Chapter 17 - Track structure (part 2)

Track structure (part 2)

NO BASS !
After some experiments with bass in the tracks I decided, bass is not very good to be included in this type of track.
The track's structure is minimal, when I drop the bass in the track, most part of the other small sounds are inaudible. I don't know why but this can be because of the frequency of the sound.
Another thing that put me off of the bass... the minimal feeling of the tracks changing totally and I am forced to have a melody, wish to change all the direction I want to take on this project.

At the moment, I am choosing the right sounds of the kaossilator for each background sound and drum loops More updates soooooooon :)

Hello Friends

 Hi Friends

Hello my friends and welcome to my privet blog.
Here is the reason ,I have been ask you your email addresses :)

If you didn't read this blog from star, I will advise you to do.
But what is this ? you wonder...
Well , this is the part where I start to show to my close friends what I been doing and I have a plane...

I like to invite all of you for a music session at my place. Dont ask me when !
Things still have to be well set up and I want to show you the final product, but will not be to long from now.

The reason I start now to contact you , because I have some tracks nearly ready and I will like to show you and to listen your opinions.
Who's best to do that ?? YOU !

I know it can be painful but I can handle some hear plugs just in case :)

Mean time, this was just to push your attention and to keep you involved in the progress of this project.
Till then.. please keep reading as I am close to the end of the first round of tracks.

Speak soon and thank you for pay some attention to the weird shit I do :)

Chapter 16 - Track Structure (part 1)

Track Structure Experiments

Finally I catch up with my self :)

This is where I am writing as I am doing the things !
I am at the moment in the music structure, I have recorded the sounds and I have listen, I took some decisions and I will need to change:
1* Start of the track
2* Use more bass
3* Make more unrecorded sound movements with the Kaossilator

4* End of the Track

The reasons are:

1* Star of the tracks are always the same way.
This is because I am working with no synchronizer.
First I play the Improvised sound made in the kaossilator, next
The Drums , next
The background, next
more sounds.
This is ok and probably will be the total structure of the track but listen 10 tracks starting the same way and finish the same way can be a bit too much !?  I think !


2* I listen the tracks and they need bass... again, my girlfriend , say no !
I will try to use some more bass in the tracks and listen how it sounds.

3* Make more unrecorded sound movements with the Kaossilator.
Some low parts in the track need to use more (spare) sound FX, this helps to create movement in the track.


4* The end of the track, like the start, its always the same way.


 End of the track is the same, always !
Always start with the drums and finish with the drums.
At the end I have to switch off
The background, next,
The FX and at the end ,
The drums.

I can find some different ways to finish the track, the structure will have to be always like this but I can use other effects to cover the basic structure at the end.

* Track Structure
I start with a Kaossilator sound and next,,come in the drums. The sound looping with the drums will sound desynchronized for a start but after some time looping together, they start to transform into a synchronized rhythm.
Next come the background sound, that works exactly at the same tempo of the drum loop.
Here, the melody is created already from nothing and I am just follow the vibe by now:)

This makes all the difference because all the music produced , is produced and recorded just one time and is never the same again, totally unpredictable, can be the same sounds but the melody and effects are always played in a different way and this create a ambient vibe very nice and mental to hear.
Yes, very nice  :)

BUT
Start the track with the drums, its too violent !
For this reason, I start the track with the FX sound of the Kaossilator.
This despy the fact, that the drums will come next and not synchronized with the sound played, but the drum loops + the FX, soon start to make sense in your head :) :) and at this moment, it is just a melody created with the FX and the drums.
After this first 2 sounds are playing together, I come in with the background sound and after the background sounds , then I apply more sounds , change the rhythm, etc...

Very fun :)

Chapter 15 - Add Instruments

New Instruments Experiments.

I ad a friend visited me during a weekend, he is a shy musician but have a lot of instruments including lots of drums (as it is a drummer:)

My friend bring me a Micro Korg

The Micro Korg
Its very good but too limited to work.
Its nice to take some sounds but just that !
Its a vocoder too and that is good for voices as some sounds. Can make a very original effect in the music.
Its a very good equipment for live performances but not in the style of the music I try to make here.
I will say, its more a (techno minded) music machine



a Mixer

The Mixer
Here we connected everything.


and a Kaoss Pad

The Kaoss pad
It can be very useful to make some final effects in the total music or can make small variations in the final sound played. He can make some extra sounds on top and other special effects.
With Kaoss pad, I think is good just to make some very small changes in the total sound but is the only one I can see included as a 1 more instrument.

For now, my friend leave me the Kaoss Pad for me to have a try but he will take it back in some months time.
I end up do not use this much.

Chapter 14 - Loops VS Kaossilator

Him and Her !!

Kaossilator and WAVDJ .
Now I have the background sounds in the buttons (by now I have 18 backgrounds)
and I have 6 different drum loops in the 6 drum buttons this make:
18 background sounds
6 drum loops
= 3 background sounds for each drum loop, like that I can change the background sound 3 times in 1 track.
They are all at the same 110BPM.

Putting all together and start to play....

After I have both playing at the same time, I start the kaossilator at the same BPM and I make some sound effects; by now, the drums and the background are looping at the same time and the kaossilator sounds are giving a color to the music as I ad many other effects.

As I go along with the sounds and loops , I can play with the mixer of the machine (wavdj) and have the drum loop ,on and off or the background sound or the kaossilator on and off  too.
This is a good help to dont have the same sounds looping for to long.

The kaossilator is a very nice complement for the wavdj.
I have been construct this track with a vision of a Industrial Ambient, so I haver been looking for Industrial sound loops for background and I make the Drum Loops to sound Industrial too but the sounds of the kaossilator make the track much more soft and Ambient.

I recognized that my Drum loops are a bit too (breaks) even be at 110BPM.
(Later I will writ about the Track structure)

This explanation of the track construction, is just the result of my first experience, I probably will be changing things and the structure of the tracks , tempo or other.

3- Backg. VS Drum Loops

Project Start - Backgrounds VS Drum Loops

I did talk about this in the chapter before but I still looking the best way for start the tracks.
The Kaossillator is good to start with sounds but the drums never start on time because wavdj have a big delay, this make the first sounds of the track to be off tempo.
On other hand ,this make a very interesting sound pattern in the melody and is always an improvised sound that will be arranged during the track

After I did some backgrounds and try, I realize that the backgrounds with rhythmic (nuances) sounds are more hard to get at the same drum tempo when I try to mix (background + drum loop) in the machine.

This difficulty didn't happen before with the first background sounds I did ,because they are not so much Industrial .
The first lot of backgrounds I did was more melodic , with long pads and they always go fine with the drum loops at first.
Basically, backgrounds have to be stable sounds and long, not short and rhythmic but I have choose some very rhythmic backgrounds for this Industrial tracks :(

2- Drum Loops

Project Start - Drum Loops

Drum Loops
Part of the wavdj used to change the drums in the program.

I can change all the patterns in the drums , include percussions.
This feature is very limited (as all) the only thing that can be change is the BPMs and the loop patterns, but the instrument sounds will remain the same.

This is the loop part of the wavdj machine.
(here is the drum loops buttons on the machine. 6 different drum loops for each style)


Here is where the things get complicated as this loop machine is not synchronized with nothing.
For this reason ,the background sounds and drum loops have to be exactly at the same BPM.

Next mission is to get this two parts playing at the same time (drums & Background sound) , this require a lots of preciseness to click the button of the effects at the same time the first kick of the drum... Lets see !!

Go well :)
Where how I start the tracks before:

1- I have to start always with the drums
2- Then, I can start the background sound at the same tempo of the beat.
(This is because is no synchronization in the machine.)

But now I do like this: 
1- I will use the KAOSSILATOR to make some noises at the start.
2- I start the drums,
3- I start the background sound.
4- I take off the KAOSSILATOR sounds and delete the first sounds to start new ones wile the first drum loop and background sound is playing...
YES !!

Track is on ;)

1- Background sounds

Project Start - Background Sounds

Background Sounds.
Part of WAVDJ (software) I used to change the sound FX (background) in the program.

This part of the software aloud me to change and upload 900 (background sounds) from one button to another in the (wavdj machine)

To start this work I need background sounds, type industrial and minimal but I want to make something more soft, more ambient too.
To get samples and loops I  look in the web and find some good resources for free loops and samples.

I did found lots of free samples and loops websites  but its hard to find the type of sounds I looking for.
I did download some very good loops (industrial) and  I will make a page just with links to mention this websites.
I have been search since I start this DADA Project (wish will have a different name for various reasons)

I take the Background sound (loops) to ableton and I stretch him, how long I want and I can ad other sounds or voices in the backgrounds as I change the tempo (bpm) of the sounds for they cam match with the drum looks of the machine as I dont have synchronize possibility on this machines.

I am doing the drum loops at 110BPM , so I want the loops I am doing in ableton come as 110BPM and I can stretch the loops for 30 min. this is because the EFFECTS BUTTON do not loop the sound
(the only looping part in wavdj is the drum machine) wish repeat the pattern over and over until I stop hem.

So, here is the first job... get nice loops and make long backgrounds in Ableton, next, save as wav file and upload to the program software (*first image)
Each sound I upload into that spaces will be playing in the (wavdj machine buttons) (*second image)

Backgrounds on'e  go.)

Chapter 13 - Project Start

 Project Start - The Intro

After all the story and all the wavdj and Kaossilator presentations, I will start now to be more specific with the project and what I am doing.

First, I need to make:
1 - Background sounds
2- Drum loops
3- Ad 3 background sounds for each drum loop
4- Make short keyboard melodies
5- Make the background sounds at the same tempo of the drum loops in Ableton
(no sounds synchronized here)
6- Found the best sounds in the kaossilator to use in each track.
(I will specify all this later)

This sounds easy, but is not !
The wavdj software have too many bugs and dont work as a professional music program.
The wavdj (machine = console) make delay in the sounds.
(NOTE)  Delay is the time it takes for the sound can actually be heard on the speakers after I press the buttons of the wavdj (machine)

For delay example:
If  I press the keyboard, the sound take about 2 seconds to be hear in the speakers. (delay)
If  I press the FX buttons, the sound take about 1 second to be hear in the speakers. (delay)
If  I press the drum loop button, the sound take about 3 seconds to be hear in the speakers (delay)
This makes a hard job to get the music all synchronized (drums + background sounds + keyboard)
in this case, I have to know exactly the tricks of this machine, but the most important thing is to have the sounds and drum loops at the same tempo.
IF I press the FX button (background sound) just 1 second before or after the beat of the drum loop, the sound will start out of tempo... I really need to be precise here or all the music go in a mess !
Luckily, I am able to stop the sound if I press the button at the wrong time and I can restart again, wish makes kind of a sound intro, wile the drum loop still playing.

Experiments for start.
My first experiment was to make Minimal Ambient music but soon I realize that the drums of the wavdj dont let me make much, as the sounds are the same and just the loops can be changed (as I writ here before) but I did have a go anyway.

My second experiment (still on going) is to make Minimal industrial. A'm a bit more satisfy with the results but still a long way to go as I have to search a lot in the web to find some good free sound loops and after that, I have to put the loops on Ableton to make some arrangements and get the background sounds at the same tempo (bpm) of the drum loops of the wavdj.

My last experiment (I think) will be minimal Ambient but this time with no drum loops , just sounds !

I would never get into this, if I didn't find the kaossilator to be a good supplement for the wavdj.
The fact is, one time I have the wavdj looping the sounds and the drums at the same tempo, I will have time to go into the kaossilator and ad more sounds.
After I have enough sounds playing in both machines, I can go back to the wavdj and change the background sounds, make short melody's, stop the drum loop and drop in again or any other sound playing, because the wavdj have a 6 channel mixer where the sound can be on and off.

In fact, I can go more mad and connect all this to my cd decks mixer, wish have a surround button and will give me the possibility to equalize the sound wile I am play (low, med, high).
But I am not that mad... am I !?
If so, is just a music issue ! :)