Dubspot’s YouTube channel is 50,000 subscribers strong!

Thank you, subscribers! Over the past few years Dubspot has gained a reputation for delivering free high quality content to music production enthusiasts across the globe on our Youtube Channel. We offer a constant resource of sound creation tutorials with talented instructors such as Matt Cellitti, Steve Nalepa, Evan Sutton, Chris Petti, Thavius Beck and many others teaching you how to get the most our of your productions. This week we are especially proud to announce that we have topped 50,000 subscribers to our Youtube channel!

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Featured Playlists

Some of Dubspot’s most popular videos from 2011:

Mixing & Mastering Tutorial Pt 1: Limiter in Ozone w/ Ableton Live

Mixing & Mastering Tutorial Pt 2: Mid-Side EQ Technique w/ Izotope

Native Instruments Massive Tutorial Pt 1: Talking Bass Synthesis

Traktor Pro 2. DJs Qbert & Rafik: Shiftee’s Breakfast of Champions Breakdown

Syncing Traktor Pro 2 + Ableton Live: How to Route Audio | Dubspot’s DJ Endo

Ableton Live Tips #7: Vocal Effect Techniques (Radiohead, Nosaj Thing)

Using Ableton Live w/ Native Instruments’ Maschine for Production & Performance

Mixing & Mastering Tutorial – Dubstep Bass Compression w/ URS

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Related Dubspot Courses Starting Online & in New York City:

Digital DJing w/ Traktor Pro 2 Program starts February 5th Online.

MASCHINE Program starts in NYC January 30th and Online the week of January 22nd.

DJ Extensive Program

Immerse yourself in the complete art of DJing from beatmatching to stage presence. Whether you’re a beginner in search of the fundamentals or a seasoned pro looking to take your talent to the next level, our curriculum is designed to accommodate all skill levels and styles of music. This comprehensive DJ program covers everything from basic mixing to advanced digital DJing. Learn more about our DJ courses and programs.

What’s Included:

• DJ Level 1: Rookie Sessions | Essentials I
• DJ Level 2: Phrase Mixing | Essentials II
• DJ Level 3: Beyond The Blend | Intermediate Skills
• DJ Level 4: Preparation | DJ Psychology
• DJ Level 5: Classroom to the Club | Advanced Techniques I
• DJ Level 6: Club to the World | Advanced Techniques II

“I love the class, and the content! Shiftee and Endo are very funny, and very clear, so the material is easy and fun to follow! I wish my college   teachers  were more like these two!” – Leandro Martinez, Chicago IL

Start dates and information about payment plans can be found here.

Native Instruments MASCHINE redefines hardware and software integration for music production and creative performance. Upon completion of this program, you will have written a full original track using multiple plug-in instruments and effects, produced a remix based on rearranged source material with your own musical additions, and made recordings of yourself improvising with both projects while creating break downs, build ups, and effect manipulations.

What’s Included:

• MASCHINE Level 1: Programming and Beat Making Basics
• MASCHINE Level 2: Sampling, Slicing and Composing
• MASCHINE Level 3: Advanced Production and Performance Techniques

Start dates and information about payment plans can be found here.

Or if you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

Teenage Engineering really have their finger on the pulse a specific niche of music users out there, and sales of their OP-1 synthesizer prove this to be true. As we mentioned in our first NAMM report this year, Teenage Engineering have been stealing the show at NAMM for three years now, first with the release of the OP-1 and this year with both a system update for the OP-1 and a new modular environment for experimenting with audio and hardware. We caught up with the Teenage Engineering team at NAMM this year to get the details on these exciting products.
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Teenage Engineering OP-1 OS Update

The new OS update that was released this week brings lots of new features that users had been asking for including sequence sync for MIDI, a drum synth and a way to play multiple drum sequences. In the below video we catch up with the Engineers at NAMM to get a closer look at these features.
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Click here to view the embedded video.

Teenage Engineering Oplab

While visiting the Teenage Engineering booth we were struck by something interesting and had to immediately ask, “are all three of those three OP-1’s all running in sync?” (Three USB based MIDI devices running in sync? How?) One of the coy engineers grinned and said “Yes, they are all running through the new OP-Lab.” This $300 device (shipping in March) boasts two USB host ports, a USB device port, two CV inputs (or any analog input), two CV outputs (or any analog output), MIDI in, MIDI out, and various program selection switches on a 92 x 92 mm square. This may sound like technical mumbo jumbo so think of it this way – sync anything with anything. Yes, it’s that cool.
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From Teenage Engineering:

The Oplab Musical Experimental Board allows you to interconnect virtually any electronic musical instruments. And finally it’s just plug and play. No more hassle with one box for MIDI and another for CV or a third for USB. Oplab has it all in one place. Just connect your cables, set the appropriate scenario and experience a perfect sync.

