. founded march 12, 1995 _| : _____ t r a x w e e k l y # 96 ______________ |___| _ _______/ /\___________________________ / ____________/ /\__\ _ _______/____/_____________________________ / / _________ \/__/ ______\ \_____________________________ / / / `_ . .~ \____\/ _ __ ___ / / / _____ . _ \ __ ___ _/__/\ / / / / /\ _ The Music Scene Newsletter __ __\__\/ _/__/ / ____/ /__\_________________________________ _____ ___ _ / /\/ /___ __________ _ ______ _ ___ \/ /\ / / /____/ \ \ / /\ / __/\ / /\ \ \ / \ /____/ / / \ / \/ /_ \___/___/ \ \_/___/ / \_/ / / \ ___\ / /_/ /______/\/ \ /______/\/ \ /_____/ // \ \ / / / \ / / \ \ \ \_\ \ \ \_\ \ //____/\____\/ / / / / / \______\/ \______\/ \_____\/ \ \ \ \ / / / / \____\/\____\ / / / / _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ / / / /__/ w /\___/ /\___/ e /\___/ /\__ / l /\___/ /\____/ / / __/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/________/ / __\ \____\ e \____\ \____\ k \ ___\ \____\ y \__________/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/WW ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | TraxWeekly Issue #96 | Release date: 1 May 1997 | Subscribers: 912 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[Introduction]------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ Welcome to TraxWeekly #96, and boy, you'd better be hungry! Our feature article this week is from bibby [phluid], covering some advanced music theory for those of you who are so inclined. In depth coverage on chords and modulations as well as an analysis on the basic structure of music are topics we don't often discuss, and I hope you will all enjoy it! We welcome Justin Ray (aka Zinc) back onto the TraxWeekly staff this week after losing him a few months ago to time and educational constraints. As you all can see, TraxWeekly's staff has shrunk significantly. I would gladly welcome any new writers who have the time to contribute to the newsletter on a weekly basis. I know it's a volunteer job, and probably doesn't garner any major benefits, but hey: we're all in the scene together, and we might as well enjoy it while we can, eh? =) Features for next week: The Modsquad will return with their seventh column on music theory (and associated humor), along with a special #trax opinion piece by Zinc on music trends. Also, I will have the low down on Nemesis' musicdisk 'Crimson Waters,' which has been sitting on my hard drive for almost two weeks now waiting to be experienced. =) BTW, http://www.citenet.net/noise/it/ has version 2.12 of Impulse Tracker that came out two weeks ago or something like that. Check it out, it's excellent. As a side note: please do not pirate Jeff Lim's registered itwav.drv! I swear, whoever causes Jeff to terminate the IT project because of illegally distributing the $30 version of itwav.drv will face some maximum thrash... Gene Wie (Psibelius) TraxWeekly Publishing gwie@csusm.edu /-[Contents]---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ ________ _________________________________________________________________ / ____/_/ __/ \ __/ / _____/ \ __/ __/ ___/_ < \____\ \ \\ \ \\____ __/ __/_\ \ \\____ \_____ \__ \ \ \ \\ \ \ww\ \\ \\ \ \ \ \ \_ _\________\________\\___\____\ \_____\\_______\\___\____\ \_____\_______\ Letters and Feedback 1. Letter from Bojan Landekic General Articles 2. Modes in Mods!?...............................bibby 3. Studio Tracking Tips..........................Zinc 4. Second Opinion................................Ming 5. Group Synergy.................................Phantasm 6. Second that second!...........................Steve Gilmore Closing Distribution Subscription/Contribution Information TraxWeekly Staff Sheet /-[Letters and Feedback]---------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ --[1. Letter from Bojan Landekic]------------------------------------------- From fire@globalserve.netSun Apr 27 20:25:27 1997 Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 23:07:46 -0400 From: Landekic To: gwie@mailhost1.csusm.edu Subject: I'm NOT asking about a W3!!! Hello there! Just thought I'd say that I am one out of 900 subscribers so what I"m asking may be irrelevant. I also know you said that "Traxweekly is a letter not a web site", but I have to ponder a silly little query. Wouldn't it be easier to maintain and distribute traxweekly if it was on the web site as WELL as mailed out? I understand that not everyone has WWW access, that's why you mail them, but for those who do, a TraxWeekly file online, no graphics, no sha-bams, no fancy-shamancy NS/MS crap, just a plain .TXT file somewhere on the web would do a job of promoting TraxWeekly to a wider audience, and it wouldn't require any extra work, a simple script could just copy the file to "traxcurrent.html" file or whatever everytime you mail it....?? Bojan Landekic (http://www.globalserve.net/~fire/scavengers) p.s. Thanks for making this newsletter possible, without it, I wouldn't be enjoying my spare time as much as I do,... so thanks once again!! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - You're not the first (and probably not the last =) person to ask about TraxWeekly in a web format or web based distribution. In response, I wish to direct all of you to http://www.hornet.org, page of the world famous Hornet Archive. There, under the section "Information" and the sub section "TraxWeekly" you will find all the issues of TraxWeekly you will ever need. The newsletter is released concurrently over the listserver as well as on ftp.hornet.org (ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/), so you will find the new issue every Thursday or Friday, depending on whether or not it has been released. =) -psib ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[General Articles]-------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ --[2. Modes in Mods ?!]