Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life - Artist in Residence

"Like This" Artwork (first posting anywhere)

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:09:00 -0500

Thanks to my man DJ Pauly Rafelle for designing the cover to the next Vinyl Life single "Like This" which will feature remixes from Indaba members AJ Wells and Do1 R. Check it out:

This will be available worldwide December 15th. Very excited about this!

New tutorials coming next week - stay tuned...

Work in Raymond Scott's Studio

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:06:00 -0500

I never promote plugins. But this deserves some attention. This is an inexpensive (10.69 Euros) emulation of an old electronic music studio, pre-synthesizers. Like the Raymond Scott days.

Download Berna HERE

Where do you stand on digital DJing?

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:09:00 -0500

I am a long time vinyl collector and
DJ. It is my preferred medium for spinning. Maybe it's how I grew
up doing this. Maybe I just simply prefer the way it sounds, feels, and
the large artwork. When CDs came along, it definitely lightened the load
and also made it possible for us to play remixes and original productions that
were never going to make it to wax. But we all knew that spinning CDs,
while convenient, was never as fun as the real thing. With the recent
introduction of Serato and Traktor, we can now control digital files with a
vinyl record. (Ok, it's been around for 5 or so years.) I was given
a copy of Traktor and the Audio 8 hardware for free, so I figured I would take
the plunge, get a laptop, and see if I even liked spinning on this
format. I certainly have trash-talked laptop DJing many times in my life,
so I might as well see what it is all about.

The good: You can obviously travel
internationally or domestically with a huge library of music in one bag.
Doubles of every record in your collection on both decks is pretty sweet
too. Traktor has a bunch of great FX.

The bad: If you're not using WAVs, there
is a noticeable compromise of sound quality. Sorry, but MP3s don't sound so
good. The feel, while very close, is not the same as the real
thing. It is a pain in the ass to setup before a gig (but probably not as
bad as carrying crates). When using this in the studio, I hate hearing
the control signal tone coming off the stylus. You know what I'm talking
about. I also think manufacturers should press up shorter control vinyls
with bigger grooves. I also prefer flipping thru a crate than searching
thru a play list.

Culturally speaking, I also have been
bothered by the fact that everyone is now given instant access to something
that once took years to acquire. By that, I am talking about the art of collecting records. Shopping at record stores was a huge part of DJ culture, and now
it faces extinction (at least in the US). Digging
in dollar bins is something that the next (or current) generation of DJs will
probably never know about. Nowadays, collections are copied from one
drive to another. People are overwhelmed with digital content (most of it
stolen too, but that's another story for another time). This also
gives the keys to DJing to people who may not have earned it by putting
in time over many years. This may be the reason why I am hearing so many
trainwrecks in bars these days. Just because you have a bunch of music, it
doesn't mean you don't have to know how to really spin. To play devil's
advocate I will also admit that I learned by trainwrecking publicly in bars, so
I will save my judgments because they are good for nothing.

I do have to face the facts though.
For better or for worse, this is where DJing is headed. Video DJing is on
the rise too. But I gotta admit, when I walk into a party, and the DJ is
playing real records, it'll put a smile on my face every time. However,
the most important thing is what music the DJ is actually spinning and it doesn't
matter if they are playing it from a record, CD, laptop, hologram, or directly
out of their brain. It's coming one of these days, I'm sure.

I'd love to hear what you think about all this. Please post some
responses. Thanks.

"Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby." - Marvin Gaye

Like This contest responses

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:03:00 -0400

Sorry to repeat myself, but you all did a great job. So great in fact that I needed another day to pick a winner. I would like to make the following comments:

Alex Wells - Dude, you're only 18? This mix is brilliant. My only slight criticism is the vox are too dry during verses.

Do1 R - Great job. Its instrumentation reminds me of tracks by Smash Mechanics, Phaze's other project. The drops are all on point - they make the arrangement interesting. The vocals did slide a bit toward the end. This track was definitely a finalist for me. Can I get a WAV? I will def spin this when I DJ. Reverb on the kick? Ballsy move but it works. Let's finish working on this together.

Barry Felipe - The only thing missing is a good mixdown. Although the production chops are not there, the track is bangin'. I am def down to help you finish the mixing and mastering. We'll talk.

Phil Turney - Also a finalist. Yours was Richie Roxx's pick. Well produced, nice beats. Again, good use of new and old parts. Sick effects too!

Miss G - Love that filtered gtr and the use of our Juno chords.
Especially like the way you cut up the vox. That one synth loop
arpeggio thing threw me off, though. That's a tough sound to hear over
and over again.

Noah & the Man - Nice big & full sound and great arrangement. Bassline was a little too "in your face" for me, but that doesn't take away from the fact that you kids know what the hell u r doing in the lab. Very pro.

