I'm about to get real jazzy on you.
Learn modal interchange (borrowed chords). It's where you can use any chords from any parallel scale source. So if you're in C major, you can add in any chords from C minor, C Dorian, C Mixolydian, etc. ("I Remember" does this a lot)
Also there's a big difference between using basic triads and using 7th chords with lots of tensions. (Example: the difference between a C major triad and a C major 13 (#11) chord or a C7(b9 #9 b13) or the difference between a C minor triad and a C minor 6/9 chord).
Here are some other things to consider: Secondary dominants. Tritone substitutions. Line Cliches. Parallel harmony (Constant structure). Modal harmony. Reharmonization. Chromatic harmony.
Learn chord-scale theory and know which scales/modes can be played on what chords. Learning all of the melodic minor modes is helpful for this.
But most of all, don't get to hung up on chords. I think melody and rhythm is more important, but chords and harmony can help bring a melody to it's full potential. I spent a lot of time learning about chords and totally neglected melody and rhythm.
EDIT: Just wanted to say that you can take simple common chord progressions and spice them up/make them your own by adding other chords in between them or substituting out chords. Take a I - IV - V for example and try adding more chords in between. And here's a free 6 week music theory class that just started: https://www.coursera.org/course/musictheory
I learned independently but would probably have learned a lot faster with a tutor. The moment it "clicked" for me, so to speak, is when I bought this book: Music Theory for Computer Musicians. I immersed myself in that book and read it in no time. For me it worked wonders just staying away from the computer and endless tutorials to just jump in for a deep dive.
You could try checking out a book like Drum Programming (Music Instruction): A Complete Guide to Program and Think Like a Drummer by Ray F. Badness https://www.amazon.com/Drum-Programming-Complete-Program-Drummer/dp/0931759544
If people are interested enough, I'll do a tutorial of making a song from scratch so you guys can see how I use the template.
edit- ill try to livestream tomo or so. ill post a link on this sub when its up and ill upload the vod to youtube.
edit2- done streaming! here's the vod if you missed it!
http://www.twitch.tv/organicroots/c/1771808
and the final product:
Here's my submission: https://clyp.it/c01pu35w
Didn't have much time but everything is from the clip except for the acapella :)
Here are the samples I cut out: http://www71.zippyshare.com/v/IyEGy5IO/file.html
This happens because MP3 encoders add silence to the start and end of files, for technical reasons to do with the length of encoder frames. If you're interested in the technical details, they're explained pretty well on the LAME homepage.
Of course, many tracks just have some silence at the start anyway. If the silence is longer than a fraction of a second, it's deliberate rather than an artifact of the encoder.
Here's a remake I did right when the movie came out. I didn't use that preset, I just made my own. I didn't treat this like an actual song or anything; I was just playing around. Maybe you guys will think it's cool though. Listening to it now I realize I could've fixed up a lot of things.
A lot of them are old Motown songs. I've got a collection of about 3-400 (Motown, Rock, Rap) acapellas on dropbox, ill post the link here tomorrow afternoon (CST)
Edit: Found it https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0yc7csjaetb126x/FJKVr3DUjq
Edit 2: Received an email saying it will be down for 3 days from the high traffic. Any other suggestions?
Pretty much did exactly what you said--I made two tracks in ableton, one has a drum loop at 126, the other the exact same loop warped to 63 (making it go twice as fast). Then I ramped tempo starting at 63 to 126 while crossfading from the 63 sample to the 126 sample.
I think a lot of it has to do with picking the right drum loop so that the hits mostly line up as you crossfade in. I actually went back with the audio I rendered and hand-faded the loopover point for what I uploaded too, to make it a bit smoother.
Worth noting that this is the Fruity Edition (normally $100), not the full Producer Edition. Refer to the feature comparison tab on this page. Also, it's $60 on Newegg, not $50.
I taught myself using a program called Synthesia. Imagine Guitar Hero but for piano, I just used that to learn my favorite songs, and now I can kinda play piano. You can find videos of it on YouTube or you can buy the software
EDIT : Here is a link to the game.
Rapid Evolution or Keyfinder are free alternatives, with better usability. Seriously, people who are paying so much for so few features need to research more. I don't want to bash though but make your own opinion please:
http://www.mixshare.com/software.html http://www.ibrahimshaath.co.uk/keyfinder/
Music theory for computer musicians. It is classical theory but written in a piano roll in case you can't read music. Great book in my opinion. Read it all the way through and it helps every day.
https://www.amazon.com/Theory-Computer-Musicians-Michael-Hewitt/dp/1598635034
I should add that there are a few minor errors in the book. Nothing factually wrong, just a few mislabeling of images.
So I take it from all of this you're actually running a successful label and have managed to make this transition without the sales then?
I mean what you're talking about is a 360 deal with the artist for merch, touring, royalties and publishing in order to secure those "alternative" revenue streams, and as a small independent label then no artist in their right mind will accept a 360 deal from you and I don't blame them.
I'm quite happy to not run a label any more - no more burning money and time I don't have ( on merchandising, radio pluggers, guerilla marketing teams, street teams, server costs, management and all that other bullshit you still need to do with a staff you can't afford to pay ) the "amazing ability of that technology" isn't free in business once you take it away from being a hobby. It costs. Apple FTR had access to absolutely bucket loads of cash.
As I said though I make all of my income from live sound ( especially corporate work ) putting out my own music and doing the odd oldskool gig. And I'm OK with that.
