Innehållsförteckning för October 2021 från Future Music

WELCOME Quick fixes Often in FM, we like to go as deep as possible into a subject, exploring the whats, hows and whys and picking a theme apart from start to finish. That’s not what this issue is all about though. This issue is about little things – quick tips, ideas and hacks that can help make your music making life better straight away. We’ve rounded up some of our favourite pieces of short, to-the-point advice on matters ranging from sound design to studio workflow. They might not revolutionise your music making individually, but we hope they’ll have the cumulative effect of making your day-to-day creative process feel instantly improved. We hope you enjoy the issue. Stay safe. Si Truss, Editor-In-Chief simon.truss@futurenet.com…

Behringer return Oberheim name to Tom Oberheim: “it's the right thing to do” > In its apparent quest to bring back every classic analogue synth ever made, Behringer have attracted some controversy, but the company have now been publicly thanked by Tom Oberheim for returning the worldwide rights to his company name. You may recall that, back in 2019, Gibson made a similar gesture to Tom Oberheim, having acquired the Oberheim brand name in 1988, following the company’s bankruptcy in 1985. However, it seems that this is related to trademarks in the US and several other territories. Behringer’s parent company Music Tribe still owned Oberheim trademarks in various other countries, but these have now been returned to Tom Oberheim, too. “I was very happy after all these years to have…

50 Studio Hacks 9 quick ways to improve your mix Do your finished tracks always end up feeling slightly flat, lifeless or unprofessional in comparison to your favourite releases? Nail that pro sound with these quick mix tips 1 CREATE SPACE! With multiple elements coexisting in a mix, proper use of EQing, volume automation and sidechain compression are all key to avoiding sonic bloat. However, sometimes the best approach is to simply write or program patterns that avoid one another. This is especially true in dance music and rhythm-centric genres like funk. Rather than have kicks and basslines that vie for low-end space, program one to play in the gaps around the other, so the two parts play off one another rather than battling it out for dominance. 2 Stereo…

50 Studio Hacks 9 inspiring tricks for hardware sequencing Whether you’re programming drum patterns or generating synth riffs, hardware sequencers, grooveboxes and drum machines are great creative tools. Take your sequencing technique up a notch with these techniques. 1 USE LFOS Interesting sequences are all about subtle variations over time. If your sequencer has an LFO (or two), put it to use! The Digitakt’s recent 1.30 update added an additional LFO to each track. For instance, with a hi-hat track you could assign one LFO to sample start and another to filter cutoff. Let the LFOs run freely, and you have tons of easy variation. 2 Quantise when it makes sense! You want your beats to be tight, obviously. But too much of everything on the grid can sound boring.…

James Hurr James top 5 house production tips Golden rules to follow for creating your next funky dancefloor stomper 1 Focus in on transients “Pay attention to transients. Badly made samples often have very hard attacks. If you want to make stuff sound more organic, you can bring down the attack using a transient shaper. You can then make them sound a bit softer. It’s nicer on the ears and it makes them sound more groovy. It also makes stuff fit in the mix better.” 2 Reference with tracks that work “It’s really, really important to know how your track sounds against other tracks that are currently popular and being played by DJs. I will always drag in two or three reference tracks that I know work well, sonically, and…

Free samplers | Roundup FREE SAMPLERS Aside from your DAW’s built-in sound-playing machine, what else is out there that won’t put the hurt on your wallet? FM | MUST HAVE! TX16Wx Software Sampler Based off the commercial TX16Wx Pro sampler, this sampler is pretty sophisticated on its own account, letting you load and zone multiple samples, edit their waveforms and even record your own samples into it. Other features here are two analogue-style filters to smooth your sound, envelopes to process its amplitude over time, modulation with LFOs and step sequencers and loads of potential to define different regions for samples loaded (or recorded) into the plugin. The generously featured free version of the plugin offers a host of sonic potential and control inside a single VST, AU and AAX…

FM SOUNDS & SAMPLES Spitfire Audio – Albion Solstice £399 While some orchestral sample library producers focus on creating ever more realistic, playable or usable core instrument collections, others pursue less well-trodden paths. The prolific crew at Spitfire Audio seem to manage both, offering ever greater breadth and depth with each new release. Although not exclusively so, their products tend to be geared predominantly at those writing for TV, film or game soundtracks. However, as previously mentioned on these pages, many would find use in any production looking for a less obvious palette. Besides spending time on the recording and playability of their sounds, Spitfire also put considerable effort into creating presets that employ the underlying samples in interesting ways. This again applies to the new Albion Solstice – the…

