mikelogic303

"It's not very important what melody or baseline you have in a song." - Atmos You forgot the all important tweaking of knobs. Don't even have an idea what sound you're looking for, just keep playing around until the next hit pops up and slaps you in the face. Then hit "File" and "Export to MySpace". Sorted. Oh and it's a little known trick, but adding "killar" or "boom" anywhere in the filename will add an extra sub-bass harmonic to your track (courtesy of the Great Spirit of Music Production) which will indeed "kill" or "boom" any dancefloor on the planet

"It's not very important what melody or baseline you have in a song." well, I guess that's ONE way to go about writing music!

Yes of course, it is a universal binary. But I had many years previous experience with Logic on the PC. Cubase was the "in between" solution, until I could afford to jump to Mac. What wonderful designs and "colorful" pricing schemes they have at Apple!! miKe

Hi all, After careful consideration I'm switching to Logic and a MacBook. Therfore I can sell my Cubase Studio 4. It's up for grabs on eBay, ending this Sunday. No reserve. Posting from Germany, so to Europe the postage will be pretty cheap. Rest of the World, message me on eBay for postage costs. Included are original installation DVD, iLok USB dongle, printed manual and box. Check it out at: http://cgi.ebay.de/Steinberg-Cubase-Studio...1QQcmdZViewItem (or if the link doesn't work, Article No. 190232785179) Happy bidding! Regards, miKe

Hey AlieNed, nice one, thanks! Hope you enjoy the music! miKe

First ever Irish Psytrance album - Available NOW - Free download!! Artist: Kodama Wat [www.kodamawat.com] Album: Analogue Voodoo Release Date: 01.08.2007 Mastering: PixelFailure at SDR Studio, Berlin. Artwork: Optik Resonance [www.optikresonance.com] Dear Friends, philosophers and travelers of the world, After many days and nights of meditation, yoga and digital alchemy, Kodama Wat is proud to present his first album - Analogue Voodoo. This work plots a new direction within the Psytrance scene, traversing a sea of infinite harmonics, dipping into uncharted territories and finally journeying beyond the edges of acoustic perception and into the realms of ancient wisdom and knowledge. Hammering out vibrant melodic lines, stomping beats and razor sharp acid sounds, this album is the first of many to be forged in the pioneering style of Kodama Wat. Enjoy! Mike www.kodamawat.com

I propose a new standard for describing a "Live Set". How about: Live: Entire set mixed before in studio, replayed from harddisc, DAT, mini-disc etc.. Artists stand behind large mixing console and pretend to tweak levels or turn knobs live. That's great guys, we pay good money to watch you play with your knobs. Live Live: Tracks prepared before but mixing between tracks done live. Actually less work than a DJ does. Why not just burn a couple of audio CD's and save on haulling all that fancy equipment around? Well I guess that would look too "cheap". "Got to show off all that expensive gear. It don't matter, they don't realise we're not actually using it. No no, use the BIGGER mixing desk, yeah the 32 channel. Sorted." Live Live Live: Some parts actually played live. By hand, like a musician. You know, using those little black and white keys. Oh wait, that would require effort and dicipline. "They're partying, why can't we?" Or do you think that the current idea of "Live Set" actually lives up to the name? If you paid to see say, an orchestra and you turned up to the gig to find a computer doing playback and 30 or 40 people playing "air violin", you'd be pretty disappointed, right?

Future Sound of London: Papa New Guinea Mike Oldfield: Amarok, Ommadawn, B side of Sentintel single (Early Stages) Jarre: Oxygene part 4 Ennio Morricone: The good, the bad & the ugly and The Misson soundtracks Zoe: Sunshine on a Rainy Day Hendrix: All along the watchtower (remix)

So what folder do you find yourself always searching through while writing, Distorted Reality? Cuckooland? Heart of Asia? Some cheapo CD's you bought from ebay? All of the above? (like me!)

