Deconstructing A Reference Track

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Note: This article is partly related to the Non-Linear Music Production technique explained in my previous post. It offers a complementary method for finding inspiration in your workflow.

Now that you’ve been exposed to my non-linear approach to music production, you know that the early stages of production are focused on building ideas and content. Once that has been attacked, you can start looking into creating a temporary structure for a loop. If you’ve also checked out my One Loop Per Day challenge on YouTube, then you’ll see that the following step is to build a storyline around the idea.

One of the best and fastest ways is to devote your time to carefully analyzing the work of artists you admire. This entails actively analyzing and interpreting others’ work within your DAW so as to carve out a path that you can easily implement in your own production.

But before you dive into your sources of influence and follow the process outlined below, I’d like you to consider this famous quote:

“Art is theft” – Pablo Picasso

 

Step 1: Finding Your Track

  • Pick a track that you really like and whose arrangements you would like to more or less imitate.
  • Make sure that the track is un-warped so that it doesn’t sync with your DAW’s BPM, and so that it’s unaffected by any transient markers you might have set.
  • If your track is in Ableton’s Session View, drag it into the Arrangement View by hovering over the 3 vertical lines at the top-right corner of your screen, or by simply pressing the tab key.

 

Deconstructing a reference track Step 1: Find your track

 

Step 2: Correcting Grid Settings

  • In order to properly match the grid with your track’s tempo so that you can use the waveform to spot what happens at what time, you need to find the BPM. You can do this in many ways, by:
    • Finding your track on Beatport. The track information should include its key and BPM.ableton, arrangements
    • Accessing the track’s metadata by right-clicking on it in Windows and then clicking on “Properties>Details” (if it’s available).
    • Finding the BPM on your own using Ableton’s Tempo Tap.
      • Make sure to tap “tempo” in the Session View or else it will fall out of sync in the Arrangement View.
    • Type in the appropriate BPM.
      • Manually adjust the track with Ableton’s grid so that the sections of your track begin on beat.

 

Deconstructing a reference track in Ableton, Step 2: Correcting Beat Grid

 

  • Picture4You will notice this will help you to analyze your track’s arrangements by determining at which bar a section will start.e.g.: The breakdown starts at 80 bars.
    • Feel free to cut out any elements such as silence,noise, or “pre-intros” before the actual intro, as in my example above.

 

Step 3: Placing Markers and Locators

  • If your sections are starting on beat and are properly aligned with Ableton’s grid, this is where you will be able to start learning how tracks are arranged.
  • Listen to the track a couple of times, and marPicture5k its waveform with appropriate section locators. To do this:
    • Right-click in the Scrub Area.
    • Click on “Add Locator.”
  • Mark all relevant sections with locators throughout the whole song. It should look like this:
    • Note that you can label your sections however you wish, depending on the style of music you’re writing. You don’t need to call a section a chorus, for example, if you just want to call it A or B.

 

Deconstructing a reference track, Step 3: Placing Locators

 

Step 4: Analyzing

Now for the important part…

  • Pull out Ableton’s Loop Brace in the Scrub Area above the track’s waveform, and stretch it from the beginning of a musical section to its end (from verse to chorus).
  • Count the amount of bars there are within that section by subtracting the last bar of the section from its first.
    • Example: If your section starts at 61 and ends at 93, do 93-61. That’s 32 bars.
  • Count the amount of bars for each section and you’ll start to notice when new elements emerge: sections and themes begin and end every 8 to 32 bars. That’s just how dance music works.
  • For example:In dance music, sections begin and end every 8 to 32 bars.
    • Everything works in multiples of 4.
    • You won’t hear a new section begin on bar 5 unless you’re not writing in 4/4.
  • Once you analyze how many bars are within a section,it becomes easy to understand how long your instrumental arrangements should be and where to place them in your own track.
    • Example: “My reference track has a chorus that lasts 16 bars. It also has a pad for that entire section. I can apply this to my own productions by placing a pad in my chorus for 16 bars only and making sure that it doesn’t overlap with the bridge.”

 

Step 5: Taking Notes

Once you map the structure of the track with locators, it’s important to take note of all the musical elements that come into play for each section. This is how you’ll get to understand what to place and when within the sections of your own track.

  • You can take notes down on a piece of paper, or even simpler, directly into Ableton’s clips. Here’s how:
    • Split the waveform into multiple clips by clicking on it and pressing [CTRL+E/CMD+E], or right-clicking on it and then selecting “Split.”
    • Once you’ve split the waveform into multiple clips, write down the most important elements for each section.
    • Then right-click on the Ableton clip and select “Edit info text.”
  • For the build-up section, you can write things like “white noise sweeps, risers, automated filter cut-off, percussion repeating faster and faster,” etc.

In Ableton, you can save notes directly in the clips

 

Bonus Tip: Creating Ghost MIDI Clips

The last trick I want to show you for deconstructing your Bonus Tip: Creating Ghost MIDI Clipsreference tracks element by element is to create ghost MIDI clips for every instrument. This is the best way to learn from other people’s tracks, because it will allow you to break them down layer by layer.

  • Create MIDI channels for every instrument you hear in a section, and label them.
  • Make sure there’s nothing in them.

Using this method, you can even go as far as deleting your chosen reference track and just filling in the MIDI skeleton with your own synths, pads, drums, effects and more! You’ll have the same arrangements as the artist you chose to mimic, but it will be your sound!

SEE ALSO :  Where to Get Fresh New Ideas for Tracks

When Do You Know A Track Is Finished?