Trying to run a label with no product revenue stream is just not worth the hassle and building that with anything other than product sales requires financial backing which I don't have and/or want the responsibility of anymore, because if it goes tits up in the real world, I ( as the label owner ) am the one who has to deal with the bankruptcy shit.
I'll help. I know Python really well, and I've used the Reddit API before too.
This flair bot should be running all the time, right? So we should put it on a server, preferably a reliable and free one. I propose using Google App Engine: https://developers.google.com/appengine/
Can someone please create a list of all possible genres, and all their possible permutations?
Coding this up seems fairly straightforward (famous last words), but I'll need a couple days to get it complete (I'm off and on busy today and this weekend). I could probably have it working by Sunday night, or latest early next week.
I'd like to piggyback on this post with a few books that I've identified as being the most powerful tools for becoming a healthy artist.
The War of Art- Steven Pressfield: This book tackles OP's steps #1 and #2 and makes them your bitch. No joke. Get ready to go to war.
The 4 Hour Chef- Tim Ferriss: I actually don't agree with Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule. Sure it takes a ton of hours to be great at anything but 10,000? Not a chance. This book will arm you with the ability to grow faster not by focusing on becoming efficient but rather by becoming effective.
The Art of Learning- Joshua Waitzkin: Like The 4 Hour Chef, The Art of Learning is all about the meta skill of learning how to learn most effectively. However, where the 4 Hour Chef focuses on getting someone from 0 to great, the Art of Learning focuses on taking someone from great to the best in the world. One of my most favorite books ever.
Mindset- Carol Dweck: Have you ever thought to yourself, "I suck." Or, "I'm just not good enough."? If so, this book is a must read. It will teach you how to reprogram how you think about yourself to make success not about results but about the process.
Effortless Mastery- Kenny Werner: A fantastic book by one of the best jazz pianists of our time. Effortless Mastery taught me how to "set the rules so I always win." Is practicing for 1 hour 6 days out of the week or practicing for 1 minute every day better? 6 hours vs. 7 minutes? Why is 7 minutes better?
I hope this helps. These books literally changed my life and I might even go so far as to say gave me my life back.
History - some to this very day call it pejoratively "Fruity Loops". When it first came out it didn't have playlist window - only pattern blocks, no automation clips, no sample clips. No VST until 2003 in version 4 (and even then only generators were supported). I started with version 9, and it was pretty much complete back then, but I imagine Pros tried earlier versions and never gave it another try.
What’s your budget?
I’d say go with Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol M32 keyboard. You get a good quality midi keyboard, Ableton lite, tons of samples, and some vst instruments for $130. Has the best software bundle by far at that price point.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N2VQ1NH
If you have money left over grab some headphones as well. MX20 are decent and run about $50
They are toms and snare from vintage drum machines, like all of the roland and linn series. I use them a lot, here is a drum fill
I get these samples from either free sample packs that feature the soundsof those drum machines and also i sample 90s and 80s songs that used a lot of drum machines from youtube.
In this webpage you can fin free drum machine sample packs
theres a popular one people like zedd and porter robinson use, hard to explain so ill just make it real quick so you get the general idea of it.
hear it here https://clyp.it/kchn22if
get the flp here http://www24.zippyshare.com/v/kXExZItA/file.html
its just a harmor. Its a single tone that descends in frequency repeatedly while at the same time increasing the average freq
One day I discovered the secret to Washed Out's sound. Here it is: find an 80s song, slow it down, pitch it down. Add an EQ and really cut all the brightness out of that shit. Brightness is not nostalgic. Add punch back to the beat by layering pitched down linndrum samples. Add some vocal oooh background harmonies with reverb to give it more ambiance, add lazy vocals and ta-da--- you just wrote "Feel it All Around"
I never got around to making real songs but here's some basic loops I threw together to illustrate the concept: http://soundcloud.com/dessicant/sets/surfer-cooler/ Just looping 80s samples slowed and pitched down get you about 80% there and it's pretty hilarious if you think about it
Bitwig! There is also a free demo! I tried it out on a bootstick for the funs, it was "install and play", that impressed me. There are also beta vst from uhe that you can try out, if you want some more synths.
remove all your distractions.
Recently I just quit wifi at my house, that way there is no way i can get distracted by the internet, and the only way to relieve boredom is to produce, which always ends up being fun anyway.
I do still use internet tho, just free wifi at starbucks or the wifi at my work, and i prefer it that way too because now whenever I do use internet i am forced to use internet productively since i can only use it when im at a coffee shop or after work, so i keep a checklist of tutorials to watch or things to study when i have access to it.
you can apply that concept to anything as well.
A few good books I also recommend on the topic of productivity:
The Organized Mind by Daniel Levithin (lots of interesting stuff but a lot is unnecessary)
The One Thing by Gary Keller (The overall concept is brilliant, although kind of drags on and you probably dont need to read it all to get the gist)
The Power of Habit
The Marshmello Test (Google the marshmello test, a famous test done at Stanford, there was book about it by the same name but even random articles on it are really interesting, all about will power and why some people can get themselves to focus and others cant)
Thats everyones "Problem" its not really a problem your doing it to yourself. Allow yourself to have a lack of creativity in the moment and continue working anyway without thinking so much about what outcome you want to reach. You could also do stuff like watch a tutorial or screw with synths/samples etc and eventually you'll get somewhere. The creativity is always there you just have to allow it to come out, and to do that you just keep working without overthinking about how much progress you think your making or not, your bound to be slower at certain times its normal you just have to work thru it.
