To be completely honest; I haven't listened to your music, I am just at the point now where I hardly seek out new artists which is something I should work on hahah; which from your replies already makes me feel like I am missing out so nothing production related from me.
As someone who is new to you music; what track(s) / release(s) would you suggest listening to, to get a good sense of your sound and why do you think those are essential listening to understand what "Phaeleh" is about. I think its nice to hear tracks what tracks of theirs the producer recommends.
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 8:15 am
by phaeleh
jte1984 wrote:unexpected perhaps but extraordinary none the less!definitely going outlook nxt yr!safe for the tips man.will get on the old velocity 4 the hats 4 sure.if ya ever get any spare time wud be proper safe of you to check outa tune me and my mate made.thanx again man http://soundcloud.com/sunyata2012/gutch ... ng-the-sky
Cool man, i'm only on laptop speakers at the moment so will have a listen later and leave some comments, but quite keen for this not to turn into a tune feedback thread!
vertx wrote:Big ups for offering up your time on this Phaeleh,
You said you love to pour reverb on things, what's your process when choosing a reverb?
Do you have a few favorites you find yourself most often using?
How many different sizes or types of reverbs would you use in a standard project?
In general terms, what eqing on the reverbs are you doing for each of the separate parts e.g basses, pads, leads etc?
That really depends if I want to get a natural sound or something more of an effect. I use the same plate reverb settings on my sends for all tunes, whereas on indiviudal sounds I tend to vary it a lot more. Most the reverb I use is from some old free plugin called Glaceverb, but I just really love the sound of it!
It differs from project to project, but i tend to use the aforementioned plate reverb as a send to help blend sounds together in the mix. If it's for pads, I'll use a big reverb time, size etc, whereas for vox and things I want to be a bit tighter I'll smaller settings! I'm definitely a big believer in putting a tiny bit of the send reverb on everything which isn't a kick or a sub!
I highpass all my reverb quite aggresively (same with all sends) and also roll off the very top end, as if you're sending everything to it, it can get quite messy at the extreme ends of the frequency spectrum. The EQ curve kinda looks like an igloo if that makes sense
jrisreal wrote:What synthesis method do you prefer? Also, how important is melody in your opinion?
and ofcourse:
Coca-Cola, or Pepsi?
Whatever sounds good mate. I use my ears for everything, I don't care how much hype a plugins got, or a style, I'll always just see if something sounds good in the context of a tune.
I guess most synths I use are subtractive, but the Waldorf is wavetable, which is reallly wicked for pads and the more experimental sounds. Most of my textural stuff is manipulated in audiomulch or granulab, so could easily say granular synthesis is also an important part of my sound.
I put a real emphasis on melody, but i think that's just my background in playing in bands and more traditional instrumentation. I think it's all down to the music. I could easily listen to Steve Reich Clapping Music all day, so i don't think it's essential. It really depends on what you're trying to convey in music. I'd really struggle to get an emotional response from listeners without it, as essentially i'm playing on a lifetime of music listening/conditioning on their part, and certain scales and intervals will always result in a certain response, which will completely be subconscious on their part but I'm quite aware of which progressions/melodies will affect them in different ways so try to exploit this to get the response i want from a tune. Obviously this won't work on a tribesman from the amazon who has no knowledge of equal temperament, but luckily i don't think they're too big on dubstep!
Saying that, melody will never make someone dance. So really depends on what you're trying to achieve!
Coca-Cola, tho none of that sugar free nonsense.
Elliottm wrote:First off (sorry for the cliche) but your music is top notch, both production-wise and the musicality of it!
Im gonna be a bit cheeky here and ask a few questions, hope you dont mind
1. The atmospheres you create in your tracks are amazing (especially in Healing and Losing You). I find filling out tracks with ambience and generally filling gaps is quite hard, any tips?
2. Panning is always an issue with me, I've read/heard some people like to put alot of things in mono, especially bass and drums, both for effect and mix-wise. How would you go about panning a track?
3. How would you go about processing your vocals? They always sound so clean and crisp but with alot of space aswell?
4. Mixing/Mastering tips and tricks?
Hope that isn't too much haha
Cheers, Elliott M
Glad you like the tunes man!
1. Well I have a lot of sends, with filtered delays, reverbs, reverb and delays on same channels, same again in different orders... I think they're a big part of it. I sometimes layer synths up if the pad is quite small. with the various delay sends, it's good to have different times on the delay, and if it's possible to set lfos to different parameters, especially panning, do it. It helps the sounds move around and give it this astral quality. Good EQ is also important, you don't want the low end interfering with the bass, so keep an eye on that. Chuck some reverb and delay on as an insert as well, and some filtering never hurts, but playing around with the order of the effects will have a big impact on the sound too!