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Are you one of those perfectionists that has a hard time finishing a project because they feel there’s always one more detail that needs fixing? I’ve published a few posts with tips on how to finish tracks, but maybe you’re still spending countless hours on minor tweaks. You’re not alone. I’ve long been like that too, but with time I’ve learned to find a happy balance between embracing my perfectionist side and staying spontaneous.

bridge-593148_1280I remember seeing a very inspiring video about Fellini, who felt that the only art possible was that which emerged from spontaneity, not from trying to control the uncontrollable. In other words, if you try to control your initial impulses, you might ruin what your instincts had naturally proposed. Overworking your production, after all, often comes from being excessively concerned with others’ feedback, but that’s completely out of your hands.

For all you know, people might love the exact things you were trying to suppress.

Here’s where it can become a problem:

You’ve been adjusting (and readjusting) the same project for months. Each time you listen to your track, you hear some new detail that you’d forgotten about or hadn’t noticed before.

This might be because:

You’re spending too much time on your track in one sitting. If you spend 4 hours in a row on a track, you’ll lose the perspective you need to hear things properly. I’ve stressed this before, but I always recommend taking tons of breaks, and to space out your sessions too. Letting your project sit for a few days before opening it again can really help. A week is even better. Months can do magic.

Your listening environment might not be perfect. This is why listening outside can help you figure out what needs tweaking. Try to always refer back to tracks that you know sound right, and insert your track into the same playlist. You can then put your player on shuffle to discover if your track sounds like it fits in.

But remember: achieving perfection is an illusion. What you hear on the 1000th listen is only what someone who has been listening to a track on non-stop repeat will hear. The chances are very low that anyone on earth will listen to your track as much as you do. And even if they did, by that point there’s actually a mental mechanism that kicks in, where people’s brains will adapt their perceptions to the track so as to accept it as it is. This might be a bit hard to swallow at first, but it is factual.

poteryTo cite a good example, every time I play live, I’ll spend innumerable hours preparing my sounds in advance. But then as I’m juggling with them live, they’re only being played for a few minutes each. The ones I think don’t sound so great are often perceived as really cool by the crowds. People will think that the sound, as they heard it, was made that way for a reason. They’re not totally wrong. You’ve created your music in a specific environment, and that is how your music sounds — there. Even if you get a mastering engineer to look over it all and make sure it sounds right, it’s honestly very rare that they’ll adjust more than 3 or 4 things at most.

Which is all to say that spending countless hours on that snare just might be a bit overkill.

In conclusion, you never really know if your track will be done. It is just a matter of accepting to move on and leave that track living it’s own, watching where it will end and accomplish. Go focus on the next work. You can always leave a track sleeping for a few months and get back to it later. That is always a way to see what’s left to be done.

SEE MORE:  What Is A Mature Sounding Track?

Where to Get Fresh New Ideas for Tracks

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Jazz drummer in a nightclubOne of the questions I used to get the most from my students was how to come up with new ideas when making music. Unlike with jazz or rock, the options for creating electronic sounds are limitless, and so the range of electronic music genres and sub-genres is vast. Because of this, it becomes particularly easy to get lost in the innumerable possibilities and directions your music could take.

 

For many, just the pressure of trying to come up with new ideas can generate a writer’s block. And asking someone like me for tips on where to start could also lead to more questions, since I’ve developed my own ways of approaching the process over the years. With that said, I’ve personally found it essential to bear these 3 things in mind:

  1. Music is a shared experience. The more you live your music, the clearer your ideas get.
  2. Your experience of the music may not be the same as the listener’s. Let go of your desire for people to “get it,” and accept that they might see or feel something you don’t.
  3. Creativity starts with embracing the endless recycling of sounds and ideas. Don’t think you’ll reinvent the wheel, if you know what I mean. Expectations kill creativity.

While you might have an intellectual understanding of the whole process of making music, there’s another dimension, that of intuition and feelings. So this involves two things:

  1. Jamming. Play with gear, softwares.
  2. Recycling. Inspiration from other songs, samples, presets, artists.

Everyone’s different, but if you think of bands for example, they jam together for a while until they uncover an idea they like. Then they will nail it down or record it to make it into a song. But before they can get there, they need to just let loose, go wild, and explore. In jazz, it’s well known that the masters would play for hours on end in little clubs, pushing themselves beyond the point of exhaustion until they reached a level of pure creativity, discovering new paths that they never would have found in a short session.

Basically, your brain needs a little push. You can’t just sit there and think you’ll have something fresh and innovative by opening your DAW and tweaking for 30 minutes. It demands patience, and giving yourself the permission to get a bit wild and break your own rules.

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Many people find that jamming isn’t really their thing, and they’ll get great ideas if they already have material to work from. This is why sampling has become so popular in the last 30 years. Musicians take something they love, and then change the context to give it a whole new life. Using other people’s music can a bit of a legal nightmare though, so thankfully, as you know, there are tons of options out there — but maybe the best way is to learn to make your own sounds.

 

Fact: Doing arrangements in your DAW isn’t really “playing your music.”  Have you developed the skill of playing it?

This is why learning to jam can be really useful. But how do you do it?

Try this simple exercise:

  1. Open any soft synth in your DAW, and pick a preset or make yourself one.
  2. Write a few few notes, but keep it simple. Play it in a loop.
  3. Play with the parameters and record everything. Also, record the midi in case you’ll be changing that.
  4. Listen to what you recorded, isolate the best parts, and then jam over it some more.
  5. Repeat.