Theres books that talk about this stuff like "The War of Art" and "Mastery" check them out.
if the file system is raw, then your information is most likely still there, you just lost the file system structure.
you need programs, such as Ontrack Easy Recovery (http://www.krollontrack.com/data-recovery/recovery-software/) I got mine around the web, and do a raw recovery. The program will dump to another drive all recognizable file bits which headers it finds familiar, which is a long process but it works
do not use the ssd drive for anything else until you try raw partition recovery programs, or else you'll overwrite existing data on your ssd
good luck mate!!
You could pay someone to try and recover what they can from it, or you can buy a https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Hot-Swap-External-Docking-Compatible/dp/B001A4HAFS and take out the laptop harddrive and plug it into that USB hard drive dock. It essentially just turns any laptop/desktop hard-drive into an external hard-drive. I've had to do that before to save some projects from a dying hard drive.
Worst case scenario, you don't get any of your projects back, and you can think of it as a fresh start. I've had to do that before, and it was very freeing. It feels shitty at first, but at least in my case, it was a huge boon to my productivity when I didn't have a bunch of subconscious guilt/weight from not finishing certain projects.
This really is all about sample selection.
The 808 is an industry standard sample, and it is a great place to start. If you take one of those kicks and pitch it down a bunch, you're going to get that great sub rumble.
And to get the "click" sound, just do parallel compression. Don't know what that is? All you do is take the exact same sample again, but this time, compress it heavily. And the second, heavily compressed sample gives that "click". Also don't forget to high-pass the second sample so that they both aren't fighting for the same sub-space.
Here, I threw this together in literally like 5 minutes. Took two 808 samples, pitched em down, compressed one, layered, then threw some light tape distortion and reverb.
https://soundcloud.com/analytic-1/808-kick
Is it perfect? Hell no, but it makes a GREAT start.
> I use VirtualDJ since it's the only DVS that works with my Stanton SCS.1 system.
This isn't related to samples, but have you considered Mixxx as a software option? It's an open-source program, offers timecoded vinyl control, and is a bit more feature-rich than VDJ. 4 decks for one thing.
The SCS.1 system is an officially supported controller, too.
If anyone is interested in learning a bit more about music production for free you can do as I did and sign up for the Introduction to Music Production at Coursera.org. Here's the link:
Introduction to Music Production
And here's another course that seemed worthwhile:
You're not crazy! In fact, this idea is mentioned in the book "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. He basically says that a long time ago the word "genius" was used differently than it is today. Back then they apparently regarded "genius" as a completely separate entity. For example, today we say "wow, I'm a genius" vs then they would say "wow, my genius is awesome".
Learn some, it's super useful.
https://gumroad.com/l/tldrmusic
Useful and mostly easy to understand guide to basic music theory. Only thing I dont like with this guide is how he explains major/minor scales, I prefer to just think of it as 2212221 for major and 2122122 for minor where the every number represents one semitone (one key on the keyboard/piano roll). Start on C and go up with one of those patterns and you have C major/C minor.
Knowing how scales work and how chords work with eachother is very useful if you want to make music that actually sounds good and makes the listener feel the music.
omg are you a font whisperer?
Yes its helvetica neue Bold and Light, one of my favorites for technical writing. Also see the DIN font - used on Common Projects
EDIT: Just did a trap one I've done way to many trap tracks before and used a few sounds I've used before. I just looked for a preset that had the word bell in it for the top synth. I kind of messed up the blip and that HEY sound is totally not gangsta haha
HAHAHA this was great https://clyp.it/bqt03mig At least the middle progression didn't turn out as bad as the rest
I did cheat once just to make sure I was playing the right note in addictive drums for the hihat
FYI: Most DAW's will let you export a piano roll to a midi file and then you can use Finale Notepad (http://www.finalemusic.com/products/finale-notepad/) to open those midi files and it will be put into music notation. Hopefully this helps!
Download the demo versions of synths you want to try. Most synths have demo (except Falcon and Omnisphere?).
Imo, Serum is a very good synth, if you are looking for a simple interface. It's far away from a "da bestezt sint in da gaem"...
It has a lot of third party content for it, but it's mostly harsh dubstep, psytrance, dnb, metallic sfx type sounds; it's extremely easy to create such "unmusical" sounds in Serum. (The lack of filters and oscillators prevent it from becoming a good soundscapes synth for example.) I've seen people selling "semi-realistic" banks for Serum, but these are just resynthesized samples and Serum is not good at this compared to other synths (and the typical synth paradigm oscillator->amp with envelope is not good for creating intricate playable sounds, you need semi-modular or modular with plenty of envelopes and many oscillators to control the timbre in a realistic manner, depending on the register and volume).
Dimensions expander and Multiband compressor in it are a big part of Serum's final sound and these are a free download; and it's not hard to be replaced by similar effects.
Using KVR's search for for powerful synths within your budget we find: Synthmaster, Zebra2, Spire, Dune3, Blue2, Harmor, Razor, Thorn, Diversion, Pigments, Icarus, Electra2, Biotek2, Cypher2, Nemesis, Sytrus. The main difference between some of these and Serum is the lack of that many third party presets and that they will sound weaker, because of lack of effects sections or worse effects, but you can always create a preset chain in your mixer to mimic Serum's fx. Out of all these I think Dune3 and Cypher2 sound the best atm.
