loose shus

2010-05-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

I love this theme, the trailer for True Romance was pretty amazing. It's a bunch of stills from the film sequenced to this theme by Hans Zimmer.

awwwww :

Scion A/V trailer

2010-04-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

Scion A/V Presents: Plant Music from Scion A/V on Vimeo.

Plant Music just released a pretty epic comp under Scion's A/V series. Check out my 32nd notes, 16th notes are so played...

Beat Battles

2010-01-20T20:43:00.000-08:00

Phillip Drummond (myspace.com/phillipdrummond) from San Francisco puts on beat battles every month, a bunch of really amazing bay area producers come out for it. I entered a couple times last year, and I've posted my favorite beats I made the for the battles.

Rocky Horror Beat Battle

my 2nd round beat:

my 1stround beat:

then I got my ass handed to me in third round. I broke my CD and tried to make a scene, but when I stormed off stage my foot got caught in the MC's microphone cord and we got all tangled up for like 30 seconds. ahhhh, comedy.

80s beat battle

final round beat, I did not make the finals though
everyone had to remix old Eric B track

download my Eric B remix

this was my 3rd round beat

I first heard about these beat battles through my friend Brian, I was like 'cool I want to enter', he was like, dude you should go to a couple first. So, we went to a few, and anything remotely dancy got clowned super hard by the crowd. I was like F that shit, I'm no masochist. Phillip Drummond the promoter started encouraging me to enter, I always made up excuses and shit. But then finally they put on an 80s beat battle, where they give you these selected 80s tracks, and you can only sample from those and a few shitty drum sounds they give you.

I really couldn't back down from an 80s beat battle. Totally made a fool of myself, but the second time I entered I learned a few things, came back pretty strong. It was Rocky Horror beat battle night, right around Halloween. I broke a record in half and wore it as a costume, as if someone threw it at me and it cut into my body. I couldn't find anything good for fake blood except for hot sauce, which, if you need fake blood, don't use hot sauce.

The Cycle of Suck

2009-12-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to write this article for some time. I felt on the decline for the last year, stuck in the descending phase of The Cycle of Suck. As the year comes to a close I feel the ascending phase coming back around, and I'm just starting to make the music that I like again.

I think most artists undergo this cycle. Approaching the top of the cycle is where we feel most inspired and do the best work. Thought is forgotten, everything comes together perfectly, we make the music we should be making. Inevitably, this small amount of time comes to a close as we pass through, over the apex, and begin our descent.

Damn Cycle

Although I say that the cycle 'descends' this is actually a time of growth, learning, and developing skills. Conscious thought is brought to the work. Many outside influences are mimicked and their techniques are studied. New tools are attained and mastered.

It's during this time that the final product usually is of no value. The process produces nothing. We work harder. It gets worse. We 'suck'.

As we pass through the lowest point of output, 'suck', we are actually at the highest point of learning. Ascension begins. We worry less about acquiring new tools, outside influences become less important, we start having fun again.

Let It Bounce

I believe the cycle is inevitable. I've always liked the Big Bounce theory of the universe. The idea is that the Big Bang occurs, the universe expands to an apex, then it contracts back into a singularity, then another Big Bang occurs and the next universe is born.

Big Bounce Theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bounce

Growth?

Perhaps a more appropriate title than the 'Cycle of Suck' would be 'Spiral of Suck'.
Each turn of the cycle produces different results, building on previous experience.

♩ The Neverending Sto-o-re ♩

At times going through it can be frustrating and confusing as hell, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I find immediate friendship with other people who are crazy enough to go through it. As my dear friend Dawn said to me yesterday "It's fine when it's sunny, it's fine when it's cloudy." So it never ends, but what could be better? I probably won't be making club music at 65, but I'll be making something, I know that!

cartoon from:
http://www.savagechickens.com/

Interview: Evan Patrick

2009-09-26T16:02:00.001-07:00

I met Evan Patrick during my short stint in New York City last year. He had hit me up on myspace asking about synths and all the stuff I could yammer on about for hours. Rather than write back with the usual useless Synth name dropping, I told him let's meet up in person and I'd show him how I approach a beat.

