Ice Minus Studio Tips

ice_minus_studio_tips.txt

Ice Minus studio tips

(Knowledge Magazine Studio Equipment)

 


Ice Minus studio tips part 1

For those of you setting up a small studio or basic computer system for producing music there are a few things to consider 
before jumping in feet first. It's important to organise your equipment and studio space for optimum results, your chair 
and work surface should be adjusted so that your keyboards (musical or computer), mouse and mixers are at or slightly below
elbow height. Your monitor screens should be placed parallel or slightly below eye level (eyestrain is increased if you 
look upwards). 

Many studies have shown that poor working environments increase chances of eyestrain and backache, which can lead to stress.
Most of you will be spending a lot of time using an audio or/and a midi sequencer (Logic or Cubase), so it's best to place 
your monitor screen centrally between your monitor speakers with the computer keyboard and mouse several feet in front of 
them, so you are monitoring in the sweet spot. 

The sweet spot is the best place to accurately monitor the sound source without any loss of sound. This is obtained by 
setting your monitor speakers and your seating position in an equilateral between the speakers are equal to the space from 
ear to cone triangle (the space). 

Your monitor speakers should be placed an equal distance from the listener. If they are set up wrongly this can introduce
all types of problems i.e.: if your left monitor speaker is 5ft away and the right one is 6ft away, compensating for the 
apparent loudness from the closer monitor speaker may skew the stereo panning of your music. Sound also travels at an 
average 1ft per millisecond, so for this particular set up you would be hearing the right channel about a millisecond 
before the left. This delay can smear the stereo imaging and introduce comb filtering. 

Equipment needs to be set in a way so that you don't have to stretch or move a great distance to use. A good idea would be 
to put frequently used items closest to you, nearly every small studio has a master keyboard and mixer, so try placing
these to the left and right of your seating position so you don't have to move too much out of the sweet spot to play the
keyboard or adjusts the mixer. 

Whether you have a full-blown studio or a simple PC/Mac to make music, these basic principles should help you optimise
your working environment and in the long run will improve the quality of the tunes you are making. Although we haven't 
spoke about the actual making of the music, we have done this for a reason. A lot of people we have come across didn't 
know about correct speaker placement and once shown how to set them up they noticed the difference straight away. 

Now that we have the studio set up correctly we will start on the music side of things from the next issue. We will be 
covering everything from breaks and bass to mastering your finished tracks; each issue will concentrate on the chosen 
subject so we can give you as much information possible.


Ice Minus studio tips part 2

AUDIO EDITORS

Audio editors are a must for chopping up and processing your sounds - most of the high-end sequencers will have one built 
in, but many people (including us) prefer to use programs that are designed solely for the job. We have found that many of 
these companies don't seem to cross platform, so decide for yourselves by checking out the links below. Demos are freely 
available for a certain time period to allow you to test them before you buy. 

Sound Forge (PC): www.sonicfoundry.com 
Cool Edit Pro (PC): www.syntrillium.com 
Wavelab (PC): www.steinberg.net 
Peak (Mac): www.bias-inc.com/ 
Spark XL (Mac): www.tcworks.de 

SEQUENCERS

Whatever musical ideas you have, they can be recorded, arranged and mixed on your computer with the help of a sequencer.
Basically it's the basis of an entire recording studio in software form including virtual effects and instruments, with
comprehensive recording and mixing capabilities. We use Logic Audio ourselves, but again we have listed others below. 
Unlike the editors most of these programs do cross platform and demos of these programs are also available before you 
decide which one to purchase. 

Logic Audio: www.emagic.de 
Cubase VST: www.steinberg.net 
Reason: www.propellerheads.se 
Fruityloops: www.fruityloops.com 

SAMPLING

Although some of the software programs that we have listed provide you with enough samples to get started, you'll 
probably want to source some material for yourselves. We do feel that having your own organised sample library will 
help you to find what you need when inspiration comes. You may even find that whilst sampling, ideas will be generated, 
even before you decide to start that killer track. Some sources that we tend to use are; sample CDs, TV/DVD/video, vinyl 
and sample web sites. 