That’s it. You’re jamming. You have no idea how many people don’t realize how easy it is until they try it. And how fun. Just do it and PLAY your music.

On a final note, remember that inspiration also comes from listening to music, and lots of it — whether it’s music in the genre you want to make or something completely different, since you can translate ideas into your own world. One thing people sometimes forget is how listening to music with friends or in another context (walking, driving, commuting) can be especially useful, since it provides perspective on how the sound feels when doing daily activities. Ideas will then sprout.

SEE MORE:  Recycling Your Tracks Into Fresh New Ideas

The Rule Of 10: Production in Rotation for Big Results

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I was speaking with a friend about my approach to making music, and I explained my rule of 10. Most people, especially new producers, will work a song until it’s done. But this is actually a huge mistake. The reason is simple:

after working hours on the same track, these guys have a hard time knowing if it’s still good or making any sense at all.

Plus they fall into the trap of tweaking things endlessly for that one track.

You might already see how this can be quite limiting from a learning perspective. Or maybe you don’t agree. So let me throw a few ideas out there that could help you jumpstart your inspiration.

tomato-676532_1920Let’s compare making music to planting vegetables. You’re not going to plant one tomato plant and then wait for it to produce a tomato before planting something else, are you? To get big crops, you’ll need to plant a whole bunch at once, and nurture them all at the same time. Then you harvest.

The same goes for your songs. Start multiple at a time, and while one is progressing, don’t hesitate to stop yourself and let it sleep for a week or two, especially when you’re entering a very productive phase. This is to make sure you’re always fresh when you open a project and know exactly what needs to be done next. You’ll observe that your perspective on your work will be more accurate. If you open your project and it’s a mess, leave it to rest some more, or maybe recycle it into another, ongoing project.

There are two approaches to the rule of 10:

10 different projects.

Create 10 folders, and drop an Ableton project that you want to develop into each. Also, take the time to insert reference tracks that you love. This is music that you’d like your project to sound like but not necessarily mimic. Don’t hesitate to drop anything in there — get some classical or jazz, record some field recordings, anything. No rules should limit you.

You should also do some careful sample hunting on a site like Splice, for instance. Drop various sounds in there you like, along with presets you want to use. Save some in there in a specific folder.

1 project, 10 songs.

This one might surprise you, but I love this trick.

Open one project and build your 10 songs inside it, one after the next. They will all share the same number of channels, effects, and so on.

This is also an excellent way to keep a particular mood from one song to another.

You will run into interesting results by having some sounds go through the effect chain from the previous song. You can also be creative and not use all the same hi-hats in the same channel. For example, one song could use channel 3 for claps, then the same channel for toms. Don’t alter the EQ and compression on the other tracks. Try instead to take advantage of the settings from the previous track to see how to tweak the following one.

party-629240_1280It’s rare that you’ll think you can create multiple songs in one project, but the idea came to me while I was turning parts of a live set into various songs. I thought it was really interesting to try a different way of working.

For me, two things have always enabled new ideas: limitations, and being forced to work or think in a new way. Both go hand in hand. I know that most people feel like the more gear and gizmos they have, the more productive they’ll be. Yet getting more usually leads to procrastination, since you feel confident that you can do it in the end. I call that the runner’s syndrome: you bought your running shoes and shorts, so you feel you can run. But are you, really?

SEE MORE:  Spending Long Hours in the Studio

Find a track tester for your productions

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This might be one important post, so consider taking 5 minutes to go through it carefully. You probably already know how important it is to test the music you’re creating, but the big question is, how do you test your music effectively?

you need DJs who will test your music properly

First, there are a few traps people fall into. I’ve said it many times, but succumbing to the myth that your music isn’t important if it isn’t signed to a label is a very common mistake — even for experienced producers. No joke. The truth is that your music is important simply because it’s yours. It deserves real love and attention, and that means proper treatment.

So how do you make sure to test your music properly?

In a word: you need beta-testers.

Track testers are experienced DJs who regularly play in all kinds of events, both big and small. The fact that someone plays often will ensure that your music gets inserted into their sets alongside other tracks, and that it will be heard by live crowds. The great news is that thanks to the internet, you can work with DJs across the globe and test its reception in different countries.

Here are a few tips on how to proceed:

Find a track tester to test your music properly Follow artists/DJs on Soundcloud. I’ve said it in past posts, but the importance of connecting with people on Soundcloud can’t be overstated. If you follow artists and DJs and engage with them, you can make some great contacts that will be beneficial to you both. Find people who enjoy, support, and comment on the music you really love. This is a good way to make sure the people you invest your time and energy into genuinely share the same tastes, which is a crucial factor in finding your beta-tester.

Share music in private. If you’ve gotten into the game of sending music to labels only to have your experiences end in frustration, then working in a one-on-one setting can be much more interesting. Don’t just send a random link to a DJ though. Take the time to connect with the person first, and then share a track after you’ve made contact. It feels special to receive music privately after a nice introduction — and even more so if the music fits.

Get feedback and tweak. This part is a bit trickier. If you want the DJ to play your song in a club, you’ll need to let them download it first. Be sure your mixdown is right, and it’s even better if the track is mastered too. Once the track is played, try to follow up to get some feedback. Be clear that you’re not fishing for compliments, but that you’re genuinely seeking constructive criticism. This is the only way to improve your track.

