Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Post #6 - "Self Assessment" - (February 28th, 2017)

Recently, due to a multitude of reasons, my progress in this class somewhat halted.

Write-Path Ent. (Aldergrove based music label) opened a new studio right next to my house. So last week I walked down there and checked it out for myself. I met with the guys who run the place, They were super chill and encouraging in regards to my passion for music.

They offered me production lessons, and gave me a demo on how to put together a beat using a software called Cubase. It's quite an advanced software, and it looked much more involved than FLStudios. Regardless, I plan on getting the software and giving it a try for myself.


Since this experience, I've began working on a beat. It's a rather simple beat, but I'm quite satisfied for it being my first:  


http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=07966092162222157751

Overall, i'm making progress. But in terms of constant blog updates, I admit I've lagged behind. I spent the first few weeks just learning how to use FLStudios alone. After, I often spent classes simply messing around exploring different ideas, never really coming away with a finished product. But I am now beginning to gain confidence in my capability of making complete beats.



Friday, February 17, 2017

Post #5 - "Loops" - (February 17th, 2017)

Another good alternative for finding samples is to go to a website that hosts royalty free loops, samples, and acapellas. 
A website such as: www.looperman.com


Once you've created an account on the website, you can choose from the countless variety of loops under the "loops and samples" tab.


Under each loop lists all the information one would need when choosing to sample it. For instance, in the photo above, it's clear that its for a "Hard Trap and Trill" beat. Also, its recommended that it be used at 100bpm. This information is really important when you're gonna approach sampling the loop.




Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Post #4 - "SliceX" - (February 14th, 2017)

When sampling a song, you need to isolate specific parts so that they flow well together on the playlist. A good way of doing this is with the SLICEX plugin:


Once you drag the audio file into SliceX, you can begin to chop it up respectively,

The icon with the red circle around it is the Marker tool. You place it according to wherever you want the snippet of the song to start and end. For instance, (in the photo below) the red highlighted zone between "marker 1" and "marker 2" represents the length of the loop.


Now that you have the isolated loops, you can order them on the Piano Roll to achieve your desired sound.