Crank It Up - to get us warmed up and a chance for me to feel out the rental bike. To my surprise, despite the rain and crappy weather, the trails were fairly dry and grippy - and for a Blue trail, it was really fun! After the warm up run, we decided to hit a very famous and well know trail - A-Line - because we were pretty confident that we could hit it after a solid warm up run (although to be honest, I was still pretty in awe of the place!). Another wet ride up the chair lift and we hit the entrance to A-Line... The beginning was fairly tame with some small table top jumps and berms - I was beginning to relax a bit. Then we started hitting the bigger tables - they were pretty big, and if you carried your speed, you would literally be flying. A-Line is a flow track which basically means it is meant for speed, and to hit all the jumps on the trail with speed and 'flow' your way through. Now, I hadn't really hit anything like this in the past, although similar type stuff, not really as big or as long. Granted, being my first time down, I was on the breaks pretty good and was catching a bit of air, but not able to clear a lot of the jumps (I needed man up and not hit the breaks!). So first run down A-Line was fun, but there was a lot more potential in that trail and we skipped the A-Line rock drop (look big, and it was wet), and we also skipped the 'GLC Drop' which was practically down by the chair lift and, if there was one drop I was going to hit, it was the GLC Drop. On our way back up, Colin suggested we take the Garbonzo chair after we hit mid-station (Garbonzo brings you to pretty much the top of the mountain, as high as you can go with your bikes). I said yes, but it took some coaxing - you had no idea where it went because you were in the clouds and the chair just disappeared, it looked pretty scary. On the Garbonzo lift we went, and we happened to be sitting beside an older guy (probably about 55/60). This guy started talking to us about the trails, and suggested that "if you want the best 45 minutes of riding that you will ever experience", to follow him - he made sure that we were comfortable on jumps. So, after about 15mins on a chair lift (that's right, I was getting pretty damn scared at this point), we get off and can see the glacier. Time to follow this crazy old bastard and see where he takes us. From the first turn, we were hitting huge jumps, smooth bermed corners, all while clipping along at a good pace. Then came the first step up. I'm riding a little behind this crazy old guy and Colin, and as I come over this shale rock face, I see them at the far end of, for lack of a better term, a valley, I can hear them yelling me to go as fast as I can. I didn't see it at first, but after mocking down a rock face, and coming up the other side of the valley, I see the jump (a step up is a jump which throws you up, so you are 'stepping up' when you hit the jump). Holy crap the thing is big. I pin it as fast as I can toward the jump and hit it full tilt - I get kicked up pretty high and just manage to make the step, my heart almost jumping out of my chest!! The first section of Freight Train complete. We ride down a shale road for a bit, and it comes up along this huge cliff - I'm thinking about tomorrow when it's supposed to be clear and you can see over this cliff. Then down another shale road and hit a step down, then I hear shouting in front of me again to go as fast as I can - yip, another step up - this one is even bigger than the last. This time I really get kicked in the air (I'd say close to 15 feet), my feet slip off the pedals, but I manage to land on my seat and ride away - any landing you can walk away from is a good landing right - LOL! The next section was pretty much all fire road, so it was quick with a bit of sketchiness with the loose shale and rock. Now the old guy is smiling, saying the next section is where all the fun stuff starts - I was just thinking of survival at this point.... The old wise man was right, the fun really did start here - from nice fast sections to tables to drops and berms - this was turning out to be the ride of my life, everything I would want on a trail and we're not even half way down yet! I can pretty much tell you that I was yelling and screaming the rest of the way down - fun, fast, airtime and built just right. The stuff just kept coming and the smile kept getting bigger (and the yelling louder). Next we linked into Dirt Merchant which probably was my favorite trail - big drops to river gaps (jumping over a river) to step downs and step ups - this had it all and then some. I was going bigger than I ever had before and everything just felt smooth as butter! We linked into the second half of A-Line after Dirt Merchant finishes up. At this point we had lost our guide and my heart was pounding and my knuckles where white. We finished up A-Line in style, getting lots of air and going pretty good - then we hit the GLC Drop, easy and one goal down.... what was I going to try next. After saying that, I also hit a nice big drop on Dirt Merchant which is probably the biggest drop I've ever done (bigger than GLC even!). I was stoked - we had just ridden what we felt was our dream trail, we decided we would probably pretty much only ride this from here on in, it was just that fun.
I'm going to stop there as my hands are sore from typing, and would you believe it, we got NO PICS when we were there (riding pics anyway). So I'll come back soon and finish up the riding stories, although we pretty much did only ride Freight Train to Dirt Merchant to A-Line all week! I also have some helmet cam footage from the trail runs that I will post when I get it up on youtube. So till next time, keep it real!!
7/17/08
Music & Math
http://www.seedmagazine.com/
7/7/08
Back 2 Basics
Seems I’m on a staggered schedule here in terms of the blog – apologies as I know everyone has been waiting on edge for my next post – ha! Well, I have a gig this Saturday and wanted to play live, but it’s looking more and more like will not happen and I’ll have to fall back on my tried and true DJ’ing abilities (although it’s been a while since I played out at a club) – looking forward to it though! But I’m going to focus back on biking for this post as I’ve had a great couple of days on the ol’trusty steed!
