T2D

Hi folks, what a weekend.

I finally found myself a house of my own. Not sharing with any one, just on my own with plenty of room for my studio. Its a 2 bedroom terraced house in Belfast with two main rooms, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. And the best part is it is all mine.

So now I have to set up the studio again and as some of you may remember I went through a big clean out of all of the plugins I had a nd bought a few new ones to better my collection. Below are what I bought and the n the new ones I am getting today:

Nomad Factory Blue Analog Track Box

Nomad Factory BlueVerb

Apllied Acoustic Systems Ultra Analog VA-1

Quite pleased with those purchases but I also managed to pick up a few more deals today thanks to audio/midi and of course Imageline

Ik Multimedia – Amplitube 2 Live – $15

Image Line DrumaXX

Okay, the above looks sweet and I have been advised you can get this on a pay what you want basis with it going for a minimum of $13 from the Image Line website so ill be downloading it over the next few days I would think.

So work continues on the house now any way and I am glad to say that the studio will be built soon and the new plugs will be working alongside Ableton Live and some new choons will be making their way out of the Lair.

Catch you later

Well finally the blue screen error has done its worst but my computer is back to normal having rebooted back to XP SP1. Damn SP3 just doesn’t work at all for me. Now I’m back and can post again so here goes.

I’m Backkkkkkk!!!!!!!

So, E-Drums will be finished this weekend as I have only to pack the files and upload them and then create the documentation and videos for the release. I have the full weekend at this so will be going for the release date of the 3rd of February 2010.

I have completed the preset work for the following machines:

Kontakt

Battery

SR202

Guru

Reason Refill

The pack will include the relevant information about the pack (.pdf) and also a link to the install video which will be on the youTube site fairly shortly along with ‘Making of….’ videos as well to keep you all happy.

Video Update

Well, as per the release schedule elsewhere in this blog I will concentrate on them when I start making the new tunes for my album which will probably be work in progress for the whole year.

I have however, agreed some further tutorial videos alongside the patchbuilding work I am currently doing and will be looking into resampling again as I did in a previous video post in Ableton Live (below). I read an excellent tutorial in CM recently that allows me to map immediately to Kontakt so I will show y’all how to do it and link it back to previous videos.

Also, once the drum videos are complete we will move on to Bass in a large tutorial surrounding creating and mixing bass sounds to acheive a massive sound. Later, we will then look at Pads and discuss how we can make Unison pads work better than pressing the button on your synth – a trick taught recently to me by Deadmau5 through our excellent friends at FM.

Phew….. Analog Industries Chris Randall has also been waxing lyrical about the new Apple IPad which has caught my eye this week. I am still not sure what it could be used for as it doesn’t have any real outputs or inputs so couldn’t be used as a Lemur style controller (although, I haven’t looked into it that closely) Time will tell I guess.

Any way, back to work and Ill post again over the wekend once I have completed some quality work in the studio.

Hello again,

E-Drums Vol1 was a samplepack that Ireleased under mtbm.net a few years ago I think and I sold some but not a lot. It has come time for it to be recycled and I am currently in the process of organising a free release of this product for Battery, Reason and Live. That may change though as I am trying to do one for CM SR202 and Guru as well.

I am currently in the compression stage to give them some more beef and will put up in the coming weeks some videos of that in action as well as screens of the effects chains I will be using.

The minimal videos I have been talking about doing are close to the production stage and with some work over the next few nights I should be able to upload some of them to give you an idea of what I will be talking about. A trailer if you will. of course I will have to capture them first and I am currently finishing the Reason stage of the concept and nearly ready to port all of the tracks into Energy XT for the sub mixing part of the tutorial.

I have been checking out some new recording interfaces for both studio and dj work and have come across the Novation Nio which seems to fit the bill perfectly. It has 2 inputs (perfect for my recording needs) and 4 outputs which is perfect for cue mixing in Traktor so I think I’m gonna give it a go over the next few months.

For those who haven’t checked it out yet, Audio Damage have released a new drum sequencer called Tattoo. Its definitely on my buy list and the video below should show you why.

Oh well, back to work and i’ll catch you on the flipside

Now that I have hooked back up with most of the communities I am involved in I am going to start some work for the YouTube community I have built (not having the label dragging me down at the minute is a godsend).

As originally posted last time I am building new beats along the minimal line after waxing lyrical about their non minimalness.

This is what I have done so far:

1. Imported a beat to Reason to help me make important decisions on rhythm and sounds.
2. Created a kick pattern
3. Taken the groove from the beat and added it to my groove pool for the regrove mixer in Reason.
4. Created a typical snare pattern which has been reGrooved

The next challenge is placement of hi hats and then the dissection of the beat to see what kind of spot fx is used in its completion. This will be the hardest part as most likely they will have to be built from scratch although I have a good few drum synths to play with along with the DCam Synth squad.

The idea for the video is this:

1. To show the ReGroove section in Reason and how it works.
2. Pattern building
3. Discussing the relevant spot fx and used of effects in this process
4. Creation of spot fx with Dcam and Attack.
5. Submixing drum parts in Energy XT (i reckon I will have about 16 to 20 tracks.
6. Making room for the bass line

It is a larger series than I am used to doing but nevertheless important as it touches on so many areas of beat building than can be overlooked in todays productions. I will post screenshots and audio files as and when I have them.

If you haven’t had the chance to check out my movies head over to youTube and check them out.

Well, its the new year once again so a happy 2010 or ‘tens’ as they are calling it now. Stupid really, they could have thought of something better I think.

Anyway, now that the label is fully set up I can now concentrate on making music again and (hopefully) seling some records this year. I have started the year with the usual gusto although this year its time for a new attitude, not the lax one I have had during the most of last year.

So, I started by refining my studio a bit. I have a lot of plugins!!! I don’t need them all and it was when I was flicking through the new issue of Computer Music magazine that I came across an article for resampling plugin instruments.

The premise is fairly simple, its just making multisamples of the default sounds and any sounds you have made and saved. Then, quite easily I might add, load them in to Kontakt to use them in future work. Kontakt has got to the stage now were you can use it as a synth so why not?

Anyway, I have done several of them and agreed on a list of studio tools that I either need or have to keep, making my plugin folder smaller and Ableton a lot faster to boot.

Software:
Ableton Live 7
Reason 4

Instruments:
DCam Synth Squad
AAS Ultra Analog

Effects:
Nomad factory Analog Trackbox (love this one)
Nomad Factory Blueverb
Camelspace and Camelphatt (awesome)
Replicant
PSP Vintage Warmer
Izotope Ozone 3
Various free plugins

Now, what I really need is a delay plugin and I have been messing with the idea of Audio Damages one that has the delay taps built in like Delay Designer in Logic. It would be nice to see this added to Live but I suppose you can build one in Max any way.

I have been making a lot of refills for Reason based on samples given away by Computer and Future music. I was putting one together the other day based on Minimal Drums and Bass and was startled to find how complex minimal loops really are but all the subtle use of effects that give that particular sound. It forced me to look at my last work released and I realised I would have to work in more detail when it comes to building drum patterns and loops, especially the types of drum sounds used. Hell, I even heard a phazor used and I haven’t heard a phazor for a long time in music. Definitely food for thought.

Of course, I should point out that Ableton Live is my main sequencer for mixing and mastering and I use Reason entirely for beat making as it has the most fluid yet fun interface for doing so. Then I rewire everything through Ableton and hey presto, blue screen of doom so I’ll probably not do that again!

I intend to muse quite heavily on the pages over the coming year and also upload work in progress stuff to let you see how I build my tracks and get my sounds.

Once again, have a happy and prosperous new year everyone.