Do you meticulously plan the layers of your song based on the holes in the frequency spectrum or do you experiment to see what fits? Do you have a particular method for coming up with a vocal melody to go on top of your instrumental?

Any part of the process is fair game. Give us your tips for developing and shaping your song whether it’s in the songwriting phase, the recording phase, or the mixing phase. No tip is too insignificant to share!

If you guys like doing the open mic thing and having your chance to contribute, we’ll do it again in the future.

In some cases, an ambient drone is required that does not necessarily represent a ‘real world’ sound, but instead acts as a non-diegetic device that helps to add a particular flavor or emotion to a scene. This technique is commonly used in science fiction or horror scenes, to add suspense or a fantastical element to the soundtrack.

This tutorial will focus on one means of creating a non-diegetic, ambient drone. Keep in mind that this particular technique is not necessarily useful in all situations, and in some cases these types of drones are left to the composer, rather than the sound designer. Regardless, they are a fun an interesting way to experiment with sound.

Step 1

The first thing we’ll do is to locate some interesting source material, from which we’ll craft our drones. We’re going to use two sources: a wind instrument and an animal sound.

We’ll use a Flute Sample from Logic’s EXS24 sampler, along with a ‘growl’ sample, which I’ve grabbed from Freesound.org.

Step 2

Next we’ll render out a stereo version of our flute drone, played back at a low pitch. To do this, I create a new Software Instrument Track and load up the “Native American Flute” sample, using Logic’s handy ‘Library’ browser.

I draw (or play) in a note (I’ve chosen C4) that lasts about 15 seconds or so. I’ll also bypass the built-in effects that Logic places on the sample - we will do our own post-processing later.

Finally, I’ll bounce this track and add it to the Audio Bin, where I’ll import it onto a new audio track.

Sound designer extra credit: If you own a whistle, flute, recorder, or some similiar wind instrument, record your own version of this sound, rather than using one from a sample library!

Step 3

Next we’ll edit this newly imported flute sample in our waveform editor. First, we’ll create a backup copy of the file from the ‘Audio File’ menu in the ‘Bin’ view.

Next we’ll use the Time and Pitch Machine in Logic’s ‘Factory’ window to adjust the pitch of the sample.

• Set Mode to ‘Classic’
• Set Algorithm to Monophonic
• Set Desination Pitch to -2400 Cents
• Click on ‘Process and Paste’

Now we have a pitched down version of our flute sample. This is the base of our drone sound.

Step 4

Moving on to the fun stuff, we’ll now begin to animate our drone, using a variety of techniques.

First we’ll create three Aux Tracks in the Logic Mixer using the Options-Create New Auxiliary Channel Strips command. We’ll also add three new tracks to the Arrange Window - one for each Aux channel.

Step 5

In the first Aux Channel, we’ll add Logic’s Tremolo Plugin to the first Insert, which will begin to give some movement to our Flute Sample.

In the second Aux Channel, we’ll add a plugin from one of my favorite suites - SoundMagic Spectral by Michael Norris. This brilliant set of plugins offers a wide range of spectral processing in the form of AU plugins. I’ve elected to use the Spectral Bin Shift here, but you will definitely want to explore each of these plugs individually.

In our final Aux Channel, we’ll add the Space Designer reverb. I’ve edited our ‘growl’ sample from above and used it as the IR Sample for Space Designer.

Step 6

For our next step, we’ll need to route some of our Flute track to each of the three Aux channels. In this case, I’ve chosen to route using pre-fader sends. A pre-fader send routes a signal to a Bus or Aux ‘before’ the sending channel’s fader. The result is that you can pull the fader down, which effectively removes some or all of the dry signal from the mix. In Logic, this is accomplished by pressing and holding in the Send slot, then selecting ‘Pre’. I route a rougly equal amount of signal to each of the three channels.

Step 7

As I listen to the mix I’ve got so far, I decide that I’d like to add a bit more high-frequency content. To do this, I’ll add the Clip Distortion plugin to our original flute track. I’ve also reduced the volume of the track by about 20dB.

Step 8

We’re nearly done with our drone - so we’ll just take a moment to automate a few settings on the plugins, which will help create a sense of motion for the final mix.

I’ve automated the Clip Drive parameter of our Distortion on the primary Flute channel, the Rate parameter of our Tremelo channel, and the Bins To Shift parameter of our Spectral channel. The result looks like this:

The result is a drone far removed from the simple flute from which it was born. Enjoy!

Download audio file (final_mix.mp3)

Or maybe you want to use some audio from a live recording or a studio session where no click track was used. When it comes to adding other sequenced parts to audio that has been recorded in this way it can be difficult to get the timing of the midi notes right. The metronome and auto-quantize will be out of sync with the audio.

