sample magic secrets of house

[ICN]

Guys - I wrote a review of it - Thought I'd share it in case it helps provide a bit of light.

I've had the book over a week now. Its pretty cool. But might be too simple for Production Legends.

I think its much better than Computer Music stuff - It would definitely be on a par or slightly better than Future Music tutorials.



1st off – I’m often wary of online reviews as I’m sometimes left wondering whether they are being done by someone who is being paid. I can assure you that this review is 100% me – A regular person who has no agenda.

I heard about this book around Christmas & was very excited about the prospect of Sample Magic releasing a “Dance Music Manual”. I don’t own any of their own brand sample libraries – but I’ve listened to lots of their demos in the past (bundled with different magazines...) & of course I’ve seen Sharooz in Future Music. I also regularly go to the SM w/site to check out the Production tips & Knowledge sections (which I think wouldn’t hurt from being more detailed, with sound examples & screenshots).

So, needless to say – I was expecting good things. They consistently get top marks in reviews. Even if you stick on your cynical hat & read between the lines, you cannot deny that they know what they’re doing! The quality of what they do is superb, even if the libraries are not in your genre & you’d prefer to make your own sounds from scratch.

The Book – The Secrets of House Music Production (or TSOHMP) - is A4 sized and printed in Landscape – rather than Portrait. This means that the pages appear to be stuck to the spine “Sketch Pad-like”, so that the content flows in columns from left – right, as opposed to, top – bottom. I don’t know whether it was done from an artistic point of view or just practical... but I really like it as it fits neatly in the space left in front of my Computer Keyboard, MIDI keyboard and Monitor. If it had of been a “Book” Book – It would have been far more cumbersome. Great idea!

I’ve been (too) slowly building up my production skills over the last 5 years. At this stage, I’ve got boxes full of all the Magazines – The Fortnightlies, the Monthlies, the Specials etc... This book really brings it all together for me. The issue with a lot of this knowledge is that unless you know someone that you can talk to, it’s impossibly spread over the 100 corners of the Internet. With that, you read slightly differing stuff all over the place. Sure, a lot of it is to do with personal taste, but what I like about this book is that it is complete... start to finish – absolutely logical. I would rather base my assumptions on one qualified source than a wealth of contradiction. Besides – Its far better to be sat focused with a book learning while making music than spending hour’s vegging out over the ‘net! Might get a chance of actually doing something then.

There are nuggets on every page. Even stuff I read & go “I know that...” is good as it proves that I am doing the right thing. This book covers the basics – sure... but there is development beyond the initial outline. The whole book is full of walkthroughs. It covers everything.

Standout parts in the Sections (for me) are as follows:

1.Drums.

How to make a Kick/Snare from Scratch. How to Layer Sounds. Tuning drums. Programming examples / Groove, shuffle, swing.

2.Bass.

EQ’ing / Sidechain / How to program Bass patches for Minimal / Tech House / Prog / Fidget

3.Vocals.

I don’t use vocals to be honest – but the last 5 pages about vocal FX have Techniques that can be applied to any sound... which I’m going to try.

4.The Music

Synth anatomy explained. Synth Programming – Stabs / Leads / Pads etc... Using & abusing Loops and creating spot FX.

5.Structure

How to get your 8 bar loop ready to be formatted into an entire track. Shows screenshots of structure for all the major genres, with a commentary on the major features.

6.Effects

Who they are & what they do. If you haven’t read the F***ing manual or.pdf this section explains what all the controls with unintuitive names are actually for. An ear opener!

7.The Mix

This section is the most interesting for me. It explains where everything should sit in the mix & the frequency of all notes. I’ve only recently had that lightbulb moment where I realised that if I know what the note is that I am trying to EQ, then I can actually understand what needs to be EQ’d. This section cements this. There is a step by step example of how to mix a track, going through all the major elements with screenshots. It’s great to see the type of EQ’ing that is being done on these sounds as I’m not sure sometimes whether I’m leaving too little of the sound in. It was cool to see drastic 24db/Oct slopes being used to cut things like Hi-hats & Snares. I know you have to use your ears, but when you are learning by yourself its good to see what’s not wrong either. There’s good stuff here too about separating the different elements & widening the sounds. Several of these techniques were touched earlier in the book, so it’s good to see them being put into context here. There are sections about Mastering & Remixing, but to be honest, I’m putting all my attention into everywhere else at the moment – so I have not really looked at this bit at all. It covers 3 pages – so you wouldn’t need a shovel to get into it. Likewise – You probably won’t get the secret formula either.

This is a great book. I would say that its target audience is Beginner / Intermediate to Seasoned Hobbyist. It covers the basics, while supplying the techniques of how they are used.

I was honestly put off by the price of the book – but I am relieved to say that it was money well spent. I’ve also got the Dance Music Bible, and although excellent – I really appreciated the full walkthroughs / Screenshots & full explanations that TSOHMP has.

I haven’t had the book long enough to say – This Book has changed my life – but what I will say is that it’s given me the knowledge & confidence to try out some new things. It feels good programming a patch from the INIT setting on your Synth & knowing that you need to select a saw or sine or whatever... and then having a fair idea of how its going to react when you modulate it. I can see this book sitting in front of me for a very long time to come. You have to get your hands dirty if you are going to figure stuff out. That’s why I’m sitting down with a project called “SAMPLE MAGIC BOOK” in Logic & I’m just trying everything out.

One criticism I would have is that that there are no projects or example audio / midi files on the included disk. Fair enough, you get 500mb worth of Sample Magic Samples... but I think it would have been better to have used it differently.

A consideration for future editions would be a unique code upon registration of the book online so that the samples can be downloaded? Would save on costs obviously... but would allow for access to greater content. There would also be the opportunity for project files / examples / video content to be viewed – Maybe even a member’s only forum for everyone who buys a Sample Magic / Sounds to Sample product, with access to Artists / Producers / Sound Designers that create the sample packs / release tracks? Here there would (hopefully) be good quality information & advice from the people at the coalface.

I know it’s been done before to a degree – but the point is how you maintain the momentum that this book creates. The two things are probably going to run hand in hand.

Best of luck Guys – and thanks for the info!

Cheers,

J

[bytheriver]

Yeah I got it, some nice samples come with it help balance the high price.


I'm finding it useful just as a reference tool in case I want to try something a bit different or need a starting point for settings or whatever.


Its a lovely item, thick paper great pictures.

[m.nash]

BY FAR THE BEST GUIDE I'VE EVER READ FOR ELECTRONIC MUSIC PRODUCTION.

Sorry had to shout it, cause I'm not joking, wish-wish-wish I had stumbled across this years ago. Its everything you'd wish computer music magazine would offer, all in a single guide.

.