The Secrets of House Music Production

144 Pages·2009·0.91 MB·English

by  Marc Adamo

/3
the secrets of house
music production
a reference manual from sample magic
/4 /drums /The Secrets of House Music
credits
Written by Marc Adamo
Vocal chapter and additional content by David Felton
Interviews by Sharooz Raooi
Edited by David Felton
Design concept and illustrations by Simon Marlow at KASH
Bonus CD artwork by Joseph Barker
Print by Captiv8 UK Ltd, www.captiv8.co.uk
Published by Sample Magic
19 New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UF
www.samplemagic.com
First published in the UK December 2009.
Second Edition (revised) May 2010.
Third Edition (revised) April 2011.
Fourth Edition (revised, with audio added) May 2012.
Fifth Edition (digital downloads added) June 2013.
Sixth Edition (PDF edition) June 2015.
ISBN: 978-0-9564460-0-8
All content © 2009-2015. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used
or reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the publisher.
All samples provided as bonus downloads and all audio examples are © Sample Magic.
They are provided for your use but are subject to license. See www.samplemagic.com/faqs
Acknowledgements
The editor would like to acknowledge the content suppled by Mark Knight,
Wolfgang Gartner, Sharooz, Way Out West and The Young Punx.
/The Secrets of House Music /contents /5
contents
Part 1 DRUMS 8 Part 4 THE MUSIC 74
Kick drum 10 Synth anatomy 76
Snares and claps 14 Sounds: Classic piano and stabs 78
Hi-hats 18 Sounds: Fat leads and arps 80
Cymbals and percussion 21 Sounds: Pads 82
Synthetic percussion 22 Sounds: Soulful Rhodes 84
Drum programming 24 Working with loops 86
Groove tricks 26 Rex, Apple Loops and more 88
Drum programming grids 28 FX 92
Pro tips: Wolfgang Gartner 30
Part 5 STRUCTURE 98
Part 2 BASS 32 Structure 100
The bassics 34 Anatomy of a track: Electro-house 102
Bass in the mix 36 Anatomy of a track: Minimal & tech-house 104
The sub 38 Anatomy of a track: Vocal-led house 106
Bassline programming grids 40
Pro tips: The Young Punx 46 Part 6 EFFECTS 108
In detail: studio effects 110
Part 3 VOCALS 48
What kind of vocal? 50 Part 7 THE MIX 120
The vocal session 52 Mixing 122
Editing the vocals 56 Picture the mix diagram 125
Melodyne and beyond 59 Walkthrough: A mix in 32 stages 128
Vocal production 62 Mastering 132
Vocal FX 67 Remixing 136
Pro tips: Way Out West 72
Part 8 OUTRO 138
Pro tips: Sharooz: A word on the money 140
DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT – When you see
Index 142
this logo alongside a walkthrough, you will
find the associated audio examples in the zip
file the PDF came in.
/6 /introduction /The Secrets of House Music
/welcome...
This book is about the techniques of dance music production. As far as we know it is
the irst of its kind dedicated purely to house music.
House producers learn their skills in a variety of ways: they watch producer friends and
read blog posts; they adopt other production styles and use engineering guesswork
guided by endless trial and error.
This book is written for the next generation of producers who want to hit the ground
running armed with the essential techniques and skills it takes to produce cutting-edge
dance music.
The tutorials cover Logic, Live, Cubase and Reason. But the techniques outlined are
universal. It doesn’t matter what kit you have: a banging kick drum is a banging kick
drum however it was made, and the essential lessons in the tutorials remain the same,
regardless of the soft and hardware you have at your disposal.
The truth is that classic house tracks are produced every day on cheap gear in
bedroom setups – it’s not just professionally trained engineers in expensive studios
stacked with high-end equipment that are hitting the big time.
This book can be read from cover to cover or dipped into whenever you need
specific guidance or inspiration. Use the index to quickly find what you’re after. In this
edition we’re also offering hundreds of audio files for download so you can hear how
a particular technique or programming method is meant to sound.
Enjoy it. And never forget to bring the music back to the place where it all started:
the danceloor.