Obviously you can leave these turned off and try to record your other parts in time with your original audio, but this is going to be difficult, especially with several parts. What we need to do is make the tempo of the project follow the timing of the audio, and in this tutorial I’m going to demonstrate my preferred method of achieving this by creating hitpoints on the downbeats of the audio, converting these to markers, and using the warp tool to adjust the tempo track so that the tempo will vary and fit exactly to the audio. The end result will be that the metronome will follow the timing of the audio exactly and quantize will snap to the audio events correctly.

Step 1

Here’s a piece of audio, a piano piece which I’ve opened up in Cubase, where the timing deliberately slows then speeds up to demonstrate the varying tempo track that I’m going to create. I’ve already trimmed the audio so that it starts exactly on the first downbeat, and I’ve lined it up (with snap turned on) to start at bar 3. Take a listen to the audio clip and you will hear that the metronome is totally out of time with the music, and would be useless in giving a count in or to play along with.

Download audio file (tempounmatched.mp3)

Track with unmatched tempo

Step 2

From the new tracks menu I’ve made a marker track, and with the pencil I’ve drawn a marker into the marker track at the start of the audio at bar 3.

Step 3

Next I’ve clicked on the warp tab. This allows us to edit the tempo track.

Step 4

Now by pressing [Shift] + clicking on marker 1, we create a tempo event and lock the marker to that position in the audio. The yellow triangle and 120 symbol at the top of the picture show that the tempo at that point is locked to 120BPM.

Step 5

Now I’ve double-clicked the audio part to open it up in the sample editor. Clicking the hitpoints tab allows us to draw and edit hitpoints on the audio waveform.

Step 6

The first part of the next step is to draw in all the hitpoints. To bring up the pen tool we need to press and hold Alt/Option with the cursor over the waveform. I’ve chosen to draw a hitpoint on every downbeat of the audio, which will create a lot of markers, but it should be nice and accurate.

You should be able to see where the hitpoints should go, but just play throught the sample and use your ears if you are not certain. When you are satisfied that you’ve got the hitpoints in the right positions, click the Create Markers tab on the left hand side and then close the sample editor.

Step 7

We can see here that there are now 24 markers. The next task will be to use the warp tool to drag bars so that they snap into place where the markers are. For example, I want bar 3.2 to line up with marker 2 and so forth.

Step 8

Make sure that snap is set to events from the drop down menu shown in the top right of the screenshot. In the bottom left of the screenshot you can see the faint gray line which represents bar 3.2. Click and drag this to the right (you must be in warp mode) and it should snap to marker 2.

Step 9

The click of the metronome is now going to fall correctly in time with the audio on bars 3 and 3.2. Obviously we need to go through all the markers dragging the appropriate nearest bar to snap to them, but before we move on we must lock the marker in position and create another tempo event. As before, pressing Shift and clicking on the marker whilst in warp mode will do this.

Step 10

Next we move on to marker 3, dragging bar 3.3 to it and locking it, and the same with bar 3.4 to marker 4, bar 4 to marker 5, then working through all the markers. At this point it should be obvious which bars you should drag to each marker.

Step 11

All the bars are now correctly lined up with the markers, which have all been locked, and you can see all the tempo events created in the ruler at the top. Each one represents a change in tempo. The tempo now follows the timing of the audio, which means our metronome will be in sync with the audio.

Equally important: when using quantize or editing any midi parts we record, the notes will snap to the tempo of the audio. Have a listen to how the metronome now follows the audio:

Download audio file (temponowmatched.mp3)

Track with matched tempo

Step 12

In this final track, I’ve recorded two midi parts - a drum track and a bass line. It was a lot easier to play along with the audio now that the metronome follows the tempo correctly, and when I recorded the parts, if I made any mistakes it was easy to go in and edit the notes with them now snapping to their correct positions.

Download audio file (finishedtrack.mp3)

Final track

• 5. Spacesynth

  

  What Is It?
  If you’re already familiar with Spacesynth, then you don’t need me to tell you that it originated in the mid-1980’s. If you haven’t heard Spacesynth before, just imagine taking the nerdiest and most horrifyingly cheesy elements of 80’s synth music and listening to them all at once…while in outer space.

  To put it more exactly, according the the folks at spacesynth.net, “Spacesynth…is instrumental upbeat synth music that focuses on melodies instead of rhythm. Driving basslines, catchy synth riffs, sci-fi influences and futuristic track titles and album covers have always been a major part of spacesynth.”

  Although not listed, living in your mother’s basement and a lifetime of being ignored by women are also dominant elements in Spacesynth. Probably.

  People Actually Listen To This?

  Spacesynth has certainly lost a large chunk of its mid-80’s heyday fanbase. It’s unclear whether this is an indictment of the quality of the music or just something that was bound to happen once people stopped wearing pastel suits and snorting lines of coke for breakfast.

  With that said, after a long absence throughout most of the 90’s, some small labels such as Alpha Centauri have once again begun releasing new Spacesynth releases.

  Hear It For Yourself:

  Laserdance were, arguably, the biggest Spacesynth band ever. The video below is for a song called “Powerrun.” That sounds like some sort of class you would take at Bally’s Fitness. You know what song would be playing during that class? This one.

