If you're not familiar with Ableton Live 11's new tool, Spectral Resonator, here's a look at its feature that's become a favorite of mine: how to harmonize any track based on incoming midi notes.
In this video, I'm making the acid line and drums of my house track "sing along" musically based on some chord notes – and the same can be done to any track.
In a session with a student yesterday, I showed him a rack I always use for trying out different plugins that introduce analog saturation – i.e., plugins that react to the input level and add some pleasant harmonics to the sound.
I absolutely love trying out those types of plugs, and saturation has always been a big part of "my sound".
The one thing that often annoys me about plugins l...
In the series of me slamming you with song stems, here we go with stems for a jungle tune called Crusty-Ass DS165 (peep the link to hear the song).
It was a one-off Bandcamp single release.
Done with an Akai s3200XL sampler, run hot into a Soundcraft desk, the sound I...
Oi friends!
I'd love to hear about YOU.
Let me know how you are doing musically, what type of music stuff you make (feel free to post links), what your musical aspirations are like, what's the biggest challenge for you in music, etc…make yourself known here!
I'm trying to pick my next video from a long list of topics…there's sure something to do, so just wa...
Alright, friends!
Earlier this month I promised to do a video on how to set up a mastering project in your DAW.
So here it is!
It's an exclusive video for Patrons only, not a protected file (don't even know how to do that!) so PLEASE DO NOT SHARE THE LINK BUT do tell a friend.
Hi guys.
As a mixing and mastering engineer, I'm often asked about good reference songs, and here, I'm listing some good ones.
I'll keep this post short yet informative, because this month I'll be doing two exclusive videos for you:
1) how to reference efficiently and
2) how to set up your own mastering project in your DAW.
I don't want to cram all the inf...
2021-04-07 19:16:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Yo friends!
I have a new remix out on a new label called Make Or Break.
It's tracks 3 and 4 on this EP.
The label owns the song, so I won't share that, but let me share the drums from my remixes.
Basically track 3 is the main one, and track 4 is an alternative version where the intr...
It’s my 41st birthday today, so here’s 41 tips and thoughts from a 41-year-old.
I wanted to do a list of thoughts and tips, looking back at what I’ve done and what I do – some successes and failures (i.e., things you learn from).
My expertise on all things music and audio is, luckily enough, my living, and sometimes it’s interesting to have an introspective l...
Alright fam!
Another exclusive video, showing you how you can:
1) Create a beat whose elements vary in terms of level automatically and also in terms of probability, so as the end result, not all notes play every time, and when they do, their level varies, so even by doing a short loop you can create a beat that keeps changing.
2) Randomize sa...
2021-03-05 10:22:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Alrighty! Let's get the mixing month on.
In this video, I'm showing you how you can compress your drums for added punch using any standard compressor out there. Let me know how it goes!
(Embedding a Dropbox video doesn't seem to work, so DOWNLOAD from a direct link to my...
The single most helpful tip I'd give my younger self in terms of mixing, if I could, would be that not all sounds have to play at the same level thru the whole song. My style, esp. in DNB, has often been very "full" – often closer to a "busy a wall of noise" thing rather than minimal. I was always trying to make everything fit, and I never thought of level automation earlier ...
2021-02-27 08:11:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Ableton Live 11 allows for 16 macros.
Here's an EQ 8 rack I wanted to share. Basically it has controls for low, mids, and highs, as well as HP and LP filter controls and master gain.
The pic shows them:
• frequency controls, gain controls, and on/off controls for lows, mids, and highs
• overall gain control (-+ 5 dB)
• HP and LP filters (off by default, but tur...
2021-02-22 12:28:10 +0000 UTC View Post
(I wrote this in response to a thread on Reddit about how a producer was feeling jealous towards some of his friends who are now enjoying decent success while they haven't been in the game as long. Thought I'd share! This is a public post, so feel free to share this.)
People's lives go different paths, and things happen at different times. One cannot and shouldn't compare the tim...
2021-02-19 09:59:30 +0000 UTC View Post
Yo, happy Valentine's and stuff!
Without any further ado and foreplay (lol), let's get down to business 😏
Here's downloads for ya'll:
1) Drums of the new FatGyver album that came out Feb 12 – download here (24-bit wav) 2021-02-14 10:17:03 +0000 UTC View Post
I have a long list of these, so I thought I'd start a new "series" and keep dropping these frequently.
Not necessarily in the order of importance, but important stuff all the same.
Tip #1: never listen to an unfinished song just for fun – you'll get bored of it, and that boredom can be a killer when it comes to productivity.
When I was younger, I often pu...