Oh, and Surge is basically a free Serum, but you need a third party program to create additional wavetables.
https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
This is normal. Bass notes have very long wavelengths compared to other notes. This makes a certain unpleasant effect more noticeable: room modes. What is happening is that your bassline is coming out of the speakers, hitting the walls, reflecting, and interfering with your sound. Depending on the phase of the wave when it hits the wall, it could almost silence or nearly double the volume of your bass. This attenuation or boost changes note-by-note.
This can be mitigated if the walls absorb or scatter sound. Specialized panels and surfaces are made for this purpose.
This was a big lesson for me. I would get some music in my head from time to time, and sometimes could recreate it, and sometimes it was good, too. I felt like I had to at least get so far in my head before I sat down and worked on music.
This made me extremely unproductive, and beat myself up because I supposedly didn't have enough ideas.
The truth is that inspiration comes not out of the blue, but when you're stimulated. You take something and change it. A sound inspires a melody. A melody inspires a sound, and a chord progression. All the best writers, musicians, artists, they sit down even if (especially if) they have nothing in their heads, and put in the hours - the ideas come the more you work at it. Sometimes you'll get an idea in your head, sure, but 99% of the time you won't and you need to make those ideas by playing.
I recommend everyone read the short book "The War of Art" which talks about the creative process behind this in great detail.
> What does Safe Mode do on Windows?
> Safe Mode does two things: 1. It disables our layered window for compatibility with some older machines. 2. It disables all polling we normally do to ensure that we're the active color profile. Logging in, changing video resolutions, and Administrator (UAC) prompts can all reset f.lux's color changes. With Safe Mode, we do not fix these automatically, in order to minimize the impact we have on the system. If an app resets the colors, you can click on the f.lux icon to have us restore our profile. Transitions (sunrise, sunset) still happen as usual. Use Safe Mode if you think f.lux slows down your computer.
source: https://justgetflux.com/faq.html
thank you so much dude.
> i'd encourage clyp.it
>By uploading an audio file, you submit to us that you hold the necessary rights that are required in order to upload, post, modify, transmit, share or otherwise make available to the public the underlying content. Additionally, you agree to grant Clyp, Inc. a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, derive works, distribute and stream all uploaded content
I do not wish to grant Clyp the rights to remix all my content and make money off it.
There is no one way to do it if that's what you're asking. Layering synths just means that you're stacking two synths that are slightly different to each other to create one new sound.
For example just by using a synth that has several oscillators (like, Massive can have 3) and activating them, you're layering already.
Your example of detuning the sounds is what's used when creating supersaws (look it up) for example. Basically, when you have two identical synths that are playing at the same you will only get an increase in volume but the sound will be the same.
When you're detuning them, the waveforms will "combine" to form a new sound that is very different.
Here's an example. The first two chords are just one single saw osc. After that I added two (quieter) that were both detuned. One was detuned 5 cents down and the other 5 cents up. As you can hear the sounds started to "move" and it got wider and lost some of it's edge. This is basically a supersaw.
But that is only one way of layering. You could for example combine two totally different waveforms and that alone would make a big difference. Detuning that will yield very different results too.
First of all that preset you linked (http://www.filedropper.com/lead-alligator) is monophonic meaning it will only ever play one note at a time regardless of how many you hold down
Second in that patch the oscillators are not retrigged when you press a note, meaning they will be starting at a different phase each time you press a note this leads to fluctuations in the sound produced even if the same note is pressed repeatidly.
Super interesting. The future implications are promising. Once the sounds are categorized well enough, you could say "make me an instrument with these timbre characteristics" and it would do it.
Would love to train it on some very specific sounds (future house elastic bass, hardstyle screech, a whole bunch of supersaws). But from the repository readme:
>Training for both these models is very expensive, and likely difficult for many practical setups. Nevertheless, We've included training code for completeness and transparency. The WaveNet model takes around 10 days on 32 K40 gpus (synchronous) to converge at ~200k iterations. The baseline model takes about 5 days on 6 K40 gpus (asynchronous).
It's completely out of reach for an overwhelming majority of people. A single K40 retails for a little over $3k, nevermind the infrastructure to run more than one synchronously.
If you used EC2 P2 to run Tensorflow it could be just under $1/hr for a single K80 (asynchronous) or about $14/hr for 16 synchronous.
Probably just hunting for downvotes with this self-promo, but I dropped a price on my cover arts pack on sellfy https://sellfy.com/p/MQB5/ now just for 5 bucks 12 customizable covers with both png and photoshop files... have mercy guys lol
you can't use the actual mac tts on windows but with a bit of searching i found an alternative that creates pretty much the same output, it's just a little bit more difficult to operate
here's this open source formant speech synthesizer called eSpeak that you can install on windows
once it's installed you use cmd to cd into the program directory (in program files by default) and then into the command_line folder, and from there you can do espeak "hello world"
to make it say whatever you want
for the whisper voice you would want to do espeak -ven-us+whisper "utopia"
and replace utopia with whatever you want to say
-ven-us
sets the voice to en-us, and the +whisper
sets the variant of the voice to whisper
you can also add things like -w filename.wav
that exports the speech to a .wav rather than speaking it, or alter the speed and pitch of the voice, etc. there's more information on the commands in the documentation
it seems a bit long-winded but it works just as well, i hope that helps!
