Pretension // News & Production Blog

"I'm No Star" RELEASED

2011-03-06T14:17:00.003+10:00

Just a quick little note to let you all know my debut solo release has hit the stores with amazing remixes by Nino Live, Benny Electric & French Stereo!

Juno Download (320kbps Mp3/WAV) | Amazon (256kbps Mp3) | iTunes (256kbps Mp3) | Beatport (320kbps Mp3)

How do I Approach a Remix?

2010-10-03T18:57:00.006+10:00

A fellow producer asked me this question a few weeks ago. It’s a pretty interesting topic and I am sure that lot of people approach remixes fairly differently. I thought I’d get my thoughts out there with the hope that it might spark a bit f discussion.

There are a couple of reasons that I may be doing a remix:

I want to do a bootleg remix of a song for my own use in a live show or promotion.
I have been asked by an artist or label to create a remix for single release.
I want to enter a remix competition.

Now even though I approach each of these situations slightly differently, I generally ask a couple of questions beforehand:

Who is the audience and who has the final say on style, sound or genre of your remix? Are there certain parts of the original that should or shouldn't be used? What of the original, in your opinion, could be improved?

Genre + Style

For example when doing a remix for a competition they sometimes give you a style or genre they want you to work within. Easy, stick to that. Sometimes, however, they’ll say “any genre welcome” so then it’s up to you to produce something that fits within the label’s sound, the sponsoring website’s style or is just damn amazing in your genre of choice. I’ve heard some pretty cool metal remixes of house tunes that really challenge the listener and pull the track into a completely new context. Your remix might even open the track up to other different audiences.

When producing a remix for a label for single release I often stick to the sounds and genres that the label is pushing. If you are doing a remix for a label that releases underground minimal and techno, don’t get too pissed off when they turn down your ‘hands-in-the-air’ commercial trance remix with ten thousand stacked saws.

Some labels can be pretty diverse, however, so your trance mix might sit really well next to their disco, big room and tech house remixes. That’s why it is sometimes good to think of how your track will fit in the package of the single release. The label may be looking to open up the track to as many listeners as possible.

Stick to what you’re good at

I find that the remixes that have turned out best, are the ones where I haven’t gone crazy inventing genres or producing styles that I don’t normally produce. If you are a gun at producing progressive house with slow builds and long drops, do a progressive house remix. You know what works and what sounds good and you’ll also know how to twist the original to fit into that genre or style. Play to your strengths and skillz and you can’t go too wrong.

The Hook

I try to write a hook into most of the tracks that I produce and it’s no different for a remix. For a remix, however, I start off by listening to the original (or the parts of it) and identify the hook. It might be the vocal, or it may be a synth riff or something else - just work out what it is. Now decide, are you going to use the hook or create a new one?

It can be easiest to reuse the hook. It’s the most recognisable part of the track and will easily get the listeners attention when they hear this rad new remix of that track that they really love. Maybe the hook is great but the rest of the track is rubbish. Just remember that you don’t have to leave it dry; you can get creative. Chop up the hook, stretch it, squash it, filter it, drag it out but leave enough of it there so the listener can recognise it. Maybe try swapping out the main synth, try a different patch to better compliment the genre that you are producing.

If you want to mix it up completely, try writing a new hook. This is where your own unique sound can come into play. You may use a similar synth patch but with a different melody. Even try using the sounds that you get in the remix pack but chop them to pieces and use them in a different context. Where there was a simple guitar chord in the original, you might now have a stabby house chord by adding a little distortion and playing with the envelopes. Maybe the original is drum and bass and you want to create a house remix. I can’t stand tracks that just speed up or slow down vocals to fit a new BPM (and yes I have been guilty of this in the past) so I take this opportunity to be creative. I’ll try slicing vocal snippets out of the original to use the words as an instrument in their own right. Sometime it may be as easy as cutting out one good vocal grab. It might be one line in the lyrics that you really like or sounds good. There really aren’t any rules.

Examples

Earlier this year I entered the Lychee Martini remix competition run by SoundPunk.com. The original track was a chilled out dubby tune that was chugging along at about 80BPM. The vocals were clean and interesting and the instrumentation was fantastic. Now 80BPM lends itself quite easily trip hop or even d’n’b (by doubling the tempo) but these genres are by no means my forte. I write house music so the challenge was set to get the track to fit into the 120-130BPM range.

I always like a good chord progression in my tracks and the original had a pretty cool one to begin with.

However, I needed to get it to fit into my house tune. Slice-to-midi, a bit of eq and some other effects processing and the gentle strums were now sharp and stabby.

I also had fun playing with the percussion in the track. As the original comprised real musicians with real instruments, the recording quality was top notch. Take this clicky percussion sample for instance.

After a bit of chopping and looping, I now had a forward moving percussion loop to work with.

The vocals on this one were great to work with. To try and avoid speeding up or slowing down the vocals to fit the BPM I decided to chop them up and use them like an instrument. I went looking for vowel sounds and this what I came up with.

I then picked one phrase from the original to use as the vocal hook.

Another remix competition that I entered this year was for the We No Speak Americano remix competition put on by Spank Records. I must admit that I really liked this tune when it 1st came out. It was funky, the horns were great and it chugged along quite nicely. I did however think that it lacked a little progression. There was no real melody apart for the main hook and could certainly do with a good dose of funk.

You can download this one for FREE!

Last but not least I also entered the Christopher Lawrence Remix Competition. I took the original pad sample, chopped, looped and sidchained it to suit.

Original

Remix

Check out the other remixes that I’ve done here:

Got any comments? How do you approach a remix?

Top 10 Yeah!

2010-06-29T20:53:00.004+10:00

So my remix has made it into the Top 10 for the We No Speak Americano remix competition that those nice people at Spank Records have put on.

So click HERE , check it out and vote for me! You can win stuff, I can win stuff and I'll love you forever! Yeah?

One for you - One for me

2010-06-17T21:53:00.005+10:00

It's been a while since I've written so I thought I'd woo all of my readers back in with a freebie!

Here is my super fun entry for the We No Speak Americano Remix competition. I had a tonne of fun recording real bass for this one and stayed up late and got extra funky for it.

Listen below and go to the 'cloud to download a 320K club edit for free. You heard me!

Love it. Leave it. Pass it on.

Latest Live mix featured on Audio Interspace Podcast

2010-04-10T09:19:00.004+10:00

This one will be short and sweet.