Matrix Mixer: re-patch your rack at the push of a button > Part of the fun of having a Eurorack setup is the constant re-patching – that’s what fans will tell you, anyway – but while, in the studio, you have all the time in the world to do this, there are different pressures when performing. Enter Erica Synths’ Matrix Mixer, which will let you “re-patch your system with the push of a single button”. This is a 16-I/O patch mixer that’s designed for routing and mixing signals, and creating buffered multiples and random patches. Not limited to Eurorack, it can also be used with semi-modular synths and, with an adapter card, the EMS Synthi and Buchla Music Easel. You can pre-order the Matrix Mixer now. It costs $599 and…

Get creative with Generate new musical ideas in Ableton Live PROBLEM: How can I ensure that individual tracks maintain clarity within a bass-heavy mix? In modern bass music, sometimes it can be challenging to keep the mix clean when we are working with complex sounds that sit across wide frequency ranges. This can result in an undefined stereo image and details getting lost. We can take care of these issues even during the sound design process while we are still crafting the sound. For that, Live’s Instrument Rack is a perfect tool to split sounds by frequency bands in order to process them differently. This can be extremely useful for mixing purposes, but also opens doors to a wide range of creative sound design and modulation options of the different…

In the studio with Marshall Jefferson “We recorded in a few different studios, but mainly used the Chicago Recording Company, because they were the cheapest and we liked the engineer, Tom Hanson. He would just enhance the songs. “My drum machine of choice was a Roland 707. We used that for the whole of the album, except for the songs that Earl [Young] played on. “I used a Casio FZ-1. I sampled backgrounds in that thing, drums, horns, everything. On the whole album. Tightened it right up. We had big Neve consoles, too. “For keyboards, I used a Roland JX-8P. And for the piano I used a Sequential Circuits Prophet 2000, which got stolen. “For other keyboard parts we used a Korg EX-800, which was a poly 800 module. And…

50 Studio Hacks 6 pro synth programming techniques Ditch those presets and program standout synth sounds for yourself! Go beyond basic sound design with these quick pro tips 1 Modulation fades Heavy modulation of oscillator pitch or filter cutoff can sound a little over-the-top if applied to the entire duration of a sound. Many synths allow a ‘fade in’ to be applied to modulation routings though. You might find this as a ‘fade’ parameter attached to an LFO, or within your synth’s modulation matrix. This can be a great tool for adding tremolo to just the release tails of synth chords, or creating bold EDM-style bass with distinctive ‘wobbles’. 2 Looping envelopes It’s common to find modern synths offering a ‘loop’ function for envelope generators, but what does this do?…

50 Studio Hacks 8 easy ways to streamline your studio It’s easy to dismiss considerations surrounding your environment but musicians can clock up serious hours in one room – it goes without saying that those surroundings will affect your actual output… 1 CLEAN AIR Electronic equipment can have a negative effect on the air in a studio, so try to bring some purifying plants into your space. Firstly they help with the quality of air, keeping you more focused and productive. But they also help with mood too. Don’t worry about getting anything hard to care for, as there are some wonderful species that give all of the benefits while pretty much surviving with just the odd watering now and then. Aloe vera and mother in law’s tongue are both…

Interview DJ Seinfeld Known for spearheading the lo-fi house scene, DJ Seinfeld’s new album Mirrors offers an entirely new sonic fidelity. Danny Turner talks to Armand Jakobsson about his reinvention © Kasia Zacharko Born in Malmö, Sweden, Armand Jakobsson comically birthed DJ Seinfeld in 2016 having binge-watched the iconic ’90s TV sitcom following a relationship breakup. Although his main project at the time was titled Rimbaudian, the public picked up on DJ Seinfeld’s raw and ready sound thanks to seminal tracks like U, created in the spirit of the early house pioneers. Much to Jakobsson’s surprise, what began as a tongue-in-cheek witticism blossomed to become his signature project; however, the producer/DJ has been working hard to reinvent his sound. Although regarded as a lo-fi visionary, his new album Mirrors blends…

YOUTUBE MORE UNMISSABLE VIDEO TRAINING FROM FUTURE MUSIC Discover our line-up of exclusive YouTube goodness. Head online for all this and more! THE TRACK Leading producers go in-depth on the sounds, ideas and techniques behind their latest releases Rhode & Brown, Wave 200 The Munich duo took a trip back to Italo disco days for this track – and brought us along! DON’T MISS: BEC, Trusting the Mystery Rebecca Godfrey unveils her winning techno formula Joal, Eighty Four The hardware-loving producer recreates his typical workflow Simon Doty, The Beacon The Canadian prog-house master talks sampling and house piano riffs Document One, Hands Up Joe Froud and Matt King show us how they made this ‘filthy’ DnB number Top producers show you the world of Steinberg in our…

