In this tip I’m going to be using my favourite softsynth “Sylenth1″ which is one of my favourites for plucks and saws.

So first I’m gonna load up a nice minimoog sound I’ve made earlier with a very deadmau5 feel to it and run a melody though it.

Sylenth1 loaded and ready

It sounds something like this.

quicktipbeforepluck

Sounds nice and warm but lacks punch and here’s how we fix that.

In the MOD ENV 2 block in the bottom left hand corner of the synth, click and hold in the top green box and select “Pitch AB”

Assign a Pitch AB in MOD ENV 2

On the ENV there are 4 options.

Attack
Decay
Sustain
Release

Slide up the Decay just a TINY bit and slide the knob on the left of Pitch AB so it looks something like this.

Envelope Adjustments

You’ll notice it will start to sound a little punch already but to add that extra warmth to the punch, we’re going to add a little compression. You can use any compressor for this but make sure you have the following settings.

Attack: High
Release: Very Low (Almost None)
Ratio: Medium
Gain: Medium

My favourite compressor to use for this kind of job is the Waves SSLComp but works with any compressor!

How I have compressed the sound

Once you’re done, you should finish with a more cleaner punchy sound like this!

quicktipafterpluck

Remember though, don’t overcook the compression folks!

Oh and just to be nice, if you have Sylenth1 I’ve included my preset to get you started!

Download

Good luck and have fun!

With the recent release of Final Cut Pro X, with its innovative “Magnetic Timeline” Realtime Rendering and a new black yet sleek interface, will some of these ideas be passed onto Logic? The main concern with everything is that Final Cut Pro X is completely different and the interface appears to have been dumbed down for the masses. Some people are calling it “iMove Pro”

Apple keeps things pretty on the quiet side with Logic, there hasn’t been any official info about Logic X what so ever, for all we know it could be called something completely different! For now though we’ll stick with Logic X as its the next logical step in release (no pun intended).

Expected Product Changes

• Only available via the Apple App Store
• Single Version (No more Logic Express)
• No Longer bundled (Soundtrack Pro, Waveburner and Compressor will be sold separately)
• Redesigned Interface similar to that of Final Cut Pro X
• Innovative Workflow Improvements
• Multitouch Support
• Logic for iPad App

So with Final Cut Pro making such a dramatic interface change, will Logic get same revamp? We’ll have to see!

Watch this space folks, this post will be updated as more information comes in.

Demo in latin means “remove, to take away”, when I read this i actually had a nice laugh because even it does not have anything to do with music, it has a very suitable word of todays music business. Because most of the demo’s a record label receive, are deleted and deleted very quickly. You see a decent label receives a lot of demos on a daily basis and the quality usually doesn’t keep a very high standard.

Full Quality
This mean you have to send the record label full length track with a quality good enough to judge its quality on a proper sound system. This means no fades in the intro och outro, no mp3 files with a bitrate less than 192 (keep it at 320). Sending a demo without these features will waste the time of the A&R and the label might not be keen on listening to your future tracks.

Write an attractive e-mail
What I mean is that you should contact the recordlabel in a manner that makes you look professional. A label does not need to know how old you are, which your first influences were and your favourite sports team. What you can do is to write previous releases, so forwarding your whole discography can be a good idea. A stabile link with an mp3- or wavefile is preferable and do NOT attach files to the e-mail, this takes a long time for the A&R to receive and can be very annoying. Do NOT attach ten other labels in the CC so the labels you send to can see that over ten other companies having the track in full quality that you want one label to spend their money on and promote. My advice is to just send one label at the time, and if they do not reply, send one more mail (reminder a week later). If you are serious about your production, you wont spam it away.

Choosing label
This one can be hard, but if you know something in the scene, you already know which labels are the most popular ones. The best advice I can give is to send to a label that releases music similar to yours, this is not always a must, but it will help. Don’t send to low quality labels – why? – Are you desperate for a release my friend? Having a release is cool, but getting “signed” lost its meaning years ago. Today there are thousands of labels, and many of them are releasing pure crap. But if 20 labels did not even bother replying to you, maybe there is something wrong with your track.