Marc Adamo
/The Secrets of House Music /preface /7
/all about house...
My introduction to dance music production was a baptism of fire. I shared my
first studio with Dave Lee (Joey Negro) and I learned a vast amount of my
production knowledge from Dave’s then studio engineer Kevin Brooks. If I
wasn’t in the studio I would sit and watch him at work, learning everything from how to
record brass sections to how to balance and comp backing vocals.
This was watching a producer in the true sense of the word – producer as project
manager, who knew how to bring all the fundamental elements of a track together
into a single unified whole.
Although I’ve diversified my sound through the years, moving through a wealth of
sub-genres to stay ahead of the curve, the production values and techniques I
learned back then – on kit far simpler than today’s – have stayed the same.
Throughout my time in the industry the one thing that’s never changed has been the
thirst for house music. I started Toolroom Records with my brother Stuart back in 2004 in
a tool shed outside my parents’ house (hence the name). Initially it was just a label to
release my own tracks. Six years on, and with a catalogue that spans over 150 releases,
we are now a global brand and home to the biggest artists in dance.
Even with the demise of physical product and the massive problems we face with
piracy, dance music has never been in such a great place. New producers hit the
scene, new genres spill into the mainstream and, above all, great records continue to
be made.
It’s these records that are the future of the industry. Keep making them.
Mark Knight
/part one
/The Secrets of House Music
drums
The beat is what puts the dance in dance music. Once the kick is rolling the groove builds above it.
Shuffling hats, a dirty tom loop, crisp high-end claps:
A solid rhythm is the most crucial element of a house whatever it is, each new element should complement
track. It provides a foundation on which the rest of the and support what’s gone before in terms of how it
mix is built and can take on a momentum all its own, works both rhythmically and as part of the overall
whipping a dancefloor into whoops of ecstasy as each sound.
new, carefully honed sound emerges into the mix.
A marriage of tone and rhythm: that’s what the best
It starts with the kick: the solid punch of a 909, the beats are about.
subbed-out thump of an 808 or a tight snap from a
disco kit. Get the drums right and the rest will follow.
/10 /drums /The Secrets of House Music
/the kick drum
hi-hats in the mix, along with some vinyl-
infused vintage reverb. This all adds top-end
clarity and spatiality to the kick, helping it cut
through the mix.
Electro and jackin’ house
in house, The kick is king.
The kinds of kicks used in electro tracks vary.
Some take inspiration from the 80s, with
how do you get it right?
chunky E-mu Drumulator or LinnDrum-style
kicks laced with sub reinforcement to power
the low end. Others take a more minimal-
I
tech tip, using analogue 808-style kicks
n terms of defining characteristics, in house while a higher bassline will sit nicely alongside topped with a disco or electronic high-hat
/overview
music the kick drum is king. It is the single most a longer, deep kick drum (like the Roland TR- for definition. A third variant – that has found
important part of the rhythm section, on which 808 kick). As the relationship between the two tricks for kicks fans in the nu-rave and nu-disco arena – is
everything else is built. Get the kick right and will probably alter during the mixing process, to use rough and ready live kick samples
the rest will follow. Get it wrong and your track be prepared to make minor adjustments to from funk or even rock records. Tracks from
stands little chance of being played in a club, each as you go to ensure that they continue 1A club track fails or succeeds on the the 70s and 80s offer a wealth of possibilities.
let alone being bought by discerning DJs. to work well together. basis of its low-end energy. The two The emphasis throughout is on the slightly
inhabitants of this area of the frequency dirty warmth that only vinyl gives. Whatever
With thousands of kicks to choose from, what Tip / If you use a kick from a drum machine spectrum are the kick drum and bassline. direction you choose, there are plenty of
are the factors you need to consider when / sampler you can easily tune it to the key of excellent samples to choose from.
choosing – or building – your kick? the track and adjust the amp envelope to 2T he key to a great dance track is getting
get the right length. these two elements to work together. A Minimal house
Depth, length and vibe booming sub-bass kick will clash with a Minimal is all about simplicity and producers
Getting the right sound similarly subby bassline. tend to lean towards analogue and synthetic
The depth and length of a kick should be generated kicks. The quintessential minimal
directly related to the bassline, as the pair Each house sub-genre makes use of kicks with 3 The classic Roland TR-909 kick drum kick is based on the Roland TR-808 bass
work hand-in-hand to power the track. They distinct character traits. Because of various is a great place to start. It has enjoyed drum, but thanks to the flexibility of software
also overlap in their respective frequencies, seminal recordings certain types of kick have so central a place in house music precisely such as Logic’s Ultrabeat and Waldorf’s Attack
so it’s vital that they produce the maximum become associated with different styles. because it works so well in dance tracks. drum synthesiser, you can create more
amount of energy together and not fight for Selecting the kind of kick popular in the genre interesting variations than the 808 ever could
space. you’re producing in is a good starting point (see Creating an analogue kick, right).
when writing as it sets a basic vibe that can
Progressive / tech-house
They say opposites attract, and that’s help focus subsequent production decisions.
definitely true when mixing kick and bass. Prog and tech-house producers make use of
Picture the two as you choose them, thinking Classic / funky / deep house a range of kicks, including 909 styles as well
about where each sits in the frequency Classic, deep and funky house producers as analogue variants and kicks from more
spectrum. If they sit in the same sonic use 909-style kicks that are often layered with esoteric drum machines.
place they will rub against each other samples from disco tracks. This pairing gives
uncomfortably. Neither will shine and you’ll the beat the best of both worlds – the power The closer prog house gets to trance, the
struggle to make them gel. As a general rule, of the 909 and the live party vibe of a disco more reliance there is on the 909 which,
a higher, short kick (a classic disco kick) will beat. If you get the disco kick from an old more than 20 years on, remains the
work well with a booming, deep bassline, record then you’ll end up with layered quintessential trance drum machine.
/The Secrets of House Music /drums /11
/walkthrough
creating an analogue kick in ultrabeat
1 Select a standard sine wave and tune it to the 2 Edit the amp envelopes. Set the attack to 0 to 3 Assign an envelope to modulate the pitch. This 4 Use the modulation envelope to shape the pitch
root or key note of the track. If you’re not sure of give the kick a nice punch. Set decay to medium will allow you to bend the pitch of the sine wave of the kick so that it sounds like an 808. Set
the key use a standard one like A, G, E or C to start for a smooth downwards slope. Set sustain to 30% so that it sweeps from high to low. Increase the attack to minimum and decay between 10–35%:
with. You can easily re-tune the kick later. A sine and release to about the same so the sound doesn’t modulation depth so the pitch sweeps down quickly. the ideal setting will depend on the shape of the
wave is ideal because it is the cleanest, most neutral cut off too abruptly. Drum machines like Ultrabeat The envelope can be varied around this basic envelope curves. To reduce the amount of click
tone, producing a lot of power without additional usually trigger the whole envelope, regardless of the shape to produce many usable kicks. A curvaceous at the start increase the amp envelope attack
harmonics. length of the Midi note. envelope usually produces the most musical results. parameter.
5 It only takes a little adjustment to change the 6 For the final touch, adjust the amp envelope 7 For more definition and tone at the start of the 8 This second oscillator only needs to sound at
kick from a smooth 808 to a thumping 909. decay to get the right note length. If the attack kick introduce another oscillator. Use a square the start, so set the attack envelope to 0 and
The secret is in the shape of the decay hump. Take sounds too harsh, increase it a little to soften it. To wave because it has lots of harmonic tone and tune the decay to drop away fast. Sustain and release
the decay time and extend it. Small changes here make the sweep stronger increase the modulation it to either the same note as the sine or a 5th above. should be 0 too. This will give a little blip at the start
make a big difference. Make the hump a bit more depth. To make it more subtle decrease it. This will supply additional bite and tone. of the sound. Mix this blip kick with the deeper kick
linear, like in the grab above, to get more ‘knock’ Experiment for a range of different kicks. to taste. Finally, layer up a hi-hat for additional bite
from the kick. and presence.