Innehållsförteckning för July 2015 från Future Music

Hackman The UK producer on the gear behind his sound Since his debut release back in 2009, London-based producer Ben Hackman has slowly established himself as one of the most promising names amongst the UK’s underground circuit. Following a string of impressive EPs for the likes of Futureboogie, Greco-Roman and 20:20 Vision, he dropped his latest release, Semibreves, via Halocyan Records at the end of April. FM caught up with Hackman to find out more about how studio and how his tracks come together… FM: When did you first start making music and how did you get started? Hackman: “It must have been around 2007 when I first started making music. It wasn’t serious at all, just for a bit of fun. I was just getting into electronic music properly…

In The Studio With… Pascal Arbez “At that time I had bought this cool old small hotel in the countryside, just away from Dijon. The studio was on the third floor. “In the studio I had some Roland monitors and a Behringer compressor. When I make music I usually pick up three pieces of equipment, and then I make almost the full record with just those things. On OK Cowboy I had the Alesis A6 Andromeda [analogue polysynth], a Moog Voyager, and my Dave Smith Evolver. But, I also added other stuff this time around. So, I had the Novation Nova, the Studio Electronics [ATC-1 Tone] Chameleon, Novation Drumstation, a Sherman Filterbank, and an Oberheim Matrix 6, but I really only used that for a bass…

FM YOUTUBE THE TRACK Top producers go in-depth on the sounds, ideas and techniques behind their latest releases. MORE UNMISSABLE VIDEO FEATURES FROM FUTURE MUSIC Meet our line-up of exclusive YouTube goodness. Head online for all this and more! Portico Living Fields Watch the London-based three-piece deconstruct the creation of the title track from their excellent new LP for Ninja Tune. DON’T MISS: Chopstick & Johnjon, Pining Moon Watch the Suol Records duo break down the creation of this vocal and guitar-driven track. Tigerskin & Till von Sein, Dance Watch the Berlin-based duo build their track from a minimal concoction of distorted drum machines and driving bass sounds. Kill Frenzy, All Night Long See the Dirtybird-signed producer break down the opening track from his recent debut album,…

Layer In Phase Line It Up Use track delay, polarity inversion, or manual waveform dragging to get the most powerful sound – trust your ears above all else. Out Of Phase? These two hits’ peaks and troughs line up as much as is possible, especially at the crucial front-end impact. Layering anything can lead to phase issues, and it can be especially bad when it comes to beats – they’re whole tracks of multiple instruments working together. If the waveform of one beat layer is heading upwards while the other’s heading down, they can cancel each other out and you can end up with a reduced impact of the hits and a not-so-perfect stereo field. The old-school way to try and sort this was to invert the polarity of one…

Band Caveats DIY One-Band Processing Here’s a quick and dirty method for isolating one band for processing. The original track is copied twice. Duplicated Waves Both duplicates are filtered, and one is phase inverted to cancel out that band in the original track. To make a single-band processor, duplicate the track twice, filtering both the duplicates with the exact same settings, and phase inverting one of them. The non-inverted track should now control the band you’ve filtered off, which will be missing from the original track when combined with the phase-inverted copy. You can use return tracks or channels instead of track duplicates, depending on your DAW. You can continue the process to arrive at a multiband set-up. Before you run off and do it, avoid filter settings with any…

Limiting Basics What does a limiter do? And how should we approach controlling it? Here we walk you through the basics... To engage a limiter’s gain reduction, there will usually be a dedicated input gain control: increasing this will turn up the signal, pushing it harder into the limiter. The output ceiling is a set dB value past which no audio can exceed: the highest peaks of a signal are pulled down once they reach this barrier. Raising a limiter’s input gain will cause an obvious increase in level, and this louder signal will sound perceptively better in comparison to the unprocessed signal. You may be fooled into thinking the limited version is more impressive, despite actually reducing transient detail in a negative way. To maintain a balance of equal…

Master Limiting Limiting in one of the most important processes applied at the mastering stage, let’s look at the basics of how to tackle it Limiting is the notorious final stage of the mastering chain, used to tame an entire mix’s highest peaks and reduce dynamic range in the search for a louder mix. The limiter should sit last in the plug-in order. Aim for gentle peak reduction, but back it off if there’s any negative transient loss or distortion. Set the release time according to the tempo of program material. Finally, for a more transparent effect, distribute the gain reduction across multiple limiters – for example, instead of reducing 3dB of peaks with one limiter, try three limiters in series, each performing 1dB of gain reduction. 1 To begin,…

