Bleh, indeed.

I still stand by my focus on imagination, storytelling and all that in electronic music. It is by far the most missing element in today’s electronic music, and everyone else and their mothers seem to be discussing which compressor is the best. Yawn. Still, I figured I could share a few basic tricks that I’ve found to apply very much to most electronic music making.

Some people might not agree, or feel that things are missing. I’m fully self-taught, and I don’t think this is the most interesting part of making music, as my previous articles reveal. If you want to learn more about all this, I’ve heard good words about The Dance Music Manual. I haven’t read it myself, but I imagine it’s quite useful. And boring.

1. Cut the lows (and highs)

Yes, the Omnisphere pads sound amazing and juicy on their own, and it might seem counter-intuitive to apply highpass filtering to them. However, the bassy part of the sound spectrum doesn’t allow much. With the kick drum and bassline in place, there really isn’t much place for much else. Also, you’d be really surprised at how much low-end you can remove, and how good the results are.

Also, digital treble is enjoyed best in moderation. Most natural sound don’t have as high treble as all these electronic sounds have. Toning down the topmost treble a bit often works wonders.

This is all done with an equalizer, or a filter if you like. Equalizers (EQs) are more flexible, but filters have more movement options.

2. Without reverb (and some echo), there’s no sense of space

Too much or even too little is much better than nothing at all. Here’s a quick example I just made, of that typical obnoxious little electro house blop thingy half of all house tracks nowadays have: blop.mp3 – The amount of reverb and echo is very subtle, but its absence becomes very striking.

3. Don’t be afraid to pan

Panning is when you lower the sound on one of the channels, to make it sound like it’s taking place in the other one. Or just positioning it left or right. Like under point 1, it’s scary to do radical panning – I still get shaky when I’m listening to an individual sound and putting it all the way to the left or right. But the thing is – there’s not unlimited space in the dead center, and you are creating surroundings where the action takes place. Here are some tips on panning:

• The kick drum, bassline and bassy sounds in calmer sections mostly belong in the center. When bassy sounds are panned, it makes me disoriented, which can work great for scary/trippy effects. For general mixing though, they almost always sound best in the center.
• Bright sounds with little or no bass however often benefit from panning. They can be put pretty much anywhere, since the bass keeps the center foundation in place.
• When positioning sounds across the left and right channel to varying degrees, they take up less space, you can turn their volume down, and it will sound very good.
• In an image, you don’t put everything in the center. Things have different positions. Even small pan adjustments are good.

I still don’t pan nearly as much as I should, but I’m gradually overcoming my fear.

4. Distortion is great for softening sounds and making them more natural

In electronic music, sounds are generated mathematically, 100% perfectly. Hence the harsh sound of chiptunes. In real life, you won’t find such sounds. Distortion is often associated with the crushing sound of electric guitars, and angry scandinavians with make-up. However, I like to view it as a gentle “naturaliser” effect. By reducing bass and treble (1), distorting the sound (4), adding some space (2) and perhaps pan it a little bit (3), you will often end up with an immensly more pleasing sound, which now “belongs” in the environment of your tune.

And of course, throwing insane amounts of distortion on something is really really fun. Also, if you afterwards reduce the bass and treble (1), results often get really interesting.

5: Most sounds can be lowered

I can’t elaborate much on this one, but an observation I often make some time after finishing a tune, is how many things should have slightly lower volume, less bass, or less treble. It’s not often I think “I should have increased the volume of that sound”.

6: Kick should be louder than bassline

Otherwise, it just sounds very strange, I think.

7: Break the rules

Don’t listen to what anyone says, or what I say. In the end, your ears+mind need to decide what works and doesn’t for what you’re imagining. Many innovative sounds and tunes have originated from breaking the rules. The 303 machine from all those acid tracks was originally meant as a simple bassline replacement. Instead, it became a centerpiece in electronic music from the late ’80s and ’90s!

