TMSV production Q&A / AMA

[xtcvsmistycold]

how long does it take you to write a track from scratch to just before the mix

[DrGatineau]

approx how many tracks do you produce per month/year?

[kaili]

do you have trouble finishing songs ever? like if ur not feeling it will u scrap it and start something new or do u just ride it out?

[lentilka]

Big up TMSV for doing Q&A!

What's the first thing that you usually do when you open up your DAW? Are there any soft-synths that you would recommend ?

last one: when you will be shipping these 1988 cassettes ?

[Kidrodi]

Do you use sample packs for drums and things like that? I have a hard time figuring out where to get sounds from

[Huts]

Thanks for doing the Q&A, always nice to talk to the people who's records you rise!

I've read a lot about producers (and lately myself) who only really work on tunes when they're feeling inspired, would you consider yourself the same? Or can you sit in the studio and make something happen even when you may not initially be up for it?

I'm always curious as to how you came across 'your sound'? Had you experimented with other styles of dubstep, or different genres before settling into your own unique sound? Was it a conscious decision or something that kind of happened as you kept making tunes?

thanks again!

[Johoosh]

- I know you use Fruity, can you give us a run-dwn of how much external VSTs or hardware you use, if any, and to what extent you mixdown 'in the box'?

- Also any Fruity plugins you draw for all the time? And why?

- Always see you posting clips/vids of WIPs of more classic dubwise/steppers stuff, any plans to release any of these bits?

- Bit of a punt but where's the vocal sample in Haze from

Big ups mate ya tunes are huge

[TMSV]

Yo everyone, I'm working on these answers right now. More questions are welcome of course

[Lye_Form]

With most Dubstep producers moving to new things, are you planning on sticking to your 140 halfsteppy sound or shifting slightly/releasing disco? What is the future of Dubstep in your opinion?

[RKM]

will you play my birthday party?

clown and cake confirmed, bouncy castly tbc

[TMSV]

OK! First couple of questions answered. I'll do the rest tomorrow or so. Feel free to keep asking for now.

Thats a nice post man!
So, i gonna ask the first thing here, on the track cold "back off", how did you get this nice sub/bass sound, is a kick sampled bass sound or is a vst synth?
Other thing that i really like is your percussions rythms, are loop sampled based or do you play it midi?

Thats all, thanks to open this post!!
Big up TMSV!!

The sub on 'Back Off' is an 808 kick with a bit of pitch bending. The tune's main kick drum sits on top of it to get that 'rolling' sound.

I used to use one shot percussion samples, but these days I more often than not cut up loops and combine / arrange them to get nice sounding percussion loops.

whats the best way to add harmonics to your sub?
i've tried bussing it to another channel, taking all the low frequencies out then adding distortion but can never get it to sound nice.

do you have any tips when it comes to arrangement?

I often use a bit of overdrive to get harmonics how much depends on how dynamic the bassline is. I just turn up the overdrive until it sounds nice and full, and then I low pass the sound (because I don't want to sound it like a square or even too much like a triangle waveform). From this point you can increase or decrease the overdrive effect to taste.
I never really split my sub into 2 bands (unless there's a layer above, say, 150hz that I really really really want to be able to play around with on its own).

I tend to go for DJ-friendly arrangements, but I'm trying to move away from that a little bit.
Most of my (and everyone else's) tunes are just [[1. Intro 32 bars / 2. Drop 64 bars / 3. Breakdown 16 bars / 4. Drop 64 bars / 5. Outro 16 bars]]. This isn't very interesting though, so I'm trying to go back to not caring too much. I'd much rather build up a tune and make it interesting all the way through, instead of making DJ tools, basically.

Musically, just do what feels good and make sure you have enough elements to put in your tune (and don't be afraid to experiment with taking stuff out or having bits play at the same time).

Big up!

My question... Ever struggled with hats/percussion and getting them to flow real smooth? If not then how have you managed it this whole time?

