12.
Dance Music Production Rudiments
The
following ideas and suggestions are designed to inspire the creative
process at each stage of production, Pre Production, Production and
Post Production.
1)
Pre Production
i) Creation
ii)
Inspiration
iii) Experimentation
2)
Production
2a
Arrangement
i) Arrangement
ii) Build Up
2b
Drums and Percussion
i) Drums
ii) Drum End
iii)
Drum FX
iv) Percussion
2c
Instruments
i) Bass
ii) Synth
iii) Novelty
iv) Production
v) Sound Effects (Digital)
vi) Sound Effects (Analogue)
3)
Post Production
i) Production FX
1) Pre Production
Set Goal or Blind Creation?
There
are 2 alternative approaches to creating music. Firstly, produce music with no particular direction in mind and
let the natural flow of creativity Lead you.
Secondly, is to have an idea or goal to achieve. For example, “I want to create a minimalist
Jump Up Drum and Bass tune with 8 different Bass sounds, sporadic
funky samples and Sci Fi effects.”
i)
Experimentation
Discover your own sound, the limitations and seemingly limitless possibilities
of harmony.
|
Harmony Juxtaposition |
-Experiment with contrasting and unpleasant rhythms
and harmonies to explain why it exists.
-Categorise all percussion instruments riffs and tunes, with
a record of rhythm. When
more is understood on the relationships between contrasting
rhythms which work well, you can pick and mix with confidence. |
|
Jazz Chord Scale sheet |
Experiment with jazz Bass scales and different
jazz piano chords, stab + voc |
|
Refinement |
-When creating riffs or Bass lines, record several
different variations onto the computer and choose the best.
-Your should increase the number of extreme variations there
are to ensure of quality.
-When you select a riff, create many variations with subtle
changes.
(With graphical design, many rough images are needed before
the perfect symbolic representation is achieved.
Use this theory in producing tunes; i.e. keep altering
and perfecting until the optimum emotion is achieved.) |
ii) Creation
Ideas to create a musical pallet
| Creation |
Like any artist, creativity or motivation can
disappear without warning or reason.
On these days, take time to sample, manipulate or create
sounds and Synths etc.
-Don't worry about them in the context of a track, just make
single sounds that you think sound good.
-If you are feeling very lazy, find presets and tweak them so
that they reflect your sound.
-When it comes time to create you'll have a whole load of new
sounds to work with. |
| Distorted Orchestra in a box |
Create your own orchestra in a box
If you want to add original orchestration to a production, but
don't have an expensively produced range of sound fonts, add
distortion and reverb, and filter through a cut off.
1) Compose simple rhythmic ensembles, e.g. moody trumpet stabs,
eerie Strings.
2) Add distortion for grit.
3) Sample each phrase.
4) Cut up and add to different notes on a sampler. |
| Grain Samples |
Convert song samples into unrecognisable snippets
chopped into tiny grains.
1) Sample a 4 or 5 second section from a song.
2) Select and copy a grain (between 0.1 and 0.5 seconds)
3) Paste several copies into a blank file, removing 10 % of
the sample each time.
4) Repeat with several different types, e.g. Bass, vocals, ensemble.
5) Add the new sounds to a sampler and play rhythmically. |
| |
Sampling |
Create your own percussive samples. Add distortion,
EQ and compression to sculpt the raw sound.
1) Record a ball being bounced for a snare, an aerosol spray
for a hat, or keys rattling for bells.
2) Record the sound of rhythmic tapping on different surfaces
and add warped filters to destroy the sound.
|
| Scrambles Melodies |
Reuse a piece of music in a different order.
1) Sample a piece of music with multiple chord changes.
2) Cut up each chord or musical phrase into a separate file.
3) Add the new sounds to a sampler and play them in the wrong
order. |
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iii) Inspiration
To assist with the creation of new ideas
| Creativity |
Use a different medium to be inspired.
-Interpret the mood or ambience created from a book, painting.
or other medium. Use
the feelings you get from it to put it into your music. |
|
Orchestral Mix and Match |
Use an unusual pallet of sounds to make a particular style
of music e.g. trance with pure orchestral sounds.