And very importantly, make sure the person will not share the track with their DJ friends! 

difficult producerYou have no control over this of course, and that’s why you need to be extra careful about whom you share your music with. I’ve seen some really awkward situations where unreleased material accidentally got into the hands of a vast network of people. There are even online groups where members create pools of music to be shared abroad. If your music finds it way into one of these groups, the good news is that you’ll be known by a lot of music collectors (who for the most part aren’t DJs). The bad news, though, is that your track will have been burned, and there’s basically no way to release it after that.

So sometimes, a smart strategy could be to sacrifice a great track you feel could get you attention, even if it means giving it away. If it works, then the benefit in the end could be much higher than the loss. I myself have done this multiple times with netlabels, and it often paid off.

 

SEE MORE:  Guide to shameless self-promotion

Conversations with Clients: Luis Rivera

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

♦   ♦   ♦

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Luis Rivera (LRb) is using Pheek's song finalization and analog mastering services to prepare his first EP

How did you find out about Pheek’s services?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Check out Luis Rivera (LRb) on Soundcloud here.

—

This interview has been edited.

Learn Mixing At MUTEK’s Panel Workshop

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Learn more about the workshop here!

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

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

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

Why?

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can register here.

 

Music Production And Studio Tips

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

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

Studio tip 1: Naps can provide your brain with a needed reset to feel productive againWhen it doesn’t feel right, stop. Do you ever get to that moment when you finally have the time and space to make music (sometimes life is a hustle!), but after a few minutes, you realize that it sounds terrible? The weird thing is how in your last session, that same loop or track felt amazing, right? Well, there are a few things you can do here, but before you delete anything, try this:

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

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

Studio tips: Take pauses often, and space out your studio sessions by 2-3 days.Take pauses, often. I’ll never say it enough, but working a long, extended session is one of the least productive ways to work. You’ll lose your references, as well as your ability to evaluate your own work. Taking a pause is not only important to give your ears a break. When you start up again, you’ll have a fresher perspective on what’s working and what’s not.

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEE ALSO: Spending Long Hours in the Studio

Create an Ableton Live Session Template

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After months of seeing clients repeat the same mistakes in Ableton Live, I thought, “If only I could provide them with a session template to use as a default, it would help them so much.” It’s not that I wanted to free myself from fixing certain things, but I really believe that having a good starting point is the key to jumpstarting our projects.

And so, here it is! Below I describe the Ableton session template, and provide some tips to help you along:


Label each channel in Ableton Live's session viewLabel each channel. As silly as this sounds, labelling your channels is a very easy way to see what’s going on in a glimpse. Especially if you have a sound engineer like me working with you, when you swap projects, you avoid having to re-explain yourself all the time. It’s also very practical to colour-code each sound family. Organization can only do you good.

 

Group sound families. If you have multiple percussion samples like hi-hats or toms, it will be way easier for you if you group them and then EQ them all at once. Adding some compression evenly will also help glue them together,

Cut bad frequencies out. Anything below the fundamental frequency of a sound can potentially be problematic, as it can add a certain muddiness. I suggest you use the EQ to cut it down until you start noticing the sound becoming thinner.

DJ mixer, electronic music, Ableton LivePut the kick in the first channel. This is a simple detail, but keeping the kick in a highly visible place can be very practical, because you’ll often come back to it to adjust something. If it’s up there in plain sight, you won’t lose time looking for it.

Keep the low end in mono. This is to avoid phase problems. It’s also a must if your track will be heading for vinyl pressing later.

Sidechain your bass for clarity. You’ll get a clearer distinction if they’re sidechained, and punchier mixes. When the frequencies are close together, both sounds won’t be fighting to be heard.

Make macros. It’s important to create macros out of your most frequently used effects. This way, you’ll have your tools ready and reusable.

dj mixer, EQ, effects, DJHave an EQ on each channel. This is the most important tip on this list!

Put your reverb in a send channel. I often see projects with 5-10 reverb plugins. No human ear can notice all of that though, so you might as well just have one in a send channel, and then any of the sounds that need reverb can be adjusted to various degrees. If one isn’t enough, have multiple reverbs in multiple send channels.

Put a limiter on the master. This is to avoid clipping.

The final step is to go in the File Menu and select “Save as template…”

 

 

So that’s the list. To download the Ableton Live session template, join my coaching program on Patreon.

Simple Sound Design Tips

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I’ve been giving some classes since the beginning of the year, and I noticed certain questions around sound design that kept coming up while I’d be sharing other tips. I thought I’d share them with everyone so it can benefit more than one person out there.

Recently I was in a café, and I had a little exchange with the barista about what I do. “I’d consider myself a sound designer, though technically I’m an audio producer,” I told him while adding some sugar to my tea. “Dude, that makes no sense to me… Are you a DJ?” he asked back.

Sound design should be seen as carving matter into sculpture.That’s the thing, right? The DJ is the one that people see in public doing all the work and making people dance. But behind the scenes, there are the people who gave the tracks he/she plays their magic aura.

“I’m the DJ’s best friend, his best kept secret,”

was my only answer, with an enigmatic grin. I sort of prefer leaving some mystery around what I do. Even if I shared a few tips, there would always be so much more to say. Plus, the more you know, the more you realize how little you know.

So here are a few tips.

Use Ableton’s Live’s session view as your mad scientist’s lab.

The most common mistake I see from clients, either when I do mixing or help them with their unfinished tracks, is that they use the arrangement view to make their sound design.

The session view, while mainly used to jam, rehearse and perform, is perfect to make a loop and then mangle it until it becomes something completely new.