There are some pretty cool people over at Audio Interspace Podcast that are consistently putting out some fantastic DJ mixes. Each week they feature a new DJ with a new mix to keep the fans satisfied. Audio Interspace Podcast heard that last live mix that I did and wanted one of their own! So, I've put together an exclusive mix just for them (and you guys).

Tracklist

1. Tim Deluxe - Freedom (Dub Mix) Juno Download DjTunes Beatport
2. Pretension - Tuning In
3. Benny Electric vs. The Greenmatics - I Love Technology (Pretension Remix) Juno Download Amazon
4. Goldtraxx - Sun, Sand, Sex and Sea (Pretension Remix) : Funkerman - Automatic (Acapella)
5. Racim & Niko Spencer - Far Away (Pretension Remix) Beatport
6. Ehsan Gelsi - Head On High (Pretension Remix) : Moby - Bodyrock (Acapella) : Funkerman - Automatic (Acapella)
7. Rivastarr - I Was Drunk (Pretension Bootleg)
8. Pretension - Willing To Settle ft. Suzie
9. Segue - Coming Around (Pretension Remix)
10. Christopher Lawrence - We Lie To Ourselves (Pretension Remix)
11. Steve Angello - Tivoli (Pretension Bootleg) : PNAU - Embrace (Acapella)
12. Winston & Yoddy - Deeper (Pretension Remix) Juno Download DjTunes Amazon Beatport

[55 mins]

DOWNLOAD IT
PODCAST IT

Get on board, support the podcast and the great mixes they put out, and grab a copy of my latest mix!

Reverb für Nichts

2010-04-06T16:56:00.010+10:00

Over the years I’ve slowly narrowed down the short list of plugins that I like to use. Most of these plugins have been chosen for these three reasons.

They are easy to use.
They are cheap or free.
They sound good.

Now these three points apply to both instruments and effects and by sticking to a few good plugins it is possible to quickly and easily get the sound that you want - you know, that one that is rattling around in your head.

So today I’m going to go over a little plugin that has been getting a workout in some of my recent tracks - TAL Reverb. You’ll be happy to know that it’s a free plugin that you can get from here: http://kunz.corrupt.ch/?Products:VST_TAL-Reverb. Remember, I've already told you about TAL-Bassline.

Just looking at the number of dials on this one shows you that you’ll get your head around it in no time.

Room Size - adjusts the length of the reverb tail.

Pre Delay - adds a delay time before the reverb kicks in. Can be used for great rhythm effects.

Damp - adjusts how quickly a filter cuts the high frequencies. Imagine the difference between a room with hard straight walls and a room with pillows stuck to the walls.

Low Pass - adjusts the cutoff frequency of a low pass filter.

High Pass - adjusts the cutoff frequency of a high pass filter.

Stereo Width - Adjusts the stereo width of the reverb.

Dry/Wet - you know what this one does.

Now you can use this reverb on almost any sound and it can also be used to create some great effects. Here are a couple of examples.

Example 1

This vocal recording has been run through the TAL-Reverb to make it sound like you are listening to the vocalist in a small empty room:

This is a great way to create a nice intimate setting. If you increased the Damp value you could even achieve a more natural sound. Here is the dry vocal:

And now in the context of the song:

If you listen carefully, you can hear that I have adjusted the dry/wet on a second reverb with a larger room size to create the builds at the end of each phrase.

Example 2

Now this second example is on a bell type synth that I have created. To start with, have a listen to the wet signal only:

Can you hear how the pitch is changing on the reverb? Can you tell why? Now with both the dry and wet signals:

You can hear that the reverb is in fact changing behind the original sound. By adjusting the room size while feeding a signal through the reverb you can a very interesting effect. The reverb is re-pitched depending on the change in room size. Map it a knob on your controller and have a play.

And here it is in the context of the song:

I've once again used a second reverb to create the building, whooshing reverb in the background.

So now it's your turn:

Throw this reverb after any synth that you have. Play with all of the settings and get to know exactly what each one does. It's simple and you should be able to get some great effects pretty quickly.

Remixes || Remixes

2010-03-18T20:32:00.006+10:00

kay so I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front for the last few weeks. To let you guys know what I've been up to and to get the ball rolling again I've got a couple of samples of some remixes that I've been doing.

The 1st track that I've finished is a remix of a track called "Head on High" by Melbourne producer, Ehsan Gelsi. I just fell in love with the vocal hook on this one and just had to do a remix. It reminds me of Imogen Heap's work the way that the vocals are layered, almost using the vocal sounds as an instrument on their own.

Track number 2 is a remix for the Billy Hyde / Christopher Lawrence remix competition. Now, I don't generally listen to trance but I thought I could add my own twist to this track. It had quality stems with an interesting vocal line and enough quirky bits and pieces to play around with. They even threw in the kick sample! Now that's dedication. My take has pulled down the speed to my happy BPM of 128 and I've thrown it into the progressive / tech / big room house realm. I did a lot of experimenting with splitting up the frequencies of the bass line in Ableton and might just do a little tut in the next few weeks explaining what I've done. Stay tuned!

Jump on the cloud and say hi. Leave a comment and send me your tunes!

UPDATE!!! - I found out in March that I was the winner to the Christopher Lawrence Remix comp. I am super mega stoked and can't wait for my remix to be released on Audacious Records. Fantastic!

Live?

2010-01-20T17:03:00.003+10:00

Firstly, Happy New Year. I hope you all had a good break and managed hang out in the sun briefly before throwing yourself into 2010. I've got a good feeling about this year and what it will bring. Lots of opportunities are just around the corner!

1st Achievement

I've finally managed to record a live set. I've been meticulously tearing my songs apart over the last couple of months and I have finally managed to piece enough of them together to create a live set.

Here it is: DOWNLOAD

It's free for you to download and listen to and pass on to your mates. It's got a good mix of my remixes with a few sneaky acapellas thrown in.

Over the next few weeks I'll show you how I've created my set in Ableton Live as well as giving you some insight into the effects that I've created.

The Fruits of a Remix Comp

2009-12-22T21:17:00.004+10:00

I've been entering remix competitions for years. Big ones, small ones, local ones and international ones. I've never won a comp but I've had a hell of a lot of fun entering.