• 4. Epic Doom-Metal

  

  What Is It?

  According to the scholars at Wikipedia, “for the uninitiated, distinguishing epic doom from traditional doom may be difficult.” Thanks for the help! Apparently, epic doom is just like regular ol’ vanilla doom, except the dudes sing in clean, sometimes operatic voices as opposed to leaning on the “holy shit that guy sounds like Cookie Monster” style employed by some modern doom bands. It all sounds very fancy.

  People Actually Listen To This?

  Epic doom has a fairly decent following, mostly amongst Europeans and kids who shoot up schools. Some epic doom bands have had quite lengthy careers, most notably Candlemass, who are set to release their tenth studio album in 2009. But my vote for most awesome epic doom band ever goes to Doomsword. Check out this list of past and present Doomsword members: Deathmaster, The Forger, WrathLord, Sacred Heart, Nightcomer, The Guardian Angel, The Guardian Angel II and Dark Omen. I don’t care what they sound like, I’ll check out a band with names like that any day.

  Hear It For Yourself:

  While this video from Candlemass is certainly full of doom that one could only describe as epic, it’s also chock full of epic hilarity. Do yourself a favor and forward to the 1:30 mark. That’s when the lead singer hops out of a coffin and his quest to melt the heart of a young maiden begins. Hilarity and Ozzy Osbourne worship ensues.

• 3. Lowercase

  

  What Is It?

  Silence. That’s what lowercase music is. It’s silence. Silence occasionally interrupted by brief moments of barely audible noise. It’s apparently an offshoot of ambient minimalism. Ambient music focuses on sound more than notes. Basically, lowercase does that too, but the sound it focuses on is silence. Sounds pretty rocking, no?

  How boring is lowercase music? The album that pioneered the lowercase movement was Forms of Paper, a recording by a man named Steve Roden. It consisted solely of recordings of Roden handling different forms of paper. While he was high on crystal meth. Sorry, the crystal meth part is a lie. I’m just trying to make an album of paper shuffling sounds seem interesting.

  People Actually Listen To This?

  Oh yeah, of course people listen. If you’d like to be one of those people, head to the website of raster-noton, a label that currently publishes lowercase music. Fittingly, the website is a blindingly stark white background with tiny little font that you can barely read.

  What Does It Sound Like?

  Like soundtrack music for the most boring acid trip ever.

  2. Bitpop

  

  What Is It?

  Alright Blur fans, read that slowly before you take to the comments. It says BITpop, there’s no R. Speaking of no R, there is no reason why anyone should ever openly admit to listening to Bitpop. Basically, Bitpop takes all of the ecstatic joy that came with playing old school video games and removes the playing, gaming and video aspects from it.

  If this sounds a bit on the geeky side, that’s because it very much is. Don’t let anyone tell you any differently. Slipping a bitpop reference into a conversation at a party will not make you seem edgy and underground. It will make you sound like someone whose itch for entertainment can be scratched by music meant to blend into an 8-bit background.

  People Actually Listen To This?

  It’s got its own record label. Somebody must be listening. Bitpop pioneers Welle:Erdball played the Arvika Festival in Sweden in 2005. Festivalgoers able to recited the Konami code at the gates received free admission. Or at least they should have.

  What Does It Sound Like?

  Um, like a video game?

• 1. Nintendocore

  

  What Is It?

  There are about fifty-thousand different obscure genres that end with the word ‘core’. Delving into all of the ridiculous ones would have made this list about sixty entries too long. But after scanning through them all, none stuck out quite like Nintendocore.

  I don’t need to even tell you that this is another entry from the video game music files. But instead of focusing exclusively on 8-bit sounds, Nintendocore mixes in elements of metal, black metal, death metal, hardcore, hardcore metal, metalcore and metal metal.

  People Actually Listen To This?

  According to its Wikipedia page, Nintendocore is in the “near mainstream” category. That sounds like a bit of a stretch, unless there is a separate, specific mainstream in which people who rock to video game sounds rule the land. One band in particular though, HORSE the Band, have a fairly decent following. They have released several albums and have toured the world.

  What Does It Sound Like?

  A video game. A very angry video game.

• Subscribe to the AUDIOTUTS RSS Feed featuring great content for music and audio lovers.

  ]]> http://audiotuts.com/articles/web-roundups/5-most-hilarious-obscure-music-genres/feed/ http://audiotuts.com/tutorials/composition/how-to-add-the-experimental-to-electronica-part-1/ http://audiotuts.com/tutorials/composition/how-to-add-the-experimental-to-electronica-part-1/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:59:42 +0000 Paul Taylor http://audiotuts.com/?p=844 ]]> It’s a bit of a shame that the abstract electronica genre isn’t thriving commercially the way it used to be. The heyday of labels like Warp Records and Planet Mu has long gone, and very few experimental electronica producers are making a living from their music.

