Thursday 16 October 2008

Get over it!



There are certain rules to techno that can't really be changed. Downbeat kick drums, off beat hi-hats. Fine. They define the genre. But with 8 million VST plug-ins in existence, most of them free or pirated or just there to buy ... a few points need to be raised.

1) Bit reduction, decimator plug-ins. OK, the Logic Bitcrusher was cool when it first appeared. Back in Logic version 4.0 circa 1999. Because it was different. At the time. It's not cool now. Stop fucking using it unless it's part of a sound design tweak, you dig?!

2) Minimal. 808 congas going dookie-dookie-dookie-dookie on Q24th / triplet timing. Adam Beyer did it first to my knowledge. That should've been enough.

3) White Noise. Through filters. Yawn!!! I love a good shot of the white stuff, but don't people realise you can run this shit through distortion pedals?!

4 comments:

Kristian Dando said...

Hello sir - enjoying the posts as always. I've just started to get stuck into this production lark. What plug-ins and things do you reccomend bolstering my standard logic express 8 set up?

Anonymous said...

that's ironic. i was just discovering how to use bit reduction, triplet percussion, and white noise in my tracks. hahaha...

disuye said...

The best thing to bolster up Logic 8 would be ... er ... some choice hardware?! :")

My biggest gripe with software is that everyone now has the same tools. Combine that alongside the digital music sales model (i.e: quantity over quality!) the net result is forty thousand tracks which all sound essentially the same – coming out every single month.

ANYWAY!

First things first, head over to http://www.kvraudio.com and search for free Audio Units ... there are literally hundreds. Secondly, don't be lazy! I mean this from a motivational point of view ... try out lots of freeware, route audio out your soundcard thru guitar pedals and back into the box again ... do anything to get the texture of your sound just that little bit different. Finally, avoid being derivative at all costs!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link disuye!!

Lot's of neat stuff there for sure.