A Guide to DIY Recording and Home Production

One of the tutors from our audio engineering courses Ian Button has recently been scribing an in-depth guide to DIY recording and home production. Below you can find part 1... for parts 2-4 head over to Thee Awkward Silences blog where it was originally posted.

Like all of the Point Blank tutors, Ian has a wealth of experience as a musician and producer. Not only does he teach the Music Production HNC Course but he is also the guitarist for Death in Vegas, drummer and producer for Thee Awkward Silences, as well as having sessioned for Pete Doherty and many other well-known artists. Clearly a chap who likes to keep himself busy then!

DIY Record Production – Part 1: A View – by Ian Button July 2009

Absent-mindedly scanning the 2009 Mercury Prize nominees in the paper the other morning, I noticed that one of the contenders’ biog/blurb seemed to be making a big point about their album being recorded ‘on a laptop in a shed’.

While on the one hand I’m glad to see that Sweet Billy Pilgrim are proud of their work and how it was made, I was frankly surprised that in 2009 their ‘DIY’ approach was worthy of such note (it was practically the only thing the feature mentioned about them). People have been making records ‘at home’ for many years if you think about it – from Les Paul’s early multitracking experiments in his garage, to Joe Meek’s hit-factory flat in Holloway Rd, to Daniel Johnston’s cassette recordings – artists and producers have been putting so-called ‘professional’ production values into perspective by doing it themselves. Some are being subversive, some are just being practical.

Over the years, a variety of acts have occasionally surprised/annoyed the traditionalists with releases that weren’t recorded…er… ‘properly’: Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska was recorded on a 4-track portastudio; The Cowboy Junkies’ Trinity Sessions used a single microphone and no overdubs. Ok, it was quite an expert/expensive microphone, but it made a point; Baby Bird was hailed as a bedroom genius; White Town got to No.1…the list goes on, with Bon Iver being one of the most recent artists to become famous for locking himself away in a hut with some simple equipment and coming out with an acclaimed album. I myself can vouch for the fact that much of Death In Vegas’ first album Dead Elvis was made in a bedroom, using some fairly non-standard approaches to recording guitars, editing, mixer controls way beyond safe settings etc etc.

But the point is that it’s the content on these recordings that matters – they were all accepted on their own particular terms. I’d like to think the same applies to the production I do now, for Paul’s stuff, Extradition Order, David Cronenberg’s Wife, Deep Cut and all the others (of which more in a future article).

No one took Springsteen’s album back to the shop because he hadn’t used enough tracks. Thankfully Radio 1 didn’t send Thee Awkward Silences stuff back and tell us to record it again.

Sure, there are nerds like myself who like to go on about how albums are made, and as producers/artists pride ourselves on attention to detail and doing what we think is right to make the best of the project, but the fundamental point and goal of any production, DIY or otherwise, is that we are able to make something convincing with whatever resources we have, or choose to use, and the consumer/listener either likes the result or doesn’t, but accepts it as a record alongside all the other records that have ever been made.

That attitude has always been there – I’ve had it myself for over 20 years, at the same time as working in countless projects that – for whatever reasons – had to do it the textbook (i.e. expensive, studio) way. I’m talking about making DIY ‘rock’ records (e.g. The Anthony Anderson Project), but anyone who’s been involved in making electronic/dance music will have been aware of that same production ethic for just as long.

The main difference between home and studio recording used to be sound quality (tape width, number of tracks etc). That issue is no longer there. Today’s technology and the accessibility of recording/production tools means it’s even more feasible to make a musical product independently/at home/cheaply/in any style, and send it out there into the big wide world and no one will know (or care) how you recorded it – they will judge it, of course, but it will be about how good your lyrics/chorus/haircut/bandname are, not your mics or reverb settings or whether you used Protools (thousands of pounds) or Audacity (free). There’s another issue here too: the current music consumer ethic and sales trends are going to mean that expensive recordings won’t make any sense for any but the most massive artists. It’s going to be no bad thing for us all to learn how to create our art quickly, cheaply and realistically.

Basically, the same thing applies to production as it does to playing/writing/performing – if you are confident about what you can do, and honest about what you can’t do, you will find a sound, an approach, and a way of working that will fit.

In the next article I’m going to go into a bit more detail about how I record Paul’s and all the other bands’ stuff, with a few suggestions for what you are going to need if you want to get started yourself.