Tip: Ableton Live's session view is best for sound design. Don't use the arrangement view!TRY: Loop a 1-bar percussion sample and then add a bunch of effects on the same channel. Record yourself for a brief moment while you play with knobs. You may also record your actions to be able to see what you did later. You can then go and edit your actions as automations in the arrangement mode, which will give you cutting-edge precision.

TIP: Go into the resampled session of yourself playing, and then isolate some interesting sounds. Copy the clip with the interesting sounds below the original (master) clip. Now you’ll have variations of the first one.

Bring your designed sounds into your mix.

Looking at your session view now, you should have the original sound clips of the main elements of your track, but you should also have many variations. Swap certain clips of your mix with the clip variations. This will greatly help.

TRY: When you do your sound design, make sure you have your original song playing in the background. This will allow you to improvise on top of it, while maintaining the feeling of the main concept.

TIP: Evolving sounds in a song is a great way to keep your track feeling alive and human.

Your kick drum should be the last sound you design.

Tip: Your kick drum should be the last sound you designThis one is super important, and I hear a lot of people messing this part up. Your kick should not be the first sound to be designed in your track. People often select their percussions and build their track on top of it. This is a mistake, as your original percussion can be swapped for other percussive elements later on as you keep adding new sounds to the song.

TIP: Once your track is pretty much done, see if you can go and change that kick for a new one. Your jaw will drop once you hear how much changing a kick can dramatically change your track’s direction. Why? Because the kick is there to unify the whole concept. But when you start a new track, you have no idea where it might end up, and so the kick selected at first won’t be appropriate anymore.

SEE ALSO : Dynamic Sound Layering and Design

Making the Choice To Be Exclusive to a Label

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You might have heard of record labels asking for exclusivity, or maybe you’ve at least heard the term mentioned in one way or another. But what does it entail exactly, and how should you approach the decision if you’re ever faced with such an offer?

In another post, I shared a personal story of mine where I had the chance to commit to a huge label and bring my career to the next level — but I refused. It’s the kind of moment that doesn’t happen many times, but when it comes, it calls for careful reflection before making a decision. In my case, it was hard to seek advice from friends, as not many of them had been in the same situation before. I followed my gut feeling, and opted to follow my dreams without considering the possible outcomes.

All and all, there are a few questions to consider:

    • Where do I see myself in 5 years, musically speaking?
    • How can this exclusivity arrangement help me reach that goal?

 

So that should pretty much form the basis of your reflections.

While it’s hard to imagine ourselves down the road or even to give ourselves a reality check on how achievable our goals are, it is still quite essential to develop a vision of where we want to go. There will be certain things you have in mind, and if you have a firm idea of your goals, it will make it easier to decide whether you should commit to being exclusive to a label or not.

For the DJ and producer, the label you're exclusive to should cover a lot of ground The DJ and producer

Being one doesn’t exclude the other, and while you can do both individually, the winning combination is to do at least some of both. This way you can create a great release, for example, and you’ll be able to tour to promote it, which then brings you more requests for new releases, and then more gigs, and so on. The wheel spins organically. In this case, if you commit to a label, you will need this label to cover a lot of ground for you because there will be a lot of opportunity.

 

The entrepreneurLabel exclusivity might not work well for the entrepreneur

You want a label, you want to do a bit of everything, and you want to be in control because you like things done your way. This is pretty much a scenario that many people see themselves in, but if you’re not an entrepreneur, it is a difficult road to choose. More power brings more responsibilities, but also all the freedom to express yourself. In this case, exclusivity doesn’t work well for you.

The studio artist

This means that you prefer producing to DJing, and that you’re not so interested in heading out to the clubs to tour. This is a tricky road. Exclusivity can be interesting to you because you will have a platform for your releases, and you can still use aliases to release elsewhere. But to make this worthwhile, your flagship label will have to be a major outlet.


Being exclusive to a music label can work well for some artists/producersBeing dedicated to a label

Some artists want to be with a label and plan all their projects around it. They will be okay not creating many releases, will want to tour using the team’s contacts, and they’ll feel comfortable with everything the label does. The great thing about this is that you’re part of the label’s brand. This can make your own image and sound more powerful in a way, because you’ll be part of a collective of artists who you admire, and who will shape the label’s identity. If you produce a bit less, this outcome might be well suited for you.

 

SEE ALSO :  Are online communities replacing labels?

Choosing Track Finalization over Ghost Producing

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A lot of you might already know what ghost producing is, and you might even have some pretty strong feelings about it. For those who aren’t familiar with the term:

Ghost producing is having your track made from scratch, with your instructions, by another producer.

What you might be more surprised to find out, though, is that many producers — even the most pro or successful ones — sometimes get others to finalize their tracks for them. I can tell you, for example, that even some big-name artists on the Minus label get Richie Hawtin to finalize their songs. But despite how common it is, there’s unfortunately still a sort of stigma around outsourcing your track finalization, and it’s easy to understand.

So first, let’s get this out of the way: song finalization is not the same as ghost production. Track finalization is nothing to be ashamed about, as the song is still the creative work of the producer. Let’s begin with a definition:

Track finalization is having another producer suggest ideas on how to get to a finished product based on your initial ideas.

 

Track finalization: The sources of a stigma

Back at the beginnings of electronic music in the early 1990s, DJs and producers had to be technicians too. You simply couldn’t get very far as an artist without being a jack-of-all-trades and an expert in the hardware of sound engineering and music production. It came with the territory, and DJs and producers prided themselves on their resourcefulness.