We have worked hard to design  some nice accessories for you to start lab with. Like the TS-1 sneaker with a special made rubber side pocket for our TS-1W wireless Gyro sensor. Trigger a kick drum or maybe an invisible sustain pedal? One of the fundamental ideas behind Oplab is to let you connect things, toys or junk that you already have around you and to make it interact with your electronic musical instruments.

With 2 x 12 bit switchable Digital in- and outputs you can interconnect more than just synthersizers. All in sync with your music or controlled by MIDI data from your sequencer. Oplab has two standard USB host ports and one mini USB device port. So, any mobile device or computer that sends MIDI over USB or can output a audio trig click sound will work as a controller or slave via your Oplab. Easy conversion from MIDI to CV and even Roland SYNC for the 303, 606 etc.

Professor Nalepa: Vocal Effect Techniques (Radiohead, Nosaj Thing)

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Pat Cupo: Drum Rack + Impulse = DrumPulse

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John Selway: Operator Techno Fundamentals – More Than A Bassline

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Mike Hatsis (!banginclude): Warping Full Tracks (the right way)

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Our music production program is custom-tailored to fit your musical style. You can choose from several Digital Audio Workstations including Ableton Live, Logic Pro, or Propellerhead’s Reason.

After completing this program, you will leave with 4 completed tracks (EP), a remix entered in an active contest, a scored commercial to widen your scope, and the Dubspot Producer’s Certificate in Ableton Live.

What’s Included:

• Ableton Live Level 1: Shake Hands with Live
• Ableton Live Level 2: Completing Your First Track
• Ableton Live Level 3: Production Essentials
• Ableton Live Level 4: Sound Design & Instrumentation
• Ableton Live Level 5: Advanced Composition & Production
• Ableton Live Level 6: Taking Your EP Global

“So far the experience through Dubspot is incredible, and I can’t wait to go through the next levels. It’s just getting better each week, and I can not wait to start putting an EP together, not just being able to put a successful track together!” - Dan Carter, United Kingdom

Start dates and information about payment plans can be found here.

Or if you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

Mixing & Mastering Tutorial Pt 1: Limiter in Ozone w/ Ableton Live

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Mixing & Mastering Tutorial Pt 2: Mid-Side EQ Technique w/ Izotope

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Mixing & Mastering Tutorial: iZotope Ozone 4 – Using Harmonic Exciter

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Mixing & Mastering Tutorial – Dubstep Bass Compression w/ URS

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Mixing & Mastering w/ iZotope Ozone 4 – Using Multiband Compression

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Transform rough ideas and basic compositions into dance floor bangers and sonically pleasing commercial quality masters. Learn the well-kept industry secrets of EQ, compression, panning, level balancing, reverb and special effects from platinum mix/mastering engineer, Daniel Wyatt, senior Dubspot Instructor.

What’s Included:

Dubspot had the pleasure of hosting a live streaming music production workshop with electronic music producer and DJ, Alan Myson better known as Ital Tek. Under the Ital Tek moniker, 24 year old Myson is at the forefront of current UK bass music culture, producing and releasing albums and EPs on the venerable Planet Mu imprint. His most recent release is the Gonga EP, which just came out on Planet Mu with a rare remix from legendary electronic musician u-Ziq, a.k.a. Planet Mu founder Mike Paradinas.

In this video recap of the workshop, Myson takes us through his creative workflow and process in Ableton Live and offered some production tips and techniques. He also talks collaboration with other producers like Boxcutter, receiving honest feedback and advice from your friends and fellow producers, experimenting and having a unique voice as a producer, remaining adventurous and constantly learning how to push your sound forward. Ital Tek has also been busy remixing the likes of Starkey, Throwing Snow, and most recently Om Unit. Below, check out the artwork and title track from the Gonga EP – which definitely underscores Myson’s adventurousness and experimentation, embracing syncopated rhythms and new styles like footwork.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ital Tek shows a massive shift in sound on the ‘Gonga EP’, inspired by the recent spate of footwork and mutant footwork that Planet Mu has been releasing, creating exit strategies from the current virus of the 90s inspired retro house fad.