Julien (worship remix)

I got to witness him tear a guitar apart as we jammed a little bit at his home studio in the Fort Green neighborhood of Brooklyn. The dude has chops. He has traveled the world as part of the Taylor Ho, Bynum Sextet playing guitar. His blog 'In This Game A Minute' is amazing, very intelligent and funny, my favorite article is Soft Rock vs. Smooth R&B.

Taylor Ho, Bynum

Loose
Okay, so you're this amazing guitarist, touring the world with a jazz group, being all musical and everything. Why do you care about 80s electro?

Evan
It’s just been creeping up on me slowly over the years. I was developing this Andy Summers-style guitar tone with my old rock band, Red Lights to Rio, and that sound started to influence my songwriting. I was also doing more side project music on my laptop, which I have always done, but it started to get more serious after I got a weekly DJ gig. Spinning hours of tracks produced by Quincy Jones, Giorgio Moroder, Bob James and contemporary producers like Lindstrom and Holy Ghost! made me obsessed with getting that sleek yet popping sound in a song. But I’ve always loved the sheen, bombast, innocence and blatant vulgarity of the 80’s. Like the orange-dusk look in films like “Manhunter” and “Beverly Hills Cop 2”, the raunch of videos like “Girls on Film” and “Let’s Get Physical”, the futurism of Prince, and Gary Numan, the synthy prog-pop of Missing Persons and Rush, all that stuff is fantastic and beautiful.

Julien

Who is Julien?

Julien is a composite of two characters named Julien - Richard Gere in “American Gigolo” and Robert Downey Jr. in “Less than Zero”. Besides sharing a name, I thought it was interesting that both Juliens had delusions of grandeur followed by a fall from grace. They also both pursued prostitution while skirting varying degrees of homosexuality. The parallels were ripe for exploration.

It seems like you're a big soundtrack head, and your music is very soundtracky. In real life, you actually do make soundtracks. What is your favorite project that you have scored?

Eh…honestly I have yet to work on a film or tv show that is really a good match for me. I managed to sneak some of my shit onto that track for a soap opera. But generally, scoring is very genre-specific and I have to create something outside of my own musical interests. I’d love to score a retro sci fi flick, like if they ever made a sequel to “Solarbabies” or “The Wraith” that would be my ideal. Soundtrack composers have also been huge for me. Back in the day, I was rocking the tape of the soundtrack to “Thief” by Tangerine Dream. Then there’s Vangelis with his scores to (of course) “Blade Runner” and “Legend”. Other big scores for me are Wang Chung’s “To Live and Die in LA”, Queen’s “Flash Gordon”, and everything Thomas Newman did between 1985 and 1987 (“Desperately Seeking Susan”, “Real Genius”, “Lost Boys”, etc.)

Original Score by Evan Patrick

I don't see John Carpenter in your list of influences. What's up with that? Is he too minimal for your tastes?

I like the idea of John Carpenter’s music, but not always when I actually hear it. I often just don’t dig his melodic choices. But I will say that his movies are a big inspiration. I definitely had the helicopter computer screen from “Escape from New York” in my head while writing the intro to “Misfits of Science”. And in general, his balance of kitsch and thrills is something I aspire to in my songs. I like a combination of cheeky throwback and real emotion.

You live in Fort Green, Brooklyn. Everybody's always talking about much that area is changing. How do you feel about the change?

Change is inevitable, it’s just not always what people want or what should be. We’re moving out of Ft. Greene for more space in Bed-Stuy. In this case, it’s what we want.

Is Brooklyn a big influence on your music, like , do you think location is a big factor in your sound?

Brooklyn is very creative right now, but I have an extremely peripheral relationship to the musicians here and the various scenes. Those that I do know are in weird jazz/rock/metal bands like Child Abuse, STATS and People. I’d love to meet more 80s electro heads in the area.