Akai Advance 49 | £389 Akai’s latest controller has a few unique tricks up its sleeve! Dan ‘JD73’ Goldman becomes a VIP! Pitch/Mod Wheels And Octave Up/ Down Buttons The backlit pitch and mod wheels feel and look great and help to add variation to your performances, while the octave up/ down buttons offer a ten octave range. Screen The screen is the nerve centre of the Advances. Full colour and high resolution, it makes browsing sounds/setting up controls a breeze. Keyboard/Models The Advance series has 25, 49 and 61-note models (not weighted currently) and the keybeds send velocity and aftertouch. Prices range from £299 for the 25 to £399 for the 49. Switches Above the pads are eight buttons which can be used to set the arpeggiator timing divisions.…

Spitfire Audio Albion IV Uist | £349 Got the core bases of your sampled orchestra covered and yearn for more leftfield textures? Jono Buchanan finds Spitfire Audio’s Albion IV library inspirational INCLUDES AUDIO  vault.futuremusic.co.uk WHAT IS IT? A sample library featuring extended orchestration techniques and less common articulations CONTACT Who: Spitfire Audio Web: www.spitfireaudio.com HIGHLIGHTS 1 Leftfield sample content provides inspiration and a broad sonic palette 2 File structure allows you to browse multiple options before loading bespoke patches 3 Stephenson’s Steam DNA collection blurs the line between orchestral and electronic sounds SPECS System requirements Mac: For new customers, OS X 10.8 and above is required to run Kontakt 5. For legacy customers, OS X 10.7 and above is required to run either Kontakt 4 or Kontakt 5. Intel…

Mackie Mix Series Mixers | from £59 Mackie are kings of the affordable, reliable mixer. Jon Musgrave checks out their latest Mix Series… WHAT IS IT? Three new budget mixers from the kings of affordable mixers CONTACT Who: Polar Audio Tel: 01444 258258 Web: www.mackie.com HIGHLIGHTS 1 Affordable 2 Well made 3 Easy to use PRICING Mix 5 £59 Mix 8 £89 Mix 12FX £129 SPECS Frequency response (mic input to any output, unity gain): +0, -1 20Hz to 30kHz Distortion (mic input to main output): <0.25% @+4dBu Noise (all outputs and master levels unity, 1 channel unity): -85dBu Mic input impedance: 2kohm (Mix 5), 3.8kohm (Mix 8, Mix 12FX) Dimensions: Mix 5: 140 x 196 x 43mm Mix 8: 198 x 244 x 53mm Mix 12FX: 297 x…

Tracktion 6 |$60 The battle for your DAW dollars continues apace with the release of Tracktion 6. JoE Silva sees where the rubber meets the road… WHAT IS IT? Multi-platform digital audio workstation for recording/editing audio and MIDI CONTACT Who: Tracktion Software Company Web: www.tracktion.com HIGHLIGHTS 1 Added Z-Plane’s Elastique Pro time-stretching 2 Linux version (included with all purchases) 3 Low price SPECS System requirements: Mac: OSX 10.7.5 or later Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz Processor 5400 RPM Hard Drive (7200 RPM recommended) 2GB RAM (4GB recommended) PC: Windows 8, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate, Windows Vista, Windows XP Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz Processor 5400 RPM Hard Drive (7200 RPM recommended) 2GB RAM (4GB recommended) Linux: Debian 6 or later Ubuntu 10.04 or…

MINI REVIEWS Audiomux and Midimux | £4.99 each  http://midimux.com Audiomux and Midimux were mentioned heavily in our iOS cover feature in issue 291, and with very good reason. These two tools, which come from Zerodebug, the developer behind the excellent Live controller TouchAble, are game-changers in the iOS music making realm. Audiomux and Midimux allow audio and MIDI data respectively to be transferred between an iOS device and a DAW by creating virtual ports (Audiomux requires Audiobus to work too.) This might not sound so sexy on paper, but it really unlocks the potential of all those great iOS-based synths and effects processors, effectively allowing them to be used just like plug-ins in your DAW. These are essential purchases for iOS-equipped producers. Si Truss Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for…

Adrian Sherwood With a career spanning five decades, Adrian Sherwood is a true bastion of British Bass music. Tim Cant hooks up with him to find out more about his recent album with Dubstep hero Pinch © Rob Monk Since launching his legendary, Dub-centric On-U Sound label in the late ’70s, Adrian Sherwood has been at the forefront of the UK’s underground music scene. One of the first UK artists to become renowned as a remixer, he’s worked with the likes of Depeche Mode, Primal Scream and Coldcut. His latest excursion into deep, dark Bass music is Late Night Endless, a collaborative effort with Bristol-based producer Pinch. We caught up with Adrian in his new studio in sunny Ramsgate to learn more about his hands-on approach to production, his live…

