How To Make - Melodic Techno with Christian Vance / 559

[AgYaros]

Thanks a lot!

[Gazelle]

Interesting series! Especially the sequencer, I am going to watch the techniques video too. I still have a question though. How is the structure of a melodic techno track? I cannot see clear break's, build ups and drop's in it.

[cvance]

Thanks for the kind words! As I've discussed in past chats regarding structure, there is no defining necessity for any break, build-up or drop depending on the intended outcome of the track. This does not mean there is any reason to not have them, rather, it is a great test of all the ideas and cohesion of the elements of a track to not require any of these things to begin with. Try to hold the tension with smaller, less obvious touches first. My suggestion is to focus on the inherent groove and touches of melody over the course of 5 or 6 minutes to make the track interesting by itself without the need for any of these usual suspects. Then, when you do want a build or drop etc it will have even more impact because you've got the energy just right in the whole track - and the more pronounced elements will not feel forced, obvious or obligatory.

Sometimes it's fun to loop 128 bars or so and enjoy noodling/overdubbing with some return fx, or just with cutoff and release of your synths for example. Utilise midi control to the max and group similar sounds etc, messing around with just the mute function on different elements will give you a good feel of how energy can shift in your tracks just by playing around. You might even end with something much more epic this way. Happy Music making...

[Gazelle]

Thank you for the reply! That helps a lot. I am going to try out these techniques in practice. I am also very interested in the sequencing. I once tried to make a 'melody generator' in Max for Live. So maybe I get back into that and use that for a melodic techno track.

[budsticky]

Hey, if you don't mind me asking...why do you route tracks to an audio bus rather than just grouping them? For instance, you take the three synth sounds and send their output to an audio track. Is there a difference or a practical reason behind doing it this way rather than grouping the tracks? Thanks in advance if you can answer my question.

[cvance]

Hi @budsticky.. good question! They are essential the same in many ways except for a few things like individual track delay, no individual sends, visual reference.. there are a few discussions about it on the ableton forums. If you just want to group and effect together - then the group function is great. I also prefer the traditional bussing because it is familiar. Perhaps the best way to think about it would be to group similar behaving channels together that will only require the same sends and track delay etc... then bus them for mixing later. The beauty is that we have all these options actually.

[burika]

Great tutorial! Super useful.

[Levi_u]

Nice

[sentinel123]

that is really nice

[Ulrit]

really useful transferable ideas and skills, cheers!!

[basicnyc]

Definitely will check this one...nice!

[nikimcnally]

Hi Christian! I absolutely love your tutorial. Great stuff so far. Especially the bit where you calculate the time for the length of the kick drum. So helpful. I have a question regarding your bass part. I was wondering how you got the second note in your custom bass preset to sound like something is happening with the pitch. It sounds like the note is falling into the next bar when it loops. I was wondering how you did that? With a pitch envelope? Just curious. That little extra bit made a world of difference. Thank you in advance!

[cvance]

Hi @nikimcnally ... thanks for the kind words! Great to hear you're enjoying the techniques. In response to the bass.. good question! I loaded up the project (was still in Ableton 9 with ANA original version) and it is definitely the amount of filter envelope for OSC 1 / Filter 1. I checked with both my ears and a tuner and there is a definite pitch slide as one decreases the Filter 1 envelope below zero. At the time of making the track I would have definitely enjoyed that small movement it created and therefore the sound is in the tutorial precisely the way it is. The mod1 for the velocity/cutoff just makes for the perfect little pitch dip/swing. The devil is in the detail. While this definitely does create what you've detected, let's just call it a kind of blue note and a happy little accident. There was no conscious altering of the pitch envelope. In ANA 2 the mod matrix is more developed and there are some really sweet ways to control these sorts of things. In the meantime if you would like to brush up (as I just did) on the old ANA, here is the manual. I could not find any evidence exactly how pitch envelope may have been modulated with the settings on this preset. If you can isolate it then kudos and 100 extra bonus points!

you can find the manual here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1csaWDjvv7PXLKeMY2yLUEiufjWPnScQpInB-mSrXBUA/edit

Happy music making and great to read that you are listening to the small things

[ottucsak]

Really awesome course! One thing that I missed is the process of how you created the final melody from the raw, unpolished notes/ideas, but I guess that's where the magic happens.

[cvance]

@ottucsak .. thanks again for the kind words! Glad you're digging it... and in regards to the process for the final melody? You've got the tools now.. this is your time to shine and make your own spicy batch of hot sauce. Take what you like, what you really dig, take the time to work on it, edit it, adjust it, cook it all up and let the magic happen

[neugebauer]

really helpful, and cool techniques

[Marks83]

Nice production tricks and very helpful..Good job!

[AdamQ96]

Found this very useful. Love this way of working, definitely some nice ideas to merge with current skills. Sweet!

[lapuafox]

what's the value of those courses if on top of my Ableton and this site's subscription I have to purchase a shit ton of plugins?!

[Tekalight]

Hi there @lapuafox

IMO that's not the way you have to see things in that regard. All the courses on S.A ( and particularly the "How To Make" ones, aim at showing you how tutors create their tracks, design their sounds, put the arrangement together, mix/master...etc.

So it's more about learning about the techniques, workflow & tricks that are shown in those tutorials.
While every & each tutors would have their own preferences when it comes to plugins & DAW, you can always adapt the lessons and use either stock plugins or find alternative free ones.

Getting to see how a track was made from scratch from established producers as if you were sitting in the studio with them is the real benefit of S.A tutorials, and adapting that to your own gears & tools is a very effective way to learn IMHO