What if you don’t play an instrument? If you play an instrument, combining that with your modular can provide hours of fun. However not everybody plays guitar or keys etc, so how can they benefit? Well, the answer is simple. If you can hit, blow or rub two things together, you can make music. In this context that could be audio to put into a physical modeller like Rings, or it could be a simple trigger, to allow physical interaction that starts an event, like resetting a sequence, launching an envelope, or just being a noise to process for adding texture. Something like Ears will pick up on you tapping your case and will do all of the above. Try to think outside the box (no pun intended) even if…

Found sound percussion Having a dedicated drum machine can be key to crafting your own sound. 909 808 and Linn Drum sounds have their place but it’s nice to capture external audio a lot of the time, or layer up, so you get the classic electronic sounds with the organicness of the samples. For this, we use a TipTop Audio Drum System, which is perfect for this task. It has a couple of sequencers, including the fantastically playable circadian rhythms, some sound-shaping tools like Forbidden Planet, the fold processor and some analogue drum voices but it’s the six One sample players that make this the beast it is. It’s a doddle to load up samples to combine with the other sounds for really interesting and organic percussion. Recording beaten metal,…

Interview | Molchat Doma Molchat Doma As they head out to tour world-events-in-a-bottle album Monument, are Belarusian guitar ‘n’ synth lovers Molchat Doma ready for the road? Kate Puttick finds out Formed in only 2017, Belarusian three-piece Molchat Doma might just have brought one of the most loaded, politically-charged aesthetics of the past few years. And, as the likes of the New York Times have reported, on the basis of how many US TikTokkers have nicked this band’s tracks in order to bring a doomy or faux-portentous mood to their latest exploits (in particular, the widely streamed Sudno from their 2018 album Etazhi), the trio have certainly played their part in soundtracking the harrowing circumstances of their homeland in the past two years. But, partly through the necessities of legality…

10? DOUBLE THE 5 SURELY Sequential released a 10-voice version of the Prophet-5 back in ’78 which included a massive (for then) 10 voices of polyphony. It was a lot of components in one keyboard and often overheated. However, in 1981 Sequential released a double manual Prophet-10 – literally two Prophet-5s sat on top of one another – that sorted most of the issues out. There were two versions of this, the last being the most stable, but they are pretty rare; there was one for sale on Reverb a while back for around £12k. Now there’s another way to get a Prophet-10 as, along with the new Prophet-5, Sequential have released a 10-voice Rev4 Prophet-10. It’s identical to the 5 but with 10 voices, of course, and an enhanced…

FM GEAR GUIDE HIGH-END SYNTHS Sequential Prophet-5 £3,000 Full Review: FM374 The best incarnation and easily adds enough to bring it into 2021. Other options cost less... but they’re not a Prophet-5, are they? Korg Prologue from £1,299 Review: FM332 Despite a few surprising omissions, this sounds inspiring. A unique character, plus the analogue voices layered with VPM sounds and effects sound magical! 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. ASM Hydrasynth £1,299 Review: FM360 An impressive first release from a new brand. Hydrasynth looks and sounds great, invites exploration, is built to last and is hugely expressive. What’s not to…

FILTER Get sounds from some of pop’s biggest names in GarageBand for iOS Remix Sessions and Producer Packs bring sounds from Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, Boys Noize and more > The past decade has seen Apple gradually repositioning GarageBand to appeal to electronic producers as much as entry-level home recordists. Now the latest update for iOS and iPad sees the user-friendly DAW leaning further into the realm of electronic pop with the addition of Remix Sessions and Producer Packs. The Producer Packs are probably the more interesting of the two features for experienced music makers. These are sound packs complete with loops, one-shots, synth presets and drum kits. What elevates them, however, are the names behind each pack. Bundles have been compiled by the likes of Boys Noize, Oak Felder…

Holly Herndon unveils open source, AI-powered, deepfake “digital twin” > Electronic composer Holly Herndon has launched a new project, a custom voice instrument and “digital twin” nicknamed Holly+. The instrument, created in partnership with Never Before Heard Sounds, uses machine learning technology to reproduce user-submitted audio in a computer-generated approximation of Holly’s singing voice. Users can upload any audio file up to five minutes in length, which is then transformed using a “deep neural network” that was trained on recordings of Holly Herndon’s vocals. The project makes use of technology similar to that of the “vocal deepfakes” that have been dominating headlines over the past year, which reproduce the voices of artists and celebrities using AI. What makes Holly+ different is that it’s fully authorised and open for public use.…

