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About high-pass filtering your songs

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Some time ago I blogged about getting your sub bass right. Another thing worth mentioning relating to having a good sub is highpass-filtering the song – and being careful with it. Sometimes I see this done wrong in the premasters I receive for mastering, and thought writing about this might help producers to get the sub right. This mostly applies to “bass music” where the sub bass is lower than the kick and where we want to achieve the fat, full low end, but can definitely be used with other genres, too.

Why HP-filter your song? There’s two things.

1) To get rid of excess lows and rumble and to gain more headroom Continue reading About high-pass filtering your songs →

A little sampler shootout

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I wanted to do a little sampler shootout between Akai s950, Akai s3200XL, and E-MU Ultra E5000 to see how different they’d sound.
What I did was I sampled a break into them first at the original pitch. Then it was transposed by +7 semitones in Ableton Live (no warping) and transposed back by -7 in the sampler, and in the last version that was transposed by -12 in the sampler.

I didn’t want to go for full bandwidth in sampling Continue reading A little sampler shootout →

Sample Pack by Fanu vol. 1

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I am proud to present to you my first sample pack (which hit top-selling spot #5 on Bandcamp quickly after its release).

It’s a compilation of 50 sounds: bass, breaks, and pads.

(NOTE: they’re .flac files if you want full quality from Bandcamp. 
You can convert FLAC into WAV pretty easily. 
However, if you want a .wav version, contact me via fanusamurai@gmail.com and I’ll sort you with a .zip with .wav files)

All of the bass sounds I have created myself using plug-in synths, Moog Minitaur, and Arturia Microbrute analog synths. Some of them have been driven thru a Soundcraft desk, sampled into an E-MU E5000 Ultra sampler, treated using analog emulation plugins, or sometimes a combo of them.

All of the breaks were processed and sourced by yours truly. There’s a BPM at the end of the flename to indicate tempo.

The main focus being in breaks and bass, I wanted to throw in a few pad sounds, too, which I hope are useful. All of them I created myself.

I have always been into somewhat organic drum&bass and hiphop, and Continue reading Sample Pack by Fanu vol. 1 →

Tips for aspiring producers (and advanced ones, too)

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Making music > gear..even though I love it!

Every once in a while, I get asked a few quick and/or important general tips for making music. I’ve been making music for a little over two decades, and made a few tunes every now and then, so maybe that’s why. Or, at least that’s an indication that I manage to finish my feeble efforts.

I’m planning to update this blog a bit more often with production-related material (there already is some), and this time I wanted to get busy with some of the basics.
I started keeping a notepad so that I’d write a blog post on the “useful tips for beginners” topic, and this is it. It’s definitely more of a general one than a technique-specific one.
I’m definitely not a “master” of making music, but these topics are something I can look back on and say at least I’ve learned something valuable regarding them and all of this is based on experience.

These are in no particular order.

1) DO YOUR OWN THING.  Continue reading Tips for aspiring producers (and advanced ones, too) →

Crusty-ass DS165

A crusty new jungle track for ya.
Soundcloud link / Bandcamp link / Youtube

It’s a nudge towards the old days when crusty breaks and beats were kings and when the production was not über-polished. The vibe mattered.
Akai samplers doing the beats, Moog Minitaur doing the bass.
Inspired to a great extent by the Droppin Science label.
Contains samples from Bill Murray and Yona.

If it’s nice, give it a price.
If it’s not, well, then I suck.

Written, mixed and mastered by yours truly.