It’s been a little over a year since the debut album by Loxy and myself – “Burning Shadows”  - was released on Exit Records. The project had many phases and we put a ton of work on it over the course of 3-4 years. I’m still very happy and proud about how it turned out. But life is about learning, and I’ve gained new perspective since finishing the project. So let’s reflect for a bit upon the experience of working on an album… And what I would do differently next time.

Here we go – my 5 tips for making an album.

1. Set focus

There were many reasons it took so long for us to finish the LP. Some were beyond our control, but there’s one that was purely down to us: We were both working on all sorts of other projects at the same time. We collaborated for releases on several labels and we both had our solo projects going on. Add the fact that we live in different countries…

Multitasking caused us a lot of extra work. Whenever we lost focus on the LP we had to set our sights again and build up the momentum to get back on track.

2. Listen as whole

When the album was finished and out there I realized I hadn’t really taken a whole lot of time to listen to it as an album, from start to finish. I had been so busy and focused on working on the tunes.

Next time I will take more time throughout the project to just listen to it. That is the best way to build perspective on the project as whole.

3. Fight perfectionism

In any creative work it’s all about finding the balance between self-criticism and letting go. By trying to strive for perfection you are only making things harder. There is good, there is even great, but there is no perfect.

4. Smaller deadlines

Here is another reason why it took so long to finish I reckon. The deadlines we set were typically spanning a long time frame such as “have the album finished in 8 months”. That’s just too long and too vague with everything that kept interfering with the album making process.

Things change and life always comes up with endless amounts of things that get in your way. Since making the album I’ve started approaching big projects as a series of smaller deadlines. Smaller goals are easier to manage. Achieving them creates positive momentum which fuels you forward.

5. Plan less, do more

It’s enticing to plan things out, but you have to draw a line between what’s useful and what’s excessive. Too much planning is counterproductive, and will only result in change of plans later on. I think for the way we work it’s more important to follow our guts and just make tunes.

We had a pretty good vision of what we wanted to do to begin with, so we could have spent even less time on musing about it and more working on the music.

The post 5 Tips for Making an Album appeared first on Resoundsound.

The first stereo records were made in the 1930′s and yet it took a long time to popularize the new format and release such recordings for mass consumption. Mono recordings were the standard for many years whilst various attempts were made to advance stereophony. In music production itself there has almost always been a mono button built into the master section of large format stereo or quadraphonic mixing consoles. It was there for good reason as stereo recordings had to maintain sonic compatibility with AM sound systems and monophonic broadcasts amongst other reasons.

The word compatibility is partly subjective and partly technical and the ratio of technical to subjective balance has become somewhat of a moving target. When we consider mono compatibility we must fundamentally consider the phase relationships throughout the audio spectrum between the left and right channels of a stereo recording.

By summing the left and right channels of a stereo two-track mix or recording we are collapsing the stereo image which can be generated either by two microphones (or a complex combination of microphones) or ‘stereo effects’ generated image by artificial means (pseudo stereo).

The nature of stereo means that there are time-arrival differences between the L and R channels of a stereo signal, this in part accounts for some of the spacious effects that make stereo music an enhanced listening experience over and above mono signals. Two microphones can sample the sound field from two positions in space and produce an effect which gives a sense of at least two dimensions when reproduced on two loudspeakers/amplifiers each fed a discrete left and right signal.

These timing differences mean that the signals between the left and right have a different and complex phase relationship relative to each other. Phase is a very important concept to understand and I point you to my short, easy to understand article giving a primer on phase for those to whom this is a new concept.

Why is mono compatibility important?

Mono compatibility of a stereo mix is important because not every audio reproduction/transmission system is stereo. A few examples of potentially mono systems are national and commercial FM radio in weak reception areas (a receiver can sometimes automatically sum to mono to give a clearer less noisey signal), FM pirate radio, AM broadcasters, some PA systems, powered mini single loudspeakers for MP3 players.

Whats the worst that can happen?

If you have sound sources in your mix that are completely out of phase between the left and right channels or significantly out of phase complete loss of that sound source from the music mix could be the worst case scenario. This is a compelling reason to make friends with the mono button on your music production system, be it a mixer or digital audio work station.

The wider picture

Maintaining a mono compatible stereo image is closely linked to the wider goal of a subjectively articulate and/or believable stereo image. A good stereo image is well spread between the L/R and phantom centre image, has nice width and balance between mono and stereo components.

There is an aperture for taste in this area and what might be deemed appropriate for a classical music recording may not be the same for a dubstep track. However it is important that both musical styles will work effectively in mono without too large a compromise to the mix balance and tone of instrumentation, however disparate they may be as genres.

A mix engineer has numerous tools available to make adjustments to instruments within the stereo field, fundamentally – pan controls for mono sources and balance controls for stereo interleaved/ganged sources. This allows positioning within the left and right and phantom centre image of a stereo reproduction system. These controls can also be applied effects returns adding further depth and control.

Identifying phase problems by ear

Whenever a mix is being produced it is vital that the engineer periodically checks the compatibility of the mix in mono. For an experienced engineer this is normally an aural check as the engineer will have been trained to identify phase problems by ear.

It is worth mentioning that this is much easier to do using well placed loudspeakers as opposed to using headphones. Mixing on headphones means it is much more difficult to spot a phase problem. This is because the headphones ‘couple’ all sound from the left ear cup into only the left ear and all the sound from the right ear cup into only the right ear. With loudspeakers some sound from the right speaker enters your left ear. This makes listening for phase problems on speakers psychoacoustically easier than headphones.

There are two ways to listen for phase compatibility problems – namely in stereo… and in mono. I recommend training yourself to hear these problems in stereo as this tends to stop problems before they start in a mix, even before you hit the mono button.

Some digital audio workstations will have the option to mono the stereo master output bus. For those who do not, you can get hold of the free Brainworx bx_solo plug in and put it in an insert point on the stereo output bus.