Remix competitions are great. They allow you to dig into a track and really discover how it was created. They help you hone your skills and sometimes even pull you out of your production comfort zone but most importantly they help you develop a healthy habit of actually finishing songs.

I've thrown up a couple of remixes that I've completed in the last couple of months. Some of you may have known about the comps and some of you may even have entered.

Steve Angello - Tivoli (Pretension Remix)

Riva Starr - I Was Drunk (Pretension's Baltic Bash)

So have a go at the next remix comp you see. It's great practice and there are always plenty of prizes on offer.

Pretension has been pressed to CD!

2009-11-20T07:58:00.003+10:00

I take great pleasure in letting you guys know that one of my remixes has been pressed to CD! It might not have been a big thing a few years ago but in our stampeding digital age, a physical copy of a tune really is a big thing, for me anyway!

The tune is Winston & Yoddy - Deeper (Pretension Remix) and I am super proud.

I've just ordered my copy from here.

Funkaine (Pretension Remix) - Winston & Yoddy

2009-11-13T11:43:00.005+10:00

It's out, it's getting a good response from the likes of Mark Dynamix and Matt Rowan and it's working it's way up the release charts.

<a href="http://pretension.bandcamp.com/track/winston-yoddy-the-kid-pretension-remix">Winston &amp Yoddy - The Kid (Pretension Remix) by Pretension</a>

Well done Winston & Yoddy on another solid release. Glad I could ride the remix wagon!

Bass Traps & Acoustic Absorbers Pt. 3 - Mounting & Overall Costs

2009-11-03T11:59:00.005+10:00

Over lest the last couple of weeks I’ve written up about how I designed and constructed the acoustic treatment for my home studio. Last week I even put together a short video about the difference that it makes.

Today I’m going to give you a quick rundown on how I fixed these panels to the walls and ceiling of my room and the overall costs involved in doing such a project.

Mounting

Here are a couple of pics showing you how I fixed my acoustic panels to the ceiling of my room.

As I stated last week, I have an i-beam running down the centre of my studio. I fashioned some brackets out of 6mm threaded rod and used stiff wire to hang the panels. In your studio, you might need to screw hooks or eyelets into your ceiling to hang the panels.

The panels on the walls were then hung with fishing line from the upper skirting board. You can then use stiff foam or leftover wood to displace the panels about 100mm from the walls.

The bass traps were simply wedged into the corners. My ceilings are 2200mm high to I made my panels to fit snuggly.

Costs

This is a breakdown of the overall costs of the project. All prices are in Australian dollars and the best prices were sought where possible.

The overall project cost about $500 but this is assuming that you have access to the required tools: saw, angle grinder, staple gun, drill and scissors.

From these prices, you can estimate that each floor to ceiling bass trap cost about $110 to construct and each 600mm x1200mm acoustic panel cost about $44 to construct.

Doing a quick search on the internet, I have found that an equivalent commercial 600 x1200mm panel costs about $200US. If you’ve got the time and you’ve got a good DIY attitude, I would highly recommend building your own panels.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these articles on DIY acoustic treatment. Feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email about your own projects!

DIY Acoustic Treatment - Before and After Comparison

2009-10-27T15:10:00.004+10:00

I just created this video so you can see and hear the effect of the acoustic treatment on my studio.

Enjoy!

Read about it here and here.

Great Ebook on Promotion

2009-10-24T14:28:00.006+10:00

Not long ago, I did a quick write up on various blogs that I read and other interesting stuff online. I hope you've had a good look at those sites and get as much out of them as I have.

Just recently, I have discovered a great ebook on promoting yourself as an artist, a label or a club promoter. It is called Maximum Promo Vol. 1 and it was written by Keiren Brown, who runs a site called The GroundZero Project. The book covers fairly straightforward marketing and promotional techniques but does it with a fantastic dance/club music perspective. It's an easy read, it's got some great tips for aspiring superstars and guess what? It's free!

Check it out here: DOWNLOAD

And, be sure to check out http://www.groundzeroprojects.com/ They've got a pretty healthy forum community over there discussing DJing, Production and all things noisy.

Enjoy.

Releases

2009-10-19T21:36:00.007+10:00

Remixes

Winston & Yoddy "Funkaine" [Elektrax]

BUY

Goldtrax "Sun, Sand, Sex & Sea" [Silver Sneaker Records]

Coming Soon...

Racim & Niko Spencer "Far Away" [DJ Center Records]

BUY

Winston & Yoddy ft. Caroline "Deeper" [Kitschy Records]

BUY

Damn Arms "Destination" [Unreleased]

DOWNLOAD

Benny Electric vs. The Greenmatics "I Love Technology" [Silver Sneaker Records]

BUY

Benny Electric vs. Knives at Noon "Heat Up" [Silver Sneaker Records]

BUY

Winston & Yoddy "Beautiful People" [Vinyl Pusher]

BUY

Bass Traps and Acoustic Absorbers Pt. 2 - Construction

2009-10-19T13:03:00.008+10:00

Okay, last week I went through the concept and design process and this week I’ll be running through the construction process.

Frames

As I said last week, all of the frames are made from 18mm x 38mm pine. It’s cheap, strong enough and easy to work with. To make it even easier to get square corners I made up a little jig with some scrap pieces of wood.

You can also see how each corner was fastened in this picture.

I then went through the process of rigging up the frames in my room: 1. to check how they would all fit in and 2. as it was a lot easier to hold and fasten light wooden frames rather than complete acoustic panels.

As you can see, I am lucky enough in my room to have an i-beam running down the centre of the studio which makes it super easy to fix the panels without having to drill holes. The panels on the ceiling were hung with stiff wire (roughly 1.5mm dia.).

I then took all of the frames back outside to fix the backing fabric. You can see that I used staples about every 100mm to hold the fabric to the inside of the frames.

Cutting Insulation

The next job was to cut the insulation. Tontine Acoustisorb 3 is fairly easy to handle but rather difficult to cut. I took the hint from Timothy Allan when he built his acoustic panels and decided to use an angle grinder with a cutting blade to cut the sheets. I first attempted with scissors first but quickly found that my scissors would become blunt after cutting through about half a metre. So, I used a pen to draw up the straight cuts on the sheets and then ran the angle grinder through them.

One entire pack (three 1200x2400 sheets) was used to make the two corner bass traps and the other pack was used to make the six smaller acoustic panels. This picture shows the insulation on the wooden frame.

