Artistic Direction

My artistic direction has taken a few different turns over the past twenty five years, but always it has been under the Dance Music umbrella.  I am very much influenced by heavy Techno sounds, such as the iconic Roland TB303 and artists such as Mauro Picotto.  I also love to make Hard House, European Hard Trance and sometimes Bounce, as it’s energetic and fun. 

I find that I spend more time working on the actual sounds and the expression when I am making Techno.  I like to spend time making interesting drum loops, spending time on synthesis and sound design with an aim to find my expression in these areas.  Being neuro a-typical having a few different styles of music helps me to stay focused and interested.

Experimentation

I have learned to become more experimental and spend time experimenting with different plug-ins to come up with ideas and sounds that I could have never envisaged at the start of a project.  I have found that simple ideas work best.  The last jamming session I had was to try out a new reverb, Valhalla Future Verb and an older plug-in called Elastique Pitch.  Just using these two plugins completely changed an fx shot sample.  It highlighted to me how using simple ideas can form the basis of an entire tune, and help me to get out of writer’s block at the start of a new project. Just from this one loop, I can hear how the rest of the track will develop around this one idea. 

For my “So Long” remix, I used a comb filter and dub delay on the vocal then swept through the frequency spectrum to create spatial, long echoes which I used within the project as textures and risers.  Usually I would pick random FX samples from a sample pack, however they often feel like I’m putting them in either out of habit or because the track needs something to “prop it up”.  By making my own textures, this filled out the track in a meaningful way and provided context for the rest of my ideas around the build up and arrangement which you can hear in the third clip.

Evolving Techniques, Tension and Release

Another part of my experimentation involved using a goose sound!  The audio clip includes the original goose sample, the sound with FX, then in context within the start of ideas of a Techno track.  I completely forgot about this idea until I started to go through my past projects, and it made me think about how I am very judgemental of my ideas when I am in the middle of them.  I have realised that I need to create some space between me and my work in order to really listen back to it objectively without mentally ripping it to shreds.  I really like the way this project is going, so I will be going back to finish it.

The goose sample was put into an oscillator in Harmor, a native synth of FL Studio.  I added some chorus from the synth containing the goose sample, then in the FX chain I added a gated reverb and foldback distortion.  

It still surprises me how you can take relatively boring sounds that wouldn’t normally be perceived as “right” for a certain genre, and make them work in a totally different context.  Ironically, it’s actually in that exact notion that it shouldn’t fit, that makes it interesting and different.  This is something that I will continue to explore.

In the same audio file, I also created a detune stab lead sound in Avenger, my favourite synth.  I started by adding two oscillators;  oscillator 1 was a retriggered saw wave, which I pitched down, added a sinewave sub, added unison of 4 voices then balanced this oscillator with the dry signal to get a balance of the unison with the original saw wave.  The second oscillator was a second saw wave, transposed up, detuned against the first oscillator with a random phase.

Then I created a macro which controlled the filter cut off and the release.  These are ways that I was experimenting with creating tension and release over time within the project, automating these parameters in the project over 32 bars.    Outside of the synth, on the  mixer channel, I was also adding more effects.  I was experimenting with a delay called Sinevibes Dispersion which has a bouncing ball delay effect as well as automating a sweep of frequency bands of the Melda Comb Filter provided a “phasing” effect on sections for emphasis which all helped me to add expression.

I would like to see if I could find a way to add those effects from outside of the synth, from the fx and parameters available to me within Avenger to see if that changes how much control I have over the sound design.

In the audio clip, “5_Evolving techniques_Off_Key_Arp_Reversed_parts_13_secs” there’s also an arpeggiated low pluck sound that I added another macro to, adding release and a filter cut off for emphasis, but this time I added a reverser plugin which automated to turn on and reverse the arpeggiator sound at the end of the 16 and 32 bars.  My reason for using the reverse plugin was to add some variation to the pattern non-destructively and in a way that will keep the listener interested and also add expression and this sense of tension and release.

Synthesis

Another example of creating evolving sounds through synthesis was in my now released single called Metal.  This is probably the most work that I’ve put into evolving sounds within a track that has ended with it being completed and released.  As well as the already mentioned evolving and automation of parameters such as filter cut off and release, the main riff sound in this particular project also had automation on the frequency modulation of oscillator one, which created the rich metallic sounds, which is why I made the decision to call the track “Metal”. 