Getting a reply
“Hello dear promo sender, we like the track you sent. But at the moment our release schedule are full, but please keep sending us demos because we like what you do.”

- This pretty much means your track is not good enough and you are being told in a nice way. However you have something going on, they find some sort of potential in you, so keep producing newer and better tracks, and send them to the same label.

“Hi, cool track, have you sent this to anyone else?”
-this means that the label have some interest in your track, but don’t expect them to sign you before you have the actual contract in your hands.

Sign with one label and one label only!
Congrats, you have just signed your new masterpiece to a good label (hopefully). Unless the label treats you very bad and you are very unhappy with how your release was handled, keep signing your tracks to the same label. But maybe you want to be signed to all the major trance labels out there because it’s cool. Might look cool in your discography but it will most likely be bad for your career. If you keep signing your tracks to the same label, you are being loyal which means that your label want to promote you as an artist helping you get bigger. This is why many serious recordlabels wants you to sign a contract with atleast three options (they own your name for three tracks). This should be done more often and is basically just done by the bigger labels, and for some reason these labels are the most successful ones.

I can sum everything up in one sentence.

”Be careful, plan your music and be loyal.”

1. Cut off the lows

Shelving off low end when not needed.

You’ll be surprised to know that there are so many sounds out there with a ton of low frequencies in them that simply can be cut off. Think of it as this, if you dont want bass from that sound, cut it off! Cutting off the low end of sounds such as percussions and pads, allows the mix to breath.

2. Automate Your EQ

Control your frequencies throughout the track

Automating your EQ is very powerful. Controlling the dynamics and power of your sounds is crucial if you want an overal clean sounding track. There may be parts of the track where you want the low end of your sounds to really pump through such as in a breakdown but when it kicks in at full swing, you’re going to have a ton of other sounds in there so automate the EQ to tone it down.

3. Less Is More

Keep it simple stupid!

Theres a common misconception with that the more sounds you have in there, the phatter it will be, This is simply not the case. Providing the sounds you have in your track have a nice overal level of warmth and depth, you don’t need to layer them senseless. In fact overlaying sounds squeezes the mix more reducing overal sound. See what you can do with what sounds you have and you’ll be surprised with the results.

4. Dip your sounds

Using Xfers LFO tool to dip audio.

Dipping loops and basslines is a great way of controlling them in a mix. It allows sounds to work around each other rather than colliding. You can do this either through sidechain compression or using a simple LFO tool to control it’s volume.

5. Control your FX

Waves rVerb

Controlling your FX is equally as important as controlling your sounds. A good example of this is reverb, overcooking it will start to drown out your mix. It’s worth checking the EQ on your FX, like previously mentioned try cutting out the low end of your reverb.

I hope these tips are of use to you and if you have any more, leave a commentt!

Note: These are in no particular order.

1. Vengeance Collections

Vengeance Sounds

If you’re already familiar with making music, particularly electronic dance music you must of been living under a rock for the past 5 years not to know of these but if you’re new, this is the discovery of the century! Vengeance sounds have been making sample packs and sound banks which has essentially sculpted the sound of electronic music today. They create and supply a range of different packs each catered for different styles of music with sounds consisting of bassline hits, synth hits, Noise & FX, drum loops and percussion. If you need some sounds to get started, pay them a visit!

Website: http://www.vengeance-sound.com
Price Range: $99 per pack (average)

Vengeance Essential House Vol. 3

2. Thomas Penton Complete Essential Series

Thomas Penton Essential Series

Now this is a pack that was a secret little gem of mine, until now! Thomas Penton has crafted some really edgy clean drum loops that suite really well in a variety of genres especially house music. Including tribal, tech and well stereo panned sounds which add alot of depth to your percussion sounds. Definitely one to add to your hard drives!

