Snoman R. Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys, and Techniques

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For the timbre, real bass guitars, particularly upright and acoustic, are usually

chosen due to the resonant sounding strings which help it cut through the

mix. These sounds are best sourced from a sample CD or bass-speciﬁ c module

such as Spectrasonics Trilogy since recording live guitars is difﬁ cult without good

equipment. This subject is beyond the scope of this book as it requires a whole

new set of production ethics. Nevertheless, provided that you have a good bass

module it is perfectly possible to emulate a real guitar with MIDI. While it does

involve a lot of work, it is only as much as is involved with recording a real

bass guitar – it just doesn’t take as much equipment. The details of emulating a

bass with MIDI have already been discussed in Chapter 15, but for the beneﬁ t

of those who’ve jumped straight to this chapter you can play the book- style

version of Dungeons and Dragons by jumping back and forth, depending on

what information you want, or just read on.

The key to programming any real instrument is to take note of how it is played

and then emulate this action with MIDI and a series of CC commands. In this

case, most bass guitars use the ﬁ rst four strings of a normal guitar E –A–D–G,

but these are tuned an octave lower, resulting in the E being close to three

octaves below middle C. Also they are monophonic, not polyphonic, so the

only time notes will actually overlap is when the resonance of the previous

string is still dying away as the next note is plucked. This effect can be emulated

by leaving the preceding note playing for a few ticks while the next note in the

sequence has started. The strings can either be plucked or struck and the two

techniques produce different results. If the string is plucked, the sound is much

brighter and has a longer resonance than if it were simply struck. To copy this,

the velocity will need to be mapped to the ﬁ lter cut-off of the bass module

so that higher values open the ﬁ lter more. Not all notes will be struck at the

same velocity, though, and if the bassist is playing a fast rhythm the consecu-

tive notes will commonly have less velocity since he has to move his hand and

pluck the next string quickly. Naturally, this is only a guideline and you should

edit each velocity value until it produces a realistic feel.

‘Bassist’s may also use a technique known as ‘hammer on ’ whereby they play a

string and then hit a different pitch on the fret. This results in the pitch chang-

ing without actually being accompanied with another pluck of the string. To

emulate this, you’ll need to make use of pitch bend. First set it to a maximum

bend limit of two semitones, since guitars don’t easily ‘bend’ any further than

this. Begin by programming two notes – for instance an E0 followed by an A0 –

and leave the E0 playing underneath the successive A0 for around a hundred

ticks. At the very beginning of the bass track, drop in a pitch bend message to

ensure that it’s set midway (i.e. no pitch bend) and just before the second note

drop in another pitch-bend message to bend the tone up to A0. If this is pro-

grammed correctly, on playback you’ll notice that as the E0 ends the pitch will

bend upwards to A0, simulating the effect. Although this could be left as is, it’s

sensible to drop in a CC11 message (expression) directly after the pitch bend, as

this will reduce the overall volume of the second note so that it doesn’t sound

like it has been plucked.

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In addition to this, it’s also worthwhile employing some fret noise and ﬁ nger

slides. Most good tone modules will include fret noise that can be dropped in

between the notes to emulate the bassist’s ﬁ ngers sliding along the fret board. The

pitch bending is best emulated by ﬁ rst programming the notes to overlap slightly

and then recording movements of the pitch-bend wheel live and editing them in

the sequencer. Again, since the pitch-bend range is set to 2 semitones only the

MSB value will need editing if the live recording didn’t go according to plan.

Of course, you don’t particularly have to use a real bass guitar and, as ever, it’s

open to artistic license. Pretty much any low frequency sound can be used pro-

vided that it sounds dark, moody and atmospheric. As we all have different ideas

of what constitutes a moody, atmospheric bass, there are no real generic timbres

and practically any synthesizer can be used to programme the basic sound. As a

recommendation, the Access Virus, Novation Supernova or the Novation Bass Station

(VSTi) are particularly suited towards creating deep, atmospheric bass sounds.

