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Notes

Music Production

  • check Chuck - music programming language
Ideas of setup
  • for session view Launchpad (Quneo) should be enough
for arrangement view keyboard and/or pads checkout launchpad95 script Arturia
  • seems to make pretty cool devices fairly priced. Most have VC/Gate output.
Books
  • The Secrets of Dance Music Production
Making Music - 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers Links Magazines
  • Future Music
Computer Music Audio Interfaces
  • Behringer UMC204HD
Novation Audiohub 2x4
  • 4xRCA outputs, 3x USB hub,
Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 (2G) ESI UDJ6 songs to sample
  • Et si tu n'existais pas (Joe Dassin)
Black Betty (Tom Jones)

What do you need

  • DAW, for example Ableton Live
MIDI Keyboard Studio Headphones or Studio Monitors Audio Interface, for example Focusrite (optional) Microphone for instruments and/or voice (optional)
  • dynamic microphones used for live gigs, loud sounds, low sensitivity, they don't require power source
condenser microphones commonly used in studios, they require power source (48v)
  • phantom power through XLR cables
Other intruments, for example a Synth (optional)

Controllers

Controllers don't play sounds they only send sound information, usually through MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), to a device that generates the sounds and an audio interface can play those sounds.

Instruments can play sounds, therefore they can have some or all of the devices: MIDI Controller, Synthesizer, Sequencer, Audio Interface, they are an "Appliance". They do need to be paired with a PC.

Pads and Knobs

There are 2 types of knobs, endless rotary encodes and fixed-position or control knobs. Encoders are used to increment or decrement values. Jog wheels are a kind of encoders. Control knobs or Pots (short for Potentiometers) are used to set absolute values, they can have center detent.

  • Quneo
Arturia BeatStep - https://www.arturia.com/beatstep/overview
  • controller and step sequencer
16 pads (2x8) and 16 encoders (2x8) 16-step analog sequencer connectivity: USB, MIDI, CV/Gate price: 100 E Pro version: ~250 E Akai LPD8 (Laptop Pad Controller)
  • 8 pads and 8 Q-Link knobs (they look like Control Knobs)
price: 50 E Akai APC mini (Ableton Performance Controller) Akai APC40 (Ableton Performance Controller) Midi Fighter Twister
  • 4x4 clickable encoders
Center Detent function so it can be used like a potentiometer with middle LED indicator price: 280 E Novation Launchpad & LaunchControl

Keyboards

  • Arturia KeyStep
    • keyboard controller and polyphonic step sequencer
      • each sequence can have 64 steps, each step can have up to 8 notes
can be connected to Novation Circuit connectivity: USB, MIDI, CV/Gate price: 120 E Arturia MiniLab Mk II
  • comes with Analog Lab Lite, Ableton Live Lite, UVI Grand Piano Model D
25 slim keys, 8 RGB pads (x2 banks) and 16 encoders (2 clickable), Pitch Bend and Modulation touch strips keys and pads and encoders, but no step sequencer like with Beat- or KeyStep price: 100 E Akai APC Key 25 (Ableton Performance Controller with Keyboard) Akai MPK mini (Music Performance Keyboard and Pads) Novation LaunchKey (mini)

Instruments

Synthesizers

  • Novation Circuit
    • Hybrid Synth-Drum Machine, Sequencer, Controller
  • allows sample uploading
4 tracks Korg Minilogue

Drum Machines

Drum machine is used to create drum patterns outside of your DAW sequencer. As a side note, if your drum machine supports sample upload, most don't, than it can basically become any instrument you want, it gets closer to a sampler.

  • Novation Circuit
    • Hybrid Synth-Drum Machine, Sequencer, Controller
  • allows sample uploading
4 drum tracks price: 290 E Arturia Spark LE
  • price: 200 E
Elektron Analog Rytm Elektron Digitakt
  • can sequence up to 8 external synths
allows sample uploading Korg Volca Beats
  • entry level
can be connected to other Volca synths real analog sound, but not fully analogue (hybrid) only one drum kit, it can be modified in many ways single audio output

* works only with computer

Samplers

Capable of creating long phrases or whole tracks (as opposed to a drum machine which is capable of creating drum patterns or short phrases). NI Maschine MK3 is an example of a notorious modern (as of 2018) sampler (or Groovebox), usually used as a drum machine. It only works connected to a computer.

  • Korg Volka Sample
Novation Circuit Elektron Octatrack

Software

To Check

  • Mixbus
EnergyXT Qtractor Tracktion 5 Mulab Free Ohm Studio PreSonus

DAWs

Ableton Live

Reaper

  • unlimited evaluation

LMMS

Linux MultiMedia Studio

Plugins

Free

  • Synth1
    • Virtual Analog Synthesizer
TAL Plugins (Togu Audio Line)
  • TAL NoiseMaker
W1 Limiter
  • simulation of L1 limiter by Waves
Rough Rider
  • aggressive compressor
Magical 8bit Plug Alchemy Player iSpinner LoudMax
  • Serum
Synth1

DJ

VirtualDJ

Use quneo's vertical slider to control LPF of the filter knob:

  var "$shift" ? nothing : param_multiply 0.5 & param_greater 47% ? deck left eq_low 50% : deck left eq_low

Serato DJ

See serato.md file.