2. Well most the mono stuff is for making club music. Whilst my sub is mono, nothing else in my tunes is. I don't think you can make good chilled music without making use of the stereo field. Even if it's just slightly seperating drums to give them a more 'live' feel. Something really important, is seperating sounds in similar frequency ranges. So if i have a pad and a piano line, they'll be slightly panned left and right, which means you don't have to be so aggresive with the eq in order to give them space in the tune. I don't have any set way, but do tend to pan a lot of my melodic/harmonic sounds. FX stuff I tend to automate panning as well, nothing like a reversed cymbal floating across the stereo field!
3. Well If i'm recording them, I'll put the condensor through the preamp, going into the compressor to just even things out a little, but a lot of time vocalists will send some 'interesting' quality stuff done on dynamic mics. I tend to eq and compress, then eq some more, bit of reverb and delay, eq some more. Then the spatial qualities are down to the fx sends I've mentioned above. These help the vocals sit in the mix well and give them a textural quality as well as just being the vocal hook.
4. Trust your ears and know your speakers well. I learnt to mixdown tunes from mixdown guides in music production magazines, the internet definitely wasn't the resource it is today when I started. I'd just say try and learn from others, and listen very carefully to music you love, what are they doing, how loud are sounds in relation to each other.
Mastering, it takes a while to get the hang of it, i'm no expert, but do master my tunes I send out and also everything on Urban Scrumping. Don't kill the music, keep it subtle, never go over 2:1 on the compressors and don't touch the limiter until you're pleased with all the other elements. It's easy to think that something is sounding better just because it's louder, but that's really not a good way to go about it imo!
sweetleww wrote:Yo! Thanks so much for doing this Q&A, your music is amazing, not to mention inspiring!
A few questions:
1. How do you go about drum programming? Do you generally use MIDI or do you prefer straight audio hits on a sequencer?
2. How do you go about your subby bass? I can't quite get anything with the same vibe.
Cheers,
Lewis
No worries mate, this forum was one of the first places to support my tunes so it's all good
1. Again, there's no set way. I've traditionally used midi more as just used to using it from back in school, but definitely incorporated just audio based beats a lot more in recent years. It really does vary between tunes, some stuff will be midi only, other stuff audio only, but typically at the moment, the intricate glitchy stuff will be midi, and the main kick and snare will be audio!
2. I stole my sub bass settings off ricky full spektrum. It's basically a 24 bit sinewave generated in soundforge (any audio editor/synth will do) at C1, C2 and C3. I've then just put into a sampler and set loop points. I have no idea why, but it just sounds a lot better than when using a synth for sub bass. Seems to be more consistent volume between notes.
I tend to then layer a quiet synth or cello on top of it to provide slightly more high end, so the notes don't die if you're listening on a laptop or something!
legend4ry wrote:To be completely honest; I haven't listened to your music, I am just at the point now where I hardly seek out new artists which is something I should work on hahah; which from your replies already makes me feel like I am missing out so nothing production related from me.
As someone who is new to you music; what track(s) / release(s) would you suggest listening to, to get a good sense of your sound and why do you think those are essential listening to understand what "Phaeleh" is about. I think its nice to hear tracks what tracks of theirs the producer recommends.
Mother fucker!
It's all good mate, I know nothing about dubstep these days and am so out the loop when people are talking to me about it at gigs. Just concentrate on your own tunes and take in influences when you can it's all good
Ok, here are some of favourite tunes. Not sure if they sum up my sound or not, but all very personal to me and/or happy with the end result! (set the quality as high as it'll go, i hate my music on the compressed digi tip)
i guess these 2 are the most accessible or the ones people talk about the most
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 8:51 am
by Aufnahmewindwuschel
thanks for making this i am a huge fan!
1.do you still have wow moments when listening to music from other musicians? like for me the new plaid album made me think what is going on haha
2.do you have a secret favorite song that you are little bit ashamed of?
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:16 am
by phaeleh
BudSpencertron wrote:thanks for making this i am a huge fan!
1.do you still have wow moments when listening to music from other musicians? like for me the new plaid album made me think what is going on haha
2.do you have a secret favorite song that you are little bit ashamed of?
1. I've gotta say I haven't found much music recently which has given me that wow factor, but probably cause i'm not looking too hard, and mates who used to feed me tunes aren't really into music any more. I really need to check out the Plaid album, restproof clockwork is one of my all time favourites, but i found spokes really disappointing so haven't checked any since then. I'm open to suggestions for stuff to listen to if anyone has any!