Coleman Trapp - Good track and slick move to add an MC.

Lars - Interesting use of shuffle and off-beat stuff. Very original. Amazing tape sounds in intro.

L-D - This one shows that you will probably by a millionaire someday by making a huge dance rock hit. However, I think it needed more variation. Too much of the same gtr loops. Listen to some Chemical Brothers and beats made for the Beastie Boys and you'll hear how they keep the monentum by having sh*t constantly change.

Tomas L - Phaze & I both love the way you re-used our parts. Beat is a little simple for my liking, but you should be proud, this is great work man.

Mike K - Dope production. Def a fan of the 808 rim madness that you have, the vox fx, and the kick is sick too (although slighty too loud). Richie Roxx loved this one as well.

Rick Sankev - Wow this is different. Love the samples and your unique approach. Nice vox processing & switching up the beats and timing of vox. Dope.

Secret Stash - I loved the old school breakers beat and the BDP/JB stab. Vox timing needs some work, though.

Vit - Let me tell you how psyched I was when the contest started and the first mix was awesome! Nasty synths, sickness.

This was an incredible experience all around. We'll def be doing this again soon. Thanks Indaba and all the participants.

Like This judging

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:05:00 -0400

Yes, this is a difficult decision. I will take my time and go thru all of them. I appreciate everyone who particiapated and all of your hard work. Stay tuned. Peace from NYC.

Circuit Bending for sounds

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:26:00 -0400

Have you ever heard about circuit bending? This hobby/art/way of making very interesting sounds has been around for a while and has gained lots of popularity in recent years. The web is full of resources on this topic and now there are even some very informative books out there, most notably Circuit-Bending: Build Your Own Alien Instruments by pioneer Reed Ghazala, the man who coined the term.

In short, circuit bending is the modifying of electronic devices in the interest of making sounds that the manufacturer did not intend. It can be as simple as a wire that connects two points on the circuit board, or as complex as adding countless knobs, buttons, switches, patch bays, jacks, and rehousing the unit in a new case. If you don't know anything about electronics, do not be intimidated. Circuit bending requires no knowledge of electronics. All you need is a little patience, some tools, some time, and something to bend. Old toys, drum machines, Casio keyboards, or basically anything that is electronic and generates sound can be bent.

Circuit bent Speak & Spell, also known as an incantor. I did this one with Ghazala's help a few years back.

Although I will shed some light on this toopic, the world of circuit bending is way beyond the scope of this blog post. I recommend the above book by Ghazala or the article that I found in Electronic Musician magazine back in 2003 that got me
interested in this cult hobby. From there, you can google many sites,
youtube vids, etc that will all give you a little knowledge. Keep in
mind that this is an art of discovery and you will also be teaching
yourself a lot along the way. Note about safety: wear goggles,
ventilate the room, and never bend something that is plugged in. This
is for low-voltage, battery-powered devices only.

Bending basics: After opening the case and exposing the guts (circuit board and components) of a noise-making toy or instrument, your first mission is to make connections of different points to see if they change the sound in any way. This can be done with a your fingers (you are a conductor), the tips of an rca cable, any wire or probe. So, you need to continually make a sound while poking around to find potential "bends". If something sounds interesting, make a note of it. From there you can try any number of switches, pots, or body contacts that can later be connected and used to engage or tweek your new found effects. One of the easiest and most essential bends is to put an output jack, either 1/4" or 1/8", on the unit so you can send it to an amplifier or mixing board. The full frequency range is never head thru a one inch speaker. In fact, the first bend I ever did was putting a 1/4" jack on a toy piano from a board game.

Notability, my first bend. Check out the output jack and the volume knob. Suprisingly, this sucker was LOUD.

This video shows my first recording of a bent Roland TR-626 - a 1 bar loop and some of the
possible bends that are now easily achieved by swapping RCA cables.
This is just the beginning of the possiblities here.

The above video and the description below are of a slightly advanced bend, but very do-able to say the least. You may want to start with something easier if you've never soldered before. All props to Burnkit 2600 for their extremely informative page where I learned about the 626 bends.

Basically, in the 626 there is a chip with 32 points that stores the samples that make up the drum kit. It is known as IC15. (IC stands for integrated circuit.) When simply connecting any of these 2 points with a wire, the sounds get scrambled, distorted, flanged, and become atonal. 32x32 leaves for a lot of possibilities. I connected 25 of these to a DB25 port like the kind you would see on an old printer. Then I made a RCA patch bay out of 4 panels of 8 RCA jacks glued into a project enclosure. This new box has the 32 jacks and a DB25 port on it, with 25 of the jacks connected to the DB25 pins. By using an old 25 to 25 pin SCSI cable, the two boxes are now joined and by using the RCA patch bay, many combinations can be made. I regret not doing this with a larger DB port, but these are the parts I had and I figured it would still present a lot of possibilites.

