Blog Archives - Page 9 of 15 - Pheek's Mixdown and Mastering

Finding a record label: is it worth it anymore?

January 25, 2019/in Blog/by pheek

Over the last 6 months, in talking with many people I work with and based on my own personal experience, I’m starting to notice that many of us (us, being musicians) feel that we haven’t “made it” if we haven’t signed something to a label. 20 years ago this may have been accurate, but nowadays, this idea seems totally debatable. Finding a record label to work with isn’t what it used to be.

How can signing with a label benefit you? A label can:

Give you access to online stores and sell your music, as well as manage sales and accounting.
Get you in touch with a network.
Give you credibility with other musicians and labels.

Yes, I know, these are pretty important benefits. However, if you’re constantly chasing after labels to get signed, it is not worth it. If your music has been turned down by multiple labels, maybe your song is not “ripe” enough to be out. Maybe it sounds outdated or too different from market trends. Perhaps it needs a better mix. If you keep pushing it, maybe it will sell eventually but perhaps the numbers will be so low that it makes releasing it questionable. I’ve released with little labels before and some songs sold for less than 20 copies. In these cases, I feel like I should have just given the track to friends instead.

The same goes for my own label. With some releases I’m blown away by how amazing they sound, and how innovative and beautiful they are, but despite the time spent on promotion and networking (or even using a PR company), these releases sold 20 copies as well. Why? Well, it’s mostly because the market is already saturated with music and people’s attention is constantly in demand. Gems get lost. I like to compare music to people who paint. It’s not because one paints a great canvas that means it will automatically sell.

We have a promotion list of about 200 people – including media and DJs – and even from this list in which we give them the music for free and push out multiple reminders, we barely get 15 downloads (sometimes 25 when there’s a spike of interest). That’s less than what we’ll sell. Sales will decline too if a release got promoted intensely, which is strange. It’s a pretty discouraging thing to try to promote music and not get any reactions at all. It’s a common thing that many, many musicians do, almost daily, and to see only a few reactions to their work can make them feel that perhaps their music has something wrong with it. But there isn’t anything wrong with it, it’s just not targeted properly

Ok, so if finding a record label isn’t the way to go, then what is?

Reduce your promotion efforts and target people that might be interested in the music directly instead. If you have to push so hard to get people’s attention and you’re putting yourself in a “begging” position, why not just keep your work for the people who actually might want it? I don’t think it’s healthy for anyone to fight to be seen or heard. In the long run, it makes people jaded and resentful.

What about giving the release away for free on Soundcloud? Many people do this and I think it might do more good than harm, if you don’t do it too often. If you start putting your quality tracks out there, some people will add them to their playlists. TIP: use tags to make sure your music gets noticed and check out my post on how to get feedback. Soundcloud now has a way for DJs to use tracks on the site for DJing.

Put your release on Youtube and make a little video. I did a survey not long ago and I was impressed by how so many people use YouTube to listen to music. You could also use services to get on Spotify and you can easily put your music on Bandcamp.

The main thing you want to do is to be everywhere. No reactions? It doesn’t matter, keep doing it. Keep some gems secret for when a label will come to you to sign you, if you feel like that might happen. Don’t insist on getting traction. Focus on those who care.

Social endorsement is the best promotion tool you can get. When people like what you do, they do the promotion for you. I’ll use Villalobos as an example here. He makes so much music compared to what he simply releases. He has a strong John Cage influence, but I’m not sure if he knows it. Basically, Cage suggested spending a lot of time in the studio and to always try new things, to have “barely controllable chaos” and to record it all. Ricardo has over 5,000 songs and plays some in clubs when he feels like it. Many tracks leak to friends and are relayed online among fans. But those fans really care about the music and cherish it.

Perhaps its time to keep the music we love to ourselves? By this I mean keeping it for the people who reach out, who want to listen. I’m personally fed up of trying to “get attention” or convince people that music I make is worth listening to. This is what I’m doing now. I’m giving some tracks to people I know who ask for them or who I know care. I feel very excited that 20 people really listen to my music compared with trying to reach to the whole world. Maybe making music hard to find again and keeping it mysterious is the way to go.

But then again, that’s just me.

Avoid setting music goals and work on your system instead

January 18, 2019/in Blog/by pheek

Early each year, I hear about people setting music goals. We tend to see the action of setting goals as something that keeps us driving towards a precise destination. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I’ve done goal-setting for years, but I realize now that years where I was the most efficient in making things happen were the ones where no goals were set.

Let me compare my idea to the “get to the gym and get in shape” new year’s goal that people most typically set. In that case, the process is simple, linear, and tasks oriented: you get to the gym, follow instructions, keep track and try to maintain the willpower to go on a regular basis. Most will agree that the most difficult part is to keep up the motivation to go and holding yourself responsible for going.

Is this goal easy? Depends on the person; for some it is, others it’s not. Can we agree that it will work if you develop a method to achieve it? This could mean that you always go to the gym at the same time, that you make sure the gym is not too far, that you can create a routine around it…etc. This is a system and once you have one that is effective, then hardest part of going to the gym is already taken care of (well, almost).

For the music producer, some goals I often hear about:

To have more more gigs: This isn’t effective mostly because there is no mention of what “more gigs” implies; you might be setting yourself up for failure here. Because if you say “well, once every 2 weeks”, then perhaps you’ll gig a lot and then have a month with nothing. Perhaps in the end you have more gigs.
To finish an album: Sounds reasonable but there’s an underlying part that is not covered here which is, to make a coherent album, you need twice as much tracks as you want to make sure you have the best material possible. Is this included in your goals?
To be signed to a (specific) label: What about any other labels you might discard that could be the game changer?
Tour: See gigs. Touring doesn’t just happen, you need push for it and make it happen.

In setting goals, the “how-to” is often forgotten, and people end up failing.

My take on this is to work on building an effective system that works for you: make your art efficient, fun and a platform to express yourself adequately. Focusing on that will provide you with the tools to eventually make things happen. But honestly, it’s hard to make them happen if you don’t feel in charge of what you do.

But what is a system?

It’s measurable actions you put into place to make sure something comes out of this system efficiently, 100% of the time. It’s a way to make your life or tasks easier.

Where do you start with putting a system together?

I start with understanding what I can control and what I can’t. This sounds like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised by the number of people I work with who rage against things they can’t control, as if it would change anything in the end. For instance, you can’t control a label signing you but you can control the number of interactions with artists you can make in a week. This might sound a bit crazy, but I like to say that I can’t control precisely when a song is totally done, but I can control the number of hours I put in it. Other examples:

You can’t control the stability of your computer or your health, but you can make regular backups and stay in shape.
You can’t control if people will listen to your music or buy it. But this has nothing to do with you or your music in the first place. Everyone is busy as hell and continuously asked to do things for others. You can start by giving away your music to some people to see if that starts a movement.
If you can’t seem to finish music, honestly, I would invite you to collaborate. This ALWAYS open doors and opportunities more than if you stay alone. You have the choice to decide that.

I try to be aware of what I love to do and what tools can help support that. These days many people talk and mock Marie Kondo and her “does it spark joy?” question but she is absolutely right that when it doesn’t, perhaps it’s not for you. Same goes with music. In which phase of making music do you lose track of time, your appetite and hunger? For some, its when they program beats, for others it’s in arrangements and for some, mixing. Becoming a specialist at what you love doing, is a huge investment in your system because as you become more solid, other skills will also develop.

I spend a lot of time optimizing my preparation routine. This is the most overlooked phase of production and pretty much everyone skips it. I would encourage you to find the conditions that make your session the best it can be. Perhaps you need a certain condition to be met? In my case, I can get a very killer workflow if I have all the sessions prepared in front of me, but to prepare them annoys me. My solution was to spend periods of time where all I do is to prepare multiple sessions so that when its time to work on arrangements, I just open one and its all ready for me to attack and deliver the project.

Finding your system is far more useful than setting a goal. It’s a work in progress and it gets just better with time. Part of me sees the craftsmanship in this as perfecting your method over time. Some of my system that I use now has been built over the last 3 years, and I spend loads of time reading about how to learn more and improve it.

Reverb tips and tricks

January 11, 2019/in Blog/by pheek

In this post, I’ll cover a variety of reverb tips and tricks. If you’ve been following this blog or know me, you’ll know that reverb is one of my favorite effects and that I use it a lot. Quite a lot. As an early lover of dub techno – where reverb plays an important role – I’ve always also used it to create spaces in the mix.

The main uses for reverb are to:

Add an aesthetic and color. Some genres heavily depend on reverb to bring a certain mood to a mix. In dub, reggae, and techno, reverb often creates a dreamy feel that can be paired with delays to create a psychedelic effect.
Clarify a mix. If you use reverb in a specific way, it can make a huge difference in the precision of your mix, mostly for percussion, which will find their way in a created room. Sometimes percussion are hidden on top of one another.
Add depth. As a listener, there’s something quite lovely when you feel you’ve been transported into a room, a space where the sounds float around. This can be used to create the feeling of a live space.
Contribute to gluing a mix together. If most of your sounds are directed to a unique reverb in a send/AUX, they will feel united as part of the same aesthetic.

But also, if used wrongly, reverb can causes issues including:

Muddiness in a mix. Too much decay added to sounds will create a very dense space and sounds might get lost.
Muffled sounds. Percussive sounds that are swallowed in reverb will feel too distant and blurry.
Removes punch. If you lose the transients in the reverb, your song will feel dull and like it has no impact.
Added artifacts. Bad quality reverb create a certain noise that, once compressed or sent to mastering, will be translated in “pixelated“, artificial sounding results.

There are different ways to use reverb effectively so you get the most of it. Let’s discuss the different parameters of reverb, what they mean, and how to set them.

Reverb type

I will not get in details on how reverb works, how they were created, or those technical points but will focus on how I use them personally. The first thing to point out is the type of reverb to use. Each type of reverb uses a model of a specific kind of environment.