The stigma around track finalization (getting others to finalize your songs) can be partly traced to the DIY culture of electronic music production

This DIY nature of electronic music culture became so deeply rooted that when laptops and software began taking off in the early 2000s, many seasoned producers and DJs bristled at the intrusion of laptops into live performances. I remember the very first MUTEK festival in 2000, when the novel machines began appearing on stage with one performer after the next — it was such an alien sight that no one knew how to react! Many of us viewed their use as a form of cheating at first, but it soon became clear that the game had changed.

Music technology continued to develop at an exponential pace, making electronic music-making accessible for more and more people. One impact of this, however, has been to make it seem like electronic music production is so easy… that anyone can do it! Well obviously, it’s much more complicated than that.

If anything, the proliferation of producers has actually made it harder to stand out from the pack. Meanwhile, the infinite musical possibilities opened up by the digital revolution have made it that much easier to get overwhelmed. Where once your kick drum would be a 909, for example, now there are thousands of options to choose from. Sometimes the best creative surges come when you’re faced with constraints, but pure freedom, while it seems tempting, can make it easier to get lost and lose your focus.

Reaching out to others to help you finalize your songs is a form of creative collaborationTrack finalization as creative collaboration

The truth is that even the most experienced artists get writer’s block, and every producer is likely to have a hard drive full of tracks that they never got around to finishing for a variety of reasons. Chances are that there is at least one great album or a few EPs in there waiting to be unearthed and brought to fruition. So what’s holding you back?

Chilean producer Dandy Jack once told me that the day he understood that a shared victory was way more meaningful than doing it alone, his entire perspective on collaboration changed.

dandy jack told me that his perspective on creative collaboration changed when he realized the value of a shared victoryHaving a trusted hand finalize your tracks can be an antidote to writer’s block and a gateway to beautiful and fulfilling creative collaborations. Unlike ghost producing, track finalization isn’t about substituting for your own creativity, but about gaining a fresh and friendly perspective to help you out of a rut. In writing, even the most masterful authors need a good editor. Why should music be any different?

Even if the finalized track isn’t always exactly what you had in mind at first, it then becomes much easier for the producer to take it from there and carry it across the finish line. Track finalization is about finding what’s blocking you and unblocking it. It’s about unleashing your creative potential.

And I’m here to help.

 

 

Turn Your Writer’s Block Into an Opportunity

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You’ve heard about writer’s block many times, and maybe you’ve experienced one. I also get one routinely. Many others have addressed the topic, but I’ll share some of my own views on it here.

Before anything, let’s just check a definition first so we’re on the same page:

Writer’s block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown.

 

SEE ALSO :   Where to Get Fresh New Ideas for Tracks


What I’ve learned through time is that a writer’s block is also your body and mind telling you to slow down. There’s no better way to see it. While you can learn to change your way of working, which might be leading to feelings of insecurity, frustration, or confusion, you also need to first make sure that you’re really in a writer’s block. These are some symptoms:

  • Nothing you work on makes sense. You feel the music is just copying a trend and that it’s not bringing you joy anymore.
  • Everything music-related sounds crappy. Your brain is tilting and all the beautiful sounds aren’t pretty anymore.
  • You have the omnipresent temptation to give up.

 

relax-smWhere many people get confused is between a writer’s block and being exhausted. I know many prolific producers who work really hard for 3-6 months and then will not do any more productions for the rest of the year. They will focus on DJing, collecting new toys for the studio, or just spending more time playing music.

 

 

 

There’s no better way to approach the situation than taking a step back. For my friends, for example, this usually involves:

  • Collecting music that makes you feel good or listening to early tracks that inspire you. Just make playlists on Soundcloud, listen to old liked tracks, and take a moment to buy some.
  • Listening to music you never listened to before or music you actually don’t normally enjoy.
  • Playing video games.
  • Exercising.

It’s easy to fall into simple psychology tips, but I’ll refrain from doing so, mainly because each person has their own way about it. But one thing that I absolutely encourage you to do is to not panic.

Music producers: Never delete songs or projects you don't like. You may recycle them later!Resist the urge to delete or sell anything you don’t like. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people tell me they deleted a project they were working on. I believe that this is one of the last things you want to do. Not only does every project have at least one great thing about it, but they can probably be recycled later on, maybe even many years later.

Take time to learn sound design or sound engineering. One of the things that happens when you are creatively productive is that you lack the time to perfect your design skills. You’ll be absorbed in mixing and making tracks and arrangements, but sound design is one of the most important parts of your work. Also, when do you ever have time to read technical stuff? Mostly never or just a few minutes here and there. Take the time to read up on the technicalities you usually avoid for fear of boredom.

Reach out to fellow producers to collaborate or remix. When working with others, things usually flow easily. That is, it’s not really your work, and teaming up brings motivation. Try it!

Pheek Talk 3: Productivity Tips

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In this video, I do a follow-up on my free coaching program and share a few tips on boosting your productivity as a music producer, based on the discussions I’ve been having.

You can also visit my YouTube channel for more videos and talks like this one.

Pheek Talk 3: Productivity Tips

 SEE ALSO :

Two birds one stone. Separating ideas. 

Recycling Your Tracks Into Fresh New Ideas

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Like with any creative work, writer’s block can be a very frustrating and demoralizing thing for producers of electronic music. Many artists spend hours and hours wrestling with their ideas just trying to come up with something new – but what if what you were looking for was already under your nose? What if old tracks that you thought weren’t good enough to release were actually the seeds of something brilliant?