Okay, so you're working on this new track Misfits of Science. How do you achieve this guitar sound towards the end? Are you harmonizing over yourself?

Misfits of Science

Exactly! I’m always doubling or harmonizing guitars. It just sounds better that way. I use a Vox Valvetronix with it’s onboard distortion direct to my I/O, then add chorus and delay plug-ins on the track. I take my cues from Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) and Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine). Those dudes are my gold standard for rich guitar sounds through overdubbing.

In your blog, you have a couple of articles which critique current artists like MIA, and Vampire Weekend, saying perhaps their music is pulling from other cultures, but not giving credit or owning up to it's referential nature. Sooooo, why don't you hate on the rehash of 80s electro , people like ~cough~ me, ~cough~? c'mon, i can take it—

It’s a different thing. If someone wants to straight jack the beginning to “Love to Love You Baby,” that’s a purely musical choice. It’s a poor choice, but I don’t really care. Whereas Vampire Weekend are the shitty stepchildren of Elvis’s cultural legacy: co-opting ethnic music with diminishing returns. And listening to MIA is like voting for Obama and then going back to sipping coffee and watching your trust fund accumulate assets. Change but no change. She has no real political impact, even though that’s one of her selling points.

Relating to this feeling of detatched reference, you have also reviewed a new book about the phenomenon of Quirk. You say

"making a decision that will reveal something highly personal or uncharted in an artistic medium/genre is preferable to safely adding the clever texture of 'quirk.' "

Do these feelings ever get in the way of your creative process? As you make a track and start writing out riffs are you like, "naw, that's from that, that sounds too much like that, that's good, but it's just too much like this." ?

It used to trip me up big time, especially when I was trying to figure out how to write songs for my rock band. But I distinctly remember the day I was randomly searching music on the internet and discovered this crazy international retro electro universe of people like you, the Valerie collective, Miami Horror, Lovelock, etc. and how it just felt so…right. That was a game changer for me. I saw that nostalgia, when combined with solid songwriting and creativity, could be as effective as originality. But that creative element is important. The mark of the author still needs to be in the music in some meaningful way. That’s why LCD Soundsystem is so great. It’s a total throwback, but only James Murphy could do those vocals.

You know, for me I totally rip off other eras, and styles, like I'm talking like I RIP OFF stuff, but then I wind up changing it and messing with it for so long, the original inspiration would never be heard.

So, I think there is another side of this argument, in the creative process, attempting to follow a reference and the failure to do so can often be a good source of originality.

Totally, mistakes and missteps are often helpful for me too. I have a new song that started out as trying to be Hall and Oates and it just morphed into this whole other thing. It still has that blue-eyed soul/soft rock element, but it’s something else now. And that’s awesome. Now my mark is on it, like an atomic dog from the future.

Okay, so maybe do you think these artists, like Vampire Weekend, don't really appeal to you because they are just really, really, good at hitting the mark on what they are inspired by?

Vampire Weekend tentatively tap the mark, but the Police hit the mark with reggae, Led Zeppelin hit it with the blues, Talking Heads hit it with funk. And on the flip side, there’s this black south african band BLK JKS who take afro pop and hit it with psych and prog. The best bands/artists really get inside the music they’re stealing from if cultural fusion is part of their identity. But that’s not really the agenda of my particular music.

I'm starting to do interviews now, and I was saying how lame I think asking the 'influences' question is, and then I read my first interview I did with Cyndi Seui, and totally asked that question.

So I'm not going to ask you who your influences are.

Just look at my MySpace list and add Roger Troutman.

He’s the shit. I didn’t even know he was influencing me and he was.

In your blog, yet another rant, you say:

"You know what's revolutionary...
Fugazi charging $5.00/ticket for every show they ever played, whether it was a basement or a 2,000 seat venue."

Why is this significant?