1) For purity, don't use any filters, or
2) To sculpt the sounds add filters, e.g. delay, modulation
etc. |
|
Genre mix and match |
Create a particular genre of music by using the sound pallet
of another. For example,
use trance drum kit and Synths to make drum and Bass, or visa
versa. The finished sound will be both familiar
and unusual at the same time. |
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2A) Production: Arrangement
i) Arrangement
Arrangement is the placement of sequences and the impact on previous
and subsequent sequences (juxtaposition).
Careful placement and variation can add professionalism
| Dramatic Shift |
Create a dramatic shift in instruments, e.g.
for a breakdown, then return to the original vibe. |
| Drum kit change |
To sustain interest, replace the main drum kit
with a second drum kit for a small portion of the song. |
| Intro Epic |
Epic or high production intros can be used by
DJs to begin their set. You
can let your creativity go wild without any limitations in time
signature, instruments or rudiments,
as long as the rest of the song has a regular time signature
and structure that can easily be mixed.
A few examples of elements to use within epic intros
include...
1) Atmosphere pads, symphonic elements
2) Science Fiction Robot talking, voice fx
3) Drum rise and falls, deep complex but subtle percussion.
4) Subtle surprise instruments. |
Instrument Isolation
(Bass Show Off) |
If you've spent 3 days creating a complex organic
Bass sound with subtle variation and timbre, all value is lost
if the sound is drowned out by heavily distorted drums. Make sure that the Bass is played in isolation at some stage during
the track. |
| Juxtaposition |
Mix and Match contrasting elements to highlight out their
uniquie qualities
-Dirty and bit crushed instruments with crisp, sharp and high
quality beat, Or visa versa
-Dirty and bit crushed drums with crisp, sharp and high quality
instruments.
-Electronic and acoustic.
-Contrasting Evil Bass with jazzy melody |
ii) Build Up
Ideas to build anticipation and increase excitement before the drop.
| Build Up Kick / Snare |
Instantly recognisable and definitely overused
(especially by me, usually when I'm feeling lazy). The Kick
1) Kick or Snare sequenced ever 1/4 note.
Repeat for 2 bars
2) Kick or Snare sequenced ever 1/8 note. Repeat for 2 bars
3) Kick or Snare sequenced ever 1/16 note. Repeat for 2 bars
4) Kick or Snare sequenced ever 1/32 note. Repeat for 2 bars
5) Main part of song. |
| Crash |
Another over used but effective technique is
increasing the crash cymbal prior to the main part of the song.
Crash acceleration – typically a crash X---X---X---X---X-X-XXXX |
| Cut Off Filter |
Add a Cut Off filter over the main hook and increases
from low to high, or high to low prior to the drop. |
| Off Beat |
1) Sequence an off beat drum pattern or roll
to complement the steady beat when it drops.
2) Exchange the position of the Kick and Snare so that K-S--KS-
changes to to SKSKSKSKS |
| Overload |
Start the beginning of the 16 bar build up with
1 element. Introduce
1 or more new layer every 4 bars until the sonic overload creates
a dance floor frenzy. |
| Pre Beat Rudiments |
Pre Beat rudiments are highly filtered drums and effects
that build up excitement. (See
chapter 6.) |
| Roll |
Add simple drum roll prior to main beat (See
chapter 5) |
| SFX |
A very common rudiment is to add a sound effect
with a rise or fall in pitch.
Try experimenting with alternative modulations instead
of pitch. |
| Silence |
An effective use of space is to add 1 bar of
science after the build up and just before the drop. |
| Tease |
Build up to a point where this listener believes
the next bar will drop, instead, tease the listener with another
build up. |
2B Production: Drums and Percussion
i) Drums
Ideas for sophisticated drum sequences.
| Beat builder |
Increase the power of the Kick and Snare after
16 bars.
1) Boost EQ, or
2) Add a second Kick or Snare. |
| Breakdown Variation |
Mid section breakdowns can exercise original, yet rhythmically
strange placement of hits without putting off a DJ. |
| Break in drums |
Adding an unexpected 1/4 or 1/2 bar break in
the drums, is a commonly used technique in Drum and Bass.
1) Replace the missing section of the beat with alternative
samples, e.g. vocal stab "huh", "yeah" etc,
musical stab, or SFX.
2) Remove the first and second Snare at the begging of a 4 bar
drum loop. |
| Deep Drums |
The addition of subtle percussion variations
can give a sophisticated edge to a simple beat. The quantities used are a guide and can be changed accordingly.
1) Incorporate subtle variation over 64 bars.
2) Add a 2nd colourful Snare on top the main Snare every 4th
Snare.
3) Add a 3rd colourful Snare on top the main Snare every 8th
Snare.
4) Sequence subtle and sparse shakers
5) Add sparse bongos, congas etc.
6) Introduce a subtle polyrhythmic second drum beat every other
bar.
7) Use contemporary rolls.
8) Flams
9 Hats recorded live (or non Quantised keyboard hats)
10) Use some of the drum rudiments and instruments subtly (See
Appendix 7 for traditional drum
rudiments.) |
| Drum Rudiments |
Drum rudiments are mainly used in marching band
music but are effective in Dance music if used sparingly
1) Use a different rudiments for each 1/4 segment pattern -
loop
2) A combination of several rudiments in 1 roll
[List all drum rudiments] |
| DIY Drums |
Stack 2 or 3 Kick and Snares together with a
noise gate to sharpen the punch and reduce the decay. Be careful with layering kicks though. The
bottom end can cause some phasing issues so pick your kicks
carefully, e.g. combine a low end kick and a top end kick. |
| Hardcore |
Add mashed up and highly distorted drums underneath a crisp
drum kit to add grit. |
| Instrument swap |
Use an alternative sample to replace a hi hat pattern, -x-xx—x
(Pop corn Synth to replace infrequent shaker (dnb shaker)) |
| Juggle |
Use 2 or more beats together, various combinations of on
and off and together. |
| Kit Change |
Unique rhythms can be created by using the following technique.
1) Create a random rhythmic melody with a keyboard.
2) Use the midi sequence to control a drum kit. |
| Jazz Drums |
Use Jazz drums to spice up a beat
[See Appendix 6a] |
| Latin Drums |
Use Latin drums to spice up a beat
[See Appendix 6b] |
| Mastering Tips |
-Keep your drums mono and pan percussion
left and right.
-Use subtle reverb on drum and percussion
sounds to help gel the sounds together.
Add a high pass filter to keep the bass drum sharp.
-Add Phaser with a LFO of 4 seconds to produce
subtle variations in the Snare timbre. |
| Micro sequence |
A micro sequence is a sequence smaller than a
standard 1/16th sequence. They
are created by sequencing tiny samples at smaller intervals,
e.g. 1/48th or 1/96th bar.
1) Create a rhythmic pattern using 1/48, 1/64, 1/96 hits in
a rhythm. |
| Multi Kick |
Add a variety of flammed hits to add excitement.
a. Double Kick flam, b. Triple Kick flam, c. Quad Kick flam,
d. Pent Kick flam |
| Orchestral Drums |
Orchestral drums are non danceable, cinematic
drums that are obviously effective only during sections during
intros, build ups or outro.
Add plenty of space to create tension.
1) Use a standard orchestral kit.
2) Use a normal Breakbeat kit with lots of reverb.
3) Use an industrial kit |
| Poly filler drums |
The addition of a Polyrythmic sequence will enhance
a basic beat, and provide an overall fuller drum sound. It's possible to explore more interesting
rhythmic variations with the use of polyrhythms. |
| Quantisation juxtaposition |
Precise or Quantised drums can sound too unnatural
and welcome the addition of more natural and humanised rhythms.
You can use either real recordings of percussions, bongos
etc or programmed into the sequencer using a keyboard or touch
pad, without quantisation. |
| Rhythm Change |
Rhythmic monotony can occur when the brain becomes
used to a sequence. To
counter this effect, add subtle or drastic rhythmic variations
on a regular basis, e.g. ..
