Stuff to try thread

[Karoshi]

Yoyo

was just thinking about stuff to experiment with and maybe make a thread to collect ideas for everyone! So, this is a thread of slightly less normal things to have a play with.. (Which will probably fail because im shit with threads) so i will start.


(Working in FL Studio but could be done with anything else)
Open a synth (3XOsc) with the worlds most simple waveform (im using 3 triangles an octave up from each other) and have a longish attack and unlimited hold. next add a reverb on the channel and set its wet to maximum and its dry to minumum. play about with the other settings, whack a phaser or flanger and there you have it, a nice pad/string! play about with effects and different waveforms too.

make the worlds shittest drum loop (Doesnt matter how many bars) usually a less bassy loop works better. render the loop and import back into a Fruity Granuliser channel. add an XY controller on the channel and link the X to the 'G.SP' knob, and the Y to the 'W.SP' knob. next add edison to the channel, have it recording the drums looping, now play with the X-Y controller, moving it about as edisons recording, do this for however long you want, chop up the sounds you like in edison and drag them to the playlist and there you go, some transformer-esque sounds! (hopefully! haha) or atleast some really mad, random noises to add to your sample library!

Anyone else got any more to try?

[HighBot]

Mushrooms.

[Karoshi]

where can i get a cracked copy of that?

[legend4ry]

Load a .exe, .wmv or a .dll into audacity

[hasezwei]

Load a .exe, .wmv or a .dll into audacity

i'm considering downloading audacity and trying that but i suppose it's a joke

[legend4ry]

Its really not . You get artifacts mainly but on the odd occasion you get some GREAT sounds.

[daft cunt]

Its really not . You get artifacts mainly but on the odd occasion you get some GREAT sounds.

Gotta love hardcore techno

[Neff]

just putting a proper fast lfo on a ride or hi hat is pretty cool, example in my sig tune

(shameless self promotion at its finest)

[kaiori breathe]

do a load of smack, punch a hooker in the vagina, tell your mum she's a whore then fuck your dad in the ass

[upstateface]

do a load of smack, punch a hooker in the vagina, tell your mum she's a whore then fuck your dad in the ass

THISSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!

[Sirius]

do a load of smack, punch a hooker in the vagina, tell your mum she's a whore then fuck your dad in the ass

how did that work out for ya bro??

!!chea

[kaiori breathe]

do a load of smack, punch a hooker in the vagina, tell your mum she's a whore then fuck your dad in the ass

how did that work out for ya bro??

!!chea

erotically

[Karoshi]

aha ohh dear, this could have been an ok thread...

[FSTZ]

aha ohh dear, this could have been an ok thread...

I know right???

[AxeD]

Haha seriously this thread could be such a good resource, now it's just really funny.

Anyway after messing about with some vocals over a dmz tune, I recommend recording your own voice
saying random sentences and chopping that up into small samples. Then play them on top of up tempo stuff.

[kaiori breathe]

I feel bad for not contributing positively.

So I'm going to give you all something a little different. I'm guessing most people here will be giving production tips. So instead of that, I'm going to drop some theory in here. Yes, I said, theory, stop yawning and just read, I'm going to drop some pretty interesting ideas that nobody ever talks about.

Creating a Dark Atmosphere

Harmonic Minor
The first is pretty simple, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_m ... odic_minor - yup, the harmonic minor scale, it has a great angular motion to it that's perfect for creating a dark atmosphere, especially if you play with this chord which is included in the scale - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminished_seventh_chord

Modes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode - These are an amazing tool, if you're not sure how they work then I recommend listening to some Steve Vai or Joe Satriani, you might not like their music, but I'm sure if you listen with an open mind you'll hear some great ideas that are easily transferable, their usage of modes is unmatched, pretty much everything on Satriani's 'Not Of This Earth' album is written moving between modes and even if you don't understand what's happening if you just listen you'll hear when he moves from one to another because the entire atmosphere changes up or down depending on what he wants and which mode he chooses. Modes are such an under used tool, if you use them right you can create some astonishingly dark or mysterious atmospheres.