‘Gonga’ is an extremely powerful track, rolling out weird, syncopated tabla-style drums over tough dancehall-style rolling kicks and rising clavs, building up a huge vertiginous rush of ascending synth lines that leave you breathless. ‘Pixel Haze’ uses deep layers of 8-bit synth and lush melodies to create a huge swelling sea over which footwork kicks and basslines roll. Read more here.

Our music production program is custom-tailored to fit your musical style. You can choose from several Digital Audio Workstations including Ableton Live, Logic Pro, or Propellerhead’s Reason.

After completing this program, you will leave with 4 completed tracks (EP), a remix entered in an active contest, a scored commercial to widen your scope, and the Dubspot Producer’s Certificate in Ableton Live.

What’s Included:

• Ableton Live Level 1: Shake Hands with Live
• Ableton Live Level 2: Completing Your First Track
• Ableton Live Level 3: Production Essentials
• Ableton Live Level 4: Sound Design & Instrumentation
• Ableton Live Level 5: Advanced Composition & Production
• Ableton Live Level 6: Taking Your EP Global

“So far the experience through Dubspot is incredible, and I can’t wait to go through the next levels. It’s just getting better each week, and I can not wait to start putting an EP together, not just being able to put a successful track together!” - Dan Carter, United Kingdom

Start dates and information about payment plans can be found here.

Or if you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Attention audio/visual creators in and around New York! Dubspot Instructor and Ableton Live Course Designer Steve Nalepa is coming to NYC this weekend to host a two hour streaming workshop on Saturday 12.10.11 from 2-4pm at Dubspot HQ. The first hour of the workshop will focus on Ableton Live, with Professor Nalepa sharing a plethora of composition, production and performance techniques for both the seasoned and the green. The second hour he will host a panel discussion on VJing and live visual performance with three heavyweights of the motion graphics and visual performance world:  Benton-C Bainbridge, V Owen Bush and David Lublin. These are three pioneers of visual art and technology who will discuss live performance and techniques in a live panel discussion. We will also be streaming this discussion for those of you who are not in New York. Check back right here on our blog at 2PM EST time to catch our live broadcast. Later that night Nalepa will also perform a live audio set at Webster Hall (BASSment Saturdays) accompanied by tag team live visuals from the three all-stars he is hosting at the panel discussion. Check out out Facebook event page for more information.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This meeting of the minds first happened back in 1998 when Nalepa met VJ Benton-C Bainbridge at a Unity Gain performance in the basement of the legendary CBGB’s back in 1998. Blown away by Bainbridge’s simple yet profound video feedback piece, Nalepa introduced himself and a longtime friendship ensued built on mutual respect. Through this friendship Nalepa met David Lublin and V Owen Bush, and the four have explored the artistic relationship between music and visuals with collaborations on many projects together, including the above music video that Benton-C and David Last created for Nalepa’s “Flatlands” single.

About the Speakers

Daytime by Nalepa

Steve Nalepa is an electronic composer, producer, and remixer based in the vital Los Angeles music scene which is home to the likes of Flying Lotus and Nosaj Thing. Credited with mentoring, connecting and introducing some of the most innovative and talented new acts in music today, he is both champion and zeitgeist of the emerging genres that color the musical landscape. Nalepa specializes in cinematic, synth-based instrumental music that fuses together elements of dub, ambient and shoegaze. He has produced tracks with such legends as Bill Laswell and Pharoah Sanders, performed with the LA Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and energized crowds at clubs and festivals around the world including Glade, Decibel, Coachella, Burning Man, Lightning in a Bottle, Secret Garden Party and Low End Theory.

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Benton-C Bainbridge is a media artist based in The Bronx and Nashville. Benton-C’s work is made with custom systems of his own design. Bainbridge has presented video in immersive environments, screenings, installations and live performances, collaborating with scores of artists around the world. Bainbridge has shown on five continents in venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art.

