NOTES FOR 6.23.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Another great session this morning. Got about 4 hours in...and have this track mostly finished besides EQing. Got all the little mistakes cleaned up, panning finished, and vocals added. This track is called "House Sucks"....ironically a house track. I found this AMAZING funny sample from youtube of this guy talking about how much he hates house music and house clubbers. It worked perfectly!!!! This is one of my fav tracks right now. Notes - 

The youtube sample had some really bad mid noise in it...which was hard to remove without destroying the intelligibility of the vocals. I tried playing with EQs and gates...but it still sounded bad. I would have to say that I am not the most knowledgeable person about cleaning up poorly recorded vocal samples...but I did find some magic within the multi-band dynamics presets. I used the "REDUCE AMBIANCE" preset, and removed some of the mids...and it really cleaned it up. I mixed that with gates and EQ 8, and it ended up sounding great. There is still a smidge of noise in it...but really unnoticeable. My engineer should be able to clean that tiny little bit....hes really good with vocals.

Its really nice to remove ONE KICK within a bar, and replace it with a slightly advanced reverse snare sound. It really throws the swing especially when there is already a heavy swing within the track.

Always remember to pan your shakers....but remember to do it symmetrically. It really FILLS out the song.

I have recently have had a desire to use 2 separate bass sounds in different parts...but you must really take care of masking. I actually tried something new today...cutting the kick, and the other bass...and threw a one shot bass sound in that spot. Used track on/off automation on some other tracks....and it created a really nice bass SLAM.

When adding a delay to vocals (which is quite common in all electronic music) to the end of a vocal line, its good to separate your vocal track into 2 tracks, then apply the delay to the 2nd track which only has the part you want to delay. Ive found then when delaying a vocal sample, its really hard to get the timing of the delay right without it scooping up parts preceding the part you want to delay. If you separate it, the delay will only capture EXACTLY what you want it to. I have done this a few times in the past few tracks, but didnt really note it.

When panning a main part of your track (something that sticks out)....its good to only pan it a little bit. I really like to pan even my main parts (besides bass and kick) because it really helps with masking....but too much really takes away from the power up the center. I have been finding that 10-13 left and right can help with masking, but still keep the power up the middle.

Dont forget the power of AUTOPAN. Most of the time, when I am panning (stabs especially), I use the normal automation within the track. But sometimes, using autopan can give you some really swirly revolving pans. Its good to mix those with arp sounds or pads.

Also, up until now, when I was panning a long synth sound that I wanted to go from left to right or vice versa...I started from the left and went to the right or vice versa. Today, I started in the center...and then went left...and then symmetrically balanced it with a 2nd one starting at the center and going to the right. It kept the power on the first hit of the bar, and then moved it away. I even added a little reverb to it so it disappears nicely.

Reverse snares (or reverse anything) can really add nice swings almost anywhere in a track (not just beside the snare or clap). In the future, I definitely want to experiment with the placement of reversed samples. I just recently got into using them....and never realized the power until now!

Well thats it for today. My final track came back from mastering today....so this weekend, I am going to go to some of my friends clubs and test them during the early hours before opening....sit with a chair dead center between the speakers and take notes. Hopefully, I will be uploading them next week.

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 6.21.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Well, for the past 2 weeks, I have been busy working with my mastering engineer on my last 10 tracks....trying to get them all finished up. Also, I had some ear problems and had to see the doctor a few times...and he said it was best to take a small break from music until my ears cleared up. So the last few weeks have been filled with organic jams in the park since the weather is nice. However, I got back in the swing of things last weekend and started a new track. This one, is a lot different than my others. My other songs really have a "complete" sound, where notes resolve and calm the listener. This track, does not. Its more of a warpy electro song. I tried some new ideas on this track. Notes - 

Shutting your record quantization OFF can make for some really cool, less robotic sounds. This track is full of hits that are JUST OFF a little bit....even snares and claps. It made some "2nd swings" in the song which were really cool.

I also experimented with putting the claps in different places than the 2, and the 4. Then I brought them BACK to the 2 and 4 later in the track. It added a lot of power in contrast with the other clap.

Up until now, I was mostly using side chain compression on synth sounds with a really low threshold to get that pumping sound....but on this track, I experimented with using gates instead. I even bounce between side chain compression and side chain gating really quickly....which ended up sounding really cool.

I also tried coming in on the 7th bar instead of 4 or 8. It made from some unpredictable changes in the song.

Its good to cut your kicks out sometimes in odd places...and use on/off automation on other tracks at the same time...so sometimes, when it comes back it, it slams a little harder, and makes it less stagnant.

I use pitch LFO modulation on some synth sounds just like I mention in my percussion tutorial...and it made some really warpy sounding synth sounds.

Oh yea, and steel drums are SWEET!

Well thats it for today!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 5.20.2010

(Todays Session Above)

This track almost looks like 2 separate tracks...but it is one. I am up to 45 tracks in this song...shit. Its got one shots all over the place...dubsteb bass (but in the mids) and tons of creepy sounding shit. Notes for today -

When doing an explosion, a cool idea I had was to use a white noise and an explosion (side chained to the kick)...then...cut it really fast with the on/off track automation, and THEN hit the crash cymbal. Def sounds out of place...but in a good way. I even cut it at an odd beat for a more unique sound.

Side chaining your explosions can sound really cool. Even set the attack and delay a little late will sound fine.

Abrupt stops in any fashion can be really cool if, RIGHT when it stops, another stab element hits. Its almost like a lead in for the stab.

Using on off automation on ALL the tracks, and then throwing in a weird (even out of key) stab can be really cool...and can even be done rhythmically. I did that today at the end of the track.

