In this tutorial I show how to send midi signal from Ableton Live to Modul8 on the Mac via the IAC Driver.  This is a great way to create cross-fades between random scenes of videos or images loaded into Modul8.  You can also control any other perimeter from Ableton Live that you would from any other midi controller.  It opens up limitless possibilities in the realms of VJing and DJing combined.  Watch the video below and download the companion Ableton Live 8 template.

(note: For some reason the audio wasn’t working for the first 15 seconds or so.)

Controlling Modul8 with Ableton Live

Jacob | MySpace Video

Psybient is about creating a sonic journey. The goal of psybient is to create a sound scape that can be enjoyed over a long period of time. Pink Floyd’s ’shine on you crazy diamond’ is a perfect example of the mentality behind Psybient. As is Animals.

Another album is Fates Warning’s ‘a pleasant shade of gray’. This album; if you’ve never heard it, is one song divided into 12 parts. This illustrates the mentality you need to create Psybient. Separate pieces of a whole, joining together to create a continuous sound scape, while still being individual songs.

While the sounds of psybient are vast in scope because it uses influences from many places. Including trance, new age, and even glitch. The emphasis is creating an atmospheric experience; like all ambient music, for an extended peiod of time, while still exploring different tempos, sounds and feels. The idea is to create songs that flow into each other, while still being separate.

Try finding a single good melody, and use that in a variety of forms as a joining factor for the pieces. Alternatively you can use a single repeating sound, or melody to Bring them all together.

I have used a running water sound, with a succession of freestyle Keyboard melodies. The result is over twenty minutes of music, all tied together by similar backing noise (the water) and style of playing.

Another trick Ive used is to simply use one element to tie the end of one track into another. I have used that trick on some of my rave tracks, but the concept is the same.

Pick an element you like, preferably part of the beat and continue it from one track into the next. You can then develop the track, and go anywhere you like with it. Then just pick another element that ends that track and pick up on it in the next.

My name is Ryan and My love in life is music. Listening to it, making it and exploring it. Music really is my drive in life.

I create acidhedz.com to help people learn to make their own music, and to showcase my own. I would like to share my love of music and the joy that come with creating your own, with everyone. Over time the site has expanded to include resources for bands looking to promote their music. [http://acidhedz.com/wordpress/new-acidhedz-posts]

Article Source: http://acidhedz.com/wordpress/new-acidhedz-posts]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ryan_C_Murphy”>http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ryan_C_Murphy

What is Beat-matching?

It is the art of mixing two musical compositions together seamlessly by speeding up or slowing down one of the songs to align their rhythms.

Basically, you need to be able to hear whether the beat you are adjusting is faster or slower. In order to do this you need skill which comes from an ear for tempo and lots of practice.

A good DJ knows how to beat-match.

Step 1

You need to have a way to listen to one track in the headphones while another track is playing on the main sound system.

Step 2

Play a track though the sound system.

Step 3

Find another track in your headphones you want to beat-match with the one playing. (This is done on a DJ mixer by turning on the Cue for the track you want to listen to.)

Step 4

Find the first beat of the track you are going to mix in, and hold it right there. If you’re using turntables or CDJs you can just grab on to the top of the record or CDJ to essentially pause the track where the beat begins.

Step 5

Listen to the beat playing through the main speakers. Wait for it to get to the first beat of a cycle. (Music in 4/4 timing usually is all built around cycles of 4 and 8 counts. ie. 4 beats in a bar, and 4 bars segments that lead to builds and changes in the music.) When you feel the music hit on the first beat with a crash or whatever, that is right when you want to play the beat you are mixing in. (in your headphones only)

Step 6

Immediately after releasing your hold on the record or CDJ, you must listen closely in your headphones with one ear to detect whether the beat you are mixing in is going slower or faster than the one already playing. If it’s going slower then adjust the pitch slider, and maybe even give it a little push to help it catch up to record A faster. If it’s going faster than record A then turn down the pitch slider on the turntable or CDJ accordingly to make it the same speed. You may even want to touch the side of the turntable plate or CDJ to slow it down faster.