‘In stereo’ listen for…

Listen for sounds that produce overly wide spatial effects. Sounds coming beyond the width of the speakers. In extreme cases sounds appearing to come from behind the listening position. Check for comb filtering effects when the head is moved from left to right in space, across the stereo field.

‘In mono’ listen for…

If you mono sum the stereo mix you will need to quickly A/B mono and stereo and listen for any elements in the mix that drastically change tone or change their level/mix balance. So if a synthesizer drops in level and thins out then it could well have a mono compatibility problem with that source.

For a novice engineer this may not be initially easy to hear so there are a few tools that I can recommend which can give some visual indication. The visual tools are ideally used in tandem with listening as it is a good idea to become familiar with the sound of overly wide or out of phase mix elements.

Visual aids : L / R phase metering

Two useful free tools are the Flux Stereo Tool and Voxengo Span.

Span is primarily a spectrum analyzer which has a basic phase correlation meter built in. Flux stereo tool is a vector scope with phase correlation meter.

In essence a phase correlation meter has a left to right swing and is labeled: -1 0 +1

When a stereo mix passes through the meter it should largely be positioned towards +1 on the right hand side of the meter if it is very mono compatible. If the signal gravitates largely towards the left hand side it will mean the signal does not have good phase compatibility. A typical mix with good mono compatibility would hover between 0 and +1.

As an experiment just to show the working of the meter you could generate some mono sine waves of exactly the same frequency, pan them hard left and hard right and nudge one of them in your DAW timeline by a few milliseconds. Watch what happens to the phase scope and correlate it’s readings by mono summing the sine waves and listening to the aural effect.

This is purely for experimentation and gaining familiarity witha phase scope. A stereo mix will have a very complex phase relationship between left and right channels as there will be multiple frequencies playing at any one time.

Visual tools can be of assistance when learning about mono compatibility but ultimately an experienced engineer will always decide based on what is heard rather than what is seen.

Further manipulation of the stereo image

So we now know that mono compatibility is important and plays a wider role in a good sounding mix. A good stereo image will have a balance of power and immediacy whilst providing true or pseudo stereophonic interest, acoustic believability and a sense of depth and space.

Another tool that can be used to manipulate stereo width is a M/S plug in. Such software is inserted on your tracks and allows for adjustments to the mid and sides of a stereo signal. The mid signal contains all the information that is identical in both channels (mono sum) of the stereo field and the side signal contains all the information that is different between the left and right signals. Being able to control this allows for manipulation of the perceived width of various stereo sound sources.

Another common tool is generically known as a stereo imagizer, this generally takes some of the left channel signal and feeds it at low level into the right hand channel and vice versa. The effect is to produce a wider and more diffuse sounding image, often when over used the phantom centre image loses solidity and with extreme use you can end up with a ‘hole in the middle’ effect. This type of tool has to be used with care as it is possible to create phase incompatibilities with already ‘wide’ sound sources. Beginners should use it with care and use it very minimally if at all and always in conjunction with listening and/or a phase meter.

Additionally, the engineer will have various delay based effects such as reverb, delay, echo, doubling with time delay, de-tuning with time delay and chorus to further embellish the mix with short delay based textures across the stereo image.

Stereo width and sound sources

Different sources obtain their width from different means. Acoustic recordings may be recorded with stereo microphone techniques so mono compatibility will ideally be checked at the time of recording and not at the mix stage. Again this can be done aurally or using a phase meter.

Some synthesizers use multiple oscillators, unison oscillators and built in effects to give a very wide and impressive sound. Beware these ‘presets’ as they can be set with rather extreme settings that may not work well in mono. If you are programming your own sounds you will know your synthesizer architecture well enough to be able to avoid such issues but with presets you may have to edit the existing effects and oscillator panning positions to get the preset to work well in mono. Synthesizers can be very complex and it is really a matter of ensuring you know the synthesizer architecture sufficiently well to be able to program your way into mono compatibility.

Summary

Mono compatibility remains important today and the first goal is to become an expert at hearing overly wide images and close to, or, out of phase sound sources. This will be key in maintaining good mono compatibility and producing good mixes that have a well balanced stereo spread.

Barry Gardner operates SafeandSound online mastering services in London, UK. He has worked with many world famous artists including: Ronnie Wood (Rolling Stones), Lemar, Craig David, The Rumblestrips, The Coral, The Hoosiers, Chick Corea, Kano, MC Skepta, Avishai Cohen, Incognito, Martha Tilsden, Still Remains, Terry Callier, Amp Fiddler, Billy Cobham, Marshall Allen and Sun Ra’s Arkestra.

The post Maintaining Mono Compatibility In Your Music Mix appeared first on Resoundsound.

The Native Instruments Maschine MK1 vs MK2 debate is running hot. I recently acquired the MK2 myself. I’ve been using the Maschine MK1 model for about 8 months and liked it a lot.

A lot of people are contemplating on wether to upgrade to MK2 or not. The MK2 is currently priced at 599 € by Native Instruments. It’s a lot of money to spend on an upgrade that may seem superficial on the surface.

Here is a review of the differences between the Maschine MK1 and MK2 hardware, along with my personal impressions. Maschine MK1 vs MK2, let the battle commence…

Revised Master Section

The first thing you notice is the layout of the master section has been changed. Instead of the three knobs, you now have a wheel and a bunch of buttons.

Maschine MK1

On the MK1 I sometimes accidentally brushed my hand against the knobs in the master section and changed the tempo or swing without actually realizing it. Not fun – especially in live situations where things can easily get a bit more wild and accidents like these are prone to happen.