You know the classic shaker (tambourine) part in the very classic Think break by Lyn Collins? It can give your mix a lot of great energy. You're hard-pressed to find one that's equally good.
However, some years ago, I found one and have been using it a lot since. Its high freqs are even better.
Funny or not, last night when I went to bed, I thought, I might let my dear Patrons have ...
2021-02-07 12:16:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Lemme show you how to have your sinewave bass CUT thru the mix!
Some producers that I mix for use simple sinewaves, and it's my job to make it more audible.
This is how! And add a tracking EQ to the mix, and you're golden. You'll keep the soft vibe but add a bit of the stuff that helps the bass to be heard from small speakers.
2021-02-01 14:24:35 +0000 UTC View Post…the drumloops of my forthcoming instrumental hip hop EP.
It drops on Feb 12, and a few days after that, I'll put 10 drumloops up for all download tiers (all tiers but the lowest one).
So, hold tight!
2021-01-28 14:52:59 +0000 UTC View Post
As we know, there’s more people than ever making music out there, and lots of them have some sort of artistic aspirations. By that, I mean actually putting the music out there (and possibly even charging money for it): after all, is art even art unless it’s being experienced by some?
It’s a bit of a jungle out there, with so many options, and it sure can feel overwhelming even think...
2021-01-22 15:08:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Oi friends!
Here's the video on how to do this.
I've been wanting to make that classic angry Reese bass for a while, but I've wanted to do something that's not exactly like all other Reeses – I want a bit of an edge to it with some chances for nice tonal variation.
Hi friends.
Here is a video about a Metalheadz song of mine, “Baretta”.
It was the first song of mine that Goldie picked. It came out on my Black Label EP on Metalheadz Platinum.
I’m running you through the song in Ableton Live, showing the sounds I used, talking about the song sections, sound choices, song structure choices, what makes a good Headz tune in my opinion, h...
2021-01-08 13:52:24 +0000 UTC View PostTime to see how it’s gone Patreon-wise this year (if you only want to see what's lined up for my Patreon, scroll down halfway).
In a nutshell: I've managed to put out quite a lot of content this year: videos, tips, sample downloads, etc. and at least personally I'm quite happy with that.
And I want to chew on Patreonism a bit and look into the horizon.
It’ll be a lengthy pos...
2020-12-31 09:04:30 +0000 UTC View Post
Wanted to share this quickie – I know it may obvious to some, but I didn't think of this until quite late in my productions.
1) Group the devices on the track (this creates a "rack")
2) Automate the rack to be on only when it's being used.
I do this heavily (sorry for the ironic pun!) these days, and as I use lots of different instruments and plugins in a ...
Wanted to see if you agree and if you've been feeling this during your holidays. I took all Dec off work to wrap up music stuff; been nicely able to reconnect with my creative self.
One old truth relating to creativity: the more you work, the more restricted your creativity will be.
Creativity truly benefits from a free mind.
This is not to say that w...
2020-12-29 14:41:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Let's take a look at Ableton Live 11's take lanes feature!
2020-12-19 10:58:12 +0000 UTC View Post
OK guys, something to KICK off the weekend (pun very much intended). Was mixing a song of mine, pulled this old trick out of the bag and happened to think, "Have I ever shared this method with my Patreon kru?" and I realized, no, I have not, so here we go!
This will work. And most of us have the tools needed for this.
This is an old, tried and tested method, afaik b...
2020-12-11 14:53:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Just wanted to let you know!
"Open plugin window" is mappable on Live 11.
E.g., I can now open the GUI of SPAN, which I use a lot, to a key. And another click closes it.
So useful.
This is actually a bit of a biggie to me, as I want to check SPAN often and close it conveniently.
Gotta love Live!
Topic says it all.
I'm making this a public post, so anyone can join.
I'm totally feeling festive on my holidays, and will be glad to answer some Qs relating to what I do: making music, mixing it, samples, sounds, mastering…nerdery!
May be slightly slow as I'll be sipping on my holiday brewskis 24/7 but will try to reply all Qs – unless they're huuuuge like "How to make go...
2020-12-09 18:01:15 +0000 UTC View Post
The level of sub bass is something I'm often asked about.
While I seldom teach numbers, this time I'll do, as this is easy and useful.
I'm using the free SPAN analyzer by Voxengo a lot, here as well.
See the pic above.
On top left, you'll see the frequency, determined by the horizontal location of ...
MOAR BASS! You remember, I said recently I'd give you some basses in December, right?
Well, here you go! Some goodies from my personal collection. Some of these I've used quite a bit! These are definitely quite "Fanu-style".
All except one are "one-shots"; there's one that's long where I was playing with some bass synth, trying to get different tones out of it.
<...