--------------------------------------------[bibby]-- What an absurd concept! "I've heard of Modes, but I still don't know what they are, how to use them, ect.." Well, I'd love to just dive straight into it, but I feel compelled to help those that have made the above statement before. The beauty of all the teaching I've ever had comes from applying what you learn to another situation, thereby making it not new, but realizing that you knew it the whole time and didn't know it. How many beginning guitar or piano players out there have made a simple song involving the movement from a G7 to C? Congrats, you just nailed the entire purpose behind the Mixolydian Mode! What?! I did?. . . .wow.. To understand fully, I'll have to start from the beginning. **** But FIRST **** -> I'd like to personally petetion All those that read this to email Pulse to build a switch in Impulse Tracker that changes all "#'s" to "b's" to make it easier to track in keys that have flats instead of sharps. Nothing has annoyed me more than seeing that Cmin triad of C-D#!-G, . .This will tie into my article by pointing this out: The whole purpose of a scale is that every next note is of a different letter. Maj C-D-E -F-G -A -B-C min C-D-Eb-F- G-Ab-Bb-C. . . ...all this will come together. Trust me. Ever seen an E# ? a B#? I have. C#maj scale (7#'s) C#-D#-E#-F#-G#-A#-B#-C# what the f--- is that? isn't the pitch of an E# the same exact pitch as an F natural? Yep. But wether it is sharp or flat or natural, anything E in the key of C indicates a 3rd, anything D in C is a 2nd(9th). So when I see C-D#-G, I see 1-#9-5 , which all you Jimi Hendrix fans know as Purple Haze when played in Emaj, 1-3-5-#9. -side note, that 4-note chord does have a major AND minor 3rd,... but when thinking theory, it's not a minor 3rd, it's a #9, and THAT's what annoys me about the C-D#-G traid. Just like C is not the 7th of a C#. 7th means B, and it's a B#. Get it? Good. You'll need to cuz I'm moving on. (I don't ever expect Pulse to make IT understand an E#, but I'd like to track an Eb at least. .. . . .please.. they're only characters to a computer, right?) *** 2. *** Ever play a major scale with triads before? Or have seen it done. It easy. I'll do it in C, cuz every one knows C. I'm taking my Cmaj triad, C-E-G-C (adding an octave on the last C , it helps...) ...And inscreasing the steps, but keeping it in key (meaning don't let any sharps or flats stick out as long as your in C) Track this: and go through with the (8) key. 1 C-E-G-C 2 D-F-A-D 3 E-G-B-E 4 F-A-C-F 5 G-B-D-G 6 A-C-E-A 7 B-D-F-B 8 C-E-G-C There, a Cmaj scale with triads,,, .. . but look at step 3, isn't that an Eminor triad, and a Dmin, and there's a Amin too, ,, !!! Let me reveal these. .. 1 C-E-G-C maj 2 D-F-A-D min 3 E-G-B-E min 4 F-A-C-F maj 5 G-B-D-G maj 6 A-C-E-A min 7 B-D-F-B h-dim (b3,b5)* 8 C-E-G-C maj (*- this a half-dim. Know the difference? A Whole diminished contains a double-flat 7th, and an extra step is added to the scale to compensate. A half-diminshed just has a flat 7th. Half diminshed chords are also sometimes written as a -min7b5. Sometimes a #9 is also applied) So in the key of C, You can use any of these triads in your song and it'll fit the key. DON'T STOP HERE. Let's take this one more step further... ...remember that G7? ***3.*** What about the G7? Well, you take take the info I gave above on a 'real' scale, and learned the circle of fifths on increasing and decreasing the number of flats and sharps in a key, you'll know that a Gmaj scale as one sharp, F#. G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G. Now, look above, according to that scale with triads, I can use a Gmaj in my song in C. (---severe sidenote--- does everyone know the difference between a G7 and a Gmaj7? cuz I've ad people stop me before to explain it, but once I do it's easy to move on, I just don't want to confuse anyone. A chord with the 7th step of the scale is a major7th chord: C-E-G-B , G-B-D-F# , E-G-B-D#.<-All major7th chords. But a 'seventh' chord has a flat 7th: C-E-G-Bb , G-B-D-F, E-G-B-D. HERE'S WHY. In any other kind of chord, they specify how they the step altered, b5 , #9 , b13, . ... and such, but what if you saw this: Eb7 . Would it mean (Eb)7 or E(b7) ? Big difference. So when you see a 7, it means b7 , and when you see a maj7 , it means add the 7th step.---) Why choose a G7 chord over a Gmaj7 in the key of C? Let's see. G maj scale --- G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G Gmaj7 (1-3-5-7) G-B-D-F# G7 (1-3-5-b7) G-B-D-F <- LOOK! no #'s of b's! A G chord, but conformed to fit the key of C! How neat. We just stumbled onto a MODE of G. Here's a funny way of putting it that let's me know that I need to stop eating acid. (I just made it up although it sounds like a heard it before, honest, it's mine) Picture G has a person. G is a nice guy, and he doesn't want too much in his life, he's got a good on-call job and a fly girl. But one thing he does want is an F#. Not too many sharps, just one. That's it. But tonight, he gets a call for a gig by a bandleader named C. Now G and C are friends, as we have all seen them work together a lot all the time, but this is a professional situation, and both these players have very professional attitutes. G understands that if goes to work for C, (or if a Gmaj is used in a song in C) G needs to do things the way that C wants them if he wants to keep the gig and get paid. C is not a very pushy guy, but we knows what he wants to hear, no sharps, no flats. If G wants to get his money and take his girl out later like she's expecting, he's going to have to keep that F# back and play an F natural instead. No big deal, they do it all the time. Cuz when C goes to work for G on a gig tomorrow night, C knows that G wants him to play an F# instead of an F like he's used to. An F# in a C scale?! bibby, are you crazy?. . .. .. ...No. (the barriers begin to break down....) *** 4. *** Did G get paid? (Putting it all together) Sure he did, cuz he's about as professional as they get. And boy did they have fun. What was explained in that little story about our boy G is called the Mixolydian mode of G. There are other modes, 7 , one for every step in the scale. Ionain Dorian Phyrgian Lydian Mixolydian Aeolian Locrian These names wered derived from the church, from WAY back in the day, when not only were people in the church the only ones that could read and write, a few of those were the only ones can could play. These are alterations of one scale to fit a particular key. Do you remember all the tables I've thrown at you? Remeber this one? -triads you can use in C. 1Cmaj 5Gmaj 