SAMPLE WEB SITES

Finding free samples on the internet has never been easier. Using search 
engines and a few well chosen words, it can be all you need to get going and even finish a track or two. If you have tried 
to do this yourself then no doubt you know there are lots of sites that offer the world and when you get there they want a 
credit card. Well, if this has discouraged you from looking then check this, we have decided to let you have our ten 
favourites sites so far in 2002. 

www.samplearena.com 
www.looperman.com 
www.f6.co.nz/artificial 
www.samplenet.co.uk 
www.thespeakerboy.com 
www.bap.free.fr 
www.movefm.co.uk 
www.fortunecity.com/roswell/randles/66 
www.elektronoize.com 
www.dogbeats.co.uk 
http://www.skip.informatik.gu.se/~ad...ore/menu.shtml 

You will find that many of these sites are linked and sometimes you won't be able to get to the site of your choice, 
but don't let this stop you as many of the sites you visit need you to come back another day if they are uploading 
new samples or changing the site. DON'T GIVE UP is the best advice we can offer. 

SAMPLE IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES

DC Offset - In a digital studio or mastering environment, nothing is more important than maintaining the utmost audio 
quality throughout the mix. One of the common problems that is encountered, is referred to as 'DC Offset', DC offset 
occurs when hardware, such as a soundcard adds DC current to a recorded audio signal. This current results in a recorded
waveform that is not centred around the baseline. It is important that you remove any DC Offset in your recordings, most
Sample Editors have Auto Detect DC Offset, this is all you need to use. 

Normalise - Allows you to raise the volume of a selection so that the highest level sample reaches a user-defined level. 
Use normalization to ensure you are using all of the dynamic range available to you without clipping. 

Zero Crossing Points - By making edits at the zero-crossing points with the same slope improves the chances of glitch 
free loops and sounds. If the slope of a waveform changes drastically, an audible pop will be produced. 

Now that we have got the basics out of the way, in the next feature we will be covering everything you need to know 
about beats and breaks. So until then, peace... 

SAMPLE RECORDING TOOLS

MiniDisc - Outstanding quality and easy to use 
DAT - Much the same as MiniDisc, but not as flexible 
Tape - Quality can be poor but effective if you are looking for that type of sound.


Ice Minus studio tips part 3

When writing a track we try to select about three or four breaks that all compliment each other. Once we have selected the
breaks we intend to use we chop them into their correct loops (full cycles) using an editor and open them in Recycle. 

Once you load your loop into the Recycle program you need to break it up into individual components using the sensitivity 
toolbar. Set the amount of bars in the loop (this will allow you to change the tempo), lock the slice points, change the tempo 
to 172 bpm and save or export your loop. There are a few options open to you on how you do this, but we normally save our loops 
as REX files and also export them as Audio IFF (AIFF) files. 

REX files are a brand new file format for both the Mac and PC platform. This format allows you to save the pitch, length, 
tempo and individual slices that make up your drum loop, this then enables you to import it into your REX file compatible 
sequencer for rearranging. We have built up a vast library of REX files since the release of Reason, in particular Dr Rex 
(the REX player within Reason) as we find this is one of the easiest ways to build a loop. There are also a good selection 
of REX files included with Reason. 

Now that our breaks are tempo matched i.e. 172 bpm, pitched & sliced into individual sections we need to arrange them to 
make a new groove. Breaks have been around since the beginning of time, so it's important that you try to make them as 
interesting as possible whilst still keeping good rhythmic patterns and grooves. We do this in either Logic Audio or Reason, 
these aren't the only sequencing programs around but we've found that these two programs work best for us. It's important 
to find a sequencer that suits you and allows you to work quickly and efficiently. If you have never used a sequencer before
we would recommend starting with Reason, as this is a complete studio in one program. You can download demos of 
Recycle & Reason from: www.propellerheads.se/products/reason/index.html 

When you're happy with the pattern of your breaks the sound can be altered in a variety of ways using different filters,
delay effects and even some creative compression. At this point whatever you do is down to personal taste as it is your 
creativity that we want coming through, but you should be careful when using any effects (especially compression), not to 
overdo it, as this can lead to a lot of dynamic problems later when mixing down your track. 

