Notes from taking David Shimel’s EDM Production Class at Fractal University…

Yes, I am temporarily renouncing my former disdain for DAWs to learn Ableton Live.

Lesson 1: Beats

Homework:

Lesson 2: Bass and Song Structure

Some technology– Ableton audio effects:

  • Compressor: Sidechaining
  • Utility: Drop out on the kick (while still keeping the sidechaining alive). history of sidechaining
  • Install: Vital VST soft-synth. You’ll need to enable Apple and VST plugs in your Ableton settings to use it as a MIDI instrument.

  • Autofilter (high pass/low pass): simulates analog filters of various kinds

  • Using the Vital VST as a sub bass. Sine F0/F1 is a common choice. Rolling bassline of 16th notes with fast decay. Up octaves or fifths on some alternating notes to create variety. Use sidechaining on the kicks to avoid interference of the kick and the bass.

  • Structure around 16-32 measure drops: High Energy part

  • Review: Video: Drum Loops to Drops Think about a mood or verbal cues for sound selection (“tennis court” leans towards bouncing ball patterns)

Homework

Lesson 3: Audio Clips (Spoken Word) and Effects

Review of Last Week’s Homework tracks

  • Some initial clicking in transients can arise from very fast attacks (programmed waveform change is faster than phsyical response of speakers); you can remove this by increasing the attack time
  • Some common patterns: (i) Start with a bassline theme and then bring in the beat; (ii) How to end? If you want DJs to play it, you would create an outtro of drums (16-32 bars) so they have time to mix it into the next one (this is an alternative to fade-outs). (ii) Impact sound effect transition into some type of break/bridge section; (iii) Crash symbals;

  • Song-writing tips: Think of your song as a movie (are you starting in the middle of the action or is there a build up?) (end with the credits)

  • Instagram to MP3 (many websites exist)

  • Reverse reverb lead up: 100% wet, no filter

  • Download Tool: xfer records OTT multiband compressor (freeware install)
    • Psychoacoutstic: You can hear midrange sound at lower volume. If you turn up the low and high frequencies and lower the midrange, it can sound louder. (smiley face EQ)

  • Download Tool: Kilohearts Essentials (free) – especially for EQ

  • Trap example:
    • use as a combined kick and bass (in 1-shot mode, MIDI)
    • arpegiator (this is a way of not having to do repetitive 1/8 notes in the track)
    • triplet grid (Cmd-3)
    • use MIDI to do pitch modification of samples, automated sequencing
    • cymbals on downbeats
    • MIDI sampler: trigger versus gate mode
  • Techno example :
    • Saturator effect (idoiomatic)
    • Audio Effect Rack
    • side chained reverb on vocal sample clips

Tropes of Trap genres:

  • Speed up the hats (can automate this)
  • Vocal call/response, response
  • structural idea could be a leadup of vocals, before you start the repetitive portion.

Homework:

Lesson 4: Music Theory

  • Upward expansion (audio technique) increase the volume of load parts of a signal - inverse of compression

  • use simpler, form a group and you can add additional sounds (as a group) to fill in low end; sounds play together; control foldout allows you to transpose each sample separately

  • The Super Saw: Use “Uniosn”
    • Reese Bass (detuned saw + sine on fundamental)
    • Trick for bass rhythym: you can sketch it out with measure long bass, and then arpegiate it
  • Recording MIDI tracks: You may want to check the driver error compensation when recording against live tracks to avoid being off; quantization
  • Song structure: Call and response: duplicate the lead, play it back on a different sound
  • A way to add energy is to open up filters that you had low-passed-away earlier.

Homework:

Lesson 5: Build ups / Automation

Review of homework

EDM tropes:

  • Power of two snare hits: 2 measures of quarters, 2 measures of 8ths…2 measures of 16ths. With a second track of oscillating velocity snare 16ths.
  • Trope of an automated pitch bend up and back on the midi snare tracks.
  • Washout with a ramped reverb.
  • Whitenoise riser with bandpass filter automation.
  • Play a snippet of the main melody in the buildup (a few notes from the beginning). Take smaller pieces, played more often as you approach the drop. Use delay and reverb to fill in the gaps.
  • Master channel: Put a utility that will lower the volume towards the end (zero when the drop hits and zero at the beginning of the build up maybe just -2 dB…you want it not to be directly perceptible, but it makes the jump sound lounder)
  • Warping audio clips (shortens time, keeps pitch fixed)

Homework

  • Review: Intro to EDM Buildups
  • Create a 16-32 bar drop in any style.
    • Make sure it has a hook/main theme such as a melody or vocal sample. If you need inspiration, you can pick another song you like that has a strong melody and make a cover of it.

    • Then add an 8 bar buildup before the drop by applying the techniques we learned in class. Don’t forget to tease the hook so the listener is primed for it when it drops.

    • Resources: Making Generative Music in Ableton 11 (but equally applicable in 12)

Lesson 6: Intros and Outros

  • Homework review notes
  • Download Mixxx open source DJ software

Homework:

Lesson 7: Song writing

Homework review:

  • High-pass filter on audio to remove noise
  • Build-up (filter out bass)
  • Sub-bass
  • Side-chaining the snare might be a good move in DnB

Other ideas:

  • Simpler instrument rack: you can adjust the fade to avoid overlap of snare and clap (subtle)
  • Filtered bass on intro…feel like you are down the street from the club as you are starting
  • [] contrastive learning for audio mixes (getting the correct balance between low/mid/high frequency bands; hard to do it with headphones (so there is value), could generate training data starting from well-mixed reference tracks); really only three outputs (EQ)…some sort of self-consistency/autogressive/diffusion idea?

Sound build-up:

  • Annotating tracks can be useful
  • Intro: introduce a few audio elements. Bass is just a couple hits (not the full rythym section)
  • One idea is to start with a high-pass filter on the drum and open it up
  • Starting with a main melody is useful
  • Crossfading between a square wave lead to a super-saw (same MIDI notes, may be easiest to run on different channels and just audio mix them)
  • Drop structure AABA
  • Where do you go where you can’t go any more for buildup? Drop an impact sample (bomb burst) and restart.
  • Pedal tones (on relative minor root) to rebuild, then shift to major root pedal tone Outro: Bring down the energy, but bring back some of the thematic elements, ending with a riser and crash cymbal will help the DJ to mix into the next track
  • 4x4 clap sound creates a little more energy when you need it, as an alternative to add more hihats, etc.
  • reverse reverb before a spoken track, eases the phase in.
  • synth pad + choir: side chain the choir to the fast-attack + decay pad, so that they balance each other
  • superfast snare rolls and open a filter on them (high energy section)

MIDI Routing

Interfacing with analog

Resources

Recording samples: (Mac OSX)

Drum n Bass (DNB) specific tutorial videos

  • Stranjah

New music I discovered (and liked) during the process

Gear videos