The Cut Up Boys Guide to Mash Ups

If you want to give your DJ sets a unique flavour and guarantee entertainment on the dancefloor, creating your own mash ups is a great way to go about it. A mash up can be defined as a song comprised of elements of two or more pre-existing pieces of music.

The undisputed kings of the mash up are Bournemouth based duo The Cut Up Boys having released 6 highly acclaimed Mash Up Mixes on Ministry of Sound. They took some time out of their busy schedule to come to the Point Blank studios and give us their secret recipe for a monster mash up! Check out what they had to say and for even more inspiration take a listen to our choice of Top 5 Monster Mash Ups.



"The aim for anybody putting a mash up together should be to create a track that not only juxtaposes two or more existing pieces in an interesting way but does so with production values equal to any piece of "non-mashed" music fresh out of a commercial studio. This usually involves a lot of hard work, tedious preparation and legwork if you really want your productions to stand out from the crowd. Don't look at mash ups as the easy option if you want to make something special.

The first crucial stage in achieving this is to ensure that the components you are using to make your mash up are of the highest quality. If you are using the classic mash-up ingredients of an acapella of one track and an instrumental of another, do whatever you can to find the cleanest, highest quality versions of these components possible. If these tracks are grainy and scratchy versions to start with, the extra processing and mangling that "mashing-up" usually involves is going to end up making the finished product even harsher. This is especially critical concerning the music/instrumental track which You want to be clean and as fat as possible. A scratchy acapella can still sound great over a clean and tidy backing if processed and polished right, but the reverse is rarely the case.

Next, you must make sure that the components you are putting together are in key and time with each other. A professional producer recording a professional vocalist would never let any vocals pass that were either out of tune with the backing track or out of time. Why should you have different standards with your mash-up? At this point it is very useful to have a high-quality time-stretching/pitch-shifting processor at hand. Most audio software packages such as Ableton, Cubase etc have these tools integrated. It can take time and practice to master the art of getting tracks in tune and time…stick with it... and be as critical as you can of what's going on. If it sounds dodgy... it's dodgy!

The tracks must now be arranged, that is, the vocal laid down over the music in a way that flows properly, drops in the right places and doesn't have any messy awkward moments where the components are fighting each other. The two (or more) tracks you are putting together are highly unlikely to work to the same arrangement and so will not "fit", with choruses and verse sections aligning perfectly unless you get in there and edit them. When doing this, look to keep all cutting and pasting as tidy and accurate as possible. Don’t worry if one of the components has to get brutally edited to fit with the vocal or vice versa... it's often the way. Sometimes you might find that whole sections of tracks are best avoided, especially if they involve key changes or other musical cleverness. Its going to be hard to bend the vocal over these sections if they don't pull the same moves.

Finally, take all the care you can in balancing the levels and tones of the tracks you are putting together. Listen to a range of similar tracks to get a feel for how the vocals should sit over the music, level and EQ-wise. Mash ups can often benefit from a touch of compression/ limiting over the whole mix. This can help stop the vocal from sticking out and feeling detached from the music, drawing it all together dynamically. Good luck and happy mashing!"

A massive thanks to the Cut Up Boys for that advice. Check out their myspace if you want to hear more from them.

And remember to have a listen to the Point Blank Top 5 Monster Mash Ups

La Roux Engineer Joins the Teaching Staff at Point Blank

Point Blank prides itself on providing students with the best standard of tuition available. Unlike some other music production colleges, we ensure that all of our tutors have substantial experience of releasing records within the music industry.

All have achieved significant success, either as artists themselves or working alongside others as producers, sound engineers or remixers. Amongst the artists our tutors have worked with are Bjork, Massive Attack, Lou Reed, Quincy Jones, Bob Marley, Groove Armada, and Portishead.

We are excited to announce the latest addition to our staff roster, Ian Sherwin, who boasts credentials that certainly adhere to Point Blank’s high standards. Having worked with Primal Scream, The Rakes, Incognito, Terry Callier, The Veils and Freemasons in the past his latest project was engineering the Mecury-nominated debut album by La Roux. With the forthcoming Stereophonics album lined up too, the demand for Ian’s talents shows no sign of letting up.

Check out a video of him in the studio with La Roux



Ian will be teaching the Introduction to Music Production Logic course.

If you want to learn from the very best, Point Blank is the only place to be!

Pete Tong Says Point Blank is THE Place to Be

Recently we posted about dance music legend and BBC Radio 1 DJ, Pete Tong visiting the Point Blank studios to do some recording and meet some of the students.

Now you can watch the videos of him talking about the Point Blank courses:








Check out the entire catalogue of courses Pete talks about by following the links below:

London Music Production Courses

Online Music Production Courses

Fabric London Resident DJ Tayo - Learning Logic at Point Blank

In this video, DJ Tayo talks about his time on the Logic Music Production Course at Point Blank. Since he took the Logic course Tayo has scored some top underground hits on the bass music scene and seen his reputation as a DJ soar, landing a residency at world famous London club Fabric and a slot on BBC Radio 1 Xtra.



Check out the full details of the Music Production Merit Course

Bass & Groove Masterclass with John Mckenzie

This month, students on Point Blank's music production courses were treated to a masterclass from groove-merchant John Mckenzie. His words of wisdom emanate from a career of playing with some of the biggest music stars in the world, from recording with David Bowie to playing in front of thousands with the likes of Tina Turner, Seal and Shakira. Perhaps slightly more relevant to the interests of this particular audience was his involvement in the dance music scene having worked on records with legends such as Danny Tenaglia, and Everything But The Girl.


Here's a few snippets of what went down on a funky afternoon in Studio 1:

John started by treating us to a few renditions of his favourite bass lines: 'Good Times' originally played by Bernhard Edwards and famously sampled by The Sugar Hill Gang in 'Rappers Delight', 'Another One Bites the Dust' which is another modern tribute to the 'Good Times' riff, 'Red Alert' by Bassment Jaxx, and 'Papa was a Rollin' Stone' by The Temptations.

Performing these without the groove was hard for him, going against all the natural instincts that are ingrained into his finger-tips, but hearing them in this form really emphasised the fact that the groove can potentially be the crucial difference between a stale plodding bassline and a timeless classic.

"Every piece of music has a groove, even a piece of classical music or a slow piece of music has a central groove … the cornerstone of making music is discovering where the groove lies"

"It is the percussive hits of the right hand strumming that is the driving force behind the groove-factor"

"The best basslines are often the most simple ones, 'Papa was a Rollin' Stone' being a prime example. It is easy to make a bassline too busy... placement of the notes is the important thing"

Next was a jam session to demonstrate the process of building up a track starting with a live bassline. After making a beat in Logic Pro John recorded an improvised jam to much head-bopping approval from the onlookers. The best 4 bar section was spliced and then pads and keys were layered on top with the help of some willing students:-

"The groove is not just about the bass; guitars, keyboards and percussion can all contribute. This is especially evident when you hear a good live drummer - the natural variable decay and velocity, and the subtle grace notes all add to the groove-factor. Percussion parts without this human feel can sound robotic and cold, hence why it is important to use techniques such as varying note velocity when building your percussion tracks in sequencers."



We finished by discussing the importance of compression, creating 'room' in your tunes, and not over-obsessing too much about minor details. As music producers we tend to be perfectionists but most music listeners like to let music wash over them and will not notice small idiosyncrasies. Essentially if the tune has a good groove and a catchy bassline, you are likely to see smiles on the dancefloor!



Thanks to John for coming in to share his knowledge and experience with the Point Blank students. Check out some video footage of the masterclass here:



If you want to learn music production with a solid groove and bassline, he is doing another series of masterclasses with drummer, Andy Numark in London in around 3 months time keep your eyes peeled for those.

The series of our own masterclasses, free for all students on our music courses, will continue next month.

See you next time.

Student Diary - Allister Whitehead DJ Masterclass

In addition to the actual music courses, Point Blank invites regular guest speakers to give students an extra bit of insight and inspiration. This month's guest was Allister Whitehead who, as you can see from his bio in an earlier post, is a hugely respected DJ and producer with experience stretching back 20 years to days of The Hacienda. His thoughts were eye-opening for a budding DJ and he more than ably tackled the barrage of questions from a packed studio.





Here's my summary of some of his most pertinent points:

• 20% of being a successful DJ is down to technique and talent, 80% is down to social battles.

He said the phrase 'it's who you know not what you know' was a cliché for good reason... it is absolutely true! Do everything possible to immerse yourself in the scene that you want to be part of. Get a job in a trendy shop or bar in the town centre and try to get to know the influential figures.

• Aim high. If you have a favourite club, you should aim to be DJing there within 5 years. Go to that club every week, stand by the DJ booth, chat to the DJs and promoters, work out the type of tunes that the crowd responds to.