  That said, there’s a great wealth of absolutely amazing free electronica out there. I’d recommend any fan of electronic music to take a listen to the brilliant Bleepshow podcast for many fantastic examples. It’s a highly creative area, and one which needs a constant supply of fresh talent, so it’s a good time to get started!

  In this tutorial, we’ll be taking a look at some of the tweaks and techniques which can help you to create your own experimental electronica. Obviously, the point of the genre is essentially to explore the systems you have at your disposal, and hopefully you’ll be able to extract the principles behind these examples as well as following them literally.

  Note: this tutorial contains embedded audio that will not display in a feed reader. Click back to the site to read the tutorial with audio or download the Play Pack at the end of the tut.

  Cut-up Chords

  

  When you’re creating a big electronica pad sound, it makes a lot of sense to render the track as audio for further manipualtion. In Ableton Live, you can do this quickly with the Freeze and Flatten commands. This will allow you to start chopping up the raw audio, just as you might edit a drum loop.

  Here, I’ve chopped a few pieces out to create a rhythmic gating effect. You could use a plugin like Livecut or Glitch to do this, but both tend to produce quite recognizable results; do it by hand first until you know situations where you need things to be automated.

  

  Live’s Filter Delay plugin is brilliant on pads; if you don’t have Live, you could consider something like Waves Supertap. If you’re serious about electronica, however, nothing beats the hands-on nature of Live. Automating the filter cutoff on each part of the delay can produce some interesting phasey effects.

  

  Phasers tend to be overused on pad sounds. Try automating a frequency sweep like this over a transition to soften it, rather than smothering the entire sound in watery, slimey phaser tone!

  Download audio file (chordwithcuts.mp3)

  Chord with Cuts

  Glitchy Percussion

  

  Complex percussive elements are a hallmark of the genre, but they can be a little daunting initially. I like to start by building up a basic kick and snare groove, then layering lots of smaller sounds over the top.

  

  Don’t just leave your vanilla kick drum sample in there; try adding some delay to spice things up. The filter curve on this PingPong delay ensures that there’s no clashing low frequencies and turns the kick into an almost tom-like additional percussion sound.

  The Auto Filter here is automated to just occasionally take the top edge in and out of the kick, making it a little more organic-sounding.

  

  Here, I’ve augmented the basic drum pattern with a loop played with brushes on a drum kit. It’s always a good idea to mix individual samples with loops. It sounds ridiculous but the noises in between the hits are often what make a good drum pattern: small snippets of reverb and variations in tone.

  After chopping it up and reversing certain hits, I’ve added a slight high pass filter sweep across the pattern to lend it some dynamism.

  Download audio file (percussion.mp3)

  Percussion

  Other Percussion

  It can be a good idea to layer a clap sound and a snare together. In this example I’ve used a heavily bit-reduced clap sound to add crunchiness.

  Download audio file (snareclap.mp3)

  Snare and Clap

  Here’s a great incidental percussion sound made from a short snare sample. The pinging, clanging delay is created simply by setting a short delay time, then automating it so that it increases and decreases producing quite random echos depending on when the sample is triggered.

  Download audio file (click.mp3)

  Click

  Automation

  Automation really is key when dealing with abstract electronic sounds. Too little and they’ll sound plastic and boring, too much and they’ll become unlistenable.

  On this lead sound, for example, I’ve sent a square wave LFO to the filter cutoff, then gradually increased and descreased the LFO frequency to create an undulating effect.

  Download audio file (lead.mp3)

  Lead

  This can be quite difficult to get right, as too much change to the filter can make the sound bitty and cause it to lose tonality.

  Try experimenting with different levels of automation and effects on your sounds, leaving some sounds purer than others.

  Usually, these will be the ones you want to stand out, but you can still use a heavily-automated sound and create great tones. Check out Marcus Schossow’s Swedish Beatballs for an example of how unbelievably over-the-top automation can still produce a great lead.

  Here’s a sample of the unfinished track these tips were taken from. I’ll be back soon with more! If there’s anything going on in the track you’d particularly like to know about, drop me a line in the comments thread.

  Download audio file (CSYWIPClip.mp3)

  Experimental Electronica

  ]]> http://audiotuts.com/tutorials/composition/how-to-add-the-experimental-to-electronica-part-1/feed/ http://audiotuts.com/tutorials/production/how-to-create-and-dominate-hip-hop-drums/ http://audiotuts.com/tutorials/production/how-to-create-and-dominate-hip-hop-drums/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:46:45 +0000 Eric Shafer http://audiotuts.com/?p=833 ]]> One of the most important aspects in hip-hop and popular music is the drumbeat. What makes it sound so big? The drum patterns appear so simple, so why are they so hard to create? Well, in this tutorial, we’re going to break down the fundamental elements of a hip-hop beat.

  Note: this tutorial contains embedded audio that will not display in a feed reader. Click back to the site to read the tutorial with audio.