Now that we have a drum loop rolling we may want to add some percussion or extra beats; usually this is done using either
Reason's Redrum or a VST Instrument such as Steinberg's LM4 mkII or Native Instrument's Battery. There are a lot more drum 
machines on the market but we feel the last two are by far the most impressive. All three drum machines come with a vast 
array of professional drum sounds and they all allow you to create or customise your own. 

Don't be scared to be creative or go over the top with your extra beats, we tend to save several versions and pick out the 
best bits later. Adding reverb to your layered snares or distorting extra kicks is an idea. You can pick up beat patterns 
by adding rides, hats, toms or bongos; even delay effects work really well with this type of percussion. The one thing to 
remember is that there are no rules, just do what you feel sounds good to you. 

Although we have covered a few angles in this feature, we have no way covered it all when it comes to breaks and beats, 
the best advice we can give is keep working with your loops and try to sap up as much knowledge on this subject as you can.
In the next feature we will be talking about bass, so we hope you've enjoyed this feature and can't wait for the next one. 

Beat EQ tips

Parametric EQs can be used to boost (or reduce) at the set frequencies and a band of frequencies close to the set frequency
. The "Q" control sets the width of the band of frequencies that will be boosted or reduced. 

60Hz with a Q of 1.4 (Adds fullness to kicks) 
100Hz with a Q of 1.0 (Adds fullness to snares) 
200 - 250Hz with a Q of 1.4 (Adds wood to snares) 
3Khz with a Q of 1.4 (Adds attack to snares) 
5Khz with a Q of 2.8 (Adds attack to kicks) 
7Khz with a Q of 2.8 (Adds sharpness to snares & percussion) 
10Khz with a Q of 1.0 (Adds brightness to hats & cymbals) 

These are not strict rules; merely guidelines to help you get started.


Ice Minus studio tips part 4

Pick up some studio tips in this ongoing guide to the art of making tunes with Ice Minus. This time, it's all about the 
bass... Bass can make or break a tune. It can be used as a foundation or the main hook in a drum & bass track. Getting this
part right should have the neighbours visiting regularly, get it wrong and you may end up with muddy sounding, ill defined
bottom end. 

A human ear is actually capable of hearing frequencies from 20 Hz to 20 kHz (20 Hz being sub/low and 20 kHz being high/tops).
On average most peoples hearing range is 50 Hz - 16 kHz, so you may find equipment that doesn't respond to such low 
frequencies as 20 Hz i.e. Hi-fi systems and Stanton cartridges. 20 - 50 Hz isn't heard, it's felt and this is the super 
low end that can damage monitors quickly if boosted too much. 

To get bass to sound loud, clear and heavy is not as easy as you think. Many sources of sub bass are susceptible to phase 
problems. This normally means that the left and right signal end up cancelling each other out, so as a rule keep bass in
mono. Never use any stereo effects or special enhancers, as this often leads to bass loss. 

It's important to get a good balance as having too much sub will quickly distort and leave no room for the rest of the 
bass. The best way is to listen to the original and compare, with the EQ'ed version you should notice a nice body increase
without it sounding muffled. This isn't the only area you can boost or cut to make bass sound better. 

Another important factor with bass is compression; compression put simply reduces the volume of a set part of audio.
Playing several different notes of bass can have varied volume level, so you use the compressor to level the sequence out
whilst making it as loud as possible without clipping. Bass sounds always require a fairly hard compression, a good starting
point is fast attack, fast release, ratio of 5:1, knee hard, gain reduction of 10 db, but try not to squash your sound to 
much. 

It is important to mention that you will have to locate your bass sweet spot; this possibly won't be in the same position
as your normal spot (sweet spots were covered in part 1). Try listening in the corners of your room, it's the sub we are 
listening for and unless you have a sub unit you will have to move around to find it. 

Along with EQ and compression you may want to try a bass expander. There are a few of these on the market at the moment, 
varying in price but working in a similar way. They work by doubling the lower frequencies and adding upper harmonics;
although these are good to start with we've found that we can now get the same effect with just EQ and compression. 