Space for Creativity

Something I’ve noticed about the most experimental projects, and the ones that have ultimately produced the best ideas, they have always been when I’ve gone into the studio session without putting any stress or expectations on myself to finish a complete track.

By giving each specific task its own time and special attention, I find that I come up with much better ideas, as I’m not thinking about the next task that needs doing, or worrying about how much time I have left.

This also means that if I have to stop what I am doing, I can quite easily get back into it again as the break from the jamming session can often serve as a refresher and gives me a chance to listen back to what I’ve just done on “fresh” ears.  It can be enough for me to know what the next step will be.

Collating Ideas

I have got into the habit of bouncing down any interesting ideas from the project into a special folder of ideas.  This means that I won’t just lose a great idea in yet another project that will never get finished.  I bounce down the audio and the midi pattern of anything that I’ve found outstanding from that jamming session.

Sometimes I’ve sat on ideas for over a decade before knowing what to do with it.  So this habit of keeping a folder of ideas has allowed me to go back over certain ideas and bring them to fruition when I am ready for them.

Stylistic and Creative Decision Making

My ideas, decisions and workflow relate back to certain genres that my music is influenced by; the Techno and Hard House inspired projects will usually include an emulation of the TB303, or in my case either the use of my TD-3 (a clone of the Roland TB303) or the Roland Cloud VST version. I will create a pattern usually following the phrygian scale, a scale that is very much prominent in techno music, due to it expressing a sense of urgency.  The 303 plays an integral part in my Hard House tracks.  I like them to have their own “moment” and put them front and centre in the mix.  An example of this is in the audio file of my track “Temptation”. 

When it comes to live performance as a DJ, when I am playing finished versions of my songs, or other people’s music, I like to add synthlines to the performance as I DJ.  in which you will hear an acid line I’ve added over the existing music as well as the plucked lead sound from the Virus Ti-Snow.  I like to create my own patterns in my Behringer TD-3 and as well as using them in music production, I also use them live in a hybrid DJ set along with guitar pedals to add distortion, amp, delay, reverb and chorus effects.  You can hear an example of this in the audio file “8_Hardware_TD-3_and_VirusTiSnow_102_secs”.

I discovered a way to tempo sync the TD-3 to the internal midi clock of my CDJ’s and mixer, using MIDI DIN cables.  Then, after programming my own patterns into the TD-3 either by hand or by using the synth tribe software, I then connected my Virus Ti-Snow via MIDI DIN, which then played the same patterns as the TD-3.  Then I simply listen for the root note of the track playing on the CDJ, then match it by ear using the “pitch” function and the keys on the TD-3.  There were no tutorials on this anywhere on the internet, and it took me three days of trial and error to get it all to work.  I now use this set up in every livestream DJ set I do.

In the future, I am planning to add a Roland TR8-S drum machine to this hybrid set up, for even more variety and experimentation.

Influences

A major influence of my music is from the genre Hard House, and in many instances I like to use uplifting melodies, riffs and counter melodies to compliment vocals within these projects, and sometimes within Techno and European Hard Trance I try to stay away from using vocals altogether so that I don’t “hide” behind the focus of the vocal and instead this forces my hand into being expressive through other means, such as a really good chord progression, riff and counter melody.  Although my music tends to be written in a minor key, there are chord progressions and bass changes that move into a major chord as a way to add meaning and expression. 

Mastering

One of the drawbacks to having been in the music industry for quarter of a century is the fact that I do now have a bit of hearing loss and tinnitus.  This is one of the reasons why I have decided not to master my own work, at least for now.  It is something that I am absolutely interested in trying, but I do know my limits.  The audio file shows my track Metal before and after being mastered.

Psychologically, I do find the act of getting someone else to “finish” the track by sending it to them, paying them a nominal fee to master the track, then sending it back to me allows me to finally “let it go” and feel like that particular project has been finished.  This is a really good way for me to objectively listen back to the track, once mastered and gain some perspective on what I liked about the end result and most importantly what I would try to overcome or change about my workflow, methods or the way the track sounds for the next project. 

Evaluation

My direction now is to continue adding to my hardware performance set up and a resounding notion of less is more. Stripping back ideas and remembering to be deliberate about my choices.  I’v identified that in the past, I have added plugins that either were not doing anything, or they were put there out of habit.  Experimenting and allowing space for creative sessions is now important to me as I have noticed I feel much more inspired when I focus on this area.