Hi ya, I think that sound is done with a phaser or other time based effect (flanger etc). Plus of course the delay! But the phaser comes after the delay, therefore each delayed hit has a slightly different sound. Get on to kvrvst and you might even find a delay unit with this effect built in. later, miKe

Always first thing in the morning, when I'm fresh and have the most energy. Then until I can't anymore, or realise I havn't been outside all day, which is usually around 8 or 9pm work, dicipline and more work! Then you re-work the last work and start work in a new direction. But never work the same work too much, otherwise you will over-work yourself and the work which you are working on will turn into a big lumpy gooey pile of audio mush.... (in other words, I don't spend too long on the same track. Start Monday, finish by Friday. Keeps me from just sitting around and "pushing buttons" as Jikkenteki pointed out very well!) take care, miKe

Hey ya, yeah I like to get the hell out of there and come back with a coffee and some chocolate, YUM! My other favorite thing to do in the studio is turn it up real loud on a friday night when I've got the mix just about playable. Only to annoy the neighbours and those noisy feckers in the beer garden below my flat you understand. Zen and the art of being louder! Other than that I just use Albino. And RMIV for drums. Used to use ES2 with logic, but then jumped ship to Cubase. I chucked out most of the hardware that was following me around. And tons of free overdrive, amp sim, tube emulation and dynamics plugins from the net. peace, miKe www.kodamawat.com

There are many styles of goa bassline, and this is quite confusing. You can listen to a more melodic style track (GMS etc) and the bassline is solid, but not exactly what you would call "sub" bass. The kick being the real OOOMH. And then on the other hand you listen to a really full-on track and the bassline is almost as loud as the kick. The kick being this little TICK TICK TICK WTF do you do? well, it depends on the style of music you are making. And the particular track. You have to decide. But generally, the kick drum should have the most bass energy. So in order to not let the bassline and the kick drum bump into each other, we are going to use some EQ to make a space between them. The kick you add say, 4 or 5 dB at 60Hz (using a Q less than 1 always for adding EQ). And the bass line, we subtract a couple of dB at 60Hz (using a Q of greater than 1, probably more like 5+). For the bass you can also add a little at 120Hz, or around 250Hz to give more body. Anyhow, so now you have just your kick and bass synth, no effects, no compression. If you cannot get it to sound almost 100% at this stage, head back to synth land and start fixing it there. Don't bother with compression or other plugins until you get this right. Most professionally made dance music is quite simple, they just know what waveforms to use and how to tweak it in the synth until it sounds right. OH, and put on a commercial CD of whatever style your music is in, start A/B comparing it. That's the thing. There is no right or wrong goa bassline. It just depends on the rest of the track, which is why I always leave the bassline to the last. A bassline is there to glue the rhythm parts to the melodic parts. If you have lots of melodies, then you might want to use the cutoff to dull down the bassline a little. If you have no melodies, just loads of samples (modern full-on syle, yawn), then of course you have loads of space to have this big fat "I'm a lead synth but I'm also a bassline", with the cutoff pretty high to let the mid/high frequencies out. Anyhow, I've probably, hopefully, confused you as much as myself! later, miKe PS: an example of a bassline which fits "under" lead synths (ie. with low cutoff) can be found in the Burn Cycle track on my website: www.kodamawat.com

Greetings all, Thought I'd try and get some feedback on my efforts. Please feel free to give any criticism, good, bad or indifferent, I won't take it personally My latest track is called Burn Cycle, you can download it from: http://www.kodamawat.com/Audio/Kodam...B192kps%5D.mp3 Enjoy! miKe __________________ - [ k o d a m a - w a t ] -

Greetings all, Thought I'd try and get some feedback on my efforts. Please feel free to give any criticism, good, bad or indifferent, I won't take it personally My latest track is called Burn Cycle, you can download it from: http://www.kodamawat.com/Audio/Kodam...B192kps%5D.mp3 Enjoy! miKe - [ k o d a m a - w a t ] -