Just filled to the brim with mental shit and weird atmospheres.

Some borderline erotic use of pitch axis theory.

Writing Atonally (Probably one more for the IDM heads here)
This idea is a bit bigger, and to be honest, isn't something to try unless you're willing to do a little more background reading than what's provided on wikipedia, or you'll just make an incoherant mess, but if you're willing to do some background reading and a little learning it'll pay off big time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonality - Atonality - you can create some very dark sounds by avoiding a key signature, although realistically anything you write could be interpreted as having a key, even if it's just for three notes, writing 'atonally' can create a really ambiguous sense of key, creating a very tense pre-drop atmosphere. If you're interested in this idea, then pitch class sets are mandatory reading material - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_class_set

There's a lot of branching in and out of atonality in Jerry Goldsmith's work.

Some really weird sounds in here.

Drum Programming

Polyrhythms
Ever wonder why you can't nod your head to metal? or why african drumming sounds so disorganized but also completely coherant?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyrhythms Welcome to the world of polyrhythms.



Listen to Tool (Alternative Time Signatures)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schism_%28song%29



Coincidentally, tool are a great band to listen to if you're looking for ideas on how to create dark atmospheres.

Listen to Dream Theater (Holding your Alternative Time Signatures Together Coherantly)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Theatre
Another band who know how to work the shit out of time signatures, check out 'a change of seasons' for probably one of the greatest medleys of all time, there's a lot to learn from this band about just about strong sectional transitions. Really structurally fantastic music.

Listen to post-hardcore
It might not be your thing but this is one of the best genres in the world for breakdowns - early Thrice is great.

Misc Things

Tierce de Picardie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picardy_third - I guess this is more for the IDM/orchestral dubsteppers out there, this is a really fun idea that sounds great, it's hard to make it work, and I think if you try too hard to fit it in it probably wont work, but if it's used sparingly it can sound really great.

Borrowed Chords
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borrowed_chord
These can sound great, they're a fantastic way to throw your listener a complete curve ball, these are actually they're very very common in electronic music almost by accident, since a lot of people writing electronic music don't have any theory to back them up they often just trust their ears, which tends to lead them to using a lot of borrowed chords.

Polytonality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytonality Another amazing idea to have fun with

Listen To Film Score Composers
It's basically their livelihood to write moving and arousing music, so needless to say, they really need to know their stuff, and you'll find examples of pretty much everything I've mentioned here in their works being used to optimal effect.

Thomas Newman, genius.

I'll say it again, Thomas Newman, GENIUS!

One more Newman track, just to really drive it home... FUCKING GENIUS.





Videogame music has it's amazing moments too (note steve Vai on guitar here, orgasmic)

[nowaysj]

do a load of smack, punch a hooker in the vagina, tell your mum she's a whore then fuck your dad in the ass

DUBSTEP, FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

=====


Okay, here is an honest to goodness suggestion, and it is fucking huge!

Get an external sampling drum box like an mpc or an sp303/404/404sx.

These boxes don't do anything that you can do in your computer, but there is something about taking your audio out of the computer into external processing, even if it is ghetto processing like in the sp series. I guarantee you will produce sounds and musical structures that you wouldn't produce just keeping your audio in the computer.

I am F'ing loving the combination of an sp-404sx and DAW right now (I've owned an sx for like a few hours now).

[2nd chance]

Get a vocal somehow, throw it into a granular synth, and fuck about. You can get some awesome and very weird sound effects through granular synthesis. Add EQ, distortion, reverb, delay..... It opens up a lot of stuff.

[upstateface]

Get an external sampling drum box like an mpc or an sp303/404/404sx.

This, I love my akai!

[nowaysj]

Yeah boi, I bought a floor model mpc 2500 on the cheaps, for like 800, 900 can't remember (+ 9.25% sales tax ) cause it was discontinued. I liked it a lot, but it wasn't worth it for me, for the money. The sp 404sx, I just got $340 total shipped + tax + 2 year warranty. That's worth it for me, even though this box is sloppy and dirty.