Dubspot’s Production 101 workshop is back!

On Sunday November 20, 2011 Dubspot will be hosting a special “Production 101” workshop with course designers Professor Nalepa and Thavius Beck in downtown Los Angeles. The event starts at 7pm with a 2 hour lecture/demonstration of various production tips and techniques using Ableton Live, Logic and Massive. Following the lecture there will be performances by Celectrixx, Professor Nalepa and Subjection with live visuals by OICHO. This workshop is FREE and open to the public. In addition it will be streaming live on our blog for those who can’t make it to the event. If you’d like to join us at Downtown Independent for this event please RSVP on our Facebook event page.
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Thavius Beck has been hosting the Production 101 sessions for many moons in L.A. where he brings regular special guests and an understanding of what most people want to learn about production during these events. “I like to focus on techniques that aren’t necessarily specific to Ableton, hence the Production 101, but as a certified trainer of Live I will also take advantage of what Live offers when showing off more of my personal workflow. It’s really a night of organic learning.” Beck explains.
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Hypernova (LP) by SubjectionMusic

Thavius Beck will start this workshop with a demonstration of beat creation in Ableton Live which features some tips and tricks from his live performances and studio workflow. He will then be followed by Professor Nalepa who will be joined by a very special guest – 12 year old beat prodigy Frankie (aka Subjection) from Anaheim, CA. Professor Nalepa and Frankie will host a sound design session using Logic and  Native Instrument’s Massive software. Now if you’re thinking,“yeah right – 12?” stop reading this and click the above link to his music. We were astounded. This kid is fire! We can’t wait to learn how he makes those bass lines. 

If you enjoy electronic music and have even the slightest interest into how it’s made, and how certain techniques are used live, this is the place for you. FREE, ALL AGES, AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! If you were at the last Production 101 workshop in July with Daedalus, you know this is a very special night of performance, education and discussion on the topic of electronic music production. It was also a packed house last time, so get there early to get a seat!

About the Instructors:

Thavius Beck is a composer of mercurial soundtracks for uncertain times conjoining various strains of electronic music to arrive at a daringly ambitious sound. An exceptional programmer, engineer, multi-instrumentalist and certified Ableton Live instructor, Thavius Beck’s many talents allow him to take music from idea to completion with an uncompromising vision and ear.

Professor Steve Nalepa is an LA-based producer, professor, Dubspot Instructor and Ableton expert who has been teaching Live for over seven years. He’s produced tracks and collaborated with everyone from legends like Bill Laswell and Pharoah Sanders to rising electronic music artists Nosaj Thing and The Glitch Mob. He designed Dubspot’s online Ableton Live curriculum and is currently producing a weekly series of Ableton tutorial videos for our blog.

Ableton Live Producer Certificate Program

The flagship of our music training, with every Ableton Live course offered at the school. 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.

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1) Use only Major or Minor chords.

Just keep things simple. The Major and Minor chords only have 3 notes in them. For example, C Major has the notes C E G. The chord C Minor has C Eb G. This limitation will help you quickly make decisions about what kind of chords to use. The trick is always to limit yourself to help you make decisions.

C Major

C Major Chord

C Minor

C Minor Chord

2) Begin and end with the same chord

The thing about music is that it’s like a game. You have to start in one place, go away from it for a while, and then figure out how to get back. In this case I’m going to start with the chord A Minor:

A Minor Chord

So what chord am I going to end with? A minor. Again, limitations are helpful.

3) Move freely among diatonic chords

The word Diatonic means “from the tonic”. Well, what’s this thing called a tonic? The tonic is the main pitch of the composition – it’s the note from which every other note is based. In this imaginary piece of music, the tonic I’ve selected is A. I’ve decided that I want the piece to be in a minor key – A Minor. From the tonic I construct the A Natural Minor Scale: A B C D E F G.

A Minor Scale

You can build seven (7) “diatonic chords” off of each note in the above scale meaning that you’ll only use notes from the A Minor Scale resulting in mostly Major and Minor chords. For example, if I was to build a diatonic chord in the key of A Minor from the note C, then I get a C Major chord, C E G. Here are all of the diatonic chords in the key of A Minor:

Diatonic Chords

Here’s the secret: You can move freely around these diatonic chords in any way you want. You just have to find the progression that works best for the track.

4) A chord of one type may move freely to any other chord of the same type.

