Ok, where were we? I’ve been a little distracted getting my new release, This Is The Place out and into the world. Part of the distraction was the decision to master the record myself – a fascinating and ill-advised practice that I’ll talk more about in an upcoming tip. Now, picking up where we left […]
KICK DRUM WORKSHOP: PITCH ENV DECAY
The kick drum we’ve made so far is nice and punchy, but it doesn’t have a ton of low end. For some situations, this can work well. The kick can be a sub-heavy monster that holds down the bottom of a track, or it can be a higher pitched accent that leaves room for a […]
KICK DRUM WORKSHOP: THE BASICS, pt. 2
And now…here’s the conclusion of David D.L.‘s tip covering the basics of kick drum synthesis… OK, it’s time to get this thing to sound like a Kick! (If you have listened to it so far, it’s pretty much a dull low-pitched thud). The trick is to use the pitch envelope to make the sound rapidly […]
KICK DRUM WORKSHOP: THE BASICS
For the next few tips, we’re going to take a look at kick drum synthesis. What started all of this was a tip submission that came in a week or so ago… If you’re new to synthesizing drums, today’s tip is a great one to get you started. Once you’ve gotten up to speed with […]
RANDOMIZING W/ VELOCITY ZONES: ADD MIDI FX
Another fun modification to the velocity zone randomization trick is to get some MIDI effects into the picture: For example, you could place an Arpeggiator in each chain… …and change up the parameter settings in each. My suggestion would be to first spend some time finding a setting that sounds good for the part you’re […]
PAT’S SECRET RECIPE
Those of us who work with random processes a lot know that the big trick to getting good results is following randomization with editing. Not only that, depending on the process you’re doing, the editing workflow you use can have a big impact on the results you get. Becasuse of that I decided to ask […]
PERCUSSIVE SAMPLE AGRESSION
A problem I sometimes run into when working with random/found audio to generate rhythmic parts (as in the prior tips) is that the sound is a bit mushy and needs a more percussive or agressive character. Here are a couple of simple techniques for adding some smack to your samples. First off, go into the […]
SAMPLER OFFSET SUPERSWEETNESS
One thing I like about the technique described in the last tip is that you can generate dramatic variations with a very simple adjustment. After you’ve programmed a part, try adjusting Sample Start by moving the start flag (or adjusting it numerically). Every time you move it, each note triggers a different portion of […]
SAMPLER OFFSET SWEETNESS
This tip comes via Jim Wood, who asked that I not include any additional links…he’s just doing it for the love. Thanks Jim! It’s a cool tip that offers a way of breaking up an audio file into lots of smaller samples, not unlike the technique shown in this tip. However, this method offers a […]
LOOPING WITHOUT WARPING. SORTA. pt 2.
Another sorta solution to this problem involves using a Follow Action. To do this, you’ll bring in the audio the same way you did in the last tip. After you turn on the Warp switch, zoom in on the right edge of the waveform display. In this case, we see that at 120bpm (the arbitrary […]