Step 7

Once you have the beats aligned perfectly (or close to anyway), move the cross fader on the DJ mixer to the center with the bass cut on the beat you are mixing in. (you don’t want the basses of both tracks going at the same time) Then when it seems like the right moment switch the basses either slowly or fast and the switch over to the next track on the first beat of first cycle.

This articles was written by DJ Story who has been DJing for 11 years, and you can see beat-matching examples in his electro house demo mix video.

I often get asked “where do you get your music from?” while I’m DJing, and in this article I’ll tell you! Be it the next big indie track, a fresh and banging Electro House tune or just something nice, I’ll show you where to keep in the loop for the new and happening music.

Let’s get started!

BBC Radio 1 playlist. At BBC Radio 1 they keep a playlist of what’s hot at the moment. They split this list up into sections with their “A list” being the most popular songs at the given point in time. The “B list” and “C list” are songs becoming more popular and it’s very common for these to move up to the “A list” as weeks progress. Simply search for “Radio1 playlist”.

Online music stores. Dance music stores such as Beatport, DJDownload, TrackItDown, Traxsource, CDPool etc keep regularly update charts of what is the most purchased on the site and most purchased in a particular genre. This can be a great way to listen and easily buy new and upcoming music. Keep these sites close as they”ll keep your music fresh! It’s worth mentioning CDPool as these release dance (and other genres) music promos every month that you can subscribe to and listen to previews online.

Dance music forums. Most often you’ll find great members on music forums letting you know about the hottest new music to hit the world. They’ll happily post links and reviews of the new tracks for your listening pleasure! Keep a list of the favourite ones you find and quickly revisit them once a week.

YouTube. Subscribe to certain labels/record companies and they’ll post their new music within days of being completed to get the buzz created! I often learn about new tracks, search YouTube for them and find they’ve been added months ago with over 100,000 views and ratings!

LastFM. This is a great community of music lovers and record producers/labels which works really well for new and upcoming music. You can listen to songs, see what’s most popular and see what’s got hype at the moment!

There you have it! I hope you’ve found this article useful and find all the new music you could ever need!

If you’d like to keep updated on new dance music please visit Track Pot.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gordon_McNevin

One of the secrets of progressive house is to use a sidechain compressor. What you do is put it on a dirty bass track or whatever else you want to create a ducking effect whenever the kick drum hits. Basically, the way this is done is to put a copy of your kick drum on a separate track, and then you run that as the signal into the sidechain compressor. Whatever track the sidechain compression is on will start pumping with the beat. You hear this kind of sound a lot in progressive house tracks. I personally love the effect, and use it a lot. The reason I like it so much is because of the fact that if you put it on a phat bassline, it will duck whenever the kick drum hits, which let’s more low end bass from the kick come through.

Here is a video tutorial I made showing exactly how to use a sidechain compressor to create progressive/electro house in Ableton Live:

There are many different types of compressors that can be used for music production. Each hardware or software version implements 4 fundamental controls that can help you shape the sound. These are:

Threshold
Attack
Release
Ratio

Threshold
Set in decibels, the Threshold controls when a compressor should be activated. As soon as part of the signal exceeds the Threshold value, the compressor begins to reduce the gain according to the Attack, Release & Ratio settings.

Attack
The Attack control on a compressor affects the leading transient of the sound. It essentially determines how long the compressor will take to reach the maximum amount of gain reduction.

A fast Attack will start to compress the sound very early. This is helpful for controlling sound that may contain unwanted loud spikes in volume. Using a fast attack means the compressor will clamp down immediately on any part of the signal that exceeds the Threshold.