2Dmin 6Amin 3Emin 7Bdim 4Fmaj 8Cmaj Now let's build whole scales off these triads- (hope you know your minor scales too...) 1Cmaj C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C 2Dmin D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C-D 3Emin E-F#-G-A-B-C-D-E 4Fmaj F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F 5Gmaj G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G 6Amin A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A 7B h-dim B-C-D-E-F-G-A-B There, the scales built off the triads listed above that work in C. There're all VERY close to fitting in C, but not quite exact. I little tweaking has to be done first for it to be exact. Now, look at the 5th step, Gmaj. The Mixolydian mode flats the 7th. Look at the 2nd step, Dmin. What needs to be sdjusted there to make it conform to C? Seems aparent to me that the 6th (Bb) needs to be raised to fit, luckily that exactly what the Dorian mode does... Here are all of the adjustments- 1 Ionain * 2 Dorian #6 3 Phyrgia n b2 4 Lydian #4 5 Mixolydian b7 6 Aeolian * 7 Locrian ~ * - these are neat. They are 'starting' points for the whole table. In C, the 1st and 6th steps are Cmaj, and Amin, whose scales contain the same notes, making Amin the relative minor of Cmaj. Just as you have these for C 1Cmaj 5Gmaj 2Dmin 6Amin 3Emin 7Bdim 4Fmaj 8Cmaj you have the same for Amin, the Aeolian Mode simply states that it is in a minor key and follows the Ionian scale (which is the one you've been dealing with the whole time) 6Amin 3Emin 7Bdim 4Fmaj 1Cmaj 5Gmaj 2Dmin 6Amin The numbering wouldn't start over, cuz if you know the key is Amin and saw an Emin chord, it's called by name as 'the 3rd mode of the major' , and the major is still C, and the minor is A. ~ - I put this there because the half diminished scale I use is already conformed to the Ionian major key. But sometimes a #9 (or #2) is applied, giving it the same ajustment as the 3rd mode (Phyrgian). It's given a different name simply cuz you're dealing with the 7th. So either you flat the 9 or nothing at all. Let's apply them all now. _Before_ adjustment 1Cmaj C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C * 2Dmin D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C-D #6 3Emin E-F#-G-A-B-C-D-E b2 4Fmaj F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F #4 5Gmaj G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G b7 6Amin A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A * 7B h-dim B-C-D-E-F-G-A-B ~ Now, .. ....after 1Cmaj Ionian C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C 2Dmin Dorian D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D 3Emin Phyrgian E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E 4Fmaj Lydian F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F 5Gmaj Mixolydian G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G 6Amin Aeolian A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A 7Bhdim Locrian B-C-D-E-F-G-A-B Tah-Dah!!!!! No sharps!!!!! No Flats!!!!! Genius! We did it! Seven scales, all with the same notes but beginning from a different place. (While piano players have been having fun jamming on white keys, guitar and bass players have been sweating balls) ***5.*** To the Discretion of your Soul It fun learning the things you can do within a key, but all this knowledge is worthless if one does not apply them to the way you play, or track. After you realize that there are no rules in music, one can begin to notice when these scales come into play, and your hear gets a pleasant kick when a composer specifically doesn't follow them. It's all to one's own personal discretion. I took mine and made the song, 'Soul Discretion' following these scales. The key is Dmin, (cuz 9 out of 10 times a song in a minor key starts on that chord) A Dminor scale (same as Fmajor) has one flat, a Bb- D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C-D F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F ...And that's all fine and dandy, Just about all the heavy metal and rock songs that involove tuning the low E string down to a D are in Dmin, so it's a popular key, but look at the progression I used. Dmin7 | Emin7/D | Cmaj7 | Amin7 Dmin7 | Emin7/D | Cmaj7 | Amin7 Fmaj7 | Cmaj7 | Fmaj7 | Gsus7 I'm going to breakdown these chords into their notes and highlight with ( )'s what I want you to notice. Dmin D-F-A-C Emin/D E-G-(B)-D - Cmaj7 C-E-G-(B) - Amin7 A-C-E-G Fmaj7 F-A-C-E Gsus7 G-C-D-F A B-natural ?! I thought it was in Dmin ?! It even has an Fmaj in it too? Where's the Bb? . In fact, there are no sharps or flats in any chord! Is it in C then? Nope. No C , . .,,just Dmin in the Dorian mode , which is the same as C. Neat eh,.? ***6.*** Anything else? (3 example so far) Sure, I went through a couple of songs that had some pretty decent chord structure to it to see if they had anything to offer on the subject of modes. -6.1 Strangelhold by WAVE (strangel.xm) -I took a look at 'Strangelhold' by WAVE- a nice 4 chord groove in Cmin. The voicings are nice to give the progression a moving part and a constant part. They went (as I saw them) : Cmin9 | D7 | Dmin7b5/Ab | Gsus7 -that has the notes Cmin9 C-Eb-G-D (Bb-was omitted but matters little*) D7 D-F#-A-C Dmin7b5/Ab D-F-Ab-C Gsus7 G-C-D-F (* you can remove 7ths whenever you feel like it really, they are important in 13th chords though, cuz remembering that 13ths are the same as 6ths, when you see a 6th chord, it means that the composer specifically does not want the 7th in there, but with a 13ths, it is expected. In theory for jazz guitarists, when asked to play a G13, one voicing I've seen only has 3 notes, E-F-B, (13-7-3), just the important ones.) here's what a mean by a constant and a movinig part, by inverting the order Cmin9 C-D-Eb-G D7 C-D-F#-A Dmin7b5/Ab C-D-F-Ab Gsus7 C-D-F-G easy movements, ..from a Dmin7b5, the Ab moves down a halfstep turning the entire chord into a Gsus7, then the F moves down a whole step back to a Cmin9. But let's get back to modes. The triads you can use in Cmin are: 6Cmin 3Gmin 7Ddim 4Abmaj 1Ebmaj 5Bbmaj 2Fmin 6Cmin (Cmin = Ebmaj =3 flats) Remember, becuase we're in a minor key, the 1st triad is Aeolian instead of Ionian, making the next step (Locrian) a half-diminished chord. Sure enough, in