Inside the 626, here's the IC15 chip connected to the lugs on the DB25 port.

Interior of the RCA patch bay

The 2 ports on the exterior of the Roland and on the RCA bay

Tools you will need: a soldering iron and solder, wire, wire cutters & strippers, pliers, screwdrivers (small and regular), fresh batteries, and whatever components (pots, knobs, switches, etc) you want to experiment with. A dremel or drill is good for making holes in things for surface mounting components. There's plenty more that will be useful but these are essential. Just round up whatever tools (especially small stuff) you can.

Good luck, and if you need help, let me know. If you make anything interesting, we want to hear it and see some pics.

Like This contest is up!

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:08:00 -0400

Hey kids. I'm very excited that we've got the remix contest for "Like This" up and running. Can't wait to hear what you all do with it. We will be giving as first prize 50% of the profits made from the purchase of the winning remix. Yes, that is a good deal. Your remix will be available on Beatport, iTunes, Juno UK, and many more. We may do a vinyl release too.

I want to hear some original sounds so don't be afraid to not play it too safe. I was in a class the other day and we were discussing going out of the box (conceptually, not analog vs. digital). I've been thinking a lot about tracks that have permeated DJ sets and broken down walls by being experimental but having that one thing that keeps it in the genre. It could be the tempo or the backbeat. Imagine a track that only subscribes to one familiarity, like a common drum pattern, but everything else is completely original and crazy. Just something I've been thinking about for some new material that I'll be working on. For your remix, just keep it original and true to what you'd like to hear. I'm also interested in reading about your processes and how you made the sounds that are in your track.

Best of luck to you. Holla when you got something.

P.S. If you live in the NY area, we're having a big album release party this Saturday, Sept 5th @ Santos Party House. Details here.

Anything is possible

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:07:00 -0400

I'm writing this post today in hopes that it may rub off some inspiration on you to believe that anything is possible with your music. As a DJ/producer, one of the best ways to get our music heard is to give it to other DJs for their sets. It's unbelievable how accessible we all are now thanks to the internet and more specifically, the social network sites where almost everyone has a profile. It may seem like shooting fish in a barrel (or finding a needle in a haystack if you prefer that cliche) to get some of the big names to hear our tracks and respond with feedback, let alone play it to a big crowd. But I testify to you today that I had a chance to talk to one of my own heroes yesterday and he had some great feedback for me on my album. Some of my first releases were brought into the world by giving away demo CDs at WMC in Miami. Other times, I've solicited labels and just got lucky. You never know until you try. I suggest you make a list of all the labels, DJs, blogs, etc that you think might have an interest in your music. In the next column, do some research and find the email address, name, URL and maybe even phone # of the contact who might receive your tunes. If there is any dialog, make a note of it and continue a correspondance with that person. They may say "thanks, but we're not interested" to which you should reply "Thanks for listening, I will send you more in the future". Make sure you stick to that promise, they will now know who you are.

Now, I don't want you to send the third track you ever made to the ten biggest DJs in the world. Believe me, they get tons of stuff everyday from their own colleagues to go through. But if there's a song that you just know would fit into a particular DJs crate, then go for it. Just make sure it is of a professional quality and can hang with some of the other music out there. Be patient, don't expect an immediate response, but be persistent in sending different final products to the appropriate destinations, and eventually, someone will take notice. A career is built one song, one performance, one review, and one experience at a time.

Most importantly, try to connect on personal level. Spamming on myspace was played out in 2007, so how do you think it appears now? If you do want DJ so-and-so to hear your tune, then write a sincere and email along the lines of "Hey So-and-so. I heard you spin 7 times in my hometown. I've got your first 14 records and all of your mixes. You've been an inspiration to me and I want you to hear my track." This will probably get you further than copy/pasting "Yo check out my new single on my myspace page!" to every "friend" in your network.

Also, if you are going to solicit a label, at least know what they put out. Sending disco house to a psytrance label is a waste of your time and theirs.

Any other success stories out there?

TUTORIAL 3 - Sequencing Tips

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:09:00 -0400

We've discussed sampling and sound design and now it's time for another "S" of electronic music, sequencing. The old lyric is true - it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. The feel of music, the groove, the subtlety of timing - these are the things that seperate something that feels funky from something that feels like a computer was involved and not a human. There's many ways to approach sequenencing beats depending on the equipment you use, but some things are universal. Sometimes perfect timing is desired and sometimes we gotta take that quantizing off. What's important is that you know several ways to approach this. As with most things musical, the greater your "vocabulary", the more control you will have over the outcome.

Let's begin by discussing quantize. This is a feature found in all midi sequencers and most drum machines that will correct your timing. Let's face it, most of us are not going to play tight 16th notes at any tempo. But do we have to quantize everything? Tip #1: try performing some tracks with quantize off. Trust me, this is how all of your favorite professional beats are made. This is especially true for those of us making hip hop and r & b at slower tempos. Have you ever listened to a funk band and analyzed the groove? It's all over the place and that's a good thing. Make yourself a beat with the kick and snare/clap with no quantize. Some snares are going to fall into the pocket (behind the beat) and some will be ahead of the beat. Being midi, you can always go back and slide around the ones that sound way off. Now try the opposite. Try making the hi hats loose without quantize and make the snares and kicks dead on the grid. Now try everything with no quantize. It my take a few takes to get a performance you like, but it's way worth it. You will hear right away how much more natural this is. Try this with any and every instrument, not just the drums. I've found that a combination of quantized and live work great together.

Let's discuss the pocket some more. Snares and claps that fall on the backbeat (beats 2 and 4) are typically found in all genres of pop music. Funk drummers are known for having the snare happen a little late, or behind the beat. Experiment with this by sliding all of your 2 and 4 events to the right a little in your sequencer. On the MPC, you would use the "shift timing" feature. Do you feel how this affects the groove? Now let's try sliding these to the left or ahead of the beat. This may create an anxious, rushed feeling. This is very effective for those of us who make house/techno/dance/pop at faster tempos. You should also try this with your open hi hats that happen on the upbeats. Do you feel the difference? If you work with loop based sequncers like Live or Acid, you will have experienced this without knowing it because breaks and loops generally will have a certain swing to them already.

Tip #2: Swing is a feature that must be used and explored. Sometimes it's
called "shuffle" or "groove quantize". It's present in all sequencers except for the oldest
drum machines like the 808. Even the 909 has a classic shuffle that is
integral to its sound. Anyways, you'll have to investigate your
sequencer or drum machine to find the swing. Logic offers all kinds of
swings in its quantize menu. Reason recently implemented the ReGroove
module to its rack. The MPC has a classic swing that ranges from 50%
(dead on) to 75% (swinging like a sunovabitch). In short, almost all sequencers have swing features and they're not that hard to use. Just apply them to your beats and listen for the feel. Become familiar with how your sequencer deals with swing, shuffle, and groove quantizing and use them to break the boredom of computer perfect beats.

It wouldn't hurt to also study some music theory on rhythm. Have you ever noticed the effect that Latin music has on people who want to dance? Nothing gets asses shaking like Latin and African music. Tip #3: I highly recommend, especially if you make dance music of any kind, that you dedicate some time to learning these rhythms and incorporating them into your tunes. This subject is extremely deep and you could dedicate a lifetime to studying it. I recommend you do whatever research you can and even go as far as to take percussion lessons with a real teacher. Don't forget that the word "musician" is half of the phrase "electronic musician". Once again, a bigger musical vocabulary will expand the possibilites in your music. Don't limit your influences to the style that you are currently making. Draw from the world of music, not just your primary genre.

Let's keep this discussion open. I would love to hear if ths helps any of you as well as your own tips to sequencing. I'm sure you all have a lot to say. Thanks.

Album out today!

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:08:00 -0400

Hey Indaba family. I'm happy to let you know that yesterday I picked up my copies of the new Vinyl Life LP that I've been working on for a long time. It took 3 years to finish the music and just getting the LP made was quite an adventure. Thanks to the folks at Brooklyn Phono for being on point every step of the way. If you need wax, give them a try. Check out this player to hear the album:

If you'd like to get yourself one of the first copies hot off the press, go to the Tape Theory shop. Thanks for your support!

P.S. Remix contest will be up anyday now and check for tutorial # 3 on sequencing this week too!

Makin' Rekidz

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:06:00 -0400

I'm in the process of having my first LP record cut. In the past, I've had 12" singles on other labels, but this time, I am seeing firrst hand what an in-depth process this is and why many labels want nothing to do with vinyl. To me, this makes it even more special to be doing real records in 2009.

First of all, if you plan on doing a release both digitally and on wax, you have to submit two different masters. While DIY mastering is possible in the digital domain to an extent, records can only be mastered by people with the right equipment and the right ears. So, when you submit a CD for replication or digital downloading, you get an exact copy of what you submit (except for the MP3 encoding for dowloads). Vinyl mastering, on the other hand, needs to consider panning, low frequncies, sibilant frequencies, duration of sides, and some other factors. After mastering comes electro plating. This is a process where the cut lacquers from the mastering engineer are covered in a thin layer of metal to make the stamps that make the records. Finally, there's the record plant who will send you a few test presses so that you can determine if evereything sounds ok and that you can proceed with making all of the copies.

If you are having special jackets and labels printed, this may require yet another party to be involved. Some places are a one stop shop but you need to be sure you are getting a good price and a quality product. Keep in mind that CDs and LPs have different dimensions for the artwork so that's another set of templates to be submitted from your art department.

Is throwing your stuff on iTunes and promoting it online easy? Maybe. However, if you know what it's like to lay down a needle into a groove while looking at a 12 x 12 piece of artwork, you may consider going the extra mile. And the sound...that's an argument for another time. (We all know vinyl wins, right?)

Caught in the web

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:09:00 -0400

There's sites popping up everyday that are trying to revolutionize the way music is heard/distributed/promoted/recorded/produced(indaba, anyone?). Some of them are innovative and some of them are jumping on the band wagon to make a quick buck. I'm def not feeling Sonic Bids - I think it's a scam and they're clearly all about making money and not about providing a quality service. And of all demographics to rip off, none is broker or more vulnerable than the starving musician. Shame on them. Obviously, I'm into the way Indaba works and the new look & functionality is awesome! I'd also like to tell you about a site that I think is worth checking out, bandcamp.com. This is not an endorsement, merely a satisified customer's reaction. I use the word "customer" loosely because it is a FREE service. These guys were apparently fed up with the way that myspace and other sites with band profiles work. Low quality streams, bad graphics, and advertisements are not found here. You simply set up a very neat artist page where people can hear the tunes (which always load instantly) and either download for free, for exchange of an email address, or for money which goes 100% directly to you via paypal. I set up a page for the new Vinyl Life album and it has been an invaluable tool for getting the music to the blogs and fans. I am also able to monitor stats on playback in pretty good detail. It's a real no-nonsense way of promoting your tunes. Thanks to them. Make sure you read their FAQ - hysterical!

Also, we're getting real close to the launch date for the "like This" remix contest so get your samples over to the #1 AIR Session asap. Thanks. Peace.

AIR Remix Contest #1

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:53:00 -0400

Alright, thanks for tuning in these last few months. Coming soon is the first Vinyl Life remix contest on Indaba. Check THIS SESSION where you can contribute your sounds and download the community's samples, including the ones I used to make "Like This". This song will be on my next album and will also be released as a single on Tape Theory. The winning remix will be on that single. Let's do it.

P.S. If you want to hear the album online, check out vinyllife.com to preview the whole album. No snippits. You heard it here first.

SOUND SOURCE - Microphones

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:06:00 -0400

It's usually the most obvious things that get over looked, right? I had an epiphany after upgrading my studio a year ago that the most quintessential piece of studio gear, the mixing board, was my "secret weapon". I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Having better preamps and EQs opened up a new quality of sound that I have never achieved at home. Other features like direct outs on every channel and six aux sends per channel also inspired some of my best work. And analog summing is where it's at for me as well.

The reason i bring this up is because I also overlooked microphones as a sound source in electronic music production for many years. It was always synths and samplers with me. Now I realize that even the cheapest microphones can unlock the doors to a vast sound library. In the first tutorials, I encouraged people to spend a session just making sounds and not programming beats. I also recommend getting out a mic or two and some percussion and letting the tape roll while you find all the sounds hiding in an instrument. This can be something conventional or a found object. If you have a hi hat on a stand, grab a stick, set up a mic, and record a "performance" of as many different sounds that you can find on the cymbal. There's infinite places you can strike the surface, with different hitting power, and with the choke open or closed. One time i was hating the limited shakers I had in my collection so I filled up different containers with rice, dry beans, coins, and whatever else I could find. After recording a bunch of different hits, listen back, erase the ones you don't like, and export the ones you do like into folders for later use. This is also great for adding an acoustic element to your sound palatte which may presently be entirely electronic.

These acoustic sounds don't need to be chopped and sampled. I encourage you to lay down live shaker tracks, or live percussion of any kind. The "live" element works so well because it sounds natural and not programmed. This can be a nice contrast to the rigidity of some electronic programming. If you use a loop based sequencer, like Live or Acid, try jamming to a click and then exporting things that are one or more bars long. Building up your loop library with your own live percussion is way better than dipping into Latin Percussion Vol. 3 or whatever it is your software comes pre-packaged with.

At the very least, try adding one track of any live instrument to any section of your next tune and let me know how it works out for you. Good luck.

Album almost complete!

