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Archive for March, 2010

The Club Song Kick Drum (not hip-hop club; David Guetta, i.e.)

Friday, March 12th, 2010

So “Switch Up” (the ADM/MooN ShynE/K-Maculate and maybe FoRcE oNe pending audition, for the MsP Roll Call ’10 compilation and ADM’s Chamber Waves album) is almost clear of the alpha stages, and we’re looking to get some more vocals in.  One of the most interesting things to me in this particular project is attaining that kick/bass drum that has that familiar hit.  Anyone who’s been in a club when they’ve played “Sexy B*tch” by David Guetta, for example, has heard that really hard, bassy kick drum played on every beat of the measure.

It took a while to really figure out what to do to get that particular sound, but I think I’ve pretty much gotten it down.

It consists of three different parts.

1. “K034″ from the Deep/Hard Kicks set (I believe from Modern Beats?)
2.  EQ this kick around 150Hz, raising it, with a fairly wide Q,
3. Compress the kick: Threshold = -1.2dB, Ratio: 11.5:1, Gain: 7.0dB, Attack = 23.4 ms, Release = 2205 ms

At the end of that chain, that kick will knock you on your ass.  A few alphas before, I had a much higher gain, higher ratio, and faster attack.  This one sounds pretty good to me though; a nice pumpy bass sound with a nice kick in the attack.

One thing I have noticed in these songs is that some of them were heavily limited (limited as in the compression effect, not limited as in with a restraint).  Thing is, some of the versions I have of these songs are limited so hard that even the vocals sound pumpy from the mix.  They obviously all hit very hard, but the mix itself sounds terrible from an overall standpoint.

Hopefully, I’d like to try to get a mix of both worlds; get a good pumpy feel without compromising the rest of the mix.  If I can get the bass to pump and still achieve a favorable mix, then I’d say we’ve done a good job.  The pump of it all (I guess it’s what gives that fistpumping action) is part of the genre, I feel, and without getting that, I’d be betraying the sound we’re trying to achieve here.

So far, ADM and I have gotten a pretty good track so far, and I’m getting REAL excited about this.  We’re looking to work on Sunday to get in some vocals and get this song into the beta stages.

As always, I’ll make sure to keep you guys updated!

-mnshyn

Are you a fist pumper? Do you like David Guetta?

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Just a few notes from me re: BBI/ADM track.

I submitted a new drum beat loop to MooN ShinE w/ all new percussion b/c after listening to what we were using, at my house on bass-intensive speakers and headphones, it sounded like were playing on kettle drums. So the kick drum will be replaced w/ a Hard-House kick, the popping snare will be claps w/ a clap break, the hats will be a combo of tambs., 707s, and 78s.

The gate is “Deceptor” from Nexus. We scrapped Vanguard b/c it didn’t have enough of a punch.

I’m liking the title MooN ShinE came up w/: “Switch-up.” It’s a work in progress but I’m leaning towards it very much.

I have a feeling we’re going to be in disagreement over a/the bassline…

Strings will be changed, I agree.

There is a saw-ish part throughout the song that I believe needs to be stretched JUST A TAD – I MEAN A FREAKIN’ TAD… It also needs to be layered, made richer, given more beef!! Not melody, just more presence.

Vocals will be Sing, Rap, Sing-Rap(??), repeat. I’ll try to convince them to put in some sort of a bridge type part to make this similar to a club/pop/dance track and less hip-hop – like “Memories.” Although I do believe that “K-talk” just might take care of that..!

MooN ShinE didn’t mention this but this will also be on the “Chamber Waves” album by ADM.

I think we should also discuss how it will appear on albums. Obviously on MooN ShynE’s album or ADM’s album it will be
MooN ShynE – Switch-up feat. ADM, K-Maculate
and
ADM – Switch-up feat. MooN ShynE, K-Maculate
But I can also make it:
ADM – Switch-up feat. BBI
And he can also make it:
BBI – Switch-up feat. ADM

Which brings me to my next point. Since on an album the artist will be the album artist regardless, featuring the others, but AS A SOLO track how should it look:
MooN ShynE, ADM, K-Maculate – Switch-up
or
BBI & ADM – Switch-up

New topic: Going back 2 weeks, we continued work on Project InhalOr.
So picture this, if the song is from your house to the moon, we never made it out the front door… But it will be finished, we just needed motivation – after all it’s a genre neither of us ever worked with and we didn’t know how to attack it.

That’s it for now………

MsP Compilation Album Starting Up with a MooN ShynE, ADM and K-Maculate Project and a FoRcE oNe and MooN ShynE Project

Monday, March 8th, 2010

As much as this weekend was a busy weekend (mostly because of my cousin getting married, congratulations to Jay and Thiana), I was able to get some work done and start on two projects.  One of which is the FoRcE oNe project that I had mentioned in a previous post, and the other is a joint project between myself, ADM and K-Maculate, which had an impromptu beginning.  Both of which will go on the MsP compilation album, tentatively titled Roll Call ’10.