You can use a number of different techniques and tools to write bass. The most popular devices for us at the moment are 
inside the virtual realm, synths like Native Instrument's FM7 and Absynth or Emagic's ES1, also not forgetting Reason's 
Subtractor. They are all guaranteed to come with a stack full of preset sounds to get you started, which then can be 
tweaked to how you like and saved as a new presets if you wish. Demos of these synths/programs can be downloaded from the 
following web sites. 

We try to allow ourselves more creative freedom by separating the bass frequencies we're using in a track, this can be 
two or more parts depending on the sound chosen. Start with two parts to keep things relatively simple. Your sub will 
need to be put on a separate channel (20 Hz - 300 kHz is a good frequency range to work with when it comes to subs) and 
then the mid - high frequencies can be manipulated independently. 

It can also be an idea to write down the root note of your bass sequences, especially if you decide to record them from
MIDI to audio or if you bounce/export from virtual instruments. It's easy to forget what notes are playing and stray out of
key when adding sounds later on in the track. 

Resampling your bass loops is also a good technique, firstly because it frees up valuable CPU and also leaves the door
open for more tweaking. Normalising low level points / notes in loops for more impact is one idea and another is fading out 
oisy abrupt sounding bass notes. 

There are also many plug-ins available that can make the dullest bass, club worthy. It's a good idea to test out different 
combinations of these when trying to enhance your basslines. Even by switching around the plug-ins you end up using can have
a completely different sound, so don't be afraid to try it.


Ice Minus studio tips part 5

Ever remember going out and saying to one of your mates the next day, "did you hear that tune last night that went de dah 
dede de dah", and within two weeks it's the best thing since sliced bread. 

What makes a dancefloor smash? What makes a track stick in the mind of a listener? What makes people call their local 
record shop begging for the release date? The #1 reason is usually a STRONG MELODY; sometimes a catchy rhythmic
pattern or groove can do the trick... but without melody your track will lack soul, emotion or, most importantly, energy. 

It's variably a good lead sound that makes the difference between a dancefloor smash and just another track. While pros may
discuss the merits of your crisp production and trainspotters applaud your artful break programming, if your music hasn't
got a hook that catches the crowds attention you may find fame and fortune more a struggle than it already is. 


Defining a perfect lead sound is very tricky, as they can comprise of nearly everything that isn't a bass, pad or beat 
section. We find the sound we like by playing through our synths or samplers as we have a vast library of sounds, which 
makes it easy to jam along with any loop we may have running. All artists have their trademark sound so to speak so it's 
important to find something you like the sound of as it's easy to become bored of synths. If they're only capable of 
creating say monophonic sounds then they're only useful for a small number of jobs. There are so many free synths on 
the net now that you shouldn't have any problem finding sounds. The one thing we will say... try to make something unique to 
yourself, if you use a preset then tweak it so it isn't a preset, its your sound. 

Although the lead is not the first thing we start a track with, it is one of the most important stages in building and
completing a track. We usually try and get the lead track laid down as early as possible in a project, giving us our
starter melody to work with. Try writing several riffs to the track as this can be very helpful to the creative process,
allowing you to have several hooks that all work but sound different. By making note of the root key used to make your
riff (i.e.: C-3) means you should have no problems writing link notes through the track to help change things about a bit. 

To do this we use a range of different audio tools from outboard gear to virtual soft synths: 

Virus synth www.access-music.de/ 
This one is a favourite firstly because it's a hands on affair (which can be dead handy when you want to get something 
down fast) and, more importantly, it sounds awesome. 

Emagic Synthesizer 2 (ES2)www.emagic.de 
Available with Logic Audio Platinum as a demo for 28 days. This one is worth the cost of Logic 5 alone as it's a
three-oscillator synth with an advanced modulation matrix with effects thrown in for good measure. It comes packed with
presets and is perfect to get your imagination going. 

Native Instruments Absynth www.nativeinstruments.de 
One of many soft synths made by NI, but this one in particular is outstanding for all sounds, really mad off the wall hits,
stabs and techno sounding motions. A mother of a synth. (Native Instruments' FM7 and Pro 52/53 are also worth a mention). 