On the Maschine MK2 it’s now almost impossible to change the master settings by accident. You first have to activate one of the buttons (volume, swing or tempo) and then use the wheel to adjust. I like the new system. It’s still nice and tactile, yet safe. You can still adjust the master settings with a single hand if need be. I did prefer the MK1 on the ability to very quickly adjust group volumes and the pitch of sounds using the master section knobs. But when faced with the choice, I will rather go for safer operation and less of the annoying accidents.

Maschine MK2

The new encoder wheel has stepped action which makes using it very precise. It’s nice to be able to count your adjustments as clicks. When volume, swing and tempo buttons are inactive the encoder works as a jog wheel for moving around in the arrangement or navigating the browser. Pushing the wheel down doubles up as enter key.

Browsing and loading things up with the new wheel is very handy. However I had no gripes about the browsing functions on the MK1 to be honest. If you prefer to do it the MK1 way… Yes you still can, batman.

In addition the master section now has an enter button and left/right arrow buttons for adjusting master parameters/browsing/navigating. Why? I don’t know.

With the encoder wheel performing the same tasks, I don’t really find myself using or needing those buttons. Right now it kind of baffles me why they where even added. Would have been cool to see some additional features instead of yet another way of doing the same thing, right?  Am I missing something here?

Multicolor Pads

Of course you knew this one already. Maschine now looks like a rainbow. It does look vivid – especially in the dark.

Maschine MK2 pads

With the Maschine 1.8 software upgrade it’s now possible to set up the colors any way you like. There are 16 different ones to choose from.

There is no denying that this ability to set up colors makes a big difference in a live situation. You could set them up based on the type of the sounds or maybe the part of the performance that they’re used in. There are lots of possibilities.

Every second counts in a performance. The less you have to remember and the less time you have to spend monitoring your sounds, the better. There will still be enough other things to memorize.

The multicolor operation also comes in very handy when working with Maschine in MIDI-mode. I use Maschine as a MIDI-controller in Ableton Live.  The colors really make it much easier to get a good overview of things when navigating within the project, launching clips or playing instruments using the pads. You can switch scales from the controller and it shows the different notes in different colors (Push style). Very cool. With MK1 every page looked the same and it required a lot of memorizing to keep tabs on which button does what.

So yes, it’s not just cosmetic. The multicolored pads make things more intuitive and are a huge deal in my books.

New Sensations

The new pads feel a bit different. They are more silky – even a bit slippery but in a good way. They do feel more sensitive to me when playing.

It was a joy to play on the MK1 and I am glad to see things have gotten even better with the MK2.

Pad sensitivity can be adjusted in the Maschine software. I’ve always had mine maxed out and I did notice a difference when switching to MK2.

I’ve read somewhere before that the pad sensitivity hasn’t been changed. I don’t know if they had an early unit or what – the difference is definitely real for me.

That’s good news for those of you who get serious about finger drumming.

Encoding

The eight small encoders are now made of a bit harder plastic (as opposed to softer rubber on the MK1). They still have a good grip.

They feel more delicate and are a lot more sensitive.

It won’t take as much yanking around to browse through long lists of sounds, which is great.

Oh Snap

All buttons (except for the actual drumpads) now make a distinct snap when pushed down. It’s nice and helps to have this response.

Not much else to say there really! Moving on.

New Displays

Maschine MK2 display

The displays are changed. They have been inverted – it’s now light blue text on a darker blue background.

It is a bit easier to see for sure, even from a low angle. Good contrast.

Nice improvement again, altough I would not say there was anything wrong with the old displays. Especially as it’s possible to adjust the contrast and brightness of the displays from the software and I’ve always had it half way.

Maschine MK2 Unplugged

Another subtle but potentially lifesaving feature is the redesigned USB and MIDI ports. It now supposedly takes more force to pull out the cables.

Maschine MK2 back

The USB port on my MK2 is definitely not as tight as the one on my Traktor Kontrol S4. While it certainly won’t pop out on it’s own, it doesn’t take THAT much force to pull out.

Having said that… Plugging off the USB cable during playback does not cause the Maschine software to crash or even stop playback. You just plug it right back in and the hardware picks things up again. This goes for the MK1 as well.

The MIDI cables actually require some work to pull out. They fit in pretty snug which is good.

Feet on the Ground

The MK2 has new rubber feet. I never had a problem with the feet on the MK1. But the new large soft rubber feet are definitely nice and have lots of grip.

Not a major feature but it’s very nice to see subtle improvements like these taking place. It shows they are really thinking things through and paying attention to details.

I am guessing this could make a bigger difference if you do a lot of finger drumming, or simply are a “heavy hitter”. Or if you come across a situation where you have to place Maschine on a slippery surface.

By the way… I have the additional Maschine stand as well which seems to have the same feet as the MK2. I can highly recommend the stand to anyone. It puts Maschine into a perfect position when sitting down in the studio. The Maschine stand is very sturdy and comes with a mounting adapter so you can set it up on a standard drum stand if you want.

New Markings and Color Options

This one is minor, but the markings on Maschine MK2 faceplate are also improved with better visibility. On the MK1 some of the markings were dark grey, where as on the black MK2 they are white. Easier to see even in a dark environment.

Maschine MK2 custom kits

The Machine MK2 model comes in white and black chassis. There are also different color magnetic brushed aluminum face plates and knobs (custom kits) available direct from NI. It’s worth nothing though that there are different kinds of faceplates and knobs available for the MK1 as well from third party manufacturers.

Maschine MK1 vs MK2 – Summing Up the Differences

It is clear that the biggest selling points of Maschine MK2 are the improvements it makes on the live performance side of things.

The multicolor pads are extremely helpful in identifying and grouping up sounds. They feel great too. The new way of handling volume, swing and tempo is nice and solves the problem of accidentally changing the master settings by brushing your hand against the knobs. The new feet should stop the unit from sliding around on the desk. Displays look a bit better and the markings are easier to see in dark. It’s a bit harder to unplug the USB and MIDI cables.