this progression, with the key in Cminor, we see a Dmin7b5 ! (Thought all this was bullshit didn't you?) But the chord just before that one, the D7, what's that then? It's WAVE's personal discretion, knowing that a Cmin leads into a Dmin7b5, he teases the hell out of the listener with a D7. Very musical, ... that's what music is about. Follow the guidelines, and then don't follow the guidelines, for there are no 'rules' as such, .. only guidelines. The choice of the Gsus7 seems easy to understand too, it's only one note off from the chord before, and one more note off the next, not to mention that he wanted to keep the C (4th) still, making it a Bb like the mode it should be in would throw off the constant feel of the C note. -6.2 Satellite One by Purple Motion (satell.s3m , bib-sat1.it) This one is going to have to tie into the next demostration, becuase the two are in the same key,, ,. .but they're not you'll see. For this demonstration, I'm going to refer you to my remix of this song, (or cuz I want you to download it) bib-sat1.it . It's good, but the chords arre spaced out over 4 channels and there is a specific bass note on a 5th channel. The first chord is an Amin: 6Amin 3Emin 7Bdim 4Fmaj 1Cmaj 5Gmaj 2Dmin 6Amin The 3 chords in the first part of the song are Amin, Gmaj, Fmaj. Doesn't that look like steps 6,5,and 4. No sharps, no flats. It's Amin Aeolian, or just plain Aminor. Cool, and that was pretty simple. I could have found those out with the triads. But this realization just makes this next example even harder to understand: -6.2 Clone It by Hunz (clone_it.xm) The latest great song to bust out on the tracker scene, and my personal favorite for now. Now the chord structure itself doesn't occur right away. In the beginning is what is known as a 'vamp' or a 'pedal', which is just the song or band jamming on a chord of idea until everyone is ready to move on. Usually in jazz quartets and such with head tunes, the rhythm section will jam on the last 4 bars over and over until the lead player comes in with the melody. At any rate, the 1st chord doesn't reallt establish itself until order number 10 with a strong Amin7. So let's bring up that Amin table again: 6Amin 3Emin 7Bdim 4Fmaj 1Cmaj 5Gmaj 2Dmin 6Amin After some little tease chords, the chord actually changes halfway through order 11 to an Gmin6. At order 13, the chord is a Bbmaj7 to a Gmin6. So we're looking at : Amin7, Gmin6, Bbmaj7 Strangely, I don't see those on that table.. .. . .that's cuz it's NOT in Amin! It's in Fmaj! 1Fmaj 5Cmaj 2Gmin 6Dmin 3Amin 7Edim 4Bbmaj 8Fmaj They fit now. Steps 3,2,and 4. Disect the chords now. Amin7 A-C-E-G Gmin6 G-Bb-D-E Bbmaj7 Bb-D-F-A only one flat. if there were two flats, the second would have to be Eb and it's not. The reason why in order 13 that Bbmaj7 lands so good is that it's the first time an F note (the real key) is introduced by chord in the song. ***7.*** I'm pretty tired now.. . .. [editor's note: you think YOU'RE tired? You should try formatting this damn article of yours!!@!@##$!$! =)] I hope everyone learned something by this, cuz I learned quite a bit myself just by trying to explain it at all. I suggest doing that, explain it to someone else and see how much you learn just by hearing the words come out of your mouth. Pretty cool. If you have any kind of question at all that you think I can help with, or if you want to point me to a song I've never heard that has a cool chord structure, or If you need help cracking it on your own, email me (please) at bibby@juno.com. I can't recieve files there directly, but if you must send me something, mail it to sfb@magicnet.net and I'll get it. Happy tracking all, but don't forget that what you learn about music can be applied to other music, ...... and life itself. It's all the same. -by bibby / pHluid ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[3. Studio Tracking Tips]-----------------------------------------[Zinc]-- Feeling the need to contribute something interesting to TraxWeekly, I dug my way through a heap of magazines until I uncovered Future Music issue 50. They had the "50 Top Studio Tips" which were actually 100 tips (go figure). Anyways, some of them were also useful when applied to tracking, so I have adapted a few of them into the following tips: - No Noise. Keep an ear out for noise when you are sampling with a microphone. Even a very low hum in the background can be picked up by your equipment. Try to turn off everything in the room that is not necessary to record your sample - even your monitor if possible. - Loop DIY. Anyone can sample a CD for a nice breakbeat, but it's much more interesting (and legal) to make your own. Using Impulse Tracker, make a one pattern drum loop. When you are finished, save it, exit, and reload Impulse Tracker with the WAV Driver. Load the song, and write a WAV. Tada! You now have an original loop you can use and claim to be your own. Not only that, but if you know what tempo you want to use the loop for, you won't even have to fool around with the tuning to make it fit your song. - Another System. It can help a lot to tape your song and play it on a variety of sound systems, especially if you are using a hi-fi system to track on. You will get a better idea of what your volume levels should be. - Note It Down. If you come across an especially interesting trick, chord progression or sample idea, it may be wise to write it down somewhere. You'll probably forget if not, and kick yourself later when you want to use it. - Whining fans. This may not apply to tracking, but it's a neat idea if you really want it quiet when sampling stuff. You computer fan can be an unnecessary evil, and it can be replaced with a temperature controlled fan which idles at low speed when the temperature in your PC is normal, and speeds up when the temperature increases. This is a bit of a luxury, but it may help some people. - Seperate your HD. If you use your hard drive for mastering, it is a good idea to have a seperate hard drive for mastering to. If this is not possible, at least partition your drive appropriately. By doing this you get maximum performance from your system. - Keep 'em clean. To maximize your sound performance, try to keep your contacts clean. Such