Finishing

Before wrapping the panels in fabric I stapled the first sheet of insulation to the wooden frames. This would help prevent the insulation from sliding down the panels over time.

In this picture you can see how the fabric is then wrapped around the insulation and fastened to the back of the frames with staples. I would always fasten one long side of the the panels and then the opposite side to ensure that the fabric was pulled tight. For some of the panels I had fabric with stripes so this technique would ensure that the lines were aligned to the frame. Here is one finished floor to ceiling bass trap.

In The Studio

Here they are, finally in the studio. The floor to ceiling bass traps were just large enough to wedge in the corners and didn’t require andy fastening. The panels on the walls are just propped up for the moment but will be fixed with fishing line to the upper skirting board shortly. I also have one panel that is hung directly behind the mixing position that you can’t see in these pics.

The Verdict

Incredible. It is amazing the difference this acoustic treatment does. Flutter echoes are no longer an issue, the bass response of the room is so much tighter and stereo imaging is pristine. I can tell that is going to be a pleasure to mix in this room. If I can get a hold of an acoustics measuring kit I’ll run some tests but next week I’ll show you guys a video that I am putting together with some before and after audio samples. Stay tuned.

Feel free to leave your comments.

Bass Traps and Acoustic Absorbers Pt. 1 - Concept Design

2009-10-14T11:09:00.005+10:00

Now, I am by no means an acoustics expert so I think that these articles can stand as a good discussion forum. Make sure you leave a comment if you have any suggestions for the design and we can help anyone that is keen to build their own.

Background

When designing these acoustic panels I had a few limitations:

I am renting so any panels need to be attached with minimal damage and easily removed when I move out.
Panels need to be suited to different rooms as I don’t know what my next studio will be like.
I am only working part time, so all costs need to be minimised ie. little or no wastage.
The two corners behind my listening position are difficult to access as one has a window and the other has a large piece of immovable furniture

My room is square, 4.6m x 4.6m x 2.25m with two brick walls and two plasterboard walls. As you can imagine standing waves and flutter echoes are serious problems in my room. I’ve done a few quick calculations using a room mode calculator and have found that axial room modes occur at around 37Hz, 74Hz, 158Hz, etc. as well as other complex derivatives. I could aim to tackle these frequencies individually using tuned bass traps but I have opted for more versatile broadband bass traps and acoustic panel designs. This involves using insulation to absorb troublesome frequencies.

As standing waves peak at the walls and in the corners of the room, this is where I want to place my traps. Try it. Stick your head into the corner of your room and hear how the frequency response changes. I have considered the use of Superchunk bass traps but have opted to build self standing panels that don’t require being built into the room. It will also make it easier to move to my next studio.

Concept

After much deliberation I decided to build two floor to ceiling 600mm wide x 150mm thick bass traps and six 1200mm wide x 600mm high x 100mm thick broadband absorbers. One of the main reasons for this arrangement was due to the size and availability of acoustic insulation. The insulation that I have chosen to use is Tontine Acoustisorb 3. It is comparable to Owens Corning 703 (one of the most used studio insulation materials used in the USA) and comes in 1.2mx2.4mx50mm sheets.

I briefly looked at normal house insulation products but couldn’t find a material that had the density that I required. Acoustisorb 3 is 48kg/m3 and does not require personal protective equipment to handle or cut, which is a bonus. It also means that I don’t have to worry too much about covering. Acoustisorb 3 comes in a pack of three sheets so I will use one pack to construct the bass traps and a second trap to construct the broadband absorbers.

Design

Many DIY bass traps use 100mm or 150mm wide pine as a simple and strong way of framing the insulation. However, any sound waves contacting these frames is going to be reflected so some people then cut holes and patterns out of the wood to increase the effective surface area of the traps. As Acoustisorb 3 is fairly rigid I can get away with having a fairly simple frame. Rather than framing the insulation, I am going to provide a skeleton for it to be mounted to. I can then use this frame to attach it to the wall.

Down at my local Bunnings there are dozens of different wood cross sections to choose from. I finally decided on 18mm x 38mm x 2.4m lengths of pine as they are rigid enough in both axes as well as being reasonably priced at a convenient length (about $4.80 /length).

You could then construct the frames using pre made L-shaped brackets but I have opted for the simplest and cheapest option. Each corner requires two 50mm wood screws (8 per frame) which minimises drilling and provides enough rigidity to not need cross bracing even on the floor to ceiling frames.

Further Reading

http://www.ethanwiner.com/basstrap.html - Great DIY bass trap article.
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/bass-traps-acoustic-panels-foam-etc/ - forum community dedicated to acoustics and production.
http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=17 - An Australian based forum dealing with acoustics.
http://www.radford.edu/shelm/acoustics/bass-traps.html - Fantastic article on building similar acoustic panels.
http://www.spec-net.com.au/company/tontine/acoustic/acous6.htm - Specs for the Tontine Acoustisorb 3.

Next Week

So next week I'll go through the construction process and outline a few tips to help you build the panels a bit quicker and easier. I'll have some pics then too so you can see what they look like. Got any suggestions / questions? Just leave a comment. Do it!

Click here to go to the next installment.

Templates For The Win

2009-08-22T12:56:00.004+10:00

I often visit different forums to learn new tricks, keep up to date with new technology and techniques and sometimes just to hang out and talk trash amongst other fellow producers and studio junkies.

A few days ago a user posed the question "Which part of the song do you write first?". Now after a few responses it was clear that there was no one way to start a song. Some people start with a bassline. Some people start with drums or a groove. Some people start with a synth riff. I've even heard in an interview with the french producer, Martin Solveig, that he would start by sitting in front of a microphone and make random sounds and noises until he found one he liked.

So that's all well and good; everyone is different and we each work in different ways. Eventually one user mentioned that they load up their basic template and go from there. This made me think about my own template and how I use it. I know that it has saved me a lot of time in the studio. After starting a few songs I realised that I would be grabbing for the same effects and presets for different tracks. So, why not turn that base set into a template?

I'll take the time to tell you about my template, how I have everything set up and why. Once again, this isn't the only way to put together a template but it helps me and it may help you.

My base template consists of 8 tracks (Kick, Bass, Snare, Hats, Percussion, Synth 1, Synth 2, and Vocals) and 3 return tracks (Reverb, Delay, Perc).