This track is going to need MASSIVE EQing. I am going to plan about 12 hours I think for EQing this track. I am doing SO MUCH in the low frequencies...i have to separate them a little if I want this to sound ok in the club.

Its really important when using sweep or build up samples that are being cut by on/off automation...to use a utility volume and automate it a little bit some it comes in a little softer. I need to do that tomorrow. I was cutting up a build up sweep...but when it comes back in from the on/off automation, it was too loud because the sweep is naturally getting louder.

This track will also need massive panning because so much is going on. I might even use autopan to get some more unpredictable, out of phase pans.

Well thats it for today. Ears are fucked as usual. Gotta stop.

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 5.19.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Still working on the track I started yesterday. I wasnt sure where this track was gonna go, and I was kind of getting discouraged because it was sounding too weird, and I couldnt think of anything to bring it back to being funky. Luckily, last night....I found some really funky bass stabs. And then today, I turned it into dubstep house with awesome alternating bass sounds. I realized...when things start sounding weird...go to dubstep bass...cause its ALWAYS weird, and intentionally weird. So you can take a track from...eh, ok...to fucking great with some bouncing LFO basses. Notes -

Using 2 LFO modulated bass sounds at the same time can be great. Use all the parameters at your disposal...LFO speed, filter LFO, velocity, frequency cutoff, Q, all of it...to get awesome sounds. Change each parameter everytime the bass cuts in and out to make it sound unique.

This track, I am really playing with low frequencies, so I need to remember to really take care of them in the EQ process.

Also, its important when using multiple synths to check your DETUNE. Sometimes, you dont notice, but just moving the knob a smidge can get the sounds in tune a little better than they were.

Its really important to separate your stabs. You never know what you are going to want to do with them later effect wise. So separate each sound especially when they came from a drum rack. It makes things a lot easier later.

I learned recently to not delete my elements section with all my drum samples in it until later in the track process. Sometimes, you make a nice beat with a kick, and then...some sounds you add later just dont sound right with it. I am going to def have to change the kick sound to give it a little more punch now that this song got really crazy. Im glad I didnt delete it out of my template because it will be easy to change.

I really need to make more racks with shaker samples instead of HHs. I just dont have enough right now, and had to use a shaker loop for the time being...but I really dont like loops.

I made a vocal loop last night with my mic saying "Stuff you dont hear in the club". I need to cut the little pop from my lips touching. I will fix that up in the EQ process. This tracks EQing is going to be a lot harder than before because of the massive lower end in the track. I am running 4 bass tracks...which is hard to do.

This track is really getting up in the tracks. I am up to almost 40, and I havent even done sweeps, crashes, or the 2nd half of the song. Wow!

Thats it for today!

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 5.18.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Well, I know I should be mixing my last track, but I was feeling weirdly creative today...I wanted to start a new track, and something a little creepy and different than before. Today, I started a new track using middle eastern scales as the melody and bassline. Pushed me to some new limits today....this track would def not be a club banger...more of a "wow, thats weird" type track. Almost creepy with chromatic clown scales overtop. Notes for today -

When using 2 or 3 basses together, especially in the really low EQed tech house type, its important to make sure you arent using any of the same frequencies. I had to move the whole one bass up an octave just so it didnt sit with the bass sitting at 70Hz. It was really tough. I wanted this really busy low bass sound...but not very strong. Was really hard to do.

Sometimes, percussion in odd places can be just what you need. I was making some drum loops and accidentally made a mistake which turned out to be one of the main sounding parts in the song.

When making 2 different basses, its good to side chain compress them with separate attack and release parameters. It makes them stand out differently. Also, the compressor within ZEBRA vst....i dont really like much.

I need to get some weird effects on these melodies so they dont sound so boring. I will do that tomorrow.

Well, not many notes today. Ive been making tracks the last few days, but everything was to straight forward, it wasnt really worth noting.

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 5.15.2010 (Evening)

(This Evenings Session)

Crazy productive day. Been working on a track since 6:30 this morning. Took an afternoon break for a few hours, then went back to work. Amazing track came together. I dont know what has gotten into me lately. Just full of funky ideas. This track is killer funky jazzy....my perfect style I think.

Notes -

Pan Pan Pan! I cant believe how much cooler the track sounded when I started to pan everything. I always use track automation for panning. I love panning in unreal ways...ways that would never exist in the real world. Also, when panning, if you bounce a sound left to right....and then that sound loops, its good to be symmetric about your panning so the mix doesnt lean. Sometimes lets say you panned like this. X is sound L and R are left and right.

X X X X X
L R L R L

Lets say you panned like that and then you copied and pasted the panning automation like this.

X X X X X X X X X X
L R L R L L R L R L

You mix will lean then to left. So instead, do it like this -

X X X X X X X X X X
L R L R L R L R L R

Then do your copy and pasting. I have gotten into the habit of this. It really helps the mix from leaning to one side or another. Also, dont forget to use your utility tool to make a sound MONO if you are going to be doing less that FULL pans. It will also lean if the sample is already panned before you do your automated panning.

This song, I used gorilla and frog sounds, disguised. Sounded really funky!

I cant express enough how much I love BELL sounds. They can be so spacey. I have mentioned before I love Asian sounds, and bells in Asian keys are just the sweetest sounding thing.

This song is ALL about melody...unlike a lot of my other tracks. It has a CRAZY catchy jazz organ as the main part. It gets stuck in your head.

Be careful when using a synth sound as a 1/4 note HH. Something within you tells you to pan it...but you have to remember to have something sitting in the middle besides the snare and kick for a little more rhythm if you have panned everything else. I left it in the middle even though I felt like it should be panned. I have to remember what it will be like in the club, not just at home.