  1. Drum Patterns

  The drum pattern is the backbone for you song, it gives it structure. In general, there are two kinds of drum patterns:

  • Simple Patterns
  • Complex Patterns

  Simple patterns, or “lunchroom beats” as they’re often known, are patterns that you probably are most familiar with. They’re the ones you tap your foot to (hence “lunchroom beat”, as you can reproduce it by banging your hands on a lunch table). Probably among the most common drum patterns out there, they usually have a set pattern that repeats every 8, 16, 32 or 64 steps.

  Complex patterns are, well, complex patterns. They still have a set pattern, but it’s much more difficult to tap along with. They usually have drops/mutes, delays and other complex effects to heighten the anticipation on the track.

  Now we know what kind of patterns are available for us, so let’s move on to the actual drums. DJ Khaled’s I’m So Hood is an example of a somewhat complex pattern

  Download audio file (1.mp3)

  

  2. Drum Samples

  One of the things that stands out about hip-hop, that I’ve lightly touched on in previous articles, is the unique drums. Ethnic drums such as bongos, congas, tamboras, and more, all add flavor and originality to your drum patterns.

  Beyond that, move away from your workstation’s stock drum sounds: they’re boring. Odds are they’ve been used on a hundred tracks before yours. Dig around the internet, find some royalty free drum samples, or get behind a drum set and start sampling your own.

  Experiment with various objects as instruments (coins in a plastic cup, car keys, even your chain). Maybe they sound bad, or maybe you stumble across something that sounds incredible and gives you dynamics you were missing. Just make sure you EQ properly, and aren’t throwing garbage sounds into your track for no reason. Sounding unoriginal yet pleasing is probably better than sounding original but terrible.

  Make sure you’re not loading up the basic sounds every time you go to the studio to work on a track.

  Try something new, and the results can be spectacular.

  The Neptunes are world famous for their unique drums. See an example of this in Ludacris - “Money Maker” (Feat. Pharrell).

  Download audio file (2.mp3)

  

  3. Mutes

  Muting your drums patterns, or muting elements of them, adds suspense and excitement to your music. It is by far the most commonly used technique in hip-hop production.

  One of the most obvious uses is the muting of drums when switching between verses and the chorus. It is very common to mute hi-hats during verses, and including them in the chorus, as well as muting or changing elements to create a bridge.

  They also help create an intro or outro for your song, where you can lead in with simply kicks or claps. Mutes also give the music some excitement and suspense. Dropping an occasional kick can add liveliness to the music. Muting is one of the best techniques out there, so try adding some into your music.

  Note the mute after the short intro in Shareefa - “Need A Boss”, to create a unique silence before they return with the main beat.

  Download audio file (3.mp3)

  

  4. Offsets and Doubles

  While we’re on the subject of making your music more lively, let’s talk about offsets and doubles. Offsetting a drum is taking a drum that normally falls on a certain quantized step, and offsetting it to a different step.

  For example, if you have a kick on step 1, and a clap on step 5 as a repeating pattern, try moving the clap to step 3. It makes the listener do a quick double take, and adds flavor to a pattern that would be simple otherwise.

  Doubling a drum is taking your drum pattern and adding “ghost” drums to it. If you have a kick on step 3 and a clap on step 5, try putting a dynamically softer kick on step 2. It will create a type of drum roll, leading up to the louder kick. You can apply this technique to all sorts of drums.

  Note the somewhat offset kick in the second half of the drumbeat in Timbaland - “Apologize” (Feat. One Republic). Since Timbaland usually has irregular rhythms in his music, it’s not exactly an offset, but it illustrates the concept.

  

  5. Flamming

  As defined in live drumming, a flam is a rudiment consisting of a quiet “grace” note on one hand followed by a louder “primary” stroke on the opposite hand. The two notes are played almost simultaneously, and are intended to sound like a single, ‘broader’ note.

  However, even if you’re not working with live drums, you can still flam your drums. Most drum machines have a flamming option, so try using it. You can play with the offset feature to lengthen the time between the flam and the actual drum hit.

  This is a very popular technique when it comes to snare and hi-hat rolls, and it’s a very common technique that can be applied in the “Humanizing” section, so keep reading.

  Take a look at this quick lesson on flamming live drums.

  

  6. Polyrhythms

  Polyrhythms are just what they sound like: multiple rhythms played on top of each other. An example of a polyrhythm is 4 evenly spaced beats against 3, with the 4 beat pattern being faster than the 3 beat pattern.

  They are very prominent in African music, and since much of hip-hop is influenced by African music, polyrhythms appear often in hip-hop. It gives a very unique sound when there are several patterns being played on top of each other.

  The simplest form of this technique is having kick and snare as one rhythm, and hi-hats as another. A step up from that, is having drums like bongos or congas giving another rhythm on top of the kicks. In its purest form, polyrhythms in hip-hop have two or more kick patterns playing at the same time. Regardless of which way you use them, they add complexity to an otherwise simple pattern.

  In Pharrell - “That Girl”, the congas add a different rhythm on top of the kick/clap beat.