For their whole career, Fugazi managed to willfully and exclusively play 5-dollar all-ages shows and sell 10-dollar cds. They were a band with a significant following who could have charged more, but they believed in the democratic nature of music. This was also a big “fuck off” to the whole music conglomerate industry. Fugazi’s credibility inspires me more than any fake polemic from MIA ever could. I’ll never be able to straight rob “Love to Love You Baby” and leave it at that. I will indeed rob, but then I’ll always try to take my songs to a different and personal place from there.

Well, I could go and on, but I have to do some actual 'work' now, to try and make actual 'money', which actually 'sucks', because I'd rather just chill and talk about this kind of stuff.

So , always a pleasure speaking with you Evan, keep up the good work!!

Be sure to check out Evan Patrick on myspace, and also his blogIn This Game A Minute.

www.myspace.com/evanpatrickmusic
www.inthisgameaminute.blogspot.com/

The Making of: Six Minute

2009-09-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

I chose to crack open Six Minute since the production style contrasts with my first 'making of' article. This track is not melody driven, so it needs to be approached in a more traditional electronic dance style.

Six Minute

Arpeggiator

The arpeggiator is the main driving force in the verse sections of Six Minute. I use my favorite synth , 'Synth One'.

>>download synth 1 from KVR audio

A lot of synths being developed are getting really out of hand. They're almost total production environments in their own rite, sequencers, built in efx racks, crazy shit. I do use some of these crazy guys from time to time, but for me the most important thing about a synth is how well you can control it. Every time I use synth 1, I never use any presets, I immediately start programming, and I can get exactly the sound I want, the interface is simple and intuitive, and has only what I need. Plus, I think it sounds great. ( did I mention it's free? )

Let's have a listen to the arpeggiator:

If you listen closely, you'll hear some audible 'ducking' on the 1 and the 2. Sounds like the first note is being missed.

Rather than use a sidechain compressor, I prefer to do this manually with Ableton's 'unlink envelope' feature:

Let's listen to the same arpeggiator along with the kick drum:

Okay, so the kick is super clear in the mix. Well, that's because it's not really having to 'mix' , it's playing over nothing. Using unlock envelope, you can tighten it up so it's almost unnoticeable.

I change the arp pattern slightly through the song.

Firstly, I don't use a MIDI arpeggiator before the synth, I just draw in notes and run a really tight loop. Secondly, I use a long envelope to let the sound evolve over time, so it doesn't get too boring. In this case, I put a high pass and do an envelope in the timeline, but you can also use the LFO that comes with the synth.
Both of these things give me total control , so I'm not slave to a preset arp pattern, or an LFO's cycle.

Sample Yourself

I've got like hundreds of tracks from over the years, just kind of laying around. Every once in a while just for kicks I'll take a sound from an old track and just audition it with whatever I'm working on. Since I'm me, and tend to make similiar stuff as me, often times little magical things will happen, the sounds just work.

A sample from an old track I made:

Never throw anything out. Sometimes your old weird stuff from 5 years ago can be just the juice you need.

Sampling is always a bitch though, biggest issue is that things are usually offkey. Every sample I use I always put a tuner, which sometimes works to help me transpose the sample much faster.

>>download G-Tune from KVR audio

Computer Voice

I love Computer Voice. I prefer it over vocoding, although sometimes running a computer voice through a vocoder can be cool to.

I made this sound with the speech engine in Fruity Loops:

I cut up the sample and put each syllable into Impulse. Just to show how you can sequence it I made this pattern:

Hear the pattern of 'elektrik!':

I transpose the syllables in Impulse, so you can get the voice to sing. There other ways to do this, but for rythm I like having each syllable on it's own. I did distort the shit out of this , basically it's unrecognizable from the original output of Fruity Loops.

The same speech engine which is run inside of Fruity Loops is actually made by a third party company, Soft Voice Incorporated.

A lot of these companies let you do live preview on their websites, so you can just use Audio Hijack or something while you're online, you don't really need to run the software locally.