BEAT LOOP PROCESSING Never mind cutting, chopping and layering with individual samples… Let’s look at the beat, the whole beat, and nothing but the beat As producers, working with beats brings us closer to our roots, safe in the knowledge that we’re following in the footsteps of our distant ancestors and their noble traditions – no, we’re not on about the caveman banging on his animal-skin drum; we’re talking about the dinosaur on the turntable, making his breaks dirtier than a sewer-worker’s kecks! Today’s cutting-edge technologies let us slice and dice on the atomic level, beefing up our beats with single hits, and that’s got a huge place in the art of production. But we’re going to take a step back here and examine some ways of processing whole beats…

Groove Shadows Here’s how to liven up or add atmosphere to one beat by using the reverb signal from another beat INCLUDES VIDEO A groove shadow is a heavily reverbed signal from another beat (or any sound source) that sits behind your main beat. We’ll show you the basics and the most vital processors you’ll get help from if you’re up for making a groove shadow. Check out the video on the DVD to hear and see it in action. Try this one next time you’re about to reach for a reverb plug-in. 1 Set up one channel for your main beat, and another to create your shadow. On the shadow channel, set up a reverb, fully Wet, and bring the level down. Audition shadow beats alongside the main beat…

Achieving Loudness Metering Tools Analysis and metering plug-ins assess peak and RMS levels. The difference between a signal’s peak and RMS value is the ‘crest factor’ and is a useful graph of the dynamic interrelationships. Peak Vs RMS Don’t be fooled by a signal’s waveform or peak level readout. Despite appearances, a sound with loud peaks may have a low RMS value and so will sound quieter than a signal with a higher average level. There’s only a finite amount of headroom available in the digital domain: the maximum peak limit is 0dBFS (ie the ‘full scale’ is at 0dB), so any sound that exceeds this will clip and distort. Digital audio environments and processes utilise peak measurement and metering as standard, yet sounds with loud peaks can still be…

DIY Mastering Processing Rationale It’s all too easy to pile on the master processing. Have a plan and minimise the processes you apply. A final 2-4dB of peak limiting should be all you need, otherwise the mix may need revisiting. Mastering Project If you’re mastering your own music, don’t just slap a limiter on your mix project’s master buss. Master in a separate mastering project. Refer to levelled commercial references as a processing aid. After spending time and effort carefully crafting a mix, it’s tempting to tackle the final process of mastering and reduce peaks yourself. But bear in mind why most pro producers send a final mix off to a dedicated mastering engineer. They’re trained experts in the field, with a fresh pair of ears, and their acoustically-neutral environment…

Step It Up If in-line step sequencing is your thing, the new Step Clip feature in Tracktion 6 is where you’ll want to focus. After creating a new step clip to a track with the new clip object, users are automatically presented with a 16-step grid that includes a velocity gate view. Once you’ve programmed in your steps, those notes can be rendered with a mouse click into MIDI notes, which can be used elsewhere in your project. Changes to your step clips can be made and then copied into new ‘sections’ which can then be relabelled and reordered. Notes within a step can be generated randomly in case you need to toss in some unexpected variations to your work. You can even route individual channels within a step clip…

INCLUDES AUDIO VAULT.FUTUREMUSIC.CO.UK Din Sync DrumDokta 2 | £279 Din Sync’s all-in-one Eurorack sequencing tribute to the punchy Boss DR-110 drum machine proves there’s more to life than its well-rinsed XOXs To get a certain kind of electro vibe with short, arid, Kraftwerky kicks, head-cracking white noise-burst snares and slinky zingy hi-hats, we’d argue you don’t want an 808 or 909. The less trendy Boss DR-110 was no less funky, analogue, and rude-sounding in the right hands, and it nails that sound. So we think it’s rather cool of Din Sync (Middlesex-born, Swedish resident 5+ year Eurorack manufacturer, Paul Barker) to choose the DR-110 to clone. While his original DrumDokta (as used by Aphex Twin no less) nailed the sound, minus optional clap, you didn’t get much else.…