  7. The Human Factor

  One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is the laziness of modern producers. So many producers have a nice drum pattern going, chose some great samples and then just stop. There’s so much more you can do with drums, so get used to putting extra effort in; it’s worth it.

  Reason has an interesting new feature in version 4.0, called ReGroove. I personally haven’t toyed with it enough to be able to praise or disown it, but the concept behind it is important. Applying a “groove” to your pattern takes the pattern, and gives it a human feel.

  It’s important for various patterns, as it will take the various drums and slightly offset them by milliseconds. Think about it in realistic terms. When your drummer sits down behind the drums and starts playing, does he hit each drum in perfect timing?

  Of course not. This liveliness is what gives the drums their flavor. Too many young producers just let the sequencer put each drum sound in perfect timing, when actually it sounds better to give it some realistic life and variance. You don’t need Reason or its ReGroove to accomplish this.

  When you’re recording your track, consider playing your hi-hats or snares directly from your MIDI keyboard without quantizing them. You want to be very careful doing this, as you still need to be close to the correct rhythm, but sometimes having some variation gives your drums life.

  Rihanna - “Umbrella” is a track with a live drum feel.

  Download audio file (7.mp3)

  

  8. The Importance of EQ

  I can’t stress the importance of EQing and mixing your drums properly. AUDIOTUTS already has some tutorials on the subject, so I’m not going to give it an entire lesson. However, it is very important to have proper EQing on your drums to give them the fullest sound.

  Additionally, mixing the drums is highly important. The drums need to really bang, so the volume needs to be somewhat loud. However, high volume tends to distort the drums. Volume isn’t the only factor that makes drums loud and full, so play with reverb and other settings as well.

  Mixing is also essential in order to maintain proper levels between the drum elements and other song elements (most notably basslines, which often lie in similar frequencies to kicks). Sit down and really put some effort into making your sound as clean and “big” as possible; you won’t regret it.

  The Clipse - “Fast Life” is an example of a song with poor mixing. The album version doesn’t have this issue, but for some reason the version that Koch Records uploaded does.

  

  Conclusion

  There you have some of the key ingredients in creating hip-hop drums. Start with a good pattern, choose some high quality, unique samples, then change up your pattern with mutes. Try offsetting and flamming, and add a groove to the track. However, there is such a thing as trying to do too much with drums.

  It’s easy to apply all the techniques I’ve outlined here, but just because you can, doesn’t always mean you should. Sit down and listen to your drums, and make sure they’re unique and lively, but not overdone.

  Resources

  Berklee Music have posted some good drum video tutorials on YouTube.

  • Create the Hottest Beats with Reason
  • Programming Hot Beats in Ableton Live
  • Adding Drum and Percussion to Hip Hop Beat Using Reason

  Also, here are some video blogs from premier producer, Ryan Leslie. He illustrates many of the techniques that I’ve outlined.

  • Ryan Leslie Makes “Addiction”
  • Ryan Leslie Makes Sometimes for Cassie
  • Ryan Leslie Makes I Gets Money
  ]]> http://audiotuts.com/tutorials/production/how-to-create-and-dominate-hip-hop-drums/feed/ http://audiotuts.com/articles/web-roundups/5-all-time-classic-albums-that-critics-despised/ http://audiotuts.com/articles/web-roundups/5-all-time-classic-albums-that-critics-despised/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:30:32 +0000 Adam Brown http://audiotuts.com/?p=826 ]]> As much as people like to deny it, there is something about a negative album review that can sway the public consciousness. A bad review in the right publication can seal an album’s fate as a bargain bin throwaway before it even has a chance. Often times, the harsh criticism is more than warranted. Not everything can be a gem. But every once in awhile, the critics get it wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. For example…

  • 5. Gene Clark - No Other

    

    No Other was former Byrds songwriter Gene Clark’s masterpiece. Released in 1974, the album was a departure from the stark acoustic sounds of his previous, relatively unsuccessful, solo records. Everything was lined up for No Other to be a commercial breakthrough. Clark had spent over a year working on the songs before recording them. He was signed to Asylum Records, at the time an absolute breeding ground for successful singer-songwriter types. The album should have been huge.

    Back Then…

    The response to No Other from critics was less like Clark delivered a bad album and more like he delivered the anti-christ. The album made extensive use of overdubs and studio techniques to produce a sound that was foreign to most listeners. Because of this, the album was decried as bloated, pretentious and overproduced. But when Fleetwood Mac employed the same studio and performance techniques a year later on their self-titled album (and on the follow up, Rumours) it was hailed as a masterpiece. Gene Clark was unfortunately a bit ahead of his time. In 1976, No Other was deleted and would not be released again for almost 25 years. The fallout all but destroyed Clark’s career.