Talking Shop Sebastian Plano “It’s really important to spend time away from the studio and do other things” Sebastian Plano| Argentinian-born, Berlin-based musician Sebastian Plano is a man of many talents – an accomplished cellist, classically-trained composer and electronic producer. He puts all these skills to work on his latest album, Save Me Not, a beautiful concoction of delicate piano lines, haunting vocals, luscious strings and electronic atmospherics. We caught up with him to find out more... When did you start making music, and how did you first get started? “I started playing cello when I was seven and writing music when I was 11. Classical music was definitely an influence growing up; both of my parents were members of the Philharmonic in Rosario, the city in Argentina where I…

50 Studio Hacks 8 sure-fire ways to beat creative block We’ve all been there: you get in the studio, fire up your gear, open your DAW and… nothing. Unfortunately, writer’s block can be a destructive cycle. A lack of progress breeds a lack of confidence, and it’s hard to get back into your creative flow. Fortunately, we’re here to help you bust out of that funk… 1 PLAGIARISE, UNPLAGIARISE... Don’t know where to start? Drag a track you like onto your DAW’s timeline and spend some time recreating it. Go through the track bar-by-bar copying each element for yourself – the beats, melodies, arrangement, FX… Once you’re done you’ll have a finished track, albeit one entirely ripped off from someone else. The challenge now is to mix things up till…

50 Studio Hacks 10 bullet-proof tactics for turning loops into finished tracks Do you find it easy to come up with loops and grooves that move you in the studio, but when you try to take those ideas and turn them into full tracks, you just get stuck? Well, this is a common problem for producers; read on for a handful of tips on how to turn that repetitive loop into an earworm of a track. 1 ARRANGE WITH A CONTROLLER If you’re using Ableton, Bitwig or Logic Pro, try using your DAW’s “Clip” view to literally jam on your loop with whatever MIDI controller is handy. Assign several key parameters to your controller, set up your DAW so it’s armed to record (double check!) and then turn off or…

RETROSPECTIVE Hardcore Springing from house and techno, this is a sound to be taken just as seriously. Hardcore: do you know the score? © PYMCA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Despite discussing rave culture on a regular basis, we’ve never focused on rave music as a genre. Our logic is simple: rave music isn’t a genre, any more than you’d say that ‘festival music’ or ‘nightclub music’ are genres. In practice, rave music is complicated: different eras and different geographical locations might associate rave culture with entirely different styles of music. We’ve covered some of the most popular rave-related genres already in this column – most notably acid house and jungle – but it’s time to shine the light on a crucial (and often overlooked) style which dominated European rave…

Sequential Prophet-5 | Reviews Sequential Prophet-5 Rev 4 £3000 With Dave Smith back at Sequential’s helm, a new version of this ’80s icon was nigh-on obligatory, says Andy Jones CONTACT WHO: Sequential WEB: sequential.com KEY FEATURES 5-voice analogue polysynth; 61-note semi-weighted Fatar keyboard with velocity and aftertouch; two CEM 3340 VCOs/voice; switchable low-pass filter between Dave Rossum-designed 2140, and Doug Curtis-designed CEM 3320; LFO (3 waveshapes) and Poly-Mod modulation; Vintage Knob for increased Rev1 instability; 200 user and 200 factory programs in five banks of 40 programs The original Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 changed the world – simple as that. So the company’s new iteration – essentially the fourth revision –has so much synth history and music associated with it that it’s impossible not to mention those previous versions, and some of…

Reviews | ADDAC112 ADDAC112 £589 Rob Redman gets acquainted with the Portuguese outfit’s “softer approach to the granular process” CONTACT WHO: ADDAC WEB: addacsystem.com KEY FEATURES 5 minute buffer size, Excellent screen and UI, Movable patch bay, Looper and granular synthesis At 32hp, plus an additional 14hp for the expander, the ADDAC112 is an impressive module to behold and that space is put to very good use, so don’t be put off by the size. It’s split into two parts but both are needed, so don’t think that the expander is optional; it is in fact vital, as it houses all the I/O for the module. This is a good move by ADDAC as it means all patching is in one movable zone, so you can place it where it suits…

FM TESTBENCH Rhizomatic Plasmonic This recent synth attempts to take up the mantle of physical modelling with some intriguingly unique features. Plasmonic is capable of realistic plucks, other-worldly pads and scapes, and almost anything in between. You receive two ‘traditional’ oscillators (which are actually anything but), plus Impulse and Noise oscillators to boot, all capable of being routed through a Resonator bank and a filter, and then finally routed through spatial effects processors. So what’s special here? Plasmonic’s oscillators have some particularly cool waveforms – including FM pairs and the mysterious ‘Hazy’ types – and the oscillator options include wave folding and Symmetry, as well as ‘scanning’ with the Shape control. Right out of the gate, there’s a lot of uniqueness on offer. There’s also a huge amount of modulation…