Innehållsförteckning för 06/2024 från Beat English

Jan Wilking Synthesizers, samplers and drum machines have defined his life for a good four decades. Inspired by the emerging Synth Pop of the early 80s, particularly the first concerts as a budding teenager like Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb and Shock Therapy shaped his further development, which led to the founding of the EBM/Industrial project STERIL in 1990, which was successful mainly in the USA. From the simple cassette recorder, Casio keyboard and mono sampler with mini-memory to the modern DAW with almost unlimited possibilities, Jan has witnessed the development of electronic music production, with his personal conclusion: Less is often more! Sascha Blach Passionate music nerd who likes variety as a listener, as well as a singer, musician and producer, because he thinks variety is what makes life interesting…

What are playlists? The most important tool for increasing the popularity of your music on Spotify is playlists. 70% of playlists such as your “Mix of the Week” or “Release Radar” are automatically compiled based on your listening behavior. Countless musical styles and moods are covered. The song suggestions on an algorithmic basis surprisingly match your own taste surprisingly well. The remaining 30% of all playlists are curated, i.e. created by Spotify users. How do you suggest your own songs for Spotify playlists? Before releasing a song (e.g. through an online distributor), you can suggest it for consideration in a playlist via the Spotify for Artists page. Make sure to fill out the relevant form in as much detail as possible. The Spotify team will review the song and…

Should I really do it or should I just leave it alone? This is a question not only for fans of German Hip-Hop, but also for everyone who wants listeners for their music and appropriate remuneration. Royalties have always been low. But there were certainly reasons to remain optimistic: as the number of paying subscribers increases, it should become increasingly easier for streaming platforms to pay out appropriate compensation. And with the entry of providers like Tidal and Qobuz, whose business models were based on higher audio quality and more artist-friendly royalties, a change seemed to be on the horizon. Almost a decade after the beginning of the streaming age, there is little sign of this. One could even say that the pent-up anger has now built up into a…

Beat / Qobuz is approaching its 20th birthday. What have been the cornerstones of the journey so far? Qobuz Team / We have always believed that free streaming undermines the value of music and artists, that sound quality is essential to preserving that value, and that human recommendations are central to music discovery. For 15 years, we have remained true to this vision despite the further development of our offering. In recent years we have focused on growth. Today we are present in 26 countries in Europe, North and South America, Oceania and Asia. Beat / Your approach seems to place more emphasis on direct artist relationships. Qobuz Team / In fact, we have and are in the process of developing numerous collaborations with artists and labels such as ECM,…

1 Vocal recording Once again, the foundation for a flawless vocal mix lies in the careful preparation of the vocal recording. Start by making sure that your microphone is optimally positioned and that a pop filter is used to minimize plosive sounds. This creates the ideal starting point for clear and pleasant vocals. 2 Edit vocals The next step is to precisely edit the vocals. Distracting breathing or smacking noises can often be eliminated by simply cutting them away. A precise cut focuses on the essentials and forms the basis for the subsequent editing steps. However, make sure you only cut away the really unnecessary parts. 3 Subtractive equalizing Subtractive equalizing is crucial in identifying and reducing the interfering frequencies. Use the fruity parametric EQ 2 from FL-Studio to search…

1 Ambient chords Load the MIDI synth, Meld, into a track. Select Swarm Sine as the style for Engine A from the dropdown menu. Create an 8-bar MIDI clip. Program a chord extending over 4 bars in the first and 5th bar. Choose the chords so that they are similar, for example, Dmaj7 and Fm7, and so there are no large jumps when changing chords. 2 Set the envelope Activate the Link switch to the left of Envelopes so that both engines use Envelope A. Select 80 ms for Attack and 600 ms for Re lease. To get the sound moving, the two macro controls, Motion and Spacing of LFO 1, should be modulated. To do this, open the matrix view using the small icon on the left side of…

