"Some day - we'll live as one family."

Hi folks... reading Kemmler's great post "Matching Tempo - The Hard Way" got me thinking about some of the other methods I've used over the years to get loops in time....

It's a long story and involves a bit of "audio tech history" - but hopefully by the end of it you might come away with a new perspective.... and a few more mashup tactics up your sleeve. :)

When you download a loop, usually you know the BPM. If not, it's usually an exact number of measures, and is easy to fit to your project's BPM. Most of the time, it's no trouble to fit a loop into a project with a different tempo.

Sometimes, however, you might run across a situation where you don't have a neat, 1-bar sample, and you're not sure what the BPM is, either. In this case, you need to match the BPM by hand. Here's one method to get that done:

If you're like me, free VSTs and samples are your bread and butter. Over the years, various programmers have made numerous contributions to the pool of available plug-ins. Some are great and become accepted as classics, others are not so great and are cast off into the dustbin of software history.

Here is a short list of 10 of my favorite VSTs in no particular order.

A very common question on most any music production forum is "How do I mix my track?"

• Much ink has been spilled answering this question in books, magazines, and online. If you really want to know "How to mix", you need to get a good grasp on fundamentals of sound, digital audio, phase, dynamics, EQ, compression, etc... Then you'll want to practice these skills for years and develop a well-trained ear. You might want to invest in some good, flat monitors and acoustically treat your workspace. Then you can really mix properly.
• But, you're working on a track now. You don't have time to work at becoming a world-renowned mixing expert. While mixing is equal parts art and science, I once read a quick, rough method for mixing that should improve the sound of your track in short order.
• First, make sure all of your instruments or samples are assigned to their own mixer tracks.

Hey everyone,

We've created simpler URL redirects to make it easier to send people to your shops. The format is this:

http://www.BeatHive.com/shops/YourProducerName

For example, PXR8's shop URL is this:

http://www.BeatHive.com/shops/PXR8

Remember, if you are a producer, you can also place a badge on your webpage that links directly to your BeatHive shop. Go here:

https://www.beathive.com/user/index.jsp

And click on "Producer Badge."

Greetings all, Alex PXR8 here.

In this ***monster*** blog post I am going to "open up the war chest" and give you a huge stack of "thinking out of the box" ideas for how you can make more money from Beathive. The ideas I am going to post in this blog are so useful and powerful that, if implemented correctly, they could dramatically increase the amount of money you earn from Beathive. We'll talk about my slice later ok.... ;)

This post is of course addressed towards people who have, or are making, their own original loop content: Those who already have their own loop shop, and those who are

   Many, many years ago in Jamaica, I asked a friend of mine to bring his turntables, mixer and record collection over to my house to DJ my birthday party. We had our fun, and he left the equipment for pickup the next day. Being the Curious George that I was, I awoke in the middle of the night, tip toed my way into the room where the equipment was sitting, plugged in headphones and tried my first mix ever; two copies of Freak-A-Zoid by Midnight Star mixed with each other. Inspired and excited, I emptied my savings the next day to purchase my own records and equipment, and thus began a long and winding dalliance in the world of DJing that predates house music and has sparked more careers and influenced more events than I have space to list.

 

   However, while exhibiting a natural talent for the art of mixing music, it took months before I had the 'science' of it down pat. Specifically, how to match BPMs (beats per minute) while - at a higher level of achievement - how to simultaneously match the music in harmonious musical keys, where the listener cannot distinguish the point at which one song begins or the other ends. Over the next few days I will review three recent products that will allow the aspiring DJ to accomplish all of this with about a week of practice, and in a format that will literally allow anyone to bring the "Party in Your Pocket".

Dedicated to the aficionados of the Akai S950, the EMU ESi32, K2000, MPC1000, etc.

"Sampling" may have only been around since the 1980's but the idea of creating music from other recordings has existed since the time of Musique Concrete - a form of music invented in the late 1940's by Pierre Schaeffer. French composer Schaeffer experimented with the manipulation of tape loops to create new compositions.

While Schaeffer's work arguably expanded the repertoire of music to include deconstructed recordings and "any sound", the idea of borrowing and building on existing music has probably in essence been around since the beginning of music itself...

Greetings BeatHive community! Spinning House, DnB, R&B, Disco, Dancehall, Soca and Hip Hop, I ply my trade under the moniker DJ*Free and - as is requisite to disclose up front - am the brother of the programming genius who is a business partner in this venture, thereby endowing me with a vested interest. That said, I have been asked to contribute some of my knowledge and insight to the BeatHive website, and am exceedingly glad so to do.

Check back for my in depth reviews, tips and general information of interest to DJ's, Remixers and audiophiles in general.

- Richard [DJ*Free]

When I'm making a new track, I often do a thing I call "loop stacking".

I have no idea how many other producers use this technique. But it works for me, and it never ceases to amaze me how well.

It works really well for making loops - but can also be used when making full songs / pieces.

I'll set Cubase to loop on a 16 or 32 bar loop... and then I'll start adding content.

Drum sounds, instrument riffs, soft synths... whatever I'm in the mood for.

The aim here is not necessarily to create one bass part, one lead part, etc... as you would do if you were making a song or track pack. The aim is to keep stacking up parts.

Important note: I mute much of the stuff as I go. I just jam on a motif or play around with sounds until I make something I am pleased with, and then I'll move on, like making pancakes, adding another layer to the stack - and then forgetting about it while I create another layer.