Now to make things interesting. Let’s say you want to use a chord outside of the diatonic chords. Is that allowed? Yes. Will it sound good? Well, that’s up to you. Simply put, you can start from a diatonic Major chord and move to any other Major chord. For example, Let’s say that my chord progression starts like this:
A Minor | D Minor | F Major

Am Dm FM

What’s my next chord? Can I go to Eb Major? Yes. How about Bb Major? Yes. Any Major chord will sound good. The trick is to end the series of Major chords on one of the three a diatonic Major chords:

A Minor | D Minor | F Major | Eb Major | Bb Major | C Major (diatonic) |

Am Dm FM EbM BbM CM

The same goes for Minor chords. Make sure to end on one of three diatonic Minor chords:

A Minor | F Major | D Minor | Bb Minor | Eb Minor | D Minor (diatonic) |

Am FM Dm Bbm Ebm Dm

5) The root of the next to last chord must move by 2nd, Perfect 4th, or Perfect 5th to the last chord.

Remember that music is like a game and you’re trying to figure out how to get back home. We know that the last chord is the same as the first chord, but what about the next to last chord? That chord is very important because it helps the music lead into the last chord. The options you have for the penultimate chord have to be a 2nd above or below the tonic, or a Perfect 4th/5th above or below the tonic. Not sure what these numbers mean? That’s okay. We’re talking about intervals, or the distance between two notes. Here are all of the options for the key of A minor:

2nd Below: G Major > A Minor

GM Am

Perfect 4th above / 5th below: D Minor > A Minor

Dm Am

Perfect 5th above / 4th below: E Minor > A Minor

Em Am

Why not a 2nd above? Because that would be B Diminished > A Minor and that would go against Guideline #1.

6) The roots of the chords must support the tonic and they must form a singable line.

After you finish your your progression, take the roots of all of the chords (A is the root of A Minor, C is the root of C Major, etc.) and play them in a row. Does it sound like a good, singable melody? If so, then you probably have a great chord progression on your hands. Some people, myself included, actually like to start with this step. Here’s my example of a chord progression following all 6 guidelines:

A Minor | E Minor D Minor | C Major | Eb Major G Major | D Minor G Minor | D Minor | E Minor | A Minor |

And here’s the same chord progression in a musical context:

In context

Follow all of these guidelines and you’ll you’ll start to hear yourself writing great chord progressions which you can you as the main feature in song or as the underlying force for all of the other melodic tracks. Now you have some guidelines to follow. The next step is to learn how to bend them and that’s the fun part.

Written by Patrick Cupo, Director of Curriculum Development

Unravel electronic music’s origins, build your chops, learn the language and theory, and make and play music the way you want. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the roots and lineage of a variety of electronic and dance music, strengthen their keyboard skills, and learn valuable music theory skills, deepening their creative practice and facilitating effective collaborations with musical partners.

What’s Included:

• Essential Music Foundations Level 1: Electronic Music Appreciation
• Essential Music Foundations Level 2: Keys & Melodic Theory
• Essential Music Foundations Level 3: Pads & Rhythmic Theory

This course exceeded my expectations. I went through everything I needed to have a solid knowledge of basic music theory.
- Jonathan Crespo, Miami

EMF has been an amazing experience! I didn’t realize I was going to learn so much about electronic music history, something my generation missed.
- Yianno Koumi, United Kingdom

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.

Dubspot’s YouTube channel is 10,000 subscribers strong! To celebrate the occasion, we’re giving away a Dubspot Online Level One course to one of our subscribers, because we are grateful for every single one of them. As we announced last month, Dubspot is going global; we are opening our classroom to the world, offering electronic music production and performance courses to anyone, anywhere! The lucky winner can choose from any level 1 course in programs including Ableton Live, Synthesis & Sound Design, Logic Pro, Reason & Record. The winner will be announced Monday, January 3rd, 2011!

There are four ways to enter:

1) Log on to our Facebook fan page, and reply to our post with your favorite Dubspot YouTube video. Please include the video title along with the link.

2) Head over to Twitter, tweet @Dubspot with the hash tag #DubspotYT, and tell us about your favorite Dubspot YouTube video or simply explain why you like Dubspot YouTube channel

3)  Leave a comment on the video titled What Is Dubspot, and let us know what you would like to see more of.

4) Leave a comment at the bottom of this blog-post, tell us why you love Dubspot’s YouTube channel and what you would like to see more of, and also like and tweet this blog post.

Dubspot’s YouTube channel greatests hits

What is Dubspot? | DJ & Music Production School | NYC & Online

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DJ Shiftee’s Salsa School of Scratch | ‘Before the Spice’

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Ableton Live Tutorial: Making a dubstep bass sound in Ableton Live with Michael Hatsis

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How To Integrate Native Instruments Traktor Scratch Pro with Maschine part 1

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What is Dub? Scientist, Badawi, Ticklah, DJ Rupture @ Dubspot NYC

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Contents

1. Dubspot Website Re-imagined
2. Register Now for Dubspot Online Courses!
3. Revamped Electronic Music Production Curriculum
4. Free Video Tutorials Every Week

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Dubspot Website Re-imagined

Dubspot.com has been redesigned and re-imagined to provide an intuitive, user-friendly experience, featuring an in-depth overview of the educational opportunities offered, plus videos discussing the school, students, community and more. Easily browse courses, programs and workshops by type or software.

