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new board, new thread again for everything production related. post your tracks, gear, questions, feedback etc.

New one on bandcamp.

Out 1 June - by that I mean on streaming services (spotify etc). First track on the album, which will be out July/August (when I’ve decided the date!), will be a different mix of this track.

First post in this confusing new (board) world!

nice track, i like the spacey vibe and that hollow drone sound that comes in around 1:10.

Thanks for listening. That’s a pad from Razor - which I totally love. Have you seen that sample magic have a store wide 70% off sale until the end of the month (I read something on reddit about it shutting down). There’s bound to be some goodies to be had on there.

always happy to listen. i saw that too, i’ll probably take a look this weekend, heard they got bought out by splice. i’ve honestly got so many samples though, not sure i need any more. i tend to use drum samples, but with the ms20m, a4, and diva, i make a lot of my own sounds.

Yes. Same here re making sounds and volume of samples.

I’ve been using samples a bit more recently after getting the push. Splicing samples across the pads is one of the few bits of functionality I use on it at the moment (mainly because I use the original APC40 for alot of tasks the push could do).

I’ve started a journey of using the colour tags in Live as short cuts to ‘go to’ or even interesting samples I think I would use from the library I’ve built up.

That said there’s always space for some more samples…

I keep trying to get into the groove, but the whole situation has me so down and feeling uncreative. Outside of listening to vinyl, I really can’t get into tunes at all. The thought that we will never be able to club again just has me so down. Going to make an effort to bang out original work this weekend.

i’ve just started with the colour tags too, don’t have a system down yet. also working on creating my own sample library from sounds i make, but don’t want to use in the current project. whatever helps to speed up my workflow.

i’ve got a launchpad that i don’t use much, assigning samples to pads like you mentioned might be a good idea.

    Is every EP released in the second half of the year going to be called something like ‘Locked Down’ or ‘Self Isolation’?

    Not surprising to see comments such as @zackster ’s above, this may not be the most inspiring time.

    lol i was saying that to my wife the other day. any song or mix with ‘quarantine’ or ‘virus’ or ‘lockdown’ in the title is a red flag that it was made by a 12 year old. automatic skip.

    303abuser I wouldn’t hold off from using sounds / samples you used in previous tracks. There’s loads of cross pollination in the music I’m making.

    PS - bit confusing that you don’t appear to be able to quote using this format.

        apyssjw PS - bit confusing that you don’t appear to be able to quote using this format.

        Select the text you want to quote then hit the quote button which pops up.

        🙂

          apyssjw absolutely, i do the same. i tend to create all of my fx chains, sends, etc. from scratch each time as i don’t want to get caught in a template loop, but i recycle samples all the time, especially percussion.

            303abuser Looking forward to the album. Sounds very good from the snippets.

              Henry i always look forward to your new tracks, this one is really good too. love the wide pad swells and the piano sits in space really well. we need to work on something together at some point.

              and thanks, i’m pretty happy with the album. i’ve got a track on an ep from slope point out tomorrow, so i’ll post it here when it’s been released.

                Thank you. Much appreciated as always for the feedback.

                And sounds like a bloody good plan too. 😀

                  Yeah good luck with release, 303. İ like the samples.

                    Henry no worries. if you have something half finished or part of an idea you don’t know what to do with, send the stems my way. i finish almost everything i start these days, but i’m happy to do the same vs. trying to grind out an idea. and if it’s dub sounding, i have a couple of release connections now too, plus i can get it mastered.

                        303abuser I can’t even finish my conversations these days, so as for unfinished tracks…. well… I have few that is fair to say! If I can find anything that I don’t think will result in embarrassment I will deffo bung you them your way. Will have a check over the weekend.

                            Henry haha no worries. send me whatever you want, i’m always happy to have new ideas to work with. i actually started a groove yesterday that i think fits well with your sound. if it doesn’t immediately click for me, i’ll send you this one.

                              here’s my new one out today on Slope Point’s EP “Slope Forms II”.

                              here’s the bandcamp link for the ep. lots of good dub techno again on this one.

                              and here’s the spotify link for Sleep Flight.

                              Henry out of curiosity, what does your workflow look like from a blank project through mixing?

                                So, I’m using Ableton as my main DAW, with Maschine routed through which is mainly for the drum machine (I think the engine is better than Ableton’s) and for auditioning the NI synths.
                                My template for Ableton project consists of the routing of Maschine, a number of midi and audio tracks: each of which has a FabFilter Pro Q; but no EQing yet.
                                Then it’s just case of throwing enough stuff around to see what sticks. I try to start with some textured sounds: quite like the grantulator synths quite a lot; various samples which I use in the granulator, Simpler or the Sampler. Beats normally come after I have a melody. Usually I know within 30 mins whether I have something or not to go with.
                                Once I have something I can take further, I sketch out the structure using Push 2 and start generating the flow using Clip View. I will either record the session live, or build it in clip view.
                                Once recorded, I start adding the FX, crashes, builds etc.
                                Finally I do the EQing, which I do on every piece of audio and midi channel: both mid and side EQ.
                                The very last stage is bunging on a multi band compressor, with some gentle EQing.

                                This is how it works out in a perfect session (like with the Provia track); but 98% of the time this does not happen…

                                  Henry that sounds pretty similiar to my approach from about a year ago. i still quite often start with a texture or pad for atmosphere and work from there. i’ve got something for you to try and feel free to ignore me lol, i barely know what i’m doing, but this helped me finish more tracks.

                                  i start gathering sounds that fit in session view (kick/bass, basic open hat, pad, a few chords, and a couple of floating percussion sounds) until i’ve got what would amount to about 75% of what i needm basically everything but fills and random perc hits, all of the colour stuff. then i switch to arrangement view and start recording chronologically. that gives me the skeleton arrangement, then i can add more sounds based off the arrangement, add variety to the midi patterns and fx, and i mix as i go. once i’m done that, group tracks, eq, sidechain and i’m done. i’m also pretty ruthless about deleting stuff that doesn’t work. even if i like a sound, if it doesn’t fit the atmosphere and feel of the track i want, i just cut it and hit save immediately so i can’t rethink it.

                                  i find it way faster to get the idea down, so i’m not sick of it before it’s arranged. i don’t know if that’ll help get you over the finishing hump, but give it a shot on two or three tracks and see if it clicks for you, it did for me. once you get used to finishing everything, it just becomes part of your process and it’s almost strange not to finish an idea.