Adding an extra snappy snare sound or a slow snare sound ONCE every 4 bars adds a lot to the SWING if the sound. I did that today.

Well thats it for today. Ears are fucked. I will chill the rest of the night, and then EQ tomorrow. Amazing to get a track done in 2 days. Thats what happens when everything is organized well, and you are in the groove.

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 5.15.2010 (Morning)

(This Mornings Session)

Crazy night last night! Full of music dreams! I woke up at 6:30 and already had a 3 hour session by 9:30 now. 1 pot of coffee down, workin on the other. Started a new track. My creative brain was really in its element this morning. Put the backbone to a new track, will start working on the other parts after my ears clear up a bit. Cool funky jazzy track came together. Electro style bass, but not heavy...funky bass line, and jazz organ solos.

Notes -

When duplicating your bassline using 2 octaves, sometimes its great if you delay one of them by 1/4 bar. Really sounded bouncy. Also, if your bassline is long, shorten it up during break downs.

Jazz organs sound sweet. I have 16 bar solos throughout the whole track. Who said melody doesnt work in clubs anymore. Fuck that shit.

Today, I used a synth sound for the 1/4 note HH instead of a HH. Sounded really cool and really electronic.

Today, I took some loops and sliced out one shots from them. I will delay them and use them as stabs instead of loops. I also dont want to forget to put a flange on that one element. I heard it, I just cant forget it.

Today, it was kind of weird because I usually only put a backbone to about half of a track (3 mins or so)...but today, by the time I was finished with my backbone, it was 7 minutes already. Shit. Looks like it doesnt need lengthening at all.

I used a lot more synth lines than stabs so far. Im wondering if stabs will ruin this jazzy electro song. Hmmmm.....

Also, im really finding my niche in style. I always seem to having a rolling melody style bass line.

Well thats it. Break time, then back to work!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 5.12.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Ok....this track...is my god sent track. This is the one that will get played by everyone, and the one that will give me the break I was looking for. Thanks to my father last night....sending me the best word of advice. This is a remix of "You really got me" using the KINKS and VAN HALENs guitar parts....but last night...my dad reminded me of "Eruption", the guitar solo that is ranked as one of the best ever in the history of guitar solos (leading into Van Halens version). He said "Do you think you could throw that in the middle somewhere". At first I thought....no timing, kinda tough....but I said Id give it a shot. I tossed it in during a break down and build up (like I mentioned before, this track has almost endless buildups...like psytrance). Some how, as a gift from god...the timing matches up perfectly to when eddie van halen hits his last note in "Eruption", and then the kick rolls, and it launches into the hardest part of the song. I had no idea it was going to work so perfectly. It took my song to a WHOLE new level. I cant wait to release this one....it will be FREE...because I do not own the rights to it....and, its the one that everyone is gonna want (I think...lets hope).

Notes for today -

Getting your 1/16 note HHs to sound right involves a smidge of attack volume delay. They can be really sharp sometimes, but just a smidge within simpler cleans them up really well.

Today, I EQed the guitar part from the VAN HALEN guitar. Did some EQ cuts to make the snares sit nicely and very loud. I also used 3 snare tracks in this. The reason I did this, after reading that book "This is your brain on music", I learned that the brain has a syncopation part of it...and when things are not the same...but trying to BE the same...you brain has to compute this. Its the same part of the brain that creates dopamine and makes you like music. I subliminally changed the snares by a few milliseconds to attempt this.

Use a compressor after your snare reverbs to cut it nicely.

Its hard when you are using a build up sample that you made that already has a PAN in it, if you want to pan it a different way, so be careful when making build ups. Its better to leave them flat, then PAN them when they are in the song. However, when you are using multiple synths to make your buildups, sometimes you want to pan the one synth different than the other....so its hard to decide what to do. I should make 2 or 3 copies of each build up I make so I can alter it the way I want. You never know how you will want it once its within a track. When you pan an already panned sample, it just doesnt sound right. I used the utility to make it more mono, and then panned it...but something still didnt sound right about it.

Changing basslines within the same bass synth sometimes requires putting it into a new track and changing the side-chain parameters. I had to do that today.

Automating the EQ 8 when using the kinks vocal track (which is not a vocal track, just the regular track but EQed into the mids) can sometimes clear up sounds. I was using the middle of the EQ8 automated to cut the snare out. Since I used 3 snares sounds, I mostly masked the sound, but I could still hear it a bit. Its funny, because when you are watching the automation of your EQ, you can HEAR it working...but if you close your eyes, and listen, sometimes you cant tell. That is the ultimate test to if it sounds ok. Close your eyes, and use only your ears. After all, thats all that matters anyway.

Make sure the predelay of any crash reverbs is set to a higher parameter so it doesnt cut the attack sound. Its really important to get the reverb lengths of your crashes right.

Well thats it for today. This track is almost finished. I finished EQing it, so, tonight (or tomorrow morning) I will remix it...my final step in the process....but it almost sounds ok now, so I dont want to do too much to it. I just gotta wait for my ears to clear up. Recently, I have been making a track, and then waiting a WEEK to send it to my engineer. I dont listen to the track AT ALL for one week, then come back to it, and re-check everything. It really helps your ears hear it differently.

Peace!

FroBot

Notes for 5.11.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Crazy fucking track I am working on now. Something heavy has gotten into me. I started a new track yesterday...with a kind of neat concept. Its "You really got me" by Ray Davies. But, I didnt use his original version, I used parts of the KINKS version, and at the end, the VAN HALEN version. Damn it punches hard. It almost has a psytrance flavor with that hard electric guitar and endless buildups with rolling kicks. Totally party song for the hardest part of the night at 132 BPM. Notes for this track -

When making kick rolls that build up, use a distorted snare on top of the kick to make it sound less robotic. Change the velocity of it so it doesnt sound so computerized. Really helped make it sound more human, yet still rolling like a drum machine.