Hardware And Software Harmony It’s easy to look at Apollo and see it as only a high-end audio interface but there are effectively four components to the Apollo experience, three of which exist within a single Apollo interface and the last of which becomes important only if you’re building an expanded Apollo system. Firstly, Apollo audio interfaces are founded on the heritage of Universal Audio’s reputation as a creator of coveted audio hardware. In practice, this equates to high quality preamps, an ergonomic design and impressive levels of flexibility, across its input and output capabilities. The second stage is the vast suite of UAD plug-ins, ever developing with new titles, which are hosted within the hardware itself, unburdening the load on a computer’s CPU and allowing for near latency-free recording…

ADVICE Your production problems solved Will we see Apple Watch music making apps? While some are predicting that the launch of the Apple Watch will spark a new gold rush in the app market, it’s hard to see it having the same impact on music making as the iPhone and particularly the iPad have. The small screen just doesn’t really lend itself to creative tasks, and we can’t see a great many benefits to having a device on your wrist rather than in your hands. That said, we don’t doubt that some music making app developers will try and find a use for it. In fact, some already have: Apogee have announced that you’ll be able to start and stop their new MetaRecorder field recording app from the Apple Watch…

GEAR GUIDE Essential tools for music making ANALOGUE SYNTHESIZERS Korg ARP Odyssey | £898 Full Review: FM291 The compact new Odyssey captures the mojo and sound of the original(s) and the inclusion of all three filters, Drive and MIDI/USB enhances its appeal further. ARP is back! Dave Smith Instruments Pro 2 | $1,999 Review FM284 A ridiculously versatile mono/ paraphonic synth that anyone can happily get lost in. Without doubt a great investment. Moog Sub 37 | $1,579 Review FM286 With a richer set of features and fewer operational hurdles than its predecessor, the Sub 37 is a superb and highly desirable upgrade to the Phatty family of Moog synths. Korg Volca Bass | £119 Review FM271 The Volcas are revolutionary at this price point. Everyone should own all three!…

Moustachioed MiniNova Giorgio Moroder teams up with Novation to unveil a customised signature synth Well, that shows what we know. When we first caught sight of an instrument looking suspiciously like a custom version of Novation’s MiniNova lurking in the video for Giorgio Moroder’s new Sia-featuring track Déjà vu, we were quick to write it off as a one-off custom job and something that would never hit the market. Well, it now transpires that it is, albeit in very limited numbers. This is Novation’s first signature synth, and the first time Giorgio Moroder has put his name to an instrument, too. The collaboration comes as a result of Moroder’s love of the MiniNova, which the MoroderNova is based on. Aside from the name, you’ll note that the most obvious visual…

STOMP BOXES IN THE STUDIO Stomp box effects were created for guitarists but have long been used to add grit and tonal interest to synths and drum machines Any modern producer will be aware of the significance of effects when mixing a track and, with the dominance of in-the-box techniques, it’s easy to forget that there is much to be gained by exploring the floor-based world of metal bricks so beloved of guitarists. Whether you are using the latest digital all-singing synth or drum machine with onboard effects, or a vintage mono synth, there is probably a guitar stomp box for you. Ironically, guitarists already had access to a range of commercially available electronic effects boxes before Bob Moog popularised synthesis with the Minimoog in 1970 and things changed forever.…

Layering Beats Together Some beats just work together, but most of them simply don’t, and sometimes you’ve got to apply some processing… INCLUDES VIDEO Here we’ll explore a few simple rules for getting two beats to sound good together. The ‘done thing’ might be layering breaks onto beats for a crusty top-end, but we’re going to delve into lining up two or more whole beats. Most often these days, beat processing is done by layering in individual samples, but trying a ‘whole-beat’ approach can increase your creative potential. Watch how we go about it in video form on the DVD. 1 When layering beats, most of them won’t go together. If two beats have different rhythms, grooves and frequency content, there’s not much you can do about it! Finding two…

Band Processing Use multiband processors to make easy work of whole loops, or set up your own multiband or single-band signal chains INCLUDES VIDEO When it comes to quick processing of full-band tracks, getting good (and fast) with multiband processing will help you out. We’ll look at some common multiband effects, and show you how to make your own. Then, we’ll do a fly-by of a rough ‘n’ ready one-band processor, perfect for adding an effect to a select band of the spectrum in a busy mix (see below for a more in-depth explanation). As usual, check it out in the video version, too. 1 Multiband plug-ins let you make changes to different parts of the frequency spectrum in different ways. The traditional multiband processor is dynamics; multiband compressors affect…

