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 In this edition I'm featuring a personal fave of mine - 'The Voluntary Butler Scheme' aka one-man-musical-maestro Rob Jones. His mixture of loops, live instruments and witty lyrics creates a refreshing blend of British pop and his live shows are meant to be reet good too - so I shall be attending one soon, cos I'm wacky like that. Anyway, if you aint already had a listen then do so nowwwww! Myspace yeh mate...  Ye, I know...I am a crap blogger, I will be updating regularly soon but have a couple of projects that are keeping me busy. Whilst working on these projects I've started to think about what approach I should take when it comes time to mix. The buzz word at the regular audio geek events I attend seems to be 'summing' and 'summing boxes. Now, I'm all for getting some analogue warmth into my mixes, but I think the way forward is small 8, 16 or 24 channel desks; instead of expensive boxes that cant do anything a good desk can. At least a console provides the option to track and who doesn't want the faders and ergonomic advantages that a mixing console brings. For the same price as a high spec summing box a bargain vintage desk can be had off ebay if you look hard enough (I have my eyes on a sexy one now, so don't outbid me at the last moment). TL Audio and Toft have recently made offerings in this department with the Tubetracker and ATB respecively, but I still think that there is a gap in the market for a desk specifically designed as a front and back end for a DAW, along with appropriate routing etc. Dont get me wrong, great mixes can be achieved working ITB, I still work in this way myself, but I think a hybrid can achieve a 'best of both worlds' scenario. Also; those vintage sidecar desks are like audio porn to me....I really need to get out more...anyway, something to think about - feel free to let me know your thoughts... SD - Working ITB, thinking outside of it!  I know I haven't posted anything for ages but I shall return from the dark depths of my lab soon. In the meantime do yourself a favour and purchase the new N*E*R*D album, it's insanely sexual...  It's no secret that hip hop in the UK has never got much love, despite having a number of talented and innovative underground artists. One of such talents is Gee, a 20 year old MC and member of North London's Roots Ent. A lyricist in the true sense of the word, Gee's conscious flow and wordplay combines swagger with intelligent observation. Recently completing his debut LP - 'Positive State of Mind'; Gee has a message that should be heard....so go listen... Gee Myspace Peash!  So, I dunno about you but if I hear another hip hop/R'n'B track with a gated trance synth in it, Im gonna hit someone. Anyway, today Im not discuss that but instead, a little about parallel compression; what it does and how I make use of it in ther music I create. Many of you may be familiar with this techniques, but I'll give a brief explanation anyways. For example - if you wanted to apply parallel compression to your kick drum, you can do this in one of two ways. 1 - By duplicating the kick drum track and applying heavy compression as an insert on this duplicated version. 2. Routing the kick drum to an aux, putting the compressor on the aux and varying the send amount on the kick drum channel to apply more or less parallel compression. Thats the basics, but what does it do and how can I use it in a creative way. Well, it is often used on drums and sometimes vocals to give a more powerful and up front sound. The heavily compressed version gives the punch, while the original track retains its necessary dynamics. I personally prefer method no. 2 highlighted above, as for me it seems to allow for more control. I dont use this on each song I create, however, when i do it is almost exclusively on drums. A relatively low threshold, high ratio and short attack are the usual settings, though obviously these must be tweaked for the desired effect. As you can imagine, there are numerous ways to use this technique for creative means. One of which that is quite common and particularly effective is to set up parallel compression as method 2 on the kick drum. Keep the send amount goin to the aux fairly low for the verse of the song and then automate the send to increase during the chorus will provide a relatively subtle effect if done correctly, making the chorus stand out by giving it more punch. There is a whole universe of other tricks; incorporating reverb and delay to add depth can be useful and my personal favourite - adding a tape saturation or bit crusher to the aux for sum lo-fi dizzirt...if u wanna try this one check out destroyr by Atom Splitter Audio, its free and its goooood...
Alrite, just a quick post to inform you of my latest toy that I think u folks should know about if you don't already. You know how Im always looking to expand on my sounds and virtual instruments, right? Well, in my search for such treasures I stumbled across a pretty impressive VST synth by the name of Helix. The tweakability on this thing is great and with 42 modulation slots, shapers, filters and a pretty dirty distortion, it's not difficult to create some huge and pretty unique sounds. I've been especially impressed with its ability to create really wide stereo imaging; useful on pads and leads. Helix is currently in its Beta stage and is free to download from Audjoo.com, so why not download, get crunk and give the programmers a little feedback on how you think it might be improved...
Safeness Apologies for my lack of recent bloggage, I've been pretty busy thinking and also growing a beard. Anyway, a couple posts ago I talked about record labels hooking up with myspace and that I would expand on the possibilities for a new music model. The bottom line is, with p2p filesharing music is free - as far as Im concerned there is no feasable method of preventing this. So for profit to be made from music, the answer must be to find an ancillary income source. The obvious one being ad-supported mp3 downloads. If a user can download music from your artist site for free and safe from viruses and other p2p issues, surely they will be willing to watch a short video advert before the download begins. Obviously the advertiser pays you (the artist) each time these video adverts are played; the consumer gets free music, the advertisers reach a large target audience and you get paid per download. This is of course not a brand new idea and it certainly creates moral issues for songwriters etc. However, this may level the palying field and record labels will not be necessary to make profit from your music. I will be devoloping this further in future blogs...the music is ours.
