Moombah

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Here is the audio following up the blog post ‘Production Techniques for Creative a Moombahton Build Up’.

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Production Techniques for Creating a Moombahton Build Up.

Build ups are used to create anticipation and suspense before the drop. The subject of suspense created by a build up is discussed in the blog post named ‘Article ‘Waiting For The Bass To Drop.' Techniques such as rolling the kick drum, using uplifters, using white noise and frequency changes can be added to give the effect that the track is about to transition into the drop. A successful build up would make the listener thing they are “being physically pushed in a clear upward direction, being held in suspense, before being dropped” (Solberg, p.66, 2014). This post will explain the production technique used to create the build up of the last track on the EP.

The build up in this production spans over three bars, in the fourth bar all the elements of the track drop out leaving a sub bass which is being automated down in pitch. The track then transitions into the drop. At the start of the build up the dembow beat, melody, bass, and percussion are removed leaving the snare which is triggered on every 8th note for a bar then doubled up to 16th notes for a bar then 32nd note for a bar. This technique is known as a snare roll and indicates to the listener that there is about to be a change in the track. This theory is backed up by Matla (2014) stating “it’s a good way to notify the listener that something’s about to happen” (Matla, 2014).

Uplifters were used in the production to build the suspense of the track, in this production, the uplifter started one bar before the build up, so there's an early indication that the build up is approaching. The uplifter consisted of two synth layers mixed, one square wave and one saw wave both synths are side chained to a kick drum with the output deactivated. This technique of side chaining the kick drum is known as a ghost kick.

Another effect used in the build up is white noise layered with a saw synth gradually being filtered out over the duration of the build up. The filter is effecting both synths and the white noise, the automation starts at 570Hz and ends at 300 Hz. As the filter progresses the amplitude is dropped by 5dB resulting in an effect where the white noise sound blends into the snare creating an in a smooth transition. The purpose of the white noise is to fill the high frequencies which are not being used by the other sound in the build up; this emphasises the fact that the bass is not present on the track resulting in anticipation while waiting for the bass to return.

The melody played in verse is removed before the build up to ensure the notes do not clash with the repetitive uplifting effect. However, to create a smooth transition from the verse to the build up the last note of the of the melody is repeated every 4th beat throughout the three bar break. Waves one knob filter was used to filter out the high end of the leaving the mids in the mix. Using this method of repeating the note blends the verse and build up resulting in a smooth cross over from one section to another. This technique was influenced by Dutch EDM producer Laidback Luke (2017).

References

Luke, L. (2017). Remixing Firebeatz - 10 Step Tutorial by Laidback Luke. [Blog] Laidback Luke. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/user/laidbackluke [Accessed 12 May 2017].

Matla, S. (2014). The Ultimate Guide to Build-ups. [online] EDMProd. Available at: http://edmprod.com/ultimate-guide-build-ups/ [Accessed 11 May 2017].

Solberg, R. (2014). “Waiting for the Bass to Drop”: Correlations Between Intense Emotional Experiences and Production Techniques in Build-up and Drop Sections of Electronic Dance Music. Dancecult, 6(1), pp.78.

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An example of dembow drum programming.

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An example of Hip Hop drum programming.

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Hip Hop Vs Dembow

Dembow drums originated from ... sample. It “underpins the vast majority of reggaeton tracks as an almost required sonic signpost” (Bull, 2017) also in recent years it has spread into mainstream music becoming a well-known pattern. In Moombahton, the dembow pattern is regularly used to add a reggaeton vibe to the productions.

Producing a Hip Hop drum is a different procedure to producing dembow drums. When I produce Hip Hop drums, I am trying to create a beat where a rapper can feel the beat knock which making the drums a central element of the production. However, the way the dembow drums were constructed is designed to be central to the rhythm with percussive elements complimenting the movement of the production.

The top picture is an example of Hip Hop drums with the kick on the every beat of the bar and the snare on the 2nd, and 4th beat of the bar. The construction of a Hip Hop beat can be anything which worked with the other elements of the track such as bass, synths, and rapping vocals. Hip Hop does not use many percussive elements which mean the drums can be the main rhythm of the production.

On the other hand, a dembow rhythm works with the percussion of the music resulting in the drums being the backbone of the percussion. The bottom picture shows the pattern of a dembow rhythm with the kick on the 1st of every bar and the snare on the 4th and 3rd of every bar. When constructing this pattern the kick and snare need to work together flawlessly along with common elements being used in both the kick and snare.

The next post will feature a clip of a dembow and Hip Hop drums from my productions.

Reference

Bull, R. (2017). Red Bull Music Academy. [online] Daily.redbullmusicacademy.com. Available at: http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2013/07/dembow-a-loop-history [Accessed 11 May 2017].

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Here is some picture from the studio session which was a follow up to the one which took place about three weeks ago. The synths used were the Dave Smith Prophet 08, Moog Miniature, Arturia Minibrute and the rack version of the Moog Slim Phatty. The synths were used on some of the Moombahton productions and provided some nice sounds. All the sounds created on hardware the synths will be used to layered up the sounds which were created on software instruments.

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Article ‘Waiting For The Bass To Drop’

While conducting research into music techniques, I came across an article called ‘Waiting For The Bass To Drop’  which analyses the response between emotional experience and production techniques in the build up and drop section of a track. Considering my tracks are Moombahton and feature elements of EDM this article gave a good insight into the connections drawn between the two and allowed me to have a better understand of the impact my music is having on the listener from a psychology perspective. Throughout the article there is a lot of techniques mentioned which I am already integrating into my productions at the moment for instance “The musical elements are built layer upon layer, and are most often introduced, changed and removed every 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 bars” (Solberg, p.66, 2014). One element of Moombahton is the changing music every 8 bars; this allows variation to be added, so the listener does not get bored. However, with the music changing every 8 bars, this means a lot of sounds are brought in and out of the production, in turn, meaning automation of different parameters.

Another mention in the article explains the techniques of changing in certain parameters results in mental emotions being triggered. “Studies suggest that changes or expansions in, for instance, dynamics, texture, structure, and volume are associated with these types of physiological responses” (Solberg, p.63, 2014). These responses were identified during the studies as “increases in heart rate and galvanic skin response, experienced as goosebumps, chills, thrills or shivers, can be triggered when perceiving music” (Solberg, p.63, 2014). The music I am currently producing will trigger various emotions mentioned with the build up and drops. However, I was unaware of the extent a drop can have on an individual along with the techniques which trigger these emotions.

Reference Solberg, R. (2014). “Waiting for the Bass to Drop”: Correlations Between Intense Emotional Experiences and Production Techniques in Build-up and Drop Sections of Electronic Dance Music. Dancecult, 6(1), pp.61-82.

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Humanisation Comparison

This will compare Cusack (2017) velocity routing techniques as mentioned in the last post. The percussion used will be from the intro of one of the Moombahton productions for the Album. The percussion was loaded into a new project where they were triggered by Kontakt. Usually I would load the percussion straight into the project and not use Kontakt, but instead, Kontakt will be triggering the percussion because it allows the velocity to be routed to different parameters.

The routing settings in Kontakt are as follow:

Snare - Velocity > Pitch Velocity > Attack Velocity > Sustain

Snare Fill Velocity > Pitch Velocity > Decay

Perc 1 - Velocity > Attack Velocity > Sustain

Perc 2 - Velocity > Pitch Velocity > Attack Velocity > Decay

Perc 3 - Velocity > Pitch Velocity > Attack Velocity > Hold Velocity > Decay Velocity > Sustain Velocity > Release

The three sounds clips feature in the next blog entry and are as follow:

Clip 1 - No humanise or velocity routing (velocity level 85) Clip 2 - Humanise only Clip 3 - Humanise and Velocity routing.

Not only can velocity variation be used to humanise the amplitude of the initial impacts of the sounds but the technique of swing can be used to edit the placement of the sounds as well. This will be discussed in the next post.

Bibliography https://www.adsrsounds.com/kontakt-tutorials/how-to-modulate-volume-with-velocity-and-ahdsr/

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Humanising Percussion

During a collaboration session with Kuda, he made a comment was about the percussion in the tracks feeling to computeriSed and needing more of a human feel. From this comment, I decided to conducted research into this topic and tested out the different techniques found. However, there seems to be a lack of academic research on this topic, so I searched websites and tutorials instead and came across an article by Micheal Cusack (2017).

An article in Mixdown Mag Micheal Cusack (2017) talks about various processes which will assist producers when ‘Adding The Human Element.' The article talks about sampling different hits velocities when at the initial recording stage. This technique was used by myself when recording the found sounds and was incorporated within my productions at various stages. However when using sounds that were not recorded by yourself and are either from a sample pack or created at an earlier stage can sound rather computeriSed. Cusack (2017) explains methods for adding variation in velocity by using a sampler to rout the hit velocity to various parameters such as the attack, decay, sustain, release, volume, and tone. This will determine how hard the sound it played depending on the setting which the velocity is routed to.

This technique will be tested out and will feature three different audio clips in the next blog entry.

Reference http://www.mixdownmag.com.au/adding-human-element

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The most accurate speaker and room calibration software that delivers reference sound just in 15 minutes.

Since moving studios back in October 2016, the sound of my mixes had deteriorated drastically. When listening back to the mixes on speakers in dBs, studios, the car and iPhone speakers the low-end frequencies from 300Hz were always too loud. This was due to untreated listening conditions. Sonarworks was recommended to me by DJ Krust as an alternative option to sound proofing due to the cost and acoustic calculations which need to be done to achieve a professional listening environment. Sonarworks is a speaker calibration software which measures the acoustic characteristics of the room by emitting a sonar and sine sweeps through the speakers and recording it back into the software through a microphone. The microphone needs to be placed in 24 different locations in and around the listening position to plot out the acoustic characteristics of the room. This is presented on a frequency graph which is loaded into the Sonar Works Reference 3 plug-in then placed on the master out. Reference 3 alters the frequencies coming out both monitors concerning the plotted response of the room. Below is a picture of my rooms frequency response which was recorded with an SE Electronic A200. . 

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My Style Collaboration

My Style has confirmed we are going to work on a collaboration with myself and them on one of the Moombahton productions. This will be an exciting collaboration due to their unique dub sound and my Moombahton productions.

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Today was in the Audient Room at dBs music experimenting the Dave Smith Prophet 08 but mainly the Korg MS-20. Sound design was being undertaken to use in the drop of one of the Moombahton productions. I recorded a pattern but was not sure if it would be utilised as the final pattern. The drop of the track is the part where the energy of the track is at its highest the production needs to be stripped back.

“A big part of the music's appeal is the drop. ... Sometimes there's a beat during which all the sounds stop and then the heavy bass drum comes in. The effect is a sort of resolution at a peak place of high energy.” (Sayre, 2017)

This means the sound being played needs to be able to work will all the other elements and not be too overpowering. Layering up the Korg MS-20 with other sounds will allow the melody to be stronger. There will be a low-cut filter set at 150Hz on all the sounds in the melody to allow the kick drum to have its own space.

Reference

Sayre, W. (2017). Waiting For The Drop: The Anatomy Of An EDM Song. [online] WLRN. Available at: http://wlrn.org/post/waiting-drop-anatomy-edm-song [Accessed 27 Mar. 2014].

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Here is the follow-up post to the Bomp Bomp drum technique. Unfortunately, I couldn't produce a Moombahton out of the drum pattern, but I created a reggae track that consists the technique. From here there is potential for a drop to come in after the 16th bar, and the track could switch to a moombahton vibe but as the track is now the production is lacking many moombahton elements. This technique places the snare in an awkward position for the track to have the moombahton vibe instead it makes the track feel, slower and chilled out.

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A Stadium In Your Bedroom (p.253) & Music Maths

I was recommended this article authored by Simon Zagorski-Thomas (2010) due to the section on functional staging. Zagorski-Thomas (2010) defines functional staging as the choices made with the placement and handling of sounds during the production process, with the priority that the music will be played to vast audiences in clubs and festivals instead of enjoyment of the listener experience. This paper has made me consider the functional staging process by paying attention to the amount of reverb on individual sounds. As well as how apparent various parts of the tracks are for audience participation. These processes of functional staging are explained further by Zagorski-Thomas (2010).

“The first is the use of ‘dry’ prominent drum (or percussive instrumental) sounds where the onset of the sound is accentuated or highlighted and where these sounds provide the principal rhythmic impetus that allows for rhythmic entrainment and dancing. The second feature involves the addition of added ambiance to sounds that are mimetic of activities that dancers or listeners in a club environment might participate in vocal hooks, chorus singing, handclaps and shouts of enjoyment.” (Zagorski-Thomas, 2010).

Considering the amount of reverb placed on sounds is an integral aspect of music production, the article explains when the music is played in a club the reverb of the club is added to the reverb of the track. To help with the functional staging aspect of the production I have been using an app called Music Maths (picture attached), this allows me to set the decay time exact, so the reverb is in time with the BPM.

Reference

Zagorski-Thomas, S. (2010). The stadium in your bedroom: functional staging, authenticity and the audience-led aesthetic in record production. Popular Music, 29(02), pp.251-266.