2. Haha awesome question. I'm sure I'll think of some over the next few days, but we'll start with this, i just really wish i was this awesome!
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:24 am
by jeeroj
yo, big ups to you sir, long time listener first time caller.....
i'm a big fan of your amen break skills - any plans for a phaeleh acid jungle EP in the future?
also if you could only choose one, would it be pants or socks?
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:30 am
by phaeleh
jeeroj wrote:yo, big ups to you sir, long time listener first time caller.....
i'm a big fan of your amen break skills - any plans for a phaeleh acid jungle EP in the future?
also if you could only choose one, would it be pants or socks?
haha! would love some of the jungle to get a release at some point, wrote some quite cheesey hospital esque dnb recently too, so might have to try and start some kind of alias, not sure the labels pushing my deeper stuff would be happy with me dropping the jungle stuff under the same name! maybe write a couple more at some point and do a free download or something, still get a lot of people asking about acid jungle and seaside jungle which surprises me!
pants everytime!
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:47 am
by Manic Harmonic
I started out on guitar as well, and when I write music I always think in guitar. I either picture the fretboard or pick up my guitar when I'm trying to key-match or come up with melodies. So, being someone that started out playing guitar, when you're working on a song, do you think in terms of guitar when you're thinking of ideas or melodies in your head?
Oh yeah, and if you could check out the song in my sig that would be wonderful (sorry i had to do it...). Looking forward to the next album!
one more thing, as far as suggestions for music go, you need to check out Chrome Sparks, Active Child, and Hooray for Earth.
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 11:19 am
by SunkLo
The drums in Lounge are sublime. Everything is just in the right place. Big ups!
Also the Custom 24 is my dream guitar, you bastard! Do you use the Pod for sound design processing or just for guitar?
What about granular processing? I've been getting into that a bit lately. What kind of stuff are you doing with it and what are you using it for?
Also, it's good to see someone with focus on albums and making tracks for headphone listening as well. How did you push that sound out? Did it just come naturally? I imagine part of it was a product of promoting to the right places?
I'll think of some more questions later, I'm quite fried at the moment.
Big thanks for answering questions and giving back!
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 11:49 am
by brettheaslewood
What are you actually classically trained in?
and can you stick me on guestlist for Sep 27th i'm skint haha
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 11:52 am
by vertx
phaeleh wrote:I highpass all my reverb quite aggresively (same with all sends) and also roll off the very top end, as if you're sending everything to it, it can get quite messy at the extreme ends of the frequency spectrum. The EQ curve kinda looks like an igloo if that makes sense
Yeah I hear you, and when you say aggressively what does that mean in terms of ballpark figures? say a 24db hi-pass and an 18db lowpass on the highs (of course depending on material)?
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 12:12 pm
by hutyluty
^500 posts
Yo, cheers for doing this. I'm interested in how much sampling goes on in your work.
What percentage of synths to samples would you say are in your ambiences?
Where do you find most of your samples from (field recordings etc)
Where do you get your drums from mainly? Stock drums or sample packs?
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 1:43 pm
by Elliottm
Cheers for the reply, much appreciated
One last question, when you say you like to multisample and resample, I've got mates that do that aswell but don't really know what they are (other than the common sense through the name) . What do you mean by multisampling? and how would you go about resampling? Apparently its a really good way to create some interesting and unique sounds
Cheers, Elliott M
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 2:03 pm
by pete_bubonic
Senor Phaeleh,
When you're not producing, what do you do? I found that getting away from my studio was the catalyst I needed to get a lot of stuff done when I returned to it. What do you do when you're struggling to write?
x
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 2:16 pm
by phaeleh
jte1984 wrote:unexpected perhaps but extraordinary none the less!definitely going outlook nxt yr!safe for the tips man.will get on the old velocity 4 the hats 4 sure.if ya ever get any spare time wud be proper safe of you to check outa tune me and my mate made.thanx again man http://soundcloud.com/sunyata2012/gutch ... ng-the-sky
Liking the production on this man, sits together nicely and flows well. I thought it was going to be a bit wonky for my tastes, but got into it pretty easily. Sounds like you know what you're doing tbf, so I'd say just keep writing lots of tunes and refine your skillset and the idea of what you want to be doing!
Manic Harmonic wrote:I started out on guitar as well, and when I write music I always think in guitar. I either picture the fretboard or pick up my guitar when I'm trying to key-match or come up with melodies. So, being someone that started out playing guitar, when you're working on a song, do you think in terms of guitar when you're thinking of ideas or melodies in your head?
