Production Q&A No.1 - Lethal

[Dead Kat]

thx for the answers mate 

[djruffian]

...I think too many ppl are quick to blame their tools for their own lack of skill. personally I dont like Reason, but I used to teach Music using Reason at college and have to confess that for some things its very good... Id never use it for my own music (although I did make some hip hop beats with it) but the fact is some people can get the results out of it.
At the end of the day you only get out of something what you put in, and you have to put the time in to get the best out of anything.

People, write this down. Tattoo it on your forearm. Burn it to your internal bio-ROM. Whatever it takes! I am sooo fucking sick of people saying "sequencer X sucks, everyone is using sequencer Y." Tell them "No, in fact YOU suck... sequencer X CAN do great things! Shit in, shit out."

OK yeah, I'm done ranting 

Now a question for you: Having been into production for awhile, was there a point where you started getting more serious about it than previous - and how long after this point was your first vinyl signing?

Thanks again for doing this Q&A man!

[Lethal]

Now a question for you: Having been into production for awhile, was there a point where you started getting more serious about it than previous - and how long after this point was your first vinyl signing?
Thanks again for doing this Q&A man!

I think when I decided to go college and learn how to do things properly was when i got serious about it... but I had been making tunes a good 4-5 years before that and DJing for about 3-4. After college i set up my first studio so it got more serious then as i was trying to make a living from music.
The first signing didnt come till later really... for my own personal stuff that is, Id been involved in other releases (engineering and producing)... also the DnB had to take a backseat when I was focused on other projects and trying to make a living. It wasnt until hooking up with Khanage that I had the extra help and incentive to move forward with the DnB, id worked on projects with other people but me n khan found we worked well and the first signing was Misbegotten Souls on Ohm resistance.
so really it was quite a long time from when i first started, but then again I put things in front of my personal aims to put food on my table and pay my rent. dont sacrifice yourself for your music, keep doing what you want to do and dont change just to fit in. so what if it takes longer to get where your going... also music is a constant learning process, never think you know it all...

[spak]

hi mate

im going to uk next year, i suppose lol, and im here for a basic question, what is the best school in uk to learn audio production with cubase? (im a cubase fan eheh)

uk have a lot of schools and im a confused lol
...

[syneptic]

how did that signing happen ? and how did you come to the offkey camp ? do you receive and react on unsigned tunes ?
i am just interested - cause a lot of people just fart anything out of their pc´s and just do stuff cause they want a signing. and thats a very bad thing when you think about the creative and musical aspect.
my tunes sound like farts too - but you can hear that i have an asshole which tries to sound unique...

[vileuk1]

how did that signing happen ? and how did you come to the offkey camp ? do you receive and react on unsigned tunes ?
i am just interested - cause a lot of people just fart anything out of their pc´s and just do stuff cause they want a signing. and thats a very bad thing when you think about the creative and musical aspect.
my tunes sound like farts too - but you can hear that i have an asshole which tries to sound unique...

 

[Lethal]

hi mate
im going to uk next year, i suppose lol, and im here for a basic question, what is the best school in uk to learn audio production with cubase? (im a cubase fan eheh)
uk have a lot of schools and im a confused lol
...

tbh if you just want to learn cubase your better off tracking down some tutorials and teaching yourself.
If your gonna go to a college or uni to learn music then you should be looking to learn from the ground up, and I guess most places still focus on Logic and Pro-tools as these are the most commonly used in high end studios, and it will be using Macs probably too (why still the pro-tools focus i dont know as Logic, Cubase, etc can now all compete on the audio quality front but thats just my opinion).
i think you need to focus on what you really want to get out of doing a course and then find whats best for you, but i recommend just focus on learning music production and recording... as basically whatever you learn you can apply to anything else, the same rules apply just you use them in a different environment.
on a personal level i think anyone serious about music should take the time to learn and understand sound synthesis... it gives you such a better understanding of sound and applies to everything!

but if you insist on cubase i think point blank teach cubase

[Lethal]

how did that signing happen ? and how did you come to the offkey camp ? do you receive and react on unsigned tunes ?
i am just interested - cause a lot of people just fart anything out of their pc´s and just do stuff cause they want a signing. and thats a very bad thing when you think about the creative and musical aspect.
my tunes sound like farts too - but you can hear that i have an asshole which tries to sound unique...

The ohm signing came from khan hitting submerged up on dogs and saying we'd like to send you some beats, he liked what he heard and it went from there.
Offkey came about just by creating jawbreaker and seeing if jarman would be in it, which after listening to the tenth time on the trot he was whole heartedly... not something we'd sought out, but we'd known chris from before and had always sent him tunes... but its definitely something we are really to be a part of.
how do you mean react on unsigned tunes? if i hear something i like then i will give it support and play it out, and if i can help the artists get on then i will do what i can and pass along to people i think might be in it.

as for all this farting issue if your gas is that bad maybe you should see a doctor
but props if your trying to find your own sound, like i said before dont be in a rush to get signed, better for your tunes to be ready.

