Portable Production!

If you're a producer and a gear-freak, the world of music production is a pretty exciting place to live, as it gets revolutionised every ten years or so. In the 60's we got stereo and multi-track recording. In the 70's we saw synthesisers make their way into the studio and the home. The 80's saw samplers and the digital revolution, and by the 90's you could control a whole studio with your Atari computer. Right now, having seen studios shrink to the size of a laptop, we're in the middle of another revolution - the studio in your pocket. With a touch-screen interface! But is it of any interest to the serious producer? Read on....

When Apple redefined the telephone five years ago, few people saw that it could one day be part of a new wave of music technology. But since the advent of the App Store, it and the iPad have become exactly that, with dozens of synth, sequencer, and sampling options. (Before anyone accuses the blog of being a big Apple advert, let it be known that this author is a Windows Phone user - who despairs at the lack of good WP music apps and looks jealously at his iOS enabled studio partner's wealth of options in this field).

If we think about what modern smartphones really are, they're basically small computers with touchscreens. So this leads us to one area that they could really excel; as a controller interface. We currently pay hundreds of pounds for controllers that are essentially a slab of assignable buttons and sliders; there's no reason why a smartphone or tablet couldn't do this for a fraction of the price. Big names like Richie Hawtin, James Zabiela and Redshape already use tablet controllers for their live sets, and there are plenty of options.

The Jazzmutant Lemur once retailed for £1,700; its iPad emulation now goes for a mere £35, and gives brings one of the most innovative controllers ever well within reach of the home user. 'Griid' and 'touchAble' are two specialist Ableton controllers, while Novation's new 'Automap for iPhone' allows you to remotely edit and control your synths and mixes. All of these (and plenty more) offer lots of opportunities for performance; you can move around the stage and still control the sound, you can break away from that 'one guy staring at a laptop' problem that afflicts so many electronic musicians, and you can re-assign your controllers in any way that suits you - until you find the optimum arrangement for your own setup. Indeed, the open-ended nature of most touch-screen tablets suggests that in future, these will become dominant in electronic performance - Native have already released an app for their performance tool Maschine.

And what about doing it the other way around - controlling an iPad synth with another device? Alesis have recently released an iPad dock; with audio, USB, MIDI (and even footswitch) connections, you can now record and control your iPad apps with a full keyboard, and send audio into the device.

On the subject of audio inputs, check out the Amplitube iRig. Designed as an amp simulator for guitar players, it can also take any audio signal (obviously) and run it through another app - such as Moog's Filtatron. The Apogee 'AMP' does a similar function. See where this leads? Your very own hardware send/return loop! You can now use any of those great effects, filters and sound-warpers on any of your sounds, and record them back into the computer. Or, if you're talking live, a handy effects unit to plug into the DJ mixer. Cheap and easy.

There's a lot of talk about all the synth apps available; from Korg's Electribes, to the classic Roland emulations on Rebirth, and rightly so - again, they're far cheaper than their hardware alternatives, and sound good to boot. Cheaper still are all the homegrown synths - many of which are completely free. A common reservation is that the interfaces frequently attempt to recreate a physical version, which doesn't translate so well (Rebirth is a real offender here with all those fiddly controls). There's logic in this, and also in the argument that sound-quality can be lost when coming out of the headphone output on a telephone. If the highest quality audio is what you're after, then perhaps the iPhone and iPad don't quite match up to big-studio standards just yet. But the flipside of the coin is that these synths often present attractive options, for getting ideas going, trying things a different way, or just jamming. If you don't mind a bit of grit in your sounds, or you've got a good audio interface, they may become just as useful as your other softsynths (but more fun to use). When you're stuck for inspiration, plugging a phone into your mixing desk and prodding at the screen of a 303-emulator, weird texture generator or sample masher gets you out of the normal loop, away from the computer screen and mouse, and can really jumpstart the creative process once again.

And if you really want to scare yourself, just spend the price of a beer on Garageband for iPad. It's not ideal for writing dance music, but it's so slick, packed with sounds and instruments, and designed to help the novice come up with something listenable, it's almost enough to make you wonder whether we'll all be made redundant soon by means of a 'musician' app. It's a seriously impressive program.

So all in all, portable music production has some way to go before it takes over completely. But if you're looking for a range of useful tools to help with inspiration, new sounds, or jotting down ideas while on the move, smartphones and tablets are now an essential part of a modern producer's arsenal. It's exciting to think what the next couple of years will bring.....

