String Theory - First Track Made in Ableton!

Hildebrandenator · Post by **Hildebrandenator** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:45 pm

My Ultralite finally came and I got everything hooked up, kinda, and made a little ditty solely in Ableton. Everything here is made in Ableton Live 7.0.10.

Anyway, I need constructive criticism. What can I do to make this song better? I need help the most on the drum part. It just doesn't seem.... right. Well, enjoy!

http://www.last.fm/music/Kurt+Hildebrand

psychohagis · Post by **psychohagis** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:05 pm

Not what I was expecting, at all! That is brilliant.

The drum sounds fine to me, in fact how did you do them, whats that clap sound from? And how did you do that scratching effect on the drums.

The only thing I would say is the crashes in the in drum part need a bit of reverb to make them sound a bit fuller, less tinny.

Other than that, you should be giving out advice not asking for it

Hildebrandenator · Post by **Hildebrandenator** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 3:52 pm

Well, actually the Kick, Clap, and Scratch sound I found free online.

The Kick and Clap were from some free sample pack I found online but I can't recall where I got them from (I think there is also a sound of a needle on vinyl somewhere in the song.) The Vinyl scratchy sound is from www.soundsnap.com and just happened to the perfect length for this song. I didn't make the Kick, Clap, or Vinyl sound although it would have been cool, I still very a great big Ableton noob so I didn't figure out how to make my own sounds from scratch (no pun intended.)

Actually, the Kick and the Scratch sound had a very weird distortion like noise in the upper register somewhere so I did do a little tweaking to get them to sound more inline for what I wanted them too. It just so happened that in my tweaking, the Scratch sound started to sound very similar to the Kick. I don't even know if there is a way to do that kind of scratch sound in Ableton. I might have to fool around with it.

As for the advice, I haven't done any post processing like adding EQ, Compression, or Reverb before and I would like to know some general tips. I think I added some EQ to the highs on the Pizzicato strings, some highs and mids to the Staccato, and a little highs and some lows to the bass part. You won't be able to hear the EQ because the one I posted to Last.fm is an older version.

Other than that, thanks for your advice and kind works.

sublimelobc · Post by **sublimelobc** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 9:32 pm

I have to agree that I was surprised by the musicality...nice work! Sure you can add sizzle and snap as you learn processing tricks, but the production/imaginative qualities are very solid....keep posting your stuff! Thanks for sharing.

Hildebrandenator · Post by **Hildebrandenator** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:06 am

Thanks for your kind words sublimelobc!

I will definitely post some new stuff when I have it. My next project is rather daunting. . .

vlantis · Post by **vlantis** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:34 am

String Theory isn't really my thing, but for what it is it sounds very good. It's got a very American TV Drama thing goin' on (or maybe it's just me).

But I must say that "The Celestial Experiment" is very nice. I love washes of synth behind some nice piano.

Silwolffe · Post by **Silwolffe** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:45 am

String Theory sounded good, I enjoyed it - but something does seem a little bit awkward in it... I don't know how to explain it, though. I fail.

However, I did take a listen to The Celestial Experiment...

My, god. That is such a beautiful tune; I love it. I had to record it to put it on loop (lol-sorry) so I could use it as a background sound to my reading. That song seriously made me envious of your talent.

Hildebrandenator · Post by **Hildebrandenator** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:19 pm

Heh, thanks vlantis and Silwolffe. Actually, The Celestial Experiment was created using no computer at all. Here is some background info on TCE if you really want to know:

It was written about 3 or 5 months ago when I got my Radias synth to complement my Tyros 2. I wanted to see exactly what I could do with Radias plus Tyros 2, hence the name "Experiment." Well, that's not the whole story. I wanted to write a song for some girl I liked in school. Alas, it was not to be

. Actually, she never even heard the song as I meant for her to hear it. Obviously the Radias is doing both the synth parts and the Tyros is doing the Strings, Piano, and Sub Bass. The Midi configuration has it so that the Strings are mirrored on the Radias, which then adds the synth part and the arpeggiator. Then, the output of the Radias goes to the Line In on the Tyros so that I can use the built in hard drive recorder of the Tyros, stick that file on a USB stick, then put the file on my computer.

The recording part was very finicky because it took a couple bars to get the Radias in sync with the Tyros. Therefore, I had the first few measures just strings and then I slowly faded the arp. into it with my foot pedal (because the Tyros doesn't have automation

.) Also, I was a really big MIDI noob back then and whenever I would stop the recording, the portamento on the Radias would break and I would have to cycle the power of the Radias to get it to work again. I then figured out that I needed to either turn off CCs on the Tyros or filter them out on the Radias in order to not break the portamento.

Anyway, The Celestial Experiment is not done, I don't think. I think a lot could be added onto it and it could turn into a really, really great piece. Who knows, maybe I'll get enough songs together for a CD.

Hildebrandenator · Post by **Hildebrandenator** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:19 pm

bah, Internal Service Error made me double post

psychohagis · Post by **psychohagis** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 6:23 pm

so are all the drum sounds either, abletons or found online.
cos theres a really nice sounding crash roll in the middle of string theory.

Hildebrandenator · Post by **Hildebrandenator** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 6:56 pm

psychohagis, that crash roll/crescendo thing was done with an Ableton drum kit. Basically, I just took the draw tool and drew in one measure plus one extra note (so that it ends on the beat) on the grid set to 16th notes. Then I changed the volume manually so that it gets louder.

Silwolffe · Post by **Silwolffe** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:31 pm

Wow, I had a look at the two hardware synths, and they sound absolutely superb. I've primarily been software, as it was the cheapest way to get into the production business (and money is tight).

You should have sent that song to that girl! I bet she would have loved it.

Hildebrandenator · Post by **Hildebrandenator** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 12:42 am

Heh, I'm too much of a coward lol. About all the hardware junk, I think I'm pretty much done with getting stuff for a while. Plus, any more stuff and my rig won't be as portable.

gjm · Post by **gjm** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:34 am

Nice tunes.

Hildebrandenator · Post by **Hildebrandenator** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:59 pm

Thank you!