contacts would be at the back of your soundcard, your mixer/amp, and any other gear you connnect. If you are going to tape a song, you can even clean the recording head to improve sound. For cleaning plugs, use a little wire wool with some isopropyl alcohol. - No boosting! If you are using a hifi for monitoring, at least keep all your levels at normal settings. Do not leave Loudness on, or any other sound boosting. - Do not buy equipment at Radioshack. (heh, this wasn't in FM "/ ) - Dry voice? Never ever ever leave a voice sample completely dry! There are a million and one things you can do to a voice sample to make it more interesting. Dry = Boring. If nothing else, at least add a little warm room reverb. Remember to always save samples dry, though, and effect it later. - Pattern Cloning. Try your best not to repeat patterns in your order list. Copy the pattern on to a second pattern instead. This way, if you want to make little changes in your song later, you won't get the same change in all of the same patterns. - Change Speeds. When remixing a song, change the tempo. A 6/126 tempo can become a 4/80 tempo, or whatever. A small tempo change can give a song a very different feeling. - Keep In Tune. Buy a tuner. Even a cheap chromatic tuner can tune most instruments quickly and accurately. Your sound will improve without having to learn anything! If possible, buy one with a direct line-in, so you don't have to worry about external noise when trying to tune your samples. - Reflect Those Mics. When recording a voice sample, experiment by bouncing the voice off different surfaces. Block the quickest path your voice wants to take - a straight line to the mic - and bounce your voice off of something. Even try things like talking through a toilet paper tube! - Panning For Gold. Duh, leave your bass in the center. Also, leave your drums in the center, but not always dead center. Lighter instruments like strings or guitars can be panned wider. - Sound Effects. Goof around with the effects. Sometimes you can stumble across some really cool sounds that you wouldn't have otherwise. Put 'traditional' effects in unconventional places, and try using lesser used effects with traditional sounds. - Blind Tracks. To add some nice ambience, and give a more realistic feel, try recording a 'blind' sample. In other words, just record the sound of the room. You could even record the crackle of vinyl, although this is becoming a tad cliche. - Recycle. If you find yourself unhappy with a track you are working on, and intend to totally remix it, make a backup first! Months later you may want to hear the original again, or want to remix it once more, and you may need it. Plus, it's nice for nostalgia "/ - Keep it busy. Always have something new happening, ESPECIALLY if you are writing a trance or jungle song.. songs that are usually quite repetitive. Avoid tired-loop syndrome. If you really can't think of anything to make it interesting in a part where it goes on and on, you need to cut the length down. - Not Enough Room. If you can't fit everything into 64 rows, change it to 128 rows, and double the speed. This is just common sense. - Real Instruments?! Unless you want a full-on electrofest, a lot of music sounds much better when you blend in a real instrument or two. And while I'm on the subject, try not to track every note. Sample a few short riffs or melodies. This will improve realism. - Mono A-go-go. To test your levels, give your songs a listen in mono. - A/B all the time. Listen to your songs through crappy speakers once in a while. This can really highlight bad mixing that would have been handled and disguised if you have excellent monitors. Anything that ends up sounding good on lousy speakers may sound even better on your regular ones. - Be Normal.. If the song is supposed to be quiet, don't normalize it to 100% when you are mastering. Duh! - Try listening to your stuff at very low levels as well as high. This way you can see if all the important elements stand out clearly. - To double-check the mix, leave the room and walk down the corridor. Still sounds good? You've got a winner! - Garbage In, Garbage Out. There's no such thing as 'hiding it in the mix'. If you've got a crap instrument, cheesy phrase or dull note, you'll hear it wherever it is. Take it out or replace it. - Special effects like running water or seagulls have been done a million billion times. Don't bother with them - think of something new. - If you haven't got a good voice, no amount of fiddling will make it so. - Thinking about a fade-in intro? Forget it. - Instant flava: record your drum loop onto cassette, then resample. - Give your ears a rest! Don't track for hours and hours on end without taking breaks. - Don't put overly complex basslines in dance tunes. And certainly don't ever use slapbasses! - If a chopped up drum loop is badly edited, adding a little ping pong loop may just extend the length enough to hide its choppiness. - Sometimes dropping the kickdrum at unexpected moments can turn a track on its head. Just think of the 'lager' sequence in Born Slippy. - Don't always sit in the same place when listening to your tracks. Try moving about the room, making sure it always sounds good. When was the last time you stood dead center on the dance floor? Justin Ray aka Zinc Chill Productions / Profound Records rays@direct.ca ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[4. Second Opinion]-----------------------------------------------[Ming]-- A reply to Atlantic's article "Synergy in the Music Scene." Please don't be decieved by the fact that the reply is directed at the original writer. You are all allowed to read :) Due to your very well formulated but oddly approached article in TW about synergy where you seem to question the existance of music groups, I felt that I just had to reply. I am what you tend to call a totalitarian (well you didn't say THAT, but it's so much more fun to exaggerate a little, right?:) president of a cheesy, useless, unheard of, sloppy music group (muahahaha) called DiSC. We may not be the greatest of composers and we may not have the best of organisation, but that4s not the point. There are reasons for us to exist as a group. >"Synergy. n. The