I may have phrased that really dumbly, let me have another go "How do I MAk siK percussion/hats"

Sometimes it just doesn't work I guess. In that case I tend to delete everything and just arrange everything differently.
If it's a technical issue rather than a musical one, it's all in choosing the right sounds. A lot of times, having an open hi hat with a lot of 'body' to it, in the middle of an airy, light hi hat pattern, just doesn't sound right (same goes for percussion samples that are out of tune or just ridiculously incompatible). Either EQ / tune everything and get everything to sit in the same frequency band, or delete what doesn't sound right.
I often try compressing or saturating the entire pattern as well, but I'd recommend choosing the right sounds over trying to process them into oblivion to make them 'glue together'. I feel like I'm using less and less processing these days because I've become much better at recognising quality samples, and which sounds go together nicely.

If you could go through vaguely how you go about making a decent sub-bass that would be cool

I start off with a sine wave and choose some nice sounding attack and release settings (I usually set the synth to monophonic so the tails of the sub notes don't clash). After coming up with a basic idea for the bassline, I start processing the sub using overdrive and some EQ (just low passing the whole thing after overdrive to tame the harmonics without it sounding less fat). I often find myself adjusting ADSR settings and the amount of overdrive after all of this, depending on the type of bassline (short/long notes, chilled/harder tune, etc).
There's not that much to it, really. The most important thing to keep in mind is that, most of the time, the sub should be the loudest part of the tune. 'Getting the sub to sit right' is often nothing more than just turning everything down except the sub.

Where did you come from?

One second you don't exist and the next you have a releases on big labels and everyone is battering your dubs, I don't understand how that happens.

Well I started producing 140 in 2008 or 2009 I think. I'd been producing for a couple of years before that, though. Mostly shit dnb.
I personally know Geoff / Nicon @ Subway, so my first release on Tube10 in the Netherlands came about that way. By that time Joe Nice was playing my music after he heard it on Myspace (so were guys like Myrkur and DJ Foster. Both not from the UK, like me, and back then the scene was less centered around social media, so it was easy to miss new artists until they started releasing on vinyl).

I was in talks with a certain amazing dubstep label (my favourite at the time) about a release. Sadly that never happened, but it did make me get more involved with the scene.

After a while I just sent a couple of tunes to DJ ThinKing @ Black Box in 09/10 and he almost immediately decided to let me be a part of Box Clever. The Box labels were run very professionally, so I guess that's why those first few releases were released in such a quick succession. Around that time I met DJ Madd (who has helped me out with a lot of things / has given me a lot of advice over the years) and Mala started playing Dem A Talk as well.

In the end I guess I don't really have much of an answer for you. I didn't realise people saw me as coming from nowhere, so I didn't really expect a question like this!

simple one from me - can you break down how you went about making the bass in haze? oh and also, where can i send you some of my beats? cheers.

The Haze bass was made how I described it earlier in this thread: sine, overdrive and low pass. I put a volume LFO on the higher sub notes, as you can hear.

You can send tunes to tmsvmusic@gmail.com, thanks!

How do your eq your drums & hits to have so much impact?
Do you have any hardware you would mind sending to South Africa for me?

Again, it all comes down to choosing the right samples. I usually layer my drums (but not too much. A snare and a clap or something are usually enough for a basic, good sounding snare). I always EQ out the low end and I usually boost the top end a tiny tiny bit (which I guess is bad practice, but it makes everything sound a little brighter in the end).

I don't have any hardware to send you, but I'll gladly take your money!

Nice one

How long did it take you to get your production quality on a high level constantly?
What is your most important tool for producing?
When is the best time for you to produce? (at night? during the day? summer? winter?...)
Aaaand will you play in the Ruhrarea/Cologne or anywhere near some time?

Big up!!!

Getting my quality on a consistently high level took me years and years. I only really started to truly be consistent in my production and mixdowns after I bought monitors last year. So I'd say it took about 7 years, but it should be less if you have a proper monitoring situation.

I guess the most important tool for me is EQ. My most important 'tool' as in skill is the ability to know which samples are usable in what way.

I used to spend all night making music, but these days I'm much more focused and productive during the day, especially when I've slept well and my ears are still fresh.

I don't have any gigs coming up in Germany right now, but keep an eye out!