1) Add a dramatic change in the main drum rhythm every 16 bars
2) Add various subtle percussion variations in each bar. |
| Sentana Drums |
Explore the rhythmic possibilities by layers
multiple rhythms to create deep polyrhythmic loops.
1) Create 4 variations of patterns for each instruments, e.g.
bongos, tabla, bell, etc.
2) 4 one bar patterns with 4 variations = 16 bars of rhythmic
variation. |
| Stereo Drums |
For an interesting sound, create 2 identical
drum patterns with 2 different drum kits.
Pan one far left and the other far right to give a stereoscopic
sound. |
ii) Drum End
The technique applied at the end of a sequence.
Variation can add professionalism
DJ Friendly |
Create quirky end sections so a DJ can temporarily
cut (move the fader 100) to isolate the quirky sounds
during a mix. e.g. spin
back, reverse, vocal. |
| Drum Kit Change |
Introduce a secondary lighter kit for 1 bar or
so before returning to the more powerful main beat. |
| Glitch |
A glitch is a rapid rhythmic succession of filters,
using a new filter every 1/16th. |
| Isolation |
Isolate all channels except one, e.g. SFX, music
or vocals. |
| Micro sequence |
Sequence minute rhythms using fractions of a
beat e.g. 1/48, 1/64, 1/96 etc.
Start these micro rhythms on grids of 1/16 or more or
it sounds too messy. |
| Roll / End Beat |
Used by all rock drummer, but also an effective choice for
dance music is the addition of a Drum Roll
using either standard or electronic rudiments.
"!songs\!Drum Loops\rolls2 rudiments.LSO" |
| Reverse |
Reverse the beat or a section of song for the last 1/2 bar.
Once reversed, bring the sample forward 1/16th for a
more pleasing compliment to the main rhythm. |
| Sample Add |
Add a simple double clap or any rhythmic addition at the
end of a bar. |
| Slow Down |
Add a simulated record slow down and stop.
1) Burn your song to CD.
2) Play the song on CD Decks and record the output slowing down. |
| Snare Roll |
Add a sequence of rhythmic 16th Snare pattern
with increasing velocity. |
iii) Drum FX
DSP Effects for more dynamic drum beats
| Band Pass Modulation |
Add Band Pass modulation sweeping from high to
low and back again for a subtle variation to the timbre. |
| Cut Off - High to Low |
Cut Off - Modulation change from high to low EQ, using high
resonance filter - saw / sine |
| Cut Off - Low to High |
Cut Off - Modulation change from low to high EQ, using high
resonance filter - saw / sine |
| Distorted |
A few suggested uses for distortion include...
1) Add heavy distortion to the entire drums pattern
2) Add a second distorted Kick and Snare. |
| Evaporate |
The last 4 bars have 4 different filters, each
reducing the overall intensity and giving the impression of
evaporating. This effect Leads comfortably into either
a break down or back to the main beat. |
| Glitch Kit |
Create a 4 bar loop of glitched drums and chop
into 1/8 bar segments. Replace
1/8 segments of the main beat in various locations with the
glitched version. |
| Ping Pong Pan |
Create 2 channels of filtered drums, each cut in and out
both left and right rhythmically. |
| Software filters |
Try drums, voice, Synth and songs through different
software programs or VST,
e.g. crusher, grain VST, chameleon, Amplitube, etc. |
| Speaker
Sonics |
Record
the sound of the drum beat through your speakers and add it back
into the song. |
| Snare Echo |
Add a single Snare with an echo filter at varying delay times.
1) Explore a variety of polyrhythmic echoes
2) Use Feed back + 50% for to morph Drums in to FX. |
| Squidge Off Beat |
Different beat layered squidge effect (high resonance
and cut off modulated by LFO) |
| Squidge On Beat |
Identical beat layered squidge effect (high resonance
and cut off modulated by LFO) |
| Vocoder |
Try beats though a vocoder either…
1) In monotone, or
2) in harmony with the song. |
iv) Percussion
Complimentary percussion can dictate style.
| Crisp Percussion |
Ensure that the beat contains crisp and regular
percussion. Increasing
the hi frequency spectrum add a crisp and audibly pleasing balance
to the heavy Kick. |
| Human Input |
A mix of electronic and sampled percussion complimentary
each other effectively. Experiment
with sampled bongos, hi hats played by a real drummer and real
shakers. |
| Percussion sample change |
Find a suitable world rhythm sequence and change the instruments
to electronic, e.g. change bongos to zap, shakers to Micro Sequences
etc. |
| World Rhythm |
Use world rhythms to add spice to beats, either authentic
samples or programmed sequences.
