Producing Tech House
Electronic music Producer extraordinaire Laurence Holcombe shows you the secrets to making a realistic Tech House track from scratch. Using Logic and various 3rd party plug-ins, but applicable to any DAW, Larry reveals the steps to take to make a true Tech House production including all the staple sounds and arrangement conventions. You even get the Logic Pro X session and all the individual WAV files to import into your DAW!
Videos
• Introduction (00:50) - Larry welcomes you and discusses what you'll be doing and learning throughout the series, as well as talks about the genre of Electronic Music you'll be creating from scratch.
• Designing the Kick Drum Sound (09:51) - Larry starts down low with the staple of this genre, the kick drum. See and hear how to create a great 909 type kick drum sound using Kick 2, as well as adding Distortion, Compression, EQ and Tape Saturation to bring the kick out in the mix.
• Claps & Hats (10:25) - Now explore filling out the groove with the classic 909 Clap and Tech House hat sounds. See how to layer the claps and hats for extra punch, and route them to their own bus. for more processing. Tweaking the volume envelope to get the exact sound required is also shown.
• Adding Extra Drum Hits (14:47) - Larry now covers how to add congas, woodblocks and other percussion to fill in the groove. Using swing in Ultrabeat, see how to add that all important feel to your beats and accenting beats using velocity on your hats.
• Adding Extra Rhythms (06:41) - Taking extra elements from Apple Loops to add inspiration to your drums, Larry shows how to add an extra tambourine. Next Larry share a trick to create rhythmic vocal loops by having a drum loop playing through a vocal as a reverb impulse response. Furthermore an LFO Tool sidechain compressor is added to make this part groove.
• The Bassline (07:17) - Larry now reveals how to create a plucky bass sound in Massive and then programs it as a suitable part for our track. LFO tool is then used in a novel way to get the perfect side chain contour for the bass so that it optimally works with the kick drum.
• Applying EQ Pt. 1 (13:04) - Now see how to use Pro-Q2 and do basic low and high pass filtering and create space in the mixdown. The zero latency and natural and linear phase modes are then used to select the best setting for each sound.
• Applying EQ Pt. 2 (12:43) - Larry continues the EQ process, showing how to carve out the various tracks into their own space.
• Enhancing the Groove with Compression (15:06) - See how to set and use musical Compressor release times to enhance the groove and front to back perspective.
• Adding Reverb (13:05) - See how to add early reflections and Reverb to varying degrees across our parts in order to add a sense of space and depth. The FX returns are then Compressed, EQ'd and Side Chained to get maximum clarity and groove.
• Adding the Chord Sound (08:14) - Larry now uses the Korg M1 triggered by Logic's Chord Trigger function to play a 7th/9th chord and various effects, including a pseudo-stereo widening effect.
• The Vocals (13:25) - Larry now defines a direction for the track by adding Vocals and staris to process them to fit the groove.
• The Arrangement Pt. 1 (09:44) - Larry now explains the importance of getting into the arrangement phase of the process at this point, preventing you from ending up in a constant loop! See how to take the arrangement from another track and use it to get into the process as a starting point for your track.
• The Arrangement Pt. 2 (12:37) - Larry continues the Arrangement process by going through the track, essentially arranging on the fly, keeping the momentum going, creating excitement and dynamics.
• Chopping Up the Vocals (21:12) - In this video, see how to first mix the vocal using a combination of Multi Band Compression and NY Compression. Then a choppy vocal effect is achieved by working on the vocal and chopping it into slices to be arranged throughout the track.
• Adding Extra Elements Pt. 1 (08:45) - As we near the finish line, we jump around adding some extra dry rolls and playing around with the mix and arrangement some more.
• Adding Extra Elements Pt. 2 (10:50) - Larry adds and tweaks more extra elements in the song.
• Finishing the Arrangement (22:08) - Larry continues to go through and add the last bells and whistles, as well as adds the all important High Pass Filter on the Master Bus!
• Parallel Compression (05:01) - Classic Parallel compression is now used to get the drums and punch to smack as much as possible, creating a "in your face" sound.
• Mastering (07:23) - Wrapping it up, Larry shows how to add EQ, Saturation, Stereo Imaging and Limiting to ensure the track is as competitive in volume as possible, using Logic's built-in Multimeter plug-in for reference.