Noise gate worked really well for the kinks guitar part since there was so much hum in the background from a poor recording. I still gotta figure out a way to make the vocals sound nicer. The vocals are NOT an acapella, just the actually track (i couldnt find an acapella of it). So I cut the lows and highs and just left the mids in there. It sound ok since its a low fi type recording anyway....also, I am using a very strong snare sound to cover up the one in the track since it sits in the mids. Its the first time I have actually PURPOSELY tried to mask a sound rather than un-mask it. I am making my snare EQ on one of the snares sit ONLY where the snare sits within the original KINKS track. Its hard to find the harmonics of the snare however because the recording is so lo-fi, its just a jumple of frequencies. But it doesnt sound too bad. The only problem is, once I cut the lows and highs out of the track, boosting it to levels enough so you can hear it creates distortion. So I might split the track up into 3 frequency bands, and then use a noise gate on the 1K area so the pronunciation of his vocals stands out, then I can lower the other parts. I will try that tomorrow.

Putting a block of silence before the main part comes in is fucking great. It will piss off the dancers...but the come in is SO heavy and hard, they will forget anyway.

Sometimes, instead of adding a melody later in the track to spice it up, just add an extra electro style bass hit. It really changes up the sound so it doesnt sound boring, without actually making a synth line or something. I think I heard it in an "Armen Van Helden" track a long time ago that I loved, and it was the inspiration for that idea.

The craziest bit of luck happened today. I was putting in a build up explosion that I made out of those DRONES that I talked about in my sweeps tutorial, and the part actually sounds EXACTLY like the guitar part from the Van Halen track....fucking weird. I was going crazy cause I thought the guitar part was playing, and looking all over for it, then discovered the sound in the build up explosion.

I also used an extra ROUND kick on an off hit in this track almost like a percussion element. Sounded rad.

Well thats it for today. I woke up at 8:30 this morning because I was too excited to work on this track, and I drank 2 pots of coffee. I got the jitters. I am going to relax for a bit, and finish my book.

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 5.9.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Well, just about finished up the Kraftwerk Remix. Had tons of problems today...fuck...anyway...here are my notes -

The acapella of "das Modell" is terrible. Full of high pitched bit redux sounds. Its the only sample I can find of it...so it will have to do. I was using my EQ 8 and automating one of the frequencies like a filter very quickly during parts where the high pitched bit redux sound was coming in. It is noticeable if you knew what was going on, I just hope no one else can tell....I was left without much a choice. My noise gate wouldnt work because the redux sound were so loud, they would pass through with the vocals. Shit. Anyway, I used a mixture of compressors, EQs, reverbs, and vocoder to make it sound better. I tried to vocode the whole thing a little to make it sound as if those sounds were MEANT to be....but it didnt go as well as planned. Working with shitty samples is TOUGH! If it wasnt so important, I would just throw it in the virtual garbage.

I used a sample loop for a drum roll today cause I liked it, but I was using hard pan automation from left to right for a neat effect. Its important to make sure the warping is PERFECT if you are going to do fast panning. Even so, there will be clips. Use a compressor and play with the release setting to get them to sit more nicely.

I was reading "computer musician" yesterday at the English book store in downtown Osaka (in japan, its totally fine to sit and read a whole magazine and not buy it). Tons of Japanese do this everyday with Mangas...which would never fly back in america. I was reading a whole article about build ups. Putting a 1/4 bar of silence right before an explosion really adds to the punch. I did that today with a hard vocal sample during the silence. Really gave a punch. Threw a compressor on it too for even more bite.

Automation is so fun. I dont think a track goes by without some kind of automation in it.

Sometimes, its really nice to use a weird synth sound or stab only ONCE in a song. Adds to the unique sound.

Well thats it. I think I am gonna go outside...the weather is nice. Gonna practice some juggling and read the new book I bought yesterday "Your Brain on Music". Its the study of neurology and music....very interesting read...and a nice change of pace from all the manuals I have been reading lately!

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 5.7.2010

(Todays Session Above)

What a fucking day! Phew. Started at 9 this morning...took a half hour break mid day to write a small blog...back to work until 10:30pm. 1/2 hour for dinner. Its a disease...ableton live is. Shit. I started a brand new track today...a remix of Kraftwerk's "Das Model"...electro style. Its a really weird track. I have never gotten so much done in one day...the track is almost finished besides EQing, Panning, and remixing it....but my ears are tired and not hearing things correctly right now...so I will do it tomorrow. Some notes for today -

Clean out drum racks of un-needed samples. That is where all my CPU was going. Stupid me...I should have known that. Duh. Anyway, got a lot of power back from my mac after doing that.

Using the track on and off on white noise risers and fallers can almost be like an instrument. Cutting them up rhythmically can be super cool. This track is full of them.

There doesnt always have to have bass in parts of tracks for a long time. It can really make the pressure and build up really powerful rocking out just drums for a bit. The bass feels so much heavier when it comes in.

I gotta figure a way to clean up these Kraftwerk acapellas. There are bit crusher style sounds through it for some reason. Maybe a bad acapella, but I couldnt find this acapella anywhere but one place...and I dont think gates or filters will work. I was thinking about cutting up the glitchy sounds and letting them stay in there...and then copy and pasting the actually glitch into another track, and putting a delay on it so it sounds like part of the track. Not sure what I will do.