I can remember when the first samplers in the early '90's allowed you to "resample"... Was I ever excited!!

Resampling allows you to "record" the output of the machine and create a new sample from the output channels.

Well, at this point you might be thinking "big deal" - but hang in there.

Nowadays, its easier than pie to "resample"... you simply "export audio" from your audio workstation, and there it is.

But there's a fantastic way to use this creatively which you might not have thought of.

Many producers will not hit "export audio / bounce" until the end of the session, when they want a result they can burn to CD.

But you can use export / bounce to create all manner of unique, cool effects:

1) pick a section of your track - maybe an 8-bar phrase with some great groove or melodic / harmonic content. Maybe mute several of the instruments / audio channels. It doesn't matter, we're experimenting here.

2) Export audio, bounce, whatever you call it.

It's always the way: Someone discovers a new way to mess up a sound, and then everyone else follows suit.

In this particular case, I'm talking about sample slicing. Someone figured out that you could take a transient fragment of, say, a snare drum hit, and "roll" it at an impossibly fast speed, and it ceases to sound like a snare drum, it starts to sound like some glassy, otherworldly, razor-edged... thing.

The next thing you know.... we have a new genre...

There's a lot you can do with fragments of sound cut up really small and rearranged. One of the real masters of this is Trentemoller, and his name has become fairly synonymous with "the new sound" in many electronic dance music circles. He just seems to get it right.... and his in-depth production combined with a knowledge of melody and harmony has made his tracks popular worldwide. I think he might use cut-up vinyl crackles and pops as one of his sound sources but I'm not sure.

This one's easy too... but it's definitely a secret weapon.

Guitarists, more than other musicians, use pedals in their quest for that secret sauce, that killer sound.

I'm amazed that more people who play other instruments don't use them as much.

There's something about pedals. Partly it's the "hands on" thing with knobs and dials - tactile controls - that you can "play" with rather than just "set".

And also, there's a lineage now; and a whole evolution of certain circuits that create "tone". There's a whole new generation of "boutique" pedals out there that do some crazy stuff!

The thing is, in a lot of digital audio workstations etc, the drive has been towards sparkling cleanliness and accuracy. Most people will agree that it's harder to create "tone" using digital. And remember this: humans like analog distortion!

Ok this one's easy...

When I am making tracks I quite often create / record material that doesn't get used - basslines, synth parts, etc. There's always something that doesn't make it into the final mix of a song.

And it might be great material - it just didn't end up fitting in with the direction the piece ended up going in.

Working as I do in Cubase, this stuff usually gets picked up and dumped out in the "no man's land" after the end of the song.... doomed for eternity to sit on the shelf rusting...

Until now that is....

Greetings all!

What is "found sound?" Just what it says on the tin - sound that you found!

I love found sound. Found sound is FUN.

You'd be amazed at the kinds of sounds you can collect from our everyday environment. Especially when you take 'em home, feed them into your favorite DAW and start mashing 'em up.

One of the cool things I've found about working with found sound is that it gets me listening to what's around me in a new way. I start hearing all kinds of things I never noticed before...

You don't necessarily need a ton of gear. There are some portable or field recorders out there now that are very good value. A couple of good mics might help here too.

Found sound tips:

"The Jam"

Do you have a band? A percussion group? A horn section? A string quartet? A vocal trio?

In other words, a group of musicians you could put together for a sampling session.

The idea goes something like this: create a beathive sample shop specially for the group, then get together in a recording space. If you create a special beathive shop for the group, it's easier to share out the revenue later...

Work using a click track (I like to choose commonly used tempo such as 100, 110, 128 bpm etc) - but sometimes it's good to jam out and slot into a groove before assigning a static tempo to what you are doing.

Then the only limit is your imagination.

Hello this is Alex a.k.a. producer PXR8...

I'm going to be posting a series of "how-to" articles with all kinds of ideas for creative sampling, suggestions for new ways to create original loop content... and some business, marketing and PR ideas to help you get more customers to your Beathive loop shop!

Stay tuned!

Alex
PXR8

Whew, we made it. Despite a few bouts of chronic exhaustion along with near misses with colds, stomach viruses, and a little known disease called Hangoverous, we managed to get to the end of this marketing expedition intact.

Sunday was spent with more of the same kind of things: People coming by, us telling them about the site, and in general, getting a very enthusiastic response.

We also managed to go upstairs and shmooze with some of the more established outfits. There's "someone" in every major DAW company that knows who we are and what we are up to.

Today was filled with more of the same. We're getting adept at giving the site demo and it's been great to field all the questions from everyone. It's been a learning experience, for sure!

Our neighbors on the other side of us are really great folks with video tutorials of all kinds of music programs. Check them out at Askvideo.com!

The highlight of the day was a visit and hearty endorsement from DJ Mark Luv of the Zulu nation (!).

Halfway through! Man, we are wiped. When we got back to hotel tonight, Ron crashed into a "prayer to the bed" position (see attached photo). After another run to Whole Foods, we got rejuvinated.

We had a lot of visitors today. And response has been positive. It's great to meet other musicians, composers, and industry people - all working different sides of this crazy music business.

Oh yeah, did I mention the tradeshow babes/bimbos? (TSBs) They were definitely out in force today. Uh, maybe some photos of that to come...

Action scenes from today: