Learn to Produce Minimal Tech in Ableton Live
March 3, 2010
However you want to describe it, as minimal or tech house or minimal techno or whatever, it is a sound that has taken dance floors across the globe by storm and is unlikely to be leaving us anytime soon. There are countless amazing producers and DJs that have taken the Minimal and Tech House sub-genres to new levels and to greater heights, with the likes of Dubfire, Ritchie Hawtin and Loco Dice consistently pushing the sound beyond any limits.
We at Point Blank Music School are extremely happy to be able to offer a genre specific course for producing Minimal and Tech House tracks with Ableton Live. As a tool for working with Minimal, Ableton has always been considered top-quality due to its endless ability to be manipulated to the working methods of the user and due to the fact that Ableton is a fantastic DJ tool. The genres of Minimal and Tech House have always welcomed new technology, whereas other artists in other genres may cling to the traditional, purist methods of DJing purely with vinyl, when a Minimal artist plays your more than likely to catch a glimpse of the latest hardware controller or brand new digital DJ software.
So to get back to the course, whats on offer is the ability to Learn how to produce Minimal and Tech House tracks to release quality. Using Ableton Live you will create your own authentic drum sounds, synth patches, textures and effects under the guidance of a pro music producer. Essential tips, tricks and techniques to give your tracks that professional sound. Upload your music each week for expert analysis and feedback on your work.
It’s this final feature, the ability to upload you music and get feedback, that I’m most excited about due to the fact that this is the only online course of its kind in which students receive personal guidance on their work. The way in which this feature works is that each week you upload your Ableton track/project so far and your pro producer tutor will examine and analyse the track in Ableton and produce a video of him going through it advising on what might be improved and how to go about doing so. So what you effectively get is a 1-2-1 personalised video explaining how your individual project can be changed/tweaked/developed in order to achieve the sound that you’re looking for!
In addition to this 1-2-1 personalised video feedback, you also receive a whole host of other course materials, including; Over 50 video tutorials on Ableton Live, Extensive course notes, Over 20 Ableton projects to download, Exclusive samples & audio resources, Weekly web chat with a pro producer and a Student forum to post your questions & discussion topics.
You can check out the full details of the course here. Also take a look at the video below for a taster of what you can expect from the personal video feedback:
Melodyne DNA Used As A Tool For DJs
February 19, 2010
The guys over at DJ Tech Tools have come out with another great post, this one features Melodyne Editor’s DNA which we at Point Blank were lucky enough to get a first look at and play around with when the beta version came into our hands around six months or so ago. You can check out the video preview from our original play with Melodyne DNA software here.
The software boasts the ability to allow the user to manipulate the pitch, length and timing of individual notes within polyphonic material, thus you have an amazing piano roll style editing of polyphonic audio and extraction of midi chord data. However, the software may also be said to have the ability of isolating vocals and instrument parts from stereo mixes, so that DJs and remixers could have carte blanche to any part of any track they desire. But maybe don’t get your hopes up too high, as there is a definite limit to this use of the DNA software with plenty of applications which you may want and may sound plausible but are in fact unattainable.
You can check out the full article here. But for now check out the video below for a quick guide to how this useful tool can be applied and how it could make your DJing live a lot easier.
Chopping Samples Manually in Ableton Live & Assign to Drum Rack
February 12, 2010
During the post-NAMM period which we are currently in there is often a lack of adequate music production technology news as everyone is busy playing with all the toys showcased at the event. However, I recently came across this pretty interesting demonstration of a technique in Ableton that has a great deal of potential and is not often used to a great extent.
Ableton Live has constantly been noted for its extreme versatility and its ability to be manipulated to the user’s way of working, due to this we often find new displays of ways to utilise this software and new techniques within the platform- regular readers may remember a previous post on Ski Beatz using Ableton in a unique way.
This quick video demonstrates how to manually chop samples in Ableton and then assign them to a drum rack, thus giving you a pretty quick way to slice samples and still have control over your sections. There is also another video which demonstrates how to automate chopping and to thus use Ableton to chop samples like and Akai MPC, check out that vid here.
So this video demonstrates how to have more control over your chops before you slice and assign them to the drum rack. So by utilising this technique you’ve got your very own MPC built into Ableton and ready to go loaded up with your samples!