Download these and read them religiously:
There's not going to be any single way to get yourself sounding really good - all you can do is practice. Yeah, you could read every book/article and watch every tutorial in the world, but nothing will make you better except sitting at your DAW and working.
Remember that the only limits are the ones you place upon yourself. You can do anything you want, but you have to know how to do it first. That is why you practice. You play with every little thing you can. Throw those effects on! Turn those knobs - see what they do! Open up your modulation track and just start drawing everywhere!
Seriously. There is no set method; just fuck with everything. You'll learn what it all does in good time. Once you get your head around it, it really doesn't seem like all that much stuff you just learned!
And don't forget the online communities! This is an awesome place to get started - I wish I had known about Reddit (and /r/edmproduction) when I had started!
Here are some other communities that you can check out, ask questions, and learn limitless amounts of knowledge from:
Congrats on starting to fulfill your dreams and passions! I wish you all the luck ^^^and ^^^patience in the World!
^See ^^you ^^^on ^^^^the ^^^^^charts!
Used to go to shows without hearing protection, now have tinnitus in one ear. Dunno if Amazon ships to you but these are what I use for shows now.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044DEESS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_fRQpAb30HVQ69
You need to read a book called "The War of Art."
Nonetheless, start some sort of a routine. There are so many aspects to production that you shouldn't let one hold you down. Find what it is that's the source of lack of inspiration. Do you not feel like writing chords one day? Fuck it, then do sound design. You don't feel like mixing today, fuck it, knock out a sick lead synth.
The point is that the professional does not rely on inspiration. They just do the work. You can still be productive by finding ways to get these quick wins. Quick wins ultimately lead to shit getting done.
One thing I always tell myself when a problem arises is that there may not always be a solution to the problem, but there are ALWAYS alternatives.
This growl at : https://soundcloud.com/alex-s-music/dshks-theme-alex-s-remix 1:26 (the low growl) edit : the long version of the low growl is at :0:49
Another example : sounds a bit different but ok : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ9-1WD-rBA 0:48
I've heard this type of growl in many songs and I don't seem to find any decent tutorial or any way I can make this sound, I KNOW it is FM synthesis and yes i've watched the "How to bass" video's seamlessR made but still I don't have any idea, is it a different type of waveform or?
Thanks in advance ;)
> Be original
This is what everyone say, yet barely any labels got the balls to release actual innovative stuff. I've been sending this around to a few labels and all say the song is fine, but the genre doesn't match their target-group.
Perfectly understandable reaction by the labels. Thing is, I'm unable to put a genre on this and therefore unable to find a label willingly to release it.. So yeah, be original - to an extend.
7/4 vomit I use renoise and I wanted to see how glitched out I could make something using an odd time signature. I don't know if I like it. it was more exercise than anything else.
In my personal opinion, at least for a lot of us around here, quantity is the path that leads to quality.
https://medium.com/@herbertlui/why-quantity-should-be-your-priority-3bc2b16fe3f5
If you can make 50,000 shitty songs as fast as you possibly can, youll be training speed and I can promise that by the 50,000th song, they won't be shitty anymore. Don't get me wrong, quality is top priority in my book too, but I feel more at the beginning stages is more of a time for quantity.
Sorry for rant ><
C# Phrygian by the looks of it.
I transcribed the notes and used a modified Serum preset because I couldn't be bothered with sound design. Listen to it here. First run-through is just one voice, then for the second run-through I added another voice playing a fifth up (seven semitones).
Here's the MIDI file if you want it. Take a few noisy waveforms, unison, a filter, portamento, and a voice that's seven semitones higher than the original.
The notes I ended up with are:
C# D G G# A B. However, the G that I used may actually be a G#, which would likely put the key as C# Phrygian. Personally, I think the G sounds more correct, but transposing it up a semitone to the G# works too, and it puts the song in a known key, so that's probably the right answer.
Hope that helps :)
It's kinda amazing to look at some of the stuff he's sampled. This is a great site that will give you the part of the tune that's made from a sample, and then the original material he sampled:
Just curious, would you consider this lazy sampling? Because there isn't a lot being done with the sample itself other than looping.
Hey man, I just searched everywhere online for the 5000drumhits.rar file, but the site that used to host it seems to be down.
Figured I'd re-upload it for ya since its helped me out a lot. Enjoy! http://www.filedropper.com/5000drumhits
This was rushed but hopefully it's what you had in mind. The first part is a sine wave bass and chords played with detuned saw waves without being filtered. Then the filter envelope on the chords kicks in. Then the last part is just the bass and drums. The most important part is the parameters of the filter envelope. idk if you're familiar with synth1 but here's the ASDR settings which can be applied to any synth. http://i.imgur.com/0C5dniA.png
The only thing that was not sampled in Prodigy's Voodoo People was probably the lead synth. Daft Punk samples a lot. Burial samples a lot of more famous songs (even stuff by Beyonce, Michael Jackson, various movies etc.). Heck, Jungle and DnB wouldn't exist without sampled breaks. What about the Reese bass? It was sampled a lot. Most of Jelly Belly's bassline (by S.P.Y.) is just 'Gro Bag' by Ed Rush & Optical. Sonic and Silver's 'Rocket Launcher' samples Daft Punk's Revolution 909. KillSonik blatantly samples Pendulum's 'Terminal' in their 'Pacifica' remix. Double 99's RIP Groove samples an older No U Turn track multiple times. Psycho's OST was sampled quite often too. I hope you understand what I'm saying: the list goes on and on and on. Sampling is happening everywhere, even though it's not always that legal. And no, I don't think anybody of them asked hundreds of artists to sample them. The whole EDM scene tends to jump back to older songs to sample them. http://www.whosampled.com/ is always a good source to look up, too.
