Making the music organic.

azair · Post by **azair** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:10 am

Hi all.

As a lot of you guys know there have been threads about making Dubstep or other kinds of music for that matter, acoustic. A very nice initiative which I think could be awesome to try out.

I've heard some electronic musicians talking about their music being "organic" and I'm thinking, what does this actually mean?

Murcof the mexican electronic musician, is using classical samples (violins, cellos, pianos, etc.) and combines them with his mechanic, weird sounding drum patterns. I think it creates a different feeling from other electro, house, dnb, dubstep tunes.

Is there other ways to give your tunes an organic touch? Comments and thoughts on this would be nice.

lowpass · Post by **lowpass** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:28 am

taking drum samples off the snap mode (hihats and other percussion)

azair · Post by **azair** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:35 am

taking drum samples off the snap mode (hihats and other percussion)

Good idea. What you mean here is that you wont use a sequencer like Logics Ultrabeat where the beat is strictly in beat? Like we discussed in the Burial thread. That would be a good idea.

Any other thoughts?

roqqert · Post by **roqqert** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:39 am

quantizing, dynamics, samplechoice, synths vs. piano etc.

lewisr · Post by **lewisr** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:12 pm

Reverb

altered state · Post by **altered state** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:35 pm

Look into "humanization"

azair · Post by **azair** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:58 pm

I think calling music organic is a total cliché.

Sure, I like we get a discussion started here.

Perhaps it is a cliché, because electronic music will never be "organic".

I heard a tune where there were a lot of clanking sounds, some with echo, some without, all with lots of reverb. A few minutes in the tune, some jazz ride cymbal kicks in and it's sampled right from an old jazz record. I think that gave the tune a "human touch" or what you can call it

quantizing, dynamics, samplechoice, synths vs. piano etc.

I've heard "quantizing" before, what is it really? I kinda missed it in the Logic Manual

Sharmaji · Post by **Sharmaji** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:01 pm

budkhan mindphone.

wil blaze · Post by **wil blaze** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:40 pm

TeReKeTe wrote:budkhan mindphone.

this!

negativland · Post by **negativland** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:46 pm

a very very simple example.

misk · Post by **misk** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:10 pm

make a dope loop thats like 32 bars or so. flesh out a basic song with an intro, phrases, breaks, drops, etc. then go back into that basic song, and re program the whole song bit by bit to add lots of variation and progression. pay close attention to energy. I do a lot of resampling too.

after you have the song written close to the way you'd like it - go back through it and change it up even more. this is where it helps to have some semblance of rhythm - and change up the song even further, add parts, remove parts, and generally go through it second by second to make it sound as organic as possible. listen to it through after taking a break and decide if it keeps interest, and in the case of "dance" music, make sure it repetitive enough to keep people on their feet.

this is how i make catbox tunes. really theres a LOT of micromanagement involved, and it takes lots of patience. The best way to make an electronically produced tune sound organic, with an evolving sense of movement and energy, is to work on it a lot. for a long time.

ELLFIVEDEE · Post by **ELLFIVEDEE** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:52 pm

Back Issue Crew

Genevieve · Post by **Genevieve** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:23 pm

Depone wrote:I think calling music organic is a total cliché.
There is no such thing as organic music, especially with an electronic genre, its all made by machines and gizmos that are far from organic. You might be able to loosen up the sounds and make it sound more 'human', but at the end of the day it just aint organic. I see it as a buzz-word like 'the war on terror' (only example i can really think of now). Bit weird I know, but its my two cent!

When people use words like 'organic' to describe music, they're trying to use a straight forward concept to describe an abstract emotional response. You either get what they mean or they don't and that's fine. Right, music is never "organic", but it can evoke those feelings in people.

The Dillinger Escape Plan's "Calculating Infinity" is very mechanical sounding, whereas 'People Like Frank' by Amon Tobin, for example, is very organic.

elbe · Post by **elbe** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:59 pm

scrap quantise, get a midi controller and play in each part. Try placing elements using panning and EQ delay and reverb to create depth, try to imagine you electronic sounds being played by an orchestra, where would each sound be originating from if you where listening to a group playing it to you live.

r · Post by r » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:08 pm

oke to make it all clear to all you beatmakers...

Make something more 'organic' or others say 'human', has nothing to do with eq's, compression, fx's and stuff. IT'S ABOUT THE NUANCE OF UR SAMPLE(PLACEMENT)!!!

Listen to a drummer. He probably play kinda straight, but not everything is like programmed. So just unquantize certain samples so itll groove much more. Im not telling ya you've to unquantize everything. If you do that, it'll sound like there's no good pulse.

Besides that most of the hits of the drummer are a bit different. Try to 'copy' that. Layer your snares and try to put out every hit without losing energy/power (or loose energy so the snare later on will sound much more massive). It's about VELOCITY!

an unquantized 808 beat wont never sound organic or human cause the sounds itself aren't human. They're created by syntheses not by animal skin or wood.

hope you now understand why your shit wont get any more organic.

dj vision · Post by **dj vision** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:11 pm

R wrote:
an unquantized 808 beat wont never sound organic or human cause the sounds itself aren't human. They're created by syntheses not by animal skin or wood.

ever heard of 2562? i would describe some of his music as being organic, and most of his drums are 808s

its because of the way he uses filter sweeps, reverb, and delay

r · Post by r » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:24 pm

DJ Vision wrote:
R wrote:
an unquantized 808 beat wont never sound organic or human cause the sounds itself aren't human. They're created by syntheses not by animal skin or wood.

ever heard of 2562? i would describe some of his music as being organic, and most of his drums are 808s

its because of the way he uses filter sweeps, reverb, and delay

No man that's called space. In music production you're creating a room where all your elements are placed and play a different role in your room. How better you mix how bigger the room is. That's nothing bout organic or human... that's a proper mixdown that sounds like everything is in 1 room called your head/imagination.

Making the music organic.

Making the music organic.

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