I think their engine sounds pretty good:
sample voice

The Chorus

chorus comes in at like 0:20

I'm very proud of the chorus, the chorus was made by playing synths then rendering the audio ,cutting, pasting, rendering it out again, then chopping again, etc. This is fun, but it's kind of painful, I think I spent like 3 days just messing with the chorus, like just budging these tiny lil' slices around forever.

Definitely I would say it's the sculpting approach. It is a good way to get your melody beyond your own ability to play , or write out the MIDI notes. But , it's sketchy, I remember on that third day almost trashing this, like 'how long am I going to tweak this for?'. I've had many tracks that just never made it past this phase.

That's About It

There's like 5 million other things going on this track, but I just wanted to focus on some practical things about it. Ducking manually is really cool, I always do that, and also that synth and tuner are great, I use them in every single one of my tracks. Thanks for reading!

Klaus Shulze : analog badass

2009-09-17T23:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit I don't own a single Klaus Shulze record, but I do own quite a few Tangerine Dream records. Can I still be down? After stumbling across an amazing interview with this guy, ummm, no I don't think so.

Klaus' interviews on his website are incredible. I was shocked at his raw responses to the various hackneyed and uninteresting questions that journalists throw at him.

You must read this interview posted on his website. I leave you here with a few photos, and just a single short quote to whet your appetite for the interview:

"KS: Most of what is written about 'what the artists means and what he wants to say with his art' is bullshit, is promotion for the press, is nonsense, often just invented by the record company or the press, because people like to hear such stories, they like to read about such myths."

>>link to interview

Swedish Radio: interview with loose shus

2009-09-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

Interview:

I was interviewed recently by a pretty cool Swedish Radio show, it's funny, check it out above. Pelle Moeld runs the show. He digs up some pretty rare tracks. If you're looking to stretch a little bit beyond scouring myspace for something new, I recommend his show:

>>P3 Lab

Interview : Cyndi Seui

2009-09-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

Hailing from Bangkok, Thailand, Cyndi Seui is creating the freshest, most outrageous 80s style funk you can imagine. If ever I feel a little down on the scene, thinking maybe electro is becoming totally co-opted, watered down crap, all I have to do is throw on the first couple bars of Flashback on the Kitsch Kat myspace page, and all hope, wonder and enjoyment is immediately restored to my life.

c'mon, how sick is that shit?

I'm very honored to be able to delve into some of what makes Cyndi Seui tick. I'm not the only one jocking Cyndi's style, in the following interview we learn that Miami Horror has made his way to Bangkok to record with the master. Damnit, I want to do that, why does Miami always gotta be two steps ahead. Okay, I'll shut up now and let the master speak:

Loose
In 2005 you released micro bitz life. Weighing in at an impressive 20 tracks, it has a very original sound, like Brasil '66 meets Christian Fennesz meets Cibo Mato meets 8 bit. There are a few moments which foreshadow your current sound, but overall it is quite different than today's Cyndi Seui.

Pop Circuit

What were you listening to at this time?

Cyndi
Back then i was really collective into many genre that has got something to do with electronic sound......Together with my boss ( owner of Smallroom music label which i werk as a senior music production there ) We usually sitting down listen to Bertrand Burgalat, French electronic lounge and film music maker from Tricatel label....checking if there is any missing riff we did here on those trak....And Bungalow is one of my favorite label too as well....it 's like a european clubpop which i still think that it's still futuristic today....This two label has play an important time for me cuz i find many ways to put my electronic sound to many music like lounge, french pop, swedish pop, brazil electro, 60s future samba/bossa/ easy listening music.....Back then i felt that there are so many option open up for us like even our Stereo Lab and high Lamas ....it really inspire me to do tweaking analog sounds and exploration through unique electronic music....Many French artist that i really like is AIR, Saint Etient, Dimitri from Paris, and off course our be - loved Daftpunk.....couldnt agree more they have been doing their thing for ages...

