tutorial

some people who are thinking about getting into production have asked my advice regarding the best way to go about it - should i get a degree? should i just start producing tracks and see where it takes me?

a formal education in the field is not to be sneezed at, but if you look at the drug-addled faces of the producers ripping up beatport of late, it's clear that it is not essential. i am self-taught and not totally incompetent - in my experience, you can get very, very far teaching yourself, especially if your focus is electronic music, which is a far easier domain to master than the drum mic-ing, hum-cancelling hairiness of the physical recording world.

’side-chain compression’. ‘bass-ducking’. if you’ve been paying any attention to music production in the last few years, especially dance production, you know that these concepts play a huge role in the modern sound. virtually every dance track, and increasingly many rock and pop tracks, feature these techniques - so what are they, and how do you incorporate them into your productions using reason?

view my tutorial on reasontutorials.net.

if you're into breaks, drum 'n bass, hip-hop or many other electronic genres, you will want to deliver a solid low-end - but you may find your bass patches under deliver at these frequencies. enter : the sub-bass.

firstly, be sure you're using a subwoofer - the sub is often going to be more felt than heard, and without a subwoofer you're going to miss out on a lot of what you're working on.

firstly, the closer the samples you use are to the sound you want, the easier your job will be. the reason sound bank is a good distance away from most popular sounds, so look into sample libraries in your style.

secondly, once you choose your best sample material, there are four kinds of 'bigger' you can make your drums: