Seems to be loads of threads dealing with Massive, but not many on Zebra. I think it's an amazing synth, brilliantly and intuitively set out and uncluttered. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdW3Z-gmdwE&feature=related - uhe's own tutorial are great, but demand a basic understanding of what you're...

seconded/thirded whatever on parallel compression - it works amazingly. Plus good initial samples (can't overstate this)

Since most subbasses are pretty simple waveforms, then a frequency analyser would tell you a lot of what you need to know, as said...

Those monitors go down to 56Hz or so, so about A on the first octave.

I saw Levon Vincent on Saturday and had the opposite experience - his own records are brilliant, but fuck a lot of techno is dull, from the records he was playing anyways.... Minimal can be shockingly boring. Def try tracks in different genres, will give you something original from all the different...

np. Also in pop music keys are pretty fluid (something covered in that guide a lot), so you can get away with all sorts of things.

Basic major and minor chords will get you a long way, and throw in a 7th or two.

Um, producing at 140 or 280 is really the same thing, just one is twice as fast. Start at 140, and quantise with twice the precision (eg 1/32 instead of 1/16). You're still making a 140 tune, I presume, so no need to double the tempo if all you want to do is use 1/32 notes instead of 1/16 notes. Oth...

If you're using two octaves then the space the sub takes up in the bottom end will be huge.... I guess you could do it, but why overcomplicate? In that bat you posted, I'm using (fairly shit) computer soundcard on headphones, and I can't hear much bass. Way I understand it, most home systems don't h...

Might be completely wrong, but I thought on this tune he sidechained everything to the hi-hats, hence the unusual effect (usually everything is sidechained to the kick). That's what i read somewhere else, and it made complete sense listening back to it.

Which is why, in Massive for example, some programmed sounds have three oscillators tuned to 0, +3 and +7 semitones - they create a minor chord 'within' the sound, so that you press one note and it gives you, essentially, a minor chord. Google ravenspiral - it's the best music theory guide on the ne...

Very simply - triads (1-3-5) can be either minor or major, depending on how many semitones there are between the 1 and the 3. A 5th is always 7 semitones above the root note.

So:
Major chord = root +4 semitones + 7 semitones,
Minor chord = root +3 semitones + 7 semitones.

I don't think that the aim with any FX should be to increase the signal - you should be setting each track where you want it re levels independent of the FX, and then matching the level you had before after applying the FX, in order to preserve the 3-6dBs of headroom you need before going to masteri...

Your stuff is really good - that WIP is brilliant. It counters the problem I have with much dubstep, which is overkill on production details and not enough good musical ideas in the first place. I'd say you're doing pretty well. Maybe listen to some alternative music you wouldn't usually hear and ge...

no expert on this, but usually EQ and compression/maximisers/saturators as far as I understand

the 'how to make a noise' book -seconded. Also look at whatever synth you like eg Massive (use a subtractive synth first, FM is a headfuck), and reverse engineer some of your favourite patches. Helps a great deal. Look at the modulation is particular, and see how specific aspects are modulated by en...

ha, a siddhartha reference on dsf, excellent

great answers, thanks. liking the husk simile, nowaysj...

Going back to the original question, Actress famously made Hazyville (or was it Splazsh? obv not that famous!) on headphones. It's the same thing as people wanking on about the superiority of hardware all the time. You can get a great result producing through headphones, all about how good you are/h...

@today - isnt' it the usual way to have time-based effects after compression etc in an FX chain (or as sends rather than inserts, which I think is what your'e saying you forget to do if i'm reading you correctly)? @fluid - building resonance? not sure i follow... @wub that's very true; guess i find ...

@wub, that's interesting - I would've thought that, while endless drum editing could definitely drive you mad, then sometimes you'd want to shift note positions, if only to add variety etc. Suppose it depends what kind of track you're doing - if thee's a constant-ish groove, then would make sense to...

I have been reading quite a lot on this forum and others recently, but I'm still none the wiser about the various reasons you'd bounce a track/riff to audio. I have some ideas, which go as follows: To resample basslines or other instruments, so that you can modulate them in real time and get that fu...