Music Theory

Freq Guide

  • 20-50Hz Sub-bass
    • you feel this range rather than hear it
50-250Hz Bass
  • here is usually the bass boost in most apps and appliances
250-800Hz Muddy
  • between bass and mid-range
800-6000Hz Mid
  • human ear is very sensitive to it
4kHz mark - the most sensitive very small adjustments here have a big impact 6000-8000Hz Treble
  • control the brightness of the track
the magic frequency 50-8000Hz is the most important part of the track 8000-20000Hz Ultra-High Treble
  • high hats, the hiss
here you get the harshness older people can't really hear this

Tonality and Atonality

Tonal music has a clear tonal center, the "goal note". It's called tonic or the key of the melody. Usually the first and the last note of a melody. It's the first note of the scale used to create the melody.

Atonal music has no clear tonic pitch or goal note.

When we say that a song has a single tonal center or tonic, we also are saying that it is in a single key. It is made from a set of notes that have the tonic pitch as the first note. This set of tones can be arranged in stepwise order as a scale. DO RE MI FA SOL LA SI DO is a scale. As example C MAJOR scale means the tonic note is C and the mode is major.

Harmonic Function

The most important chord in the key is called the tonic harmony and the tonic pitch is the lowest note of that chord. A chord is multiple notes played together.

Harmony is succession of chords to create a sense of harmony or a story, chords progress to control the creation and resolution of tension. Harmonic function is what the chords "do".

  • Tonic = Stable chord (at the beginning and end of the song)
Predominant = Connecting chord, a chord that prepares the Dominant Dominant = Unstable chord (throughout the song and as the second to last chord)

Notation

Chromatic scale: 12 notes, at half step distance.

Middle C = 262 Hz

C4 is called the middle C.

A 7 notes scale has 8 notes, the 8th is same as the 1s up an octave. The interval between the 1st note of a scale and the 5th note is called the perfect fifth.

RMS = Root Mean Square

Major Key

  • all the white keys in a scale on a piano

Minor Key

  • most used in european music, especially dance music
T, S, T, T, S, T, T
  • T = tone, S = semitone

Measure and Meter Signature

Measure = Bar

Sound Quality

bluetooth quality http://www.sereneaudio.com/blog/how-good-is-bluetooth-audio-at-its-best

Online Resources

Music Production

A song has generally sounds in 4 categories:

  1. Drums
Bass Chords Melodies

Recording

For recording using a microphone you will need microphone (duh), microphone stand, XLR cable, audio interface and a computer with a recording software (DAW or Audacity)

How to Create Chords

  • take a note (for example a tonic to get the tonic harmony)
major chord
  • copy the note 4 positions up
copy one more time 3 positions up minor chord
  • copy the note first 3 and than 4 positions up
create a chord progression by copying the chord up on every note of the key when creating a loop start with the tonic chord
  • and finish with the 4th or 5th chord
use any from 1 to 6 in between

How to Sound musical

Without knowing (too much) musical theory.

Stay in Key

  • mark all the notes from a scale in the pianoroll and fold it to see only those notes
    • copy the notes on all octaves
  • move the scale notes off grid so you only see them not hear
draw your melody, you'll be in key

Chord Progessions

  • open a chord progression and disable it
draw on top of it, you'll be in key and it will probably already sound good move octaves down and draw your bass line use just the base note for the bass line

Harmony

  • find a piece of song you like
convert it to harmony, it will somewhat resemble the original song edit the result until you like it use the scale plugin to change the key add drums or bass line

Use MIDI Effects in Abelton Live

  • Scale Plugin
    • use C minor for example
  • change the note and you will be in that key, for example chose F and you'll have F minor
combine it with Chord plugin Chord Plugin (Chord Sets)

How to use Samplers

  • a sample is a piece of audio of any length between, let's say, half a second and a full song
it is usually a something like a drum hit, snare or kick for example sampling tipically means to get some audio clips into a sampler, and trigger them using MIDI you can buy sample packs, cut some pieces from entire songs and use them as samples, or you can create your own samples for example in Ableton drag the Sampler instrument onto a MIDI track and an audio clip onto the sampler. Use your keyboard to trigger the sample at different pitches

How to use Synthesisers

  • Serum is a very popular and famous synth
for example to create a bass sound, you start with a squared wave from an oscilator
  • so you need and Oscilator
filter out the high frequencies using a filter, since the bass has only low frequnecies
  • so you need a Filter
use an envelope to setup the attack and hold, decay and sustain and release when a key is pressed
  • so you need and Envelope
    • attack = the time it takes for the sound to reach it's maximum volume or the fade in time
  • hold = TBD
decay = the time it takes to get from the maximum volume to the sustain volume sustain = the main volume of the sound (in dB) when the key is hold release = the time it takes for the sound to fade out when key is released

Mixing and Mastering

  • mixing means to balance out all the elements of your final track
    • balance levels
  • balance ferquencies using equalisers
    • take out what clashes
control the dynamic range using compression use reverb to make it sound "somewhere" (in a room or in a hall) mastering means polishing your final track
  • comes after mixing
import back the exported track as audio and polish it further

Music Genres

Kizomba

Sounds and Instruments

  • Ableton Live - Muted & Bell Unpitched
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