Room: Excellent on short samples or ones with fast transients. It clarifies the relation between multiple by creating space.
Chamber: Similar to rooms but deeper, thicker. Excellent for percussion as well but can give body to synths.
Hall: For long, ethereal presence. Halls are beautiful and will extend the decay of sounds, allowing multiple sounds to merge and melt together, with elegance.
Plates: Lots of colors, a touch of mysticism. Same use as Halls but with more personality.
Convolution: Used for emulation of space, therefore extremely useful for sound design. They can emulate anything above with sometimes, a bit more of an organic feel.

Now some parameters most reverb units come with include:

Wet/Dry: For the amount of reverb mixed with the incoming signal.
Pre-delay: “Pre-delay is the time between the end of the initial sound and the beginning of the first reflections being audible.” Set-properly, this will be responsible for the clarity of the reverb on your sounds.
Decay: How long lasts the reverb.
EQ: Most reverbs now have EQs included. This to set the tone of the reverb, as in bright or dark.

Now, on how to use all of those paramaters, here are my personal notes:

Using multiple types of reverb in a project can be risky but can also be beautiful if done right. I find that rooms, plates and halls at very low level will add a lot of depth to a mix. Generally, 5-15% on the wet-dry.
The Abbey Road trick involves cutting out of the reverb most of anything under 250-300hz and then lowering most of the high-mids.
Using bright reverb on dull sounds will bring out a natural brightness. This is a good alternative to boosting highs with an EQ.
Darker reverb tones add depth and body to sounds.
Percussion sounds great in dark plates too, not just rooms.
Play with the pre-delay to add depth. You can always sync it to the host BPM too. Otherwise, try avoiding going above 30ms to avoid too much action.
Find convolution online or make your own. If you like the reverb of a song, you can import it in the convolution to pick it up. Use a moment where the reverb can be heard on a percussion and the tail is very obvious. I often use old jazz songs for dirty verbs.
Automate some parameters in your reverb to add mysterious movement.
Try to use reverb in a send, and then send away different sounds in various AUX. I like to use up to 3 plugins and decide what sound goes where.

Reverb unit suggestions:

RP-Verb 2 for its organic feel.

Mturboreverb for the internal self-modulation you can do plus the crazy possibilities it can bring you.

Tverb for the percussion.

Adaptiverb for the ultimate sound design options. Use this with a plugin and never miss material for new pads.

Tips for getting your music heard

January 3, 2019/in Blog/by pheek

After the reactions to my compilation of tips for music production, I’ve been asked to provide some advice on getting your music heard, and potentially getting it signed to a label. When you make music, one of the first things you crave is for the whole world to hear your work, to connect with others through your creation and also implicitly as a need for validation. Many times people feel the urge to share their music (eh, I do too!), especially if the session was good. But if you sit on your work and wait, you’ll understand that this desire can be addressed differently.

Let’s approach your desire to get traction for your work by handling two things: your need for validation, and understanding how listeners pick their music. You need to understand both to be able to have a strategy going forward.

Firstly, let’s cover the validation aspect of your work.

Let it age

My first rule when I’m 90% done with a song, is to let it age for a few weeks. This is extremely important to make sure you haven’t fallen in what I call, a disconnected bubble of love with your song. When you fall in love with one of your songs, you have no distance or second perspective of it. You have some sort of unconditional love for your own work, meaning that your analytic self has been turned off and may not be able to spot technical flaws or irrelevant aspects of the song itself. Letting a song age for a few weeks will really disconnect you from that bubble and provide you with enough distance to approach it analytically. Ideally, you want to wait until a point where you forgot about the particular song in question.

My tip is to bounce the track and put it in a folder that has a date on it. I will also give myself a reminder on my phone to listen to in the future. I also will listen to it in a different context of my studio—a car ride could be excellent—or if possible, listening to it in presence of someone else can really help. You’ll want to observe that person’s reaction, not his or her feedback. You have no idea how listening to something in presence of a friend can really make you see things differently.

Consider validation from your circle of trusted friends

Do you have a circle of connections yet? This took me quite a while to establish, but once I had one, it was a great alternative for validation as opposed to posting my music publicly online (and avoid shaming myself!). Basically, your circle should be a mixture of friends, DJs, producers, “fans”, and music lovers. You don’t need the best DJs out there, just people who play often because they have the ear for what they love, what works, what and what doesn’t; they will tell you if your track fits with what’s going on. The producers will give you feedback on technical details while fans/music lovers will simply let you know if they love it or not. Fans and music lovers are probably the least useful in terms of critical feedback, but they’re actually very importan to test the “love at first listen” aspect of your work. My circle has about five people and one of my main criteria in deciding who should be in my circle was to find reliable people who can be honest, but who are also very responsive. I can’t be sending music to people who won’t respond if they don’t like it or just disappear.

I usually start sending my music to the circle once I’ve listened to it again after some time off and feel that the song has aged well. But sometimes what’s interesting is that music you end up doubting can be really appreciated from people who listen to it for the first time. This could mean your track is a keeper.

Unveiling your music publicly

One of the the most desired results producers seek for their music is to be heard, and get a lot of listens and likes online. Sadly there’s so much stuff happening in music-making that you can get lost in that desire. “But no one seems to care or will listen to my song!”, I often read/hear.

The real question is, “why would they?”

I know it seems harsh to be so blunt, but this is an important point that if you can answer, then you’ll get precise feedback regarding what you do wrong. Most of the time, what’s wrong is to build up your expectations, thinking that because you have a song that is great and maybe sounds like popular songs out there, that people should be all over it. Sadly, no, this is not the case. Maybe people are hearing your work as a cheap copy? Maybe they’re craving something else entirely?

Secondly, it’s important to be aware of how people are selecting their music. Listeners usually face different challenges in browsing for new music or for anything new in general. They usually want a bit of the “same old, same old”, as well new ideas. Generally, in looking for new music:

1- They’re looking for an emotional connection. If you need some pep for cleaning, or supporting music for coding, for example, chances are they’ll most probably dig into something they’ve already saved.

2- They’ll follow people they trust. We all have one friend who can make good recommendations. These people invest a considerable amount of time getting out of their usual routine to find new music, will read blogs and magazines to hear about trends, and will check out recommendations on Spotify (or an equivalent service). These are the people you want to reach first with your own music.

So, how do you reach out exactly?
The answer is simple: by being present.

As I’ve explained before, here are some important tips that will make a huge difference in poking through the noise.

1- Pick the moment when you’ll post your music. There are moments where people might be more suitable to discover music. Usually people do that on their downtime, meaning that releasing it in the end of the afternoon could be a good spot otherwise, in the evening.

2- Share a snippet to start with. Don’t share it all, especially if you want it to get signed. Labels hate music that has been spoiled.

3- Add pleasant looking artwork. Many people overlook this, but having artwork can influence people to click and listen.

4- Be extremely active on Soundcloud by leaving comments on similar music. Each time you leave a comment, people see you being active and if you’re pretty busy, they might want to check your profile. Don’t be a beggar asking for attention, be active and generous in your feedback. Your followers will see that and appreciate plus new artists might want to have you as a follower.

5- Always observe the golden rule: never ask anyone to leave feedback.

6- Observe people that often leave comments on music you like, then contact them in private. You can befriend anyone who often re-posts music or leaves comments. They’re the ones who are followed and will make your song look like it got listened to.

7- Anytime you contact someone, be personal in your message and simply invite the person to have a listen, but never ask for anything in return. Contacting people by private message is a great way to get traction. But be polite, courteous, and make sure it doesn’t look like you used a template. Don’t ask anything as people already know the drill.

8- Try to have some of your circle listen and have feedback. Hopefully your friends like it and will support it.

9- Promote other people’s music. Again, this is important. Why would people support you if you don’t support anyone it in the first place?

10- Use tags. Don’t be afraid to use them, because they’re important for anyone looking for music.

Production tips to wrap the year

December 23, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

This year is almost over and I wanted to thank everyone I worked with for trusting my services to give their music an added edge. I think it’s the first year I can feel that I’m finally surfing the waves that took a while to get together, but now things are flowing.

This goes for our Facebook group as well. Many people shared with me that the blog with the group has helped them get more music done. That’s the goal: to make you overcome any obstacles you might face in production. The more agile you become, the easier it will be to express yourself through music.

One of the most discussed topics has been the creative process. If you’ve browsed my site, you probably know I do mentoring and consultation. Discussing how to approach making music has been fascinating people, mostly because it’s not really explained anywhere. Most of tutorials you can find online explain techniques you can use, but it’s rare and hard to explain more broadly how to make a song, how to handle all the sessions you make to finish a song, and how not to lose your sanity between them.

I thought I’d make you a reference list of the topics I wrote about this year so you can come back to it if you’re feeling lost:

Try to make music as often as you can, mostly daily, even for 5 minutes. That can be practicing a technique, testing a preset, recording new sounds.
If you tend to buy more stuff than you play with it, then stop buying for a while. My rule is that I allow myself to buy/get some new toy only after I started on to multiple songs with the last one I got.
When you listen to a song, try to see what’s grabbing your attention first and also, through the song. Is a specific sound? the melody? Arrangements? This will give you a direction for when you make your next song as what will be the central point of it.
It will be very rare that you’ll sit for a session and finish a song all at once. Most of the best songs you’ll do will be the result of multiple sessions.
Remixing is easier than producing mostly because you already have material that you have to use, which is why using pre-made samples can be a way to ease your flow to start with.
Are you aware of limitations you are imposing yourself when making music? What are the “oh no I can’t do this” thoughts you have? Try to break them once in a while.
When I make new ideas, I sometimes play a DJ set from Youtube and will “jam” over that in Ableton. This means I will play sounds and make melodies and because I’m jamming over something I like, I’m sure it will fit a similar direction/genre. I got this tip from working with jazz artists who love to have something happening to play along.
When you don’t have much time to make music or are not feeling very inspired, or have writer’s block, try to see if you can work on preparing material for future sessions. Inspiration always comes back and when it does, make sure to have all the tools on hand.
Successful and flowing music sessions happen when you think less and make it easy on yourself.
Most of the inspiring sessions will come when you explore for something. Trying to replicate a sound is a great starting point but don’t focus on the the result, but more on what you’re about to create out of the exploration.
In my process, I like to create Ableton Projects that are filled with ideas, sounds, recordings, etc. I try to have about 10 projects that I feed on a regular basis until I open one, play with some sounds and spot something that makes me nod, then I know I have to work on this.
The first thing I try to do with a song is find the core idea, that I call the hook, the motif. Think of this as what will people remember of this song. If they describe the song to a friend, how would they describe it? Usually people will talk of the motif, which can be a pattern, a melody, or a memorable sound.
The hook is usually not fully disclosed at the beginning of the song but more towards the first 1/3 of it. Take your hook and put it later in the song and then deconstruct it from the beginning to there.
A song has a hook with 2 supporting ideas to keep people interested. Try adding to complementary ideas to your main idea.
Split your song in 3-4 sections such as: beginning, main idea, breakdown, end. Try to have at least one important twist in each of them.
Each song benefit from having at least one Easter Egg. When a song has a little special twist, idea, surprise, it makes it unique. You can also try to hide your Easter Egg so it takes multiple listen to hear it. People feel very excited when they hear something that only they have heard.
It’s better to have too much material for a song and discard some as you go, than not having enough and feeling your song is empty.
Sometimes a song feels unfinished until you decide to do a mixdown.
When I start working on a song, I usually just want to create a draft from it. See it as someone who writes a script for a movie, he will create a timeline with the main ideas but won’t focus on the details.
If you haven’t made a timeline and have been spending half an hour on fixing you kick or a specific sound, you’ve been distracted from the essential task of song making.
Macro arrangements mean that you switch your arranger’s fixed grid to “8 bars”, in order to focus on the bigger ideas of your song instead of focusing on the little details.
Use colors for your channels, make certain colors for certain sounds such as all metallic sounds in grey. Having color codes is useful to pick up a song that’s been left behind.
Use groups for all families of sounds. Ex. all percussion, all melodies, etc.
Focus on working on a loop that gets you groovin’; that will be your starting point to make your song. This loop is actually the middle part of your song, not the beginning. Bring it in the arranger, in the middle part then deconstruct it from the beginning.
Import a reference track in your arrangement window to give you an idea of how long your song could be, where to put breakdowns, etc. Many people are stuck with loops and don’t know where to go from there. If you start by using a reference, you’ll have a template more or less that you can later discard and have your own thing going.
When I work on finding the timeline of my song, I will use stock loops of percussion to have a mood board of how the song will be. There’s nothing wrong in grabbing pre-made ideas to give yourself of the direction you want to take. You always can come and change them later when you know what you want exactly.
Kick design is the last thing I do. When I am doing the mixdown, this is usually when I know what type of kick I really need to make this song solid. So often, when I work with clients, we change the kick then and the song feels so fresh.
I usually want my sounds and main idea to evolve a few times through the song. This can be either with how they’re programmed, use of effect, etc.
If you can’t reproduce a specific effect or sound, try to find a preset of a synth that is as close as what you aim for and see how it is programmed. Once you understand how the sound is made, try to reproduce it with other synths, tools.
If you are completely blocked by something technical, stop trying and do a search on Youtube to see how it’s made. Stop wasting your time if you can’t, there is no cheating when it comes to learning. You are doing this for yourself after all.
Sometimes you’ll fall in love with specific tools, effect, sounds, etc. Try to then invest into getting the best of that thing. For instance, I fell in love with reverbs and have been collecting so many plugins since. I watched so many reviews and read about it.
When I start working on a song, I want to make the timeline pretty fast, so I like to visually arrange my blocks without listening and will not work on this more than 20 minutes. I want something raw that I can come back later and see if I was on the right path.
Knowing if your idea/song is solid is one of the most difficult things to understand. But basically, the more you space out your sessions, the more detachment you’ll have and you’ll be able to judge it better.
I like to work on multiple songs at once so I can go from one to another in rotation, to see what works or not in each of them.
When you’re doing sound design or creating new ideas, never censor yourself or stop yourself from anything. Brainstorms have one rule: there are no rules.
Once I have my timeline 80% done, then work on the percussion progression and other sound to support the story-line.
I prefer not worrying about the mixing until the arrangements are at least 80% done.
The use of effects are part of sound design but the cosmetic effects as reverb/delay, I prefer to use them once most of my story-line is made.
Have your sounds talk to each other, either as in “call/answer” or “let me say” modes. “Call/answer” is when one sound appears and another answer to that (or echo back) like the kick-hihat relation. “Let me say” is when sounds alternate between each other or repeat themselves (ex. claps changing to snares).
Work your song by looping 1x 32 at a time and adjust everything in there seems right as is.
When I work on arrangements, I take breaks almost every 10 minutes where I stop for 20-30 seconds.
When I do mixing, I take breaks as often as possible.
Have you noticed how many “great ideas” you have when you’re not making music? This means, in the middle of making a song, force yourself to get up and leave for a few minutes. This action will bring ideas and insight to what you’re working on.
If you’re not sure about your song, keep in mind that you can make as many versions as you want out of it.
All unused sounds of a project can be used for another song.
When you go from one song to another as you work, if you notice that for instance, the bass of track X would be better in track Y, then swap them.
After each session, I suggest you export where you left off and then import that into the next song you’re working on. This will also be helpful to not always have the same structures, intro, patterns.
Don’t delete any projects no matter how much you think they suck! Everything can be recycled!
Try to collaborate as much as possible. Team up with people to who you can bring something to them instead of seeing how this person can bring you something.
Whenever you feel uncomfortable or think that what you do sucks, remember that this has nothing to do with the song but from yourself. You might be tired or have overheard your song. Take a pause for a few days and work on other things.

If you made it until the end, you found an Easter Egg and can download a Max patch I used in my live sets called “Sparta” below. It will bring modulation to your sounds!

[download id=”36345″]

Setting up your mix bus

December 18, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

In this post I’ll offer some tips on setting up a mix bus for use in your projects; but first we should clarify what a mix bus actually does. I often see confusion about the definition of a mix bus (not to be confused with the amazing DAW Mixbus by Harrison) and how a mix bus works. If you’ve been trained in audio engineering, you’re likely to be familiar with the term. I’ve seen some memes where engineers are mocking people that aren’t using a mix bus, but in reality I can tell you that some of the best mixes I’ve heard were made by people that were still learning. So let’s clarify a few things and hopefully some of these tricks will be helpful.

What is a mix bus?

Let’s keep it simple, it’s the last channel you’ll use on your DAW where all channels/groups/sends/AUX will point. In Ableton Live, many people will use the Master channel as their mix bus; it’s where all your elements mix in the end.

Is there another way to use the master channel?

Yes, there is. While you don’t absolutely need to do it that way, it’s good to know how. it might enhance your workflow as you’ll use the master channel simply for deciding at what output you want to bounce your music (ex. -6dB).

The how-to.

One thing I’ve discovered while following mixing classes with other mentors is they use a channel they’ll call the mix bus and will route their signal to that channel in the end. That one will then go to the master.

All channels -> Mix bus -> Master

One of the advantages you will benefit from is better control of your workflow, easy A/B comparisons with other tracks, and to see how your final mix is really turning out. So if you put your effects on the master, move them to your mixbus and leave the master empty. However, I like to use a utility plugin there for sometimes adjusting the gain, for instance.,

Some people will want to do mastering directly in their project and will put mastering plugins on the master channel, but I really insist that you should not do that. Treat mastering as a different process that should be done on its own and by someone other than yourself (assuming you want the best possible result).

Now, apart from the technical routing, let’s discuss how to optimize your use of the mix/master channel.

Keep your mix bus light. I find that you gain better results by flexing your creative muscles on each channels individually than trying to fix it all in the end. The more control you have over your sounds, the more detail you’ll have in general, but keep in mind that if you have too much to fix on your mix bus, you’ll also be affecting other channels that might be just fine.
Don’t compress too much. You’ll lose on your dynamic range if you compress the signal too much. If you’re lacking gain in the end, you have two options: first would be to go on each channel and gain stage there first, or if you compress on the mix bus, do it in parallel.
Use your reference. So many people mix blindly that once in a club, they’ll see they’re completely off in their efforts. Check some tools down this page or import a reference directly in the arrangements.
Avoid presets from do-it-all plugins! This is something I see a lot with people dropping Ozone and selecting a preset, then export. If you’re going to do that, please check the compression ratio, levels, gain reduction and attack/release. Those can really mess up your song and that will be a total loss once in mastering. The better mix I get, the better master I can give you. When I compress, I’ll try to keep my gain reduction under 3dB, with a slow attack and fast release.
Use shelving EQ for tonal balance. As seen in one of my previous posts, the shelving EQs are excellent for you to decide what tone your song will have and quickly readjust the low end or highs.
No limiter on your mix bus. Keep your signal clean.

Some plugins I always use on my mix bus:

Reference by Master the mix: Perfect to see if I’m on the right path by easily compare it with a reference.

FabFilter Pro-Q 3: The newest version is absolutely amazing! It offers dynamic corrections which is perfect for subtle touches and control.

Voxengo Marquis compressor: for smooth gluing.

Is sampling wrong?

December 11, 2018/in Blog, Production, Sound Design/by pheek

Sampling in electronic music involves two main types: using another person’s idea (e.g. using a harpist’s melody for your deep techno song, or sampling electronic music that isn’t yours) and using prefabricated samples for making your song.

As time goes on, I read and hear about more and more debates regarding sampling in electronic music. I refer to electronic music because in other spheres, such as trap or hip hop, the debate is non-existent. We all know it’s a matter of culture derived from how producers have approached their art.

You might ask yourself, “are there more benefits from making all my sounds by myself? Will I get more recognition that way?”

It’s hard to answer this question, but I’ll try to debunk the source of that question to help clarify a few things.