Another decade of music i give importance is digging the Shibuya Sounds.......something from Cornelius, Cubismo Grafico, Hideki Kaji, Mondo Grosso, Plus tech Squeeze Box, Manfield, Pizzicato Five, Fantastic Plastic Machine, YMCK, Second Royal, and many more in this decade that they dare to cut/paste thing to their very own genius way of turning electronic music to an amusement park......U can beware of all the detail out from now where when listen to those record. Japanese electronic has their good name for being so detail on sounds, beatz, and innovative texture of programming things.....

Tweak Today

And the rebirth of baggey music beat like Bentley Rhythm Ace has great impact on many groovy riffs and rhythm and never the less, the early electonic artist that brought 80 glitsch into a new colour like Les Rythmes Digitales, Zoot woman, Arling & Camerson, Junior Senior.....i gave them super credit for moving ahead of time i guess.......

On those day.....i felt that i could choose any of those if im thinking of making an album......so Micro Bitz Life is like a collective music culture i really dont want myself to miss any of those in my werk as Cyndi Seui.......first LP album.......

After Micro Bitz Life you have evolved into a neo funk master. How did your transition come about from your more 'computer-ey' sound into the current analog funk that we all adore?

It all started after i had to prepared some live performance during the time Micro Bitz life release....So i was thinking of some song that i could related people with.......out of no where... i just picked "Rock with U" from Michael Jackson..So i did compose this song into quirky vibe and i found out i am enjoying doing a tune that reminds me super back then......It came clear why i start to do My name is Dos as it is.....cuz i grow along with motown, soul, and 80s music from my big brother and sister eventhough i like it or not.....it is all clear in my mind haha.......And one more thing....after micro bitz life.....my boss tackle me that i should do something with vocal on it......if u want to communicate toward more crowd.....first i dont really understand cuz i didnt get the glitch of it.......i think of it that's my only way that i will be into it....so i pick soul/funky trunk, motown, and 80 music history haha.......

Your track 'I say Go' I must say makes me so jealous. It's got everything I love - old skool orchestral hits, child-like bad ass female vocals, siriusmo-esque synth stabs.

I Say Go

Who are the vocalists on this track?

Ok her name is Karen K. thailand/italian vocalist( she is pretty like her voice haha) which i will be doing her a solo album soon......she sang me vanilla walk, my name is dos, and many compilation around......

Karen K

What synths are we hearing in this track?

TB303 bassline is one of those but it is not the real damn pocket size synth ( could u believe it!!!! ) few sample cutz i collect....like the punchy horn stab and the last half string stab........for the record, it divided into 2 big section.......this both song has got nothing to do with each other til i decided to put them both into one hahahahahah.......i feel they both cant stand only but when combine it.....it's magical!!!!!! Then i get my friend to my studio for some puncy mc on it then i called Karen K. another week.

My Name is Dos

In addition to your incredible synth sounds, are you using a lot of live instruments to create your tracks?

Yes i use alot of Guitar nowaday and real bass slap too......but i prefer both chicky bass slap vst i too haha...it does hav their beauty and yes the vocal is so necessary.

Your music is very 'musical'. What instrument did you learn music on?

I start off as a Guitarist, start digging on the instrument when i was 16 - 17yrs old......for the record i never think that i will come toward this Cyndi Seui thing at all back then........i just think i will alot of big head jazz thing and stuff hahaha......and yeah the drum machine tends to change my direction of music career.....very strange very strange

The chord progressions you use are very fresh and unexpected. Do you use key changes at all?

Some of my song has been treated to change some key from part to part depend on the mood if i feel it need to be elevated....ill find some shift progression to that particular tunes..

You are located in Bangkok Thailand. Is there a big music scene there? What's it like?

Im a city boy from Bangkok haha......The music scene is building up but yet very slow......after i release my tune from time to time.....there is more people starting to dig many music genre from post rock, idm, emo, indy tronica and so forth.....the big reliable festival might be Green Space from Heineken, B live from Barcadi, Jazz music Fest, and Fat Festival (popular indy radio that play our tunes hahaha)

A few months ago, you launched Kitsch Kat. The music is amazing, but it also has an incredible visual style.

