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
The Club Song Kick Drum (not hip-hop club; David Guetta, i.e.)
Friday, March 12th, 2010So “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
Tags: adm, compression, david guetta, eq, force one, k-maculate, kick drum, limiting, moon shizzle productions, moon shyne, msp, Roll Call '10, switch up
Posted in adm, Chamber Waves, frc1, kmclt, mnshyn, Music Commentary, Production Tricks, Roll Call '10 | 8 Comments »