possibility that merging two individuals can produce > a combined operation of greater ability and strength." Correct so far. And one of the most important parts of being a group member. DiSC is formed as a small community where you can test ideas, freely ask the stupidest quiestions and experiment however you want to, without being treated the way the scene normally treats pepole that they don't know, that's not "accepted": with either contempt or (even worse) ignorance. Within the group, you're safe, you're accepted. Maybe you haven't noticed, but as the newbie I was not long ago, I was met with the deepest of disbelief and foul names thrown in my face. So it was the climate of the global scene that made me and some tracking friends to get together and form one of those groups on our own. And in some way, hiding behind that prefix, the world didn't seem that hostile anymore. When turning to my friends (of at least fellow DiSCers - I can't say I know them all personally very much) with questions and opinions I don't get "badass lamer" thrown in my face all the time, which unfortunately is the normal reply when going public. Strike one. >Why do we form music groups? Do we seek approval? Not as much as we seek to get something else than disrespect, yes. >Do we seek to control or to be controlled? I certinally hope not. The group of three pepole who runs the DiSC does it out of nessecartity (now that was not spelled right :). We're a group, we do things together (if it's only a website, then so be it), and someone has to do the handywork. Byt everyone is free to come with initiatives and everyone makes the big decisions. >Is it all just for distribution? So, why the "just"? We have gotten ourselves a set of good reliable distibution channels, and despite what you think of the common modmaker, he do want his music to be heard by as many as possible. And that is achieved in several ways: 1.-Get a reputation as a good tracker by composing good tunes and making as much pepole as possible hear them. 2.-Get together with other trackers in a group, so that pepole knows where to get good music from you and many more trackers. 3.-Be active in the scene. Paticipate in compos, parties, public debate (which isn't easy, if you're not one of "the gang", a newbie lamer). A group offers a bunch of channels for distribution, and everyone who are involved in a group may have yet another channel to contribute with for the benefit of them all. It's easy when it gets going: Send your stuff to the maintainer, and it will get spead around and announced good. Pepole in general and trackers in special do want attention and publicity. Being in a group gives them more of that. Period. Strike two. >Thus the Imperialist groups were formed. And believe me, there were >lots of them. It's hard for me to tell exactly how they behaved in >other parts of the world, but I know here in Toronto it was war for a >while. "Our group is better than yours," "You couldn't compose your >way out of a wet-paper-bag," etc. That might have been the behaviour in Toronto, at that time. But it's nothing I've ever encountered. A good bunch of composers, although not wearing MY prefix, is still a good bunch of composers. And we all, as well as we boost out own names, tries to boost other groups too. It's all in all a community of goodwill, fun pepole and...well...some amount of quite silly mutual admiration (in less flattering words called sucking each others dicks ;). The communication and interaction between groups are today much better and friendlier than the communication between individuals in this strange thing we call the scene. Strike three. >I could name boatloads of imperialist groups. They characteristically >have a group "leader", the dictator figure, who is always gleefully >announcing the latest member from Outer Mongolia. In their heads they >equate "More Members" with "Popularity" and "Success". Ok, two out of three right. I'm the Leader. The Boss. The God. (evil laughter) This I would gladly put in someone elses hands, and I'm sure they'd do a great job, but since I'm the kind of fellow I am, I get things done, and I gladly do them. And that's why I run things. Hopefully it's not because I have a desire for power. (But if I had, I woudn't admit it anyway :) And any organisation need that some one (or many) runs it. In DiSC it's an unspoken agreement that anyone who wants to can go in and take care of the tiring everyday buissness, but there is no reason for all to do. And that's why there is a leader (or two, me and Tol, in our case). And yes, I gleefully announces new members, because they need and deserve all the attention I can draw to them. But for your third statement, I can't apply it to too many groups I know of. I've seen one or two groups (no names :) who have concentrated on More Members, and that's not the most sucessful way of thinking. Instead, the groups I know of and know how they function are instead very concentrarted on taking care of and develop the talents they4ve got. Volume is not Quailty. I have, as the dictator I am, even suggested ways to keep the quantity down and the quality up for some members. And with the open and straightforward communication we have, we discussed, we found solutions, and we're now working on. Creative Cooperation is the slogan we try to form our behaviour upon. >Most of the >members probably know pretty much nothing about the others. These >days, they are often spread all over the globe. So? What if they are? Today I can communicate just as directly with a person in Outer Mongolia as on the other side of town. And the truth is that you can't be close and personal friends with everyone. What we can do, is create a climat where everyone is just as involved and important, and where noone is considered better than the other. Just different, and have uniquie qualities he or she should use. >But even if you do happen to care about distributing your music, how >much of a difference does a group make? Am I more likely to pick >up Billybob's latest release if it is a "Skull-Eater Productions" >release? The chance that you will at all find the tune is so much greater if there is a group distributing and boosting for your releases. Many pepole