Having a riser rise up, then using the transpose at the last minute and moving it from HARD +48 to -48 really quickly can make for a SAD build up....everyone goes up...then it comes down to fake the dancers out. A real fun asshole move on a DJs part....but ill do it for fun. Toy with the audience.

Today, I tried a different mix out style...having everything DROP OUT for the mix out really quickly...and just leaving 3 elements running. Its really drastic, but I can see a great possibility when mixing it with another track. A nice drastic changing mix. Goes well cause this song is already fucked up, so a fucked up mix out will be nice.

For now on, all sounds will be separated into their own channels. No more 2 sounds on one channel ever. EQing is just so much easier. I am going to make that part of my clean-up routine. Sometimes, when making stuff quickly, I put 2 sounds on a track....but for now on, I will take care of that during clean up.

When producing tracks, and many of them, its good to think about their mixability overall. So, if you have been making some tracks that have been rather straight or really funky, its good to make some with some weird artistic sounding parts. Remember, one particular song is only for a short time in a set...so, you can be crazy in your tracks sometimes...its ok!

Beat repeat is fun on electro bass in small parts. Its really unpredictable sometimes what sound will come out. Use it more ofter.

Also, synth pong sounds for snares are great also. The last 2 tracks I have made both have them.

Well thats it for today! Time to rest my eyes and ears for a bit. I feel like a monster.

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 5.6.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Great mixing session today. Just about finished up a new song I have been working on for the last 3 days. I started it back on 4.9.2010...but only a few tracks...but now its about finished. Its called "Hammer & Anvil (Pittsburgh G20 Protest)". I sampled police scanners from the G20 in my hometown of pittsburgh during that protest. Fuck police. This track is super heavy, 132 BPM, no swing...arp bass (almost psy sounding)...but really rockin. I have been making funky and deep tracks for a while...I wanted to do something harder...and here it is. I will probably give it another clean-up mix tonight, and then send it off to my engineer. Notes for today -

For quick stab sounds, try any new parameter to automate that you havent tried. You will be surprised at the outcome. I automated the transpose, saturation, grain delay, and EQ Filter of a small stab, and turned it into a nasty sounding sound.

When panning a main synth, dont pan too far to either side. Just a little to add dynamics.

Using 2 band pass filters on a police scanner can really make it sound even more like a scanner. Use the first band pass the shelf the outsides to remove any buzz, and then use the other to isolate a frequency from 1K-5K to give it a little more presence.

A long build up sweep during a main part rather than a normal build up part really gives the sense of craziness and energy.

Make sure to turn your track ON/OFF automation during an audio CUT. Cleans up the silence.

I used a stereo bass in this track too, sounds good here...just wondering how it will sound in the club.

Well thats about it for today!

Peace!

FroBot

So Much F*cking Music

Too much shit has happened in the last week musically for me. I dont even know where to start. First off, after finishing a thousand pages on music, eqing, and sound design.... I have started to apply tons of new techniques that has turned my music upside down...in a good way. For the last 2 days, a couchsurfer...and digital producer from America (but lives in Korea) came over...Flirtphonic aka Jasper. We made a new track in 2 days...we practically lived at the computer. Somehow, we still managed to go to the full moon drum circle, and then a club last night where I saw one of the best tech house sets I have ever seen. Just a crazy musical weekend. As of now, I have 5 tracks finished...4 of which are being sent to the engineer tonight for mastering. Phew....I feel like a zombie. Well anyway, here are some screen shots of the new song and a few notes...even though I have like a million notes, I didnt really have time to stop and write them down...so hopefully I dont forget them.


Notes -

The biggest lesson of this week for me has been PANNING! So fucking important, and can be your best friend in production for 2 reasons - 1. It makes the track sound so much fucking cooler and much more dynamic. 2. It really takes care of many masking problems with shared frequencies. If you start to pan your stabs all over the place...you will find you can actually notice the volume go up on the sound. I learned about this in one of my books this week. Its amazing how much panning with do for your overall clarity...and it makes EQing a lot easier.

Every track must be EQed...no matter what. When finishing a track, put on an EQ 8, and a spectrum. At least shelve the ends a little to clean up any un-needed frequencies. Your mix will become so much clearer after doing this.

Taking a kick within a simpler, and duplicating it to get a better sound is really nice. Analyze the first one and find an octave of the root frequency, then isolate that frequency on a second sample...and then raise the volume on it. You can give your kick an extra punch by using the smallest of click sounds. Its really nice for changing your kick once you start to see the direction of your song.

Also, layer your snares too. Use the same technique, and even use different snare sounds...but again, isolate a frequency matching a multiple of the root.

Less is more. Dropping the sound out can be just as powerful as a build up into the music. We kept trying to see how low we could go with the sound...and ended up being the best part of the whole track.

Automating the bit crusher makes for some really sweet sounds...and actually creates new pitches when doing it. We bitcrushed a conga loop and took the whole song into glitch with arcade sounds panned all over the place. You can see in this picture -


Also, keep your music charts close to you. If you dont understand compression or something like that, its nice to refer to some standards before just randomly turning knobs. It was really useful this weekend when compressing the snares (which I couldnt really remember how to compress just right).

Portamento on a bass is really nice for tech house.

After making your track...and EQing everything and setting your drum rack samples at the right levels....start from scratch on your levels. Work your way up from the kick, snare, bass, and then through the most important elements until you get the least important. Vocals last.

Well thats about it. Theres a million more...but, I wanna get back to mixing. Sorry I havent done any tutorials lately...busy makin tunes!