How I feel about writing this article

To be honest, I don’t like writing such articles. They generate too much discussion around the technical bits, which aren’t really that important. It’s a topic that fuels arguments and endless reiterations of varying personal preferences. It’s often as if painters would discuss which brushes are best, rather than what they wish to convey with their paintings. I beg you to please put your primary focus on dreaming, being a wizard, building something, telling a story, and visualising.

Also, don’t whisper and shout at the same volume. And easy on the brostep.

No related posts.

Happy new year!

As always, my primary intention music-wise is to simply have fun and being sure not to take myself too seriously. I’ll do my utmost to include imagination and storytelling in my tunes. Music is more than you hear; it’s about drawing pictures in the mind. Perfectly good ear images (earmages) can be drawn using very simple means, and despite having access to unlimited lego brick forming options, I feel like I too often don’t sculpt my bricks enough.

To use another metaphor, I think of audio effects as drawing techniques: Colouring, shadows, perspective, and other interactions between light, environment and movements. Let’s say I have a small closed hihat pattern playing in the background; and that this sequence represents something like moving leaves on a tree. Most people would perhaps pay little attention to these, and the approximation would indeed be convincing enough for the viewer. However, I think it would be really cool to give attention to every little element in the environment I’m creating.

Example

Also, I just find that adding effects often makes an astonishing difference. The main bell sequence in klinkekuleløype illustrates this (with-without effects, mp3). I’ve also written about audio effects fun here. The effects used are:

Drums:

• LP filter with high resonance, LFO modulation the frequency
• EQ, removing lots of low end, and the sharpest treble
• Ping pong delay

Bell:

• EQ, also here removing bass and treble
• LP filter like above, to soften and give movement
• Reverb, for adding space and depth
• Delay/echo, for additional depth
• Erosion – adding noise, to make it sound a little rougher, but still soft

As you can see, my explanations for why I used these effects aren’t very fun. Their power is unquestionable though, and with a far larger implementation of them, coupled with a visual perspective, I think my music making sessions to come will be very fun; and of course yield great results.

Mostly, I think new year’s resolutions are bollocks really, but this one doesn’t demand much at all, and I would have done it anyway. I just happened to think this up now, in the very beginning of the year.

What are your music making ambitions for 2012? Please tell me in the comments, or at Facebook.

No related posts.

Yes, you’re making sounds, which are perceived by our hearing sense. You can not literally see, touch, smell and taste your compositions. However, you have no problem imagining what something looks, feels, smells and tastes like.

Good storytellers do what they can to activate the listeners’ senses, so that they’ll get a more empathetic and immersive understanding of it. Whenever you’re talking with your friends about something, you don’t simply tell them what happened with three words; you do whatever you can to relate to them, and make them see the images you have in your head.

Many electronic musicians don’t even seem aware that they’re storytellers. They’re just busy expanding their vocabulary and grammar (mixing, synthesis, arrangement, etc.), without even thinking of stories to tell, and how to express them through sound. It’s the equivalent of a phony politician trying to win votes.

Your music isn’t for the ears, it’s for the mind.

No related posts.

“Dreaming isn’t dead, it’s just been forgotten” is the main message in the latest masterpiece “Imagine That” masterfully conjured up by my dear wizard Owsey and siren CoMa.

Not only is it a stunningly beautiful aural firework, it’s like imagination’s own epic celestial hymn, it’s absolutely beautiful and mighty!

A slightly inconsistent rant on the subject:

I might not be accurate, but that’s not the meaning; I’m simply making a point:

Traditional music classes are from experience set up like this:

1. Learn music theory
2. Follow note sheet
3. Play other people’s songs
4. Refine proper technique
5. Gradually and slowly increase complexity according to textbooks.