As many high frequencies are contained in the initial transient of a signal, using a fast attack can sometimes reduce these frequencies to the point where the sound becomes dull. This is particularly problematic if you are working with a very bright lead instrument that requires dynamic control. By increasing the Attack time, you should be able to find a balance between reacting to rapid changes in dynamics and preserving the transient of the signal.

Release
The Release control determines how long it takes for a sound to return to its pre-compressed level after it drops down past the Threshold. If set too fast, the sound will immediately bounce back to the listener after compression, which can often result in an unpleasant gain pumping effect. In some types of music, introducing a pumping effect is actually desired (eg. Dance), but if not controlled correctly with the Release setting, it can often sound very unnatural and fatiguing to the ear.

They key is to find a Release time that works in tandem with the chosen Attack setting, so that any dynamic change that is imparted on the sound maintains or compliments the groove of the track.

Ratio
Ratio controls the actual amount of gain reduction that occurs when a signal exceeds the Threshold.

A Ratio of 6:1 means that for every time the signal exceeds the Threshold by 6dB, the compressor allows an actual output increase of 1dB. The higher the Ratio setting, the more the compressor will squash the sound and hence impart firmer control. Lower Ratio settings typically result in a larger sound, however there is a risk that not enough dynamic control will be applied.

The author is a Progressive House DJ and Producer.

Luke Porter

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If I have to listen to another person saying that their way to create techno is the best, I swear I am going to scream. I read in a magazine the other day that someone bought a bit of software because their artist idol had the same software.

The guy now can not use the $X software. We all knew that was going to be the answer, but so many people fall into that trap. Software demos are there for a reason…also what someone likes is never a good system to buy something else. Personal reviews are just that- personal.

So I am going to list the 5 best ways of creating techno. They may not be ways that you have heard, and they may not be to your liking, but they are the best out there at the present time. I am also going to give my reasons why- rather than say “its great”.

So then, first up:

Ableton Live 5,6,7,(take your pick).

I bought number 5 because I wanted to create mix tracks. Now I think Live 5 is great at that, I don’t believe however that it excels in the area to create techno music. If you want Dj mixes, if you want something that adds great effects and an extra professional quality to your music…then Live is the one to go for.

Many DJs use Ableton because you can throw in two completely different MP3 files and it will beat match those files. All those Mash-Ups on MTV, all those strange tunes that are two tunes mixed together are using Ableton. It has become revolutionary. It completely loves loops- you can keep on adding loops to loops and it will keep on matching them up. Awesome for that, but not to create techno.

If I was to pick, I would go with whatever Live you can, if you can afford Live 7, go for that, if not, Live 5 does exactly the same job and cane be found for cheap money.

Reason 4.

I have bought Reason and I think that it is a leap in the right direction to create techno. I think that all tracks should be made with reason sounds. And unfortunately that is what you find. A Reason track sounds very similar to another Reason track. This is probably the reason for the refills (sound updates and injections which can be bought separately).

I am not really putting down reason, but for over $150 you want something that you can create techno with that sounds like your own work. I mainly use Reason for its sounds and effects (the distortion and echo effects are great, and no-one has got a better drum machine yet). I can create a drum beat and then add the effects. Save off as a WAV file. This can be done within minutes and is quite easy to do.

Reason is a good system if you are new to the whole music making process, but you need to work at it. If you don’t have a keyboard or have any music skills then it can be a bit hard going.

Cubase, Sonar, Logic.

I tend to find that Cubase, Sonar and Logic are the relative that comes out to your house only at special occasions. Cubase has been going on for ages, they invented a whole range of electronic music applications, and were one of the main music making packages out there. The problem that I have with Cubase and the other two when it comes down to create techno is that they are complicated and completely overshadowed by other bits of software. When Reason and Ableton came on the scene Cubase, Sonar and Logic wasn’t in on the game, they never even had a pair of dice.

FL Studio, Reaper

Now this is the part where you won’t particularly hear of. If you created some piece of software that costs over $100 would you want an upstart coming in on your turf? No…neither would I. But this is exactly what Fl Studio have done and more so Reaper.

FL was called Fruity Loops, stupid name and sounded very childish, so they changed it to FL. Now this is where it gets good and bad for FL. They are cheap compared with the others but they are trying just too hard. Their interface is too stylistic and cluttered. They are trying to be Reason…plus some more. However, it is a powerful bit of software.

You will hear some people put it down, but don’t listen to them (they probably bought the expensive titles). It is a little powerhouse, and a cheap one at that that does far more than people give it credit for.

Reaper on the other hand, is a good way to create techno. It is a bargain price that features a lot of bits that rival software have but at ten times the cost. It has a good reputation, but because it is cheap people tend to shy away from it and go for more expensive techno makers (which feature the same stuff).

Trackers

Now this is my favourite. Do you know what I was saying about cheap and people shying away from the software. Well Trackers really wind those people up. Why? Because trackers are free. Even better is that they feature everything that you need to create techno.

They use loops, they use samples, they use software synths (VSTs), they use ReWire (allowing you to use it with another application, say Ableton). Also they don’t assume that you need any music knowledge to start out creating techno. If you are used to Reasons Drum Machine (ReDrum), then you will be right at home with the main interface.

I have created all my music with Trackers, and so have a few others. Calvin Harris made music with Octamed. The James Bond Game music maker created all the game music tunes using a Tracker.

What you have to realise that this type of application that allows you to create techno is a threat to a lot of people who have spent a lot of money of applications (research, wages etc). So when a cool upstart comes in, they try and rubbish it.

Look at them, and then look past them. this is the future of creating your own techno. With free tools that is available to everyone.

Dominic Hough has created “The Complete Beginners Guide to Music Making, Marketing and Selling”. From an idea to number 1 success, see how YOU can create Techno with free music software, no theory and no music equipment. Techno Music Making…the easy way, starts here.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dominic_Hough

In days where powerful production tools are at your fingertips with a few clicks of a mouse, and marketing yourself to millions of people worldwide is just as easy, its important to have a brief guide for beginners. Stepping you through the process from beginning to end and hopefully helping you jump over the hurdles a lot of us blundered through in the early days of computer music.

This guide is not something that will teach you style, because if you don’t already have your own style or ideas you aren’t ready to write music. Also, I understand there is a constant debate between the idea of digital vs. analog in any genre you are interested in perusing. And yes, the best possible scenario would be for you to be surrounded in millions of dollars worth of vintage tube pre-amps and compressors. But once again, you have to take it step by step. And I’m assuming you’re sitting there surfing around to find out how to make a start for yourself. You have zero money to put into the project, zero income, and you’re probably behind on most of your bills so you’d better learn quickly before they shut off your internet.

That’s ok. Starting from this point gives you a very raw perspective on life that can make for some pretty damn good music. It’s that passion, that will to survive that will make your music stand out when others’ just blend in. And I feel very lucky that you at least have access to a computer to read this article.

Since all I started with was a desktop computer, this is a purely digital approach, and I’ll also just assume that if you do get rich and famous you’ll buy yourself a proper studio…And though I DO NOT endorse stealing the hard work of others through ISOHunt.com or Thepiratebay.org, OR the damage some of the files you download could do to your computer; you have to be educated somehow. And I don’t know anyone that can afford to go out and buy the necessary tools to produce music without even trying them out. I suggest demo versions of the software I mention in this article FIRST. If that doesn’t work for what you’re wanting to do, and you happen to pirate some software, I highly suggest buying the software the second you see any money for any of your work. The support you get will blow you away, and the updates will make your entire setup run smoother.