I’ve found there are many practical ways for electronic music producers to beat the writer’s block and jumpstart their creative process. Recycling old tracks is a great place to start. 

 

Generally, producers might make between 5 and 10 tracks before stumbling on the one that they love. But then, we’re also our own harshest critics! I’m not going to address the tracks that don’t even get done as we all have a huge collection of those.

The truth is that each song has something cool in it, even if it’s not good enough for release.

 

Elements (or “stems”) of old songs, whether it’s a kick, a bass line, a loop, or a vocal sample, can be remixed and made into something completely fresh.

It’s important to remember that remixing is the most accessible part of music production. Reusing stems, loops and parts of old tracks instead of starting fresh can kickstart your creativity and help you jumpstart a new song. This isn’t just about saving time. More importantly, it will make the creative process less intimidating and more exciting by allowing the creative juices to flow more freely. When you start with small ideas, bigger ones follow.

Pulling your inspiration from old material can also be a fantastic way to re-appreciate your own work. This will in turn boost your confidence and momentum as a producer.

 

To get you started on recycling old tracks, here are a few tips to think about:

 

To help with recycling tracks, organize all your music projects in the same folder.

  • Organize all your music projects in the same folder. This will make going back and reviewing old tracks easier. Avoid the temptation to sort tracks into different folders depending on how good or finished you think they are right after creating them — and never, never trash them! You might be surprised later at what gems you’ll find that you had written off or forgotten about!

 

  •  To help with recycling tracks into fresh new music, save all your synths and effects as presets for later use. Save your effects and synths as presets. The key to being an efficient producer is to never let your creative time and energies go to waste. Nothing is a more valuable resource for an artist – don’t deprive yourself of these resources, harness them! Building up your bank of presets will save you from always having to return to square one, and it will encourage you to develop your own distinctive sound and aesthetic over time. I also encourage you to create groups/macros in Ableton as a way to have personal tools.

 

 

  • Another tip for recycling tracks is to open an old song and keep all arrangements as they are, but swap the sounds.Open an old song and keep all arrangements as they are, but swap the sounds. For example, you can import the stem of a kick you did from a certain song, which has its variations and moments of silence or its own structure. Then you combine it with the snare-clap of another track. Removed from their original context, united in a new canvas, they might interact in a way you’d never have thought to do on your own.

Recycling old tracks can be an extremely practical, effective, and (most importantly) fun way to beat writer’s block and take your production to a dimension you rarely visit. It will make you feel less stale and more fulfilled in ways that will surprise you, and it will encourage you to develop new styles or rhythmics.

Give it a try!

SEE ALSO : Is My Song Good ?

Get A Free Music Coach

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[Important update, August 2017: The Free program is being redesigned and put on pause. You can still register to get the free Ableton Live Template and get news on when it starts again.]

I made an important decision to remove my newsletter and change it into free music coaching for every subscriber. Sounds crazy? Maybe. But also fun!

A little bit of help to make great things happen

What exactly is a coach?

While you can google for the definition, you may also summarize it with a simple explanation:

“It’s someone who helps you reach your goal(s).”

 

We can add in there self-improvement, knowledge transfer, experience sharing and technical advising. The same applies to a music coach. While it’s pretty common in sports or at work, we often overlook it when it comes to arts. But why not include it?

Ever since I started making electronic music, I’d say that my best stretches in learning often happened when I was in touch with someone who could address my questions. I’d go to them to learn:

  • How to use a specific production technique.
  • How to focus on finishing a song, a project.
  • Tips on sound design.
  • How to expand my network.

 

Anyone can be your music coach. Just reach out and ask.The great thing with helping others is that it opens doors on many things, like when you pause for a moment to find the right terms to arrive at the best explanation possible, and you end up improving your own understanding in the process. Ever since I had a music coach, I’ve been really interested in returning the help, mainly because I asked so many friends how to do things.

It’s been quite fascinating to see how electronics have evolved to make it easier for people to attain their goals of producing electronic music. As time’s gone on and the technologies have become cheaper, it’s become increasingly accessible to make music through computers or machines. The democratization of music has opened the doors for many people to make their dream come true by making music.

But this also raises some questions:

  • What should I get to start making music?
  • Which technology is best suited for me?
  • How do I start a song once I’m equipped?
  • Is this song really done or should I add something?

These issues can be hard to nail down, and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

Everyone is different, both in personality but also in terms of how they deal with technology. Some are more tech-savvy than others.

 

The role of a music coach can be summarized as:

A music coach helps you set goals and achieve your objectives

Helping you set goals. The best way to not get lost is to choose a destination. A journey has multiple destinations and a music coach can help break down your long-term dream into multiple mini-milestones. With a plan in mind, it becomes easier to not let your mind run wild and become unproductive.

Understanding your limits while expanding your strengths. One of the first steps in any new hobby, activity or interest is to take a look at yourself. While some skills are transposable from other areas into your new field of interest, you’ll also need to take stock of your own limitations. Quickly identifying your weak points is a good way to motivate you into developing new skills. If you run up against your own limitations in any area, there could also be solutions you’re not yet aware of.

Structuring your workflow. The technique behind all techniques is to coordinate the different parts so that things fall neatly into place. If you mess with your production order, you might run into an episode of counter-productivity.

Being present. A coach is someone that can reply to your questions, listen, encourage, and drive. This part is the most crucial one.