The FoRcE oNe project has some interesting tidbits.  First off, the beat for this one as selected was a custom I made specifically for him in his interests.  He’s a big Lil’ Wayne and Young Money fan, so this beat follows that new southern sound with an MsP twist.   The drum pattern and bassline are akin to those found on their recent work, but the instrumentation and sampling is more MsP style.  Once some recording is done, I will post up a tidbit so you guys can get an idea of what we’re aiming for.  The second thing about this that I like is that FoRcE oNe will be spearheading the project, and I will just be trying to bring out the vision he’s got.  I’m trying to get him to let his creativity loose while increasing my producing experience in the sense of producing for other people.  Most of my producer work has been for myself, so getting a chance to produce for others (especially for uno because he’s only done one song on his own, this will be his second) is always exciting.

The beat is in Bb minor, and utilizes samples from a rare old school soul song called “Why,” as well as the use of the Hypersonic plugin by Steinberg.  Drums used were from the Sounds in HD kits that Boy Gnyus supplied me with, and of course the beat was created in FL Studio.  It clocks in at 140bpm, but will mostly sound more like 70bpm with that Young Money style flow that’s been coming from the South.

The second project that was worked on this weekend was the impromptu MooN ShynE/ADM/K-Maculate project that started earlier this evening. What we’re looking to do is something in the vein of what David Guetta has been doing these days as well as other non-hip-hop club hits.  So far, we’ve nailed down a decent club beat akin to Guetta’s recent hits such as “Sexy B*tch” and “Memories” with Kid Cudi, but once again, putting an MsP spin on it.  It’s a good mesh of styles as ADM’s electronic work comes into play here production wise in a big way, K comes in with some creativity as far as concepts, lyrics and vocals, and I come in with my lyrics/vocals and production work.  We’ve already recorded a small piece of the song that will fit as one of those catchy 8 bar loops that DJ’s should have fun with in the clubs.

The song is in Ebm, using a mixture of different drum kits we have here at Lunar Base.  We used Native Instruments’ FM8 for some synth work, as well as Vanguard for a gate.  We were using Cakewalk Studio Instruments String Section, but we may opt for a different set of strings (Hypersonic being a very likely candidate) as I’ve overused String Section to death lol.  We layered the kicks and included 808 bass drums to give it that extra push.  We’re also using the Izotope plugin called Trash (the plugin used to achieve Justin Timberlake’s voice in Sexy Back) to give it that real gritty club feeling.  Next week, we’re looking to do some more work on this, and I hope to have a sample for you guys to hear after that session.

All in all, a very productive weekend, and with other projects also in the wings, there will be more fun coming!  Stay tuned.

-mnshyn

Windows 7 Troubles with the E-MU 0404 PCI Card And How To Fix

Friday, March 5th, 2010

So after my nice little escapade with Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4, and finally being able to get a fix for it (see here for more information), I felt that I no longer needed Windows XP, and decided to make the jump to Windows 7 on my main studio computer.  I’ve been running Windows 7 on my laptop, and was reluctant to upgrade the studio computer in case I needed to run Pro Tools to mix someone else’s stuff.  I currently use Adobe Audition 3.0 right now for all MsP recording needs.

E-MU has the PatchMix system, which is a little app that runs that handles your ASIO.  On Windows XP, there used to be two different visible devices in Windows; one ASIO, and the other a standard wave device.  Usually, most non-audio production stuff would run on the standard wave device E-MU driver, and I would run Audition and FL Studio on ASIO.

However, after installing 7, I ran into an issue: there was only one device, and only ASIO would work, meaning that only my audio production apps had sound.  Everything else, Google Chrome, Media Player, iTunes, etc. would not play.

I thought it was an issue with the driver, but after doing some investigating, I found that Windows itself has a selector for sampling rate.  You need to match this rate with PatchMix.

Here’s a quick screenshot, in case you run into the problem.  Click on it to see it fullsize:

Figure 2010-03-05/1 - PatchMix and Windows 7 Sound Control Panel

Patch Mix and Windows Sound for Windows 7

Notice how both PatchMix and Windows 7 are running on the same sampling rate.  This will allow other Windows apps to use sound.

To get to the Windows 7 Panel you see above:

  1. Take note of what sampling rate PatchMix is using.  If you’re using 44.1K, you will need to set Windows to 44100, i.e.
  2. Hit the Window Logo (The nice circular logo at the bottom left)
  3. Click on Control Panel (On the second column)
  4. Click on Hardware and Sound
  5. Click on Manage Audio Devices
  6. Click on the device that says Speakers, E-MU E-DSP, then click Properties
  7. Click on the Advanced Tab
  8. Choose the appropriate sample rate to match with PatchMix, then hit Apply.
  9. Test by hitting the test button to hear a sound.  If you hear the sound and do not get a “this device is being used by another application” or similar message, you’re good to go.

Growing pains, I tell you.  But at least it’s working!

By the way, thanks to the people who have so far bought tracks from Phase 3 – L.Y.R.I.C.A.L. Without Fear!

Will update soon with a vid or two, MsP news, plus a review on the EastWest Quantum Leap Choir VSTi, as promised!

-mnshyn

Phase 3 – L.Y.R.I.C.A.L. Without Fear is for sale now on iTunes!

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Finally, after all the delays, the album is 100% complete and up for sale on iTunes!  Get it here:

iTunes Link for Phase 3 – L.Y.R.I.C.A.L. Without Fear

When you click on the link, it will open up iTunes and bring you directly to where you can buy the songs and put them on your iPod. =]

In other news, ADM and I got some work done on projeCt inhalOr, albeit just a little. =]  All in due time.

More coming soon!

-mnshyn

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