1. Software
When I started I knew nothing about what software to use or how to get it to make a sound. I used Google to find freeware I could download that claimed to be a Multi-Tracker. Which is:

- Multi-Tracker- a program that layers one sound over another on a time line. (example: One Track is drums, the other is guitar, and another is vocals, etc etc) The best of which are Apple’s Logic Studio, Ableton Live, Cubase, Propellerhead’s Reason/Record, and DigiDesign’s Pro Tools.

Instead of guessing which one to pick just to find out it doesn’t do what you want, I suggest either Reason/Record or Ableton Live for beginners. They have the easiest to understand interfaces, as well as the depth that is needed for advanced producers.

Once you have your software, spend some time with Youtube. There are tons of tutorial videos that will get you through the first main steps of these programs once they are installed… Like how to get the sound to work, and getting the sounds you want to use onto the screen. There are a million ways of doing this depending on the software you picked, so you will have to spend a few days (weeks) getting comfortable with where things are. All of which are available on Youtube for free.

You may want to use some audio editing software like Peak, Wavelab or SoundForge for making changes to things you want to import (movie clips, a song you want to remix, etc)

Keep yourself really organized and have a ROOT directory on your desktop named “My Music” or something like that.. And within that, start a new folder for every new song or project where you save everything from sound files to project files. It makes it easier to manage because most software won’t know how to find a sound if you’ve moved it (or the folder it’s in!). Keep your folder system consistent and you won’t ever lose anything. It’s the worst to have a project lose half its sounds because you moved a folder, and you cant remember where you put it. Keep everything together, and keep your folders named things that will be easily browse-able. The date is a good place to start. —-”2009-11-25 Song for Amber” works great.

Don’t expect one idea to be the end all be all of tracks. Any of the software you find has a steep learning curve and your quest for answers may take you in stylistic directions you didn’t expect. Go with it. Never resist it. And always remain focused on the NEXT sound, because any and all mixing can be done later. Just use the software to guide how your music will sound at first. You can’t start out programming all your own patches and sounds. You need to get comfortable with how everything works before you can make that tune you’re looking to make. Give yourself some learning time and don’t get frustrated if the program isn’t doing what you want. Every question you have can be answered online on either Google or YouTube.

You should be able to find things like drum sounds and loops in the preset folders of your software. If you cannot find a sound you are looking for try freesound.org. Their search engine can lead you to amazing things!

2. Sequencing
This can get tricky because you have to have some sort of understanding of basic music theory.
—Most popular styles use 4/4 timing. This means there are 4 beats repeated over and over. And the Quarter Note = 1 beat. A simple way to think about this is techno or house music:

Boom…Boom…Boom…Boom…1…2…3…4…1…2…3…4

Almost every kind of main stream music deals with these numbers so this is what Im going to teach you…get to know them:

4, 8, 16, 32,and 64

This is the amount of beats your loop will go before it repeats. If it is not one of these numbers then it will sound wrong. Some people like to stylistically do wrong numbers, and some people use it as an excuse not to do their homework. So I suggest getting a firm grasp on the theory before going on any off – grid adventures. Its easier to spot a wrong loop when its short than when its long. Make sure you have counted or felt it out. Most drum machines have 16 pads at the bottom. Think of it as 1 loop. They are 16th note pads and they usually are in 4 groups of 4.
You select a drum sound you want to use and load it into the first channel (any wav or aif sound will work). You can usually control where the sample starts and where it ends…and if it fades-out or cuts off… again consult YouTube for the specifics of your software…

Light up the pads where you want to hear the sample in the loop.

If “A” is a lit up pad and “o” is a dark pad then:

A o o o |A o o o|A o o o|A o o o …would be 1/4 notes This is used for that house music kick drum. The A’s are BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…1…2…3…4…

The o’s are all the spaces between the quarters. Think of them as:

One-E-and-a-Two-E-and-a-Three-E-and-a-Four-E-and-a

They are all the contrasting steps that make your rhythm interesting to listen to when you’re sequencing drums. Since most drum machines can handle doing more than one sound at a time, you have a totally clean 16th pad loop when you load a new sound into the next channel. Select back and forth between your channels to edit each rhythm.
If you can keep your overlaps down to 1 or 2 playing at a time while not repeating any one sound for more than 3 pads in a row, you usually come up with something halfway decent.

The main sounds that are standard to most rhythms are:

Kick = Boom
HiHat = Tsss
Snare = Chuk!

With these 3 main elements you can build a beat that will drive a dancefloor for hours or back up a band all night. It wont be terribly interesting without other stuff going on, but it is the foundation of drum programming.

Lets see if I can break this down with sound words, BOOM – Tsss – Chuk! – BOOM – Tsss – BOOM – Chuk! – Tsss

If you don’t get it, try saying the above phrase over and over and you will find the rhythm. If this were programmed into the 16th note pads, you would have 3 channels. Kick, HiHat and Snare. It would look something like this:

Kick- A o o o|o o A o|o o A o|o o o o
HiHat- o o A o|o o o o|A o o o|o o A o
Snare-o o o o|A o o o|o o o o|A o o o

I know its kind of a difficult thing to get used to, but just play around and you’ll find yourself feeling comfortable in no time. The most difficult thing about this entire process if FINDING the count of 1. Where do you START counting your loop when someone just randomly starts the music? You have to be able to identify it or your brain will get lost in a mix of 3 sounds not making any sense when programming.. I suggest finding the 1 in your favorite music.. Its usually right where the CRASH cymbal comes in so use that as a reference. If you get lost, wait for another cymbal and start counting 4s..1…2…3…4…1…2…3…4…

I have seen it take people years to grasp this concept, and it is essential that you do. You really have to know what to listen for because it is the punch of your phrase. Things will sound frustratingly different than they’re supposed to when you stop your loop and restart it if this is off. Learn this first before trying too, if you haven’t already.

Next week I’ll have the third and forth chapters “Beat Style, and Mixing&Fx” available on the Busy-Media Blog

About the Author:

Jonathan Cates currently operates http://busy-media.com which provides affordable media solutions for print and web projects. Come by for a free quote on any project or to check out the blog for tips on DIY promotions and breaking technology news.

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Ableton Live is a great program for music producers and djs alike. It offers great tools for creating music in the moment or doing more linear recordings. I’m going to walk you through how to make smooth dj mix transitions with live the way I do it. I’ve put one three channel eq on each track and set it up so that the numbers on my computer keyboard control the bass frequency kills on each one. I also open all the tracks I want to use in advance and set the warp markers for each song so that I know when I start it that it will be perfectly beatmatched. Keep in mind you have unlimited routing possibilities that allow you to control many perimeters in Live with Midi controllers or your computer’s keyboard.

1. Get your bass kills setup using EQ Three on each track (I use the numbers on my keyboard as controllers) To do this activate the Key button on the top right then select the L on the EQ for low end and press the key you would like to set as the controller. If you are using a midi controller then select Midi on the top right instead of Key.

2. Make sure the 1 marker lines up with beat 1 in the track, and the tempo has to be correct or else you’ll have to add markers throughout the track manually. If you know the tempo is consistent throughout the track but the tempo is not set correctly then line up the one marker on beat 1 and then go to beat 8 or so and line that one up without double clicking to the corresponding beat. This should change the tempo automatically to match.

3. Press play on track 1

4. Let it get into a groove and eventually bring in track 2 with the bass killed

5. When you want swap the basses out so the track 1 bass is cut and track 2 is bumpin’

6. Fade or cut out track 1 volume

7. Bump it!

8. It’s all about timing

9. You can press start on track 2 within four beats before the 1st beat you want to start on and live will automatically start on beat

10. Keep the beats bangin’ when people are dancing (many people don’t like it when a groove goes into some long break right when they were feelin’ it.)

If you have any questions of how to do any of this stuff then feel free to contact me and I will be happy to answer any questions you might have.