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The differences to the larger, heavier and significantly more expensive KeyLab MkII lie primarily in the quality of the hardware. The KeyLab Essential does without the robust metal housing featuring wooden sides and the weighted keyboard with hammer action and after-touch. Thanks to sturdy plastic, KeyLab Essential 88 is much lighter and more compact, yet still feels robust. The cheaper price is also noticeable in the plastic faders and knobs, apart from the stylish large knob below the display. However, they implement the movements cleanly and sit quite firmly, with a certain resistance and aren‘t too wobbly. The pads have a good feel and can be played with nuance. In contrast to the keyboard, the pads react to corresponding pressure, individually for each pad. This is interesting for Arturia instruments…

Qu-Bit Mojave is a versatile granular effect equipped with an internal microphone. It‘s all about small audio particles, the grains, which can be transformed into audio particle storms in real time and in many different ways. Despite its compact size, Mojave is one of the most complex modules I have ever tested. You first have to understand what the eleven controls, six buttons and the colorful illuminated fields and graphics are for. Ideally, when the module is switched on and the output is wired, an interesting sound is immediately created because the sounds coming in via the internal microphone are then automatically transformed into granular experiments (beware of feedback). Arpeggio-like results or chords in response to a continuous tone introduced via the audio ins are also possible. Once you have…

1 Audio presets Load the Max for Live Instrument, Granulator III, into a new MIDI track. In Live, activate the I/O field in the Granulator III so that the capture parameters are displayed. If you want to use a microphone as a sound source, select the corresponding audio interface in the Live Preferences under Audio-> Audio input device. 2 Routing In Granulator III under Source, select the audio source (Ext. In for an audio interface) and the input channel to which the microphone is connected to the right of it. Alternatively, you can also select other tracks in Live as the audio source or connect instruments to the audio interface and route them as described above. 3 Record sound Select a recording time under Length, such as 2 sec. As…

The common thread: Beat issue 06/2024 For many years, Beat has been inspiring its readers not only with practical and musical topics, but above all with the tight integration of editorial content. From the very beginning, Beat has been about creating, about the structured building of ideas and the common thread – in the magazine as well as in the tracks. This navigator shows you the highlights of this issue andallows you to see the big picture. Discovered: Julia Holter While working on her sixth album „Something in the Room She Moves“, Julia Holter had to come to terms with death. The record is dedicated to her little nephew, who passed away at an early age. But she also gave birth to her daughter. It was a period marked by…

Nugen Audio MasterCheck Mastering for iTunes, Spotify or YouTube & Co. is an art in itself. After all, every platform has its own music format, and different bit rates are often used. To make matters worse, loudness matching algorithms are often used. All of these processes can have a significant impact on your mixes, whether in the form of distortion or making a loud, punchy mix suddenly sound flat and quiet. MasterCheck makes mastering for streaming services easier. On the one hand, the tool allows you to listen to your mix in the desired target format and bit rate. By measuring the RMS level, dynamic range and true peak level of sources, it also helps to comply with common loudness standards. www.nugenaudio.com | 199 US-Dollar Mastering The Mix Expose Anyone…

One of the ideas to make streaming more exciting is super fans. That makes sense, because even in the music industry‘s boom years, there were always a few people who were responsible for the majority of sales. This target group is already being addressed with VIP tickets, different colored vinyl LPs of the same album or deluxe editions. Services like Vault and Bandcamp Exclusives go further. These subscription services specifically make archive recordings and otherwise unreleased bonus material available for download - music that, for various reasons, never made it onto the usual channels. The design of this concept is left flexibly to the respective artists and ranges from quick downloading of the material to long-term artist-listener relationships. [1] The sonu.stream platform takes this idea a little further. Artists can…

1 RetroSynth First, we‘ll play the sounds of the song that you can find in the download files of this workshop. The original sound was created with the Roland Juno retro synth, so we open Logic‘s RetroSynth instrument and stay in the analog oscillator. We set Shape 1 to Squarewave at a value of around 49 percent. We set Shape 2 to sawtooth. 2 Filter and Chorus Next, we move on to the filter section. We set the Cutoff to 0.400 while dragging the Key parameter relatively far down. This controls the effect that the pitch of the keyboard note has on the cutoff frequency of the filter. Now, set the effect section to chorus and leave it at the default setting. 3 Modulation We then need to adjust the…

