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Arrows Of Attention: 20 Production Prompts
Make a beat with a generic-sounding kit then add effects until it sounds enchanting. Make an effects rack that turns any tuned sound into ambience. Truncate percussive sounds until they are tiny slivers, all attack. Make a huge template with every instrument you enjoy using. Design/finesse the sound to the point where it’s irresistibly playable. Continue reading
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Notes On Fred Again..’s Artistry
Once in a while a musician moves to the foreground of the electronic music production landscape with many musical assets in play. Such musicians have a fully formed sound—a world unto itself that feels like discovering an overlooked way of listening that was available to you the whole time. Fred Gibson, aka Fred Again.., is Continue reading
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13 Production Concepts
Beat Fatigue Chords To Nowhere Frequency Fights Harmony Shortcomings Higher Register Copy Incremental Editing Instrumental Ambiguity Iterative Improvising Modular Arrangement Obvious Structure Post-Composing Shaping Simultaneous Variation Energies Texture Blur Continue reading
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Database Update
The Music Production Concepts Database is updated and now has almost 100 entries. Continue reading
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The Main Thing And Its Peripherals
The main thing is the thing that needs to get done before everything else in a track—the part that every other part depends on, the part from which everything else flows. Here’s an example: for practice, I’ve been working on a series of pieces built around mid-tempo Afrobeats-style beats. Afrobeats–not to be confused with Afrobeat–is Continue reading
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Running, Tempo, and Time
As a runner, I often think about running’s relationship to time and how we inhabit time differently while in motion. Time seems to pass more slowly—or not pass at all—when you’re running. Your mind floats: past becomes present, and future scenarios play themselves out—perhaps because you’re grounded in the tactile stepping of your stride. When Continue reading
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Resonant Thoughts: Christopher Alexander on Dynamic Structures
“Things that are good have a certain kind of structure. You can’t get that structure except dynamically. Period. In nature you’ve got continuous very-small-feedback-loop adaptation going on, which is why things get to be harmonious. That’s why they have the qualities that we value. If it wasn’t for the time dimension, its wouldn’t happen.” Christopher Continue reading
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