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Yes, its true. I’ll admit it to you. When the Football World Cup is on I become a bit of sports nut but I think you relate to that. Problem is between work and football this means even less time for drum and bass production which is never a good thing. However, I have started a few things that are shaping up quite nicely indeed.

I’m in the process of selling my Mackie MCU Pro so I’ve had to set it up to show a few people that it works and so forth. Inadvertantly this means I’ve had to play around with it a bit and one thing let to another and so I got a bit inspired. Ableton Live 8 was more DAW of choice this time and once again it blew me away with how easy you can get things going quickly. Remember, I’m not using it in CLIP mode but ARRANGEMENT mode.

So what I learnt from listening back to some old projects in Ableton Live was:

1. I wasn’t focused on an idea. I had 2 or 3 or even 4 ideas in the tune.

2. I was running about 499 breaks on top with sound fx samples etc. Too much!

3. Some of the samples weren’t in the right pitch or key of the tune or

4. Some samples were just plain CRAP!

The good news was that with a few minutes of cleaning up, deleting and re-pitching I was all good. However, without a shadow of a doubt the most IMPORTANT thing when I was doing this was to find the ONE sample/riff that I was going to base my whole tune around. I can’t tell you how key this is to your song making. Find this one idea and everything falls into place. You know which break to choose, what effects to choose, what vocals will fit etc. So, if you find yourself doing that thing we all love which is drum & bass production over the next month think to yourself, “what’s the main idea?” and then go from there.

See you on the dancefloor.

Dauntless

P.S I really dig this post I made earlier on keeping your focus. Check it out here.

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Howdy, I’ll get straight to the point because I have not one sample cd to review but two!

1. Loopmasters Bop – Minimal Drum & Bass

2. Loopmasters A Guy Called Gerald – Deep Techno Sessions

Loopmasters Bop

I’ll start with the the Loopmasters Bop sample CD. Minimal drum & bass is all the rage right now so it comes as no surprise that we see a sample cd emerge from the ether. This time Russian producer  Bop has been given sample cd duty after a string of high quality releases on Hospital records and Med School.

The Sample Pack is the usual affair:

# Over 570Mb of content
# 460 Wav samples
# 216 Loops
# 245 Single Sounds.
# 33 ready to play Reason NNXt, Kontakt, Halion and EXS24 Patches
# Apple Loops, Reason Refill or Ableton Live Versions also available

How does it sound?

Positives: Great selection of minimal drum grooves. Definitely 100% authentic sounding. Great Kicks, Snares, Hi  Hats Awesome synth loops – light/airy/dreamy/vibey loops and great pad/atmos/glitch loops.

Negatives: NOT enough instruments patches and the instrument patches that are there are boring and not very inspiring.

Look, if you want to write in the minimal drum & bass style and are having some troubles then Loopmasters Bop will definitely help you out loads! Check out the samples HERE.

Loopmasters A Guy Called Gerald

A Guy Called Gerald is a pioneer in electronic music and I for one was keen to hear this sample pack ever since his Future Music interview. GCG has carefully sampled all his vintage gear and created his own refills. In his own words:

“My aim is to give you all a deeper understanding with as much enjoyment as is physically and mentally possible using the three elements more frequently missing from this music – the basis of all dance music : RHYTHM, MELODY and BASS.

The sounds herein contain patterns that create specific air movement sequence in earth atmosphere used at the correct pressure.  The sounds will transport you to the groove simulator 1st level : the holographic key to die hold activation.

This package is an attempt to capture some of the sounds and loops so future generations can attempt to connect to the mother groove.

Enjoy!

Anyways, this is a TECHNO sample pack but I wanted to see if we could draw some inspiration from the sounds. Generally I find Techno/House sample cds a waste of time but hey I was willing to give this a shot because it was Gerald!

How does it sound?

Well, er… no. I was right in thinking that this was not going to work for drum and bass production. The drums are all wrong and the bass loops are boring or not usable. In fact this was the general theme for the whole sample pack.  Sure there was the occassional sample here or there that “had” something but they were few and far between.

The drum samples were the usual suspects( Drum machine style and vinyl  samples). So the usual 808′s and vintage breaks kicks, snares and hats.

The Bass instruments were solid but pretty much only came in one flavor which is that House bass style. So nothing new there and certainly nothing that you shouldn’t have in your Sound Library already.

So, I couldn’t and wouldn’t recommend Loopmasters A Guy Called Gerald if you want to make drum and bass. I think its strickly for the House/Techno peeps. I know you are a hard headed lot so if you need to check it out click HERE.

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Howdy, just a quick post about what’s been going on around the studio. Well, er… not that much. I’ve unfortunately been sucked into that thing called life/JOB and so I’ve had very little time in the studio. This doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking and dreaming about it. Oh no… I’m always doing that, much to the dislike of my wife! lol

You know how I normally go on and on about reducing the amount of Plugins, Soft Synths, DAWs etc that you might be using in the studio? Well, this applies to your actuall studio to,  so in the next few weeks/months I’m going to slim down the studio gear into a few choice components.

What the hell does all this mean? Access Virus TI Polar.

Access Virus Ti Polar

I’ve got the Ti Snow and I love it but I definitely am missing the extras knobs available on the Ti Desktop and Polar. Having that extra tweakability in a synth is crucial and I’m missing it dearly. Also, getting rid of the Mackie MCU PRO and the Novation SL Remote because the Polar has a keyboard and the Mackie doesn’t get used that much anyway. So, if you’re planning on buying some gear have a good think about what or how its going to fit in the studio and what role the unit is going to play. You might just find that you DONT need it.