1 Polyphonic modulation real instruments when it comes to chords: Virtual Instruments have a disadvantage to effects like attenuating frequencies via the filter cutoff or panning always affect all „voices“ or MIDI notes in the same way. With plugins like SurgeXT, which is available in CLAP format, and DAWs such as Bitwig, which support CLAP, you can change this using polyphonic modulation. 2 SurgeXT in Bitwig Studio Each MIDI note of a chord can have a different cutoff modulation, for example, or move differently in the stereo field via panning modulation. It is important that you have at least Bitwig Studio 5.1 and the latest version of SurgeXT installed. You also need to load the synth in CLAP format, which is recognizable by the CLAP logo. 3 Building chords Now…

Integraudio Blowdio Blowdio aims to recreate the saturation effects and harmonic distortion of an analog tape machine and offers four different options. In the Studio Version, a well-maintained hi-end tape machine is emulated with new tape, and the sonic effects are, accordingly, rather subtle. After all, in earlier times, the hardware had the task of recording as cleanly and with as little distortion as possible, and expensive studio machines were the best way to achieve this. Nowadays, however, the unwanted artifacts are what we want to hear from a tape emulation. Cinematic has a bit more character, but we liked the Lofi and Vintage modes even better. Here, the incoming audio signal is unmistakably clipped in frequency, saturated and distorted. You can influence the level of saturation with the Drive…

Noise plays an important role in many musical applications. It is an important component when building percussion, creating atmosphere, roughing up oscillators or for random-based modulation. A noise source is often found in utility modules, just like with Sample & Hold functions. Noise is also easily accessible externally. Who hasn‘t dragged a radio through the system before? But is it worth buying a specially designed module? Panel and mode of operation The black panel is clearly laid out. Two controls, a toggle switch, a mini-pot, five outputs and two inputs. There is also a jumper on the back of the module for setting the response of the Pitch Input. This reacts logarithmically by default, but can be switched to linear operation. The VCNO generates white noise differently than most other…

1 Download Parallels Desktop 18 from the Parallels website. Registration is required. The trial version can be used for 14 days. 2 In the Parallels Desktop 18 installation wizard, click on „Get Windows 11 from Microsoft“ and then on „Continue“ and „Install Windows“. 3 Windows 11 is downloaded and the installation starts automatically; however, Windows 11 must be activated later if you want to use it permanently. 4 Necessary updates are downloaded during the initial installation. Please wait until this process is complete and Windows is ready for operation. Accept the license terms. 5 After installation, the „Edge“ web browser is opened in the virtual machine and the Parallels website is displayed with the message „Windows 11 installed successfully“. 6 You will be asked to activate Windows 11 Pro. To…

Ammonite: Blueprints Behind Ammonite is the sound researcher Amy Spencer, who presents her debut with “Blueprints”. And it‘s an extremely interesting sound universe that the Brit creates here. In addition to electronic sound generators, the artist from London‘s main instrument is her voice - but not in the classic way, because she uses improvised vocals, cutting them up into tiny snippets and reassembling them in all sorts of alienated ways. Without rules and traditional structures. The voice literally becomes an instrument in itself and ensures great uniqueness. Inevitably, memories of Björk‘s later works always arise. However, Ammonite is even more experimental and, with a mix of Electronica, Ambient and Avant-garde, is at the same time intimate, adventurous and strange. Genre: Electro, Avantgarde | Label: R$N Records John Carpenter: Lost Themes…

2000 presets in the synth flagship Icarus3 With the Icarus3, Tone2 has released the most comprehensive update to date for its flagship synthesizer. Among other things, the approximately 2000 sounds included have been revised and 230 patches are new, giving you even more choice of club-ready sounds. The synthesis functions have been expanded, including new low-pass filters, modulation sources and the transient shaper. The additive synthesis section has been expanded particularly intensively. FM and granular synthesis have also been expanded with additional algorithms. In terms of effects, there is an even greater selection of models for the distortion. The completely redesigned graphical user interface is now scalable in 26 sizes, even up to 8K UHD resolution. The audio engine offers many exciting features such as 62 (!) different synthesis methods,…