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:03:00 -0400

After about 3 years, I am putting the VERY final touches on the debut Vinyl Life artist album. These last two weeks have been especially intense: finishing "final" mixes for the 17th time, re-mastering tracks that were "done" 2 years ago, graphic design insanity, you name it. My advice to anyone who is putting together an album is this: if you have a deadline, expect it to be days, weeks, or even months after the deadline for the project to be complete. It's not everyday that you will pull thousands of dollars out of your pocket to make permenant all of your musical ideas for the world to hear eternally. Get the ball rolling on the artwork WAY in advance because graphic designers need time. Nothing more frustrating than finishing the music while you wait on text to be pushed around. We're pressing vinyl and cd's (tapes too!) so i'm mastering for 2 formats plus 2 different sets of artwork & labels.

However, all this extra work doesn't bother me. We do this for the love of the art, for the process, and because the universe tells us to do so. I hope someone enjoys hearing this collection of tunes as much as I had fun making it.

Stay tuned because we'll be having a remix contest coming soon. So, keep creating sounds in the meantime, and if you have any questions about the process of getting an album together, hit me with a message.

Peace.

TUTORIAL: KRAFTING ORIGINAL DRUM SOUNDS PART 2

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Tue, 26 May 2009 03:03:00 -0400

In our first tutorial, we discussed layering sounds together. This time, we are going to perform real-time processing, knob turning, and tweaking to transform one sound into many. The performance will be recorded, and the best stuff exported for future use. Once again, this will work for any setup, and we will discuss the hardware and software applications of this technique. The following tutorial applies to the processing of a single drum sound. Obviously, this can be done with any sample.

The basic idea is to program a single sound to play steadily like a metronome. Start with a quarter note at 60 bpm and adjust to taste. Route that sound through a series of processors that you can tweak in real time, so that every time there is a hit, you are turning some knobs to get a different sound. In the following example, I’ve sent a TR-909 open hi hat into the Sherman Filterbank and then the Pioneer EFX1000. The performance was recorded into Pro Tools for editing. Check the session I created for this tutorial to hear this example. In the 1.5 minutes that I recorded, some of the sounds are useful, and some would get deleted. Editing happens later, just get busy on the knobs and try different combinations of source material vs. effects chains.

If you are a computer musician, you can use a software drum machine, software sampler, or DAW to do the same thing. Lay out a repeating sound on one track, put a bunch of plugins on it, and bus the output to a second track where you record the effects performance. In the example to the right, I’ve layed one of my hi hats from before at a regular interval and then routed it through a series of plugins: a McDSP Filterbank, a virtual moogerfooger lowpass filter, and some delay. TIP: If you are a Pro Tools user, click on the little red bullseye on your plug-ins to allow you to have multiple plug-in windows open at once. I also would encourage you to route your sounds out of your audio interface, into a bunch of guitar pedals, and then back into the box. During play/record, make subtle or broad adjustments to your effects parameters, have fun, and make as many different sounds as you can. Again, an example of the plug-in processing can be heard at THIS SESSION.

Next, we edit. You should have a file that looks like the waveform above - a repeating sound that has gone through some serious processing. Pro Tools users should hit Command-U (Ctrl-U on PC) to bring up the “Strip Silence” dialog (below). (If you use another DAW and there is a feature like this, let the community know.) Add a little release and hit the strip button. Now your sounds are separated into their own regions. Go through it and make sure their endings didn’t get cut too short. I would also listen to everything and delete any sounds that aren’t useful or are exactly the same as some of the other ones. Now, highlight the chopped up sounds and hit Shift-Command-K to bring up the export regions as files dialog. Pick the bit rate, mono or stereo, and destination folder. This will vary from user to user. I use 16 bit 44.1 kHz WAVs so I can ship them to my MPC. You do what’s best for your setup. If you do not use Pro Tools, I’m sure you can easily figure out how to export the sounds you like into folders for your future use. Propellerhead Recycle is perfect for this.

If you have a synthesizer that has synthesized percussion sounds, this same type of knob-turning performance can yield a gold mine of sounds. Instead of tweeking effects parameters, you’ll have all of the synth’s controls and effects to make an infinite palatte of percussion. I use the Access Virus for this. If you are a Reason user, send very short notes to Subtractor and adjust all the sliders and knobs to create tuned percussion. Subtractor is capable of making some huge bass drums with a sine wave turned down a few octaves. Adjust the mod envelope and release to taste. In the higher octaves, all kinds of electronic percussion is possible. Use the FM knob for some metallic sounds. A high pass filter on white noise makes for great hi hats. Mixing a tom sound with some white noise can result in great electronic snare.

The final tip I will present here is about using the same technique as above, but with analog tape. If you have a reel to reel or just a cassette deck, record a series of sounds to tape, then back to your DAW. Chop ‘em up and export. You can now sequence these warmer, taped sounds to give your tracks an analog quality.

Any questions? If his technique yields some useful sounds, be sure to share them with the community. Now get in the lab and create!