Paul Epworth In The Point Blank Studios
February 10, 2010
If your a regular reader of the blog then you may remember us posting about being pretty excited by the fact that we were expecting a visit from winner of ‘Producer of the Year’ at the Brit Awards, Paul Epworth. Well, he came and gave a great talk which was thoroughly enjoyed by all, so now we’re excited to be able to post the video from his visit to the Point Blank Studios. He gave an extremely interesting guest lecture to the students of the Music Production Course, covering a variety of topics and answering some insightful questions.
Paul Epworth is one of the most in-demand music producers and remixers around. He has an enviable list of production and remix credits that includes some of the most successful breakthrough artists of the last few years – Florence & The Machine, Friendly Fires, Maximo Park, Simian Mobile Disco, Bloc Party, Babyshambles and Kate Nash to name a few. This year looks to be yet another busy one for Paul – as I mentioned he has aready racked up a Brits nomination for “Producer of the Year”.
Paul spent a good couple of hours talking to the Point Blank students about his career and covered topics including favourite pieces of studio gear, recording techniques, insights into the working methods of favourite artists and some exciting new names to look out for in 2010! In short…an absolutely fascinating insight into the working methods of a successful producer.
There are a range of videos from the talk which you can check out here, but for now take a look at the first one below. This video shows Paul talking about the beginning of the creative process which he undergoes when working with an artist and provides an interesting look at how a top-level producer starts working on a project.
MIDI Fighter Mapping For Traktor Pro
February 9, 2010
You may be already know of the MIDI Fighter created by those clever boys over at DJ Tech Tools, but I thought I’d write a quick post to coincide with their release of a video explaining the controller’s mapping with Traktor Pro.
The MIDI Fighter is a DIY MIDI controller that can be built by anyone regardless of their electronics experience. The controller is fully customizable to your taste with custom paint jobs and unique arcade button arrangements, its an extremely fun bit of kit which enables you to control any parameters you wish and fits perfectly alongside your digital DJ set-up.
The video below demonstrates how the controller can be used with Traktor to toggle cue points and effects in an extremely easy to use way, its portable and pretty good value for money. Needless to say the video is an impressive display of what the MIDI Fighter is capable of, so if you get your hands one you can be assured of non-stop customizable fun!
Mixing Electronic Music Course – A Preview
February 5, 2010
Amateur and aspiring producers, myself included, are often faced with a significant degree of confusion when it comes to the final mixdown of a track. Once you have a track arranged and sounding like its ready to be finished it is essential to ensure that you have a good quality mix in order to attain that professional, crisp sound. However, for many of us the techniques of EQ, compression, effects and automation remain some what of a mystery, yet it is these processes which are the key to achieving what we are all looking for; crisp, punchy drums and booming bass.
So with this in mind Point Blank Music College have created the Mixing Dance Music Course, which directly addresses these invaluable techniques and provides an excellent guide to creating the perfect mix for your tracks.
The course features over 90 video tutorials on Logic Pro, extensive course notes, over 20 Logic Projects to download, exclusive audio/midi resources, a student forum to post your questions & discussion topics, personalised video feedback on your music and weekly webchats with a pro producer. It is these final two points that we at Point Blank are most proud of due to the fact that this is the only course of its kind which features an industry experienced producer giving you direct 1-2-1 feedback on your productions as you progress.
Our professional producer tutor Danny J Lewis (Enzyme Black) will guide you through the mixing process while providing you with a video of him going through your work, offering advice on how to make improvements and corrections. You will be getting access to an amazing producer listening to tunes and guiding you through how to create the perfect sound your looking for.
Danny has very kindly put together the video below which offers a preview of the immense depth and coverage the course offers, you can also see from the vid the high standard to which the course is taught and the quality of the course materials and feedback on offer.
So if your struggling to get the perfect mix on your tracks and want to learn first hand how pro producers achieve that professional, crisp sound then you may want to check out the course and get enrolling.
Testing Your Hearing With An iPhone
February 2, 2010
I just came across this article on the ProducingBeats.com and it’s a very interesting read.
The fact is that as DJs or producers, in both a professional as well as an amature setting, we are all subject to a great deal of abuse when it comes to our hearing. Good hearing is undoubtably an essential commodity when it comes to working with music, it is something which you don’t want to lose! With the hours and hours that many of us spend listening to music at high levels, whether while at a club, a gig, when DJing, in the studio, or even on personal music players there is always a chance that your hearing will be damaged, and as we have posted before you cannot underestimate the value of a good set of professional ear plugs.
