The Music Maze Big Bad Bass - A Tutorial on Low Frequencies Sub-bass occupies the frequency range from 20 - 100 Hz. It is not so much heard, but felt. Sub-bass is responsible for creating a low-end presence that gives a bassline its power. Special attention should be paid to this layer as low frequencies take up a lot of headroom in a song. Getting the sub-bass just right is an art. Tip: To accurately gauge sub-bass, your studio monitor set-up should have a sub-woofer. Step 1: Create your sub-bass sound The source of your bass can be a synth patch or a sample. Synthesize: Many synthesizers (software and outboard) come with dedicated sub-bass patches, however, it's easy to create your own. Sample: Alternatively you can use a sub-bass audio sample, loaded into a sampler. Step 2: EQ / lowpass To ensure that the sub-bass does not interfere with any other elements, use a shelving EQ or a low-pass filter (being careful NOT to use any resonance) to remove any frequencies higher than 100 Hz. Step 3: Limit
music theory Professional music theory: an outline of basic music theory. Preface and Chapter 1 of the Outline of basic music theory – by Oscar van Dillen ©2011-2014 The beginner’s learning book can be found at Basic elements of music theory. Overview of chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Sound and hearing Chapter 3: Musical notation Chapter 4: Basic building blocks of melody and harmony Chapter 5: Consonance and dissonance Chapter 6: Circle of fifths and transposition Chapter 7: Concerning rhythm, melody, harmony and form Chapter 8: Further study Preface This outline offers a concise and complete overview of basic music theory. In order to speed up consulting this online book, its chapters can as of now be found on separate pages; unfortunately the original one-page version exceeded acceptable download times, because of the length of the total materials presented. © Oscar van Dillen 2011-2014 Chapter 1: Introduction integrating hearing-reading-singing-writing
Nord Modular Tips & Tricks Welcome to the Nord Modular and Micro Modular 'tips and tricks' section! The workshops of this section are created by a very skilled Nord Modular user: Rob Hordijk. On the 'tips and tricks' pages you will find various information regarding sound synthesis techniques. With every topic comes a workshop where you can follow the practical, non-mathematical, musician-oriented examples. The patches are kept as simple as possible showing only the basic connections. If you have a Nord Modular or Nord MicroModular synthesizer you can download the example patches directly from the workshops into the Modular Editor V3.03 program and your synth and play with them. Another very skilled Nord Modular/G2 user - Roland Kuit - has made the E-Book "SoundLab".
7 Alternatives to Pandora and Last.FM | Mystery Tricycle Whether you are annoyed by the ads on Pandora, the limited number of skips, or the abyss of cruel 30-second song teasers from Last.FM, many online listeners are growing weary of mainstream methods of hearing new music. While the Pandora algorithm is strong, and the Last.FM related artists tool is pretty useful, don’t fool yourself in to thinking that there aren’t other great ways to expose yourself to new music in the depths of cyberspace. Here are 7 alternatives to Pandora and Last.FM that will infuse your day with an uninterrupted stream of music that large record companies haven’t managed to squash under their thumbs yet. StumbleAudio StumbleAudio has a killer recommendation engine that works better for me than Pandora’s. Instead of “genomes”, StumbleAudio uses listeners’ favoritism as well as buying pattern data from online music stores to make suggestions. Songza Musicovery Elegantly, Musicovery boils down songs to a location on two scales: Energetic-Calm and Positive-Dark. Stereomood
Music SoftwareTraining and Ableton Blog Attack Of The 8 Bar Loop So there you are, staring at your computer screen. 12 tracks of brilliance, or at least 15 seconds of it. You sit there listening to the loop on repeat over and over again, trying to convince yourself that you are being creative, instead of just stuck. We have all been there. One day, your gravestone will read: “He almost put a lot of great art into this world” If there is any challenge that computer musicians have that I hear about repeatedly, It’s the 8 bar loop syndrome. Making loops is easy, finishing songs is hard The first step is admitting you have a problem. The problem is that you haven’t defined your goal before you sit down to write. It doesn’t happen like that. Stop focusing on fun I know that is the last thing a music producer wants to hear but if you are going to finish songs, you are going to have to start by accepting that some unpleasant work is involved. What all this mental mumbo jumbo? Some practical tips 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
The SOS Guide To Mix Compression Technique : Effects / Processing Compressing the stereo bus can give your music coherence, smoothness and, above all, punch — but there are plenty of pitfalls for the unwary. We lead you through the minefield that is mix compression. Will Haas Mix-bus compression can be a confusing topic for inexperienced mixers and engineers. To set the record straight, there is a huge sonic difference between mixing into a stereo compressor from the outset versus slapping a stereo compressor on the mix bus just before you print a mix. The point is that the same set of fader settings will actually produce a different mix balance depending on whether you apply compression, and how much. Used appropriately, mix-bus compression can be another tool for adjusting the overall balance of your mix, giving you 'glue' to help meld sounds together and make the overall mix balance sound more cohesive. Which Compressor? The most common questions regarding mix-bus compression seem to be: are there sonic benefits?