[See Appendix 6C] |
2C Production: Instruments
i) Bass
Ideas to make your Bass stand out.
| Clone Kick |
Add a Bass note at the same time as the Kick |
| Filter hi freq |
A big bold Bass evolves from noise, using a hi freq cut off. |
| Filter Play |
Add a different filter to add variation to a
familiar Bass pattern. |
| Glitch |
A glitched Bass makes a suitable variation or
end sequence. |
| Hi Freq Play |
Isolate the hi frequencies from a Bass and go crazy with
pan, and other filters. Changing
the low Bass frequency will warp the EQ balance. |
| Layer Up |
For a wide and extremely Phatt bass sound, use 2 or 3 different
instruments and leads with the same sequences. |
| Tonal opposites |
If you require 2 Bass parts, use complementary timbres, i.e.
quick attack Bass note, and with slow attack (wowp).
1) You can use the same Bass instrument with a variation in
ADSR, or...
2) Choose 2 instruments. |
ii) Synth / Lead
Ideas for musical instruments
| Double up |
Play the same sequence using 2 different instruments,
typically Bass and Lead. |
| Dreamy Bells |
Dreamy bells with reverse reverb and multiple echo delay. |
| Frequency Awareness |
Create a main instrument for each category,
e.g. Bass, Lead, Synth and Strings / pad.
Ensure that too many instruments that occupy the same
frequency range don’t overlap.
The sound will become too crowded as the instruments
complete for a finite amount of available frequency. |
| Fuzz Wah Delay |
Synth Stereo Delay into an auto filter. |
| FX Experiments |
Try extreme and experimental DSP Effects
Chains in both series and parallel for synths to discover completely
warped, unique and original sounds, i.e. guitar amp, auto tune,
stereo delay to Fuzz Wah etc. |
| Mad Lasers |
To add excitement to a Bass and drum beat, use Lasers or
zap sounds, which contain a high frequency range high to low
in the fraction of a second.
1) Dynamic, twisted, mad, in yer face Laser Synths. Humanised with lots of variety. |
| Organic |
Try to emulate the natural subtleties of analogue
instruments with variations in A D S R, LFO, etc settings, etc. This will create a more organic texture |
| Resolve chords |
Trumpet, organ or guitar chord progression that
resolves to the main chord. |
| Reverse |
Reverse chords or slow attack and fast decay |
| Stereo Widening |
Adding stereo widening on synths and pads can
create more interesting sounds and completely brighten up a
riff. |
| Surreal harmony |
For an evil or surreal edge, use dissonant harmony. |
iii)
Novelty
Distinctive hook or element to make the tune stand out from the crowd
| Beat Box |
Beat Box |
| Narration |
Robot voice narrating the different types of Bass, followed
by an example. |
| Robot Rap |
Vocoder Rap |
| TV Rip |
Sample a movie quote or other non musical media. Overused in the 90s rave scene but provides
a retro quality to a song. |
| Unexpected elements |
Unexpected elements make the listener stop and think, e.g.
1) Start with a rock intro, then bring in big beats.
2) Quirky orchestral moment before breakdown end.
3) Animal sounds.
4) Backwards TV theme tunes. |
| Vocoder harmony |
Compose a contemporary harmony using a Vocoder as individual
layers. Singing robots. |
| World music elements |
Add world music themes e.g. Turkish polka, Japanese dance,
etc. |
iv)
Production
Sequencing ideas
| Duck Off |
Create a pumping sound to Strings by using the Kick drum
as the input for a compressor.
1) Duck of Synth off the main beat.
2) Duck Rhythm |
| Gate double |
2 Gates on 1 instrument mixing left and right |
| Morph |
Morph 1 element to another e.g. (Cheat and use
fade up and down to mix between layers)
1) Synth, isolate Bass, turns to Bass
2) Bass, isolate hi frequency, turns to hat |
| Music roll |
Take a small section and loop 1/4 bar x 4, 1/3
x 3, 1/6 x 6 etc |
| Pan Gun |
Pan bus left and right with gates to jump left
and right |
| Poly rhythm |
A a single note or FX sound in a regular steady
Poly rhythm, i.e. 3/4, 5/4 pattern
to complement the 4/4 beat. |
v)
Sound Effects (Digital)
Electronic sounds or electronic SFX
| Aphex Rhythm |
Add an orchestra of bleeps, squelches and hi frequency sound
effects rhythms.
(sfx sorted/Aphex samples) |
| AUX rhythm |
A sample is connected to several Aux effects
with different DSP's delay, EQ, etc
Change the bus output for each rhythmically e.g. 1112
1312 2221 3134 |
| Bus / Send Check |
Adjust
the dry / wet ratio for all of your effects to see if reducing
or increasing the effects, e.g. reverb, delay, Phaser etc enhances
the song. |
| Epic SFX |
Create Epic Sci Fi movie SFX
1) Noise
2) Rumble
3) Swoosh
4) Detuned Strings
5) Vocal noises |
| Feedback loop |
Add a +50% feedback delay loop to vocals and
SFX to create a hypnotic effect. |
| Pan Rhythm |
Pad variation of 1/32, 1/16, 1/8 pan |
| Reverse Echo |
1) Reverse a sound, 2) add echo / reverb 3) Reverse again |
| SFX Party |
1) Collect full frequency range of SFX from different sources.
2) Create ensemble with space.
3) Smooth over with reverbe and distortion
4) Name and categorise
5) Add to other trax |
vi) Sound Effects (Analogue)
Non electronic sounds
| Atonal SFX |
Add atonal loop SFX in a loop, e.g. Glass tap, Noise, scratching
etc. |
| Vocal Glitch |
Create glitched vocals, talking or singing with subtle distortion
and add to ESX24 for rhythm sequence |
| Vocal mash |
Use Synthetic or real speech, cut up into syllables, and
used in a rhythm,
(Vocoder normal speech
A vocal line, cut up into syllables, played rhythmically
Radio speech and music, cut up (esx), cut off, scratched, squidged
in rhythm) |
| Vocoder rhythm |
Cut up the syllables of vocals and play rhythmically
through a Vocoder. |
| Vocal Velocity |
Vocal stab of micro sequences with the cut off
linked inversely to velocity. |
3)
Post Production
i) Production FX
DSP tricks to make a production more professional and interesting
| Echo Effects |
A sample, e.g. 1 word vocal repeats at regular
intervals with a different effect on each. |
| Extra Bar or 2 |
Add an extra bar to delay the action |
| Cut up - Wav Tricks |
-Take a 1 bar section of the entire song and cut up into
2+ layers, and juggled.
-Play ¾ of a bar 3, 6, 9 or 12 times. |
| Cut Off fade in |
The entire song is filtered using a low to hi / hi to low cut off at the end of a bar |
| Cut off LFO |
The entire song is filtered is an LFO cut off. |
| Delay, Delay |
1) Create 2 channels 1 panned left and 1 panned right.
2) Add 2 copies of a looped samples in each.
Delay the vocal in the left channel by a few milliseconds
each loop.
3) The samples will gradually play further apart |
| Decks |
1) Song Slow Down (Record simulation)
2) Song start slow and speed up (Record simulation)
3) Quick beat scratch
4) Spin back
5) Hip Hop staggered start - the same song played on 2 decks
1 bar behind. |
| Glitch Song |
Glitch the entire song and add splices |
| Gate Song |
Gate Song |
| Gate Song Reverse |
Gate Song Reverse |
| Gate Pan |
1) sample the song
2) Cut up and alternate left and right |
| Warping |
Modulate pitch shift fine tune up and down slowly to emulate
warping of old record |
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