Try using a regular punchy kick as your main hit and use a square wave with a long decay and a lowpass filter on it for the sub part. It should sound great and the sub will come through on small speakers. Make sure to add say 50-200ms of attack on the sub so it gives room for the main kick to punch through then fade into the sub
Should sound like this. The bass is just a simple square wave with a lowpass filter and a kick I made which both trigger at the same time. https://clyp.it/4jz22ecu
To smoothen it out some more you can run it through PaulStretch at 1x speed with the Hyperstretch mode and 5K sample window size. That makes it even more soundscapey. Like this : https://clyp.it/hu42sx0o
His high-end percussion stuff from Camel is a sample. I was able to grab that percussion sample and throw a high-pass on it. It works pretty well right out of the bat.
On another note, I've time stretched and pitched-up/down percussive samples to great effect as well. :P
edit: Oh didn't realize it was you, Spills (I've contacted you over e-mail before w.r.t your ablum). I can send you my sampler instrument of the Fly-Lo chain from Camel when I get home.
The information is out there you just gotta put the time into learning it.
I know they recently released an english version, but (if I'm not mistaken) their main target is Japan. So there will probably be a few language barriers at some point.
I've seen/heard plenty of english vocaloid music well before Porter was doing it, so if it's something you're really interested in, go for it!
I personally get most of my samples from http://www.freesound.org, since they're all CC-licensed. The majority of them are basically sound effects or field recordings rather than more popular things like a capellas, but it's been a great resource and I'd recommend it to anyone.
This subreddit is for producing btw. A good beginner DJ subreddit is /r/beatmatch .
As for a single sound card from virtual DJ you can set up split cue so that virtual DJ outputs master to the left output and the cue to the right output. From there you get a splitter & plug in your speakers to the left output and your headphones into the right. It's not amazing, but it works.
LMMS will most probably put you off music production all together. I made a few tunes in it for an open source game (I thought I'd have a blast at trying to make them with open source software, due to the purpose of the tracks). It's really an abysmal piece of software compared to the major ones, and I imagine it'd be especially bad when you're still at the stage where you're learning.
If you're on the cheap, I recommend you check out Reaper which you can evaluate for 30 days and only costs $60 to buy after that.
Yes, https://www.coursera.org/
I recommend the classes there from Berklee College of Music. I've taken the Intro to Production, am currently taking the Developing your Musicianship, and am enrolled for the Songwriting course that starts next week.
The Intro to Production and Musicianship courses have been fantastic, and I can't wait for Songwriting.
The courses were all intro level. It would help if you have some familiarity with the GUI for your DAW before you take Intro to Production, and you really need a midi keyboard or piano for Musicianship.
I was like you except for much longer than 2 years.
I recently took a free online course on Music Production from Coursera and now I'm finally (trying) to make music rather than lurking in the shadows. The next class starts in about a month on April 28th. Sign up!
https://www.coursera.org/course/musicproduction
It's ~3-4 hrs or so of video lectures a week for 6 weeks. The quizzes are easy. I did not do the homework though. Many of the videos he asks you to replicate what you learned in your DAW. Depending on how well you know the UI of your DAW most of the tasks can be finished in ~20 minutes a week.
I can almost guarantee this will be a HUGE help for you. All those terms will suddenly start to make sense afterwards.
Once you finish that, the next class is Developing Your Musicianship.
Ibrahim's Key finder is a free alternative to Mixed in Key and is pretty good with meta data customization. http://www.ibrahimshaath.co.uk/keyfinder/
Harmonic mixes are not the holy grail, and staying in the same key can sound lifeless if you rely on it exclusively. It's good to know how tracks will compare, but use it as a tool for quick fixes, or to test ideas with. Happy musical accidents happen when you break rules.
Also, be aware that unless you have pitch lock on, changing the speed of your tracks will also adjust the pitch. +/-6% speed is +/- 1 semitone, or a step on the wheel. This is why many people stick to tracks that are close in BPM, but with awareness of this, you can do some really cool layering with intentional pitch warping. Midtempo (ZA style) and speed garage have large components of their sounds based upon this.
Rules and tips are shortcuts, use your ears, never stop experimenting, tell a story, be an artist, and work with the crowd.
Continuing from SavorEverySecond's sample, I've re-granulized the sample and turned it into a musical note which breaks down and turns into the main sample before it slows down into a deep, barely hearable abyss.
Here's the destroyed sample: https://www.mediafire.com/?tge4e5sdq2l4dpd
So that everyone can judge for themselves I put together a quick loop in Reason consisting of 3 wav files with no processing other than lowering the volumes by -7db on the mixer. I made the exact same thing in Live, same db-settings on the mixer. See if you can tell which one's which.
As a bonus I bounced them both as 16-bit wav with dithering.
I would recommend the Sennheiser HD280PROs.
