Hi there this is my first post. I've been reading posts in the production forum and have found a lot of useful information, but I haven't been able to find anything specific about this type of style.
I want to make music along the lines of Ott, Entheogenic, Bluetech, Shpongle, and Mimosa.
I can post an example of something I've made but it's not really that great.
I have a Virus B desktop module, FL Studio 10, an electronic drum kit, a midi keyboard, a Tascam-224 audio interface, and lots of VST's and effects.
I want that chillout but still driving vibe. With dub and reggae elements thrown in like Ott.
One of the biggest problems I have is the percussion programming. That's why I bought the electronic drum kit, I felt it would give me a more human feel to my drum patterns (I don't even play drums, lol)
But the problem is I don't understand how these artists layer all these different drum sounds and make it sound so "groovy" yet still laid back.
I have a lot of other questions too but I'll let you guys get back to me on that first.
I make this kind of music (of course not the quality these producers you mentioned achieve) and I make it in FL studio 10. (check my mix in my profile if you'd like). I think there are some techniques which can be of help:
1. Use routing of efxchannels in the mixer. You can use every channel as a send and an insert channel. This can be of help when you use very 'wet' channels which contain a series of delay/phaser/chorus/distortion etc. Make for example a channel with >1200 hp eq, delay on 1/4 left and 1/8d right, slow phaser ( a bit) and some distortion. Now you can route other efxchannels for a certain amount (1-128) to this channel which gives your overall drums and percussion sound the same 'feel' to it.
2. make an efxchannel used as mentioned above but now with only a volume automation/envelope/trigger. This way you can make a rythmic pattern through which you can send noise or drums which gives them a 'groovy' sound.
3. Sidechain: sounds to kick, percussion to your 'main' snare.
1: So you're saying start out with my basic drum pattern (most likely just kick/snare) and then add other elements on top of it (ethnic drums or shakers or something) then route them all through an efx channel with eq'ing and effects to blend them together?
2:I'm not sure I understand this one... Could you elaborate?
3: Sidechaining essentially means ducking the sound of one thing out when another comes in, right?
Thanks again bandarlog, please excuse my lack of production knowledge.
aciduss
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Posted : Sep 28, 2011 22:47
You won't get anywhere if you don't understand about drumming and rythm before.
Placing drumhits on a sequencer is very different from the actual feeling that playing a drum gives.
The basis of rythm is contrast... the trick with layering percussion is making each layer contribute to the main groove feel (the push and pull thing), one single misplaced hit can ruin a percussion loop.
You have to feel it, you have to be able to make a dancey loop with few percs and then add and add percussion that makes it groovier. It has to make your head shake by itself.
Will take a while, learn to play basic drum patterns like paradiddles and stuff.
Rythmic delay on a well balanced loop can make wonders but i recommend placing it just once you have worked on a decent percussive line, not before or it will become a messy process.
Thanks Medea. So keep them in a group kind of like bandarlog said.
Thank you Aciduss. I have a very basic drumming understanding. Mostly just the basic 1 and 3 on the kick, 2 and 4 on the snare kind of thing with the hi hat going on 8th notes and doing variations of that by doubling up the kick or snare on a down beat.
I know that there isn't a formula per se for chillout beats, but is there any sort of guideline I can follow?
Like most trance is kick-snare-kick-snare
Whereas it seems like most chillout beats are more relaxed more like kick (pause) snare (pause)kick-kick snare.
I wish Ott was around to explain the way he does it! (Not that you guys don't know what you're doing, I just really would like to hear his opinion.)
loki
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Posted : Sep 29, 2011 01:21
load your favourite tunes into your sequencer, slow them down, and copy the drum beat note for note. then analyse the pattern you just made.
you can use these patterns - and vary them, obviously - to make your mental templates for the drumming rhythms you like.
i struggled with this one a lot, but i would frequently pick apart the songs i liked and i've finally gotten a feel for sequencing the "groove" i'd like to create.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. ~Kurt Vonnegut
www.soundcloud.com/mixyott
Equilizyme
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Posted : Sep 29, 2011 03:02
I have been making this style stuff as a side project for a while too. Loki's got the right idea - start by emulating a song you like.
And dont give up
loki
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Posted : Sep 29, 2011 04:54
Quote:
And dont give up
really the only relevant advice, hahaha.
another idea that might help is to quite litterally just feel it it. bop to your kickdrums a little, and figure out where the groove needs a hihat or a rim but 'feeling' out where it should go to keep your bopping going. then, once that's there, listen to the loop a couple times and just imagine the toms/bongos/ethnic-whatever in your head, feel it out the same was as it would add to the overall groove. then midi that in, too! and so on.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. ~Kurt Vonnegut
www.soundcloud.com/mixyott
I took a lot of you guys advice and tried to put it all together.
Let me know how I could improve this. I tried to bring all the drums together with a phaser.
PsyGalaXy
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Posted : Oct 1, 2011 18:16
Hi guys, this topic fits perfectly my needs too I'm actually aving more troubles about finding the right timbres for basses,pads and melo stuff, rather than the rythmim parts. (http://forum.isratrance.com/what-s-behind-a-solid-chillout-bass/ )
About these drums issues i would say , it goes like you are doing the mix, bring all that different parts to the same bus and process there, send different amounts of signal to the same reverb unit and route it back to the bus channel, and there you can add more ambience if you need or some mild compression just to glue different parts, same goes for soft clipping tape emulators and parallel compression
When you're placing the notes just write it as it was one kit only and pay attention to accent, ghost notes and little out of grid elements that brings a humanize feeling onto it
About the track "human nature" i like the athmosphere u have given to it, very good pads and i like the voice too.
I would eliminate that guiro in some parts btw and reinforce the kick and the snare.
About the ohter i don't like the phaser on the whole drums, but maybe just a personal taste
here's an excerpt of a track i'm actually writing, far from being completed, don't mind the shitty bass timbre eheh
Equilizyme
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Posted : Oct 1, 2011 21:10
@A&R: you're getting there man. just keep making more tunes! Compare this to what you can make after you've made about 20 more tracks. you wont believe what you can do!
--
http://soundcloud.com/equilizyme --
Aqua and Red
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Posted : Oct 2, 2011 00:11
Thank you all so much. That last track I did I spiced it up a bit with some synth parts from my Virus B and changed the Wobble Bass from Massive to the Virus B too.
I think the structure of the song needs to be worked on. It needs to "change" more. Like it has break downs and build ups but something is missing.
Let me know what you guys think, I'm definitely willing to work on it.
And thank you all so much again for your help and support. This is what this community is about!
P.S. - PsyGalaxy, thanks for your tips. I'm gonna try that out with the percussion parts. :] Great job on your tracks by the way. When I get home from work I'm gonna give your stuff a listen.
PsyGalaXy
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Posted : Oct 14, 2011 17:29