tonespace 2.0 what is tonespace? it's a different, more intuitive music keyboard, combined with a chorder It supports over 50 different grids, 14 scales, 18 keys, 30+ chord types and 25 chord voicings it can function as a VST or Audio Unit plugin, processing incoming MIDI events and/or generating outgoing MIDI you don't need to use MIDI though: there is also a standalone executable which contains its own little synth for a fast start what can you do with it? audition and play chords while you move the mouse around in a grid-like space, or while using a traditional keyboard learn how musical scales and keys work, and how chords relate to these, using the simple octave-based spaces discover how chords map onto surprisingly simple geometric shapes in the more advanced spaces use chord-generation algorithms to fit chords to scales and keys automatically trigger chords from monophonic midi input and record the played chords using midi output what does it cost? demos & tutorials
Lyric Writing Exercises: a 5-Day Workshop Guest post by Maria Rainier If you’re anything like most songwriters, you’re all too familiar with that frustrating sensation of being stuck in a rut. You know it’s important to write something – anything – every day, but there are times when that just seems impossible. Maybe you don’t have enough energy, you might be too critical of your first attempts, or you could be missing out on the muse. Whatever the reason, you can still get your daily writing done in a productive way if you introduce new exercises into your routine. The next chance you get, try starting this five-day lyric writing exercise workshop – it’s the perfect way to begin a week of successful songwriting. Day 1: Research Mix & Match The first step is to give yourself something interesting to work with. Day 2: Collaborative Brainstorming Contact a friend by chat or email. Day 3: Titles & Nuggets Using what you’ve written from the previous two exercises (or relying on your notebook), construct some potential song titles.
- Tracking : Resources and Information Look here for articles on applied recording techniques and mic placement. It all starts here! Acoustic Guitar Tracking the acoustic guitar is a huge subject, because so much contributes to the final sound—player, instrument, room acoustics, mic choice and placement, effects, and more. Here are some timeless articles with solid advice to get you started on developing your own acoustic recording toolbox. Electric Guitar The electric guitar is the central sound of rock music, and has influenced everything from blues and country to electronica. Bass Recording the bass can be as straightforward as a simple DI to the console or as complex as multiple mics on an acoustic bass fiddle or giant amp stack. Other Guitars The archtop, the dobro, the parlor guitar, the pedal steel—scary to the newcomer, each with its own challenges. Drums & Percussion Miking drums is an art form. Vocals The human voice is the most recognizable sound to the human brain. Horns & Woodwinds Piano Strings Psychology & Coaching
make music together let's get started making music... 1draw on the grid with your mouse to make a beatshow me2 save your track and share it with friends. show me3 out of ideas? roll the dice and start remixing. show me4 explore the beatlab community show me For more tips, tutorials vidoes, and FAQs, check out our community wiki. You can use the following keyboard shortcuts while composing a track. spacebar Press to start or stop playback. commandcontrol key Hold down the commandcontrol key while drawing notes to create "loud" notes. optionalt key Hold down the optionalt key while drawing notes to create "soft" notes. shift Hold down the shift key to select a region of notes. Playback starting point By default, playback always starts from the beginning of a track. You can change where playback begins by setting the playback start marker. Clicking on the arrow icon again will remove it. show me Column volume There is a speaker icon to the left of each row on the grid.