kubin

sketosomania, post: 35592, member: 2642 wrote: Do we first produce basslines , buildups , drop, beats separately and then mix them in or create it as we go?

There’s no key formula for that, sometimes you have a bass line on your mind you want to build a track upon, sometimes you just play around because you’re bored and suddenly end up with a nice intro or something and then work from there.

Music is not something you can create by simply following steps somebody has written down for you.

sketosomania, post: 35592, member: 2642 wrote: Where do we learn the basics?

Google, YouTube, Books, .. there are lots of resources you can start from. Search for “Ableton Basics”, “Cubase Basics”, “Logic Basics”, “Reason Basics” or “Whatever Program You’d Like To Use Or Try Out Basics” on YouTube, there’s a lot of stuff on there.

Sometimes songs just don’t fit into each other.

Using effects is one way, cutting a lot of frequencies on the incoming track and then replacing the highs/mids/lows on the running track one after the other also works sometimes (usually becomes pretty messy though), or try to just cross-fade with filters.

Also, using a short part of a third track as a bridge between the two tracks you actually want to mix togheter works for me a lot of the time.

Generally speaking, this is hard to answer without exactly knowing what tracks you’d like to mix.

Hey,

• YouTube is a HUGE (if not overwhelming) resource for Tutorials on producing to give you the basics, for example it helps you to decide what software you want to use, how to set it up correctly and how to get the first few steps done
• I’d suggest you don’t rely too much on Tutorials though, I learned that I get the best results with my own methods because I completely understand them in every aspect, which provides me with the possibility to adapt them for my current needs
• If you don’t have any musical background (like playing an instrument), I’d suggest you dig into that as well. Having a basic understanding of harmonics, chords and rhythmics improves the quality of your compositions a lot
• Listen A LOT and CAREFULLY to tracks that are similar to what kind of music you want to make. Producing is a lot of experience, and after you managed to get yourself a few basic skills you will notice a lot of stuff in tracks you didn’t hear before, stuff like panned frequencies, filtering, etc.
  Also get yourself some decent headphones and listen to your music with them, that changes your experience of a track a lot
• If you really want to make good music, don’t be afraid of investing some money in it. Buying high-quality sample and loop packs and getting good hardware is one of the key aspects to make your songs sound good, although that is probably one or two steps after you did your first attempts 🙂

Hope that helps getting you started,
Cheers

Regarding the headphones, I can highly suggest these:

http://us.akg.com/akg-product-detail-us/k518lered.html

Not too expensive (~100$, even cheaper here in Austria, I bought them for ~70€) and top quality in my opinion, I use them as everyday headphones as well as when I’m DJing, good isolation and a clear sound, they got a little room so the bassy frequencies are pretty present as well and they’re comfortable to wear.

I can’t really give you a good advice regarding the controller, I’m still using the first MIDI controller I’ve ever bought when I’m DJing, it’s an Akai MPD26 which works nicely with Traktor, although it has no direct support for it, so you have to map it to your likes with Traktor’s controller manager. Having said that, I’m always using an external mixer as well, I wouldn’t want to control the EQ with the controller as the potties don’t have a stopping point and you can turn them endlessly in each direction, which means you have no real feedback of when one of your frequency band’s completely killed, at normal level or fully boosted.

Maybe just stop by your local store and ask them for cheaper alternatives for the S4 : )

Cheers

Since I have no idea how big this is and whether you plan on doing this in a big city or a rather small village, I’ll just post what I do when I’m organizing an event. Could be that you already did/knew all of this stuff or that it doesn’t apply to your area, but who knows : )

1.) Crew
You need people who sell the tickets and who check if the people who want to enter have a valid ticket (or wristband) with them. Usually you can’t get securities to do this, plus securities are expensive and you want to keep their amount as low as possible.

I guess you’ll need people to give out drinks as well, unless the bar isn’t super small you need at least two per shift.

2.) Venue
If you’re renting a warehouse you probably can’t rely on some infrastructure like a bar, definitely check out what kind of stuff you need to bring for yourself. Don’t forget about stuff like cups (you don’t want to give out bottles), probably you need some lights for the bar too, otherwise the people there will have a hard time working.

3.) Office
It’s always good to have some space where you can safely keep your stuff, like the cash you collected from the entry/bar during the night, documents you need to have with you if somebody shows up who wants to see them, etc.

4.) Security
As mentioned above, if the event grows larger you definitely need to have securities. Check with the local authorities how much they require you to get. Also, if this is a private event, it’s never a bad idea to show up at the closest police station beforehand and tell them what you’re going to do, maybe give them your phone number if they want to. Showing that you’re a responsible guy saves you from trouble induced by locals close to your event ; )

5.) Laser
We had a laser once which was pretty expensive, but the most annoying thing about it was that we had to pay somebody who was supposed to look after the laser (you need a special training to be allowed to do that). Definitely check if you need somebody like that and how much he’s going to cost.
What is easier to accomplish and cheaper are video projectors, get a VJ or two and you’re set. Usually projections entertain me more than lasers : )

6.) Check-in / Crew Briefing
Okay, this usually really comes into play when you have a medium to big event, but I think it’s never a bad idea to have that in mind.
Do a list with all the people working on that evening with their respective phone numbers, so you can easily reach them (don’t forget to tell them YOUR phone number as well if something goes wrong during the night and they need you). Call them the night before to make sure they didn’t forget that they have to work at your event the next day and tell them to show up one hour before they have to start working (people are always late anyways). Once they show up, tick their name on your list so you have control over the spots you need people to work on and where you maybe have to replace someone. Get at least two persons who are willing to replace someone on the main spots like bars in case somebody isn’t appearing for work.

Put together some short instructions of how the work at the bar/entry has to be done and place them on the respective spots, plus tell the bar guys to check out where all the stuff they need is BEFORE the event starts.

Dunno if that helps you,
good luck with your event anyways : )

Cheers

How do you do that? Since harmonic mixing doesn’t have to do anything with the tempo? Please tell me if I’m wrong : )

If I’m facing major tempo / beat changes I usually wait for a break at the first song and then try to mix in the second song there, using a part where there’s no beat at all or only some percussion that doesn’t immediately points the crowd to the fact that the tempo has changed.

Same thing if you want to go back to your original tempo, wait for a break in the current song and try to mix in the next one from there.

Try to play around a little with effects like delay and phaser, that helps me sometimes to cover the fact that the beats don’t match exactly.

Thanks for the hint : )