Like every other platform, Spotify attaches great importance to retaining users for as long as possible, converting casual listeners into paying customers and increasing advertising revenue through increasing user numbers. Everything you do as a creative to help achieve these goals will be rewarded. Anything that goes against this or simply does not promote it will be punished. As an outsider, it may sometimes seem quite arbitrary why some tracks end up on major playlists and are streamed millions of times, while almost identical material remain unnoticed. However, there is a very simple system behind it. High quality, time and time again In two enlightening YouTube videos, producer L.Dre explained exactly how he managed to turn his passion for music into a career using lofi hiphop instrumentals. [1] His strategy…

I haven‘t thought a lot about my voice on this record. Beat / How would you describe the process for the new album? Was it very planned and controlled from your end? Julia Holter / I think that the creative process generally works best for me when I don‘t try to anticipate a lot of what is going to happen. It works best when I just experiment and see where things lead. Beat / So there‘s not a visualisation of the finished piece when you start working. Julia Holter / It depends on the song actually, every song is different. But a lot of it comes out of an improvisation first, seeing what that reveals and then going from there. Beat / Tell me a bit about the the way…

1 Piano as a basis To create the basis for an epic track, many composers start with a simple piano sketch, consisting of a chord sequence that is supplemented by melodies. And that‘s exactly what we‘re going to do. First, load HALion Sonic 7 as a VST instrument and select a suitable piano preset such as Warm Grand. Now it‘s time to get creative! 2 Chord progression Try out some progressions on your MIDI keyboard or with Cubase’s Chord Pads. For captivating chord progressions, it‘s worth going beyond the classic major and minor harmonies, so experiment with augmented, diminished, sus chords or seventh and ninth chords for more drama and depth. 3 Ostinato For our example track, we chose the chord sequence: C major, F Sus2, A minor and G…

1 Creating resonance As a basic sound, we will use a simple synth sound on the E note that we created with FabFilter Twin 3. Simply load the audio file „Twin3-Signal.wav“ into your project. This sound uses two slightly detuned sawtooth waveforms. Before we run it through the distortion unit, we give it some snappy resonance. 2 Get the resonance right You can shape these with an upstream equalizer such as FabFilter Pro-Q 3. Load the Default Setting preset. Create a filter band and select the High Cut type for it. Turn up the resonance fully and double-click the Freq control to enter E5. This sets the filter frequency to the corresponding frequency. 3 Distortion Next up is the Saturn 2 distortion plug-in. Select the Heavy Saturation mode and turn…

Rob Papen Albino-3 Legend Do you still remember Albino? Over 22 years ago, Rob Papen and LinPlug created this software synthesizer, which established itself as one of the top alternatives to virtual analogue hardware such as Access Virus & the like. Since LinPlug stopped developing plug-ins a few years ago, nobody really expected an update. Visually, the synthesizer has barely changed, but a few improvements have been made under the hood: it now supports the VST3 standard and modern operating systems and processors and offers various GUI sizes. Support for the NKS format is also in the works. The strengths of Albino-3, such as the versatile oscillators with analog and digital waveforms, as well as noise generators and the four characteristic stereo filters, have been retained. As usual, Rob Papen…

1 Download UTM 4 from the manufacturer‘s website or purchase it from the App Store for just under 10 Euro. This supports its further development. Updates are also largely installed automatically. 2 To be able to create a virtual machine with Windows 11 (ARM), it is necessary to download the „Windows 11 Client ARM64 Insider Preview“. You will need a Microsoft user account for this. 3 Go to the corresponding Microsoft website and select the „Canary“ version below. This is the most stable version. 4 Start UTM and click on „Create new virtual machine“ and „Virtualize”. Then, select „Windows“ as the guest system. 5 Select the settings „Install Windows 10 or higher“ and „Install Drivers and Spice-Tools” and, of course, „Import VHDX Image“. 6 Use the „Browse“ button to…