Have you ever asked yourself why some of the more successful electronic artists seem to get away with a lot of repetition in their beats and songs? Deadmau5 comes to mind… to me, he is a master of repetition. And the reason is because his automation is subtle but yet effective. In this tutorial I’d like to explore some automation techniques that should add movement to your loops and help them come to life. [Read more]

One thing that really separates professional productions from amateur is the use of reverb [Read more]

I’ve been recently blessed with an exciting wave of creativity towards my music-making. All of a sudden, I am busting out a new tune or a cool idea almost daily, hence why I’ve been making less posts on production for the past couple of weeks. I’ve been feeling this amazing freedom and lack of judgment towards my work, which has allowed me to get momentum and feel like my skills are getting stronger, like snowball rolling down a steep mountain. The cause for this sudden burst of inspiration came from several factors currently happening in my life, but the one thing that triggered it all is this amazing book written by producer Jason Timothy called Music Habits- The Mental Game of Electronic Music Production. [Read more]

In this tutorial I’ll be demonstrating how to blend Samples and Acoustic Drums. Using EQ to carve out unnecessary frequencies and making room for different elements of your drum parts is one technique. The other is by simply using side-chained compression, which responds to both Kick and Snare- arguably 2 of the most important elements in drum beats. [Read more]

Swung 16ths are tricky, if you swing too hard it can sound cheesy and date. If you swing too little then there’s no real effect. That’s my opinion. The mastery of a good swing feel comes from a sense of imperfection and control, simultaneously. This can be tricky to program when putting in notes on the grid, I find that using your ears and just feeling the right placement of the note is key. Check out the tutorial video for more on this. [Read more]