How do your eq your drums & hits to have so much impact?

this would be my question as well. a good example would be the bongos in haze.

another question is how does your percussion (mostly the tops..hats, shakers etc.) have this...light and airy feel. i can't really put my finger on it, i'm assuming it's just bus effects and eq choices. your drums just sound really floaty and light, but this works well for your music. also it maintains this light and airy feel while still having strong transient punch, which kind of leads back to the first question.

also, what gave you the idea for "stress"? it is my favorite track from you and very much unlike your other productions with the use of the vocal sample.

to the people in the thread asking how he came up in the scene so quick, this is a production AMA

The bongos in Haze: I EQ'd out the low end but made sure that the mids were still in there. I compressed them using RoughRider by Audiodamage, which is a great drum/percussion compressor that's only really usable in specific situations, because for some reason it takes out a whole lot of high end from the sound (and it takes a while to kick in at the start of the tune, that's why the first bongo sound in the original 'Haze' is super quiet). The impact has a lot to do with certain parts of the percussion loop hitting at the same time as the kicks (and snares to a certain extent).

I usually don't like it when drums are overly loud or harsh (you know, like those 200hz snares that don't leave any room for other sounds). I like it when they're punchy though. I EQ out all the lows from my drums (except the kick if it needs low frequency content for that particular tune) and I kind of boost sweet spots on certain drum sounds (like 200 hz and the high end on a snare, 80-150 on the kick drum, etc). I also use compression very often, to get punch and to shape the transients, etc.

I think I kind of just threw those MIDI notes in when I made 'Stress' and they turned out to sound good, but a bit frantic. I'm pretty easily stressed out, and I think that tune sounds the way it does because I was stressed when I made it, so that's why I chose the name.

i mean he had a steady flow of releases on black box / box clev dating back to 2010 so maybe it was just like anyone else.


another question though - what does TMSV stand for?

"This Music Sucks, Veritably"

Seriously though: TMSV is just 'Tomassive' abbreviated. I started out making terrible ragga jungle amen workouts and I must've been about 16 or 17 when I came up with the name. I started hating it after a while so I changed it to TMSV.

How do you keep everything tight and still fitting Background hamronics in.
I know it's mostly EQ but do you care to elaborate?

I'm not sure what you're asking. If you're talking about mixing down while keeping everything audible, it's all about giving every sound its own place in the frequency spectrum. EQ is your friend (and really the only thing you need to get a decent mixdown, before using more advanced tools like compression, which a lot of people don't)!

what effects do you use with your drums?

After layering them I tend to only use EQ and compression. Sometimes I use distortion (CMFuzz/CamelCrusher) or saturation to get rid of clickiness or to flatten the transients. I also use very short reverbs (seriously almost inaudible) on everything except the kick these days, because it gives drums a very full sound.

how long does it take you to write a track from scratch to just before the mix

Usually only about 3 or 4 hours, but it really depends on the kind of work a tune needs. I like to mix as I go though, so I EQ every sound as I'm making the tune, so mixing down isn't really a separate stage for me.

approx how many tracks do you produce per month/year?

I don't know. Sometimes I produce 4 tunes in one week, sometimes I go 4 months without finishing a tune. Hard to say, really, but it looks like I've made about 40 tunes this year so far ( didn't realise)

do you have trouble finishing songs ever? like if ur not feeling it will u scrap it and start something new or do u just ride it out?

I usually don't finish what I start when it comes to music. It looks like I have about 2000 project files total that I started between 2011 and now. Of course some of those are finished, but the majority will never be touched again (and most of them are just terrible drum loops).

[dsprainman]

What's your favorite dubstep label of all time?

[Electric_Head]

Thanks for the answers.

[3RDi]

Do you have a "go-to" sine generator? Like Massive from NI, or do you prefer stock ones with logic, FL, etc then shape them from there with 3rd party plug-ins?
This is just a round about way of asking what DAW/VSTs you use I suppose.

Also do you side-chain anything?

[forbidden]

You talk about the use of saturation a bit, go-to plug for that?

Big up for all the answers so far!