For studio use the difference isn’t that big. Surely the previously stated benefits still apply. Plus the multicolor pads are helpful if you are also using Maschine as a MIDI controller in Ableton Live for example.

Is it worth to upgrade? If you are a performer I think it’s a no-brainer. If you only use Maschine in studio, I would think twice.

The upgrade is definitely not as superficial as I thought it might be. There are all these little things taking place which by themselves aren’t much, but come together to form an undeniably improved user experience. It  actually feels like the upgrade becomes more than the sum of its parts. Clearly a lot of thought and testing has been put into it.

Wether or not this will justify the price tag is up to you. I think Native Instruments have made a great job with the upgrade. But let’s not forget the MK1 is still (and will be) a great box. You really don’t need the latest and greatest to get the job done. Plus you can pick MK1′s up now for a good price.

I will eagerly await for the Maschine 2.0 update. Is it going to bring software features specifically designed for the MK2, or are they sticking with downward compatibility?

The post Maschine MK1 vs MK2 – Review of Differences appeared first on Resoundsound.

YouTube user stefanhyltoft recently responded to one of my videos asking why I made certain compositional decisions.

Why did I use those chords — what was I thinking when I wrote that section. Etc.

I spent some time reflecting on it. While I do remember some of the specific reasons, they don’t underlie the fundamental principle that I was following.

This principle is so obvious. It is so apparent. And unfortunately, this causes people to gloss over it (both deliveree and deliverer).

What’s the tip?

There is no right way to produce

(and compose, and arrange, and everything ).

“Well Zac, of course. It’s art… but I still don’t know what to do in my 2nd verse!”

You say.

“Then you don’t really understand.”

I respond, sipping tea.

Let’s explore this a bit.

Music is your expression, right? It’s your personal artistic expression. That’s art.

This means that when you choose chords and melodies — basslines and harmonies — you’re doing so as self-expression. It’s your personal expression. Yours alone.

What’s another way to think of this? Opinions.

The statements you make in your music are your opinions. They are the way that you look at the world. A culmination of your perspectives, experiences, thoughts, feelings, etc.

When you try to figure out why someone made specific choices, they will have reasons. I have reasons for the ones I made.

Sometimes these reasons are legitimate. Other ones are just a result of play and feel. And each persons play and feel will be different, because we come to the table with different perspectives, experiences, thoughts, feelings, etc.

If you gave 3 people a 70 BPM downtempo drum beat and said “here, play with it and make something interesting,” you’d end up with 3 different results. One might do some hip-hop, another dubstep, another chill-out.

In Practice: How To Express Yourself

During my long time spent making progressive house music, I always thought there was some predetermined guidelines I was stuck in. Some sort of narrow world that if I ventured too far out my music wouldn’t be good enough. I felt restricted and often did not know what to do with my music. I had no idea what to do for the second section. Why change the chords if they’re working?

The issue here is that I wasn’t expressing my own opinions. They were being distorted and filtered through the “progressive house” filter.

I was trying to sound like deadmau5… except I’m not deadmau5. I’m a different person. And trying to sound like someone else is a supremely frustrating experience (although, yes, there are some people who do copy-cat music well… but funny enough, those people tend to have problems being original).

So how do we learn to express ourselves?

1). Accept that there’s no right way.

No, really.

Accept it.

Take a second and meditate on that. Think about it realllllllly hard for 10 seconds.

It’s perfectly fine to ask people what choices they made (I explain it a bit in the video below) to give you perspective. By learning what others do and filtering it through your expression, you’ll come out with something unique and interesting. But this requires you don’t hammer away like a copy-cat.

Example: that super-quick pitch shift down that’s permeating every fucking song since Levels came out. I’ve yet to hear it done in an interesting and unique way that’s not a Levels rip-off (and I’m sure it was done before Levels).

2). Learn to play and vibe.

There’s a handful of things I did in my production process that really amped things up.

One of them was buying a midi keyboard.

I’m a guitarist by nature (born to shred), so I’ve been physically playing instruments all my life.

And then, when I began production, I inserted midi-notes into the Fruity Loops piano roll by hand. Talk about lifeless. My music was gridlocked (by all implications of the word).

Unfortunately, you can’t jam by clicking notes; You can’t vibe with it and discover something you really like.

Note that word — discover. Rarely is it a concsious decision like “I’ll be using a G minor 7th chord followed by a D dominant 9th hoopty shoopty blah blah.”

Let yourself play, vibe, and discover what you like and what works.

Warning: This often results in tasty and delicious musical composition.

3). Stop thinking.

YouTuber stefanhyltoft said in his message to me, “I am wondering what goes through this guys heads when he keeps adding parts.”

In other words, “what is he thinking?”

My answer: He’s not. When someone is vibing on their instrument, playing and jamming, there’s not much literal thinking involved. It’s a pretty instinctual and innate experience.

You ever find yourself at a party, totally locked in your head, stumbling on words and too nervous to talk to people?

Now, what happens when you drink a little bit, “loosen up,” and get “outside of your head?”

See what I mean? You’re social. You’re funny. You’re being yourself. You’re not afraid of what other people think. You’re not deliberating. You’re making decisions. You’re not stalling. You’re acting.

To clarify, you don’t need alcohol to do this. I know somebody is going to take it that way and start drinking heavily before producing. You’re an idiot.

This is simply an extension of point number 2. Playing and vibing is a non-thought based process.

The second part of this is a common held tip for authors — write now, edit later.

Jam. Vibe. Stop thinking and play. Put notes on your DAW. Write way too many parts. Go crazy. Don’t worry about getting it great now. Get it good enough.

Then go back and polish.

Except don’t. This leads me to my last point.

4). Abandon Perfect.

When doing anything art related, it’s hard to let things go when they’re “good enough”. We strive to make the perfect piece.

The perfect piece doesn’t exist. Never has. Never will.