Website: http://www.loopmasters.com/product/details/426
Price Range: $129 for pack bundle

Thomas Penton Essential Series

3. Freshly Squeezed Samples

Freshly Squeezed Samples

Freshly Squeeze Samples is a company that I only heard about recently. They create and provide sound banks for synthesizers and FX Packs. I recently tried the Essentials soundbank for the popular softsynth, Sylenth1. What they’ve managed to squeeze out the synth is fantastic, with warm sharp sounds of basslines, pads, plucks and FX. You can use their sounds in pretty much any genre, opening more of your creative doors.

Website: http://www.freshlysqueezedsamples.com
Price Range: £20-£50 per sound library.

System Audio 20110713 1838.1

4. MyLoops

MyLoops

One of my favourite packs for pure FX is provided by MyLoops. They make a nice range of different packs for FX, Melodies and Loops. One of the great thing about the myloops bundles is they also supply MIDI with alot of their packs so you can understand the arranngement of the chords and melodies they supply in their packs, thumbs up from me!

Website: http://www.myloops.net/
Price Range: €30 (average) per libary

ultimate_fx_volume_1_demo_myloops.mp3

4. Rise Push Button FX

Rise Push Button Bang FX

This is one of my favourite packs for adding that wow factor of dynamics to your music and DJ sets. One of the great features of this pack is it contains really cool transitional sounds, perfect for edgy fills and buildups. They pan left and right harnessing the full power of stereo audio. Have a listen to the sample and prepare to be amazed!
Website: http://www.loopmasters.com/product/details/401
Price Range: $30

System Audio 20110713 1854

Now what is ‘orchestral breakdown’?

In unlimited combinations of potential instruments producer can use to make a full, developed breakdown, he/she can always try to introduce a twist, something new for listeners to keep their ears busy and occupied. Orchestral breakdown consists of woodwinds (flutes, oboes, English horns, .. ), strings (oriental or western – cellos, violins, violas, basses), brass instruments (tuba, French horns, Trombones,…) or percussive instruments. There is couple of things you should remember when trying to sequence strings or brass instruments in your sequencer so they will sound as close to real orchestra as possible.  Here are some of my tips for you about how to make good breakdown even better.

East West Quantum Leap Pianos

Tip 1: Panning & Possible combinations of instruments

If you are using more than just a solo viola (which “sits” in the middle of spectrum) as your orchestral instrument, you have to visualize an orchestra playing. For those who have never been to opera, here is a small picture of common setup for orchestral instruments.

Orchestral setup

Panning is important for many reasons; first you want your track to sound as ‘full’ as possible. With different instruments playing in different sides you will achieve more complex sound, f.e. try panning cellos slightly to right and violins slightly to left to hear the result.

As a composer you have numerous possibilities how to combine different instruments. Try to remember that human brain can focus on a limited number of melodies, so ‘less is more’ in this case (Try 2 melodies – inner and outer which plays underneath the main one). When sequencing for strings, try to combine those with slow attack and ones with long attack to achieve sense of natural development.  You can always leave strings alone to play your melodies, they are more than capable of it but the best results come with experimentation. Listen to your favorite piece of orchestral music and try to have a keen ear on details. What is the dominant instrument? Do other instruments support it? Remember you are composing dance music, not an orchestral sheet for opera.

Hint: Try using multiple string ensembles (10 cellos, 11 violins,..) and support them with lead solo instruments like French horn, Oboe or even solo cello.

For even more realistic approach, try to study a little bit about range of different instruments so you will know that violins play higher tones than cellos. Some libraries, like East West Quantum Leap already comes with predesigned range for every instrument so you won’t end up with violin playing a bass note, which may sound funny but Nexus factory presets allow that.