The sennheiser HD-25s are great because: - They have extremely flat response, hence good for studio monitoring - Have enought power for DJ-ing, plus stick right on your head no matter what you do - Are small and light enough to use with a walkman or laptop for some fantastic sound on the move - You can replace the pads, cables and ALL other parts yourself. You will never need to buy another pair of headphones. Ever. peace out, miKe

Hi ya, I though the korg looked great until I played around with on at a store. It felt really tacky (cheap) and definetely not worth the price. But that's just my opinion. I suggest you go to some shops and check out a bunch of keyboards first, then check on the net to get the best price. Also check forums for reviews, the novation controllers look great, but the reviews will tell you otherwise etc.... good luck! miKe

A.) Keep a small notebook and pen with you at all times. Write down any ideas you have, as soon as you have them. Even if you can't write proper musical notation, you can make something up. This will be a source of inspiration when you're sitting in front of your sequencer. B.) If you have written a nice bass line or lead which doesn't quite fit the current track, export it as a midi file before you delete it. Include at least the key in the file name. When you're stuck, just start importing these midi files you saved earlier. It might not fit perfectly, but could get you going again. C.) During "downtime", take a track which you like made by another artist and make a copy of it in your studio. This will help your arrangement, synth and listening skills. It's not stealing, it's just what artists do! (you wouldn't shout at a band for playing a cover version of a track would you?) D.) If travelling with a cd/mp3 player, get out your notebook and start writing out the track you're listening to on paper. Count with the bars, note down when important things start/finish (such as leads). I tend to draw squares every 4 or 8 bars, but that's just my system. Then you can draw a simple sequencer like view, and will quickly learn how tracks are put together. Very usefull if you want to broaden your horizons and make some other style of music. E.) Try simply writing patches for your synths. F.) Get on ebay and buy some cheap and cheerful sample CDs. They are out there, you just have to look! G.) Get on amazon and buy some music technology books. Much better value in the long run than music magazines, where you are just paying for adverts. Pay for the information instead. H.) Shut down your studio at least 1hr before sleeping. Do something else for a while. Otherwise you'll wake up the next morning still humming the same tune. I.) Take inspiration from various sources. Write a track about a book, movie, object, experience or whatever you like. J.) Don't wait for inspiration. Fire up your sequencer, sit down and start playing around. You didn't wait to feel like doing your homework in school did you? But it was done all the same! (ok, smart ass at the back, most of us did our homework) K.) Get on KVR and downlaod some of the latest free VSTs. This should take a few hours/days/months.... I.) Remember to enjoy yourself. If you're enjoying making the music, people will enjoy listening to it. If it's not working, get out of there. Make a cup of tea, come back and start sorting things out. Don't just sit there playing things back and tweaking it, delete everything which isn't absolutely necessary, no matter how long you spent on it. If it's not working in the track, get rid of it. Hope some of this helps some of you!! Peace out, miKe

Here´s an idea: While programming bass lines, use the velocity of the midi notes to add movement to your sound. Beats the hell out of trying to find melodic progressions for bass lines! Simply route the velocity to the cutoff in your sequencer, and then make the velocity of a couple of notes higher than the others. Especially at the end of a bar or two bars. laterz, miKe

There is a series of articles on "how to start your own label" on the Sound on Sound website. Just search. http://www.soundonsound.com Peace out, hope it works out should you try! miKe

Hi ya, yeah with a room that small you are looking at a resonant frequency of say 60 to 100Hz. Which will not help you mix accurately at all. Before buying bass traps, you can try: 1. Place your monitors on stands. The mid point between tweater and woofer should be level with your ears when you are trying to mix. 2. make sure your monitors are at least 50cm away from all walls and corners. Preferably more (ie. 1M, 1.5M). 3. if your monitors are rear ported, jam up the ports with some old rolled up socks. For rear ported speakers to work correctly they will have to be around 1M from the wall, and in a room the size of yours, I guess that's not usually possible. 4. if your monitor(s) are near a corner, jam up one/all of the bass ports (if any). This helps prevent bass BOOM! 5. Start to play some music you know is mixed well, and move your monitors around. They should be in an equilateral triangle with your head, ie. 1.5m between speakers, 1.5m from left or right speaker to your head. Don't make 'em too far apart or you will leave a hole in the stereo image. Try listening to some music with a lead vocal (which will be panned dead centre) to see if this is ok. And usually toe them in a little (angle them to face you). 6. Problems with bass are that it tends to double up when it bounces off a wall, and then you have zones where there is no bass cause it has canceled itself out! Just try to make sure you are sitting NOT in one of these funny zones (easier said than done). Easiest would probably be to order some bass traps hope this nonsense helps! miKe

Just to add to some confusion about the pitch resolution: You can calculate that a 0.7% pitch change is around the same as 1 BPM (when the speed is 140BPM). Now, this doesn't work exactly when you go too far, eg. adding 7.0% definetely does not make it go 10 BPM faster! But anyhow, since most of your tracks are around 140-148 BPM, you can get a very quick rough position on the speed while beatmatching by keeping both decks running at increments of 0.7% on the pitch faders. And then yes, by all means, start to fiddle with it when it's going off. Good luck! miKe

Hi ya, Yes, covering the window with rockwool would help. You want to try and dampen some of the high/mid frequency reflections from the glass. So rockwool will do that, but not much to absorb bass. As for the bass, in such a small room it is going to be difficult to get it sorted out. The smaller the room, the higher the resonant frequency. So in a room like yours, your're probably looking at something between 50Hz and say 120Hz. Which you have already heard yourself. As I said in my earlier post, try moving your speakers away from the east wall until you find a spot where the bass is most even. Maybe you will have to put the speakers on stands behind the desk to be able to move them about freely. (that is, if you havn't already built the desk into the wall!) If this doesn't work, there are some good plans for home made bass traps on the net. Have a look on google! And pulg all the bass ports on your speakers/monitors, this will reduce some of the bass. Remember! What you are trying to setup is a monitoring environment which is as flat or neutral sounding as possible. This will ensure your mix translates well onto other sound systems. Hope this helps! miKe

1. Put your monitors on stands. If you can't afford them, then make them. Very important. 2. Make your speakers face the length of the room, not across it. 3. You must now try to move your monitors forward or backward to get the best (most even) bass response from where you sit while you mix. "most even" means that all the bass notes, if you play say a simple sine on a low octave, will have the same energy. The length of a 60hz tone as it moves through the air is around 6 or 7 feet. If you stand at the back of the room and listen to your monitors, you are standing where the sound bounces off the back wall, and the bass should be doubled. Move about 3 feet more, and you will hear no bass. These nodes are the problem. You don't want to be sitting in a node where the bass is doubled, or cancelled. This is the rough solution, the best solution is to use bass traps at the back wall to eat up the bass so it doesn't get back to you and cancel or double itself. 4. Your monitors should form an equilateral triangle with the back of your head. So time to get a measuring tape. Make the distance between the monitors the same as the distance from say, the left monitor to your head. The distance from the right monitor to your head should be the same. It should form a triangle with sides of equal length. Some montiors work best when angled in a little, some not. 5. Keep monitors at least 1 foot from all walls, windows or other large surfaces. Keep all levels on the master out of your desk flat. Do not use an eq on the monitors, ever. The reasons for this are well complicated, suffice to say you will be fixing the sound for your room, but creating problems you will hear elsewhere. The mid point between tweeter and bass driver should be level with your ear in height. Do not put potted plants on your monitors! Hope some of this helps, you will not be able to do much unless your monitors are setup correctly. Use some music with a vocal to test the stereo image, the singer should sit bang in the middle. The sound should seem to come from just left and right of the monitors, and you should be able to point to where each drum sound is coming from. peace out, miKe

Hi all, Ok, how about I donate a high quality pair of earplugs (which I'm sure will appeal to all your music makers), EVERY MONTH to the winner. Including worldwide postage (www.geotonic.de) So you can have a competition every month. I think this is better for new artists anyhow, since spening more than one month on a track is usually, for me, not going to add anything much. Just an idea. peace out, miKe