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 4.25.2010

(Todays Mixing Session Above)

What a great day! Its so nice out, and im not even going out. Just soaking up the cool breeze into the studio...and havin an old fashion mixin session. Im so stoked to have my new studio monitors, I can finally mix again...and with all the things I picked up on EQing over the last month...it was a fucking blast. Before, I had a broken tweeter and didnt even know it (just thought the speakers sucked). Anyway, a few notes for today -

Using the EQ 8 and automating the placement markers is better than filters for 2 reasons. One, the spectrum is bigger and easier to see than the small filters. Also, I always have an EQ 8 and a spectrum on each track anyway, so I am saving CPU.

Another note on that...when building sweeps on top of each other, since they are moving across the spectrum, its nice to apply an automated filter to cut out the unneeded frequencies of each so they dont clash at all. This way, the peaks of each sweep are at different points of the spectrum at the same time. It really cleaned them up....I was really surprised.

DONT EVER. EVER... put 2 different guitar tracks within the same track. I was using sample based guitar hits, and had separate parts going on at different points in the song, but within the same track. The EQing will be separate depending on the other parts of the music...so separate them into tracks when making them. Just makes it easier when you get to the mixing stage.

Clear out all unused effects you may have had in the template. Saves a lot of CPU.

Use UTILITY and not the MIXER volume when automating volume. Its too hard to mix tracks later. I need to have full control over all my track volume faders later after EQing because certain elements really start to cut through the mix without actually applying volume. Its better to use the utility. I knew this, but I havent been doing it. From now on, I will.

I need to put spectrum and EQ 8 in each track for my template. Will save time later.

Pay close attention to high frequencies sitting on real instrument samples. There is always a lot of noise on them. Apply a noise gate, or roll the frequencies off if not needed. I try to leave my HIGHEST frequency open for 1 or 2 instruments that really need to sparkle through, and then cut all the other sounds that dont really need it.

Be careful when applying abletons built in reverb. You will notice high frequency noise sounds sometimes. Use the filter on the reverb (low pass) to make them disappear. You really only notice when you solo the track, but cleaner is better.

I had a problem today when using a sub bass audio file. I had made an audio file out of a synth I made, and had chopped it up. I wanted to transpose it down 5 semi tones, but when I did that, since the wave is slowing down so much, it almost sounded as if the groove had changed. It took me forever to realise that it was just the transposition in BEATS mode warping. I switched it to tones, and it was ok, however it sounded a little detuned. In the future, I want to stick with midi on the bass tracks if I am going to be transposing them, because at least then I will have better control over envelopes and prevent this from happening.

Also, once you start mixing your high frequencies...and they really start standing out on their own...you will start to notice stale repetitive loops that just dont sound so good. It is a good chance to dig into your delay bucket and apply a few delays on different parts of them to change up that loopy feel.

Well, thats it for mixing today. I had a good session with some guitar players last night....good mixing session today...I think I will eat some lunch, and then do some synthesis tonight. Even though the weather is nice, I dont feel like going out there!

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 4.16.2010

(Todays Improv / Track Making Template Fix)

Well, with all the things I have been doing lately, my track making / improv set has really made some changes....so I decided to clean things up before I will be having a psy session with DJ Asogi & DJ Spazam (Sam) tonight at my place. So, I needed to make sure I could really improv using all my shit, but also be able to make new sounds. So I made a new set, and cleaned things up. Here are my notes...these are important ones to remember -

Lets start from left to right in the set -

VCM first 4 tracks. Made them to hold my main drum loop samples that I like to slice up. Used to have 6 tracks of audio, changed that down to four. Still have my main effects instead of EQs on there, like reverb, delays, and beat smashers.

Track 5 - VCM - Midi track to match Launchpad user 1. Matches with same effects as tracks 1-4, except it has loops in place of where the beat loops are. I have 3 loops. Also, took a frequency shifter and set it to -500hz, +500Hz, to act as sort of a universal transpose for whatever rack I put in there.

Track 6 - VCM - Monome - Midi track matching up to the monome. Since I was having delay issues with the monome through polynome...I decided to make it so the beat clock is internal to the polynome, and I will just match the time to whatever the clock is in ableton. Seemed to fix the problem. Also added same frequency shifter to it and loop functions.

Track 7 - For Synth Loop Samples, or any melody audio I create with my tools.

Track 8 - Bass Audio Track. Put a compressor (sidechained to my kick in the elements section) but not mapped and shut off. Its there for convenience. I also put an EQ 8 so I can roll off the bass quickly and do some tweaking like it always needs.

Elements Sections - Kick, Snare, 1/4HH, 1/16HH. My house backbone. Everything is the same. Maybe should put things there for the kick, but I am never sure just what, so nothing is fine instead of eating up CPU.

Drum Kit - Finally mapped the fucker out to the trigger finger knobs. Put delays on the first 3 knobs, a reverb, then an analog arp and distance for some randomness. Put on the same frequency shifter as tracks 5 & 6, with an LFO option on it.

Simpler Cut 1 & 2 - These are new. These are to drag any sample into and make into a new sound, something I have become fond of lately. Usually to make bass or just some tones. I put them into an instrument rack so I could have some control if I want to later. I didnt map them out yet...probably will map them to the uc33e when I get it back from my friend. But the main simpler is mapped to the piano controller.


Synths 1 & 2 - Made some new loop functions. Removed the normal audio loops I had before because I simply do not have enough faders at the moment to control them. Usually when I make an audio loop out of something, it doesnt need to be on the fly since I am using this to record tracks....so, i made a 2nd midi track for each...routing into itself and back out. Now I have 2 midi loops running at the same time per synth, and also have the option of running them together to build stronger sounds. I thought this was a better idea for the time being since I have the record quantize everything anyway. Put separate stop functions on each to control each. Handy.

After that, just my cues, and only one AUDIO IN to make audio loops out of things if I want.