The wizard’s way:

1. Welcome, apprentice! Here are 4 chords that enable you to play 1/4 of all pop songs! Not bad for a first lesson!
2. Brief explanation of bass note to chord relation, followed by lecture on how it’s important to enjoy the learning process to its fullest.
3. Time to make your own music! Yes, it’s fully possible! Write down a story, describe how things look, feel, move, smell, etc. Use your small, but sufficient base knowledge. It’s all about what you imagine, see, hear, feel, perceive, etc. You can either “make a catchy tune”, or you can “tell the tale of the jazz-hands monkeys’ interdimensional telepathic bananas, and their loony adventures through time and space, along with the snobby french baguette salesman who eventually lightens up and tags along willingly with his jolly smile and thin moustache”. You certainly don’t need 10 years of music training to tell cool stories through music!
4. Register on a discussion forum to meet others at your level, exchange ideas and experiences. Here’s where you get motivation, both through feedback, and through seeing what can be done. SoundCloud is a fantastic interactive site for music makers.
5. If you want to learn to play properly and play other people’s tunes, you can now attend the abovementioned type of class, with a fantastic base!

I’m saying this because I’m annoyed that no one told me these things during all the music classes I’ve been through. For a long time, the impression I had of music consisted of note sheets, complicated music theory, and years and years of hard work – when in fact all I needed to know were a few chords, and to be encouraged to tell stories and share visions through them. Playing one finger melodies from a note sheet is not music, and I thought it was immensly boring. It didn’t sound like proper music. Chords on the other hand absolutely did, and they made everything make so much more sense. Ever since my visual imagination aspect realisation a couple of years back, I feel like I’ve entered a whole new dimension of creativity, and it’s like I’m experiencing the purpose of it all.

(I have a similar kind of annoyance when it comes to language learning – stop going through the grammar step by step in dumb textbooks – just let the kids jump into the language, and go where they want to.)

As for the education system, I’m not too knowledgeable there yet. For now, all I can say is, that I think “learning by doing and imagining” should be a central focus in schools. It would ensure student participation, as well as the ability to imagine, which in turn would increase the amount of connections made in the brain, which in turn makes it easier to learn and figure out things. For more, check out Ken Robinson’s TED talk and Vlad Dolezal’s article, both on creativity in schools.

“Impossible” is just a term used by the 99% who have an invisible roof over their heads. Dreaming removes it, and allows you to take action.

No related posts.

Whispering and shouting

You wouldn’t whisper and shout at the same volume; that would just be silly. Yet, this is what has happened in a lot of modern music – the “quiet parts” aren’t really quiet, and the “anticipated explosive grand finales” become tiny dog farts, which don’t really have any powerful impact; it’s just kind of disgusting, and forgotten after half a second.

Listening to music in noisy cars, listening to music on crappy speakers, listening to YouTube rips – This is what people do, and it’s a tragedy. Why not turn up the volume knob, instead of eliminating the whispering and shouting? Are people afraid of impactful music? Audio-wise, the ’80s were far more metal.

Modern mastering

To illustrate the horrible effects of modern mastering practices, just take Metallica’s recent album Death Magnetic: (click to see full size; top version is the released one, whereas the bottom one was the version included in Guitar Hero.)

The topmost version (#1) *appears* to be louder, but if you turn it down to the same perceived volume at the bottom one (#2), then #2 is going to have far more impactful volume differences. If you then turn them up again equally much with an external volume control, #1 will be a flat line of loudness, whereas #2 will have those lovely awesome impactful volume differences. To me, there’s no doubt which version is the most hardcore. I’ve heard similar things done to ambient music, which is just tragic and ridiculous.

Concerns regarding hearing

On public transportation, I see teenagers and young adults listening to this horribly overcompressed music, using shitty earbuds. Not only does this constant need/addiction for music exposure lessen the music’s value, but I’m also concerned about people’s hearing abilities. Bus wheels cause large amounts of noise, so people turn up their music, exposing their ears to huge amounts of noise, often at a constant volume. In work environments, the same amount of noise would probably lead to hearing protection being mandatory.