SOUND SOURCE - Vinyl Records

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:00:00 -0400

If you are not hip to this already, let me give you a very
valuable and well known piece of advice: get a turntable. Vinyl samples are some of the richest sound
sources around. They can be incredibly
inexpensive, diverse and fun to dig for. If you are a DJ and you don’t get your hands dirty in the dollar bin, shame
on you. Because it is time extensive to
go through records for samples, sometimes it is helpful to load up folders on our
hard drives or drum machine memory cards with a bunch of samples. Get yourself a nice dusty crate of records
and open up a session in your DAW or get ready to load up your hardware
sampler. Make a stereo track in your sequencer and let it roll while you go through
some records. If you’re patient, you can
go through the whole record to find that hidden gem. If you are interested in
scoring many samples in one session, check the intro, outro, and break of every
song on a record. Record the whole
process. Then, after you’ve accumulated
a lot of material, go through it all and export it into folders. EQing or filtering may be done if you know
what you are looking for. Also, labeling
things properly now will help you later. This may take you a few hours, but imagine the next time you sit down to
make a beat and you’ve got all kinds of drums and other samples to choose
from. Rather than stopping the creative
process to find something, you’ll be loaded and ready to rock. Sampling from CDs is okay too, but please no
MP3s. They make your sampler cry.

* Bonus tip for Pro Tools users: learn to use the
Shift-Command-K quick key. This will
export selected regions as their own audio file. We’ll discuss this in more detail in tutorial
#2.*

Legal mumbo jumbo: Unfortunately, sample laws prohibit the use of copyrighted music and sound recordings in your own compostitions. That is not to say that it is not done or it shouldn't be done. Just know the rules of getting obvious samples cleared or know how to creatively disguise them so that it is not an issue. Hopefully in the future, there will be either no rules for this (unlikely) or a set rate the same way that cover songs have a statutory rate. Pardon my paraphrasing here, but I think one of the best arguments I've heard regarding sampling laws wonders why we can't just give credit to the original recording/composition the way an author might have a footnote at the end of an essay. Check out Craig Baldwin's film Sonic Outlaws for more on this topic.

Top photo: BeerNotBombs Bottom photo: MookieLuv via flickr.com

TUTORIAL 1 SESSION: Let's hear some sounds!

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:06:00 -0400

Thanks for the great response so far. As a follow up to our first tutorial together, I have created a session where we can check out some of the sounds that everyone is coming up with. Have you made any banging bass drums? Upload them for us to hear. I posted ten snares in which you can hear the changes as I worked with layering to create a variety of snares based on the same samples. By creating a folder of sounds this way, picking material for your sampler will be easier and you'll have many original sounds at your fingertips. When sequencing, use some sounds that are similar and based on the same raw materials, but have subtle differences. This will give a nice variety to the programming. Try different snares and claps alternating the backbeat (or any beat). Another great example of this is when working with hi hats. It can be pretty boring to hear the same same hi hat machine gun style at sixteenth notes. Try a variety of subtly altered hi hats to create a sequence that has more life to it.

Fig 1: An oldie but goodie. MPC PgmMaker helps easily assign samples to pads for use with the 1000, 2000, etc.

I like to lay down a bunch of similar sounds on the sampler in one shot using MPC Pgm Maker (See Fig. 1), an old app for OS9. There's newer versions out there too. This is invaluable as a way to ship many samples via USB if you use a hardware sampler that supports it. To record a full bank of sounds one by one can take a long time. This type of application will create a program with sounds asigned to the pads and put them in a folder with the .pgm file. Then you just open it up in the MPC and you're sounds are assigned. (See Fig. 2) If you are using something vintage, like an SP1200 or an old AKAI sampler, there's no USB, but it'll def sound better going through the old-school converters.

Fig 2: One of the new snares in the MPC with an additional layer.

You will also notice in the above screen shot, that there is more opportunities to add layers within the sampler. Most software samplers will offer this feature too. If sounds are too similar, like the ones I posted there will probably be some phasing issues, so be aware.

Alright folks, let's hear what you've got. Peace.

TUTORIAL: KRAFTING ORIGINAL DRUM SOUNDS PART 1

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:08:00 -0400

We all have different studio setups
based on preference, space, budget, and other factors. If you don't have
the gear or software we discuss here, figure out a way around it. Getting
buried under patch cables, real or virtual, is integral to exploring new
sounds. I use the computer sometimes to create sounds for easy loading
into my hardware sampler. You may work on a cassette four-track and
import into a software sampler. If so, we want to hear about it and hear
those sounds.