• Try to let this guide the tracks you buy but maintain your own individual and unique style. This is what you want people to end up associating your name with. Don't compromise your tastes purely to satisfy the crowd by playing exactly what the headliners are banging out. This leads to DJ clones and will put off the loyal group of people who come to that club every week. They want to hear something new and exciting.

A story that illustrated this point was Allister sticking by a new tune that cleared the dancefloor the first time he put it on. Any DJ who has cleared out a room with a track that went down like the Titanic (and this includes myself) will know what a horrible feeling this is and it is hard to resist putting that record back in the box for good... But he had confidence that this track would grow on people, so he kept on playing it and sure enough, a month later, people were screaming out for it.

• Take any gig you can get no matter how small or how little you are getting paid. It is essential to get out of your bedroom and DJ live to real people; you never know who might be there and what opportunities may come of it. However if the night is completely at odds with your own style, then think twice. Maybe this isn’t the club for you.

• These days, producing your own tunes is almost essential in making a name for yourself as a DJ. Although there is not much money to be had through the sale of music anymore, your DJ career will be vastly accelerated by making good music.

Despite doing a lot of remix work in the past, Allister said his biggest regret was not making more of his own unique material because it is the songs that live with people forever while memories of good parties invariably fade. He rated Graeme Park as his favourite ever DJ but his decline in relation to Sasha, another pioneering DJ who came to prominence in the same era (although not as technically gifted in Allister's opinion), was reflected by the fact that Sasha consistently produced quality output whereas Park never really produced his own material.

• Finally his thoughts on managers and promoters can be summarised quickly and bluntly: People have to make money out of you before you make money out of them!

Thanks to Allister for his time. I'll be back again soon.

Point Blank Student Diary - An Introduction

Hello.

I'm Nick, 23 from South East London, and welcome to my new blog.

With my post-student, battle-scarred bank account slowly but surely recovering I decided it was time to sign for the Point Blank Introduction to Music Production course which I had been eyeing up for years. This blog will essentially be my diary of the course, and hopefully give you a good impression of what the Point Blank experience is like from a student’s perspective.

I'll give you a bit of my musical background so you can get an idea of the foundation from which I am learning. I come from a musical family, both my sisters and my mum studied music at university, my Granddad was one of those prodigiously talented people who could hear a song once and then play it back to you perfectly on the piano. Now I'm nowhere near that level but I did get to grade 8 on the trumpet in my school days, I also learnt the piano but I didn't enjoy it as much. I loved playing Jazz and Big Band stuff and really enjoyed improvisation, but found the more structured classical pieces, that tended to be prerequisites for the grades, a bit of a chore. I haven't really played my trumpet that much since my school days, with my head being turned by clubs, booze and Jeremy Kyle at university, but I understand how to read music and remember the rules and theories of time-signature, structure and arrangement (well some of them anyway!)

Yearning to harness my musical instincts again in some shape or form, and inspired by the club scene that I had embraced, I decided to buy decks in the summer of 2007. Since then my passion for innovative and exciting new dance music has spiralled, be it House, Techno, Dubstep, or Electro. I have managed to get some gigs at some London venues and coming up is my biggest one yet at Ministry of Sound on Feb 13th!! (my first plug! don't worry I won't make a habit of it). I have also been teaching myself Logic 8 for the past 6 months. Despite getting to a fairly competent level on my own, I was reliably informed by the course advisor, known in the office as Dastardly Dave,that the Intro to Production course was the right one for me after discussing which features of Logic I did and didn’t feel confident about.

So the course began...

As we waited for Ian Mackenzie (our tutor for the module) to hurriedly finish off his sandwich, the atmosphere in the class had the feel of excitement mixed with trepidation that you might expect from a room full of eager music makers with a whole lot to learn. We hear Ian’s back-story (he seems to have a lot of them!) and his impressive list of projects that he has worked on in the past before a useful lesson on equipment that we may want to purchase and the system requirements to maximise their efficiency.

Now entering the 3rd week we have learnt how to build our percussion loops using 2 of the most popular drum machines, Ultrabeat which comes with Logic 8 and Battery 3 which is a 3rd party plugin. Both have their plus points... With Ultrabeat I find it easier to create a quick interesting 4/4 beat using the step sequencer, but Battery definitely has a better library of sounds. You can transfer the Battery samples to Ultrabeat with a bit of fiddling around so you can have the best of both worlds.

Now I’ve got my beats laid I can’t wait to get my teeth into the other Logic synths to make some big grimy basslines!