Get Those Filters Working For You!

The humble filter is such a standard part of any producer's arsenal - found on everything from synths, to samplers, to standalone filter plugins of every hue - that it's easy to forget how much of a useful creative tool a good filter can be. In the endlessly re-routable environment of the modern DAW, this is more true than ever. So let's take a look at how filtering can help you find inspiration, help your mixdowns, and more....you!

We'll assume that you're aware of the standard, filtered house, low-pass filter kind of use. Take your lead riff (a disco sample, synth chord progression, brass section or whatever), maybe sidechain it off the kick, and gradually increase the LPF cutoff to increase the hype level of the track. Consider turning down the Resonance as the filter gets up to the top, to reduce harshness in the mix. It's simple, it works every time, and it's something you should have in your repertoire. But there's a lot more to filtering than that. For a start, in a case like this, try assigning your filter cutoff to the modwheel of your controller and jamming in some live filter tweaks to give the track a little more variety.

Stuck for an interesting riff? Try putting a filter with a sidechain input and envelope controls on a channel with some simple pads or sounds. Then set the sidechain signal to be something rhythmic; perhaps a steady beat like a kick drum, or something busier and more syncopated like a full drum track. By tweaking the input and envelope controls you'll be able to get a funky filter effect that will give a load more interest to a standard part. Chuck a tight delay on there for instant techno and trance chord pulses. You could even insert a side-chained noise gate before the filter to really emphasise the rhythmic nature of the effect.

One technique which can radically change the sound of your drums, and the track overall, is to bounce them down to a stereo file, then put an autofilter on the result. Use a low-pass filter, set the LFO cycle to one crotchet (half a bar if you're feeling adventurous) and let rip - you'll hear the filter sway up and down rhythmically, and if get the phase right you can have it open for the high hats and off-beat percussion, closed for the kicks, and sweeping through the rest for a crazy, dubbed out, swing sound. It really gives a different feel for a track, and can inspire a whole new take on a tired sound in need of a spruce up.

Bass warriors will be well aware of the potential for filtering to create the gnarliest sounds possible. There are plenty of techniques, and one of the most popular right now is formant filtering - it gives that vowel sound, the 'yoy' noise so beloved of the hardcore dubsteppers. Logic comes with one built-in (the EVOC filter) but the true daddy of this sound is, of course, NI's unparalleled synth Massive. It's far quicker to watch one of the many Youtube tutorials on this than it would be to write a point-by-point guide, but in summary you need to sweep the filter cutoff and the formant settings for full effect.

The classic 'wobble' sound - assign the filter cutoff to an LFO - though somewhat standard, is still useful, however, especially when the LFO is tempo sync'ed for a rhythmic feel. But then, try another filter after that one in the chain, with a band-pass filter on it. Then turn up the amount of the dry signal close to 100%, so that in effect you're getting an EQ boost around the area of the bandpass. Sweep this up and down the frequency spectrum to really mess with the sound. As you're getting an EQ spike, you'll need to tame the dynamics though. Limiters are good, but for huge bass sounds, what better than a distortion unit? It will tame the peaks and give the sound even more bite.

Filtering can also help with technical issues, such as mixdowns. Many uses are commonly known, although still good practice; filter out any frequencies you don't need. Hi-hats can generally be high-passed at 2kHz or more (unless you're going for that graunchy hip-hop sound), pads should usually be high-passed somewhere above 200Hz to remove muddiness, and reverb and delay returns can be bandpassed - they don't need anything below about 500Hz taking up all your midrange headroom, and they also don't much above 5kHz confusing that top-end detail.

So filters can help your sound across the board - whether generating inspiration to help get an idea moving, to tweak and hype up a riff or a bass sound as you arrange the track, and then finally when mixing the whole thing down afterwards. So don't overlook this essential keystone of any producer's repertoire - get those filters working for you!

Be Original!

Over the last decade or so, the internet has changed the development of music scenes and genres beyond all recognition. The advent of instant digital distribution and the easy accessibility of music-making equipment (a laptop and a pair of headphones) has seen a plethora of new scenes and artists develop, and brought this new music to a potentially global audience. But it's also changed the way we perceive music too - and now it's more important than ever to be doing your own unique style. So let's go in a bit deeper on this very modern phenomenon...

