May 2016 - Pheek's Mixdown and Mastering

Wisdom From Experienced Producers

May 29, 2016/in Blog/by pheek

So you’ve decided to make music, bought the minimum to get going, and started to learn. But now you have this internal voice that keeps popping up, telling you that you’ll soon need to look for a label to get signed. No matter what you do, that little voice just keeps coming back. One of the reasons you welcome it and listen to it is because it opens the door to the dream of a release.

Well, not so fast. Before making music seriously or getting signed comes a very important step, which is to spend time with established producers. We admire artists who make music we love, and we want to meet them to see how they are in real life.

Just by listening to their music, we often get the feeling of knowing and understanding them, and even of connecting with them on a deeper level than with close peers.

But above all, we can also learn a lot from them, no matter what stage of your career you’re at.

So how do you approach an artist?

Volunteer for events or labels. This is a great way to encourage encounters. It’s hard to be around tons of people, so by volunteering, you get to help your community, support something that’s important to you, and meet experienced producers, all at once. Plus it’s a lot of fun.

Befriend them. Artists love company in general, but are sometimes socially awkward. Being warm and friendly to someone really is a good starting point. I’m saying this because sometimes people approach artists in the most bizarre way, as if trying to impress them or something.

Avoid being starstruck. It’s hard not to be impressed by someone you admire, but if you feel intimidated, try to focus on asking questions, and then enjoy the moment just listening. The important thing to realize is that some heroes you meet won’t actually fit who you are (any more than when you meet random people), so it’s nice to first see who you’re dealing with.

It’s not to brag, but for me, being involved at MUTEK was a great example of this. Aside from performing, I also got to drive artists around as a volunteer, which is how I made some really remarkable encounters. Some of the discussions we had were so interesting and enriching that they had a lasting influence on my career. Like I explained before, meeting Richie Hawtin was a very positive experience for me, and we got to talk a lot about career choices. But one of the most influential people I met was without a doubt Ricardo Villalobos.

While I don’t necessarily approve of his lifestyle, it always breaks my heart when I read some trashy comments about it, because hanging out with him gave me the privilege of discovering a truly unique and sensitive soul. The first time I met him was at MUTEK 2002, where I had the chance to drive him to his gig. I went to his hotel room to find him running around getting ready, clothes everywhere. Imagine this 6′ 6″ giant, a total goofball, chuckling like a kid as he tried to find all his cables and personal things. It was the first meeting of many to follow. Whenever he would see me, he would remember our hilarious time hanging out. One time I caught him on the street while he was shopping, and we spent an afternoon discussing life, music, careers, creativity, and the philosophies behind our common passion.

I’d like to share with you some of his thoughts that have stayed with me to this day. Often, I pass them on to others when I teach or coach.

“Music should be effortless.” As in, you should aim to achieve a state of flow while performing or producing.

“Events are about being with friends, tracks are messages being exchanged.” Rich has a very personal view about music, and for him, each track he plays has a story. Learn it before playing it.

“Be different, be personal, be bold and subtle, all at once.”

“Take the time to listen. To music, to people, to situations.” If you have ever seen him play in front of a crowd, it’s quite something to see him read it and control it.

So before dealing with labels, try getting involved in the community and meeting people you love. And whether it’s a Hawtin, a Villalobos, or just an experienced local you admire, you’ll find a good dose of inspiration, knowledge, and wisdom — and if you’re lucky, a new friend.

SEE ALSO: Creating Timeless Music

Conversations with Clients: Luis Rivera

May 19, 2016/in Blog, Mastering, Production, Products, Song Finalizing and Arrangements/by pheek

In Conversations with Clients, we bring you an honest and unfiltered look at Pheek’s services, straight from the mouths of those who know — and want you to know too! For this second piece in our series, I spoke with Luis Rivera (artist name LRb), a minimal techno producer based in Puebla, Mexico.

♦ ♦ ♦

Hi Luis, thanks for taking the time to chat with us! To start off, why don’t you tell us how long you’ve been producing music for?

