Detroit Techno on Ableton - Need your help/How to

[TechnoLover]

The point is that I am not as skilled as they are and my creativity is far away from theirs...

My knowledge, as a producer, isn't that big yet, but my knowledge about the techno music is quite good and trust me, most of the 'techno' influence comes from other styles... So, of course, they also listened to a lot of stuff to get that kind of creativity...

My point is not to "copy" their work, but to learn their production techniques to be able to make some creative and original tracks... (and, for me, these kinds of sounds are needed to make detroit stuff!)

So, if you guys are still available to help me on some stuff, here are some kind of stab sounds/melody I would like to get :

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD3YEj0wYVY (can't get that kind of stab sounds, and I don't know what EFX to use on 'em)

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDcnltXUwa8 (here, both the stab and the melodic part are interesting...)


Thank you so much in advance, ALL your posts have been helping me so much I don't know how to thank you enough!

[googoo]

The first one is probably a filtered/messed with piano chord for the stab..........and the second one may be the same but heavily low pass filtered mixed with a filtered analogue-ish brassy type pad??.
The melody sound on the second is just an simple sine like sound with glide/portamento.......probably an SH-101 (or something that sounds like one)

Oh and Detroit artists did use samples/samplers......Ensoniq Mirage anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S3MizD39fk

[TechnoLover]

gonna try this out

[TechnoLover]

little up with some new examples of stuff I would like to do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV45mOAJxYc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdg9Q8_izSY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia6SNtAEfUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU59pTz6W88

(Any tips about drums are welcome, but I am mainly looking for some way to get that kind of stabs/strings (any VST or tips to do 'em?) and about the whole melodic part (synths, stabs, ...)

[B-S]

bit late on the topic, so it might be discussed already.

i would first sellct the instruments:
909 (drumazon), 808 (nepheton), juno (TAL u-no60, u-no62, rob papen albino can replicate the feeling pretty well), dx100 (fm7, fm8), jupiter (can do some vintage feel strings/pads)

effect units:
tape echoes, spring reverbs, etc.

then let say, i havemy drums ready, i mean main lines + fills, breaks, drops, etc.

then i would just start on the chord lines, duplicate them, add another synths, use delays, reverbs,.

then, i would laydown some harmonic pads on top of it. duplicate some of the chords, longer thenotes, made some changes on itnervals, notes... think about some funky structures/harmonies. detroit melodies are not the basic ones, but have strong harmonic feeling as they are layered pretty smartly. you should be able to replicate this with some clever chord or other harmonic progressions...

maybe bit too generic ideas, but don't just copycate what was done, but try to understand the philosophy behind the detroit. once you learn the parts on which the detroit stnads, you will be ready to fire up very good tracks.. good luck

[TechnoLover]

thanks for the tips! yeah that's exactly what I wanna do... no copycat at all, but the Detroit feelings is something that makes me feel great

[TechnoLover]

up

[Vic Demise]

there is no point in copying their tracks... but these are my favourite tracks ever and I would like to get the "technical skills" needed to be able to work in that way... to make THAT kind of detroit techno... If I wanna be able to re-produce what they did, that's not to copy them but to be able to use the same kind of skills in my own 100% original work!

Music is ART, and in art there are no rules. Not everyone is going to dig whatever it is you do, but others will be amazed.
If re-creating tracks/beats is how you want to learn, then do that. There is no shame. As a guitarist I learned by re-creating other peoples songs too, then you take what you learn and run with it.
Music should be fun, expressive, a lot of things... but not so damned serious.
Enjoy the ride.

[ikeaboy]

Some interesting interviews with the pioneers.

http://britishelectronicmusic.co.uk/smf ... topic=18.0

The Juan Atkins interview is from 1988

[TechnoLover]

nice interview, thanks man!

[TechnoLover]

I am just bringing this post back on the top...

If anyone has some new tips/informations/advices to give, that would be really cool!

A thing that is really important is the use of arpeggiators on the synths... They are used in most of the detroit tracks making some kind of "percusive" melodic stuff... Can anyone give some tips about that?

Cheers and thank you for sharing with me