Thinking that you have to make something perfect is the surest way of sucking at it and failing miserably.

You know why most guys are afraid to talk to a girl they find attractive? Because they “don’t know what to say,” as if you had to say the perfect 100 lines in order for her to like you.

What they’re saying is “I have to be perfect. I have to say the perfect things.”

What a joke. Girls aren’t dumb. People aren’t dumb, for that matter. There’s no script. Say hello. Nobody is perfect and they know this. Girls like a guy to be nervous, to stumble over his words a bit — it’s endearing. It’s human. It’s normal.

Vibe and play with the conversation. Discover it. Mess up. Stumble. It’s the same process as writing music.

Yea, how’s that for analogy.

5). Breathe and Smile.

It helps. Trust me.

—

Ultimately, you’re a different person. Stefanhyltoft is a different person. Speak your opinions. Give us your take. Don’t try to be someone else. You can’t do [insert artist] better than [same artist].

Be yourself, everyone else is taken – Oscar Wilde

 

Here’s something fun I want you to do

I want you to abandon any preconceived notions of how music should sound.

I want you to open up your DAW, and make the craziest track you’ve ever made.

The challenging part? Try to make it actually good, too. Don’t make it insane for insanities sake. Make it insane for creativities sake.

Let’s keep it simple. Do it at either 73, 92, or 124 BPM (random BPM hell yeah). Start with a drumbeat and vibe from there. Explore and experiment. Play and discover.

When you’re done, go ahead and post it in the comments below so myself and others can take a listen to your wacky, self-expressed self.

Note: Don’t get caught up in trying to sound entirely unique or completely original — that’s impossible and not the point. The point is to abandon any guidelines you normally follow and see what kind of music your inner dialogue wants to speak. The point of this is to let it speak.

Zac Citron aka Zencha is the author of www.zenchamusic.com, a production site that explores “beyond the technical” — mindset, workflow, arrangement, marketing, and more. He also drinks way too much tea.

The post How to Express Yourself appeared first on Resoundsound.

Well, one of you (thanks Martin) pointed me out to a solution. Ableton have in fact created the feature to show device slots in Live but left it out for some reason. However with a little tweak we can make it happen.

So let’s spill the beans. If you prefer a video you should go check the original video tutorial at Sonic Bloom blog.

Before we begin, please note that I have only been able to test this with Live 8 and Live 9. There are reports this does not work with earlier versions of Live. Let me also note that while I haven’t had any problems with this yet, I am pretty new to Ableton Live. There is probably a reason why Ableton have decided not to include this feature. So be aware of possible bugs in the attic.

Now, once you set it up it looks like this:

Tidy huh?

Instructions

All you need to do is create a file called Options.txt with a line ‘-ShowDeviceSlots’ and place it in the right directory.

I’ve made the file ready for you: download Options.txt (right/ctrl click, save as). See instructions below on how to find the right directory to place it on your system.

If you wish to do it yourself:

1. Create a text file called Options.txt (this has to be in plain text format).
2. Inside the file write ‘-ShowDeviceSlots’ (without the apostrophes).
3. Place the file in the same folder where Live’s Preferences.cfg file is located (this folder could be hidden, see instructions below).

That is all! Start up Live and in the lower right side of the screen you will notice a new “plug” icon which allows you to show/hide device slots in the clip view.

Note: If you are seeing empty device slots, you probably have to make your tracks wider for the device names to show up.

How to find the right directory

• Mac OS X: Macintosh HD:/Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live x.x/
• Windows XP (Live 4 and later versions): C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Ableton\Live x.x\Preferences\
• Windows Vista and Windows 7: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Ableton\Live x.x\Preferences\

How to access hidden folders

Windows XP:

To make the Application Data folder visible on Windows XP, do the following:

1. Launch Explorer.
2. Select Tools/Folder Options/View.
3. Check “Show hidden files and folders.”

Windows Vista and Windows 7:

To make the AppData folder visible on Windows Vista or Windows 7, do the following:

1. Launch the Windows Explorer.
2. Click on ‘Organize’ → ‘Folder and Search Options’ → ‘View’.
3. Check ‘Show hidden files and folders’.

Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion” and 10.8 “Mountain Lion”:

• To make ‘Macintosh HD:/Users/[username]/Library’ visible on Lion or Mountain Lion, press and hold the “option/alt” key, and you can choose “Go to Library” in the Go menu of the Finder.
• To access the top level of Macintosh HD on (Mountain) Lion open ‘Finder Preferences’, select / check ‘Hard disks’ on ‘Sidebar’ tab under ‘Devices’ section.

Further options

There are some further Ableton Live customizations that you can do with the Options.txt file. These (unlike the show/hide devices option) are officially listed by Ableton.

You can read about those on their website here.

Have fun and remember to subscribe my email newsletter to stay current with Resoundsound.com!

The post Secret Feature in Ableton Live: Show Devices / Plugins on Tracks appeared first on Resoundsound.

So I’ve recently started dabbling in Ableton Live. Lots to learn. Here are some of my initial thoughts and first impressions.

Why Go For Ableton Live??

Why the move from Logic? After all, Logic is like second nature for me. Well, there are many reasons:

1. The most important reason is personal. I’ve been on Logic for 11 years now. I wanted change because it’s just good to push beyond your comfort zone sometimes. Discover new territories and find new inspiration in the process. Simple as that.
2. My search for better workflow. In the recent times I have noticed myself putting more and more thought on improving my workflow. I am constantly trying to find better ways of doing things. This involves a lot of trial and error. NI Maschine changed a lot of things for me in the past year. The plunge to Ableton is another experiment in this never ending quest. And I’m already glad I took it.
3. The third reason is that I feel Apple have simply taken too long without any substantial updates to Logic. They’re really falling behind in features. Now don’t get me wrong Holmes. Music is not a race. Logic 9 is a really good DAW, and if you’re happy with how things are working out for you then there’s little reason to look elsewhere. But let’s face it – you can’t really call Logic innovative these days. Logic 10 is coming and I really hope they are taking a good look at the competition and making it stand up. But right now I felt it was a good time now to take a look at what Ableton has to offer.
4. Performing. I am working on new ways to perform my music. Ways that go way beyond traditional DJ:ing. Native Instruments Traktor is the heart of my setup, but combining that with Ableton gives me a whole another world of possibilities. I am definitely welcoming that, so I’ll be experimenting with adding Ableton into the mix. We’ll see how things shape up.