The fastest road to sounding
unoriginal is to use manufacturer presets. Granted, it’s easy to dial up
“Urban Kit #3” on your software drum machine, but is that setting you
apart? What we hope to accomplish in this series of tutorials is to give
you some ideas for creating unique timbres for your drum kit. When you
hand craft each of your sounds to your liking before you lay down your
first note, you put your own stamp on even the smallest building blocks of your
production. Imagine sounds that never existed before coming together to
create something completely original and your own.

Layering

One of the oldest tricks in the
book is to layer multiple samples to create a thicker, more interesting
sound. But have you ever considered doing this in preparation for beat
building? I suggest you spend a few sessions making multiple folders of
original sounds and then going to town without having to locate a kick from
here and a snare from there. First thing you should do is create a new
folder on your hard drive (you’re using an external drive dedicated to audio,
correct?) for all of your new samples. From there, you should create
other subfolders for the following tutorials and all of your
experimenting. This will prove as an endless resource of original sounds
for the rest of your life.

Now I know I just bashed preset
sounds, but they can be a good source for this exercise. So can sounds
recorded with a microphone, from records, drum machines, or anywhere.
Let’s start with kick drums. Because of their obvious low end
characteristics, phase cancellation is more likely than with snares or other
parts of the kit so keep your ears open. Import five to ten bass drums
that you like the sound of into a DAW (or into your hardware sampler).
Try to be diverse and find ones that have various characteristics: boom, punch,
beater, thump, etc. Begin by creating 5 audio tracks and lower all of the
faders to about -10dB because clipping will occur if you do not. Also,
create a master fader (mono preferred) to control the level and sound of everything. Lay
the samples down so they all have the same start point. (See
Fig. 1)

Now, the first thing you hear may be a loud mess or it may be
interesting on the first try. Export this into a new folder called
“Layered Kicks” and the date or something to that effect. This will be
one of many exports. Any time you come across something you like the sound of,
immediately export it. You’ll never know what these will sound like
tomorrow or in five years as your ears become more tuned to what samples you
like in your tracks, so it's good to capture many. Next thing to do is
play with the mute buttons and see what combinations of sounds work
together. Usually, it only takes 2 or 3 kicks to sound great without
phasing but you never know.Anything sound good? Export it.

Fig. 1: Five bass drums lined up in a DAW before any muting, levels, or plug-ins

Work with levels. You may choose to automate the fader of individual tracks or the master fader to create a desired envelope - whatever it takes to get something that sounds good to you. Keep exporting as you find balanced levels that you
like. Now, we get to the fun stuff – effects. Put plug-ins on your
master fader as well as the individual tracks. Try combinations of eq,
filters, and compressors to sculpt bass drums that make your speakers
bump. Remember to export anytime you come across something good.
Next, try more extreme effects: distortions, amp simulators, etc. Now may
be a good time to import some alternate samples to replace the few that you are
working with. Continue to fine tune and bounce a variety of sounds.
For bass drums, I would probably do the bounces in mono. It’s a good idea
to leave a little headroom on a stereo master fader when bouncing to mono to
avoid clipping. Go back and listen to your exports and see how they sound
before moving on to another part of the kit.

For claps and snares,
stereo is good. Try importing a wide variety of claps and snares and
introduce panning to your process. Again, begin with a few dry sounds,
and then play with mutes, levels, and panning to achieve new timbres (See Fig. 2). You
can layer many claps and snares together and it will still sound great.
Offsetting them by a few milliseconds is the key to getting a rich sound like a clap track. Check out Fig. 3 to see the waveform of a 909 clap. Work the basic effects and then try more extreme things. Did I mention
that you should be exporting often? After that, try making hi hats,
cymbals and especially miscellaneous percussion both electronic and
acoustic. We all are into different styles, but we can all benefit from
things outside of the traditional drum kit instrumentation. The
possibilities are endless.

Fig. 2: Several snares and claps lined up with panning, levels, and plug-ins.

After a session like this, you should have a
bunch of folders of your own original raw materials. The next few beats
you make will contain sounds that have never existed outside of your studio.

Fig. 3: The classic 909 clap sample is comprised of several claps with some spacing, just like a real human clap track.

"I'm just glad to be on the show, thank you" - Prince Paul

Phil Moffa | Vinyl Life — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:08:00 -0400

Yes yes y'all. Thanks to Indaba Music for having me as their
first Artist In Residence. I love what
Indaba represents and I hope to use this medium to create an environment for
all musicians to learn about electronic music production, aesthetics, and
concepts. In this space you will find lessons,
discussions, videos, sound files, and ideas. We will go through a series of tutorials followed by collaborations.
Do you have interesting methods of crafting your sounds? We want to hear about it. Yes, we are going to have fun. Stay
tuned.

Tristram Cary's hand-built electronic music studio, Fressingfield late 60's.