Firstly, the world of electronic music really started in the late 80’s with a DIY mentality. Back then, electronic music was not really well-known, and producers had a hard time getting support from traditional media and distributors; they had to do everything themselves. The same thing goes for their equipment. Equipment was extremely expensive and not easy to find, so many artists would work with whatever they could get their hands on. Then came a huge rise in popularity in the electronic music world, and by the 90s, it had its own culture. DIY was the established way to do things; everyone was contributing in one way or another. Making everything yourself – a form of being independent – had been rooted in the culture of electronic music. One of the big differences between that era and now is that back then, many producers were obsessed with making the most original music possible. Going out to an event was all about hearing new songs you’d never heard before that would make you dance; you were also aware you might never hear those songs again.

Secondly, with growing access to technology, it became essential to showcase your skills as a one-man-band. I’m not sure if if this was an ego thing, or more of a way of overcoming this tour-de-force, but while it can be impressive, it can also be counter-productive. There was no electronic music school out there until around 2005, where some appeared online. Prior to that, people that wanted to make electronic music had to be learning everything themselves.

Thirdly, as access to technology increased, as did the possibility to get pretty much anything you want via the internet, a certain snobbery amongst producers developed. Some people are able to do certain things a certain way, and will pass on a very clear message that if you don’t do things in their way, you’re doing it wrong. I think this approach – which I see a lot – has put many people in a defensive mode as well as made them less likely to share their work.

That said, sampling has always created polemics. You often hear a pop artist sampling others then getting into lawsuits as a result. In the underground scene, there are similar stories (such as Raresh sampling Thomas Brinkmann without understanding what consequences would ensue). There were multiple occasions where people would sample a part of a record that was released 10-15 years ago and make a song out of it. It would piss people off, mostly because it goes against two concepts:

The person who sampled failed to be original and took the work of someone’s hard work to pass it off as their own.
It’s a “violation” of the culture norms of music making, which have been in place for decades.

Is there a way to use sampling “correctly”?

Well, yes, there is a way. Sampling is not frowned upon in hip hop and, it’s also okay elsewhere too. However, there are rules to respect. When I launched my sub-label Climat in 2012, I wanted to use it to find artists that were talented, had beautiful content, and that once put into a groovy context, would make something new and refreshing. I was looking for music on obscure sites then tried to make music with it. Whatever samples I would keep, I would take the time to contact the artist, explain the concept and ask for their permission. Honestly, this is the least you can do and you should absolutely do it. Imagine if someone were to sample your work; I think you’d want to know. Plus, who knows, it can be the beginning of future collaborations.

How can I make use of samples from someone else’s work?

Contact the original artist, ask them if there are conditions associated with using their work, and then promote them too when you release something.

Is using samples a bad thing?

Many people feel ashamed to use samples. They think if they’re going to have an 808 kick, they need to buy a drum machine to make it. There is also a shame one feels when using presets which don’t feel original. Indeed, they aren’t, but you’re missing the point if that’s the only thing you consider.

When I make music and hit the studio, I want to be productive. I use samples to make a structure, a groove, to complement my idea, so that things come together faster. I’m not using samples as my final form. If I need a breakbeat, I don’t want to lose time trying to program the best beat possible. I’ll take a pre-made loop so I have a target of what I imagine it to be in my mind. As I work on the track, I’ll chop the loop, rearrange it, and swap the sounds out with something I’ll design myself.

Your main enemy in music making is your own mind getting distracted with things it thinks are important.

When you make a new song, you need to have a core idea. However, you can take inspiration from many things including samples. Gather them all in your project, analyze them, sample, process, and create. Don’t leave things so unchanged that could easily recognize a sample as being unoriginal. See your project as if you were a painter gathering images from magazines to use as guidelines.

Honestly, samples are the best way to get out of your routine. I’ve never understood people who were super stubborn about making everything themselves, just to end up sounding like every other song out there anyways. if you venture in genres that aren’t yours, you’ll get new ideas for sure.

Tip: I find that using layering multiple samples is a great way to make new sounds. For example, you can make your tiny clap sound fat if you combine it with a tom.

Your best companions in processing samples are just a few plugins away. With all the technology available, it’s silly not to use them:

Fabfilter Pro-Q3: Amazing GUI and pristine sound. This is a must to fix your samples into another, original way.

Mangledverb : This is a reverb for intense sound design. It can really bring alive some parts of your samples.

Discord 4 by Audio Damage: For subtle to extreme changes.

Shaperbox: The ultimate tool to recycle any sound into altered material.

Crystalizer: Great for granular synthesis and shaping sound.

Getting feedback on your music

December 3, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

This is a more a personal, editorial blog post about music feedback which I’ve been wanting to write for a while now. All year – mainly through our community we are building on Facebook – people have been posting their tracks to receive feedback and validation about their work. It can be intimidating to share something in the group and to have people comment on it. I can relate, as I don’t really share music publicly unless it’s been signed, or if I feel I have something strong to share. Soon I’ll share some details with you about group coaching, which I’ve been testing over the last month and will help people to receive more feedback. That said, one of the things that strikes me most is that many people feel a bit lost when seeking feedback or validation about their music.

In art, the need for validation is huge, and given the state of music nowadays, we have very few places to receive valuable feedback. People try and try to make music and can get lost in it, sometimes losing sight of their main motivation that drew them to making music in the first place.

If someone asked me, “where do you get feedback?”, I wouldn’t really have an easy answer. But in general, I can describe where many people find constructive feedback about their music.

From established artists

PRO: Other artists are probably the most reliable source for good feedback. If the artist finds the time to listen and you like what he/she does, then the returned feedback is pretty solid. The great thing is that if an artist likes it, then your music could end up in a DJ set, podcast or his collection. Other artists usually have nothing to gain from you except a possible friendship if they like you and your music, so the chances that they’re true to their word are good.

CON: Getting an artist’s full attention. Giving too much credibility to an artist can distract you from your initial path.

Difficulty level: Hard. Artists are often in demand, contacted by random people who try to charm them to ask something in return

Online magazines

PRO: If you make a podcast and an online magazine or blog would like to publish it, it can indeed be great validation that you’re on the right path. If you get reviews for an EP/LP, it also exposes you to many people who visit the site which brings attention, with hopefully some good words.

CON: Some of the bigger magazine give reviews if you bought advertisement with them. Often I see people who write reviews who aren’t musicians themselves, and get blown away by very simplistic music, while brushing off music that might be more complex. Sadly, I feel many writers have lost the credibility they once had as a result of their interest in money.

Difficulty level: Extremely difficult, and potentially biased. If you buy advertisement to a site, they usually will give you attention. Some people even buy “space” on a site to make sure they get reviews.

Touring/Gigs

PRO: Touring is certainly the most validating experience if you play at the right places, in the right time slots, and see first-hand how people react to your music. It can be a very important insight into how to build your music in order to have better reactions on the dance floor. If you can play locally, you can also network with people which can help create a stronger following.

CON: The downfall is how much you have to put to make this happen, and how the work conditions when you tour can be harmful both mentally and physically. Getting local gigs is a bit less stressful and way less complicated.

Difficulty level: Medium or hard, depending of your networking skills.

Labels

PRO: For many, this seems to be the ultimate validation. Being signed by a label could mean that you’re officially part of the crew, that you. To see your name among artists you respect certainly brings some excitement and validation to your music.

CON: Is being part of the crew enough to validate your music? What if you made it there but your release is commercially a flop? Is releasing the validation or was the answer from the market the real response? These are all difficult questions.

Difficulty level: Very high. Many artists contact labels, and being noticed among the noise is difficult. Picking the right people is a complex process. Sometimes an artist fits on a label, but the technique doesn’t, or the direction of the proposed songs is not right. One of the most confusing thing is when a label decides to follow trends, which are ephemeral, or to release an artist because he/she is considered hot at the moment. That can compromise the credibility of the label and blur the validity that you initially got.

There were talks this year where people were saying that online vinyl shops giving multiple P&D to multiple, unknown artists, are slowly confusing and overflowing the market with music of debatable quality. Many people chase labels that sell because they know if they can get in the charts, they’ll get attention and bookings, certainly a good thing. But it doesn’t necessarily validate what you do. An amazing release in the hands of a label who doesn’t take the time to promote will not sell as well as it should.

But let’s face it, there are other ways to get validation about your music that are totally easy and might be just as productive as any of the classic ways:

Soundcloud: If you develop quality connections with people online, who you know comment on the music you love, they often provide you with meaningful comments. Personally, I have a tight circle of about 5 people I will send my music to right away to hear what they’ll say. I’m always more excited to hear from them than a potential label wanting to release me.
Local DJs: These are people who can test your music in context and show you what’s happening. You need to flex your social skills for this to work, but these people are extremely valuable.
Music fans: If you go out to events, you might meet some of those people who aren’t DJs but who know all the DJs and constantly post music on their Facebook page. These people are a gold mine for feedback. They won’t be technical but they’ll be telling you up front if they like your music or not. You always want them as supporters because they’ll be talking about you which is better than doing self-promotion.
Our Facebook group! I created a group of individuals who wish to improve their skills. You can join if you want 🙂

I hope this helps!

Saturation Tips and Hacks

November 19, 2018/in Blog, Production, Sound Design/by pheek

After presenting some of my favorite EQs and compressors, it would be silly not to also talk about audio saturation which is complementary tool. There’s not a single project I’ve done in the last 10 years where I haven’t used saturation in one way or another; same with mastering. I often compare it to putting some words in bold in a text, where that effect will do the same thing in a mix: making parts stand out in a way the brain can’t totally understand at first.

What is saturation exactly?

Saturation is essentially a form of soft distortion that gives certain texture to sounds. The simplest way to explain it is to think of how analog processing changes sound; it brings a certain noise it, sometimes very subtly or not. You may use it give warmth or character to the signal being processed, which gives a more aggressive crunch if you exaggerate it. Types of saturation that are most common:

Tape emulation: Similar to what was popular in the disco days when they’re send their mixes to a reel to reel, to provide a certain thickness.
Tubes: Common in compressors and certain EQs using lamps, they are the absolute reference to warm up synths.
Transistor and retro: To emulate an old school feel.
Preamp: Often related to guitars and the world of microphones, preamps can be used on anything. They’ve been a tool of excellence for decades to give personality to sound by engineers.
Distortion: Pure distortion isn’t always pleasing and appropriate but if you control it properly, it will give beautiful textures and beefiness.

There are multiple situations where you could benefit from saturation in your mixing or sound design in order to alter the character of your sounds.

Pads & synths.

There’s nothing more exciting than rich tones, melodies, and very warm pads. More than often, I see people recording soft synths with no processing whatsoever; they’re really missing out on giving depth to the backbone of their songs. You can for instance simply pass them through a preamp, but my tool of choice for these is absolutely tape emulation (a personal favorite of mine in case you didn’t already know).

How: Start by pushing the saturation to a very high point and make sure it’s more than noticeable. Then adjust the wet/dry to a very low level where you can hear the incoming signal feeling almost clean but have the saturation be mixed in there. I usually find the sweet spot by going “oh, here I can totally notice the saturation” and then lower it by a few notches.

Tool: I’d suggest the Tape from Softubes or RC-20 Retro Color. Both are fantastic to shape your sound with shimmering textures.

One thing I really love is to use multiband saturation to get the most out of your melodies. This way, you can address the lower mids in a way while you bring out harmonics in the higher part of the sound. This can be done with tools such as Ozone 8, Neutron 2, and Melda’s PolySaturator.

Bass

Who doesn’t like a dirty, funky bassline? Low end with grit will always bring some excitement to a mix – especially in a club – this is something we’ve heard so many times in hip hop for instance. A very clean sine bass typically from an 808 has a certain warmth, but if you pass it through tape or tubes, it will give a lot of oomph. If you want to try it, I suggest you even try two instances of saturation to see where that goes. It depends of how much you want it distorted. The wet/dry will have to be applied to taste here. The producers of dubstep brought the game here to a new level.

How: Just experiment. Try to go overboard. Really.

Tool: SoundToys’ Little Radiator does marvel on basses as well as its cousin the Decapitator. For something more subtle but still robust, try the Steven Slate Virtual Preamp Collection.

Percussion

Saturation on percussion will automatically bring an old school feel from breaks that were really popular in the 90’s. The take on that, with Hip Hop (again), was to export the audio to VHS tapes or even tape cassette. The result is pretty badass. Experimenting outside of software is really fun, and I would encourage you to give it a try. One thing I like from doing this is to saturate only the tail and not the transients so that you beef up the overall signal.

How: Duplicate the channel you want to saturate and put saturation on the second one. Using MAX’s envelope follower, map it to the wet/dry of the saturator/exciter. Set the envelope to be flipped so that when a transient is detected, it will duck the knob making sure transient isn’t affected. Melda’s Polysaturator provides that option internally.

Tip: Add reverb and put the saturation after to get really fluffy crispiness.

Tools: Reels by AudioThing, Satin by U-He and Polysaturator once more.

Vocals

There’s nothing more beautiful than vocals that are lush and full. Treating vocals alone is an art in which I could get lost. I don’t want to get into that too much, but I’d like to invite you a bit of everything to see which one suits you best. Some prefer the tubes but other swear by the tapes. This is where Ozone can be a game changer, especially that you can do multi band processing as well as M/S.

Tip: Apply anything and everything from what’s explained above but start by doubling your vocals which will already do great things.

Tips and recommendations for compression (Pt. 1)

October 25, 2018/in Blog, Mixing, Production, Tips/by pheek

After two important posts on EQs, it’s time to start discussing how to use compression, as these two work so well hand-in-hand, and I’ll offer my own recommendations on some of the best compression VST plugins. Your own selection of VSTs should always start with a few of these two categories:

For EQs:

One Parametric EQ for surgical needs.
One Shelving EQ for toning.
One analog based EQ for coloring.

For compression, there are also several choices and it’s easy to get lost, so one of the things I find important to start with is to explain the different families of compressors (more suitable to relate them to as models).

FET

This type of compressor is one of the most popular out there. It’s known for its aggression and for its use of adding tons of punch to sounds, mixes, with a lot of attitude. The FET compressor, which means Field Effect Transistor, appeared later in the history of compressors, when they switched the tubes for to a model that helped make sounds warmer and richer; it became an instant favorite in studios. The 1176 is one compressor that became one of the most popular models in studios.

Use: Amazing punch on percussion and add life on textures, pads.

Recommended plugins:

FET Compressor (Softube)

FETpressor (PSP)

Black Limiting 76 (IkMultimedia)

Opto

This type is pretty much the opposite of the FET (although there are people who will argue about this). The Opto model is smooth and super warm. Not idea for percussion but I do use it in parallel (see techniques below), which can give beef to a kick, for instance. The way this model works is very interesting. It’s basically a lamp that reacts to the incoming sound and will light up depending of the incoming signal. I’m not the best at explaining this, but that pretty much sums it up, and this makes the Opto compressor not the most aggressive, as it offers smoothness.

Use: Ideal for pads, synths, textures and I would recommend you experiment it with percussion, but in parallel mode.

Notable suggestions for VST:

Bx_Opto (Brainworx)

Opto compressor (IKMultimedia)

Renaissance Compressor by Waves also offers an Opto mode.

VariMu

VariMu is like the prince of compressors because it has finesse and elegance. Manley popularized the VariMu with their famous version of it. It is a cousin of the Opto in the way it works, and is also very smooth. Often used in mastering, it works like a charm to handle punch problems or to keep coherence in a mix that needs general glue to it. It’s not the best to create punch and this is why, but when used in pair with another compressor, it can really create beautiful results.

Use: On your mix or on a group. It will glue it all together in the most luscious way.

Suggestions of plugins:

The Manley Compressor from UAD

MJUC by Klanghelm

DynaMU by IKMultimedia

VCA

This type of compressor is also very popular just like the FET. I’d say that most generic compressors are often based on that model. Since it’s based on voltage control, this compressor is a surgical type of tool. It is really effective to produce snappiness to percussion but it can also be used to control harsh transients.

Use: Smack those kicks with it and control the transients of hats with another setting.

My favorites:

TDR Kotelnikov

U-He Presswerk

API 2500 (There are a few imitations from UAD and Waves, so check it out)

Techniques

You may have the best plugins but if you don’t know how to use them, you’ll miss the full potential of these amazing tools. I’d say that if you don’t, please know that a large number of producers out there, even experienced ones, struggle to fully understand them. So while you will find so many tutorials out there, I’d like to explain you my simple vision.

But first, let me explain what compression does. It takes the incoming sound and monitors the loudest peak and checks if it is louder than a certain point: the threshold. If that’s the case, it will push down the signal above the threshold, down. I like to picture it as when you sit in a bath, where the water rise as you sit in it. The way a compressor “pushes down” the audio will be controlled by the attack (how fast it reacts), release (for how long) and ratio (how much).

I’d like to compare a compressor to an oven and the incoming music as the dough. The compressor doesn’t work like, let’s say a reverb where if you put it on a sound, you’ll automatically hear what’s being altered. How compressor VSTs work are really, to me, like a oven. You need to bring in the sound, cook it, then push it out.

So, use these parameters when dealing with compression:

Incoming signal. You’ll need to raise the volume of the incoming signal to make sure it meets or is above the threshold. If the signal is too low, it won’t be processed.
Threshold. Lower it down if needed. You’ll see that most compressors have a “GR” for gain reduction meter. This will start to pump as the signal meets the threshold. If nothing happens, lower down the threshold and or boost the incoming signal.
Attack/release. A fast attack will make the pumping start react quickly while a slow one will be less aggressive. You can then adjust the release to control for how long the pumping will last.
Ratio. This is how much will be pushed down. For instance, a 2:1 ratio means that for 2dB over the threshold, it will be turned down by 1dB over the threshold. Eg. 8:1 is a more aggressive result.
Make-up gain/Output. Your output signal will be turned down in the process so you can use the make-up gain to adjust the processed signal to match or be louder than the incoming signal.

So yeah, it sounds weird on paper, but compression is about lowering the volume to make things louder.

Regarding my analogy with the bread, you need to make sure it bakes (gets compressed) before pushing it out.

Now, the techniques you can use compression for:

Limiting. This is the most known use of a compressor. It is a way of making sure the sound never goes above a certain level. Ideal on a master bus to avoid clipping. You can use it to a certain extent on busses to maximize the volume. But make sure it’s not too much as it can then distort in mastering.
Side-chain, ducking. Popular in electronic music, this makes the compression work based on an incoming signal. I’ll get back to this in a future post.
Parallel compression. To do this, you need to put the compression in an AUX/Send bus and then send whatever needs compression to it. This ensure the original signal is mixed with the compressed one, adding power, loudness, precision.
Serial compression. To be used with care, but has very powerful results. This is about putting two (or more) compressors back to back. One can be in parallel (thanks to a wet/dry) and the second one, not. This makes sounds really powerful, punchy, fat. Ideal on sounds that are wimpy and pale.

That’s it for the basics of compression! I’ll discuss the art of sound design using compression and EQs next.

The best EQ plugins and various EQ’ing tips (Pt. II)

October 19, 2018/in Blog, Mixing, Products/by pheek

In my previous post regarding the best EQ plugins, I covered some of my favorite EQs and some of their uses. After receiving many compliments about that post, I’ve decided to continue with a part two. In the following post, I’ll share a few tricks with you that you can easily do yourself when facing certain mixing situations, and I’ll also briefly outline compression.

Filters

In case you didn’t already know, EQs are filters; really complex mathematics which each developer has coded in more or less slightly different formulas. This explains why some EQs are really expensive: because of the time invested in perfecting the curves. Many people don’t realize it, but EQs do sound different from one another and you can tell once you have a high quality sound system.

“Most people don’t have a high quality system, so what’s the point…”, you say.

Well, if you use high quality tools, in the end, your regular sounds will be “upgraded” in quality too, which will eventually make a difference where ever you play them.

The number one tip for a better mix is to use filters; this alone can make dramatic improvements.

For instance, your kicks might sound muddy if you don’t remove the garbage frequencies that are below the fundamental note of it. If this sounds complicated, let me explain it in the most simple terms:

Use your EQ and the first point on the left should be switched to filter, then low cut.
The slope should be put to 24db/octave.
Then roll it to 20hz to start with and then go up frequencies until you hear your kick losing power. If that happens, you’re now filtering too high and you have to roll back a bit.
My general rule is to cut kicks at 20hz by default.

Now that tip was for kicks alone, but you should apply this idea to basically everything in your mix. However, besides the kick, I wouldn’t use a slope of 24db/octave on anything else unless there are big issues. It’s up to you to experiment but if you want to test something interesting, try 18 or 12 for cutting other sounds and you’ll see that this leaves less of a digital feel, giving your sounds clarity and warmth.

I’d also cut the highs where they’re not needed, but not too much either.

Percussion, melodies, and high pitched sounds such as hi-hats would benefit from a 6db/octave, high cut filter; this smooths things in a lovely way.

Some of my favorite filters for this kind of use are:

EVE-AT1 from Kuassa

SliceEQ by Kilohertz

PSP MasterQ2: Smooth!

Sharp cuts

Surgical, sharp and static cuts are very useful for a ringing resonance. Many people ask how to spot it these and how to know if it’s really something to cut or if the it’s something to do with the acoustic of the room. There’s no real way to know but to often cross validate with reference tracks.

So often, I get clients sending me a project in Ableton and I see really odd cuts. Is that bad?

Yes and no.

First off, if you use Ableton’s native EQ, switch it immediately to oversampling mode for better quality.

Second, cutting might change something in your environment but you’ll also permanently cut frequencies that might not be needed to change, which could also potentially induce phasing issues (i.e. during the entire length of the song).

*Note – do not use too many EQs in one chain because that will definitely cause phasing!

So, how do you spot one rogue frequency?

Sometimes I just use a spectrum meter to get hints if I can’t pinpoint where it is. Try to always use a spectrum meter on your master to have an overall indication of your mix. If you see some sounds that start to poke above 0dB, this *might* be a problem; not always, but it could. What you want to look for is one thin spike coming up out loud about +3-6dB. This might really be an issue.

My instinct would be to try to lower the volume of the sound itself if that’s possible. Sometimes it’s not and that’s when you use an EQ.

Isolate the sound in the appropriate channel.
Drop your EQ of choice (see below for suggestions).
Pick an EQ point, set it to the frequency you spotted, then adjust the Q to 3-4. Cut 4dB to start with, but more if needed.
On the EQ, there should be a output gain. If you have cut that frequency away, it might be great to just increase the gain by about the half of what you have cut away. Ideally I like to compress but we’ll get into that later.

TIP: Avoid sharp cuts in the low end. That can cause issues such as phasing, muddiness. If you really have to, make sure to use a mono-utility after.

I revealed some of my favorite EQ plugins in the first post in this series, but I’ll add some more:

Cambridge EQ by Universal Audio: Works amazing on synths and melodies.

AE600 by McDSP.

Voxengo CurveEQ: Solid on percussive content.

Valley cuts, boosts, and shelving

Many readings on the subject of EQ’ing only will recommend that if you need to boost, go moderate and try to have a very low Q to have an open curve. However, there are really no rules on what you should or shouldn’t do. Explore, fail, and be audacious, because sometimes great things come out of it.

My only red flag would be on those really complicated, several points EQ curves you can do in Fabfilter ProQ2. This sometimes induce weird resonances when you’ll bounce, which is no good for mastering unless you are OK with annoying people’s ears.

Also, think differently. If you’re going to use 3-5 points that are all boosting, then why not start by turning up the gain on your EQ’s output and cut down whatever you don’t want.

But if you boost, I like to have a Q below 1. It gives really interesting results!

For instance, try to boost 2-3db at 500hz to instantly give presence and body to a song.
Try it at 8khz to add a lush, bright presence to metallic percussion.
Boost at 1khz on your snare to make them pop out of your mix.

Experiment like this. At first it will appear subtle but with practice, great results will come.

My favorites of the moment:

Sie-Q by SoundToys for really doing beautiful shelving.

MEqualizer by MeldaProduction.

Tips and recommendations for compression (Pt. 1)

The “sous-chef” experience

October 7, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

I’ve been reading a lot about music arranging lately, mostly to see how the big players in the music industry approach it. It’s not that I love how things are made in that scene, but more because I want to see what I can take in and transpose to what I do. There are major differences to what the underground music producer will do in an arrangement.

Majors work with a team. You can’t make it on that level without a full team looking into making sure that each step is taken care of. This implies song writing, project management, recording, editing, arrangements, and mixing. Nothing will be done half-way.
They want the best in every sphere. To make great things, you need the best. Therefore, they will rent the best studios, hire the best musicians, and make sure that every player involved has a strong list of credentials.
Nothing is made quickly. Sometimes things go fast but they won’t take things in an easy way.

(Photo by frankie cordoba on Unsplash)

The average release on Beatport is a one-man band, but more than often not if equipped properly, will still get some attention. The main difference is the song’s longevity. Most underground songs won’t have a long life, and might not get many plays and if it sounds like a lot of music out there (eg. it’s a tendency that people will imitate the top 10 to be part of it), chances are that in 1-2 years, it will be forgotten.

Where I think we can learn from the majors is about team work. The main issue with this is, most semi-pro musicians or aspiring ones have to put some life priorities first. We started a community project with my Facebook group that is called Cosmic Relay, where we would work as a team to make songs. We did a first EP that made it to the top 3 on Beatport (Minimal) without trying to copy anyone. The potential is there indeed, but on the second batch of songs, we struggled to rally everyone to make things move with a good flow.

I’ve been experimenting a second approach, which is inspired by how restaurants work. I’d be the “chef” and I’d be working with one or multiple “sous-chefs.” One of my strengths, available as a service through my Track Finalization product, is to make arrangements and finish music. Finding the elements to start often takes me ages to create, mostly because I work primary with randomly generated music (ex. from little jams, tool/demo exploration or simply using randomization on plugins). While this generates a lot of original content, it also requires me to go through a lot of recording to find the little gems in there.

Working with a “sous-chef” is most probably the best thing for my workflow. I send them on a quest to gather material based on my suggestions and then I’ll compose with what I have. Facing some limitations bring a flow of high creativity in me. I usually find ways to find how to use the elements to create a timeline and then something that gets me excited. Usually the direction of the project is decided by the people I work with. We agree on a reference and decide where to go with it.

I’m not sure if you have watched Chef’s Table on Netflix, but for me it’s been a source of inspiration. I see parallels between the chefs starting a restaurant and musicians opening their studio.

One thing all music producers all have in mind is to remain playful, open and to reinvent themselves.

So back to our project: if we continue to take inspiration from the majors, asking for help for the parts where you feel either slow or less solid, is a great way to complement another artist. Collaborations are the best way to do things you could never do alone, every time, for the best.

“Yeah but I want to learn how to do everything by myself!” I hear you say. Then be ready to be a jack of all trade, which is a master of nothing. That’s not a bad thing, but then you might never shine at what you’re supposed to be great at, simply because you’re spreading your precious time on different tasks that others could do better. The thing is, you’ll get better at everything if you also work with other people who are better than you at what they do.

I’m a good example of that. It took me a long time to get better at mixing and I’m still learning. Same for sound design. But talking with other people was more fruitful than spending time on Youtube. Using and buying quality samples have also been incredibly useful in the process. As well as getting quality tutorials.

For best collaboration tools, here’s my favorites:

Splice for getting samples and sharing projects.
Native Instruments Sounds.com for more samples.
ADSR for presets and tutorials. A fast way to have your basis and kick start quickly any project.
Dropbox for sharing anything and everything.
Reaktor’s community for getting new patches ideas.
Our Facebook community to meet new people in the same mentality as me. We have a label that we then release the music on.

My Electronic Music Production Methodology: The Mothership (Part II)

September 21, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

I don’t know if you’re a fan of sci-fi movies, but I am. One thing I really like from those types of movies are alien invasions, where the aliens are dropping from the sky after jumping from a huge space ship; where all the bad guys are assembled and then dispatched. In music making, I apply a similar concept to my own music production methods and overall methodology. Ever since I’ve passed this idea down to people I coach, I see them do really cool things using the concept of the “mothership“. They adapt this method to their own way of making music, and when they show it to me, I learn a thing or two on how to upgrade my music production methods.

This post about the mothership concepts, and I will share an empty Ableton LIve set you can reuse for your own work. I’ll also cover a few features in Ableton that can help fasten up your idea making.

The Mothership: Where Do I start?

First, know your music. Whatever genres you listen to, get to know what it has and needs. If you read this blog regularly, you know that I always insist on knowing and using references. Well, the mothership method also starts with using references. There are a few essential questions you need to ask yourself when you listen to your references:

What are the predominant sounds? For instance, in techno, the kick, hats, and snare are pretty much always there and for most of the song’s duration. There are percussion and effects often but they’re not the main players.
What is the melody composed of? Is the melody only one sound (ex. synth) or 2-3 different sounds talking to each other?
Is there more to it? Sometimes we can get a bit lost in a reference track as there seem to have a lot going on, perhaps little sounds in the background or swirling swooshes. Those are what I call distractions. If you want to truly analyze a song, make a 2 bar loop right in the middle part or when the song is at it’s busiest, then start counting each sounds and make sense of what you hear.

Once your song has been analyzed, you’re ready to build a template.

Building an empty mothership

If you feel like seeing what an “empty mothership” Ableton Live template could look like, you can download one here:

[download id=”34555″]

It might not meet your needs out-of-the-box, but it’s a great starter nonetheless.

This empty template was created by ROOM323 who I’ve been coaching for almost 2 years. His starting template is really great – perhaps even better than mine – so I’ll explain why I think it can be really useful.

Each sound has its own channel.
There are just enough channels to cover everything and limiting yourself to them makes you stay focused.
The background and effects channels are a good reminder. Sometimes we forget that one aspect of the song has been overused, especially for details like a background. It’s also a reminder not to overdo it.
Storing your loops gives you an outside view of all the potential you have.
There’s nothing better to help make decisions with regards to your different songs.
It can be turned into a live performance set!