 

If you’re interested in taking advantage of my free coaching, join my mailing list and we’ll get you started!

 

Give A Direction To Your Loops

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I have never studied sound or music theory. My blog is a pure description of how my mind and artistic view has grown through time and practice. In this post, I will share some observations on percussion and how it can give your loops a new meaning.

 

Make Tracks From Your Loops

If you’re into making techno or more beat-driven tracks, you pretty much have your own routine. It’s always a bit different from one person to another because we all hear in different ways or simply work in a different flow. But all in all, here’s some of what we can say to sum it up:

When it comes to techno loops or other dance-related music, it sometimes happens that the percussion is the heart and soul of the track. There can be different reasons for this: it can be the DJ tools or loops, or it can also be that it’s just plain good as it is (e.g. a “foreverloop” that you never get bored of).

 

Percussion is often the heart and soul of a track, and as a producer, it can give your loops a whole new meaning.If you’re into straight-up percussive loops and perhaps play with simple ideas for fun or for an eventual track, there are some tips you can keep in mind, just like I do. But let’s not get crazy about it either: On the one hand, some people study percussion all their lives without seeing all of its subtleties, while others can go to university and learn that every culture has its own intricate, complex way of doing it.

 

Let’s keep it simple. But if you want to learn more, there are tons of great reads online.

 

So, in my case, I’ve been inspired by early workshops I did with Gabrielle Roth and have been interested in the “5 Rhythms” approach. Ever since, it’s been in the back of my head whenever I try to design my tracks. The 5 Rhythms categorize dance types into families based on their style of percussion. Roth believes that within an hour, once a practitioner experiences her use of the different rhythms, they can reach a level of personal enlightenment.

Loops can be the most useful tool a DJ might want. Some loops can be listened to forever.

This can make you question, in a way, your own personal quest and reasons for making music. Are you making tracks or are you working on a bigger set of instruments with the purpose of transporting the listener elsewhere? Not to fall into pseudo-new-age stuff, but it certainly becomes more exciting when you give your music a significance.

Now, when it comes to the rhythms, they are:

  • Flowing.
  • Staccato.
  • Chaos.
  • Lyrical.
  • Stillness.

 

One track can focus on one or multiple, but you can also integrate them all to create something balanced.


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One of Gabrielle Roth's 5 Rhythms, a good flow is the basis for all other rhythms.

Flowing

To me, this is the most important one.

A good flow is the basis of all other rhythms.

It implies that your track, even with drastic changes, has a way of making all the rhythms work together so that it creates a cohesive whole. Great flow also makes a song catchy and re-playable.

 

When it lacks: There will be a feeling of awkwardness in the transitions. DJs will observe a drop of energy from the crowd.

Try: Working with transitions and arrangements. Try to separate your song into sections, and then find a way to move from one to another. That can be achieved with percussion changes or effects.

 

Staccato

Powerful and dynamic would be the best terms to describe this one. Think of huge samba drums or repetitive, hypnotic, minimal techno loops. The staccato is often dense and can go from very simple to very complex. It isn’t only necessary in percussion; it can also be in the form of simple arpeggios applied to a melody, for instance.

When it lacks: At some level, it can make a groove feel weak and static, which is the opposite of what a great staccato can bring to your work.

Try: Using arpeggios and applying them to any of your sounds. Tweak the settings to get something unexpected.

 

When DJs apply it strategically, surprising a crowd with an off-the-grid beat or rhythm ("chaos") can make people go crazy in a good way.

Chaos

Often hated by DJs who love linear and predictable loops for easier mixing, chaos here doesn’t necessarily refer to Ornette Coleman’s free jazz. I’d say it’s when things get a bit off the grid, and go slightly unquantified in the spirit of infusing your track with quirky grooves or unpredictable moments. When applied strategically, surprising a crowd can drive them crazy in a good way. Chaos can also refer to breaking free of standard genres and ideas to forge something new.

When it lacks: Your loop might sound generic, clinical, predictable — and yes, boring.

Try: Tapping percussions using PUSH. Apply weird grooves from Ableton. Adjust transients so they fall off the grid just a little bit. You may also slice your loop and randomize the order of the sounds.

 

 

Great melodies can make a song timeless.

Lyrical

To me this is the hardest, but that’s mainly because I’m more of an artist than a musician. What “lyrical” implies here is the use of melodies to conjure an emotion. There’s no restriction here: we’re talking pure emotional material, from sad to happy, deep to cheesy. Great melodies can become ear worms and can stay in people’s minds for a long time, making some material timeless. When someone can whistle your main idea, you know you have lyrical content.

 

When it lacks: Your song might be cold or simply ephemeral. There’s no main idea that we can refer to when describing it to someone else.

Try: Experimenting with melodies or asking a musician for help. You can turn to solutions like Liquid Rhythm to assist you as well.

 

 

Stillness

The most difficult to explain, because this one is a pure game of subtle micro-changes. Stillness in music is often translated to boring because nothing seems to happen. When nothing happens, a lot is happening… in the listener’s mind. They will start craving something, will start wondering, getting a bit anxious. Stillness is the art of creating an intelligent tension that makes the eventual release both soothing and powerful. You can also see it as linear music, which is a genre in itself. That is another game.

When it lacks: If you don’t allow for your listener to have any tension building, your song might feel self-supporting or shallow.

Try: Finding songs that build tension in you. When listening to them, pay attention to the very moment where you start getting a bit anxious, and notice how the song is built at that very moment so you can replicate the formula in your own music.