Fundamentally, a synthesized bass for trip-hop should exhibit plenty of low-

end presence (dub inﬂ uence) yet at the same time not be so powerful that it

takes up too much of the mix (hip-hop inﬂ uence). To accomplish this, a good

starting point is to use three oscillators: one set to a sawtooth waveform, the

second set to a sine wave and the third using a triangle wave. Transpose the

triangle wave up an octave and then adjust the amp’s EG to a fast attack, decay

and release but a high sustain. This will allow the bass note to sustain while

the key is depressed (many trip-hop rhythms depend on long notes rather

than short, stabby ones). If a resonant pluck is needed for the beginning of

the note, using a low-pass ﬁ lter, set the cut-off quite low with a high resonance

and use a ﬁ lter EG with a zero attack, sustain and release with a medium decay.

Finally, set the ﬁ lter envelope to full positive modulation and then experiment

by detuning the sine wave downwards from the saw. The further away this is

detuned the deeper and more ‘full’ the bass will become. If the notes are sus-

tained for a lengthy period of time then it may also be worth applying very

small amounts of LFO modulation to the ﬁ lter or pitch of one or all of the

oscillators, depending on the type of sound you want to achieve.

As with most other instruments in this genre, the bass can also beneﬁ t from

effects, but these must be chosen and applied carefully. Any stereo effects such

as ﬂ angers and phasers will often spread the sound across the image (which

will in turn move the bass from the centre of the mix and consequently destroy

the stereo perspective) so generally only mono effects should be applied. This

can include distortion, EQ and ﬁ lters, but if you are using any of these it’s use-

ful to place a compressor directly after so that you can experiment by overdriv-

ing the signal without fear of actually overdriving the desk (although this can

be put to creative uses if it’s an analogue desk).

As touched upon throughout, the most fundamental aspect of creating trip-hop

is the dirty/gritty character that the whole mix exhibits. While this is certainly not

an excuse for poor mixing, it is a good reason to be experimental and push things

further to attain the character of the sounds. For instance, record everything to

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analogue tape rather than direct to hard disk, or create wild feedbacks by sending

an audio signal to one channel of a stereo effect then return the signal back into

two inputs of the desk and feed one of these back out to the other channel of the

effect. Alternatively, feed an effect as usual but return the outputs into a normal

mixing channel and then feed these down another aux send back into the effect.

Also feel free to experiment with very heavy EQ to thin sounds right down, or use

ﬁ lters such as the Sherman Filter Bank to warp sounds beyond comprehension.

So long as each of these processes is followed by a compressor to keep the levels

under some control there should be no restrictions. What’s more, even if the ele-

ments of the record are not sampled, they should nevertheless sound as though

they are. This means gratuitous use of bit reduction, sample reduction along with

sampling the vinyl crackle from a record and applying this over the top of the

mix. For added hiss, a popular method is to record a source at a relatively low

level and then increase the gain so it comes up to nominal level, thus also increas-

ing the noise ﬂ oor. Furthermore, you may wish to play your ﬁ nal track through

a pair of poor-quality speakers and record the sound output with a poor-quality

microphone (as suggested for individual sounds). By importing this sound back

into your sequencer you will have further material to edit and add back to your

original track, creating areas of lo-ﬁ double-tracked sound.

Once the basic elements are programmed, you can begin to lay the arrange-

ment down. Since trip-hop relies heavily on vocals, the music tends to be

structured in a similar manner to most popular music songs consisting of a

verse/chorus structure. As such, it can roughly be broken down into four dis-

tinct parts consisting of the verse, chorus, bridge and middle eight. If we break

this down in a number of bars we can derive that the order of a song and sub-

sequent bars are as follows:

■ Verse 1 – Commonly 16 bars

■ Chorus – Commonly 8 bars

■ Verse 2 – Commonly 16 bars

■ Chorus – Commonly 8 bars

■ Verse 3 – Commonly 16 bars

■ Chorus – Commonly 8 bars

■ Bridge – Commonly 1 bar

■ Middle eight – Commonly 8 bars

■ Double Chorus – Commonly 16 bars

This is, of course, open to artistic license and some artists will play the ﬁ rst two

verses before hitting the chorus. This approach can often help to add excite-

ment to a track as the listener is expecting to hear the chorus after the ﬁ rst

verse. If this route is taken, even though there may be different vocals employed

in the verses, if they are played one after the other it can become tiresome, so

a popular trick is to add a motif into the second verse to differentiate it from

the ﬁ rst. Also, keep in mind that this is only a general guideline and as always

the best way to gain a good representation of how to arrange a trip-hop track is

to actively listen to what are considered the classics and then copy them. This

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isn’t stealing, it’s research and nearly every musician on the planet follows this

same route.

The data CD contains a full mix of a typical Trip Hop track with narration on how it was

constructed.

RECOMMENDED LISTENING

Ultimately, the purpose of this chapter has been to give some insight into the

production of trip-hop. There is, of course, no one deﬁ nitive way to produce the

genre. Indeed, the best way to learn new techniques and production ethics is to

actively listen to the current market leaders and be creative with processing, effects

and synthesis. With this in mind, what follows is a short list of some of the artists

who, at the time of writing, are considered the most inﬂ uential in this area:

■ Tricky

■ Massive Attack

■ DJ Shadow

■ Portishead

■ Red Snapper

■ DJ Food

■ DJ Cam

■ DJ Kicks

■ Thievery Corporation

■ DJ Krush

■ Coldcut

■ Moloko

■ DJ Vadim

■ Herbalizer

■ 9 Lazy 9

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Ambient/Chill Out

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Ambient music has enjoyed a long, if somewhat diverse, history and its sub-

sequent offshoots have formed an important role in dance music since 1989.

However, it only recently re-established itself to many as part of the dance

music scene when beats were again dropped over the atmospheric content and

it was relabelled by record companies and the media as ‘chill out ’ music.

The roots of ambient music are nothing if not unusual. It’s believed that it ﬁ rst

came about in the mid-1970s when Brian Eno was run over by a taxi. While he

was recovering in hospital, a friend gave him a tape machine with a few dodgy

tapes of harp music. The result was that music didn’t remain at a constant vol-

ume and on occasion dropped considerably in gain whereby it mixed with the

rain hitting the hospital windows. This second accident formed the beginning

of ambient as Eno began to experiment by mixing in real-world sounds such

as whale song and wind chimes with constantly changing synthesized textures.

Described by Eno himself as music that didn’t draw attention to itself (go ﬁ g-

ure), it enjoyed some success but was soon relabelled as ‘Muzak’ and subse-

quently poor imitations began to appear as background music for shopping

centres and elevators, and to many the genre was soon written off as ‘music

suitable only for hippies ’.

When the rave generation emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a DJ

named Alex Patterson began to experiment with Eno’s previous works, play-

ing it back to clubbers in small side rooms who needed a rest from the fast,

hard-hitting beats of the main room. These side rooms were soon labelled by

clubbers as ‘chill out ’ rooms, a place where you could go and take a break

from the hectic four to the ﬂ oor beats. As these ‘chill out ’ rooms began to gain

more popularity with clubbers, Patterson teamed up with fellow musician

Jimmy Cauty to form The Orb and they jointly released what many believe to

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’ Ambient is music that envelops the listener without

drawing any attention to itself

… ’

Brian Eno

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be the ﬁ rst ever ambient house music for clubbers, somewhat strangely named

A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld .

Soon after the release of the album, Patterson and Cauty went their separate

ways. While Cauty teamed up with Bill Drummond to from KLF, Patterson

continued to write under the moniker of The Orb and to DJ in the chill out

rooms.

This form – ambient house – began to grow into its own genre and chill out

rooms became a fundamental part of the rave scene. Some DJs became VJs

(video jockeys), mixing not only real-world sounds with slow, drawn-out drum

loops but also projecting and mixing images onto large screens to accompany

the music. This was soon followed by a series of ambient compilations hit-

ting the public market, and artists such as William Orbit and Aphex Twin soon

released their own ambient house albums.