Well electronic music I’ve been producing in Ableton for 5 years now, but I started making songs with my sister when I was very young. I played the guitar and my sister sang and we used to record it on an old tape recorder my dad has. So I’ve been making songs and music all my life, but producing electronic music for 5 years.

Now tell me a bit about your projects. Do you have any releases yet or are you working on that?

No, actually I’m working with Pheek because we want to release an EP. That’s the idea behind me using his services, the song finalization and analog mastering services. There’s an app, a KORG app, and I started making songs with it, and I won a contest they had 4 years ago, which led to a release on a compilation of tracks. But I’m working right now on my first EP.

When did you realize that you wanted help with your EP?

Well the thing is, if you start making one kind of music, in my case it’s techno minimal, you tend to repeat the same things. Like in your workflow, you always start, in my case, with drum groove, and even with the drum groove, you always start with a perfect kick, then some hi-hats, then some claps, and you start doing things methodically. You can hear your tracks, and you think they’re all different, but if you leave them for 2 or 3 days and you hear them again, you’re like, “This sounds exactly the same as the track I made a month ago.” So to try to do things differently, you need help, somebody from the outside, an educated ear. I realized that I had 10 tracks that were pretty good for me, I had stuff that I really liked, but – I didn’t know if it needed polishing or what – but I didn’t want to leave the songs as they were. I thought I could improve them. So that was the point where I knew I needed help, but you need help that is very specialized in this type of music.

How long have you been working on the tracks that you’ll be releasing?

There are tracks that I’ve made in the past 2 to 3 years. When I started talking with Pheek, he suggested one thing. He told me, “You know, you should get those tracks out of the closet and listen to them again, with all the knowledge you have right now, with everything you’ve learned through the years, you’re gonna listen to them differently. Maybe you can combine your current drums or groove with a bass you really like from a song you did 3 years ago.” So I did exactly that, I spent 2 to 3 weeks listening to tracks I remember I liked – you don’t remember anything though, you don’t even remember making the track!

We’re looking right now at 8 tracks – the idea is to release 4 – but 80% of these are tracks that I did 3 years ago, and we’re reinventing and smashing things up, et cetera.

How did you find out about Pheek’s services?

I am really a fan of his music. I had an album that was released by Minus and I really liked the tracks. Actually, they were very inspiring for me at the beginning of my work in electronic music, because I was more oriented towards dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass, and then eventually I started listening to house and techno music – I mean, I loved techno from when I was very little – but there was a track from Pheek on the record, and I started following him on Soundcloud and Facebook. I saw that he posted about his services, so I checked them out on his website, and I just sent him an email. It was super fast and easy. So it was very easy for me to establish contact with him.

Had you ever heard of song finalization services before or was this something new to you?

No, it was something completely new for me. And it was very attractive, but also very scary for me at the beginning. It was very attractive, because I thought I have an opportunity to have an artist, a real artist, whose music I really like, in the same genre I produce – and he has so many years of experience, et cetera, et cetera – so I thought it would be very, very productive for me to have someone like him hear my songs. But at the same time I was very scared, because I still want the songs to be my songs. I don’t want them to be completely changed or anything like that.

And what led you to decide in the end to book him?

Well you know, I simply said “okay, let’s try it.” I talked to Pheek two times before I sent him tracks. We were very clear on the idea I had for the EP, we talked about the general idea, the theme behind the EP. And then I just sent him the track, and he works very fast. Two or three days after he sent me his version, his arrangements, and I immediately loved them.

So it has been a very productive and very easy working relationship. I like to say to him – he laughs, but I like to tell him, “I’m not your client, I’m your friend, and let’s do this like we’re friends.” And it has been flow, flow, flow from there.

What was the thing that struck you the most about working with Pheek, was there anything that surprised you?

