Forums - Theory / composition / technique
Subject: No more theory?
Original Message 1/20 03-Jul-00 @ 07:24 AM - No more theory?
Ape
Message 2/20 04-Jul-00 @ 12:44 PM - RE: No more theory?
does anyone actually know any produciton-related theory? i'm also really interested to find out why things work the way they do (i.e add reverb to a driving track's kick and it has a completely different effect... goes from driving to floating), or is there no real reason, and it's all just learned response?
cause i really think someone should teach us all the truth, there are a LOT of little things that i'm sure we're all aware of but don't actually "know"...
so please school me.
Message 3/20 04-Jul-00 @ 06:29 PM - RE: No more theory?
Large amounts of alcohol !! :o)
Marc.
Message 4/20 05-Jul-00 @ 01:27 AM - RE: No more theory?
peaceout,
Peter
Message 5/20 05-Jul-00 @ 06:17 AM - RE: No more theory?
My fingers wouldn't move !!!!
No more drinking before playing now (I'll stick to smoking to counter the nerves)
Marc.
Message 6/20 05-Jul-00 @ 06:23 AM - RE: No more theory?
BUT - as far as mixing a track for club release goes; my advice is this:
(1.) Write your tune (2.) Listen to your favourite tunes in the same genre you have just written (3.) Now set the levels of your track to mimic the mix of the professionally done recording you've just listened to.
Easy. Your mix should now come out all right at the pressing - phew.
Message 7/20 05-Jul-00 @ 01:23 PM - RE: No more theory?
Message 8/20 05-Jul-00 @ 02:11 PM - RE: No more theory?
As far as live, booze might work for sloppy rock acts but...
Marc, were you doing your best Replacements impression back then? Those guys were always hammered.
I gave up any kind of mind candy quite a while ago. Weird enough without it, they tell me. Only vice now is strong coffee. But before, I found it best to save the fun 'til after the job was done. Y'know, stumble out of a smoke filled van, go into a dim room with colored lights and space out on what all those little buttons and knobs are sposed to do. Concentrate on little details, but lose the big picture. Anyway...
Message 9/20 06-Jul-00 @ 08:43 AM - RE: No more theory?
Anyways, I have some production tips, which you're
welcome not to use. I've been writing and experimenting
for 12 years, now, but I'm still a novice, so if you
think you're above my ideas, I don't care. I just want
to get a discussion going.
Here goes:
Adding atmosphere: I used to work with alot of samples,
specifically through a tracker program, which had no
effects. I would often take an airy, or static-like hit
or swell and play it simultaneously with a drum or
synth hit, maybe even shifting the pitch in the oposite
direction of a melodic synth line. This was a great way
to add some ambience to an ambience-less sound, and I
was able to get some really interesting sounds and
atmospheres that no combination of effects would
probably generate. I think Aphex Twin does this alot.
Noise as arpegiator: When I did alot of industrial I
would take machine sounds, maybe with some rythmic
static or other incedental noises, and play a melody or
bass-line progression over it. It's interesting,
because a kind of harmony seems to develop with the
interplay of the melody and noise. I am convinced that
almost any noise can be tamed by a dominant
progression. Try it! It works in trance, too (and screw
worrying about the key). It seems that productive
frequencies are emphasised, and dissonant frequencies
are de-emphasised, or become incendental tones.
Tone Generating: I used to use an 8088PC running
QBasic, make up some algorythms and randomly pull
numbers, which I would play as a tone. Sometimes, I
would just have a pitch rising slowly between 1000 and
2500 (2500hz being the resonating frequency of a cellos
belly), and then back down. I could play this quietly,
with some delay, and get an interesting effect useful
in almost any track. It really made things feel like
there was some movement going on, especially in slower,
more new-age-y or instrospective stuff. I could play
this pretty quietly, since at 2500hz, there wasn't may
other frequencies competing for space. Simple tone
slides are
Message 10/20 06-Jul-00 @ 12:52 PM - RE: No more theory?
Here's one of my favourites (stop me if you've heard it): interesting background noise for Ambient/trancy stuff can be generated by taking cymbal samples and slowing them r i g h t d o w n .......
Marc
Ps. I think we were trying to be more like Discharge than The Replacements :o)
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