Back in the day, and here we're talking from the 50's or earlier to the last decade, it was enough for many artists and bands to be 'scene players'. To look at the 90's for instance, while people like Jeff Mills and Richie Hawtin were making the big money in techno, there were still many many DJs and producers working in the same field who were writing and playing similar techno sounds and making a good living from it. The scenes were big and could potentially reach huge audiences. Those old grand-dads who tell you that they can remember when it was all just 'house music'? Well, they're actually right.

These days obviously, we have hundreds of scenes. Scenes within scenes, scenes that can come and go rapidly. From Moombahcore to Neurofunk to Future Garage, we have Soundcloud players offering every style you can imagine, being listened to by people across continents. This, for the consumer, is great (so much choice!) - although sometimes overwhelming. (How can you choose what to devote your attention to?)

It's also fun for the novice producer - with so many scenes out there, there's bound to be something that matches up with what you're doing; there's an audience ready made for you, just waiting to hear your latest banger. This is attractive; it's always good to feel part of a scene and honour your musical heroes by taking influence from them.

The bad part is, that it really does very little to bolster your longevity as an artist. Consider Moombahton; when Dave Nada started playing Dutch house at -20% most people thought he was nuts, and it was a joke of an idea. But he persevered and eventually his ideas of Reggaeton-influenced rave music took root. There are a now handful of big name players (who all started early) and a million budding producers in the scene. But when Moombahton stops being the next big thing (as it surely will), who will be remembered? Only a couple of those big players, who will be able to use the credibility gained as a springboard for their next artistic venture. The rest will be back to square one, as the scene dies out, the gigs dry up and people lose interest - looking for a new home.

Burial was another case - coming out of the nascent dubstep scene, his loosely-timed, grainy, reverb-drenched first EP won him a few admirers but certainly didn't take the dancefloor-based scene by storm at first. Only later, as he established his sound as being fully distinct from dubstep, did people really latch on to his remarkable melodic prowess. Now, of course, your author gets a ton of promos every day that pitch up RnB vocals, slap on a heavy reverb and chuck the whole thing over a lo-fi 2-step beat. Some of them are very good indeed, but again, when the fashion for haunted garage passes, these producers will find that they struggle to find an audience for their work.

So what to do? Well, it all points to doing your own thing, and not trying to fit into any scene. Anyone with a modicum of musical talent will be able to write a track that fits in with a certain style - but they can also take that talent and use it to make something new and unique. This, initially, seems counterproductive - why would you want to write house music at a tempo that nobody plays, dubstep with no drums, or some other such oddity? There's no audience for this kind of thing.

The truth is, though, that if it's good music, people will begin to latch onto it. DJ's who don't normally play that tempo will make space in their sets for something unique and different if they really like it. Music fans are always looking for a new sound, and love to support emerging artists.

So you need to start writing away from the norm. It takes time to find your own sound - you may find that you need to produce tracks that get a little further 'out there' each time, as you refine a style and head into uncharted territory, but the rewards are many. For a start, it's incredibly satisfying to know that you're doing something really new. Equally, as people start to pick up on what you're doing, you'll begin to get a reputation as genuinely original producer. And this is invaluable; people will start coming to you with offers of gigs and remix work that you simply wouldn't get if you were just another face in a scene. Similarly, people will remember your name so that when you want to do something else, the platform will be there; for example dubstep pioneer Mala has just been to Cuba to record some local musicians. As one of the figureheads of the early dubstep scene, he commands such respect that he can take advantage of these opportunities - which his many imitators could never dream of.

Of course, it's not easy, and requires a lot of determination. As the old saying goes, you don't have to worry about people stealing your ideas because if something is truly original you'll have to ram it down people's throats. And that's true - it really does take perseverance, hard work, and a lot of time to get your ideas taken seriously. But in today's world, where there are now 10 million Soundcloud accounts all vying for attention in a faster-moving environment than ever, the only way to really grab that attention is to be as original, different, and set-apart from the norm as possible. It will help you find an audience, build a stronger reputation and have a longer lasting career. And that has to be a good thing!

How To Make Your Kicks Cut Through the Mix!

The kick drum is arguably the most important part of a dance music track. Whether it's a chunky house thump or a breaksy jungle affair, the kick needs to fulfil several functions - from providing the low-end weight to grounding the pulse of the track and being audible on laptop speakers. It can take a lot of work to get right. So read on, as we take a look over the essential tactics in getting your kick drum sounding crisp!