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Currently, Benton and choreographer/dancer Brooke Broussard are exploring visuals made by bodies and extended with technology in the “Infinite Light” project. In Xi’an, Infinite Light made dance media for the massive Water Stage installation at the 178 day long 2011 International Horticultural Expo. Glowing Pictures (Benton-C Bainbridge and V Owen Bush) recently designed visuals for one week of concerts at the gate of Da Ming Palace in Xi’an, China and launched the fifth season of One Step Beyond at American Museum of Natural History, at which they are the resident visual designers and visualists. Career highlights include the best-attended ever Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris performance with live media ensemble The Poool, video design for 2 Beastie Boys world tours and numerous special appearances, and analog video synth FX for TV On The Radio (above).

Click here to view the embedded video.

V Owen Bush is a designer, producer, and filmmaker who uses immersion and participation to create transformative social experiences. His works are presented in venues such as live concerts and events, digital planetaria, IMAX3D, broadcast television, mobile devices, and the web. He is a member of the Omnisensorialist Federation and Immersionists. Notable projects he has participated in include: Pseudo Programs Inc., MTV’s AMP, We Live In Public, SonicVision at the Hayden Planetarium, and the Molecularium Project at Rensselaer.  He is a co-founder of Glowing Pictures, a company whose work includes televised concerts, music videos, commercials, multimedia operas, and visual environments. Glowing Pictures’ clients include Vh1, MySpace, the Beastie Boys, the Creator’s Project, Eyebeam, the American Museum of Natural History and Lincoln Center, among many others.

David Lublin is a software developer and video artist. His company Vidvox created the software VDMX5, the realtime video studio of choice for many professional VJs. David is based in Troy, NY where he is the go to resident VJ for EMPAC. He has performed visuals alongside Diplo, Madlib, Jon Hopkins and others.

Earlier this year he VJ’d for Girl Talk (video above) for several months on his massive national US tour. The show involved an elaborate stage set up before each show spanning 8 hours. Time lapse of the stage set up before the show on 02.01.11. 14,000 photos, taken over 8 hours; 1 photo every 2 seconds, 9:30am – 5:30pm.  Music by Girl Talk (featuring Chris Glover).

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Creating Custom Arpeggio Patterns in Ableton Live

This particular lesson is about creating custom arpeggio patterns. You can create your own unique synth rhythms with this technique. This is great for getting some old school Giorgio Moroder style synth lines. Playing one MIDI note allows you to play a whole sequence of notes. You can also use this technique in conjunction with sidechain compression or sidechain gating to create your own custom sidechain patterns.

Ableton Live Courses at Dubspot

Ableton Live is an incredibly powerful and flexible tool. You can use it to accomplish almost anything you can imagine in the studio. I have designed a six level course for Dubspot that is geared towards helping you build your portfolio, all while taking you through the many powerful features of Live. The course is packed with various composition techniques, a plethora of approaches to songwriting and remixing. There are a ton of ideas in there to stimulate your creativity, you can then pull together the tools and processes that work best for you and incorporate them into your own workflow.

Besides covering all of creative possibilities in Ableton, the course is also designed to take you through every aspect of being an artist today. You will build up a new body of work and release an EP, create a remix in your new signature style, put your music to picture and score a video, conceptualize and create a live set then record your live performance. You also get tips on crafting your artist bio, creating album art and a profile picture, basically everything you would do out in the world as a musician today. Armed with this experience, it is now up to you to go out there and repeat the process, continually improving your skills, hustling, networking, making it happen for yourself.

- Professor Steve Nalepa, Dubspot Instructor and Ableton Live Course Designer

Our music production program is custom-tailored to fit your musical style. You can choose from several Digital Audio Workstations including Ableton Live, Logic Pro, or Propellerhead’s Reason.

After completing this program, you will leave with 4 completed tracks (EP), a remix entered in an active contest, a scored commercial to widen your scope, and the Dubspot Producer’s Certificate in Ableton Live.

What’s Included:

• Ableton Live Level 1: Shake Hands with Live
• Ableton Live Level 2: Completing Your First Track
• Ableton Live Level 3: Production Essentials
• Ableton Live Level 4: Sound Design & Instrumentation
• Ableton Live Level 5: Advanced Composition & Production
• Ableton Live Level 6: Taking Your EP Global

“So far the experience through Dubspot is incredible, and I can’t wait to go through the next levels. It’s just getting better each week, and I can not wait to start putting an EP together, not just being able to put a successful track together!” - Dan Carter, United Kingdom

Start dates and information about payment plans can be found here.