Tip 2: Reverb and chain of effects

Depending on what orchestral library you use, you may found necessary to improve your sound with additional effects. Always remember one universal truth – orchestral instruments are recorded ‘dry’, without any reverb on them. A various amount of reverb will make your instruments sound more ‘live’ and also will cover a slight legato slides from one note to another, remember, you always hear big orchestras playing in a hall, or a chamber. Always try to group your instruments into one group and apply same amount of reverb on them (try to go for medium tail, short pre delay and around 40% of wetness should make the job). You usually don’t have to EQ those instruments, because they will already stand out in your mix, EQ only if you are trying to achieve some desirable effect. What you can do is apply a slight low-pass filter to get rid of unwanted frequencies. Try to avoid using artificial plugins like exciters, because they tend to make the sound ‘fat and big’ but they also introduce some unwanted artificial frequencies.

Notice possible effects on orchestral instrument (Delay, reverb, filter ect)

Tip 3: Knowing the right names…

If you will spare a few (meaning a lot) pounds on a good orchestral library like East West Quantum Leap or Symphobia, remember that you are buying a tool to improve your sound, not to make you a true wizard. These VSTs are incredibly complex, offering you almost every possible instrument and all of its phrases. We will cover some of the basics articulations and dynamics you should know when making an orchestral music. I will cover the absolute basics.

• Legato (literally meaning “tied together”) means that notes will be played together, and instruments will slightly ‘slide’ from one note to another, very useful for strings and woodwinds.
• Tremolo adds motion to sound; it’s a technique of playing the same note over and over very quickly (periodic variations in the volume).
• Vibrato also adds motion to sound; it’s sometimes used interchangeably with tremolo. Vibrato is a periodic variation in the pitch (frequency) of a note, not volume.
• Portamento – is a term, which describes sliding between two pitches (mostly in string instruments). Often called glissando for other instruments.
  • Crescendo - growing in volume.
  • · Diminuendo - diminishing in volume. Also known as a decrescendo.
  • Pizzicato is a technique of using a fleshy part of finger to pluck the string rather than bow them.
  • Staccato – notes will be played short and detached (separated from each other)
  • Accent, or Marcato. Accented notes should be emphasized, with more volume and attack.

Tip 4: Use percussion!

You may think that percussion is unnecessary if breakdown is already good. Well, that’s not necessarily truth. Well-sequenced percussion in breakdown is really tricky to produce, but as a result your percussive tracks will support your breakdown and take it the next level. (Hint, use solo drum hits with lots of reverb for anticipation and atmosphere)

Tip 5: Mastering velocity

Velocity is the ultimate key to successfully mastering the subject of orchestral production. Most of the libraries are velocity-sensitive, which means that power of instrument rises with sequenced velocity. For soft, eerie passages use low velocity around 20-40, for intensive breakdown use 100 – 127. Range between 40 and 100 is suitable for buildup passages when you are building anticipation, f.e. with strings and horns.

Notice this piano velocity in climax, before drop (lowering velocity)

Hopefully any of these tips have been any help to you guys, keep up the great work and work on music you love!

– Pizz@dox –

Here I’m going to show you how to get a kick drum out of a dance record to use in any of your productions. I’m going to be using Logic here as it’s what I use but this method can apply to any sequencer as the technique is exactly the same.

First of all try and find out the BPM of the track you wish to sample, it makes it easier to get an equal segement of the kick though you can edit your way out of this if you can’t find it.

We first need to find a part of the track where the kick is most prominent and not interfered by other sounds. For alot of Trance & House records this is right at the start so it can be easily mixed by DJs.

So here’s the start of  track in place, it’s 136BPM and I’ve set my project to the same so the kick is aligned up neatly against the bars.

Start of the track in place with kicks in time.

Audio Clip 1

It sounds like this, and as you can hear there are other sounds such as a bassline, some light percussion and FX.

Slice it up so you only get a single kick drum from the loop.

Single kick

Now we need to add an EQ cut off preferably a single band EQ as we only want to cut the high end from this sample.

If you’re a Logic user to go EQ > Single Band > Low Cut and you’ll be presented with this.

Logic Single Band High Cut EQ

We need to create an automation so as the kick progresses the EQ starts to cut the high end until it finishes. So create an automation that changes the frequency that’s cut.

The aim here is to literally draw the EQ around the waveform so as the kick begins to fade it cuts off the high end leaving just a low subby tail.