In 1992, the genre was in full ﬂ ow. As different artists adopted the scene, each

putting their own twist on the music, it began to diversify into subgenres such

as ambient dub (ambient music with a bass), conventional (ambient with a 4/4

backbeat), beatless (no backbeat but following the same repetition as dance

music) and soundscape (essentially pop music with a slow, laid-back beat). By

1995, ambient music was everywhere, as the larger record companies took the

sound on board and saturated the market with countless ambient compilations

(although thankfully there was never any Now That’s What I Call Ambient Music

Volume 390). Even artists who had ignored the genre before began to hop on

board in the hopes of making a quick buck out of the new fad.

As with most music that is encapsulated and bastardized in this way, eventually

ambient house became a victim of its own success. The general public became

tired of the sound. To the joy of many a clubber, it was no longer the new fash-

ion and it returned to only being played where it had originated from – the

chill out rooms.

Fast forward to the year 2000. A small Balearic island in the middle of the

Mediterranean began to revive the public’s and record companies ’ interest in

ambient house. DJs in Ibiza’s Caf é Del Mar began to tailor music to suit the

beautiful sunsets by mixing Jazz, Classical, Hispanic and New Age together to

produce laid-back beats for clubbers to once again chill out to. Now repack-

aged and relabelled ‘chill out music ’ it’s enjoying renewed interest and has

become a genre in its own right. However, while chill out certainly has it roots

deeply embedded in ambient music, they have over time become two very dif-

ferent genres. Thus, as the purpose of this book is to cover dance music, for this

chapter we’ll concentrate on chill out rather than ambient.

MUSICAL ANALYSIS

As always, possibly the best way to begin writing any dance music is to ﬁ nd the

most popular tracks around at the moment and break them down to their basic

elements. Once this is accomplished, we can begin to examine the similarities

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between tracks and determine exactly what it is that differentiates them

from other musical styles. In fact, all music that can be placed into a genre-

speciﬁ c category will share similarities in terms of the arrangement and/or

sonic elements.

Generally, chill out is music that incorporates elements from a number of differ-

ent styles such as Electronica, New Age, Classical, Hispanic and Jazz. However,

it’s this very mix of different styles that makes an exact deﬁ nition impossible.

Indeed, it could be said that as long as the tempo remains below 120 BPM and it

employs a laid-back groove, it could be classed as chill out. In fact, the only way

to analyse the music is to take Brian Eno’s advice in that it shouldn’t draw too

much attention and ideally be the type of inoffensive music that most people

could easily sit back and relax to. (Sometimes the best chill out can be derived

from just rolling up a fat err … cigarette and playing about.)

Deﬁ ning exactly what this means is difﬁ cult, but we can settle for saying that

chill out commonly has a slow rhythmic or trance-like nature, combining

both electronic and real instruments which are often backed up with drop-out

beats and occasionally smooth, haunting vocals. Generally, many of these real

instruments will be recorded live or sampled from sample CDs, but in some

instances they can also be ‘borrowed ’ from other records. Consequently, chill

out can utilize almost any time signature, from the four to the ﬂ oor, to a more

swing orientated 3/4, and be produced adagio, andante or moderato. In terms

of physical tempo, this can range from 80 BPM and move towards the upper

limits of 120 BPM, but most chillout tends to use a happy medium, staying

around the 110 –120 BPM mark. This, of course, isn’t a demanding rule but it is

important not to go too fast as you need to relax to it!

To better explain how this theory is applied in practice, we’ll look at the cre-

ation behind a typical chill out track. As always, any music is an entirely indi-

vidual, artistic endeavour, and the purpose of this analysis is not to lay down

a series of ‘ground rules ’ on how it should be created. Rather, my intention is

to describe some of the general principles behind the characteristic arrange-

ments, sounds and processing. Indeed, in the end it’s up to the individual

(i.e. you) to experiment and put a twist on the music that suits your own

particular style.