    And Now…

    These days, No Other is almost universally hailed as a lost treasure. There is some debate about Clark’s state of mind during the writing and recording of the album. Depending on who you ask, he was either tripping on mescaline the whole time or he was stone sober. Whatever the case, Clark’s newfound experimentalism made for the most compelling work of his career. The songs themselves, when taken as individual parts, aren’t in and of themselves Clark’s best ever. He was the strongest songwriter in The Byrds and there is some absolute gold out there. But as a cohesive piece of work, No Other is undeniably epic and absolutely essential listening.

  • 4. The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main St.

    

    The Rolling Stones Exile On Main St. is an epic roots-rock goldmine. It features some of their most beloved hits ever (”Tumblin’ Dice,” “Sweet Virginia,” “Happy”) and a ton of lesser known gems (”Rocks Off,” “Torn and Frayed”). Listening to it now, it’s hard to imagine there was a time when it wasn’t absolutely adored by everybody. But you’d be surprised.

    Back Then…

    Commercially, Exile… was a smash right out of the gates. But the critical response was far less enthusiastic. It was viewed as a bloated, ragged record that found the Stones resting on their laurels and not challenging the listener with anything new. Some even accused the band of just replaying the same song 18 different ways. Basically, Exile… was seen as a placeholder. In the words of Rolling Stone reviewer Lenny Kaye, “the great Stones album of their mature period is yet to come.”

    And Now…

    In the years since its initial chilly critical reception, Exile On Main St. has grown considerably in status. The fans always loved it, but the critics eventually came around also. Pick a greatest-albums-of-all-time list and there is a good chance you’ll find Exile… on it. In 1998, Q Magazine ranked it number 42 on their list of the greatest albums of all time. Even Rolling Stone, as they are often apt to do, went back on their initial dismissal of the record. On their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, Exile On Main St. was number seven.

  • 3. The Ramones - The Ramones

    

    It’s almost impossible to accurately state what kind of influence The Ramones have had on, not just punk, but popular music in general. They were punk before anyone knew what it was. Their songs, almost always less than three minutes long, emphasized raw rock power and feeling and fun over technical proficiency. And people ate it up. Eventually.

    Back Then…

    The initial reaction to The Ramones music was, basically, non existent. Their debut album didn’t even crack the Billboard top 100. As for the critics, reviews tended to be neutral at best, if the album was even reviewed at all. With most everything else on this list, you can dig up some vintage reviews to get a feel for what people thought back then. A vintage Ramones review, on the other hand, is hard to come by. Lester Bangs dug them though. Take that for whatever you will.

    And Now…

    It’s common knowledge these days that The Ramones debut stands as one of the most pivotal moments in music history. It’s pointless to try and run down all of the ways that record has influenced modern music. When the topic turns to greatest punk records ever, it’s rarely mentioned outside the top five. On Rolling Stone Magazine’s now infamous list of the top 500 records ever, The Ramones clocked in at number 33. That’s some rarefied air.

  • 2. Black Sabbath - Paranoid

    

    Not every band can claim to be responsible for starting an entire genre of music. But when it comes to the pioneers of heavy metal, it’s hard to argue against Black Sabbath. On Paranoid, their second album, the band unleashed some of their greatest songs ever. “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” “Paranoid,” it’s all pretty deadly stuff. And in the midst of hippie movement, a band that represented something completely different was bound to appeal to a lot of people. Right?

    Back Then…

    Absolutely they did. Black Sabbath’s first two albums were commercial smashes. Unfortunately, none of those buyers worked for music magazines. The rock media was unspeakably harsh when it came to Black Sabbath, dismissing them in some cases as “bubblegum satanists.” Ouch. In Nick Tosches’ Rolling Stone review from 1971, he spends about 1,500 words dismissing the band while not once mentioning their name, the album or any of the songs on the album. No bias there, folks.

    And Now…

    You don’t need me to tell you that Paranoid is one of the greatest metal albums ever. You already know that. Everybody knows it. But if you don’t, let today’s rock critics tell you. AllMusic’s Steve Huey sums it up best…”Paranoid defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history.” Even Vibe Magazine, generally known for covering rap and R&B music, included Paranoid on their list of essential albums of the 20th century. Word.

  • 1. Weezer - Pinkerton

    

    Weezer’s Pinkerton was recorded in the midst of a lot of personal turmoil, and it shows. Lead singer Rivers Cuomo had just undergone painful leg surgery that not only affected the way the songs were written (everything is written in first position on the guitar, so he didn’t have to move much) but also the emotion that came through in the songs. Departing from the power pop of their debut, Pinkerton was a deeply confessional, dark, abrasive masterpiece. But far be it from anyone to think so at the time.