compose good music, but they are doomed to be unnoticed if they don't get their music spread. e.g I KNOW that the general quality of...say..Illogik's productions are very high , so I once and again return to some of their distribution channels for good music. I can rely on groups not to release shit, because it would be stopped by the honest feedback within the group. The tag prefix is a mark of solidarity to the group (and NOT hostility againd other groups), it4s an insurance for quality (I say it again, my experience of being in a group is that it develops the artists), and it looks cool too :) >Ask Basehead if he ever *needed* FM (or any other group) to refine >his skills. Strike Three. I'd rather ask Basehead why he is a member then, if it is with groups as you claim. My strike four. (Basehead if he reads this is free to share his opinion with us all, of course :) >The seniors of the group were to offer musical and technical support >and feedback constantly. Ideally, we have just been aiming to mean >something. The members interract to help each other improve their >skills. The main idea of this is very good. The very core of a groups work, to by feedback and constructive cooperation find each others qualities. Amen. And this is how most groups seems to work. You're not unique. The only difference is that you seems to divide the group into Rulerz and Lamerz, Seniors and Newbies, instead of seeing each members as a talent and resource of his own. I may have gotten all that wrong, and please correct me if I have, but it sounds more like a tracking school than anything else. But in general you're having the right attitude to all this. Groups are there for the members, to cooperate in the creative process, as well as the technical and distibution issues. Within the group we help eachother. Everybody does what they are best at, and support those who aren4t, and then gets support back. It's without obligations, without elitism and with a good climate to develop and make better and better music. Everybody participates the way they want to and everybody contribute with what they can to the common good cause. Being in a group is the thing, that have improved my scenelife more than anything else. There. A totally different opinion. Or maybe not? MING, dictator of the DiSC (mattias.inghe@mailbox.swipnet.se) +------------------------+ | www.techno.org/disc | +------------------------+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[5. Group Synergy]--------------------------------------------[Phantasm]-- I just got TW95, read Atlantic's article, and felt that I should share my thoughts on music groups. Why do we form music groups? Well, in my personal experience a group gets more attention than the sum of the individuals. The strength-in-numbers concept doesn't really have any explanation. Of course if communication within a group is strong, there will be more opportunities to do co-op tunes with someone, it will be easier to get feedback on a song before it's unleashed on the world, and so on. If a group exists solely for the purpose of slapping an affil on one's sig and releasing group-*.zip instead of person-*.zip, then someone's missing the point. Let's take my group, for example [shameless plug =)] We have five members, all good friends. Four of us live in the same city and get together now and then. We all stay in close contact via my board. We share resources, tips, thoughts, our prerelease materials, and so on. In fact, we haven't released anything yet, although you might see things cropping up in the near future. But we just aren't concerned with deadlines. Nor are we, as Atlantic has mentioned, out for world domination. A *group* is just that. We've grouped together. If you expect us to branch out from music/demos to international terrorism or commit mass suicide to follow comets, then you're mistaken =) Atlantic has also raised several other possibilities. Approval, power, the "strength in numbers" idea again, and distribution [which, in my mind, is tied into strength]. Sure we all want to be "approved," but if a new group is called tH3 eL337 s00p3R d00p3R m0D cLUb, it likely won't be approved of. No matter *how* good they are. =) Power in the music scene, for what it's worth [an @ in #trax], is earned. The extent of my own power is to write our infofile -- and not even all of that :P That power is what other group members have given me. Power has to be given freely by others, not taken by force [ie someone else has to op you]. I've already covered the numbers, which leaves me with distribution. This, I feel, is the real reason behind a cohesive group. There are many excellent trackers out there that nobody has heard of. I'm not even going to try and guess how many. A couple here, a couple there.. on a global scale. Is your music more likely to be one of a dozen random downloads if you're in a group? The answer is maybe, moving towards 'yes' as a group becomes better-known. If you have time to snag one song from the Hornet Archive, will it be the latest FM release or a no-name tune? ... So what? Well, if you want your voice among thousands to be heard, perhaps you'd be better off as one voice in a choir. That doesn't mean you have a license to suck, now that you're in Famous Group(tm). Atlantic said it as well as anyone can. "You need to be good to be good." Can't argue with that kind of logic. In the end, it's *you* that matters, not the group. A group is not something to really be taken seriously, however. It's not a society or a cult. "Group" is in fact one of the most general synonyms that springs to mind. Get together with a few folks. Put out a disk or two. But above all: *have fun* -- otherwise, there's no point. Lighten up. ... I'd appreciate comments, replies, ripostes, and so on; I'm almost positive that I've contradicted myself several times in under three pages of text =) For clarity, I do agree with most of what Atlantic set forth in TW95 [read it if you haven't already]. Respect to him for an excellent article. blessed be, phantasm^apostasy ["we put the first o in boom" =)] crose@julian.uwo.ca ------------------------------------------------------------------------------[?. Second that second!]