I started our (somewhat) long weekend by taking my wife up to Niagra Falls to an amazing hotel overlooking the falls. We’ve had a spat of bad news and I figured it would be good to get away and clear our heads – so it was a great start to the weekend for sure as Jaime and I had an unbelievable time over the weekend (we seem to be able to have a great time no matter where we go!). When we got home, Jaime went to go check the mail and came running back in – my article had been published in the Georgian Bay times (based on my 3rd post on the blog about the trip up to Blue Mountain). So needless to say I was pretty excited ;) Funny thing was, Colin had contacted me and asked if I wanted to hit Blue on Canada Day. Since I had nothing on my plate (although I probably should’ve been working on my live set), and the weatherman saying it was going to be sunny and around 25 degree’s, I said let’s do it! Actually, before I get into our trip back up to Blue, I have to talk about something crazy I saw at the Chicopee Bike Park on the Friday. Colin, Fergie and I were sessioning the jumps at Chicopee when 2 kids show up who we have never seen. They start hitting the big line nice and smooth, and the one kid starts doing 360’s off the various jumps on the big line – this in itself it pretty sick as it’s not everyday you see someone make a 360 look easy and smooth. Then came the best riding I think I have ever seen. They were trying to close down the park and it was myself and this kid at the top of the run in. Not being able to really do any tricks, I thought it prudent to go first and give the kid the last run for the simple fact he was just way better than me. What does the kid do on the first jump…. A friggin backflip!!! Now, you or not supposed to invert on any of the jumps at Chicopee for insurance reasons – the guy running the park at the time could do nothing but stare (I think his jaw hit the floor to be honest, as did everyone else’s)! So everyone was getting him stocked, hi-5’s, yelling and screaming. He goes back up for another run, and the Chicopee guy wanted to see it as well (we all did!). The kid comes down again, backflips the first jump, 360’s the second jump and then does a huge tuck no-hander (this is where the rider ‘tucks’ the handle bars on his knees and throws both his hands out to the side) – just a spectacle to behold, I was just blown away that someone could do those on the local jumps, just incredible. To make it even better, the kid was one of the most humble kids I’ve seen there and did not really make a big deal out of it – just made the feat that much better to be honest, no attitude at all – I love it!
Ok, another quick story before I get to Blue. The BBC. No, not the English channel with the great comedy (yeah, I grew up on BBC stuff and love it!), but the Backyard Booter Crew. This acronym was affectionately invented when our good buddy (and owner of Sattelyte Wakeskates – the BEST WakeSkate company in the world, IMHO) built a snowboard ‘booter’ (or jump) in his backyard. There were many a night where people would be over at Garry’s sessioning the booter. So, Colin has it in his mind that he is going to learn how to 360 on a bike, and seeing that kid on Friday lit a fire under his ass to get it done. Colin negotiated with his wife to let him build a small jump in the backyard so he could learn 360’s. While Jaime and I were enjoying an amazing view of the falls, Colin and Fergie had a dump truck full of dirt delivered to the house and were busy building the summer incarnation of the BBC. I get back from Niagra Falls to see a nice little booter built in Colin’s back yard – The BBC is back. Colin has attempted 2 360’s so far in his backyard playground, but as of yet, has been unsuccessful at landing a 3… He’ll get it though, he is one determined rider!
Ok, back to the trip to Blue this past Canada day. After arriving at Colins a bit late, we headed up to the only lift access downhill in Ontario (I think anyway!). We expected it to be a bit busy, but the thing I was looking forward to the most was hitting some trails which I have not ridden in about a year (they were closed the first few times we went). So we arrived, and after a short delay due to my shifting cable and derailleur being shot, we headed for the lift. There was a nice size crowd there, but you didn’t have to wait more than 5mins to get on the lift, so things were looking good already. Checking the trail maps, Autobahn and Shot Glass were open – 2 of our favourite trails (Autobahn because it is FAST as hell – aptly named! And Shot Glass cuz it’s nice and technical). We got off the lift and headed straight for Autobahn – nothing like mock speed for the first run of the day, and DAMN was it fast! We shredded that trail like nothing, and I was feeling good despite not having riden Down Hill for over a month, and the adrenaline was pumping nicely from all that speed!! We hit that a few times and then headed to Shot Glass which is full of fun little stunts all the way down mixed in with some nice technical sections (steep rooty/rocky sections that test your skill). Man was I happy to be back on the trails, it felt great! After shredding Shot Glass a few more times we decided to hit O-Chute which is a fun, fast, technical trail as well and connects with another trail (R-Shore) half way down. We hit the first section nicely, and were ripping the second section (I was actually pretty lucky not to dummy myself when I hit the second sections rock drop and almost went over the bars!), and halfway down the second section Colin gets a flat. Pretty crappy place to get a flat cuz it was step, and the terrain is not really meant to be walked down because it’s so steep!! Needless to say I kept ripping the rest of the trail and Colin had to maneuver down the hill with his ‘dirt bike without an engine’ of a bike!!!
After fixing his flat, we ripped Shot Glass and Autobahn a couple more times before calling it a day (was about 6:30 and we’d been riding for about 5 hours). My muscles were nice and sore from the day and I was ready to go home. The ride home was fun as the lactic acid was pooling in our legs – you could feel your legs getting stiffer by the minute!! Once we hit home, it was tough to just walk back to the car, a sign of a good day of riding!! What a weekend indeed, hoping to have another one like this before the summer is done, but Whistler is coming up in less than a month and I think Colin and I are going to try and hit Mt Bromont next weekend to get some training in for BC – LOL! Anyways, that’s it for me for now, stay tuned for an update as to how the gig went! Ride hard and enjoy life… until next time…