1 - Kick

This audio track is solely for my main kick drum. On this track I've got a high pass filter to cut out all the muddy frequencies below around 25Hz. I've also got a frequency analyser to help me EQ the bass to get it with sit with the kick.

2 - Bass

This midi track is for my main Bass synth; Blue, Bassline, Elek7ro etc. As with the Kick track I've got a high pass filter to cut out all the muddy frequencies below around 25Hz. Using a frequency analyser and an EQ I can then EQ the bass to get it to sit with the kick. See my previous post on Kick and Bass EQ.

3 - Snare

As I tend to write my drums first the next audio track is for the snare drum. There are no effects on this channel but it is routed only to the C Perc return. More about this later.

4 - Hats

This midi track is loaded with an Impulse to look after all my hat samples. There are no effects on this channel but it is routed only to the C Perc return.

5 - Percussion

This audio track is ready for chopped up percussion styles. Sometimes I'll even duplicate this track depending on how many layers I end up working with. There are no effects on this channel but it is routed only to the C Perc return.

6 - Synth 1

This midi track is ready for my main synth line. On this track I've got a high pass filter to roll-off frequencies below about 150-350Hz. This gives the kick and bass room in the mix. Send A is then set to send the track to both the Master and the A Reverb return. I'll then adjust this send to raise or lower the amount of reverb I want.

7 - Synth 2

Same as above.

8 - Vocals/Samples

This audio track is for the vocals or any melodic samples that I end up using. On this track I've got a high pass filter to roll-off frequencies below about 150-350Hz. This gives the kick and bass room in the mix and also removes those popping sounds that you get in some vocals. Send A is then set to send the track to both the Master and the A Reverb return. I'll then adjust this send to raise or lower the amount of reverb I want.

A - Reverb

This return generally has Reverb with the Ambience Medium preset. I'll generally follow it up with a Side Chain Fakey to get it to pump a bit with the mix.

B - Delay

This return generally has a Filter Delay with the Go Mid preset. You could always use a Grain Delay or even a Ping Pong delay for something different.

C - Perc

This is where all of my drum sounds are sent (except for the kick). First and foremost this return has a high pass filter to roll-off frequencies below about 150-350Hz. This gives the kick and bass room in the mix. I may also apply some compression to get the percussive parts to gel nicely. Send A is then set to send the track to both the Master and the A Reverb return. I'll then adjust this send to raise or lower the amount of reverb I want on the percussion.

So once you've got you template setup you are going to want to save it such that it loads everytime you start up your DAW. Now I am not completely sure about other DAWs but in Live you can save your template quickly and easily. Just click on that top button in the File/Folder Preferences. Do it!

So give the template a go. It might work for you, get you writing songs quicker or you might totally hate it and the way it might makes you write. I must admit that sometimes I don't use the template. I'll start up Live, delete every track and start from scratch. This is completely healthy too. It gives you the chance to try out new things. new routing strategies and new techniques. Hey, sometimes I'll even just start up one synth on one track and tweak sounds for hours and hours on end. Enjoy it.

Things to try at home

- Pay attention to what you consistently pull into your sets when you start a new one. Are there some things you always do? Why not throw them into a template to help get you writing quicker.

- Try my template. Download it here and give it a go. If you like it, just save it as your own template in Live. It will work on Live 7 and above.

Pumping Reverb

2009-07-31T11:24:00.000+10:00

This next little trick is so fresh, it's still hot from the oven. I've only just started using this one on some very recent tunes.

So, you've got a nice little synth stab, a clean guitar riff or maybe just a little plink sound like the one just here:

Bland, boring and doesn't have any character whatsoever. The first thing you then think of is "Hey, I'll put some reverb on it just like I learnt last week. It will then have it's own space and maybe even a bit more character." Let's see how that sounds...

Yeah not bad. It certainly sounds a lot better but it is still not quite enough, is it?. The technique that I've been using to make it more interesting involves setting the original sound to trigger the pumping of the reverb using a sidechain compressor. Sound complicated? It's not really. Have a look at this picture.

You can see that from the input sound (ie. your synth stab, guitar etc.), the unchanged signal goes directly to the master output. However, this sound is also routed to a reverb that is set to 100% wet. Before we sum this with the unchanged signal, however, it is run through the compressor which, with the sidechain, lowers the signal each time the stab hits or the guitar is strummed. Think of it as the reverb only being heard when the original signal is not.

This is what it sounds like:

See how the reverb has now got it's own rhythm? And in the context of the song, it sounds like this:

Much more interesting than the bland plinking sound we had originally. Can you hear the reverb pump?

The easiest way to set this signal path up is to use your returns (sends) with the reverb and compressor sitting on one return. In Ableton Live, however, you can utilise the racks by having one chain for the dry signal and one chain for the reverb and compressor. You may even want to save this rack for use in future projects.

In this song I have even used a similar technique on the bassline but instead of the sidechain compressor, I used the sidechain fakey to keep a constant pump. Can you hear it here?

For those of you who were paying attention you may have noticed that I have an EQ in front of the reverb in the chain above. Now you don't have to EQ the reverb chain every time (and you could even use the EQ in the reverb itself) but it can be useful to throw a high pass filter on it. This cuts out the low end of the reverb and gives the reverb more of an air-like wooshing sound.

Things to try at home

- Adjust the levels of the dry signal and the compressed reverb signal to taste. Sometimes less reverb is more.

- Adjust the EQ of the reverb signal. Sometimes you want that rumble in your reverb

- Try out the compressor settings above but also try different thresholds and attack and release times.

- Why not sidechain fakey if you want a constant rhythmic pump.

Take My Hand - Work in Progress

2009-07-29T21:36:00.005+10:00

To be a bit different, I thought I would post up a track that I am currently working on (not one that is already finished and released). It's a fairly uplifting progressive track and at this stage, it is just an instrumental.

<a href="http://pretension.bandcamp.com/track/take-my-hand-instrumental">Take My Hand (Instrumental) by Pretension</a>

I've written most of the lyrics for it and once I throw this cold, I'll be doing some vocal recording.

So in the meantime, I'd love some feedback. Does any part of the mix sound out of place? Do you think I should add more parts? Do you reckon I should simply cut a section out? Throw any feedback my way; positive or negative. I can take it!

A snapshot of the lyrics

Take my hand but don't take it too seriously,

Understand I've got what you need.