So here’s a few observations. Please note at the time of writing this I have only been using Ableton Live for a couple of weeks. So excuse the newbie talk. Also while I don’t want to make this a feature comparison post, I can’t really avoid comparing to Logic at points as that’s where I come from.

It’s Snappy

Ableton Live feels snappy and lightweight. I am not a programmer but I can’t help but think there must be some smart design and clever coding at work behind this thing.

It hardly makes you wait when loading up instruments and effects (of course, 3rd party plugins can be a different story as always). It responds very well to any user action.  It’s simply a joy to use.

It’s not until now that I realize how clunky Logic actually feels. Also Logic crashes more. In fact I’ve only been able to make Live crash once so far and that was clearly due to an unstable 3rd party plugin.

Bundled Content

I have the Ableton Live Suite 9 Beta now. The quality of bundled sounds, effects and instruments you get with it is great. Logic Studio comes with good factory effects and instruments too. But the real difference here is in the bundled sounds. The many gigabytes of Apple loops that you get with Logic were never of any real use to me. In fact I don’t even have those installed anymore. But the sound libraries in Live Suite 9 are posh. There is some pretty generic stuff in there too, but I do find a lot of the bundled content quite useful and yes, even inspiring.

What is also nice about Live is the way they handle the sound content. There are loads of packs and you get to download just the ones you want and need. I work on a laptop so I don’t want anything useless taking up space. If I ever need the Grand Piano, I can grab it then. It’s also easy to uninstall any sound packs that you are not using.

Clever Interface

I won’t hide the fact that it took me a while to get my head round how it works (of course I still have loads to figure out). My main initial difficulty was fully understanding the relationship between session view and arrangement view. To be fair though, that kind of thing is always to be expected when getting into new software. And now that I do get it, I see the purpose and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When I found out Ableton comes from Germany I wasn’t surprised. Everything about the interface seems really well thought out and honed to perfection. Everything has a purpose. Gotta love that attention to detail.

It’s clearly made from ground up for electronic music production and that makes all the difference for me. Where as Logic is something for everyone, Ableton Live really zooms in and goes deep on electronic music.

Good Integration With My Gear

I use a Presonus Faderport and NI Maschine, and they both integrated easily with Live. Can’t say the same about Logic unfortunately – yeah I’ve managed but not without problems. So I was very happy to see these beloved pieces of kit working in Live nicely out of the box.

Ableton Live Makes Me Listen

It really seems somehow Live makes me look less and concentrate more on listening to the music. Which is always a great thing and has a pretty profound effect on the music. Maybe it’s the minimalistic and rugged looks of the interface  that causes this effect. Whatever it is I like it.

Some Mad Features

Some of the features in Live 9 Beta are just crazy. Especially the audio-to-MIDI functionality. I am talking about some proper black magic vibes here. I was pretty skeptical when I first heard about it. Once I tried it though… Woah!! Converting complex harmonic audio content to a MIDI synth instrument or a beatboxed sample into a drum sampler track… Just magical. I would not have thought this would be possible. Voodoo time.

They have also done some great work with some of the basic plugins like EQ8 and the compressor in Live 9. Without going into detail, they’ve clearly taken a look at the some of most cutting edge plugin developers out there and brought in some great features.

Conclusions

I downloaded the 30 day free trial, made 2 new tunes in the first 2 days and on the third day I bought the full version. That pretty much sums it up I think.

For mixing work I keep using Logic for the moment. Who knows if my opinion will change, but I still think Logic has mixing and audio editing covered better than Ableton. Other than that, it’s hard to think of any negative things to say.

Right now I think it’s safe to say Live is going to be my future workstation for creative work – combined with Maschine. Push is coming out soon too. It looks very promising so I’m definitely keeping an eye on that.

In general I’m very impressed and inspired with Live at the moment as you can probably see.

What are your thoughts? What do you like/dislike most about Ableton Live?

The post Ableton Live – First Impressions appeared first on Resoundsound.

Compression has become an integral ingredient of most music these days. At the same time it remains somewhat a secret science – a commonly misunderstood one. It’s a great pleasure to have the mastering engineer Barry Gardner from SafeandSound online mastering services to talk to us about how to learn compression. During his long career in music Barry has worked with people such as Terry Callier, Ronnie Wood, Craig David, Kano, Chick Corea and many others. Needless to say he knows his stuff. Time to pay attention.

Compression can be used in both technical and creative ways and is a much misunderstood process in audio production. Hopefully this article will help you learn what compression is capable of and introduce ways of understanding it based on a goal, rather than trial and error.

The best way to understand compression is to deconstruct it and then reconstruct it with a goal, be it technical or creative.

The Common Controls of a Compressor

Let the deconstruction begin. It is good to have in mind that job of a compressor is an automated level control which has and initial downward action – much like pulling down a fader. However there are certain controls which fix the response of the compressor. In this case what goes down must come up! We shall start with each control found on a basic compressor. We could go into great depth about the variations you can find, but for this article we will only be concerned about the controls that are relevant to all audio compressors.

• Threshold: level at which compression starts to take place.
• Ratio: amount of compression applied when the threshold has been exceeded.
• Attack: Speed at which level is reduced (a time constant) practically expressed in milliseconds.
• Release: Speed at which unity gain is restored (second time constant) also practically expressed in milliseconds.
• Make-up gain: A post compression gain control allowing the gain to be restored to that similar as the pre compression level (remember compression reduces the level of sound peaks).