THE RHYTHMS

There are no particular distinctions as to what makes a good chill out drum

loop. The only guide that can be offered is that the loop should remain

relatively simple and exhibit a laid-back feel. The kick drum can lie on the beat,

every beat, or it can be less common, appearing on the second and fourth, or

ﬁ rst and third beat, or any division thereof. This is simply because the laid-

back feel is often derived from the pattern and position of the snares in rela-

tion to the kick. Indeed, it’s the rhythmic interplay between these two elements

that creates the ‘feel’ of the drum rhythm. Additionally, closed and open hi-hat

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patterns are invariably employed in these rhythms to act as a form of rhythmic

syncopation (i.e. not on the beat) to help the groove ﬂ ow along ( Figure 17.1 ).

As the diagram in Figure 17.1 shows, the closed hi-hats, unlike most other

dance genres, do not necessarily have to sit on every 1/16th division, and along

with the open hats they can play a pattern of their own. It is wise, however, to

remove any closed hi-hats that occur on the same position as the open hi-hat,

as this results in a frequency clash and can often loose a rhythm to sound too

‘ programmed’. Auxiliary instruments such as congas, bongos, toms, cabassas,

triangles, shakers and tambourines also often make an appearance in chill out,

and similar to the hi-hat patterns these act as a form of syncopation to help the

rhythm ﬂ ow ( Figure 17.2 ).

FIGURE 17.1

Typical chill out drum

loop

FIGURE 17.2

A more complex chill

out drum loop

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This, of course, is only a general guideline to the drum patterns used and it’s

fully open to artistic license. The key is to produce a loop that does not sound

rigid or programmed through experimenting by moving the kicks in relation

to the snares to adjust the interplay between the two. If the tempo appears too

fast, reducing the amount of snares or auxiliary instruments employed in the

rhythm will often help slow it down and is preferable to physically slowing

down the tempo, since this will affect the rest of the instrumentation laid on

top. Additionally, as this genre occasionally follows a verse chorus structure

similar to most ‘pop’ music to denote the change between the two, it’s com-

mon to employ a couple of extra snare hits positioned together at the end of

the bar to create a skip in the rhythm.

Of particular note, the velocities of each percussive instrument should be

manipulated to help create a more ﬂ owing groove. Although this is entirely

open to interpretation, the kick commonly follows the typical strong –weak–

medium –weak syncopation. This is, of course, provided that there are four kicks

per bar. If there are three, then it could follow a strong –weak–medium or per-

haps a strong –medium–strong syncopation. What is common, however, is that

the ﬁ rst kick of the bar remains the strongest so as to denote the beginning of a

new bar. Even then, this is simply convention and convention shouldn’t always

play a part in your music, so you should feel free to experiment by placing the

accents at different divisions on the beat. When you do this, the rhythm of the

piece can change quite severely, so it is worth experimenting.

With chill out, the sounds used for the rhythm often play a vital role in obtain-

ing the laid-back feel. Once the basic sounds have been laid down it’s quite

usual to apply effects to the individual elements. The hits can be sourced from

anywhere, including other records, most drum machines (including the TR909

and TR808) or even the standard GM drum kits (particularly Jazz kits). It is,

of course, possible to synthesize a kit. This can often prove the best method

since the available parameters will allow you to modify each sound to suit any

particular rhythm. As we’ve already discussed the basics behind creating and

synthesizing a drum kit, what follows is a short overview of the three most

important elements (kicks, snares, hi-hats) with some tips on how the param-

eters can be used to create typical ‘laid-back’ timbres. Keep in mind that these

are only tips and above all, however you do it, if it sounds right then it most

probably is.

RHYTHM TIMBRES

Generally, the kick is quite deep and ‘boomy ’ as tight kicks tend to add some

small urgency to the music. Thus a good starting point is a 40 Hz sine wave

with positive pitch modulation using a fast attack and a medium-to-longish

decay period. There is usually little need to employ a ‘click’ at the beginning of

the waveform since this makes it appear sharper, which isn’t generally required

but, as always, experimentation is essential. If possible, it’s also worthwhile

experimenting by setting the decay’s transition to exponential so that the pitch