InsideInfo Q&A

@STRUCTUREDNB

I tend to do a bit of both, I make samples all the time, messing around and playing with sounds so i have a batch of fresh samples to work with which will help get a vibe going on a track, once i have a track going i work out what I will need for the track and then do another round of sound design making sounds specifically for the track (i.e drum edits, bass variations etc) Hope that helps!

to take a track beyond a loop stage i write down all the things i think the track needs in order for it to stand on its own, it might be a vocal, more melodys, new bass elements etc. I will then either go searching for more samples to add to the track or start making sounds for it. I always make a “do list” for each track i’m working on of things it needs. When i’m not working on it i will get ideas to try out and i will just write them down. I find stepping away from the track and listening to other music helps with this. I also sketch out an arrangement for it so i have lots of spaces to fill in with sounds / edits /changes to keep it interesting. So i will sketch out an intro, drop, rollout, breakdown etc and start filling in the gaps

Yeah i know what you mean about the modular being a bit all over the place, honestly i just tame it with EQ and compression though, I have a compressor module in my modular synth (the WMD MSCL) that i run things into which does a good job at taming things from the source, also adds a fair bit of character to the sound so that’s quite handy. I treat all the modular stuff as samples really, so i load them into Falcon and filter / pitch them accordingly with that, or bring it into an audio track and chop out all the shit bits 😀

Ah yes when i said spectral i meant the sound i made there had a sort of wierd watery quality to it that sounded like it had been processed with a spectral filter or something. The kinda sound you get out of Izotope Iris, Or the spectral smear in NI Molekular, or the Rossum Panharmonium which is a eurorack spectral processor, I love messing around with those tools as you get some really wierd sounds from them, great fun 🙂

The falcon timestreching algorithm introduces these interesting artefacts at extreme settings that can be quite useful, i use timestreching a lot to create new sounds from existing parts.

essential plugs for me are Falcon, The Melda creative bundle, Fabfilter bundle, D16 FX. Could get by fine with just those.

I listen back to the whole modular session and chop out the best bits

For a start up modular, Really depends where you want to go but for a synthesis based setup, Oscillator wise you cant really go wrong with plaits, as it has so many different synth types in a small module. Then A nice filter, I have a Xaoc belgrad which is amazing, Then modulation source of which there any many, Maths is a good one. You can build around that system and add what you need but youd be able to get a ton of sounds from just those modules alone.

ha! good question. I make a pretty good Thai fish curry, but ill save typing out recipes for my career as a chef once im done with music 😛

I use Mutable Marbles as a random source, Really good and gives you 3 outputs. could also use sample and hold on the Disting.

I dont really have a limit on the time i extract as a chunk, sometimes it can be long whole sequences, or a tiny single sound. I categorise everything, so small stabs go in stabs folder, sequences go in sequences folder, totally depends. Tend to record in 10 or 20 min segments but sometimes go over depending on how lost i get!

You know sorting things by key is something i keep thinking i should try, but then i always think maybe i will focus too much on finding things in the right key rather than things that might work but need re-pitching, so currently no, keys are all over the place atm.