And here's why:
When I first started producing (7 yrs ago), I realized I would need a decent pair of headphones. I had absolutely no idea what I was buying, but after reading a couple Amazon reviews, I settled on these $70 Sennheisers (sorry can't remember the model # off the top of my head - but it doesn't matter since they don't make them anymore). I figured I would be buying a more expensive pair ~$250 within the first year or so anyway, and $70 wasn't that much.
To this day, I've been through 4 sets of other headphones (all more expensive), and the only pair that I still own and use regularly are those $70 Sennheisers.
This is for a couple reasons: (1) they're super durable, hell they've lasted 7 years w/o a single problem, and I haven't exactly been kind to them, (2) they give you an accurate flat response; sure the very high and very low ends lack the sparkle and punch of a $500 studio pair, but I've had better luck on my mixdowns with those than I have with my $250 headphones.
I can honestly say that I have full faith in Sennheiser. I recommend the HD280 Pros b/c they're in your price range. I don't own these - like I said, I have an older model - but I'm confident that any Sennheiser set is going to do the job.
Look, the main problem with building a pc is compatability issues. But other than that, it is really easy to put toguether. Its freaking legos, the processor goes in the processor slot, the memory in the memory slot, etc. For compatability issues just look around some forums for their "best build under $x list". Most have that. Those work well. These are two great sites I would trust over reddit:
Through further research I found this: https://archive.org/details/nasaaudiocollection
There are lots more and higher quality sound files (WAV format) but they aren't as organized as this collection. I might try to upload this set again, but in WAV format if I can sort through the files.
Without a doubt you should take this free online class: https://www.coursera.org/learn/music-production
It's a good class, I took it. It will cover all the basics that you need to know and then you can come back with more specific questions.
I also recommend http://groove3.com - which is paid tutorials. They have lots on Ableton. I haven't taken those ones since I don't use Ableton, but the other classes I've taken at their site have been great. Well worth the $150 subscription IMHO if you take at least one class a month - that's like $12 / class if you take one a month.
Most of groove3's classes let you watch the first 2 episodes (around 20 minutes) for free to see if you like it.
Not specific to just audio/media, but pretty anything that involves files... I've got some macro keys that insert the current timestamp wherever my cursor is (virtually typed), e.g:
...use the last two a lot for filenames.
If you're on Windows you can do it with https://autohotkey.com/
I personally export video right from my DAW, FL Studio comes with a plugin called ZGameEditor Visualizer that applies 3d rendered geometry and audio visualizers, took me like an hour to learn after watching a few youtube tutorials on it. I dunno what DAW you use but if you dont have FL then you can get something like Davinci Resolve, completely free video editing software that you can also learn all through youtube and googling (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/?gclid=CjwKCAjwvuGJBhB1EiwACU1AiUB0bNsoTfgdH8KJZY2JcPyWBW9giIFOM-86WuSrLo9EArlURZJAvRoCXHgQAvD_BwE)
Example of a song and video I put together all in FL using ZGame: https://youtu.be/grRio_M8M5s
This, so much. I know advanced sound design and how to make cool/unique patches. Hell, I read a thesis on super saws just to recreate the sun and moon sound (its not perfect but getting any closer would require mindless tweaking of reverb and eq, the fundamental super saw sound is there though); but, when it actually comes to music production I just fuck w/ knobs on presets. There is a stark difference between what is practical and what will get you to a very specific end point. Great I can recreate a super saw, how does that help me to make a song? other than providing me w/ a new patch, in no way at all.
Every good producer cycles through presets until they come to a sound that is similar enough to one in their head. They then mess w/ the filter setting, ENV's, LFO's, enable/disable FX, all just to get closer to that sound. You can't do all this complex shit while trying to make good use of your time (if you're tring to make and finish an entire song). This is why soooooooo many people dont finish songs, and why tip #x of "15 tips for every producer" is to finish your songs.
the drop from Maybe is directly from the first All Trap sample pack, just pitched down 6 semitones or so. So i imagine the drums may be from the same place. I think their snare from on fire is also from the sample pack
I remade just a few bars of Audien's Hindsight a few months ago. Check it out here if you want. It's not perfect. I'm not very good haha but when I saw this thread, I figured why not upload it.
I showed the chords first, then the leads, then everything together. Any advice would be appreciated!
Honestly you should just start with whatever part is the most interesting to you. If you want a good background take the free online course at Coursera Intro to Production. While you are taking that course try to take notes on whatever it the most 'fun' and most 'interesting' aspect of production. Explore that area first.
Play up to your strengths first when starting a new hobby, your weaknesses can come later. Part of the reason it's better to do this is because if you start to lose interest even during the parts that seem interesting in the beginning then this hobby may not be for you.
It does take a ton of practice and a ton of time. If it feels like a 'chore' then you probably aren't going to get much done.
I'd check out Distrokid - $19.99/year. Upload unlimited songs and keep 100% of your royalties! It's definitely the best deal around that I've found. Your music gets uploaded to iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, and a ton of other platforms.
If you use sign up using this referral you get 7% off the yearly price and I make $5 :)
I don't use ableton but if it just requires midi, you can create your own layouts with faders, knobs, encoders, pads, and the works with TouchOSC. I've used it, and loved it.
For the lazy, that song is Fractals and was produced by mau5haxx in Miami last year during Ultra where five unknown producers got to work with deadmau5, Steve Duda, Feed Me, Kill the Noise, Moguai, Foreign Beggars, Jim Stout, the Frederick, and Heat Maxwell to produce two tracks in eleven hours. Link is to the free download on beatport.