Uses for Compressors and the Importance of a Sonic Goal

For a compression novice there will be significant online producer peer pressure to use compression whether you understand it or not. Make no mistake, compressors can make your music sound worse quite easily if you do not understand them. Do not rush here if you are starting out. A much better way to learn compression is to understand some basics and then apply.

In technical context a compressor can even out the levels between the naturally occurring peaks and troughs in a piece of audio. For example in a voice recording, the voice will naturally be softer and louder at times and it can be good to even this level out for the purposes of intelligibility – for example against a music back ground. This is a good technical use of a compressor.

A creative use of a compressor could be to adjust the tone of an instrument. This can be achieved by enhancing the micro dynamics of for example a snare drum. It is possible to bring out some extra snap in the drum attack when the stick hits the skin and maybe some extra body from the decay of the sound.

Initially it will be difficult to practice a goal driven need for compression. When you first start using a compressor at degrees where it would commonly be used it requires significant listening skill to determine the subtle changes. So some fairly extreme settings should be used at first so the audible changes are more dramatic. This can be backed off when you improve your ear to hand coordination skill set.

Initial Practice

For the following practice I recommend a good pair of headphones so you can focus on the sound changes with less disturbance from room acoustics and/or other room noises.

The human voice is a good sound source to practice on. The human ear is very sensitive to any unnatural artifacts introduced into this important human sound.

I suggest setting up a track with some speech or singing on it and applying a compressor with these settings (compressors are employed in the insert point of a track most commonly). Ensure the loud peaks in the voice are peaking at -8dBFS and set the compressor as follows:

• Threshold -16dBFS
• Ratio to 10:1
• Attack to 5ms
• Release 200ms

When you play the voice track you should see activity on the gain reduction meter (amount of compression being applied). You should also be able to hear the voice level drop in synchronization with the meters activity. The main practical use of this meter serves to provide an indication of how much make-up gain to add in order to match the original signal level.

Make-up Gain Is Very Important When Learning Compression

I cannot stress this enough, the make-up gain is the control which allows you hear compression action as opposed to level difference. We know the level will drop when compression is applied. But we want to hear the improvement or detrimental effects of the action of compression and not the volume change. If the predominant change is level drop, it will be difficult to judge if the action is positive or negative. Once the input and output levels are matched, you can then use the bypass button to listen to pre and post compression sound.

The next step is to start gently adjusting the attack time and listening to what audible effect this has on the action of the compressor. As the attack time becomes longer you should hear a little more punch coming from the somewhat muted (at 5ms) snare attack. Then try adjusting the release time and considering what happens audibly. When adjusting the attack and release, always consider the make up gain control and A/B the input signal versus the volume matched compressed version.

Ok – so you might feel that was a lot to take in! Well it is, and learning how to effectively use compressors usually takes most producers and engineers a few years to become competent. This is made more complex by the fact that most compressors have different sonic signatures. Some are smoother and some are more aggressive and so on.

Learning how to use compressors is an iterative process as opposed to a smooth learning curve. The reason being is you will try a compressor on a new sound source and it will probably not respond the same as on any other source. The frequency content and dynamics of that particular instrument are different. Try another compressor and again it sounds quite different at the same settings. So be prepared that there is a lot of practice to be had before you will master it.

Suggested Second Practice

I recommend getting a drum loop playing and peak it at -8dBFS. It is best this is a sparse drum pattern. A kick, snare and hihat is ideal. Set the compressor controls as before. Listen to what happens to the attack of your drums when compression is applied and make-up gain is matched. A/B the input signal and listen carefully to what you hear. Then you can start adjusting the attack and release times and considering the sonic results.

Listen to the following aspects:

• Punch/snap (or lack thereof) of kick and snare drum.
• Room ambience/acoustics in between sounds.
• The pressure of the sound as a character of sound.
• The tone of the sound and lose or gain of highs.

Lots of subtle changes can be identified and this is why these tools are coveted by sound engineers.

How to Learn Compression – Summary

To learn how to use a compressor will take time and practice and progress will be somewhat dependent on grasping the fundamentals and your ability to hear the subtle changes. As one progresses you can use less extreme settings ( i.e. lower ratio, say 3:1 or longer attack times with shorter release) and continue to listen to the changes as you do.

Eventually you will slowly be able to discern all of the changes the compressor invokes. So put some time aside for some daily practice to learn compression and in the not too distant future you will be a competent controller of dynamic range in your tracks.

Barry Gardner operates SafeandSound online mastering services in London, UK. He has worked with many world famous artists including: Ronnie Wood (Rolling Stones), Lemar, Craig David, The Rumblestrips, The Coral, The Hoosiers, Chick Corea, Kano, MC Skepta, Avishai Cohen, Incognito, Martha Tilsden, Still Remains, Terry Callier, Amp Fiddler, Billy Cobham, Marshall Allen and Sun Ra’s Arkestra.

The post Effective Techniques to Learn Compression appeared first on Resoundsound.

I am an avid fan of the Native Instruments Maschine. I just love it. What strikes me the most is how it can be used in so many different ways. I’ve picked up a lot by watching videos on Youtube and observing how other people are using it.  There are tons of Maschine tutorial videos out there. HOWEVER… That’s the problem.

Youtube has become infested with poorly produced crap “tutorials” that don’t really offer anything of interest to most people.

“Dubstep for 12-year olds.”

“Idiot’s guide to chopping the funky drummer.”

“Homie got a trap kit.”

Bollox.

Okay – yes we need entry level videos too. And it’s not hard to find good ones (check NI’s own Maschine tutorial channel to get started).

…But it gets harder when you wanna go deeper and find something that is well made and goes beyond showing the basic features.

