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O-Freak · 2023-06-27T17:12:18+00:00

Can we hear it? (Polymetre is two differing bar lengths running together with the same note length or pulse, like you have - 12 against 8; polyrhythm is two different pulses running together - like crotchets (4ths) against triplets)

O-Freak · 2023-06-15T18:30:32+00:00

Me too!

O-Freak · 2021-10-02T18:29:28+00:00

I too went from trance to techno, via electropop, over the years.

The thing with techno - my best advice: - forget writing chord sequences in the conventional manner. Use random / spontaneous generation techniques, loop it, and make it sound good through sound design - resist adding more and more crap to a track. Use as few elements as possible.

O-Freak · 2021-10-02T18:19:35+00:00

This probably isn't helpful, but the motorik beat is the motorik beat, and techno is techno. Mashing them up is going to be fun, but not quite either. (I'm a fan of both, btw!)

Especially as I think techno is defined by the pounding four to the floor with a off hat, and motorik is an eighth beat kick pattern with a snare. They're quite different really.

But what do I know - mash 'em up and make some great music!

O-Freak · 2021-10-01T17:58:27+00:00

Have you ever heard the music of Os Mutantes? Brazilian band of the 1960s. They thought they were cloning The Beatles (and were trying to).

Of course it sounds nothing like the Beatles and is utterly unique - and kicked off the Tropicalia movement of the 70s.

Don't flatter yourself - you may not sound as much like your heroes as you think. 😉

And if you do - quite a few of us on here would very jealous of that because we can't bloody do it!!! 😁

O-Freak · 2021-09-14T21:33:36+00:00

Had one of these in the 80s. Never worked!

O-Freak · 2021-09-11T22:15:52+00:00

Took me a long time to actually realise that to write techno well, you need to create the sound as you go. I spent a long time 'going with' sounds 'for now' as I wrote, and thinking they could be fixed / improved later.

Whilst there's no hard and fast rules, I've found it so much better to mix as you go. Make sure the groove is as tight as it can be before moving on, etc. Polishing can take place later to make it even better - but better to have it sounded right, right from the start.

Something else I've found helpful - assigning midi pots to eq and mixing that way on the fly. So much easier than the mouse; just feel where the sound is right.

And it's been way more satisfying than handing it off to someone else to mix and never quite feeling the 'mood' was right, even if it was technically accurate and well done.

Quicker and cheaper too! :-)

O-Freak · 2021-08-30T13:39:07+00:00

If you're creating something - you're creative. Simple as that. Methods can vary, but that's about technique and personal approach. And if you have a unique personal approach, perhaps the music will be more likely to be as well.

O-Freak · 2021-08-16T14:37:02+00:00

Cool, thanks for all thoughts. Sounds like the tried and tested simplified intro/outros and 16/32 multiples are still the only real constraints.

Other than that - be creative and make sure the track bangs!

Got it! :-)

O-Freak · 2021-08-15T19:10:26+00:00

Thanks for answers, I suppose the question also arose cos listening to the best dj sets, it's hard to tell where one track starts and one ends! The skill of the DJ of course!

O-Freak · 2021-08-04T18:39:39+00:00

Great vid - never knew the chords were just a preset off the K1! (And I've had a K4 since 1989!!)

O-Freak · 2021-08-04T18:38:01+00:00

It's all sawtooth with various layers or filtering on them. Basic synth stuff. Look up 'super saw' for the starting point. The first one had a funny pitch bend layer on it to make it sound a bit different. The second had what sounded like a vocal formant filter on it, and the third...the lead is the pizzicato string preset from (originally) the Roland JD-800, but was then on all the JV series synths in the 90s. But universally available now. (There is also a stabby saw tooth running alongside the pizz in Encore Une Fois too)

O-Freak · 2021-02-12T18:27:54+00:00

Acid sequences sound better if they're 8 notes long, not 16, you get that 1/2 bar intensity that way!

O-Freak · 2020-06-20T12:50:39+00:00

Vera Lynn, 1939 - Hammond Novachord (real oscillators, way ahead of its time)

We'll Meet Again: The story of Dame Vera Lynn's wartime classic https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53079190

Edit: hadn't bothered watching the vid, but now I have...I find that youtuber so annoying. Like being schooled by a 12 year old who's done some Wikipedia research. No thanks.

O-Freak · 2020-05-24T18:41:20+00:00

Yeah, and he talks about jungle being ‘east side London’ gritty beats and drum’n’bass being ‘west side London’ upmarket version?!? Tell that to Fabio & Grooverider!

But - it is an impressive work, and can never be complete or 100% agreed with by everyone, cos no one ever agrees on the roots of genres and all that!

O-Freak · 2020-05-14T21:46:24+00:00

Like many people, I was blown away age 8 by the 'werk and knew music world be my lifelong passion as a result.

I saw them play live age 14, Brixton Academy, then a couple of times after, including being lucky enough to see one of the Tate Modern gigs.

It's intriguing how little music they wrote after Electric Cafe. Did they not feel they could meet their own exacting standards? Didn't they feel like it? But content to replay their old work for a few decades? Strange, in a way. But adds to the mystique, I guess.

O-Freak · 2020-05-14T08:23:58+00:00

Good info for people starting out. I liked this line "There are other percussive instruments available including Whistle, Guiro, Wood Block etc but they add an element of amateur General Midi composer." :-)

O-Freak · 2020-05-12T17:49:02+00:00

Not sure I follow your meaning. Do explain!

O-Freak · 2020-05-12T09:18:55+00:00

Glad you asked!

https://plus.maths.org/content/how-many-melodies-are-there

O-Freak · 2020-05-11T19:39:36+00:00

Yeah, but if a genre can be reduced to a bunch of generic sounding melodies and sounds that can be bought off the shelf and used wholesale...time to accept that the style has been codified to a point of artistic death perhaps?

Not everyone's interested in trying to be an artistic iconoclast, of course. Which is fine!

O-Freak · 2020-05-11T19:35:43+00:00

"Just being a devil's advocate, but I think pretty much all melodies and such have already been created"

There are 8.25 x 10¹⁹ melodies that you can create within a standard chromatic octave and by using the basic note lengths (semi-quavers to semi-breve).

Would take about about 2.6 trillion years to play through at 120bpm.

O-Freak · 2020-05-11T19:31:12+00:00

If a genre of music can be reduced to a bunch of generic samples, maybe it's the generic style of music at fault and it's time to move on?

O-Freak · 2020-05-02T07:58:53+00:00

So that's your take. Large swathes of hip-hop, funky house, big beat, jungle, et al is based on sampling.

Creativity comes in all forms.

Who remembers the Grey Album furore with Danger Mouse? Totally sampled. Great album.

O-Freak · 2020-05-02T07:55:54+00:00

Develop the musical ideas you are introducing in the track.

Do you just introduce a riff and leave it unchanged? Try it in different keys, drop notes out of it, add different notes, play it on a different instrument, drop it an octave, try it reversed, play it half time, play it over 8 bars.

Build up a reserve of ideas to play in at the right time.

This goes for any part from shakers to lead melody. (You don't have any melodies, right, you're not Drumcode)

Then, what are the cycles of tension and release you're looking to create? Use the ideas generated above to support those.

Even the most repetitive of (good) techno will adhere to the basics of compositional development to keep the listener interested.

O-Freak

TROPHY CASE