Propellerheads Subtractor & Malstrom www.propellerheads.se 
We've mentioned Subtractor before, but since we covered that Reason 2 has been released and with that a new type of synth 
(Malstrom) which combines FM synthesis with subtractive synthesis. This synth is very good for creating rich tones and phat 
textures. 

One of the best things about making music on your computer right now is the array of software available to you. Although 
the synths we mentioned as our favourites cost a fair bit of cash there are still hundreds of other top free synths out 
there that we use, but there are so many out there that it would take up this whole feature. A really useful place to 
start is www.kvr-vst.com, KVR resources is a site dedicated to VSTi's, DX and Logic instruments. Not only can you find
out all the latest virtual instruments news, specifications and reviews you can also download banks and presets direct 
from there site.


Ice Minus studio tips part 6

The secret to a good pad is movement. Sounds that don't move sound dead and become very boring quickly. With nothing new 
to grab your attention your brain soon loses interest, so it's important the sound is continuously evolving and changing.
A lot of drum & bass uses pads or strings to set the mood. Your intro could be a soft and melodic that, if done well, will
hypnotise the crowd before being totally destroyed by the devastating drop. 

It can be difficult to choose a string that has the right mood for your track, so it might help to try and get an idea of 
what you're looking for before you get started. Even though we try to do this there are still times when we end up with a 
nearly complete track that we just want to link sections with a pad or string and this can really help bring a mix to life.
This is a situation with many things to consider. You'll have to decide whether your string or pad needs to lift the mood 
or add a dark film score type element (very popular in drum & bass). Other questions you should ask yourself are will the 
string follow the melody of the track? Will it be playing in the main section at any time or is it just being used to fill
a gap / breakdown. If you did decide on the latter then you could use the very simplest of riffs that incorporates the root
key and then uses just one or two other notes. It is often the case that we end up writing two or three different melodies,
and then try 10-15 different presets to gel it all together. 

The reason people like old analogue synths to create their pads is that analogue oscillators tend to drift slightly out of 
phase, this causes the sound to appear to be moving, this can then be emphasised by layering it with an identical or similar
waveform and then detuning one of them by a small amount (a setting of +4 is usually sufficient). This isn't the only way 
of creating movement in your pads or stings, LFO's play a big part in movement as most LFO's can be routed to almost any 
source allowing you to modulate pitch, volume or, one of our favourites, the filter. Whether it's a high pass or low pass 
each has its own distinct sound. If programming synths sounds like too much trouble then try putting your strings through 
some plug-ins or FX units. Tremolo will do the same thing as assigning an LFO to the volume; adding chorus will thicken up 
the sound whilst making it shimmer slightly. These are just a few examples of what you can do with to make your pads or 
strings move. 

Choosing the right waveform is very important when you make your own pads or string. The swirling effect of detuning an 
oscillator is much more subtle on a triangle wave than on a bright saw tooth. But now living in the digital age there are
hundreds of digital waveforms that can be combined with the standard analogue waveforms to create some of the most 
outstanding pads or strings. It's so easy to get a FM or Virtual Analogue Synth off the internet, all capable of producing
some lush pads, but if you are looking for something extra special its definitely worth checking out these: 

Native Instruments: www.nativeinstruments.de 

Native Instruments Absynth - Most of the synths we cover in this feature are made by NI, but this one in particular sounds
truly amazing. The powerful semi-modular architecture and clean interface of Absynth make it effortless to sculpt any style 
of pads or string you are looking for. 

Native Instruments FM7 - The lively and punchy FM sounds were a breakthrough in sound synthesis when they were first 
introduced in the early eighties. Nowadays, their special aesthetics are still highly appreciated by musicians and producers
worldwide. Enjoy the authenticity of the classic presets, and then transform them into something completely new. 

Native Instruments Pro 53 - The third generation of this virtual analog classic. The synthesizer emulation has been vastly 
improved by a new oscillator technology that offers an even warmer and more brilliant sound. In addition, the sonic 
possibilities have been expanded even further with new features like a high-pass filter mode and an invertible filter envelope. 
The control surface was also reworked and now shines in a whole new light. 