Who is the graphic designer for Kitsch Kat?

That i would have to give all credit for my partner, Yuri Nominee......Kitsch Cat divided into two half, im in charge of music production and Yuri Nominee take care from Grafix, Web site, and all art werk KC needed.......

Do you guys all hang out and make music together?

We do have meeting every week or two eventhough there is nothing to talk about
......we share music influence among our group.....we dont go out much but we do hang out at my studio, shopping like a mother fucker, go find vintage keyboard, update new fashion that involved around KC (kitsch kat), updating mission that we want to accomplish.......Yuri Nominee use to work in smallroom as a main grafix designer but last 2yrs in came out to do his freelance werk while im still at the label........Yuri say that if we both are still in the label.....we would not have time for KC at all.....From time to time i always update KC to my boss cuz i dont think i hav any competition mind among business any way.....cuz im really close to my boss....i stand correct and he gives / takes it.

Flashback remix is my favorite track from the Kitsch Kat crew. Like the track 'I Say Go' it's got the nice big chord hits which do a really great call and response with the melody.

FlashBack Yuri Remix

Who are your some of your big influences?

i might hav to say Stevia Wonder, Prince, Kylie, Madonna, Michael Jackson, ....not the fact that he leave us to the moon or anything......i really dig his music from time to time...spark me to do music which im doing now a day

Who do you like listening to that's current?

This month i dig few artist i like at the moment like Breakbot, Shazam, Tesla Boy, and Miami horror....And yeah Miami Horror just came to Bangkok to produce some tunes together for the future album.......then he leave me with his ep which i havnt dig much.....when i do get time to listen....he got amazing composition.......with all above, i love how they break their groove with the flavors of soul, nu wav, and 80s sprout in their music.....

Is there anything else you'd like to say to the world?

Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat +Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat + Kitsch Cat

Thanks for the music. We love you in America, keep it up!

Be sure to check out Cyndi's other music on myspace, as well as the other Kitsch Kat artists:
www.myspace.com/cyndiseui
www.myspace.com/kitschcat

The Making Of : mmmm hmmmm

2009-09-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a series of "making of" articles I plan on writing. I'll break down a track step by step, showing my process. Hopefully this will be beneficial to some people out there learning , and also I hope that other producers will post similar articles so we can all share ideas and benefit.

Mmmm hmmm

In this track I use probably my favorite synth patch I have ever come across. It's the flutey , girl voice type sound that forms the main melody. The patch is from a sound font I have called 'HS Synth Collection I' and the sound is called 'BLOWED BOTTLE'.

You can download the bank containing my beloved "BLOWED BOTTLE" patch
download HS Synth Collection Sound Font VST

The sound that plays off of the melody is also included in that bank. It's called 'DX-SYNCLAVIR', it's sick.

SoundFonts
Sound fonts are a type of multisampled audio file format which allows them to be played via MIDI. They are free, and you can get REALLY AMAZING sounds that you're not going to find anywhere else, face it, most VSTs are totally played out, and sound lifeless and boring as hell. I use at least one patch from a soundfont in every one of my tracks.

You need some sort of VST player to load in the sound fonts. I use a really basic one called SFZ. But you should probably use a better one, SFZ doesn't let you envelop ASDR, but I've used SFZ for so many years I just would feel like I was cheating on it if I got a new player. Also if you play the same note twice in a row , it sounds immediately fake, better multisamplers get around this using the 'round robin technique' where they play the same note , just a different recording of it.

Download SFZ VST

this is the main melody that the BLOWED BOTTLE is playing. Nothing special, it's using the hackneyed 'all black keys' tactic, (i didn't know that before starting writing this, jeez I hope the chords have some non-pentatonic notes)

But as I played this on the keyboard I pitch bent the shit out of the notes making the melody much more dynamic. If you record pitch bend into Ableton, notice all of the little envelope points it creates. Probably it is a good idea to delete the ones you don't need, but I'm lazy so I left them in there.

You can also put in the pitch bend envelopes after you play something, or after you write in notes. I do this all the time, I'm much more of an 'editor' than a player.

I put a bit of reverb on this sound too. I only use 2 reverbs, one of which is PSP Spring Verb. It's just a lil' guy that PSP put out for free a while back, but I think it kicks ass. If you use PSP, it is totally overboard, seriously you should keep the time and mix settings around %25 or lower, or else you'll fuck up the rest of your track.
download PSP Spring Reverb VST

For the chords I used another SoundFont patch, an old organ sound.

phew, looking at this progression, it's got some non-pentatonicy things happening. This subtle organ does a really good job of coloring the melody, giving it a nice context. It's really low in the mix on purpose, I don't want people to actually hear it, I just use it to create dynamics and move the track along on a subconscious level.

If you listen closely to the organ , you'll hear a bit of volume pumping in and out. I achieve this through Ableton's volume envelop knob, and for convienience I 'unlink' the envelope so I only have to draw it over 2 bars, whereas the chords are looping every 4 bars. Unlinking envelopes is my favorite feature in Ableton, you can do anything you would with an LFO, you can do sidechain compression with total control, basically you can rule the world with 'unlink envelope'.

I put the organ through my favorite Chorus, "Classic Chorus". This thing is the best. It can bring life to a lifeless VST. And , it's free! ( I see a pattern developing )

kjaerhusaudio

The Drums

The drums don't really drive mmmm hmmm. It's a melody driven track. That takes a lot of heat off the percussion, so I didn't really obsess til 4 in the morning over my kick drum on this one. But I should of. I can't really listen to a lot of indy or rock these days, very little attention is given to the drums anymore, because people just follow the melody. If you're melody is hooky, you just get lazy, but fuck that. Long live Def Leppard.

Know your rythm. When I started I had about as much rythm as The Jerk. If you want to bang it out, stick to the 1 and the 2, but if you want to creep up on people sideways, you're gonna need some bongos.

Congas, Bongos, I don't care, just give me something I can dance to. This is the pattern for the bongos (congas?) I laid in. The velocity changes are important as it mimicks nuance of a real percussion player.

The Bass

As with the drums, since this is a melody driven track, the bass doesn't have to destroy as hard as usual.

I use a patch from Native Instruments Pro 53, which is okay. Kind of a bread and butter synth, but I never put my money on it for any track defining moments.

Looking back, I definitely should have compressed this more. Those spikes are great for the character of the bass, but you don't want them to happen on the 1 and 2, where your kick and snare are happening. The line shows what a limiter or compressor would do to chop off that bite. If I would have ducked this or at least compressed it my percussion would be a little clearer. But, again, on a melody driven track you get these little 'get out of jail' free cards, so fuck it.

The Juice

A third of the way into the track I play the melody through a distorted synth. It's yet another sound font. Damn, I didn't even know that. It's a stratocaster somebody recorded, and made a sound font, thanks!

I run it through Voxengo Boogex, which is fucking gnarly, and really hard to tame. If you can't get Guitar Rig 2, then this works (and it's free), but it's like Dog Whistle status, so watch out.

Big Moment

My favorite moment comes about half through the track. I drop a ridiculous 808 style bass drum, duck everything, and layer on tons of delay. Classic Delay is by far the best delay I have ever used, I love it so much, you should just download it now and delete all of your other delays.

download Classic Delay

That's It

To wrap it up, I guess this was a pretty heavy use of soundfonts. I can't say enough about them in terms of pushing your sound. I don't have much analog gear, which is a great way to go if you have the space, but in lieu of that there are definitely things you can do to push your sound beyond the computer.

Mmmm hmmm is still one of my favorite tracks I have written, and I hope you will enjoy it. thanks.

looseshus.com is official

2009-09-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

yay

2009-09-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

[buy]

[not out yet]

[buy]

[buy]

[buy]

[buy]

2009-09-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

Taurus EP featuring remixes by xinobi and keenhouse
taurus on itunes

taurus on beatport

12" available on Juno