How to use THE TEMPLATE

The very first part of using this template is to start by collecting “main ingredients” (see part one of this series). This can be done by scavenging Youtube, jamming a new demo VST synth or hanging out with friends while recording them play randomly with instruments. Anything can be potentially good, it’s how you use it that will make the difference.

“It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong” – Miles Davis

Put each different idea in the appropriate channel of the Mothership.
You’ll have perhaps 5 strong ideas. Now you can fill the channels that are missing content. If you have a nice guitar melody, then you need percussion, kick, etc.
For each idea, try to have different variations. Perhaps your first loop was good but if you rework some elements, maybe you’ll find another option that is pretty cool too. Those variations can also be different scenes of the first loop.
Jam away!

That’s about it!

When I work with ROOM323, I will have 20 different ideas from him, then I can select the best 5. From there, I’ll pick a row and drop it in the arrangement section to start building a song. In terms of productivity, this method is way more effective than canning one idea in a project that is then turned into a song. One important thing to have in the back of your mind is, if during your song, you run out of ideas, then you can just jump back into your original 20 loops to pick something complementary.

One amazing thing about Ableton 10 is that you can drop a song/sample from it’s browser and drop it in your song. It will import your idea as you left it. This means that you can build your Mothership today by dropping in all your unfinished loops!

My Music Production Methodology Pt. III: Depth and spatial shaping tips

My Electronic Music Production Methodology (Pt. I)

September 13, 2018/in Blog, Production/by pheek

I’ had been thinking about recently how I should consolidate the many values, observations and principles I share regularly on this blog into a summary of music production methods and methodology. I regularly give feedback in our Facebook group and I find that I’m often repeating myself with regards to certain details and points that seem like basics. Not long ago, I wrote a post with a checklist to see if everything had been covered in order to know if your song is done, but what about a todo list to start? And what are the big points you should consider beforehand in order to avoid getting lost?

Let me describe my own mindset before I get to work on music in the early stages; it helps me greatly and I think I could also give you a boost in productivity.

The intention

Have you ever had sessions that were magical or others where you felt you did the same things, went horrible where you started to doubting what you’re doing? Making music seems like it should be as straight forward as playing a sport but it can’t be predicted or controlled, which can be frustrating. I’ve started noting down a common denominator in all my good sessions: they all had been started with a precise intention. What I mean by an intention is that beforehand – even before opening the session to work with – I’d spend some time developing a precise idea of what I wanted to do in that session. It could be simple sound design, mixing, arranging, or working on a client’s session.

I’d sum it by saying to myself “today, by the end of the day, I should have done X.” The X is a sort of a goal I can quantify easily, such as finishing the polishing of a track.

I also start sessions with something I do well and love doing; this important habit puts me in a good mood, helps my brain focus, and preparesme for bigger challenges.

The mood board

The term “mood board” is often used in visual design. It’s basically a pin board with all kind of images: the mood, aesthetics, concepts. Sometimes it can be a texture or drawing, but it can be also a few pictures; it becomes a reference for all the members of the team.

A example of a graphic mood board (image courtesy of https://www.sophierobinson.co.uk)

It’s basically the same in audio. I have a huge folder with music I like for use as references. I have also playlists on Youtube of each reference per client. I have yet another one on Soundcloud for ideas, inspiration, and arrangements. The audio quality of Soundcloud being not so great makes me use it more for ideas than anything mix/mastering related. Sometimes it’s songs, sometimes it’s just simple atmospheres or a weird tune just for its reverb (which I can use for convolution). There are new, amazing songs I see in my feed everyday and I really want to tag the ones I see. I honestly even have a mood board on Instagram/Pinterest. Some images help me generate sound ideas too. Yeah, I’m weird like that.

The main ingredient

In risotto for example, rice is the main ingredient but this dish can be altered in many different ways; audio works in the same way.

This main ingredient is the core of your next project. I often compare making music to making food; I find that relying on a first important ingredient helps to develop a theme for a song. The more you work on something, the more you’ll want to add. Remember that songs are split in sections and my rule is to have either one major change or one sound added per section. Songs have, in general, 3-4 sections. Some only have 2!

So, this means that your main ingredient could – in theory – have major changes 2-3 times maximum in a song to remain understandable. Of course, this is my personal rule. You might have totally other views and that’s alright. The main ingredient will also have brothers and sisters. I usually form a family of 3 sounds per song. The main ingredients will have 1 brother and 1 sister. The brother will be a similar to the main ingredient as a way to complete it. For example, a higher pitched note. The sister sound will be in opposition to the main ingredient. For example, if the main ingredient has a fast attack, the sister would have a slow attack.

Setting up these ideas really helps me see what I need quickly. But knowing this method doesn’t help find the actual sounds though. Sounds come to me in many ways: sampling something you love, using jams you did on some machine that you recorded, recycling older ideas, browsing Youtube’s infinite possibilities, going to a local store and buy the weirdest record you can find, learning a new way to design sound from a tutorial you watched, etc. The idea is to make material to manipulate.

FACT: When I hit a wall, I usually do a remix for someone I know, for fun. Remixing is easy and fun. You try to juggle the elements and keep some of them true to the original to make the remix recognizable in a way. In remixes, you’re given the main ingredient already, and then it’s up to creativity to do the rest.

The foundation of the house

I invite you to view your song as a dish, but now let’s also picture it as a house. To build one, you need a solid foundation. Solid is not about making it loud or big. It’s about being clear. In musical terms, we refer to the foundation as its fundamental note, it’s lowest part. Therefore, I find that setting a few notes in the bass/sub will give ideas, support for the melody to come in the mids. But if it’s muddy in the lows, the whole song will suffer.

TIP: Try to keep it to only 1-2 elements under 80hz.

A hook

Your song will be memorable for others if they can actually sing it back to someone who has never heard it. Ask a friend to see if that’s possible. If not, your song would be categorized as “intentional music” (in the same vein as percussive African music) where you can’t sing it. In techno, the whole movement of Romanian music is partly built around a combination of hook-songs vs no-hook-song. What makes it addictive is that you feel you can sing it back but not, and then when mixed, the interaction of 2 songs makes it reveal something you didn’t expect.

Do you need a hook? No. But if you never use hooks in your music, try to make one. Or if you only do music with hooks, try to make one that feels… empty. it’s a pretty difficult challenge to go out of your comfort zone but it can also make you discover things you didn’t know you could do.

David Lynch said:”Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you’ve got to go deeper.”

That’s all it for the first part on music production methods and methodology – I will provide more insights next week.

My Electronic Music Production Methodology: The Mothership (Part II)

Resisting the lust to be famous

September 7, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

While music fame and the desire to “get famous” might seem comical to some, I’m sure that if it doesn’t apply to you, perhaps there are some people in your network who have expectations to build a career in music production. It’s one thing to leave your mark, but it’s another when you have a very strong expectation to be famous. Why do I address this? Mainly because working with people I’ve noticed that many have this cyclical pattern of ups and downs, all based on how productive or successful they’ve been. The thing is, when you’re up, things are great of course, but the issue is how to deal with the lows.

In my career, I’ve learned a few things regarding how to deal with the lows. It comes down to perception mostly, but also to how you approach things. The thing is, no matter if you’re riding a high or a low, you are exactly the same. External factors can trigger frustrations but they’re not responsible of your emotions. While it is known that physically, making music can release some internal hormones that give pleasure just as a drug, on the flip side not being able to do music can also be hurtful.

Let’s debunk a few things that can help you surf more positive waves.

If you’re in music production to chase success, you’re in for a nightmare.

What is a successful release?

This is a good question; the definition of success can be based on multiple factors:

Sales. As you know, what might seem like a catastrophic release for one market could be a crazy success for another, with the same numbers. I can tell you that I had a time where 200 vinyl sales was a moment to open up a champagne bottle.
Reach. It’s so strange how some releases will have all the same amount of effort in marketing but one will pop on social medias and charts. It’s basically impossible to predict what will work and how much it will spread out. But sometimes, something that reaches out more than usual, might have next to no sales.
Media feedback. So you know, if you pay for PR, it will be between 150 to 1000 euros or more for a company to pass the music to medias, DJs, blogs and journalists. It doesn’t guarantee anything at all. But one thing you want is the music to gain momentum and if you start seeing comebacks here and there, that can be seen as a form of success.
Other artists’ appreciation. Charts, thumbs up, DJs dropping music in an event are all a form of success.

The thing is, these factors are all linked as you can see, in one way or the other. As a label owner, sometimes it becomes pretty frustrating to deal with artists who complain that you didn’t push hard enough because the previous release did better. Explaining it like a lottery might be the best way to put it out. The strangest thing is, sometimes some of the most talented artists I know make music that is exceptionally beautiful but it just doesn’t sell, reach or get any feedback; it’s as if people completely missed it. I’ve seen some releases on Archipel pop 7 years later because a known DJ played a track in an event, randomly. Thank you Shazam!

In the end, you are the one that can define your own success. Using numbers will help you greatly. “Being famous or known” can’t be measured, but selling 200 vinyls can. And since sometimes things move really slowly; sometimes patience can make a difference.

Over 20+ years of releasing music, I’ve come up with my own set of success measurements. One of them is based on a very tight circle of friends I share my music with once I’m done with a new song. If they all like it, then I know I have something I’ll be happy with down the road. Because one of the main issues with music making is to know if you’ll love your music later on. While you’re in it, you often lose perspective of its true potential

So what does success come down to?

1 – Create personal projects that matter: This is something really important here. Make music, finish your songs, make albums and share them with your friends. Hire someone to make a kickass artwork, make sure it sounds top notch and have something that makes you proud, even years later. Why? Because that is success, honestly. To have your own collection of homemade music is something that creates a portfolio and later on, if anyone looks back at your past work, they can see the dedication and work you put into it.