    Back Then…

    I understand, putting Weezer ahead of the like of The Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath on this list may seem like blasphemy. But hear me out. With every other album on this list, there was at least someone who liked it, even if it was just the artist that made it. Not so with Pinkerton. Critics hated it, fans hated it, and in subsequent interview, even Rivers Cuomo claimed he hated it. In time, everyone would change their mind, making Pinkerton the biggest critical about face in history. I hate to keep bringing up Rolling Stone, but seriously, it’s not my fault they’re wrong all the time. Their initial review of Pinkerton was unspeakably cruel, reviewer Rob O’Connor calling the songwriting “juvenile.” Readers of the magazine would eventually get in on the act, voting Pinkerton as the second worst album of 1996. Also released in 1996:

  • Kenny G, The Moment
  • Celine Dion, Falling Into You
  • REO Speedwagon, Building the Bridge
  • Bryan Adams, 18 ’til I Die
  • Hootie and The Blowfish, Fairweather Johnson

  I’m not sure what album the readers of Rolling Stone ranked as THE worst of 1996, but even if was one of the five listed above, it still means that they preferred the other four to Pinkerton. Swish that around in your head for a bit.

  Eventually Rivers Cuomo got in on the Pinkerton bashing calling it, among other things, “a hideous record.”

  And Now…

  The reversal of fortune that eventually came Pinkerton’s way was absolutely unprecedented. It is generally regarded as not just Weezer’s finest moment, but one of the essential albums of the 1990’s. It started with a sort of cult following amongst Weezer fans that found its legs on the internet. Initially, the fallout from the initial Pinkerton disaster sent Rivers Cuomo into relative seclusion. It was only after seeing the sustained sales and acclaim amongst diehard fans for his band’s opus that he finally re-entered the music business. He would eventually go on record as saying that “Pinkerton’s great.”

  And then there is Rolling Stone and their readers. In an adorable slice of revisionist history, Rolling Stone gave Pinkerton a new review, a rating of 5 stars out of 5, and inducted it into the Rolling Stone Hall of Fame, whatever the hell that is. The readers would eventually go on to vote it as the 16th best album…ever. Kenny G.’s The Moment was voted the 15th best album ever.

  Just joking.

  Subscribe to the AUDIOTUTS RSS Feed featuring great content for music and audio lovers.

  Recommended

  • 7 Unexpected Moments of Guitar Awesomeness
  • How to Create Twisted Grooves Using ReCycle and Reason
  • 5 Former Music Badasses Who’ve Lost Their Way

Still we know that AUDIOTUTS can go so much further and get so much bigger. And I think this new theme will be the vehicle to get it there. You’ll find we’ve now got a dedicated Videos section for screencasts as well as a Freebies area where we’ll be collecting awesome samples and downloads, and over time we’ll be adding even more stuff to the site.

A Question for You!

And that brings me to a question I have for you, AUDIOTUTS readers. You see I want to add some sort of community showcase to the sidebar. On our graphics sites we have a Flickr feed of designs which is awesome because it means readers can show off their work and interact with each other. So my question is, is there a service like Flickr, but for music loops? A place where you can upload tracks you make to share with your friends? If so then we can create a group and pipe through people’s uploads to the sidebar and it will be awesome!

Another possibility is to use Flickr but simply create a photo feed like they do over at the fabulous CreateDigitalMusic site (if you haven’t seen CDM, it’s a an awesome bookmark for your collection).

So let us know if you have any ideas for a community section for the sidebar, or in fact for any other improvements to the site - features, additions, bug fixes. We’re committed to making this the best audio site around, and I’d love to hear your feedback!

Meet the TUTS Team

During these last months we’ve also been improving the team who run these awesome sites. So let me introduce:

• Skellie - The TUTS Manager!
  We are VERY proud to have former FreelanceSwitch editor and super talented blogger Skellie managing the TUTS sites. She took over about a month and a half ago and it’s been smooth sailing all the way. As TUTS Manager Skellie is working on our expansion plans, coordinating site editors and making the whole operation more and more efficient.

• Derek Herman - HTML / CSS / WordPress Commander
  Everything you see before you has been coded up by the fabulous Derek Herman of Valen Designs. These days Derek and I work together a lot to build most of the Envato sites you see / will be seeing. He’s the best front-end coder I’ve ever met and I’m very proud to have my design work chopped up by his formidable skills.

• Chris Moyer - PHP Pathfinder
  From setting up our Plus programs to keeping the sites up under the ridiculously heavy traffic loads to building new writer / editor infrastructure, Chris Moyer’s keyboard controls all and without him we’d be lost! You can find Chris at InaRow!

• Sean Hodge, Joel Falconer and Jeffrey Way - Editors Extraordinairre!
  And of course the guys you are most familiar with, our Site Editors - who bravely face the trials of WordPress day in and day out to bring us our daily TUTS fix. Thanks guys!!!

• And me
  I do design work and planning and I designed this new TUTS theme!

So I hope you enjoy the new theme, and don’t forget if you have ideas for community involvement, do let us know in the comments!

A set of crisp and clean studio drum sounds, suitable for most projects. Courtesy of freesound’s TicTacShutUp.

Download audio file (sample.mp3)

Here are two didgeridoo samples that could be useful in a variety of situations and add variety to songs in any number of genres. There’s a short riff and a longer drone. These samples are courtesy of freesound’s Anton.

And really, what sort of Australian audio site would we be if there was no didgeridoo sample here?

Download audio file (sample.mp3)