Learn to Make Minimal & Tech House

If you are a fan of producers such as Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin, Trentemoller and Booka Shade then we have some good news - Point Blank has launched the first in a series of 4 week Pro Producer Courses which will specialise in a particular genre of music. The first of these explores the Minimal Tech sound which has dominated dancefloors across the globe in the last few years.

The course is taught online by acclaimed producer and remixer Danny J Lewis (Defected / Ministry of Sound / XL) and enrols every four weeks. All you need to get started is an internet connection, a copy of either Logic or Cubase and preferably a MIDI controller keyboard.




Each week Danny hosts a live webchat with students, offering professional insights into cutting edge production techniques and revealing the secrets behind the minimal sound. Students are set practical assignments each week and have the opportunity to upload their music in order to get professional evaluation and personal feedback on their progress.

Danny said, “The webchats have been really popular. I’ve got students enrolled from all over Europe, Australia and the USA . Making music on your own can be quite a solitary process so the webchat is a great opportunity to ask technical questions, but also to network with other producers who share your passion.”

In addition to Danny’s expertise, students can access a wealth of course materials including course notes, tutorial videos, samples, song files and other audio resources. All course materials remain accessible to students for a full year. Class sizes are strictly limited and enrolment is now underway. If you would like to learn more then head to www.pointblankonline.net where you can view a full summary of the course and even take a free trial lesson.

If you'd like to view the Logic Course click here


If you'd like to view the Ableton Live Course then click here

FREE Computer Music Production Software From Point Blank

Award winning audio engineering school Point Blank has launched an innovative online music mixer which allows you to produce your own tracks from a library of hundreds of professional loops and samples. It's completely free to use and you can choose from a range of styles including House, Hip-Hop, Electro, Drum 'n' Bass, R'n'B and Rock. Within minutes you will be mashing up beats, basslines, synths and even vocals to create your own unique mixes.

It's never been easier to make your own tunes. Just click here to get started

The Music Machine combines the key features of professional music software with a simple user interface and easy to use tutorials. Users can drag and drop hundreds of beats and samples, and automate looping, panning, volume and mute controls to control up to 16 tracks. You can save your mix and re-load it at a later date or, when you’re happy with your creation, finalize your track and publish it on the Point Blank website, so other users can listen and rate your skills.

For beginners, it’s the perfect introduction to the world of creative music production. If you are an experienced music maker, then you’ll be mixing your next hit track in mere minutes. Just make sure your boss isn’t looking over your shoulder first!

And if you decide to take your music production skills further, then Point Blank can offer expert training from music industry professionals who have worked alongside some of the biggest names in the game. You can study at the facility voted “Best Music Production & DJ College” for six consecutive years, or take an online course on the latest music software packages at www.pointblankonline.net

How To Make a Track in Cubase

OK - so let's take a look at some of these DAW's that we were talking about in yesterdays post.

Here's an insight into how a track is put together in CUBASE. Acclaimed producer and Point Blank Tutor Danny J Lewis demonstrates how the various elements in a tune work together and how they are arranged within Cubase.

You'll notice that Danny has used software synths (or VST's as they are sometimes called) along with audio tracks and various effects.





If you like the sound of this then the track is called "I Can See The Light". It's by Enzyme Black and is available to download here:
http://www.traxsource.com/index.php?act=show&fc=tpage&cr=titles&cv=20587

If you would like to learn more about making music with Cubase then head for:
Cubase Courses

Introducing Point Blank's Music Production Blog

Hi and thanks for checking us out.


The purpose of this blog is to offer professional insights into music production, sound engineering, DJ skills and a variety of other music business subjects. The contributors are all on the teaching staff at Point Blank which is a music school based in London, UK.

If you have not come across Point Blank before then let us introduce ourselves...

Point Blank has been voted “Best Music Production & DJ School” for the last six consecutive years by the readers of DJ magazine.

Why? Well, the school prides itself on small classes and personalised teaching from music industry pro’s. Among the teaching staff are Grammy winners and songwriters with record sales in the millions. Plus producers and remixers who’ve worked alongside the likes of Bjork, Massive Attack, New Order, Leftfield, Portishead and many others. These guys will be sharing their experience and expertise right here with a variety of tutorials, tips and occasional rants.

The school welcomes students from all over the world each term. You can find out more about the courses on offer in London at http://www.pointblanklondon.com/




And for those of you who don't live in the UK we have a range of online music courses which attract music makers from all over the world. You can check them out at http://www.pointblankonline.net/