Start time - 1:30 AM | Finish time - 1:43 AM
I sort of cheated by writing in C major.
EDIT: I had another idea so I turned down the volume and gave it a shot just for grins. Warning: this one is louder than the previous one b/c I forgot to even look at volume faders after setting up drums.
Start time 1:55 AM | End time 2:11 AM
Since we're clypping, I took like 20 walk-around-get-a-glass-of-water-pet-your-dog-leave-the-patch-playing-take-a-piss breaks writing this
I don't know anyone gets anything done when this happens. I hate losing momentum like that, but sometimes it just works.
Sigma mentions in their masterclass that they run their library through Mixed In Key so that when they're browsing for another hit they only need to hear what's already tuned to their track. So yeah, could work.
Renoise is a good option for $75, and it's an absolute powerhouse if you don't mind learning/working with tried-and-true tracking. It has full ReWire support too, so if you decide to buy another DAW like Ableton in the future, you can work on a track in both at the same time.
Don't use plugins for this, I might be wrong, but I haven't found anything that compares with a real recording.
Before getting my record player I'd search freesound.org for vinyl crackle, found this one, looks great: http://www.freesound.org/people/oneloginacc/sounds/66391/
Try Freesound. Sound quality can be a bit of a mixed bag at times but there's some real gems and well recorded stuff there too - all free of charge, you just need to register.
iZotope would have licensing issues with LAME?
>http://lame.sourceforge.net/license.txt
Nope.
I haven't read the new manual, but I guarantee Ozone will specify which specific codec you are listening to. They're pretty thorough. I just wish SoundCloud would go to lossless so I can call it a day. Their shitty audio quality drives me bonkers.
Disclaimer: I use FL Studio so anything I say about Ableton is based on this and random things I've heard about it from other artists.
FL Studio Fruity edition has painfully limited sample editing capabilities compared to Ableton Intro. In my opinion this is by far the biggest pitfall of this software.
Ableton Intro has somewhat limited synthesis and effects libraries compared to FL Studio Fruity edition.
Ableton Intro has a painfully low cap on number of audio and MIDI tracks (16) compared to FL Studio Fruity edition (500, more if they add more in a free update). In my opinion this is by far the biggest pitfall of this software.
My personal advice to either save up a little and go with FL Studio Producer edition ($199, excellent), or as you suggested Logic ($199, excellent), or save up a lot and go with Ableton Live Suite ($749, excellent). All of these options in my opinion have more "bang for buck" even though they're more expensive.
If you can't do this, I would go with Fl Studio Fruity edition or find a different DAW. Honestly I wouldn't recommend either entry-level version for music production.
Whichever way you go, if you're missing out on some bundled software you can find a huge list of alternatives here.
Someone else correct me if there's a better budget DAW option.
Bro, you can use a free software like freac to convert your WAV file into any format you want.
Please read this excellent article on music download formats: http://xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
Sorry, but your friend is very wrong. Plenty of big artists use it. Porter Robinson, Madeon, Savant... In fact, here's a full list: http://www.image-line.com/flstudio/powerusers.php
As for handling audio differently, I believe it's all the same. The plugins definitely have differences, but that's just a given, really. I've purchased both DAWs (ableton and FL); I know them well and respect them equally.
No online DAW, or any other webpage, can use VST plugins. VST plugins are programs that run locally on your computer, and a browser does not (and should not) have access to that.
There are certainly free DAWs that support VST plugins, but you need to download them. LMMS is completely free, and Reaper is not technically free, but it provides an unrestricted free trial.
Granular synthesis, spectral editing, Max/PD for custom DSP... that's where the cool stuff is at.
Check out Synthedit, Reaktor, Max for live....
Or go free and check out Pure Data.
the 2i2 has a stereo 1/4 inch headphone output, so a 3.5mm to 1/4 inch converter should do what you need, here's one I found on Amazon.
Most of my creative thoughts are like little pebbles at the bottom of a river. When your mind is clouded by unnecessary thoughts and anxieties, you won't be able to see them, like if you kicked up dirt in the water. When you settle your mind through meditation you'll be able to feel and see things more clearly. It also helps you focus which might help you stay productive and simply enjoy the long, long process.
It's more of a general thing for your whole life though. Don't put huge expectations on it, just see where it takes you just like someone else said in this thread. You want to get in touch with the ebbs and flows of your mind. It will likely take a long time for you to notice anything. There are no shortcuts!
My recommendation is Mindfulness in Plain English.
Orchestral samples. Orchestral samples everywhere.
Contains 3.5GB of (as good as you will ever find for free) symphonic soundfonts, including percussion, strings, brass, choirs, and much more.
Hey /r/edmproduction!
It's been awhile since i've posted something, but I've switched DAWs (no longer on FL, now using Ableton) and I feel this is my first track that I felt happy with after switch. It's not complete but I'm looking for feedback on the mix and if there are any elements in certain points of the song that are lacking? Cheers!
feedback for tbd (going to bed it's 5am, I will crush out feedback when I get up)
I've made a very similar bass sound without FM synthesis. I only skimmed through this, so I don't know what was said exactly but I used a band-reject filter and a low pass filter and ohmicide. Here is what it sounds like.
...because our perception of frequencies varies a lot with the sound pressure level: http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Fletcher–Munson_curves
Edit: This is why the mixing sweet spot is around 80-85 dB SPL.