Reply To: Arkaik Tutorial Q&A session.

Hi Harry,

Right lets see how i can help.

– I find techno samples are get for kicks (as the tracks are always built around a huge kick) i also like the sounds of this specific kit really nice. Sometimes il use hiphop crusty drum hits to layer on top of clean hits il just hunt till I find stuff I really like. I have just found that techno samples for drums works for me. With minimal sounding dnb i find these techno hits work well.

– I used to use Camel Phat all the time & do use the Phat FX (even though the new layout confuses me), however I use Camel crusher as a limiter/saturater. If i wanted to add an LFO or some sort of filter fx to the channel then I would use Phat FX, or use a filter with wolfram & a phaser. To me I use them for different purposes.

– With regards to external plugins I use to have alot which was hard to decide what to use and to go through a massive list of plugins, so I decided to strip out the ones i didnt use alot and then to slowly reinstall the plugins when i needed them. Also my mac HD broke about 2 weeks before i recorded this so i will need to add some back in. I used to write on Logic 9 and only changed to logic X this year so sometimes il go on my old machine if i want to create certain sounds using old 32 bit plugins.

– Being an Expat has definitely changed the way i write, i kinda am isolated from the scene being in China and that has helped me really focus on what i want to write rather than looking at whats popular or following musical trends within UK. Sending stems is always done over internet and collaborating with people is generally done this way, however when im back in Europe i do make an effort to see some friends and try and get in some studio time with them. I have met some kool people over here and have colaborations with people that i might not have if i was in the uk , but tbh most the people i collaborate with i have met over the internet or friends i have met through raves over the years.

– Design work only influences my music work as in i dont get enough time to make music lol. I think about music in the same way as graphic design as im trained in design so try and think of it in this way to help me understand processes. I would love to show you guys some of my design work however i work for a customer research agency so most of the work is unsharable, mostly b2b stuff for big brands (big animation company that has theme parks, a company that rhymes with joke and makes black drinks, some one that rhymes with boogle) mostly boring stuff but occasionally big design events. some design stuff i have done was for my Timelapse EP, and also the Arkaik merch available on the flexout website is all designed by me