Oh yeah, and if you could check out the song in my sig that would be wonderful (sorry i had to do it...). Looking forward to the next album!
one more thing, as far as suggestions for music go, you need to check out Chrome Sparks, Active Child, and Hooray for Earth.
Hmmm I'm not sure really, I guess in some instances I do, but most the time I know what key i'm in, so I know notes I like hitting within a certain scale. But if I am working out something in my head I will think in terms of guitar if there's no keyboard or key edit nearby!
Fairplay on the tune man, wasn't what I was expecting at all. It's got a nice emotional vibe to it, so i'm always going to be sold. And there's the switch up! I think you've done it well man, definitely not what I was expecting. Personally I preferred the chilled start vibes, but fair to keep people on their toes and good to hear someone mixing it up!
Thanks for the suggestions too!
SunkLo wrote:The drums in Lounge are sublime. Everything is just in the right place. Big ups!
Also the Custom 24 is my dream guitar, you bastard! Do you use the Pod for sound design processing or just for guitar?
What about granular processing? I've been getting into that a bit lately. What kind of stuff are you doing with it and what are you using it for?
Also, it's good to see someone with focus on albums and making tracks for headphone listening as well. How did you push that sound out? Did it just come naturally? I imagine part of it was a product of promoting to the right places?
I'll think of some more questions later, I'm quite fried at the moment.
Big thanks for answering questions and giving back!
Thanks man, was really pleased when I made that loop, though also annoying as haven't been able to get a similar sound since that which works as well.
Yeah i was a bit lucky with the PRS, sold a load of shit b2b worked in a music shop, so got it cash in hand at trade price, certainly couldn't afford one now! I use the pod strictly for the guitar, have dabbled a bit with running other shit through there, but never been that impressed tbf, just makes the guitar sounds lush, and i'm sure the distortion sounds pretty much as good as the old mesa boogie amp i had, which i sold so i could eat at uni!
Well i've just used what i did at uni, which was audiomulch and granulab. I love the portomento effect on the controls in granulab, sound awesome shifting between presets i've made there. Tbf, it's normally pads, guitars or vocals i process in both bits of software. I don't do it as a necessity, just when i want some more ambient stuff for breakdowns or transitions in a tune.
I've always made a diverse range of stuff, but found i made chilled stuff a lot more than anything else, so think despite my best efforts to try and make more dancefloor stuff i generally end up making mellow tunes. I don't know about promoting it, i've just made tunes and people have picked up on them, there wasn't some kind of master plan.
brettheaslewood wrote:What are you actually classically trained in?
and can you stick me on guestlist for Sep 27th i'm skint haha
Haha good question, that just got put in the press release for fallen light as i hadn't done anything worth mentioning really and the promo people were concerned no one would review anything.
I've played a few instruments as a kid, but classical guitar was the only thing i carried through to grade 8 level, but i was never the keen kid locked away by his parents to compensate for their lack of success/happiness in life, so always feel a bit of a fraudster with how it sounds. But guess I am, just sounds a lot more serious than it was!
Is that the brighton gig? Yeah could do I'm sure, though won't make a habit of it
vertx wrote:
phaeleh wrote:I highpass all my reverb quite aggresively (same with all sends) and also roll off the very top end, as if you're sending everything to it, it can get quite messy at the extreme ends of the frequency spectrum. The EQ curve kinda looks like an igloo if that makes sense
Yeah I hear you, and when you say aggressively what does that mean in terms of ballpark figures? say a 24db hi-pass and an 18db lowpass on the highs (of course depending on material)?
Er, not sure off the top of my head, probably rolling off from 100-500hz, but it looks like an igloo b2b roof of a london cab, that's about as technical as i get
hutyluty wrote:^500 posts
Yo, cheers for doing this. I'm interested in how much sampling goes on in your work.
What percentage of synths to samples would you say are in your ambiences?
Where do you find most of your samples from (field recordings etc)
Where do you get your drums from mainly? Stock drums or sample packs?
My ambience is 100% self made, mostly old sounds from acousmatic compositions i made at uni, so sounds i've recorded then manipulated, very rarely from a synth unless i've hit the 'random' button on the xt, which can make some interesting noises!
A lot of samples I got off mates at uni, and not really got much since then. I generally record as much as possible, or resample stuff i've generated from drum synths.
I've got a lot of random sounds kicking about which i've collected over the years, but i've no idea where they're from tbf! Sorry not very good at answering this one!