Don't pretend you've been here previously

De Ja Vu, I know what you mean.

It's about two strangers that meet at a festival and spend the day together. They've only just met but they've never been so close...

Side Project - Teatime in Technicolor

2009-07-17T14:41:00.000+10:00

So when I'm not writing club tunes, I like to slow it down a bit and get a little more jazzy.

I am in a duo called Teatime in Technicolor with the fabulous Suzie on vocals. We have been writing steadily for the last three months and we've already had a couple of gigs in Brisbane.

If you like the music, you can download it for FREE: http://teatime.bandcamp.com/

Enjoy, tell your friends or even send us an email.

To Blog or not to Blog.

2009-07-13T12:25:00.000+10:00

Okay so I write this little blog to let you guys know what I have been up to. However, I also read other people's blogs and useful websites.

Here is my little list of useful Blogs and blog type sites!

New Music Strategies

URL: http://www.newmusicstrategies.com
Author: Andrew Dubber
Content: Advice and information for independent artists and online music businesses. This blog covers many issues encountered by artists in the online music environment and attempts to explore new marketing strategies and services. Make sure you check out Andrew’s fantastic ebook, The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online.
New Content: Weekly

Music Think Tank

URL: http://www.musicthinktank.com
Author: Various
Content: This blog covers various topics such as music production, theory, marketing, touring, etc. It is written by a regular group of authors who have a background in the music industry. There is also an open forum where anyone can post an article.
New Content: Weekly

The Music Software Training Blog

URL: http://www.musicsoftwaretraining.com/blog/
Author: Jason
Content: This blog covers topics such as audio engineering, mixing, mastering, creativity, productivity, promotion etc. It’s focus is on Ableton Live and has a heap of video tutorials.
New Content: Fortnightly

Pro Juice

URL: http://www.projuice.org/

Authors: Arlo Enemark et al

Content: Video tutorial on various DIY studio, live and recording techniques. Also covers film production and multimedia.

New Content: Fortnightly

Kim Lajoie's Blog

URL: http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/

Author: Kim Lajoie

Content: This blog covers many production techniques and useful studio tips from using compressors, creativity and composition to setting up a recording session

New Content: Almost Daily

Create Digital Music

URL: http://www.createdigitalmusic.com
Author: Various
Content: News, tips, reviews, features, DIY music making, emerging trends, advanced software and experimental interfaces.
New Content: Daily

New Release & Free MP3!

2009-06-28T20:55:00.000+10:00

As a thank you for reading my blog, I thought I would give you a little freebie.

Click on the artwork below to download the free MP3. woo!

Deeper (Pretension Remix) - Winston & Yoddy ft. Caroline is my latest and most exciting release and it is now available at Beatport, iTunes and Juno etc. Go get it now!

Mix Gel

2009-06-12T13:06:00.000+10:00

Okay this is a quick and easy one.

You’re kick and bass are now awesome and you’ve decided to throw a few more elements into the mix: some percussion, a few synths, maybe a chopped up vocal or two. Nutting away for a few hours you get everything in the right place. The rhythm and beats work well with each other but you just can’t get it to gel. The time has come for you to throw some pants on, walk down to your local chemist and get yourself some Mix Gel®.

Unfortunately, Mix Gel® is expensive S#!$ and most chemists don’t stock it due to it’s unsightly side effects. Fortunately, however, I’m going to write up the procedure so you can make your own mix gel at home.

The technique that I am referring to involves using a single reverb to blanket all (or select) elements in your mix to bring them into the same space. For example, if you were to throw a band into a room and put one stereo mic in the middle and then listen to the playback, what would you hear? Apart from a hell of a lot of noise, you would hear each instrument of the band and the reverb that has now flooded the room. This reverb would be unique to the room and would be a product of the instruments that the band is using. When writing electronic music or any music where you are pulling sounds from different sources, (synths, recordings, sample packs etc.) however, you start writing without reverb. You’re gonna want to throw it back into the mix when you can.

Okay have a listen to this first sample:

A kick, some shakers, and a couple of synths. Easy. It doesn’t sound too bad if I may say so myself but it just doesn’t quite mesh. It’s sounds a bit stagnant and a bit stale, right?

The first thing that I do is put a reverb on a return track. I often do this before I have even written any of the parts. Set the Dry/Wet mix to 100%. Then set the Decay Time and Predelay to suit your track and the sound that you are going for ie. big and boomy, light and spacey. I also tend to activate the filter and set it to a high pass filter. I don’t usually want the low end of my bass booming through a reverb and muddying up my mix after I’ve been especially careful EQing it.

So now you’ve got the reverb set up, you are going to want to send something to it. I send all of my percussion over to this reverb and most of the synths that I work with. It’s not often that I send my kick or my bass but give it a go. It might work for you. There are a few things to consider though:
- Always have the track Audio To set to Master – this will ensure that your sounds are sent to your return track and your master simultaneously.
- Don’t send 100% of each element to the return track – experiment with how much you send but I tend to not send any more than -10dB. This is effectively controlling your dry/wet mix.

Now how does it sound?

It finally sticks together! Woo. You might have noticed that I have sent more synth to the reverb than percussion. I wanted to keep the reverb on the percussion rather subtle with this track but the synths just sounded so good with a good dose of reverb. So you understand what I am talking about, here is a sample of the reverb on its own.

It is amazing how subtle the reverb is. It’s volume here is relative to the total mix so you might want to turn your speakers up.

There we go. Here are some things to try out at home:
- Throw a Sidechain Fakey on your reverb track to get it pumping.
- Automate how much of each track you send to the reverb over each phrase. This will keep your track moving and works great for subtle build-ups when you ramp up the reverb.

By the way the track that you have been hearing is going to be released on Kitschy Records (UK) on the 26^th of June. Keep an eye out for it in your favourite online store. In the meantime, have a listen…

Saturated Phat

2009-05-28T17:55:00.002+10:00

Okay, so you have heard me ramble on about how to get your kick and your bass to sit tight together, but what do you do if you just want your bassline to sound fat, dirty and generally warble around like our friends, The Crookers? I have discovered one of the simplest tools around that can push you a little closer towards the PHatness. Yes, that’s right with a capital P.H.

Enter Saturator!

Now the trusty Ableton manual says,

“Saturator is a wave waveshaping effect that can add that missing dirt, punch or warmth to your sound. It can coat input signals with a soft saturation or drive them into many different flavors of distortion.”

