why are you not listening to this Daft Punk live set right now?
I’ve had it on repeat pretty much since I found it. A tremendous mix featuring plenty of classic Daft Punk songs and more use of low-pass filters than you can shake a stick at.
here’s a quick link to something bunmun forwarded me that I found both interesting and entertaining; a video demonstrating how to recreate the classic techno track Smack My Bitch Up by The Prodigy. It was created using Ableton Live 8 by Jim Pavloff, a Ukranian producer with some time on his hands. It’s fascinating how, piece by piece, the song gradually comes together.
what amazes me the most about this exercise is how Liam Howlett, the front man behind The Prodigy, originally found all of the extremely different samples he used in the track, cut them up, filtered them, mashed them together, and churned out a tune as massive as this one. I’m lucky if I can find myself a good kick drum, let alone create something on this epic a scale.
as I’ve been posting links to sites with good information for budding techno producers, I figure I should take a moment to point out Trance.nu, “a central, global place for trance enthusiasts to gather and talk about the music they are so passionate about”. Trance.nu boasts a sizeable community of trance music fans, and features interviews with the likes of such trance stars as Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, and Ferry Corsten. The site was started by Europeans (as evidenced by the site’s wiki), but for some reason it is hosted in Canada (as evidenced by my Flagfox add-on).
for those interested in creating trance music, the forums are very good, and the How do I produce? forum is dedicated toward helping users who produce, with tutorials about gating, compression, how to make a good kick drum sound, and the like. One important thing to note, is that it isn’t good manners to post the songs you’ve created for feedback without offering feedback on the songs that others have made in return, and it is never allowed to post DJ mixes of songs that you haven’t created or don’t own the rights to distribute.
I personally frequent the boards as soundlord, though I probably don’t participate as much as I should. It’s a great community!
Steve Helstrip, also known as The Thrillseekers, is a British trance DJ and producer who has cranked out several great trance tracks including his breakout hit Synaesthesia, Escape, and most recently, City of Angels. He’s a one man band whose professional title, The Thrillseekers, seems to indicate that there are in fact a whole bunch of people behind the scenes, and for some reason I can relate to that. Steve is also, at least from what I can see, a pretty nice guy; he’s a family man who enjoys giving back to the dance music community.
one way that Steve gives back to the community is by providing music production advice and some free samples that he has used on his own tracks, that users are welcome to download and use in their own productions. You can get at these samples by registering as a member (for free) on his website. Hover over Communicate and click on Message Board, then find the Music Production link. There’s lots of good stuff in there.
the thing I like best about the samples Steve provides (aside from the fact that I think they’re quality) is that they were created for implementation in trance music. They’re worth experimenting with; I’m sure there are a few in there that you can find a use for in your tracks!