Other examples

Here’s a screenshot I’ve taken myself. The top track is “Yelle – Que Veux-Tu (Madeon remix) (you must see the music video)”, and the bottom one is “Whirloop – Salvation Slumberland”. I really love both tracks, they’re both superb modern examples of the great music in their respectives sub-genres of dance music. However, I think there’s little doubt which track has the most impact in terms of volume, and which track my ears would be better off listening to. Madeon’s track isn’t far from having one constant volume, there’s extremely little difference between low and high volume. It’s an amazing tune, but I really don’t like how the calm intro has almost the same volume as when the bass drums kick in. Whirloop’s track has no problems in these areas, and it’s an absolute joy to listen to.

(Click for full size)

Also, see this video which explains the issue better than I can:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

Additionally, I’ve touched upon the same topic in the post “Silence“.

ReplayGain

Make sure to look up ReplayGain for your music player, or whatever used to even out volume differences by analysing all the tracks. If it hadn’t been for this technology, I’d be scared half to death when going from Whirloop to Madeon, as shown above. Now however, I just notice how Whirloop’s music is more dynamic in terms of volume, and is less fatiguing.

Find out more here: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=replaygain

Related posts:

1. Artist Spotlight: Malmen
2. Auto tune is fun!

SoundCloud is easily the best website for music producers out there, it’s far more stable and interactive than MySpace, which I can’t believe still exists. It’s also great for listeners who wish to discover great music from bedroom producers as well as already established names. An important part of my SoundCloud profile is my favourites, and although Reso and Madeon are quite famous, the other 3 are not, but their music is just fantastic. These guys really set the bar when it comes to well-made daydreaming music – here are the latest 5 favourites to show what I mean:

Reso – Voices of a Distant Star
This to me is like futuristic superhero music for exceptionally well-drawn japanese cartoons.

BluffMunkey – Whispered Echo ft Inayia
Futuristic, deep, immersive, and even catchy, just like his other music.

Jani R – All the Beauty
Jani’s melodic slowly evolving music is always very cinematic and meaningful to me.

Yelle – Que Veux Tu (Madeon remix)
Superb modern french house, with strong pop influences.

Owsey – Corr Just Wants His Narcotics Back (Acapella: Da Bush Babees – The Love Song)
Owsey normally makes quite calm music, so I was very surprised to hear this massive hip hop/big beat tune from him. This would fit right into a late ’90s action movie.

Related posts:

1. Artist spotlight: Owsey
2. Views, comments, followers, back scratching
3. Dreaming isn’t dead, it’s just been forgotten

Making electronic music is like having a bottomless crate of Legos.

You can alter each individual lego brick in limitless ways.

You can put together these customized bricks in limitless ways.

If you can imagine it, you can make it.

The Lego ad below pretty much sums up my basic view/mindset on music production: (imagine such a poster with limitless numbers, kinds and combination of bricks)

(click for full size)

No related posts.

Forcing creativity: Why I don’t like the idea, why I’ll give it a go, and how I’ll do it

Making music everyday, setting off specific times to make music, do some sound design, etc. Such advice in its various forms is common advice which is given when talking about inspiration and creativity. After discovering that music is more about what you see and feel, rather than what you hear, I haven’t had much problems coming up with ideas which I like, so I haven’t found these ideas very useful so far.

I have previously rejected the notion of having music production as a routine. I have viewed it as a wonderful [motstykke] to the dreadfully boring and uninspiring routines of school. From this point of view, forcing creativity would just group it together with all the routines and chores that I dislike. Forcing creativity sounded like the worst thing that I could do: Turning something mysterious and spontaneous to something planned and manufactured.

 How I (roughly) plan to incorporate this routine

I’m not so sure about my previous point of view anymore. Lately I’ve started to notice how much pointless/mindless internet surfing I do. One could say that this internet surfing had become routine; a routine to take away the mind from all the other routines. Could it be possible to do the same with music?

• Within this (somewhat involuntary) internet routine, I’m free to look up whichever information I wish. This is a good routine, because I communicate with interesting people, increase my knowledge, and discover interesting things all the time. Personal development, philosophy, nutrition, pedagogics; these are fields I might never have gotten interested in if it weren’t for the internet.
• Whenever I make music, I’m free to make whatever I want. In other words, I’m free to go wherever I want, and shape my imaginary surroundings (like a wizard). Just like my internet routine, who knows, there is a good possibility that this also might take me places I’d never imagine at the moment. It also seems like a good replacement for browsing forums and funny pictures; my english is good enough now, and has been for quite some time.

Results

1. This post was actually written around 7 in the morning on a day with no classes, and it turns out forcing my creativity forced me to write this post about forcing creativity.
2. I got inspired, and put together this track in just a couple of wizardry sessions: (it’s about the first drops of rain in the forest, from the perspective of the ancient and everwise forest rain spirit.)

No related posts.

Brain: What’s going on, Kristian? Are you stuck for inspiration again?

Me: Well, yeah … *looks down*, but I have this unstoppable urge to make something I don’t know what yet but I want to make the best music in the universe and history of all things and all times and I want to do it now despite not being able to think of a single good idea A.S.A.P.!

Brain: It has worked for us before, and here’s what to do:

1. Snap out of the imaginary future, and into the present. The future doesn’t exist yet, and you can’t change the past. Re-read “The Power of Now” or “Way of the Peaceful Warrior“.
2. Enjoy the moment. Making music was fun when you first inserted the Dance eJay 3 disc a decade ago. It’s even more fun now that you’re a wizard.
3. Stop taking yourself so seriously. People’s lives don’t depend on you. You’re just a guy playing with sound legos on your computer.
4. Make the silliest/shittiest music imaginable. Get those GM sounds going, baby! Detune! Music theory is imaginary! You now love those horrible audio effects you never use! Excessive sidechain compression! Jolly blip-blop!
5. Okay, so that turned out pretty horrible/amazing, and you had a great time doing it. Repeat the process until you unexpectedly get a good idea. Make background loops out of those horrible projects, and insert them to the good ones.

Kristian: Well, the first points sound reasonable, but won’t point 4 and 5 cast me into silliness oblivion?

Brain: Dunno. Maybe the silliness enables the free mindset required for really good ideas? Don’t ask me, I’m just a brain.

Kristian: I suppose so. It has worked before come to think of it. I guess I’ll just keep doing that until I find out how to make good music every single time.

Brain: Making good music isn’t anything to sweat over. Just do as I say – spread and inspire the free and wonderful wizard mindset in yourself and others. This is how it works, trust me on that!

Kristian: You’re just a yucky lump in my head; I have problems trusting yucky lumps, and I suppose many people do. But then again, you do a very good job at keeping me alive and stuff.

Brain: No brain, no gain.

Collections of silly bits and pieces

Firstly, I’ve gathered quite a bit of my tunes dating all the way back to 2000/2001 at my old music site. You’ll hear a pre-teen let loose with Dance eJay 3 and a microphone.

As of lately, I’ve become quite fond of chiptunes and soundfonts. Check out my jolly blip-blop tunes at SoundCloud:

No related posts.

So it shall be done – let there be wobble
Confused, I wonder, is it a bassline or a gobble?
ELIMINATEALLTHEDYNAMICS!
Success is achieved when you break your ceramics.

“Bad” means “good”
“Terrible” means “great”
“Killing it” means “livening things up”
“Nastier than drinking expired milk, seeing dog diarrhea, vomiting and getting expired milk vomit through your nose and into the dog diarrhea and stepping in it” means “exquisite achievement, I quite admire your creativity and craftsmanship, my good man!”.

Dubstep, I understand you not when you speak
Are you trying to say something, or are you screaming through your creek?
Stories and tales, visions of worlds is what I seek
I do like your drop, but it’s only one in the ocean, so to speak.

No related posts.