Fairly straightforward hey? Think of the saturator as an effect that adds colour and warmth to the sound you run through it. If you are hunting that dynamic, analog-esque sound from your stale digital synths and effects, then keep reading. If you’ve got no idea what I am on about, keep reading.

Let me show you with an example. Here I have the 1st unsaturated bass riff:

I have used the wonderful TAL-Bassline for this riff and dropped a sidechain fakey on it to get it to pump with the kick. It’s nice. It’s got a solid square wave and it could almost pass as the real Roland SH-101.

But is it enough? You’ve heard the sound before on every 2^nd electro house tune out there but you are one of the few producers who strive to be different, strive to be unique.

Now with the Saturator and the “A Bit Warmer” preset:

Did you notice the change in temperature? Can you feel the warmth. The low end of the bass feels more whole and certainly has a lot more character. Here is the riff in the context of the song:

Now this second sample is a slightly different sounding bass:

It’s run though a low pass filter to cut all the high frequencies. Don’t worry though; the distortion provided by the Saturator will bring back all the high frequencies we want.

Now with the Saturator and the “Rectifier” preset:

Now this sound gets me excited. You’ve got the bass driving through underneath with plenty of portamento. With this riff, however, I’ve automated the cut off frequency and resonance on the low pass filter to give the saturator something to bite onto. The bass is moving and opening up over the eight bars. Here it is in the context of the song:

Now it’s time for you to try it at home:

- Throw any sound at the Saturator, see what sticks and remember what sounds good.
- Experiment with the dry/wet mix of your saturated and unsaturated sounds. Especially useful for big dirty build ups.
- Mess around with the settings. Especially with the Color Frequency.
- Experiment with high pass or lo pass filter before or after the Saturator. You’ll be amazed how drastically the sounds change when you cut a few frequencies out.
If you like what you’ve read, tell a friend. Email, post, carrier pigeon or just hit the "Share" button below.

Video, What?

2009-05-11T12:55:00.000+10:00

What is this? A video? Pretension doesn’t make videos. ENjOY Productions, however, do make videos. Damn fine ones at that!

Jacob and the guys at ENjOY were kind enough to throw a little bit of their talent around and came up with this fantastic music video for Winston & Yoddy vs. Pretension “What You Do ft. Kyla Sexton”. Unbelievable, hey?

Here is a little blurb about them:

“We’re an established, full service, award winning Film Production Company based in Brisbane, Australia. Working on boutique and mainstream projects, our mission is to enjoy the art of film making to create unique and timeless motion pictures.

We approach all projects with a fresh creative edge from small run DVD projects to big budget music videos and films. With a solid team of directors, producers, cinematographers, designers, composers and performers, we have the means to bring quality projects to the screen, web, iPod, iPhone and any other new media you want to throw at us.”

So that’s enough words for today. The proof is in the pudding. Go check out their films here and be sure to keep them in mind for your next music video!

ps. Do you recognise anyone in this video?

Kick & Bass EQ

2009-05-10T12:09:00.002+10:00

Now some of you might be sitting there, thinking “I read your last post on faking the sidechain effect but I absolutely loath that sound and I want it (and anyone who uses it) to die a long and painful death”. That may be a little harsh but you still want your kick and your bass to play nice right? EQ is the next tool that you are going to need in your tool box.

I know that I have often started work on a tune; I have found the perfect kick drum that works so well with the rest of my percussion and I have created the most mind-bending bass patch known to man (well maybe not every time). The problem, however, comes when I try to put the two together. The frequencies of the kick start fighting with the frequencies of the bass and suddenly my master is in the red and I’ve got mud everywhere.

Time to EQ.

The process starts by finding out what frequencies are dominant in both the kick and the bass. Now, I use the Spectrum analyser that comes with Ableton Live but there are some other plugins out there such as Voxengo SPAN that can also be used. Live’s Spectrum, however has a great “Bass Analyser” preset that takes out the hard work of setting up.

As soon as you load it up on your kick track you may want to adjust the settings to make it easier to read. Try increasing the Avg up to 8 and reducing the Refresh rate. You can also double click on the graph to get a larger view of the waveform.

So here is what my kick looks like:

From this graph we can see that the loudest part of the kick is between 50 and 60Hz with not much audio power below 50Hz.

The same graph for the bass looks like this:

The loudest part of the bass is at about 50Hz with the next harmonic at about 100Hz and there is heaps more sound below 50Hz too. We can immediately tell that we’re going to have issues.

So the first decision I need to make is whether to EQ the bass or the kick. I tend to stick to the rule “If it moves, EQ it”. In this case, my bassline is moving up and down octaves. If I EQ it, it can dance around as much as it wants, (above, below or across the main frequencies of the kick) and still leave a space for the kick to sit in.

If you’ve got one of those basslines that drone along on the one note (I too am guilty of these) then you could EQ either the bass or the kick. However, you’ll probable want to EQ the element that has the least power in the mix. Make sure you experiment.

So, back to it then. I’ve dropped an EQ Eight onto my bass track (just before the Spectrum).

I then pulled the little “1” around until it looked something like this.

So with the loudest frequencies of the kick being between 50 and 60Hz, I then want to cut those frequencies from the bass. You can dial in the exact frequency with the Freq dial and make sure you experiment with the Q. Remember that with a lower Q value, the cut in frequencies will be wider and you will lose more of your bassline.

After a bit of tweaking, the kick and bass now sound like this:

And in the context of the song:

Note:
- It may be difficult to EQ if both the kick and the bass share the exact same frequency band. You may want to try re-pitching the kick or bassline or even syncopating your bassline so it doesn’t strike on the same beat as your bass.

The sounds in this tutorial belong to a remix that I just did for the Damn Arms Bang Gang Remix Competition. Check it out!

If you like what I've done with this track, click on "Share" on the player above and let your friends know about it.

Releases

2009-05-06T16:21:00.000+10:00

Okay, this is where you will find my releases. I've even managed to pull together these helpful little icons to help you track down where to buy each track.

Benny Electric “Heat Up” [Silver Sneaker Records]

Coming soon...