However, there has never really been an easy way to test your hearing, to check if you have anything to worry about and see whether you have suffered any damage when it comes to the precise hearing that most of us one day had. Now it has never been area to check out your hearing levels and see what frequency range you can hear, you can simply check your hearing using the uHear iPhone app.
In any case suffering hearing damage should definitely involve a medical consultation, but this new little app is great for a music producer as you can check the exact frequencies that you can hear to a good standard. This may prove to be extremely useful when it comes to the final mixdown of a track. Anyway you can check out the full article here.
Traktor Kontrol X1 Videos Tutorials
February 1, 2010
You may remember us posting some info on this bit of kit when news of it’s release first came to light a few months ago. So after coming across these vids of the Trakor Kontrol X1 I thought I’d post them along with a little intro as these vids do give a great display of what the Kontrol and its effects manipulations are capable of.
The first video is a guide to using the beat mashing (or beat repeat) effect, the second video is a little guide to using the freeze effect, the third video demonstrates the loops synth and the final video showcases the juggling of samples.
So check out the first one below and follow the links to see the others, Enjoy!
Ski Beatz – An Unsual Approach to Ableton
January 20, 2010
Ski Beatz is a producer who’s worked with some of the biggest names in Hip Hop, including Jay Z, Mos Def, AZ, Foxy Brown, Lil’ Kim and Camp Lo.
In this video he demonstrates how he goes about making a track, and its actually done in quite an unexpected, yet very impressive way. Ski has an unusual technique for beatmaking which is extremely fast and fluid. Watch the movie to see him in action.
If you’re having trouble following what he’s doing, here’s how he goes about it:
- Ski Beatz uses Warp Markers as slicing point markers. He listens to a song he’s going to sample, with only the first Warp Marker in place.
- When he hears parts he wants to use, he creates a Warp Marker. Generally, he adds about 10-15 Warp Markers to a song, totally unrelated to Live’s tempo—the metronome is off at this point.
- Once he’s done adding the Warp Markers, he right-clicks on the audio file and selects the “Slice to MIDI Track” command.
- Then he chooses the Warp Marker setting, and his custom slicing preset, you can download this here.
- Ski now has all the points he wants to trigger chromatically laid out on his keyboard. He plays his samples, and while he’s playing with one hand, he hits the “Tap Tempo” button on the APC40 to set the tempo.
- Finally, he turns on the metronome and triggers an empty clip slot to record into.
Professional Course Programmes in Music Production
January 11, 2010
We’ve previously written posts on music production courses which enable you to gain a comprehensive knowledge of creating tracks, in a software specific way and in a genre specific way. On completing one of these courses it is often the case that people wish to move on to study further aspects of music in order to take their production skills to the next level. Having mastered the basics of production in a certain software platform, many people wish to move on to study an intermediate or advanced level course, or to study a genre specific course, or even a more advanced sound design/engineering based course. Of course this is a very sensible approach to attaining a comprehensive all-round knowledge of producing music, the only issue has been the fact that you have to sign up to three or more different courses individually with no reward for your dedication, or at least that was the case until now…
Point Blank Music College have now establish a range of Professional Course Programmes which enable you to combine a variety of individual course modules to form a longer 36 week programme. This new combination can be tailored to suit your indiviual needs, with the ability to pick from the college’s extensive variety of modules ranging from a beginner’s introduction to software right through to an advanced sound design module. Thus, these new Professional Course Programmes are comprehensive packages designed to take you from rookie to professional in a matter of months. By combining a series of courses, you can build specific programme that is focussed on the software and skills that fit your needs.
In addition to the great prospect of being able to customize a programme to provide you with exactly what you need Point Blank also reward you for your commitment to undertaking a multiple of courses by offering a saving of £500 when compared to booking such courses individually. All-in-all the new programmes are a fantastic way to gain a great deal of knowledge in a relatively short time scale, and as we’ve previously posted the college offers highly skilled and experienced professional producers to teach you all you need to know and to get you tracks reaching that high quality, professional standard.
So to get an all inclusive experience of making music check out the Point Blank Music College Website for a whole load more information on what course may be right for you and how to get enrolled. You can also check out the video below for a little taster of the what a music production course can offer you:
