/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.