Programming for Depeche Mode – Interview with Christoffer Berg
Teenage Engineering: How did you get involved in the album process?
Christoffer Berg: I got involved at the end of January 2012. I was asked if I would be interested. In February I went to London to meet Ben Hillier and Daniel Miller to listen to some demos and just meet them. In March I went to the first recording session in Santa Barbara.
TE: How come they first approached you?
CB: I think the way it happened was that Ferg Peterkin, who was the engineer on the record, was in the studio where I have a production room, Svenska Grammofon Studion in Gothenburg. He was recording an album with a band called Foals, and him and Luke Smith, who was the programmer on the previous record, had brought their modulars along.
I asked if I could have a go at the equipment and do some experiments with it. They invited me to come in whenever I wanted to, so I recorded some stuff on a mobile setup that I brought to their room. After this I was kind of invited to send a resume and submit some demos.
There was quite a substantial list of experience required to even submit a demo. You had to have expertise in several modern day sequencers and also be able to synchronize these with old analog stuff. But at the time when I started making electronic music music, I had to use sync boxes and a four track portastudio. So when I looked through the list I thought to my self “I can do this”, and “if I get this job I’m gonna kill it”.
TE: What was the actual position offered?
CB: It was as the programmer. My technical responsibility would be to keep different systems synchronized, and also to program beats, make sounds, basslines or whatever.
TE: So, during a days work, what equipment would you use?
CB: Oh, my god… Wow, we had a huge Eurorack modular with somewhere around 700 – 800 modules. During the recording process Martin (Gore) also got a dotcom modular, which I really fell in love with. We had ARP 2600’s. Martin has a rack which has three 2600’s in one rack, with custom MIDI interface for them. That was insane! One favorite of mine came to be the ‘Gleeman Pentaphonic’, a kind of rare early digital analog hybrid synth, which looks really cool and has a very special sound. It’s almost impossible to list every thing and almost easier to list the stuff we didn’t have.
Read the whole interview here
Ableton Live Tutorial: Trap Beat Patterns – Instrument Rack for Drum Programming Pt 3
More info: http://blog.dubspot.com/atropolis-tra…
In the final installment of his three-part Ableton Live video tutorial on how to create a custom instrument rack for trap music production, Dubspot instructor Adam Partridge a.k.a. DJ/producer Atropolis explores the fundamental rhythm of trap.
Every genre of music has a distinct rhythm that defines the style. Understanding the attributes is the first step to creating any specific type of rhythm. I like to refer to these key rhythmic characters as “anchors”. For example, in trap, the common snare pattern falls on the third down beat of every bar. So I like to set these anchor points first. Once I have that consistant snare pattern, I am free to color in the beat with the kick pattern. Music is all about feeling. Experiment with different grid sizes, and place the kick where ever you feel like it works bests. Make sure the loop is playing while you are doing this. After you complete this step, add the hi-hat pattern. – Adam Partridge
Product Presentation at SonicState – Roland VR-09
We get an in-depth look at Roland’s new stage keyboard with product demonstrator Gareth Bowen. The VR-09 is intended for live use, with dedicated piano, organ and synth sections – is it as lightweight as its 5 Kg heft implies… or are there hidden depths? Nick finds out.
Livid interviews Moldover on DIY controller
Livid’s founder Jay Smith sits down with the inventor of “Controllerism” Moldover. Watch as they discuss the growing DIY movement, MIDI guitars, the evolution of “producer” and more.
2 Minute Ableton Tip 29: Split Synths on the Keyboard
AfroDJMac:
In continuing my discussion of the chain feature in Ableton Device Racks, today I teach you how to split synths across the keyboard, by note and by velocity. So after these two minutes are up, you will have an instrument that triggers a different synth depending on how hard you hit the keys, or an instrument that triggers a different synth depending on what keys you are playing. Enjoy!
Making Grime on Reason – Preditah tells how does it
For nearly as long as dubstep has gone from being an experimental subgenre to the juggernaut world-dominating scene that it is today, Grime has been its lesser known cousin – developing right alongside dubstep but staying safely in the underground. It’s not that we haven’t all heard grime beats before but masterful grime producers have been weaving the sounds into pop songs and remixes in ways we don’t realize, effectively sneaking grime into our playlists.
Propellerheads recently met up with respected grime producer, Preditah, to walk through his latest instrumental beat.
Moog session – Minimoog, Prodigy and Polymoog 203A
Jamming away on the moog-rig – The minimoog, the Prodigy and the mighty Polymoog 203A synthesizer. Additional bassline-programming courtesy of Doepfer Dark Time.
Kroffe live at Fylkingen
In a Schulze tradition Kroffe puts his Moogs and german synthesizers and sequencers on the floor and improvise. Hypnotic!
kroffe live @ fylkingen, stockholm the 16th of march 2013
camera by rhizomatik
Neurobash – Northern Pioneers [ official music video ]
The official music video for NORTHERN PIONEERS by Neurobash features dancer Diana with a choreography especially written for the piece. The video was directed and edited by Daniel Brandt with visual effects courtesy of Aeongate Studios and Tigon Media.
The original track is taken from the album RISE BEFORE THE FALL released late 2012 via Tigon Media.
The creative team wish to thank the following persons and partners for support with the project: Kongresscentrum | Lund University, Aeongate Studios, Graphic Design Labs,
Smartfilm AB and the goddess herself, Diana.
Learn Push – 2 Creating Beats
DATAMASKIN
