Music Radar (the online music site from Future Publishing) has set up a sister/sub page called "Sample Radar" and apparently they will be giving away free samples every week. Good stuff!
To kick off they are giving away 342 Dub Step samples. Yah, gnarley huh. I've beat myself up in the past about using samples, but am slowly coming round to the idea in a creative way. So this is good timing. While I've not really dabbled in Dub Step, the samples will be great for using in other music genres too.
Who wouldn't want 14 great tips to help you make your music better.
Weirdly, as always seems to be the case, the second tip on this list was one that I was learning about from another tutorial this very same day. The first three I'll print here, and if you like em you can go off to the original article (courtesy of Music Radar) to read the rest.
Credit where credit's due and all that.
1. Taking it old-skool
A good way to achieve a more old-school vibe is to use just one reverb on a bus, rather than putting a different one on each channel, as the former creates a more cohesive sound reminiscent of early house tracks, when there were less effects units available to the average producer.
2. Uncluttering
Always be sure to EQ as much bass off your parts as possible without affecting the sound of them within the context of the full mix, as this creates a lot more space for your all-important bassline and kick drum, keeping the overall groove clean, tidy and punchy. This will pay off as you incorporate more and more parts.
3. Know your limits
Most dance music producers today create and mix their tracks with a compressor or limiter placed on the master output. This helps gel the elements together and gives a better impression of how the track will sound when finished, particularly as many of the elements will be from disparate sources. We're talking 2-3dB of attenuation at most.
I don't know exactly what is going on here, but I know I like it. There is scratching, there is corresponding video clips, there are ducks, an egg, and even some pizza involved.
If that's not a recipe for an excellent scratch video, I don't know what is!
Also, as always, it's one of those videos that makes you wanna dig out yer dad's old turntable and have a go at scratchin up Cliff Richard (man how I would scratch him up).
The Monome has held the thrown for some time now on uber cool looking Ableton/Grid controllers. But finally a new contender steps up to the plate, welcome "Block" from Livid.
It's neat, it's tidy, it's all brushed aluminium and wood, and then there are those cool looking blue LEDs. These are the things that matter when you are playing live in club (did Little Boots teach us nothing).
Check out the demo video below. These things weigh in at a semi reasonable $399, which is ok for the cool/custom build etc, but that's also the same price range as the feature drenched APC40. So You make a decision between form or function I guess...
I've recently been working on (wait for it) a remix competition. Yes, another one. This particular one they have opened it up to multiple genres. That's to say that there will be one winner per genre.
Normally I would probably go down the Electro or Tech house route as per my normal productions, however I have been itching to do some Drum and Bass production for a while, getting back to my old skool Bristol roots.
The timing was perfect, I had recently been looking at some good DnB tutorials (boyinaband.com and sonicacademy.com fyi) and now felt ready to put some of what I had learnt into practise.
The reason I waited was because D&B in particular sounds really bad, and really weedy if you don't know what you are doing. It needs guts and impact else it just sounds horrid, so I wanted to make sure I could do it justice first.
So... this isn't really about what I have been doing (believe it or not) it's actually all leading up to another handy site I discovered on the way. I was looking for a solid Reese Bass tutorial, and came across the brilliantly titled "Drum and Bass Production".com Talk about doing what it says on the tin...
So yeah, without any more rambling, check it out for all your "Drum and Bass Production" needs.
For those who don't know, the "Reese Bass" is a sound taken from Kevin 'Reese' Saundersons 80's track "Just Want Another Chance" and has since been used heavily in Drum and Bass, becoming synonymous with the sound, here is the original track:
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