Elliottm wrote:Cheers for the reply, much appreciated
One last question, when you say you like to multisample and resample, I've got mates that do that aswell but don't really know what they are (other than the common sense through the name) . What do you mean by multisampling? and how would you go about resampling? Apparently its a really good way to create some interesting and unique sounds
Cheers, Elliott M
Multisampling is where the sampler has seperate samples for each note, and seperate samples for each velocity groups for each note, if that makes sense. Much better for expressive natural sounds, rather than using one note/velocity mapped across the whole range.
Resampling is where you're creating sounds on a synth or something, then bouncing to audio to manipulate further, apply fx, reverse bits, time stretch, then bounce again and repeat. The more techy you want to be, the more resampling you do!
pete bubonic wrote:Senor Phaeleh,
When you're not producing, what do you do? I found that getting away from my studio was the catalyst I needed to get a lot of stuff done when I returned to it. What do you do when you're struggling to write?
x
Hello Pete!
As I said, i've kinda stepped back from producing all the time, and found getting back to chilling and catching up with mates is a great way to get in a better headspace for writing tunes. Not sure what I do when not producing... Watch the wire for 150th time, chat to the girlfriend, take the piss out of my housemates, spending too long on skype/aim chatting shit to my mates, nothing that exciting i'm afraid!
I do like getting out the house a few times a day for a walk to just get some air, stretch the legs etc.
If i'm not feeling it, I'm not feeling it so don't try to write. Whilst I've started a few bits, I've not really produced anything since I finished the tracks for The Cold In You, so definitely been a few months since I finished a tune, but not too stressed by that, as been working constantly on tunes for the last few years.
I think finding fresh inspiration is also important, why i think my next album won't be very dubstep is that i'm struggling to find stuff I want to listen to in the genre. Love a lot of tunes to play out, but definitely wouldn't listen to much at home!
Need to find someone in the area to link with for lunchtime pints more often i reckon
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:52 pm
by Undrig
Once you go about setting up a sub bass patch, what process do you use to modulate it within a tune? Is it something primarily done within the arrange window of the sequencer, something done internally within the sampler perhaps? Maybe a little bit of both?
I tend to find myself stuck with destructive audio bits that I can't go back and change due to (much like yourself) having a barebones machine.
Your idea of using mutisamples at diff root notes made from soundforge gave me an idea of making slight modulations to the sounds and coping those sounds to different velocities within the sampler as well.
Also, what do you make of how tunes like yours and guys like full spektrum, sully, scanone and the like fit within the confines or what people might consider the "dubstep scene". You and many others are all bringing something unique to the table that really blurs the lines and catches people offguard in a good way. Showing people music with an emphasis on low end doesn't have to be either strictly couch spliff jams or wonky transformer sodomy. Cheers!
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:57 pm
by legend4ry
Well it seems I have gotten over my sleeping problem; cause you have a new fan.
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:11 pm
by drooka
yoo, sorry to get away from the technical side of things for a minute, but i don think this has been asked yet. How'd you get into producing when you first started?
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:47 pm
by Augment
I'm just interested, what do you think of the "brosteppers" like Skrillex, Datsik etc?
Also, huge fan of you, Afterglow is amazing! Big ups for doing this
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:53 pm
by deadly_habit
do you have a set template or process when you go from finishing a track to mixing it down?
oh and as always boxers or briefs?
Re: DSF Q&A Sessions 19: Phaeleh
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 5:34 pm
by Turnipish_Thoughts
What does your name mean? It's a pretty unusual name, is there any hidden meaning behind it e.t.c?
Also, I'm finding that the more tunes i make the more towards ambient type stuff I'm leaning and I've found that being involved in music producing communities has really influenced/effected me somewhat and confused my idea of the type of sound I'm actually trying to make. It took me a while to realize that i really do actually want to make chilled ambient stuff and not face melting dance-floor smashers, although i really like that type of stuff too.
At what point did you really begin to feel like you found your style in music production, what did you do to find and retain a unique sense of style in the music production world, did you find that there was anything at any point that got in the way of where you are now style wise, any 'red herrings' as it were, places you felt you wanted to go but found it just didn't fit where deeper areas of yourself wanted to go.
I'm at that point now, rather confused about exactly what it is i want to be making stylization wise which i find really hinders my sound choice process and commitment on/belief in a track. Do you have any tips on stopping being so flippant (/schizophrenic ) about your musical identity? I feel as growing musicians we all pass through that stage, it would be very enlightening to get insight from someone who has evidently passed that phase very successfully.