LIMITING 101 Although they are fairly straightforward on paper, limiters are probably the most misunderstood and regularly misused of all the tools in our dynamics processing arsenal. Are you using yours correctly? Read on to find out... Knowing how to shape and manipulate a sound’s dynamics is a key step towards achieving professional mixes, but the required tools and techniques are often misused and misunderstood. Many rookie engineers are guilty of strapping dynamics processors across their tracks in order to make a mix punchy, loud or phat, without understanding the underlying theory. The dynamic range of an audio signal can be defined as the difference (measured in decibels) between its loudest and quietest points. A sound with too wide a dynamic range can be lost in a busy composition, and…

Six Advanced Limiting Techniques Modern limiters are capable of more than just straight gain reduction, tackling different parts of the signal or generating creative effects. Here’s how... As with compression techniques, regular ‘full-band’ limiting will generally achieve adequate results, but there are times when more custom peak control is desired. Dense program material may contain spikes in a particular frequency range that interfere with other mix elements, but regular limiting can destroy transient presence elsewhere in the signal. By focusing a single band of a multiband dynamics plug-in on the problematic area, you can tame those peaks with targeted limiting, or distribute different limiter settings across different bands. Mid/side processing facilitates peak limiting upon either the mono or stereo components of a signal in isolation. This can be performed either…

Limiter Plug-Ins Having a few trusted limiters in your plug-in arsenal is essential. Here are some options… Voxengo Elephant 4.0 Fundamentally, Elephant is a mastering limiter plug-in with up to 5.1 surround capability; but what make it special beyond its stellar performance as a limiter are its analysis and metering features. Its sound is smooth and transparent too. This is about as deep as plug-in limiters get, so really knowing what you’re doing is essential to getting the best out of it, but it comes packed with a range of excellent presets to help get you started in the meantime. Universal Audio Precision Limiter UA’s Precision Limiter is a punchy, transparent brickwall limiter capable of everything from workhorse mixing to creating extreme pumping effects. Performance-wise, the Precision Limiter nails 100…

Universal Audio Apollo Thunderbolt Interfaces | from £1,699 Universal Audio’s Apollo interfaces are already highly coveted. Jono Buchanan decides whether their new redesign launches them out of this world INCLUDES AUDIO  vault.futuremusic.co.uk WHAT IS IT? Three revised Thunderbolt 2 audio interfaces with UAD processing CONTACT Who: Source Distribution Tel: 020 8962 5080 Web: www.uaudio.com HIGHLIGHTS 1 Thunderbolt 2 connection allows for near latency-free data transfer 2 Great preamp sound and sumptuous effects processing capability for further sonic enhancement 3 Apollo 8p’s eight onboard microphone preamps SPECS Apollo 8 | £1699 (Duo) £2049 (Quad) 18 x 24 Thunderbolt 2 interface for Mac 4 Unison-enabled mic preamp Onboard UAD-2 QUAD or DUO Core processing Apollo 8p | £2499 16 x 20 Thunderbolt 2 interface for Mac 8 Unison-enabled mic preamps Onboard…

Midi Madness 2 | £50 Midi Madness returns after a long break, and addresses some past issues. Bruce Aisher presses the button and goes algorithmic INCLUDES AUDIO  vault.futuremusic.co.uk WHAT IS IT? Midi Madness is an algorithmic melody generator, in both AU/VST format for OSX and Windows CONTACT Who: Midi Madness Software Web: www.midimadness software.com HIGHLIGHTS 1 A great ideas generator 2 Live output from VST version 3 Creates notes, CCs and pitch bend data SPECS System requirements Mac: OSX 10.5+, VST or AU Compatible Host, AU MIDI FX requires 64-bit Intel, OSX 10.7+ and Logic X), 32-bit/64-bit versions, Intel Processor only PC: Windows XP/Vista/7/8, VST Compatible Host, 32-bit/64-bit versions Midi Madness, an algorithmic melody generator, in its original form ran as both standalone software and plug-in. The announcement a few…

Divide and Conquer Clock division and multiplication might sound like maths homework but it’s the secret to turning an otherwise dormant modular into a flexible groovebox, and more… When you get percussion and melodies firing off at the same time in the same case, it’s a hell of a eureka moment – suddenly recognising that fully-formed ideas are flowing from your modular with no need for a computer any more. You’ll need to have invested in all the composite elements to make that happen – the sequencers, drum modules and voices, of course – but you’ll also need to be able to lock everything together, timing-wise. And while all good sequencers have sync outputs and inputs – so you can lock their tempos together and everything’s bopping along at the…