[syneptic]

thx for the answer - thats what i wanted to hear about "react" on unsigned bits
but if nothing works out i will go to the mighty fart doctor ! 

[Dead Kat]

as for all this farting issue if your gas is that bad maybe you should see a doctor

ooooh shit 

[natura43]

hope i can ask another one....


what's your opinion about rising popularity of this "techno influenced dnb" or more likely "offkey style" ? i mean i heard someone here talking about how many ppl are sending demos sounding like ripped off Raiden, just few breaks layred with techno samples. Will this thing became cliche like neuro or jump up ?  What do you think?

Also i'd like to know what do you think about another rapidly rising music style called dubstep 


off the record i don't like term "style", i don't like to categorizing music and i love to merge diffrent kind of music, but i used that.... well fuck that, it's just way complicated to explain it now 

[Lethal]

what's your opinion about rising popularity of this "techno influenced dnb" or more likely "offkey style" ? i mean i heard someone here talking about how many ppl are sending demos sounding like ripped off Raiden, just few breaks layred with techno samples. Will this thing became cliche like neuro or jump up ?  What do you think?

ok another can of worms opened... warning rant alert!
first of all techno influenced dnb has been around since day dot... its all bred from techno and house anyway... but i aint going down that road or this will become an essay lol.
I think what offkey has done is come at it more from the techno angle rather than the DnB angle, which is whats defined the character of the label. totally theres rip-off tunes out there... i get sent alot of shit that sounds like raiden, props, proket, even stuff that sounds like me n khan or the sect on occasion. So there is the risk of it becoming a cliche or parody of itself, but that i believe will come more from other labels trying to emulate what offkey has done. Dont get me wrong though, theres alot of other producers making good techno-dnb, but theres always going to be those as well who just copy other peoples ideas... this happens in all musical genres and at all levels so i aint going deep on the matter.
This is something me n jarman have spoken about alot and both agree (as i know the rest of the crew does too) that with offkey you dont know whats coming next... so basically what im saying is we plan for this to evolve, its gonna get harder and its gonna get deeper, you really aint ready if you think you know what offkey is about.

Also i'd like to know what do you think about another rapidly rising music style called dubstep 
off the record i don't like term "style", i don't like to categorizing music and i love to merge diffrent kind of music, but i used that.... well fuck that, it's just way complicated to explain it now 

Dubstep... mmmm.... OK i think theres some really good shit out there (notably resist music 002 by myself!<<shameless plug http://www.myspace.com/resistdub) but at the end of the day you cant forget that its rooted in accesible grime for middle class shoreditch types and bangface barleys!
seriously though I do like some of it, i personally prefer the more grime type stuff like vex'd... shit with a bit more weight to it... but i do like the slower jungle/dub type stuff like burial, but it can get a bit boring. I couldnt go to a club and listen to it all night put it that way, but in the car while im driving its good to listen to.

[j5prolific]

Ez, cheers for the QA, some interesting stuff. Especially interested about the 250hz devils frequency. You say you religiously cut it on bass and sometimes on vocals, so im guessing its a really important part of your cleaning up your tunes. Do you cut this frequency (or there abouts) on any other elements in your tracks, and do you have any other essential mixdown tips you cant live without? 

Also, can i get your AIM to send over some beats? 

BIG UP

[mumblz]

do u still make country music?

[Lethal]

Ez, cheers for the QA, some interesting stuff. Especially interested about the 250hz devils frequency. You say you religiously cut it on bass and sometimes on vocals, so im guessing its a really important part of your cleaning up your tunes. Do you cut this frequency (or there abouts) on any other elements in your tracks, and do you have any other essential mixdown tips you cant live without? 

I do cut this frequency on just about anything, but like ive said before I normally aim to cut EQ instead of boost so i will check the sound on my RTA analyser and see what frequencies are causing problems... but 250 i do tend to cut
other tips...
dont get bogged down in compression, when used badly you can really suck the life out of a sound. Also think carefully when using it, for example if your compressing something you sampled think that its probably been compressed and mastered before you jacked it.
My biggest tip is try and get your sounds right in the first place, when it comes to mixing down a tune (and khanage will back me up here) all i ever use is EQ and compression. I do also use distortion effects on bass sounds, but more subtle and aiming for a more compressed feel than distorted... i find you can get a tight controlled bottom end this way.
I will also replace whatever working delays and reverbs I used with better quality ones (but only if necessary).
But thats about it really, like i said if you get your sounds right in the first place you shouldnt have to do too much when it comes to the mixdown.

Also, can i get your AIM to send over some beats? 

PM me