yeah, you could set up a vel tracker to modulate gate threshold after the reverb to get that gated reverb tail so prevalent back then. maybe reversing the vel tracker’s min max, depending on how you want it to behave. nice tones! your kick is a LOT different, much more modern/edm sounding, but you probably were going for that…
lol at uncle fester behind the bboys in the video
I see you’re using lil kevos hydra technique. do you find you get much mileage out of them? Always seems simpler to me to just input automation where I need it, but I haven’t tried that method. how do you like it?
was thinking of having the default vol setting on the snare be around 60 rather than 80 so that when fills came in at 70 and 80 they would then trigger a gate opening to a different, more dramatic reverb [and possibly stereo spread/chrous].
trying to avoid an overtly 80s sound, I figured that once the synths/bass etc were layered on top of the kick it would lose its clubby character. I’ll have to humanize the velocity on the kick as well eventually. Much respect to the homie Martblek.
dude… lol.
tbh I’m one of those that struggles to break out of the looping single pattern into a finished track/song format… I’ve been trying for several years to figure that out but to no avail. I thought that eventually I would utilize those hydras when I evolved to more of a track guy… so they are waiting in the wings for the most part.
right on. here’s a song writing tip. write a drop that’s full and as dense as you want it to be. 2 patterns, 4 patterns long, whatever. duplicate it out a couple few times and mute elements to create a build/elementary song structure, then create some other elements that complement those to provide an intro/some tension before the drop, well… drops. lather, rinse, repeat, and you’ve got yourself the skeleton of a song. flesh it out with transitions, etc. put the polish on it til it stops improving with work. call it done, mix it master it, write a new drop
some of this will depend on the style/genre you’re going for, but the more music you write, generally the easier it becomes to write music. creativity is a set of skills that improve with practice and use
my 2 cents on it
plus, finishing songs feels good! when you’ve got one done and your dopaminergic system is keyed towards that feeling of accomplishment it becomes much easier to ride the dragon instead of just chasing it. of course it all takes time, but aim to write at least a little music every day you can. habits are powerful
Nice tips. Yes, a “main pattern” (containing every instrument) is a good start. I would also recommend to use the pattern matrix while composing. The overview is best for building the song structure. You can clearly see how much or less varied your song is and how it’s built. Copy and paste is that easy. Personally I often don’t even look at the pattern editor anymore, just at the pattern matrix. I would also like to mention the two instrument rule. So if you’re adding instruments to the next pattern to build up the song, always add at least two more instruments at the same time, never only one. This way it never gets boring and there’s more variety.