Racim & Niko Spencer “Far Away” [DJ Center Records]

Winston & Yoddy “Deeper ft. Caroline” [Kitschy Records]

Winston & Yoddy vs. Pretension “What You Do ft. Kyla Sexton” [Silver Sneaker Records]

Benny Electric & The Greenmatics “I Love Technology” [Silver Sneaker Records]

Winston & Yoddy ft. Andew Worboys “Beautiful People” [Vinyl Pusher Records]

The Sidechain Fakey

2009-05-03T16:55:00.001+10:00

Okay this first lesson is going to be on faking the sound produced by a side chain compressor.

Now, we all know and love the sound of a dirty bassline pumping and pulsing off the beat of a kick drum. It’s been used for years by the likes of Daft Punk and Eric Prydz and chances are, your favourite tune right now is using it in one way or another. It sounds great on bass, synth, pads or vocals and can be used to help your bassline sit nicely with your kick drum. (EQ is also helpful but I’ll get to that in a later lesson)

SonicTrasfer have done a great write up on how to do it using a sidechain compressor and the guys at ProJuice have even put together a snazzy video. Today, however, I’m going to show you how to fake it. I no longer use a sidechain compressor to get my basslines ducking and my pads pumping. I use Ableton Live’s Auto Pan. I find that it uses less CPU, I no longer need a dedicated kick drum track and I can still achieve the desired effect.

So let’s start with the original bassline without the sidechain effect.

Straightforward hey? Now do you hear how it doesn’t play nice with the 808 kick drum?

It’s kind of muddy and you really lose the emphasise of the kick. It’s time for some sidechain faking.

When you first load up Auto Pan onto your bassline track it looks like this:

Now to get a side chain effect, you immediately want to adjust the following things:

- set the Phase to 0.00°
- change the shape of the wave form to saw
- Invert the wave shape
- Set the Rate to ¼
- Set the Shape to about 50%
- Set the Offset to 0.00°

Once you have all of these things set you can then adjust the Amount to get the desired effect. You should also play around with the Shape as this can change the groove or swing of the side chain effect.

So here is what the bassline sounds like with the fake sidechain:

And here is what it sounds like with the kick:

And in the context of the song:

Other Tips
- Try the fake sidechain on pads, vocals, synths and whatever else you can get your hands on.
- Experiment with two Auto Pans in series. Use the settings above for both but adjust the Offset of the second Auto Pan between 300° and 360°
- Try a 1/16 square gate on a second Auto Pan to get that nice fidget sound.
- Lastly, hit the little disk icon on the top right corner of your Auto Pan and save the little guy. It’s certainly a lot quicker than adjusting those settings every time.

Pretentious Lessons Begin!

2009-05-03T16:31:00.000+10:00

Okay guys, I am about to start writing a set of production lessons that outline a few techniques that I use when writing and producing tunes. I'll try to keep them relevant to my style and give examples of where I have used them in actual songs.

So, I use Ableton Live 7 with a few different plugins but most of the lessons will use the stock effects that are provided with Live. Not using Live? Don't worry. You should be able to transfer the techniques over to your own special DAW.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer:

I am by no means saying "my style is the best" or "my technique is the best". I am just sharing a few ideas that help me make better sounding tunes, faster. Have you got an opinion or further ideas? Feel free to leave a comment.

Also, a big thanks must go to Natalie at Utopian Vision Photography for the stunning photos!

DIY Speaker/Monitor Stands

2009-03-17T19:48:00.000+10:00

Between Christmas and New Years of 2007 I bought myself a pair of Yamaha HS80M powered monitors. Sweet sound, and at a fairly decent price. It has certainly been an improvement over the dodgy book case hi-fi speakers I was running before and after recently buying a MOTU Ultralite, the signal chain has improved ten fold.

I decided to make up a pair of speaker stands to match the monitors. I took inspiration from one of the threads on SoundPunk.com (http://www.soundpunk.com/index.php?topic=518.0), ran out to the local hardware store and started piecing these together.

So down at Bunnings, I picked up two 1 metre lengths of 100mm diameter PVC pipe, four PVC end flange joints, a couple of bits of pine and two lengths of M16 threaded rod and nuts and washers to suit. I chose 100mm PVC over the standard 90mm just to make the stands a little more stable and solid. The flange joints were fairly cheap ($3-4 each) and helped considerably with the stability and meant that I did not necessarily have to cut the ends of the PVC straight (which is a bit difficult for anyone that hasn’t tried it).

So I measured everything up such that the tweeters would be at the right height. I also made sure the size of the top of the stands would be the same size as the bottom of the monitors, and the base slightly larger to help with stability once again. I wanted to make sure that the speakers I just spent my hard earned cash on didn’t topple to the floor.

I cut holes in the base to mount the spikes. I got a bit slack and just used small bolts and countersunk them into the base, rather than professional speaker spikes. However, they seem to have worked out alright.

After a bit of fiddling to get them all level, I puttied up the top surface and sanded the whole thing down.

You could even sharpen the ends of the bolts to get a good spike. A bit of measuring to get the hole right in the centre for the threaded rod and I was able to tie the stands together and check the height.

I then centered the PVC on the base, sealed it with sellastic and wiped off the excess. I then bolted them together again and waited for the sellastic to cure.

In the meantime, I went down to the beach and pinched a crate of sand. I totally over estimated how much sand I would need. Now because I got sand from the beach (Salt) I thought I would protect the rod inside the speaker stand and give it a good coat of KillRust. It may be the difference between these stands lasting five and ten years.

I used a funnel and a sieve to put the sand in the stands. I only filled them up about two thirds of the way as they were getting pretty heavy. The stands ended up weighing about 13kilos each (the same as the speakers). The funnel is a great idea because it centers the booker rod in the PVC and helps you align the top board, and the sieve makes sure I don’t get any dirty Gold Coast beach debris in my stands.

Roughly, I ran some sellastic around the top because I knew this area was not going to be seen and stuck the top on. Lined up the top with the base and let it cure again. A day later I grabbed a tin of black paint and sprayed the stands. Make sure you give the PVC a good sand to ensure the paint really sticks to it.

I then went out to Clark Rubber and grabbed some pieces of foam. The main reason was to clear the nut on the threaded rod but to also aid in sound quality. Best way to cut it is using a good sharp kitchen knife, preferable a long one as short Stanley knives or scalpel blades tend to tear rather than cut.

So yeah that's it. It cost about $80 for materials and a few hours labour on top of that. I set them up in my room and they are looking and sounding nice.

Time to go make some tunes!