This week I was asked by an up-and-coming producer how to make a kick drum really slice through the mix. He had burned a load of his new tunes for a gig, tried them out on a big system, and been disappointed that the kicks tended to get lost in the low-end rumble. It's a common problem, especially when you're writing in the field of sub-heavy music, as he was. And since bass music has started to converge with house and techno recently, it's become an ever-trickier field.

So first, you need to pick the appropriate type of kick for your track. It's useful to have a decent library of kicks before you start on this, and frankly the best way to get that is just to buy a good sample pack. A decent pack of kicks will have hundreds, if not thousands, and picking a kick that's nearly right to start with will save a lot of time compared to trying to hack something less suitable into a tune.

What is 'right'? This depends on the type of track you're writing. If you're writing dubstep, garage, or other sub-heavy music, then you'll need a kick that's punchy and doesn't have too much sub in it - as this will conflict with the sub in the bassline. If you're writing trance or house then you can have a much heftier kick - as in general, the basslines in these genres sit a little bit higher, around 100Hz and above. If you're writing minimal music, be it techno, Dirty South hiphop or Mount Kimbie-style electronica, then you can go as crazy as you like; the space in the music should give you license to use anything you like without clashes.

So let's consider the different types of kick. In general, a 'punchy' kick will have most of the energy clustered around 100-200Hz. The impact will be at around 140Hz and if you want to hear an example, try listening to a classic 909 kick sound. Not too subby, loads of punch, it cuts through the low-end of a mix with ease, and you can cut below 100Hz without losing too much character.

If you've got a sub-heavy mix then this is what the low-end of your kick should be doing; sitting just above the sub-bass and not interfering too much. You need plenty of the 140Hz component, and less of the sub. It may be worthwhile side-chaining your bassline off the kick - but you shouldn't be relying on this for clarity. A better option is to write around the kick - by avoiding having both kick and sub playing at the same time (use sharp volume envelopes, and fine-tuned MIDI programming) you can solve a lot of these issues. If you have two heavily subby things competing for space in your mix (remember that sub-bass uses a lot of volume headroom) then when the track comes to be mastered, these two will combine to dominate your mix, make everything else quieter and clutter the bottom end. The result will be a quiet, muddy mix with no clarity. And nobody wants that.

A 'subby' kick would be something like an 808-style kick - a whole heap of sub-bass and just a high frequency click at the top for definition, with very little in the 140Hz area. These completely dominate the low-end of a track and the the fact that many producers like Julio Bashmore use them for basslines, rather than actual kicks (note that in a typical Bashmore tune the kick has almost no weight at all, simply providing character and pulse), demonstrates how a subby kick is not really compatible with a sub-bassline.

So now consider the higher frequencies; this is what will make the kick audible at lower volumes and help give clarity. You need higher frequencies in a kick to make it come through amongst the rest of the percussion and synth sounds. The click in an 808 doesn't really cut it unless, again, you're writing minimal spacious-sounding stuff. Otherwise it can be too short, too quiet and too subtle. Many old drum machines have a good toppy click in them, while a kick from a sampled break is also ideal for this. You could even just layer in a hihat, but if you're layering up another kick, you can high-pass it at 500Hz or so - it's literally just for the top end.

Another way of getting some top-end presence in there is a tight reverb (think a small plate or room reverb; try a reverberation time of around 0.3 seconds) - but remember to high-pass it aggressively. As with all reverbs, you don't need any low-end in the sound as this will just muddy the spectrum. Distortion or overdrive can help bring out some higher frequencies too, but be gentle with it as you can easily end up with a noisy mess.

Besides frequencies, you need to consider the volume envelope. One of the characteristics of 'punchiness' is a short attack and a bit of a transient. This, again, is important for music with subby basslines, as the punch contrasts with the lengthy sub notes, helping give clarity. Use an envelope-shaper or sample editor to make the kick tight and quick and it will not only cut through the mix more effectively, but will also avoid clashing with the bassline so much. For bigger kicks in house and techno, the opposite holds; since the kick usually contains most of the track's weight, it can be longer and chunkier. A compressor will help here, by bringing up the tail end of the kick so that it's louder for longer.

When mixing down, a compressor across the whole drum buss will also help bring the kick out a touch, since other parts of the drums will duck to make way.

We could write all day on the subject of mixing kick drums; it's genuinely something that takes years of practise to get right. But to summarise; get a good sample library, pick the right kick for your track, make sure it's not clashing with the bass, has some top-end character and the volume envelope is right for the track. It's not easy, but it's possible. Now go and make that dancefloor shake!

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