Automating the high end out of a kick

It will require some fiddling around to get it perfect but you’ll get there. The time it takes to do so usually depends on the sample you’re using. In this case it literally took me 4-5 minutes.

Once you’ll happy that you have a clean kick make sure you bounce it down in real-time to maintain automation accuracy and you’ll end up with something like this!

Freshly sampled kick ready to use!

final_kick

And that’s it, you have a fresh kick to use in any of your tracks. You can even be a little more creative and take the snap at the start of one kick and merge it with the body and tail of another kick making it sound real phat! Do remember when sampling from records that the kick has already been processed for that record which will include mastering and possibly some compression so leave it as it is in your track and just turn the volume up!

Enjoy!

I started a track a few days ago and it’s almost finished. The thing with me is that I take ages to finish a track, and it doesn’t have to be that way! Tracks do need attention and care to make them good enough, there is nothing to rush!

Solution: What I did was after making the start of the track was to arrange the full track. Mainpart and breaks where nowehere to be seen, but still I started making the intro, outro, build up with drums and basslines aswell as builddown. When I did this a lot of stress was put aside, the track was actually going somewhere without me putting down that awesome break or mainpart before I could do anything else.
Arranging the full track quickly does not only make the completion of the track seem closer than ever ( we do need to make intro build ups and outro builddowns don’t we? Or maybe you are producing hiphop or polka? No worries you can probably get something out of this article aswell!)
Not only does it reduce the stress, but it also makes you see the track from a different angle, you see the full track in the early stages and this will help u get ideas for breakdowns and other events. It will make your mind produce ideas that it would not have done before. Maybe you could picture the breakdown before, but actually to see where it should be gives it another dimension. Start building the track, by placing out the bass, synths or whatever u’ve done so far in the places they should be. Once u start working like that on the track without having all important pieces down right away, they will come to you during the process of shaping up the track.

To some of you this article might not have helped u a lot, but i know that some, or a few, including me are blessed with this tip! So once you got down the basics of the track, start working and shape the full track and stay busy, it will help tracks that seem far away from being finished, closer to be finished than ever.

So what are you waiting for, go and sequence!

By Bjorn Akesson

When I saw this I literally drawled.. When I was using PC for making music a few years ago I used this synth extensively. When I switched over to Mac I wasn’t able to use it as it was only available for PC. Lets hope an AU version of this synth will be available. It’s a seriously phat synth with a really warm analogue feel to it.

Quote here from cakewalk.

Later in July, Z3TA+ customers will be in for a special treat as we release the long-awaited Z3TA+ 2. With a redesigned user interface, deeper editing controls, new effects, and superior sound quality, Z3TA+ 2 builds on the legendary reputation of its predecessor. Of course Z3TA+ 2 would not be complete without a new collection of sounds so we retained many of the same sound designers of the original Z3TA+ to create exciting new programs that are sure to spark your creativity. If you already own Z3TA+, then the upgrade to Z3TA+ 2 is a must-have and will be available for a special price. Z3TA+ 1.5 is included with SONAR X1 Studio and Producer and those customers will also be eligible for this special upgrade pricing.

 

Check out the promotional video here!

All music today is created on a computer, whether is film music, band music, dance music and so forth. Even if the sound comes from an acoustic instrument, it’s recorded into a computer and processed for the final track. All you literally need to make music is a computer and a pair of ears which we all have don’t we?

So why do we see these big fancy studios full of racks of gear? Well that’s literally because of the producers personal preference to the way he or she works, some people like hardware some people like software. Theres a common thought that the more expensive gear you have, the better your sound and music will be, this is simply not the case! It’s about the chief, not the kitchen.

The first thing you’ll be looking to get for your computer is software to write and produce your music. These are generally referred to as DAW software which means Desktop Audio Workstation. There are various pieces of software out there that you can use to make your music and they all pretty much allow you to do the same thing with just their own ways of doing it. There really is no better or worse when it comes to which piece of software you use, it all comes down to personal preference. I’m going to cover some of the most popular pieces of software here.