For the peeps that managed to read down this far I have a treat/tip. Voxengo Gliss EQ2.0. If you don’t have this badbwoy yet then get it into your VST Plugins Folder pronto! That means find it and install NOW! My homeboys Phace and Mayhem have given me the big green light that this EQ is serious bizness! So super hot tip for you there! The Voxengo Gliss EQ2 is great for adding character. So it’s not really supposed to be for surgical EQ strikes okay? Leave that job for the Sonnex or  UAD Cambridge.

Voxengo Gliss EQ 2 VST Plugin

Another wicked VST Plugin that Is now an essential must is the BX Control. This plugin helps with the stereo image of your tracks giving you the option to go really wide in the mix with out effecting the low end. Nice.

Brainworx BX Control 2

Also Drumnbass Videos don’t come around every day so check this one out  by Blame – On My Own Feat Ruff Squad.

See you on the dancefloor

Dauntless

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Okay, I know for some people these drum & bass production videos have been out for a while but just in case you missed them or was living on the moon or something here they are. I actually just recently watched the all the videos again because I loved them so much. I really love the Alix and Sabre videos because of the level of detail they go into.

Big Tip: Come back and watch the videos every now and again. As you get better and better you pick up things you missed the first time through and so on. Enjoy.

Alix Perez Masterclass:

Sabre Masterclass:

Hey if your keen on picking up a microphone so that you can add that special element to your tunes like Alix check out my review of the Blue Snowball USB or the Audio-Technica AT2020 USB.

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Howdy, well I know Its been a while since I’ve last spoke to you but I assure you that a lot has gone on! In and out of the studio! I suppose the most important bit of news to report to you is the addition of a new member to my studio family in the shape of a TC Powercore X8! This powered plugin dream box has been on the top of my “want” list for so long now that I almost can’t believe my eyes its in the studio! As you can see from the photos its a sexy all black beast which emits a techy blue light when its on. Very Cool INDEED!

What’s even sexier is the included plugins what come bundled with the Powercore (PoCo or short). 14 of them! YES, you heard that right, 14! I was in plugin heaven and the best news was that I had a further $500 squid to spend on plugins as well! Absolutely brilliant I say! Believe me when I say I felt like a kid in a candy store! However I won’t be going into full detail about the TC Powercore here. I’ll give you the full review in a few weeks. That way I can try some of the plugins out and give you an honest and informative review. So stay tuned!

Moving on then…

Well, it seems that everywhere I turn there is a drum n bass remix competition going on. First up you have the Sabre & Critical – One Hundred Teeth Remix Comp over at our good friends Kmag.com. Then you have the Panic Girl – Midnight Remix Comp over at ShadyBrain.net and then two competitions at Back 2 you . 1.  Breeze – We Can Rise Remix & 2. EZ Rollers – Crowd Rocker Remix. To round things up you have the Bachelors of Science – Lost inside Remix competition as well presented by IDJ and Horizons Music.

I love getting involved in Remix competitions because you get to see the individual audio samples of a certain tune and you can learn a lot from these bits. Its like peering into their minds a little and experiencing producing from their artistic point of view. I’ll be honest with you though. Even though I’ve downloaded quite a few Remix sample packs I’ve had ZERO success in finishing them. Yes, that’s right ZERO. I will now hang my head in shame for 5 minutes…

Okay, I had full intentions of finishing everyone of the remix tunes I started but somewhere along the way I lost focus. This happens quite frequently I have noticed but this time I’ll be prepared. I’ve discovered that If one doesn’t have a goal or a plan of attack you’re going to end up starting and never finishing anything. When attempting to finish a remix competition you need to set yourself some very specific goals, for instance:

1. What tempo?
2. What style? Jump up? Neuro? Liquid?
3. Another Genre perhaps? Dubstep? Trance?
4. How much of the original do you want to get in there?
5. Is there a certain sound you want to try? An Artist you want to emulate?
6. What bits of kit do you want to use?
7. … and so on and so…..

Questions like these will help you focus your goals and ideas together and hopefully assist you in finishing remixes and tunes in general. Fingers crossed!

Another big change to the studio or should I say Production flow is the use of Ableton Live. I’ve dabbled in Live for many years now but only ever so briefly and each time I walked away shaking my head in confusion! I’ve never quite “figured” Live out and how to “work” it into my Production method but thanks to Nymfo I have now. Thank you good Sir!

Live’s main strengths are obviously the way it handles loops on the fly and this is primarily how I use it. I use Live 8 to quickly audition all the loops I want to use in my tunes super quick so right now I mainly use it for layering breaks up fast. I use it in Sequencer View and lay out the tune as I go along applying EQ and Limiting as well but only moderately.

The whole Idea behind using Ableton Live 8 is to get the main ideas and loops of the song together and then export the tracks into Cubase 5 where I can go in really deep with EQ and Compression and Limiting etc. I’m still not 100% sure about Ableton Live’s summing engine but hey that’s just me. I know a tonne of producers out there getting great results JUST using Ableton Live but me, I know Cubase extremely well so I’m sticking with it for mixdowns, plus it still handles VST Plugins one million times better than Ableton Live does and this is hell important!

Another big change in the studio has been the plugin folder clean out! I’ve decided to clean out or should I say “limit” myself to only a handful of plugins again. I know I know this sound weird after just getting the PoCo but I’m going to treat those plugins like rewards.

So its probably going to be the Virus TI Snow (pictured at top of page), Spectrasonics Omnisphere, UAD Plugins and Sonnox plugins for now. Stay tuned for a VIRUS SAMPLEPACK coming soon! Also, I’ll be making a drum sample pack available to download for FREE soon as well. It won’t be massive or anything like that but I promise you it’ll be full of 100% brilliant drum hits and loops for you to use in your tunes. Perfect for adding weight and groove to your breaks.

Phew, thats a fair bit of writing then? I better get back in the studio I got a tonne of work to do!

See you on the dancefloor.

Dauntless