Thats basically all the work I did today. I need a nap. I just got back from the dentist this morning with practically 2 new teeth...shit.

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 4.14.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Well, short session today...for a couple reasons....but first, lets talk about the notes for today since I will forget if I dont write this one down. It was a good one.

Today, I was cleaning up the bass's, EQing them, and adding a smidge of attack to get a heavier sound. I was side-chaining, and in this particular circumstance, the sidechain was really NOTICEABLE because the kick and bass happen to be really close in frequency in the low bass region. It was just too noticeable of a compression with the threshold LOW, and not enough with it high. Even playing with attack and release didnt seem to be useful. So what I did (as in the picture above), I put a filter on the sidechain compression to match that of the kick. That way, its removing only the clashing element, and still staying around for a general bass/kick driven song. Worked really well. I also split up my bass tracks to eq them separately because one has 2 octave higher harmony....so I wanted a crispier sound on that bass element.

Also, if you look at the EQ in the picture, I added harmonic overtones to the whole bass sound to make it much richer in sound and a little less (low pass) sounding.

Today, I was also thinking about using a HP filter, with a NOISE LFO on it for the kick at the beginning...filter high, and jumping all over the place. Is that too asshole to do to other DJs for mixing? I ended up taking it off.

Also, today, I was going to try to finish the ending of this track, and do the mix-out part...but it ended up taking a life of its own into another part of the song. I just cut up the bass line, and it was too funky not to make a beat out of it again. So, looks like I got more work to do on this track. But not today.

Anyway, a few things are going on in my head recently about music....and its really hard to make music with it on my mind. Ive decided...1. NEW MONITORS. I dont like these JBL, they are old, and they suck. New monitors. That brings me to problem 2....before I buy monitors, I need to know everything about speakers before I do it. This EQing world is important, and without just the right monitors for my place...its just a waste. So I need to study a little.

Also, I need to put about an extra day of EQing on top of each track (or more) than I do now. I just cant EQ right here until I get better monitors. I realized after sending tracks back and forth from my engineer in Vancouver, that I am just not hearing things FLAT. So, until I get good monitors...its kind of pointless to work on tracks...so its study time. I downloaded about 2000+ pages of eBooks on EQing, Music theory, and synthesis. I figure, I will study for the next week or 2, new speakers come in, and clean up all my ableton sets and templates nicely, and then re-kick back into track making. Ive been getting about 4-6 hours of music time each day mon-fri, so I will just convert that into reading those eBooks, and take a break from the computer. The weather is nice, and Osaka Jo Park is so close, I can just go out there in the mornings, read, and relax. I need a defrag.

I got kind of discouraged because of the mastering my engineer was doing...and its so hard to hear things exactly right on shit speakers. I mean, these are JBL's, but old....and def not the best for what I am doing. In japan, unless you have a full blown studio (and thats bitchin expensive in the city)...you kinda gotta keep the volume low. So, I am going to look for a pair of monitors that pack a punch into a smaller design....Genelec maybe.

So, I am printing out those eBooks into manuals tomorrow...and time to hits the books a little. You can never have to much info about music.

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 4.11.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Morning session on a Sunday morning. Nice. Get some music in before I head out for another jam session at Suma. Todays track is getting NASTY! Like, hard techno style...still has my funky end...but its a "guga guga" bass....hard arp bass through this song, with some dubstep sub-bass sounds in breaks. Def my heaviest song yet. Notes for today -

Saturator is great. Ive been really just destroying things into distortion recently, and getting these super fucked up sounds. Especially automating the saturators depth and period. You can almost make a WHITE NOISE sound out of anything, then automate it back in to a regular sound within the track. Today I did that with highhats. Actually just used a noise sound, modulated the lfo at 1/16 to make it sound like HH...but when the big HIT came in, automated the waveshaper to sound like steady white noise, then re-put the lfo back in. Cool sound.

Today I also used a FADE IN bass rather than just a bass starting in. Different idea.

I need to get the funky slap bass sounding right too. Its sitting in the mids too strongly.

I like to do things that can really fuck up a DJ. Like making my lead ins 5/4, or like one extra bar. Making my breakdowns 3 1/2 bars, or 5 bars...something like that. Sorry DJ friends, makes it harder to beatmatch...but makes for a cooler track. Everything is always 4/4 in music...in the future, it wont be that way.

Up until now, I never used the ableton preset made effects racks. I dont know why. There are some rad sounds in there. I need to play around with them a little more.

I need to study explosions a little more. I want some really heavy explosion sounds for this track.

Also, I need to make my HHs sit at at different frequency. I have 4 hh tracks running on this track, and the are conflicting a little. But this track is still in its baby stages anyway.

Oh yea....I MISS PSYTRANCE....hmmmm.....

Thats it! Time to head out to Suma Beach! Yea! Jam session time!

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES for 4.9.2010

(Tonights Little Evening Session Above)

Well, its Friday, as usual, whole day off to make music...besides a small little dentist appointment at 10 this morning...rest of the day was music.

I got 2 sessions in today, one all morning and afternoon, and then one late this evening.

As for todays session. I was working on the track from 4.12.2010....getting it mostly finished up. I spent almost 2 hours working on a sweep, automating each little section of the waveshaper within saturator. Just distorted the fuck out of the sound. Then used a highpass filter to make it filter out in the same frequency where I had my HEAVY synth coming. It was coming out of a high pass filter....so the sweep meets with in, then comes rocking away into this HEAVY HEAVY electro ending. Sounded really cool, and its been nice to get out of the total jazz deep sound I had been working on for the past few weeks.

Still gotta work on those crash cymbals a little. They need tuned and eqed. I need better fucking monitors and acoustics to hear that shit right.