Or if you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

As the landscape for bass music and its practitioners grows ever wider and more fractured in style, producers suddenly find themselves in a genre no-mans land. Such is the case for Chicago-based DJ/producer Chrissy Murderbot, who is a who is a self-described producer of “booty-rave-jungle-house-bass-bashment-ghetto-garage-core.” In this Dubspot-produced video interview Murderbot proves as playful, knowledgeable and hard-working as his alias and bio suggest. Murderbot talks to us about his early introduction to DJing, the Chicago music scene and his relationship to juke, plus offers aspiring DJs a chilly look at the challenges of making it as a producer in a tough market.

Among Murderbot’s earliest claims to fame, and evidence of his deep dance music knowledge is his popular My Year of Mixtapes blog. Dating back to 2009, Murderbot has created a veritable mixtape encyclopedia. Week 31 of his series is titled “NY Garage,” and features a lengthy intro on the New York iteration of Chicago house music at Paradise Garage, lead by house New York house legend Larry Levan. Murderbot’s mix features 22 tracks, and includes the label and date the track was released. Other mixtapes feature overviews of “Classic Ragga Jungle,” “Belgian Rave,” and even a mixtape dedicated to “Weed Songs.”

As Murderbot’s blog has picked up a considerable amount of press, so too has his output of original productions and edits. Snuck into many of his retrospective mixtapes are Chrissy Murderbot re-edits and remixes—an oft-used tactic to test one’s production skills in a safe environment. If My Year of Mixtapes and his own productions aren’t enough, Murderbot has been behind two imprints—the now-defunct Dead Homies, which released mostly jungle records from 2005-2010, as well as his latest Sleazetone Records imprint. The latter has featured work from artists like Kanji Kinetic, Ssion, Monkeysteak, and Murderbot himself.

Chrissy Murderbot – “So Real”

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Over the last 6 months or so Murderbot has moved further into the limelight due to his first release for venerable UK label Planet Mu. Titled Women’s Studies, the record traverses the high-tempo, high-energy sounds of Chicago juke and ghetto house. In fact, as Chicago juke has reached an apex of attention, Murderbot’s own interest and support of Chicago juke has made him (fairly or not), more closely related to the sound than his history shows. Murderbot himself has expressed concern about his proportionate rise in attention with that of juke, though listening to his LP for Planet Mu shows a producer who is simply adept in party music. The album features a dynamic collection of MCs and guests, form Rubi Dan and Warrior Queen, to juke master DJ Spinn and Texas R&B vocalist Johnny Moog. The video for “Bussin Down,” the record’s major single featuring DJ Spinn, features Chrissy and Spinn playing a fictitious footworking Super NES game, where players can choose between some of Chicago’s best footworkers. The video is a nice intersection of Murderbot’s playful personality and his desire to honor genre history.

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Murderbot’s tireless output doesn’t seem to be letting up any time soon, with his latest EP I’m A Asshole which dropped last week on Loose Squares. The EP features unabashed sex jams at a blistering booty-centric pace—further solidifying Murderbot’s commitment to fun. The EP is available to preview below, and hop over to the Loose Squares website to pick up the limited, color vinyl release.

Chrissy Murderbot – “I’m a Asshole” EP [Loose Squares / October 2011] by chrissymurderbot

Electronic music is a culture that thrives in the darkness,  just far enough from society’s reach for its participants to feel they have something secret to discover and share. But over the past three decades this culture has evolved out of low-lit basements and into festivals of vision and explosions of light that synchronize to the sounds. A man with a laptop only provides so much excitement so it seems natural that VJs, sound mapping specialists and visual performers have found a niche creating kinesthetic visual creations to go with the underground sounds that musicians create. Lights that explode with the rhythm, projections that emphasize the music’s atmosphere, and installations that challenge our perceptions of space are examples of the new movements in visual design. These elements help to heighten performance and stimulate a society raised on full sensory envelopment.

This union of sound and vision is fitting for a generation that has grown up on fast edits but it’s also a natural progression of technology. As computers become our primary watching and listening devices we have witnessed the audio and visual realms merging through simple means like screen savers and simultaneously through programming platforms like Max, Jitter, Pure Data and Touch Designer. Technology now provides the means to create elaborate visual shows that can be mapped onto three dimensional structures  and synced to the rhythm of an audio performance. While some of this was possible previously, we are currently witnessing exponential growth in the potential of light and sound performance.