E Magic: www.emagic.de 

E Magic/Logic Audio ES E- An Ensemble synth 

This is E magic's eight-voice polyphonic synth designed purely for pad and ensemble sounds, although it's capable of 
creating a lot more. This is a very good starting point and will give you plenty of freedom in sound sculpting. 

That about wraps up this feature, just enough space left to tell you that in the next feature we will be talking about 
vocals. We have covered a fair few aspects of making a drum & bass track up to now and from the feedback we have received 
the advice we have passed on is helping no end. If you have not caught all of the features, don't worry, as they will all 
soon be available on the new Ice Minus Recordings web site: www.iceminus.co.uk


Ice Minus studio tips part 7

Drum & bass has gone through several stages to get where it is now, and the one thing that has opened it up to the 
mainstream market is vocals. Artists like Roni Size, Shy FX and Kosheen have all taken their own personal flavours and 
incorporated them with vocals. Vocals have been used in d&b for a while but it's only over the last few years that it has 
blown up and is now being appreciated by a much wider spectrum. 

Although vocals can cover many different aspects, not just the singing side, it's always a good idea to know what you want
as adding vocals to a track can help it take on a certain theme such as male/female, sci-fi, horror, ad-libs, harmonies etc. 

Compression plays a big part with vocals as you can have loud or quiet parts in any section. It's important to even out 
any parts that change drastically in dynamics, to do this use a compressor of your choice (each compressor whether hardware
or Plug-In will have its own characteristics or sound) set the knee to soft, attack to fast and set the release so it doesn't 
pump (try around 200ms), and set the ratio to around 4:1 (but always experiment). 

Now we couldn't even contemplate a vocal feature that didn't include a section covering effects for vocals, or for that 
matter using vocals as effects. Effects can be used to make even the most boring vocal snippet into that ad-lib hook that
you've been looking for. When it comes to using effects on vocals it has to be said that the rules are there to be written
and as we've said the limit is your imagination, sometimes a vocal needs some sort of effect before it begins to sound good,
and you can usually get a result from one of the standard but essential effects (reverb, delay, chorus or phasers). We often 
end up using several of them in different orders just to see how far we can go. 

Vocal processing is not just limited to plug-ins though, other processes can dramatically change the material you are 
working with, for instance when hardcore tracks were being made early on in the scene a lot of vocals were pitched to 
different speeds and in turn this gave rise to another pitch based effect, time stretching. When this process became 
available to the masses it was like flared trousers in the Seventies, and it became so popular some thought it was overdone.
In today's environment it's not as special and in fact time stretching can now be found as a standard function within most 
of the sequencing software available. 

Other techniques that have been made popular by producers of drum & bass include looping vocals and chopping them into
different loops. There are also creative things like applying effects while a sample is reversed before turning it back 
around to get classic ghost-like sounds. This is a very effective way of getting a track to sound a lot more interesting 
if you don't have any other major vocals in mind for the track. 

Boost these frequencies to bring out your vocals 

200 Hz with a Q of 0.4 to 1 
3 kHz with a Q of 1 
5 kHz with a Q of 1 
7 kHz with a Q of 1 
10 kHz with a Q of 1 
16 kHz with a Q of 1 

I guess one area that we should cover in this vocals feature is where can you actually acquire vocals from? It's is no 
surprise that sample CD companies have been producing good quality vocal CDs for years, too many to mention here today, 
but most CDs we have used seem really good value for money and the samples are royalty free. Always check out CDs out
before you buy them, at £60 a pop they don't come cheap. 

Now, obviously, if you know someone that can sing a note or two, this can be extremely useful. There are many ways
you can record these vocals but we recommend what we do ourselves. We normally record our vocals through a 
selection of microphones (see pics), which are pre-amped by a TL Audio C1 Compressor. The signal directly feeds 
to the Logic Audio sequencer input. What you do with the vocals once you've recorded them is up to you, but always
try and record your vocals as loud and clear as possible. It also goes without saying that the vocalist will probably 
need to listen to a metronome count or the tune that you wish to put the vocals on, give them some headphones as well
and turn off your speakers whist recording. 

Other areas to look are DVDs/videos and TV, but remember that this is highly illegal and you will probably have to
clear the samples you use if you want to release the track.