I also accidentally deleted a youtube sample I had pulled for that song when I was cleaning up my desktop....so I had to go back in and redo all that stuff too...which was a bitch. But, it sounded better the 2nd time I did it, so all good.

That track has about a days work plus a day of recording the guitar solo for the end, and then ill send it off to get mastered.

Well, as for this evening, I was feeling creative...so I started into a new track. I used my new monome and layered a nice bass sound within an instrument chain using 3 seperate vsts that I messed around with. Deep rolling bass sound. Added a few other sounds with my drum pads and a few synth lines. Cleaned up a nice kick, snare, hh combo. I basically put a backbone of about 1/2 of a track together. I spent a lot of time again with that saturator getting a nice ripping sound on a few of the synths in the chains...and then again on the whole track too.

Also, stupid me...I dont know how I missed this, but I didnt know that you could just copy and paste a whole track with its effect from one set to another, envelopes included. I had been saving them to my browser up until now. I just gave it a shot today, and it was fine. That is really nice for switching between my actual track and my digital synthesis set (I use for sound creation). I feel like a total noob not knowing that.

Also, I put a nasty kick on this with distortion on it. Also, really destroyed the wave of the snare and hhs too...really glitchy sounding.

I imagine ill work a little in the morning, and then head out for BBQ in the evening and toss the disc and drink stupidly!

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 4.7.2010 + (General Ideas)

(Todays Session Above)

Well Holy Shit! It was a god given day today....damn. This song went to a whole new level with the ending bass I put together today. Used some BRAND NEW tricks, and spent all morning just getting this bass right. If you look closely at this picture....this is a saturator on this HEAVY HEAVY, i mean ripping speakers heavy bass....turn the song into old school electro at the end that is SO HARD not to rock your head out to. It came about my accident and a little bit knowledge of effects. I even automated the filter envelope with a rising filter LFO speed, and also turn the automation for the mixer TRACK ON OFF in a 1/8 - 1/16 temolo effect. Really cool!

So, why did I finish so soon today...because, after hearing this heavy ending, I must have an electric guitar solo at the end by either danny or kento...2 guitar player friends of mine. Its going to sound old school electro mixed with rock solo over total FUNK. So, I feel like I cannot work on this song anymore until I get that finished. So I will probably go back to my old track from 3.12.2010 and work on it a bit more.

Notes for today -

Saturator Freq and depth are important on raunch. Just a smidge of period, but you can almost hear the speed of the period parameter, so use your ears to make its speed sound the same as the bpm or another element within the track. Waveshaper is a godsend.

I finally eqed and changed up the crash sounds today. Sounding much better, but, they are of all things, so hard to EQ just right. I hope my engineer can help me with that....im not afraid to say when I dont know something...and god damn...crash sounds...I can never get them sounding the way I like. But, much better than before. I used a chart I got from online to help me with different elements of sounds and where to boost. Maybe I will post that sometime soon.

I need to think of a creative way to alter a repetitive sounding vocal sample at the end of this track....club style...almost annoying but just not long enough to be. I sometimes think its cheesy when I hear just a random bit crusher or glitch, or beat smasher or twist of filter...when I hear a track. I mean, sure, its sounds cooler than something over and over (especially a repetitive vocal loop repeating every bar, 2 bars, or 4 bars.) I think that when someone does this, is almost like they couldnt think of anything better....this does not go for delays or reverbs...those are tools...but, like, hard effects. I would like to hear some way to remix it, or change pitch to make melody, or alter frequency to it becomes a different element like high hats or something....I dunno. But, sometimes you hear a track too many times over and over, and you start to get lazy...so, hopefully, I can come up with an idea for those vocal loops that isnt so cheesy.

Theres a sound I really want to understand how to make just right...that might sound easy, but it always crosses my head when I think of it...and it is hard to make. Wolfgang garter's "Latin Fever"....has those nice drum sounds hitting over and over as the main part. I want to have that drum sound....a crispy clear, toned drum. Everything that I find sample based is always dull sounding....I try to eq, but it just sounds fake. I want that actually sound....so I think I should sample some good drums, especially all the japanese traditional bands that play around in the parks here all spring and summer. Just take the mac and a mic down there...and record them....I think that will be my best bet in getting a nice drum sample sound like that.

Well thats it for today. I think I will relax.

Peace!

FroBot

NOTES FOR 4.6.2010

(Todays Session Above)

Well, I have had 3 good sessions in the past few days. Even managed to get some time in after Hanami working on this new track. Its taking a lot more time than I expected due to a few things I did within it. This track is turning out to be FUNKY FUNKY yet japanese sounding in the middle. I love asian sounds....and this song makes a story like the others.

Tech notes -

Today, I made a nice effect automating the sidechain compressor on a HARD electro bass sound at the end of the track. Makes the synth jump out and back in of sidechain mode using automation on the threshold. I must not forget this effect...sounds awesome.

Sometimes, to get the best delay effects you are looking for, its better to just copy and past the file in the delay order you want and edit it that way rather than using abletons delay effect. You have more control.

Getting your cymbals tones just right is a bitch. Also, EQing the high ends out without losing the presence of them is also very trick. I gotta work more on this.

Making the bass key a harmony of the track, instead of making it the main key...makes for a really uplifting sound. Bring it back down to the key of all the other sounds later to give more power back.

Vocals are important, they really add the "NEEDED" pieces to a track. Nothing gay though!

I sampled a story about george clinton and parliament in this track. Rad as hell!

This track uses sub bass as the bass. I need to EQ it to match the attack key of the kick to get it sound just right.

Well, thats it for now. Ive done a lot, but not tons of NEW things worth noting!

Peace!

FroBot