Well first of all, he’s always available. You would imagine that a person with his record label, with his mastering work – he does a lot of mastering for a lot of producers – you’re gonna think, “well he has a very busy agenda.” But he’s always available. That was the first thing that really connected with me, that I know I can ask him for advice on many other subjects, not just, “Okay, what arrangement did you do on this or that track?” I can ask him, “What are you listening to right now?” and stuff like that.

And second, definitely the arrangements, the things he sends back to me, they’re things you can only do with experience, with all those years you have working in the studio, mastering, hearing music. All those little things, in the end, they make a huge difference on your tracks. Like for example, I had a song that was driven with very dark synths, it has a very heavy bass, but I didn’t know where to put the percussions. I sent it to him, and 3 days later he sent me a song with just a ride on the percussion, just a cymbal, and it was amazing. He did 2 or 3 things there that were amazing, that completely changed the vibe of the song, and I really liked it. You know, those kinds of things, only a person with experience can really give you.

So in the longer term, what do you think you’ve gained from this experience of working with Pheek? What has it brought to your music production in a lasting way?

Oh a lot of stuff, it’s definitely a lot. Well actually, first, I hope I can continue working with him. He’s very active in other things too. Like right now we’re preparing the EP – we have some labels in mind – but the idea is to make this kind of big. He offers you help in that aspect too. So first of all I don’t wan’t this to be a one-time experience, I am definitely going to continue working with him. The mastering he does – his studio is filled with analog stuff, I produce mainly with analog instruments, and the sound is amazing when he sends back the songs.

But you know, those little pieces of advice, the way he sees things musically speaking, you learn a lot, you learn very very much, in very short conversations, and you can soak up all the knowledge he gives you. It’s like a graduate course!

Check out Luis Rivera (LRb) on Soundcloud here.

—

This interview has been edited.

Learn Mixing At MUTEK’s Panel Workshop

May 16, 2016/in Blog, Mixing, Production, Tips/by pheek

Learn more about the workshop here!

I’ve been asked by MUTEK to present a workshop on how to prepare tracks for mastering. This means, in technical terms, how to get the most out of your mixdown session. For many people, the whole music production process seems like a crazy, disorganized back-and-forth of constant tweaking, with the help of a lot of coffee. But if you look at the most common modus operandi, the stages actually go like this:

Sound design/recording. This is where you either create new sounds or select the existing ones that you’ll be using in your next song.
Production. Once you have all the sounds, you try to decide your hook. This stage involves deciding the structure and working on the arrangements.
Mixing. Once your song is canned, you mix the component parts so you get the best sound possible.
Pre-mastering. Shining and polishing. Adjusting so it sounds best, everywhere.
Mastering. Preparing the master copy for duplication.

Applying a methodology to your music production can provide many benefits. Many artists embrace the chaos of going back and forth between the stages, or working without a plan. This is fine if you think it’s the best way for you to remain creative. But if you want the best out of your sound quality, it might be a good idea to adopt a more ordered approach.

Why?

One of the most important reasons is that if you juggle between these stages, you will lose focus. The mixdown will be done best if you have everything set up first. If you have to keep changing elements around as you go, you’ll be forced to reconsider EQ and volume levels also to make sure that everything fits. Think of it as building with Lego blocks: if you move one brick in the middle of a wall that’s already built, you’ll need to readjust a lot of things around it to compensate.

So while there’s no hard rule on the order of the stages, and one can hop between them to fix certain problems, there is another major issue to consider. If you spent countless hours on arrangements, your ears might be bored to death when it’s time to mix it, and you’ll lose what really matters. This is why mixing is increasingly seen as a stage you might want to leave to someone else — not because you can’t do it, but because you want a fresh perspective.

If you decide to do it yourself though, you want your song’s idea to be sewn up so that only the sound needs tweaking. And ideally, once you have everything set, you might want to take a few days off and then attack the mixing.

For the MUTEK panel, I’ll be sharing some great tips on:

How to approach production generally.
How to work with a reference.
How to do great mixdowns.

I will be using some of the participants’ projects as an example.

You can register here.

Music Production And Studio Tips

May 9, 2016/in Blog, Production, Tips/by pheek

When I talk to music producers, both newcomers and more experienced ones, I realize that many of them could use some tips on improving their production workflow. I’m talking about the little things in life that aren’t necessarily computer related, but that can make a big difference in how effective you are with your studio time.

Most of these tips are based on the trials and many errors of my own experience, and on what I’ve learned by applying them every day.

When it doesn’t feel right, stop. Do you ever get to that moment when you finally have the time and space to make music (sometimes life is a hustle!), but after a few minutes, you realize that it sounds terrible? The weird thing is how in your last session, that same loop or track felt amazing, right? Well, there are a few things you can do here, but before you delete anything, try this:

Stop working on the project and start something new. If it doesn’t feel right anymore, it could need to sleep for a bit to be heard again later in a whole new moment of your life.
Take a 10 minute pause and listen to something else.
Consider: can you say what’s wrong with it? If it’s just a physical sensation more than something logical, then the problem is you. Yeah, you read that right. It’s important to do something else instead of trying to force it out. Smoke a ciggie, make yourself comfortable in any way you want, or just move on to another project. If the blockage persists, then try working on simple sound design with a new synth you haven’t explored yet.

Calibrate your ears. People really underestimate the importance of this one. It usually implies a fair degree of time spent setting your monitor’s volume at roughly 80 dB (there are smartphone apps that can measure this for you), then listening to music that you love and that you know sounds right. If you can listen for a minimum of 15 minutes, your ears will develop reference points of optimal sound levels.

Take pauses, often. I’ll never say it enough, but working a long, extended session is one of the least productive ways to work. You’ll lose your references, as well as your ability to evaluate your own work. Taking a pause is not only important to give your ears a break. When you start up again, you’ll have a fresher perspective on what’s working and what’s not.

Space out your sessions. I usually avoid making music (i.e., working on my own material) two days in a row. I space out my sessions by a few days and I try not to work on the same song more than once a week. This is why I’m always working on multiple projects in parallel. I’ll jump from one to the other, so that I’ll forget what I was doing with the first. Then when I open it up again, I might have a whole new perspective on where it needs to go.

Shorten your sessions. I often hear people say, “I worked on this track for 5 hours last night, and I don’t know why, but I feel like it’s just not working at all.” Indeed it’s not. Try not to spend more than one hour a day on a song. When you know your time is limited, every minute will feel extremely important, and your mind will pump more quality into the effort. By speeding up and working in short bursts, you’ll eventually get faster at what you do and your flow will be more effective.

Grasp the big picture before digging into the details. I highly recommend that you don’t start working on a song from the beginning. Find the main idea first, which is more or less the middle of your song, and then from there, unfold it to the beginning and extend it to the end. Making sure you have a broader view of your work before delving into the details is a good way to scope out the storytelling and back bone. This will help you identify the critical moments of your track, so that you can then work in the transitions, changes and so.

Listen at different volume levels. I encourage you to listen to your song at a very low volume, then high, and then vary it to a sweet spot somewhere in the middle. People don’t always listen to music at high volumes, so it’s good to know what the experience is at lower volumes too. This will also help you notice some things that need fixing in your mix.

Listen from different points in the studio. Get up and listen from far back, or move around the studio while listening. If you can, try listening from another room. I also use a wireless headset and will pace around the room while listening to a loop. I’m so used to just sitting there glued to my computer that this has a very strange effect on me. You’d be surprised how simply walking can open up a different perspective on a song.

Drink water. This one seems off, but trust me, keeping your hydration level optimal really helps with your focus.

Wisdom From Experienced Producers

Conversations with Clients: Luis Rivera

Learn Mixing At MUTEK’s Panel Workshop

Music Production And Studio Tips

About

Pheek’s
Coaching Corner

Stay Connected

About

Pheek’s Coaching Corner

Stay Connected

Pheek’s
Coaching Corner