Well I’ve been on the lookout of course, and I figured I’d share some good ones.

These are the best, more in depth Maschine tutorial videos that I’ve discovered. All of these videos I’ve personally found very useful or just downright inspiring.

No bullshit.

Watch, learn and apply!

Let this collection of videos be a testimonial of the creativity that this magnificent instrument boasts.

Maschine In Underworld’s Live Setup

Very interesting insight from Darren Price of Underworld on how they use Maschine. You even get to see him performing a song live with it.

Maschine In Depth – Step Sequencing and Effects

I don’t really know what to say about this guy. He’s on a proper mad professor flex. Great stuff. Make sure to watch this one without any skipping.

How to sample off the Internet using Soundflower

Sample anything from Youtube straight into Maschine? Yup, with some help from the free Soundflower app you can. Don’t think I need to say more. This is very powerful stuff.

Using Guitar Rig With Maschine Tutorial

In this video we learn some very creative techniques that involve using Native Instruments Guitar Rig as an effect host for Maschine. A lot of fun to be had there! I particularly love the tip about convoluting beats with impulse responses made from, well, themselves. The techniques seen in this video can be applied outside Maschine as well,  of course.

Multi-FX in Maschine Tutorial

In this tutorial we learn how to create intergalatic multi-effect chains using the internal routing options in Maschine. The possibilities are endless.

Using Maschine to Generate Ideas (with Mike Huckaby)

Mike Huckaby shows how he uses Maschine to quickly sketch out ideas and variations. I wish I had thought of that (on the other hand, now I don’t have to).

Maschine Live Performance Techniques (with Bass Kleph)

Bass Kleph shares a lot of good info on his finger drumming and other Maschine tricks he does in his hybrid DJ/live performance show.

Tha Bizness: Making Kendrick Lamar’s “Sherane” with Maschine

This video doesn’t really classify as a tutorial. In fact it’s propaganda, but I found it quite inspiring and fun to watch in any case.

Using Saturator on 808 Kick Drum Bassline

A very neat Maschine tutorial on the saturation section of Maschine. Since the making of this video, Native Instruments have added tape and valve modes to the saturation unit. That makes the techniques described in this video even more useful.

Richie Hawtin on Performing With Maschine

Last but not least… Mr. Hawtin shares some great insight on his live performance and other related things.

So there you have it! 10 really powerful Maschine tutorials for you to study. Now go step up your game.

If you liked this post, give it a Tweet or a “Like”. Share the wealth yeah?

The post Maschine Tutorial Videos – Inspiration and Advanced Techniques appeared first on Resoundsound.

You probably get stuck sometimes.

I know the feeling. I’ll be looking at a half-finished song and my brain is fixated on the next step. But the solution isn’t coming to me.

As you probably know, I tend to be pretty organised in my workflow. Step 1 is followed by Step 2, which is then followed by Step 3. Kick and snare and hats. Then background percussion. Then bass. Then chords or arps. Then melody. Then repeat for B-section. Then arrangement. Then automation. And on and on it goes.

‘Organised’, however, can sometimes look like ‘rigid’. And when it’s time to write a melody but no melody is coming to me, ‘rigid’ tends to look more like ‘uncooperative’. Sometimes the solution is to take a break and let it stew in my subconscious for a day or two. Sometimes the solution is to take inspiration from something outside the genre I’m working in. Sometimes the solution is to start with something exceedingly simple and build on it.

But sometimes the solution is to break workflow.

Maybe I can’t solve the bassline because it can’t be solved yet – it needs the chords and the melody before it will emerge. Maybe I can’t solve the background percussion because it’s can’t be solved yet – the drums are already too full or complex.

Sometimes it makes sense to do things in a different order. Route around the problem.

More broadly, I worked on a collaboration a few years ago where the singer had recorded scratch vocals but was having difficulty scheduling time to record the final vocals. Rather than stall the project, I actually went ahead with the mix using the scratch vocals, knowing we could record the final vocals later and it wouldn’t be much work to fit them in.

If you’re getting stuck, it’s probably because you’re trying to solve the wrong problem. Rather than beating yourself up and/or slowing things down, sometimes it makes sense to move on. Tackle things slightly out of order.

The great thing about plans is that you can always change them.

Kim Lajoie (http://blog.kimlajoie.com) is a Melbourne music producer specialising in composition, project management and digital audio technology. 

The post Breaking Workflow appeared first on Resoundsound.

Reason 1

Bouncing tracks to audio cements your ideas and crystallizes your focus. It keeps you from drifting into that vicious cycle of changing things up repeatedly – only to end up with no direction and lost momentum.

Reason 2

It gives you further options for creative processing. Working with audio allows things like reversing, time-stretching, slicing up & rearranging, etc.

Reason 3

It makes arranging easier. It’s much quicker to try different arrange options when all you have to do is throw big blocks of audio around (instead of small chunks of MIDI note data and bits of automation).

Reason 4

It keeps the arrange page tidy and makes the structure easier to visualize.

Reason 5

When you bounce to audio, you can see the actual waveforms in the arrange instead of just midi notes. This provides a much more exact vision of what’s going on and allows for ultra-precise editing of the timing.

Reason 6

It’s often better to just swap audio files when collaborating. In fact even though Loxy and I both work in Logic, we rarely swap project files. We usually just send wavs. It really seems to help us finish things better and doing this has probably very much contributed in developing our own sound too.

Reason 7

You’ll have stems ready for future remixes/rework. Too many times I’ve tried to open an old Logic project of mine in order to do a remix, only to find out some of the files or plugins have been lost for ever.

Reason 8 (I lied)

It sucks having to think about CPU or memory limitations when mixing. If you bounce to audio before final mix you free up some of those critical resources.

The post 7 Reasons to Bounce Tracks to Audio Before Final Mix/Arrange appeared first on Resoundsound.