[ParadigmAU]

How do you get the flutes / horns / other similar instruments to sound so crisp and smooth in your tracks?

I swear all the samples of these instruments i find don't sound that great and are hard to arrange and work into a track.

[m8son666]

I can understand if you don't wanna answer this one, roughly how much do you earn through your music?

[legend4ry]

Where did you come from?

One second you don't exist and the next you have a releases on big labels and everyone is battering your dubs, I don't understand how that happens.

Well I started producing 140 in 2008 or 2009 I think. I'd been producing for a couple of years before that, though. Mostly shit dnb.
I personally know Geoff / Nicon @ Subway, so my first release on Tube10 in the Netherlands came about that way. By that time Joe Nice was playing my music after he heard it on Myspace (so were guys like Myrkur and DJ Foster. Both not from the UK, like me, and back then the scene was less centered around social media, so it was easy to miss new artists until they started releasing on vinyl).

I was in talks with a certain amazing dubstep label (my favourite at the time) about a release. Sadly that never happened, but it did make me get more involved with the scene.

After a while I just sent a couple of tunes to DJ ThinKing @ Black Box in 09/10 and he almost immediately decided to let me be a part of Box Clever. The Box labels were run very professionally, so I guess that's why those first few releases were released in such a quick succession. Around that time I met DJ Madd (who has helped me out with a lot of things / has given me a lot of advice over the years) and Mala started playing Dem A Talk as well.

In the end I guess I don't really have much of an answer for you. I didn't realise people saw me as coming from nowhere, so I didn't really expect a question like this!

Ahh, big up for the shout out to DJ Foster, love that guy always supporting new artists.

So basically you just said fugg it and sent tunes to a label who you'd want to be on? Thats fair and a lot easier to do in those days than now. I Know what you mean about it all being social media based now.


Decent set at Versus the other week btw, I was going to say hello but ended up going home.

[DTR_]

What is your approach to dynamics? i.e. how do you usually use compression / limiting / saturation to control transients and at what stages? (in the individual tracks, drum bus and temporary self-mastering)

[TMSV]

Big up TMSV for doing Q&A!

What's the first thing that you usually do when you open up your DAW? Are there any soft-synths that you would recommend ?

last one: when you will be shipping these 1988 cassettes ?

I usually first lay down some drums, or maybe play around with a sample that inspired me.

I mostly use FL Studio's native 3xOsc, Synth1, TAL NoiseMaker and Minimonsta.

I'm in the middle of shipping the cassettes right now! It's taken me a long time (due to all kinds of problems and setbacks), but the first batch is finally ready for shipping.

Do you use sample packs for drums and things like that? I have a hard time figuring out where to get sounds from

Yeah, I use all kinds of sample packs for the basic elements of my drums. I often layer a drum sample from my own library (from vinyl / cd / wav) on top of a more full, artificial, electronic drum sample from a pack.

Thanks for doing the Q&A, always nice to talk to the people who's records you rise!

I've read a lot about producers (and lately myself) who only really work on tunes when they're feeling inspired, would you consider yourself the same? Or can you sit in the studio and make something happen even when you may not initially be up for it?

I'm always curious as to how you came across 'your sound'? Had you experimented with other styles of dubstep, or different genres before settling into your own unique sound? Was it a conscious decision or something that kind of happened as you kept making tunes?

thanks again!

I can really only work on music when I have enough energy and when I'm inspired. Sometimes, when it's just the inspiration that's not quite there yet, I'll kind of force it by making some sounds or whatever.

'My sound' is just the way I do things, I guess. I go about things a certain way, and other producers go about things a different way. I never decided on a particular type of sound; it just happened over time. I think it's a lot to do with musical influences, the way you EQ and compress stuff, etc., but also certain choices. I like it when things sound slightly 'old' and real, whereas others like techy, modern synth sounds more.

- I know you use Fruity, can you give us a run-dwn of how much external VSTs or hardware you use, if any, and to what extent you mixdown 'in the box'?

- Also any Fruity plugins you draw for all the time? And why?

- Always see you posting clips/vids of WIPs of more classic dubwise/steppers stuff, any plans to release any of these bits?