2- The 1/20 ratio: Keep in mind that one song out of 20 might get attention. Perhaps less. Keeping that ratio in mind, it really brings you down to earth and keeps you humble. Is it worth making music? Hell yes. Make tons of it. Don’t spend forever on that one song you believe will make you famous. Make tons of them, record daily at least one thing, one sound design, one loop… keep yourself engaged in what you love, because you love it, not because it will lead you anywhere.

3- Create your circle of validation: This will take time and patience but if you can find a circle of 5 people you love and that you know have similar tastes to you, then you can broadly share with them. Expect to be frustrated at times but be there to validate their work as well, and remain honest, diplomatic and constructive in any feedback. Make sure that some people of that circle are DJs that often play out so they can test your music in context, if that’s you’re goal. Bonus points if one of those DJs is a social media magician; he might refer you around. I also like to have someone that is very knowledgeable so I can bounce ideas of him/her regarding labels to send my music to.

And have fun!

How To Reinvent Your Sound

July 28, 2018/in Blog, Production, Sound Design/by pheek

If you’re finding that all your tracks are starting to sound too similar, there are a number of ways you can reinvent your sound. A while back, I wrote an article about how sometimes we feel that our music always ends up sounding the same. I did a test with friends and asked them to import their last 10 tracks into Ableton Live to compare each of the tracks’ wave forms. Visually, this immediately reveals if their track structures are the same. For instance, some people always introduce the hi-hats after 4 bars and will pause the kick just before. Others will put a first break after 2 minutes, then another one pretty much at the same place every time. We have habits and preferences in music; it’s possible to end up going down the same road with each track.

If you take music production seriously, you’ll want to pay extra attention to how you present your art. If you always stick with the same routines and habits, you might have difficulty keeping things interesting, especially if multiple labels want to work with you. Let’s discuss a few important points improve your sound, without losing the sound signature you might have already developed.

Know yourself first

You can’t change or reinvent yourself if you aren’t aware of your routines. What do you want to change or upgrade in your sound? Sometimes you know easily, but other times it’s important to answer this question. There are two major ways you can answer this question, but first you’ll need to gather all the tracks you’ve made in the last months and listen to them (or have a friend listen to them which can be better as there will be no bias) to determine what commonalities they share.

Another way, which is what I do, is to open your last bunch of project files and look at the arrangements. There will be something you might be doing regularly that needs to change. Once you know, the best thing to do is to start taking notes in the project itself by putting markers where you tend to do a specific thing. Put as many markers as possible then delete the content and make that new project your starting template for your future projects.

Are you always using the same kick? The same samples? The same synth? Reverb? If you’re always using the main effects that are included in your DAW, don’t forget that thousands of other people are also using those effects, and perhaps it’s time for an upgrade to new VSTs. Some are very affordable too. What’s very interesting is how sometimes we don’t realize we use the same samples. If you use analog gear, this might end up becoming an issue unless you add a bit of color or personality to your sounds somehow. Machines are often limited to what they can do and will depend on outside help.

For instance, if you always use the same type of kick or clap, perhaps you can start layering it with something else.

TIP: This is the longest part of the process but it will pay off – use friends to collect intensive feedback or our Facebook group.

Seek inspiration

This is the fun part and it demands a bit of an open mind. I would encourage you to do these things:

Who are your main inspirations in music? which artists do you like? Try to find out what/who inspire them. Perhaps it’s an unknown artist or something completely different. For instance, Bruno Pronsato is an ex-rock drummer and that has been a big influence on him. Pretty often you’ll find that some artists do get inspiration very different from the type of music they themselves make.
Try to listen to randomly selected music. This can be from the radio that you swipe around or from Spotify. There’s also a plugin VST named Radio that is pretty cool for that. It allows you to stream the radio directly in your DAW, and record it – an endless source of ideas. It also offers random channels to listen to.
Go back to oldies. If you lack ideas, try exploring different eras such as the 80s, 70s, etc. You can also dive in the vast world of jazz, hip hop, folk, world music, or indie rock to name a few. Create yourself a playlist and note down some ideas you like and see in them.

The most important question to ask when you listen to other music is to ask yourself what made that song famous. Is it the quality of the voice of the singer? Some innovating technique? Some use of effect? Every song has a story and it can be very insightful to understand what it is.

TIP: If you lack ideas, dive into electro-acoustics, Musique Concrète or Free Jazz. It’s not for the faint of heart but it’s full of ground-breaking ideas.

Think Modular

Reaktor by Native Instruments

I don’t mean modular synths here – when I say “think modular“, I mean that it’s time to become a crafting master in Ableton. Here are a few tool suggestions that can help you improve:

Reaktor. Reaktor is a monster. If you’re not already into it, check out Native Instruments’ demo to try it. It will be intimidating at first but it pays off, creatively speaking. There’s a huge community exchanging patches made with it and the blocks series is a good alternative and introduction to modular synths. The cool part is finding free tools that can be tied together and rebuilt into an instruments of your own. Many artists like to build one patch which becomes the tool in their next 5-10 tracks, then it evolves into something else. The strength of Reaktor is that it can be used as a synth or as effects.
MXXX.
MXXX By Melda Production

MXXX is for effects. It is very, very powerful as you can create complex chain of effects into one space, then automate multiple at once. I’m pretty addicted to this tool for sound design but also for mixing where I can fix some issues.
Reason. Reason (a DAW) has a more visual approach and sounds incredibly amazing. There’s something very playful about it by plunging virtual cables in the UI. The last version is simply outstanding and won awards in 2017. Link it to Ableton to combine forces. Ableton can send notes to Reason and you rewire the sound back into your project.
Bitwig. I find this DAW is very advanced and if you’re new to music production, it will be a challenge to learn. Since it’s very similar to Ableton, the transition is pretty fluid. I find the way the plugins work together is extremely creative and easy, without killing CPU. You can add randomizers and LFOs to pretty much anything and for that alone, it’s worth using. I often come to Bitwig for advanced sound design.
Goodheartz. Goodheartz is a collection of super nice plugins. There are many modular options but I like these because of their high quality and the fact that they don’t push CPU too hard.
Modular by Softubes. This plugin is the most impressive take on real modular synths out there. You have software equivalent of real hardware, a bit like Universal Audio’s version of hardware mixing tools.
VCV.
VCV Rack (credit: VCV website)

VCV is all the new hype – a free, open source environment and also an interpretation of hardware components. It does have a learning curve but the results are fun and it will certainly get you out of your comfort zone.

TIP: Abuse demos and trials! Try everything, record all your sessions and use them as wave files in a project. The plugins that are the most exciting should be considered to be added to your shopping list.

Collaborate

Collaboration is the most important in order to help you break from your habits. If you can find someone who lives close by that you can visit to produce in someone’s studio, hang out, listen to music and talk production, it will bring you a lot of fresh ideas. Don’t limit yourself to people who make the same music as you. It can be a guitar player or a singer. Sometimes if you can try to work on a new song with someone else, it will work your creative mind and force it to explore techniques you might have never been exposed to. Collaborating online is also very refreshing. Find people on Soundcloud and see if you can befriend them to eventually work with them, or remix them. It can be someone in a field that is totally out of your “normal”.

The musician’s double life: making money from music

July 11, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

I’ve been working with musicians for quite a while, and it’s no secret that making money from music alone is huge undertaking because we all know that revenue streams are hard to come by. In many cases, I’ve observed how many musicians often have a double life that they’re trying to deal with. I’d like to share how this is often an aspect of being an artist that can be misinterpreted by the artist him/herself.

I’ll start with my own background.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been interested in anything art related. In the early 80’s, I convinced my dad to rent a camera so I could direct my own movies with my friends. We made cowboy movies and later on, in high school, I was really interested in theatre. When I was in college I was getting more serious about theatre but to secure my future, I decided to go in Social Science and Psychology.

This is the case for many people I work with: they live the double life of having another job because making music won’t pay the bills. I often see people who believe that because they do music, they should be able to automatically make a living from it, but making a living from music takes a long, long time. I find that if you want to live off music, it’s better not to do it full time for a while. There are multiple benefits in avoiding music as a full-time job, even though that might be your dream. Let me explain:

You may run in a creative burnout. This is something I explained in a past post and it becomes a problem when pursuing music full-time. If music is really important and fun for you, turning it into a job will completely change how you approach it. You’ll have to put aside a good part of your creativity to find ways to monetize it, and then you’re sort of stuck again in that you’re not making music full time. One thing I realized when I made this jump is, for the quantity of music you need to make to gather enough money to make a living, you need to not only make tons, but you’ll need to reinvent yourself every year. If you don’t want to saturate your market, it is recommended not to release more than 3 times a year. So then, yeah, you need to DJ or perform, and then, again, you’ll spend you time dealing with all the business aspects of that, plus dealing with a very competitive live music market.

TIP: Living off music full time is possible if you have a very solid basis and money saved up beforehand.

You need money for your studio. It’s no secret, electronic music is probably the most expensive music to create. Technology keeps evolving, as well as sound, plus computers quickly become old so you’ll have to allow yourself a budget for constant research and investment. If you count on hacked software to provide you with this solution, you’ll likely have to deal with the loss of your productions at some point because something goes wrong.

Some of the best ideas don’t come up in studio. How many times have you been washing dishes or on a walk, and then have a really amazing idea for a song? Taking distance from what you do is one of the best, most valuable ways to see your craft from a different angle. In my post about Non-Linear Production, I suggested taking many breaks and days off. Working on other things (like a blog), gives my brain a break to regenerate and come up with new ideas for making new songs.

Convert your other abilities into something creative. Every side-skill you have can be used in relation to your music or art hobby. This is one thing I approach in coaching, where I see how a person can combine both music skills and non-music skills. For instance, someone in finance can help other musicians making budgets or find ways they ignore to generate financial income. All you need to do is to see where you can contribute to your community and to surround yourself with other artists – a good way to be immersed into your music world.

What’s mostly important to realize however, is how many artists have this feeling that they’re in the “wrong place” when they’re not in the studio working on music. Some of the people I have worked with were working in schools, IT, restaurants, design, architecture, networking, or writing to name a few. The area where your more traditional career skills overlap with making music is a great place to start thinking about how you can make money from music.