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The most notable audio/visual performances in recent years have come from two legendary pioneers of underground music: Amon Tobin and Richie Hawtin. Both artists have created all-encompassing structures that put the artists in the middle of the visual performance and both artists are using the revolutionary Touch Designer platform for creation of their live show. Plastikman employs a carousel cage of LED lights that morph with the music and create an abstract performance that gained him Top Live Act of 2010 in Resident Advisor’s reader poll.

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Not to be outdone, Amon Tobin has recently taken this idea to a different spacial design that heavily uses video mapping to project images on all sides of a complex cube-based installation for his recent ISAM tour. With many sold out shows this performance is gaining much respect for intricate sound mapping and psychedelic visual show. The performance centers around a massive structure of floating cubes, glowing with projected images that conform to its contours, react to the music, and paint images related to the sounds Tobin plays while comfortably ensconced in the center cube. The visual component was created by V Squared Labs and Leviathan and stands as one of the coolest things we have ever seen live.

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As impressive and progressive an achievement the ISAM show is, Tobin is not the first to come with such a serious installation. AntiVJ’s iceberg shaped construction that enveloped and roofed the DJ at Nuit Sonores in ‘09 with glittering and glitching imagery was otherworldly itself. And the shifting array of towering cubes that Exyzt created for Etienne de Crecy in ‘07 likely opened up endless minds to a new era of possibilities.

Of course these are super-sized, expensive setups created for established artists and events way out of reach for most acts. But New York’s Sub Swara has stepped into the arena with mobility in mind. Working alongside Lucid Technology and Design and Videolicious, they created a jagged, throne-like set up to perform inside lit up by video mapping that can be broken down and packed into a surfboard bag.

In all of these examples so far, projections play the largest role, but there’s certainly other artists working with different mediums. Archimedes is a robotic backing that looms over Daedelus while on stage. Developed alongside visualist Emmanuel Biard and engineer David Leonard, the set up is comprised of moving mirrors that catch projections, both of which move with the music through a combination of audio responsive technology and manual direction. Dry ice is also used to suck the projected imagery out into the audience.

Alec Sutherland has set up a temporary installation for AraabMUZIK that transformed his drum machine into a life size video game controller of sorts. Surrounded by a room full of posts with LED lights, he would bang his beats out on a machine attached to the lights, so that when ever he struck a particular pad, a corresponding post would light up.

Click here to view the embedded video.

But perhaps the best way to make such ideas and technologies accessible to more musicians, visualists, and fans would be for venues to create their own set ups and invite artists to take advantage of them.

One venue here in New York does just that. Called 3LD Arts & Technology Center, they offer a studio with multiple projectors aimed at a semi-circular wall that wraps around the audience seating. A film of clear Eyeliner foil is draped in front of the stage, catching projections in thin air allowing for a 3D, holographic effect.

Perhaps more venues will step up to the plate, tending the breeding ground for ideas and bringing visual artists together with musicians. This seems like the best way to get some real momentum going. - MS

Lately Dubspot has been lucky enough to have some great streaming workshops from folks across the pond. Between Silkie, Tunnidge and now Ital Tek, we’re getting ever closer to representing the enormous breadth of UK bass music. October 10th, @ 6PM (EST), Planet Mu recording artist Ital Tek will be here to talk about his workflow, as well as offering any tips and tricks he might have. His workshop may be particularly interesting for album-focused producers, as Ital has created cohesive albums in a market awash in singles and EPs. RSVP here to attend in person. Space is limited. If you can’t make it, tune in right here to attend from anywhere in the world.

Released last year, Magic Colour is Ital’s second full-length for Planet Mu, and finds the producer in a mostly introspective sonic space. Half-steps fall with an airy bounce, and bass lines often purr rather than roar—resulting in a dynamic collection of melodies and rhythms that traverse both a sense of weight and a sense of ease.

On Magic Colour’s notable stand out “Babel,” thin bleeps contrast pithy synth lines that rise and fall over sharp drums. The result sounds like a conversation between machines, while the title suggests they may be having trouble communicating.

Ital Tek – “Babel”

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One of Ital Tek’s best examples of unifying the abrasive and the tranquil comes on his track “Archaic,” released in 2008. The song begins gritty, drawing easy comparisons to Vex’d’s dystopian aesthetic, but a part from sinister drums and a big incessant bass line, the track occasionally opens into ethereal synthscapes worthy of their own beat-less ambience.

Ital Tek – “Archaic”

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