 I hear a lot of people asking where all the good new UK R'n'B artists are; enter 19 yr old Zee Kay. British born and of Eastern descent, Zee Kay certainly has the vocal chops to fill this mantle. Having already worked with various producers, Zee Kay is now collaborating with Mr Skillz (the man behind Big Brovaz) developing a unique blend of urban soul... Check his Myspace nowwww!  According to Diddy, at the unveiling of new Bad Boy artist; Janelle Monae - "This is possibly the most important signing of my career". The futuristic singer/songwriter/producer, who has gained comparisons to Prince and Andre 3000, is signing under her own 'Wondaland Arts Society' and is due to release her EP 'Metropolis Suite' in June.  A very short post to tell you guys about a video blog you might wanna check out. 'Life On Mars' chronicles the daily life of Lemar 'Mars' Edwards; producer/songwriter/musician and member of '1500 or nuthin'. It provides an informative insight into the reality of today's music industry and the lifestyle of a producer aiming to mould the sound of a new generation... So Get On Board!  So, you've probably heard the news that three of the big record labels (Sony, Universal and Warner) are set to team up with Myspace in a venture to rival Apple's Itunes. That's all well and good for the labels, taking a cut of the Myspace advertising and digital downloads, but what does that mean for us - the future music producers/artists? No better off, they take all the money while we try and 'get on'. However, this does not tackle the p2p file sharing issue, so surely the reality of ad-supported free downloads can't be far off... This is something I will write about again shortly, for now I guess I'll prepare my inbox for more spam than a gypsy's kitchen... Holla  Alrighty then, so I've been workin on some tracks for a couple talented new artists this week. One of these songs had to be a little different to the usual shizwak, soooo what better virtual synth to get the creative juices flowing than Basic64. Inspired by the 8-bit sounds of the commodore 64, this baby has got some crazy sounds and a whole bunch of presets, ranging from squelchy arps to lo-fi bleeps and blips. Best of all it's free, so if u haven't got it already, get it now from the good peeps at de la Mancha.... Basic_64 Danja-rous  Just a quick heads up for all you producers. There's a remix competition for Erykah Badu's track 'Real Thang', originally produced by Madlib. Up for grabs is the chance to have your entry on Miss Badu's Myspace page as well as a bunch of other goodies. The closing date is April 25th, so get ta crackin...you can get all the details and download the acapella from remix magazine... Best of luck  I decided Im gonna do a regular short feature on new music artists/producers/songwriters and this is the first... If you haven't already heard any of Dan Priddy's music then I suggest you do so, RIGHT NOW Mult-instrumentalist, songwriter and all round musical fellow, Priddy has already been spotted by Dallas Austin and best of all, he's from the UK! If your music is so good it hurts and you think you deserve to be part of 'SD New Music' then check out the 'Wanna Get On' section on the right for how to submit.... yayaaahhh! One of the best producer/composers of our time. Video courtesy of 'Zoom In Online'...
Peash  Hardware or software, digital or analogue, MPC or Fruity Loops, tits or ass; who the hell cares? Im not getting into these age old discussions; whatever works, right? What I do know is, there's more than one way to skin a badger and thats what Im gonna discuss right hurrr... When it comes to drums you can have the craziest fills, drum samples, whatever, but if that shizwak don't swing or groove then fuggedaboutit, there's nothing worse than a robotic drum beat... In terms of drum programming the MPC is largely considered the 'King Of Swing' (I got the MPC 2000 classic cos im ol' skool like that) and for good reason. However, more and more producers are turning to software such as Battery and Guru for their drums and with great results. I've been experimenting with a couple 'MPC Templates' that I use for groove quantising my kick/snares and then tend to throw down the hi-hats freestyle, but as I say there's a bunch of different ways to work... Anyway, cos Im kind and also wayyy cool, here's the Groove templates so you too can get drunk on the crunk... Groove Templates Any probs just holla, also let me know if you want me to lend an ear and give a little feedback on your music...I'd be more than happy to help where I can...  Producers, beatmakers, composers, whatever you call yourselves; when it comes to getting tracks placed, it's all about the songs. Both people in the industry and music consumers dont care about beats, beats are what MC Wannabegansta buys for $20 off soundclick... But your from themiddleofnwheresville and don't know any singer/songwriters or hot MCs...duhhh! I found a good place to start was by making remixes. There are plenty of websites for downloading free acapellas, such as acapellas4u and many unsigned or smaller artists will happily let you remix their tracks, as it provides additional exposure. By doing this, you not only learn the intricacies of song structure and composition, but also how to arrange the music to compliment the vocal. In addition to this, remix work is how many producers begin their career and may well lead to further production placements. So, why not download an obscure acapella and give it a new twist...might turn out hot:] In other news, the thought of N.E.R.D.s new album 'Seeing Sounds' has me nursing a semi, and if thats not enough for you then check out 'spaz' live at SWSX...  ok, so I've been aware of these guys for a while...now they've signed to Star Trak and played SWSX you should too.. Please go visit their myspace page, listen, wet ur pants and then message them telling them to come play the UK now... thanks Hi there, well this is the first blog post and it feels....pretty, pretty, pretty good...
Anywho, Im gonna be using this page as a place to provide updates on music production techniques, new music (that Im rather fond of) as well as talking about myself and how great I am... Staying on a musical tip, check out my favourite youtube rapper bo burnham.... |
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