---------------------------------[Steve Gilmore]-- I read with great interest Atlantic's article on synergy and I felt compelled to comment because I've been having several conversations with people about this very subject. I joined the 'scene' (such an overplayed word) in 1992 and founded Rebel Riffs at the end of that year with three friends who I also worked with musically in real life. What compelled us most about the early scene was the way in which those composers kind of 'fed' each other and nurtured each others talents. *This*, we all thought, is what the Internet should be doing for musicians who actually wanted to make music simply for it's own sake. Obviously the MOD market has changed considerably since then, although as far as peoples tastes go you wouldn't know this. Rebel Riffs is a cooperative where tracks are ascribed to the individual who came up with the *idea* or initial track. *Everyone* contributes to the actual composing and that is the way we always thought tracker 'groups' operated. We've learned a little more since then, and most of it is depressing. I personally spend a lot of time talking to people on the 'net and on Usenet's absm and the one thing that I see time and time again is composer after composer completely blanking any of the millions of 'how do I make MOD' questions floating around the ether. I try wherever I can to respond to these people, as do very few others. But it just ain't enough. This scene will disappear up it's own ego if we don't help more people to get involved, and yes that does mean putting yourself out a bit more. But surely, helping one newbie a week isn't too much to ask for - I know we could all have done with the help when we first started. MOD making is a *very* steep learning curve... >>In their heads they equate "More Members" with "Popularity" and >>"Success". Ooops, Rebel Riffs just got their first new member in 5 years... >>The group has some unsaid goal like: "World Domination through the >>tracking of PC music". I believe, as I think most trackers do, that the music we make has something to say. What it has to say has more to do the the inner minds of the composers than anything else. World domination through music was tried in the 60's and look how far that got. Communication is the name of the game, the transfer of ideas is one of the offshoots and that's good enough for us. We're waaaaay too busy making music to dominate the world right now, although we have a free spot next Tuesday >>how much of a difference does a group make? That's like asking how much difference MODs make and the answer has to be slim to nothing. It needn't be that way of course, but if people do insist on bring real world values to this medium it probably will be. Composing could be one of the energising forces of the Web of course, and that's the real tragedy. >> Ask Basehead if he ever *needed* FM (or any other group) to refine >> his skills. Good point. Scratch a tracker and you'll probably discover an individualist anyway. Most of us do this because we *have* to... >>nobody was *taking the time*. Nobody was putting any extra effort in. The same thing is happening to another of my favorite net hangouts...it's a symptom of the fragmentation of the scene. Everyone for themselves. Kinda makes you want to scrap the 'puder altogether if this is going to be the same as 'real life' >>So we put our heads together and decided on a more strict policy Which is where your crack about 'a group "leader", the dictator figure' comes into the picture. Not all 'leaders' have to be dictators, or even 'leaders' but someone, ulitmately, has to carry the can. Anarchy never created anything but more anarchy... >> In a word, it is laziness that we are fighting. 1000% right on the money but how do you fight a complete unwillingness to even recognise the existence of another person, let alone their point of view. This has been the eternal question and we are still no closer to an answer... >>is that you don't need a group to be good Indeed not, and as you already point out it definitely doesn't help some groups at all... >>You need to be good to be good. Agreed again but with a proviso. Good is in the ear of the listener, it simply isn't up to us. All we can do is follow our own musical tastes and hope that sometime our tastes will collide with the general netizen's taste. However, we won't be able to do that if this fledging world of ours isn't populated with more people of your breed and that's whats really needed desperately. You *show* your committment, as I believe do I and that's all that we can do, hoping that by our actions we can inspire others to follow. Just don't hold your breath.... Thanks for taking the time to put your thoughts down for us all to read, Atlantic. I hope that your effort will trigger some people to respond and join in but, as always, it's in the balance.... -- Steve Gilmore rebriffr@netcomuk.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[Closing]----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ TraxWeekly is available via FTP from: ftp.hornet.org /incoming/info/ (new issues) ftp.hornet.org /info/traxweek/1995/ (back issues) /info/traxweek/1996/ /info/traxweek/1997/ TraxWeekly is available via WWW from: www.hornet.org, under section "Information" and subsection "TraxWeekly." 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The staff can be reached at the following: Editor: Psibelius (Gene Wie)..............gwie@csusm.edu Writers: Atlantic (Barry Freeman)..........as566@torfree.net Mage (Glen Dwayne Warner).........gdwarner@ricochet.net Zinc (Justin Ray).................rays@direct.ca ascii graphic contributors: Cruel Creator, Stezotehic, Squidgalator2, White Wizard TraxWeekly is a HORNET affiliation. Copyright (c)1995,1996,1997 - TraxWeekly Publishing, All Rights Reserved. /-[END]--------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ :: ::: : . ..... ..............................:::.................:.... ::: : :::: : .::::. .:::::.:::. ..:::: :::: : :: :: ::: .:: :: :: WW:::: : ::. :: ::: .:: :: .:: :::: : :::.::. ::: .:: .:: .:::::... :: :::.. ... ..: ... ..:::::::::::::::: .:: .::::::: :::::::: ::::::.. ::: ::: ::: : until next week! =) .. ... .. ....... ............... .................:..... .. . :