- Bit of a punt but where's the vocal sample in Haze from

Big ups mate ya tunes are huge

Yes, I do use FL (and Ableton sometimes, when collabing or teaching someone the basics). I love the Kjaerhus Classic Series of plugins, and lots of other (mostly free) bits and bobs. I don't have any hardware really, except a decent microphone, an electric guitar and some other random instruments. Mixdowns are 100% in the box.

I use FL Studio's Parametric EQ 2 on every channel. It's just a decent enough EQ in my opinion. I do always turn off the HQ mode to prevent phasing issues.

Dubwise / steppa things hopefully coming soon..

If I remember correctly, the sample in 'Haze' is from a Ragga Twins vocal sample pack.

With most Dubstep producers moving to new things, are you planning on sticking to your 140 halfsteppy sound or shifting slightly/releasing disco? What is the future of Dubstep in your opinion?

I'm working on all kinds of music at the moment. I just released my 1988 EP, which is more of a hiphop/80s/slowfast/synth vibe (http://tmsv.bandcamp.com/ !) And I'm back on more dubwise sounding stuff.

I don't mean to sound jaded or anything, so don't take this the wrong way, but I haven't been inspired by a lot of dubstep for some time now to be honest.
Most of the stuff I hear is kind of dungeon / reese / tech sounding tunes, and those just don't do anything for me. People often call that 'real dubstep' but I completely disagree. Compare 2006 stuff to 90% of tunes right now.. Kick, snare, growl, sub, pad dubstep isn't interesting to me, really. I do still love 140, don't get me wrong, and I'm delighted whenever someone releases or sends me an amazing dubstep tune.

Disco isn't my thing, haha.

The future of dubstep is probably going to be a handful of guys making interesting music with influences from all over the place. It's gonna be a small scene for at least a while, but hopefully it'll be very good musically.

will you play my birthday party?

clown and cake confirmed, bouncy castly tbc

I would play your birthday party, if not for my debilitating fear of clowns.

What's your favorite dubstep label of all time?

Do you have a "go-to" sine generator? Like Massive from NI, or do you prefer stock ones with logic, FL, etc then shape them from there with 3rd party plug-ins?
This is just a round about way of asking what DAW/VSTs you use I suppose.

Also do you side-chain anything?

I almost always use FL Studio's 3xOsc synth for sine waves (especially because I like the envelope options in FL's native stuff) if I'm not using an 808 sample or something.

You talk about the use of saturation a bit, go-to plug for that?

Big up for all the answers so far!

Right now I'm using a VST called TesslaPro mkII. It's pretty subtle, but if you really drive the saturation, especially if you're using it on a drum bus or something, it can really help get a nice sound. It's pretty hard to overuse, which is nice imo.

How do you get the flutes / horns / other similar instruments to sound so crisp and smooth in your tracks?

I swear all the samples of these instruments i find don't sound that great and are hard to arrange and work into a track.

Use some distortion and loads of reverb and delay to make it stand out more and to make the whole thing sound more full and interesting. Experiment with EQ (and possibly compression where needed) as well.

I can understand if you don't wanna answer this one, roughly how much do you earn through your music?

Not nearly as much as I'd like. I don't get booked extremely often, so I can't really depend on music to pay the rent. It's nice to make some money from it though. I don't really have any numbers, and tbh I don't think I'd post them if I did.

What is your approach to dynamics? i.e. how do you usually use compression / limiting / saturation to control transients and at what stages? (in the individual tracks, drum bus and temporary self-mastering)

If I compress, it's almost always on individual tracks (and, rarely, NY/parallel compression on my drums as a whole). I look at the dB meter on the mixer to get a rough idea of what the threshold is going to be (which is by no means the best or only way to determine that, haha), and go from there (set ratio, modify attack and release settings, etc).
Honestly, if I really can't seem to control the transients in, say, a snare drum, without making it sound crappy, sometimes I just put a soft clip plugin on the snare channel and just have it clip..
On temporary self-mastering: I use izotope ozone's maximiser (and sometimes stereo stuff and eq) for that, but only subtly.