DAW Applications

FL Studio (Fruity Loops)

FL Studio Production Suite

Operating System: Windows
Cost: $299 (Signature Bundle with all plugins)
Developer: Image-Line

FL Studio is an application that’s been around for 10 years or so. Over the decade its developed enormously from a simple beat maker to a full production suite really allowing you to explode your creativity. It comes with a huge bundle of well designed and thought of plugins including compressors, EQ, Vocoders and Samplers. It’s also one of the most friendly production suites for new users so it definitely get’s a high recommendation from me if you’re starting out. Various well know producers use this such as Deadmau5, Arty and Avicii and one of the greatest things about FL studio is you get free lifetime updates!

Logic

Apple Logic Studio

Operating System: Mac OSX
Cost: $499
Developer: Apple

Logic is one of the industry standard pieces of production software thats used extensively by studios and producers across the globe. It’s been around since the 90s and was bought by Apple in 2002 making it only available for Mac users. Like FL studio it comes with a huge range of well designed plugins ranging from FX to Synthesizers making it a great out of the box application. Also being an Apple piece of software it has a really nice thought out interface making it a breeze to work with. It includes a whopping 50GBs worth of loops so you can get started right away and it has a a load of great keyboard shortcuts that once learnt, allows you to work real quick!

Cubase

Steinberg Cubase Editing Suite

Operating System: Mac OSX & Windows
Cost: $499
Developer: Steinberg

Like Logic, Cubase is another very powerful piece of software. Available for both PC and Mac, Cubase comes with a great range of plugins and powerful audio editing features making it popular amongst Drum & Bass and Dubstep producers. Like Logic and FL it also includes a wide range of plugins including a built-in vocal tuner making it great for vocal editing.

Ableton Live

Ableton Live Suite

Operating System: Mac OSX & Windows
Cost: $449
Developer: Ableton

Ableton is a great piece of software thats not just great for making music but for making DJ sets and edits. One of its key features is that its able to detect the BPM of any audio and warp it to any BPM you wish either by its clever time-streching or re-pitching making it very popular for compiling mixes and radio shows. That being said it’s a fully packed production application allowing you to create great music and comes with some really easy to use out of the box plugins.

Well so far I’ve covered the various range of software you can use to make music. I highly recommend you try each one via the demos available on their websites and see which one you like the feel of. It’s best to choose one from the outset and learn it inside out rather than changing or trying others all the time, they all pretty much do the same thing and remember like previously mentioned, it’s about the chief not the kitchen.

Plugins

Plugins are pieces of software that attach onto your DAW and they usually consist of FX or Instruments. Most DAWs usually include a great bunch of plugins for you to work with but there are tons of third-party ones that allow you to create some amazing sounds. I highly recommend you read my article covering the different software synthesizer plugins and you’ll understand why.

http://www.producercafe.com/synthmania-5-must-have-softsynths/

Monitors

Yamaha NS-10 Studio Monitors

While these are not required to make music I do strongly recommend looking into investing a pair of them. Monitors are generally the name for the speakers you use in your studio setup. Semi/Professional studio monitors can range from $300-$10,000 a pair depending on what you need them for. For starting out I recommend getting a pair around $500 and getting used to them, different brands and models of monitors sound different so it’s important you adapt to them and understand the sound that comes from them in comparison to other systems such as a club or a car stereo. The main importance of purchasing a pair of monitors is that they produce an accurate representation of the sound that goes though them. For example a standard pair of hi-fi speakers would be useless because they are generally designed to have things such as bass boosters which would be no good because your track will sound bassier than it actually is.

Our users will be covering various reviews on different makes and models and monitors so watch this space.

Conclusion

I hope this has given you a basic insight to how music is created and how you can go on to produce your own music. We have various articles and tutorials across the website which covers more ind-epth tasks on producing certain sounds and styles of music so keep watching and browse around. If you have any questions, post on our forums and the community will surely help you out.

Ciao!