Check out dubspot.com

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Register Now for Dubspot Online Courses!

Online School Course Features:

* High-quality instructional videos as well as audio & text documentation
* Personal feedback on your music and progress weekly from your instructor and peers
* Bi-weekly chats with the instructor and class
* Access to your course materials for an entire year
* Membership in a world-class community of artists
* Additional opportunities to share your work and network

Ableton Live – Dec 6, 2010 or Jan 17, 2011
Reason & Record – Jan 17, 2011
Logic Pro – Jan 17, 2011
Sound Design & Synthesis – Jan 24, 2011
Essential Music Foundations – Jan 24, 2011
Mixing & Mastering – Jan 31, 2011

Register and learn more about online courses…

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Revamped Electronic Music Production Curriculum

Students will build their portfolios with real world experience:

* Students will build their portfolios with real world experience
* By the program’s end, students will have a finished 4 track album
* A remix entered in an active remix contest
* A TV commercial scored with original musical material for your professional reel
* Insider tips about the ever-evolving music industry
* Advice on how to successfully promote yourself and your new EP

Our talented artist instructors will closely mentor you through the entire process of developing a musical idea into a complete body of work. This hands-on, project based approach and workshop environment encourages group interaction and cultivates constructive discussions about the artistic process. After completing a series of musical sketches in Level 1, students develop this material into fully completed tracks during Levels 2-6. By the program’s end, students will have a finished 4 track album to share with the world.

More about Music Production…

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Free Video Tutorials Every Week

Remaining true to our philosophy of staying at the forefront of music technology and culture, Dubspot continues to release new videos every week. On our blog and on our YouTube channel you will find video tutorials on hybrid performance platforms, production techniques, and advanced application of digital audio workstations, along with product, artist, music, and event reviews.

You will also get the latest scoop on the most innovative tools in both software and hardware, and hear about the artists who are taking the scene to new horizons. Check out Dubspot Radio and on our SoundCloud page, our podcast series where we invite artists to perform and talk about their methods of creative expression.

Featured Videos Include:

Syncing Ableton Live & Traktor // Native Instruments’ Traktor S4 // Dicer for Traktor // Dubstep Wobble Bass Pt 2 // Warping for Remixing // Ableton Follow Actions // Gilles Peterson Interview

Watch Videos Now

Dubspot Instructor and Native Instruments product specialist Mike Henderson aka DJ Endo gives us a brief, dynamic performance on Traktor Pro using Novation’s DICER, a new controller (which sits directly on your turntable, CD player or laptop) that allows easy access to cue point (add, delete, and jump to cue-points in real-time) and looping controls, and triggering effects like Beatmasher, which captures short loops and mashing them up. Check out the video, read the article, and let us know if you have questions by leaving a comment below!

Mike Henderson aka DJ Endo is a DJ and product specialist for Native Instruments and lives in Brooklyn. Listen to his mixes on SoundCloud, follow him on Twitter, & find him on Facebook.

Laura Escudé’s Pororoca Pt 1: Production – Studio Equipment

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Laura Escudé’s Pororoca Pt 2: Ableton Tutorial: Instruments

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Laura Escudé’s Pororoca Pt. 3: Ableton Tutorial : Composing in Ableton

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Laura Escudé’s Pororoca Pt. 4: Logic Pro Tutorial: Finishing in Logic

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Laura Escudé’s Pororoca Pt. 5: Pororoca Music Video

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Micro tutorial 1 – Record basics & first recording
The first video shows how Record is layed out, how to go about making your first recording, and introduces us to the three main areas in the program 1) the Sequencer 2) the Rack 3) the Mixer, and how easy it is to navigate between these areas using three hot-keys (F5 for Mixer, F6 for the Rack, and F7 for the Sequencer.) You can choose to skip making decisions (i.e. sample rate, and track name) and just record into an empty document by selecting an audio track which will be represented in each of Record’s three main areas (in the Sequencer as an audio track, in the Rack as an audio track device, and as a mixer channel in the main Mixer.) Also gives a helpful hint — hit the tune-fork button to make sure you’re in-tune before you start recording.

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Micro tutorial 2 – Reason & Record integration
The fusing/integration of Reason with Record (two independent applications functioning together as one – this is made possible by simply making sure Record recognizes Reason; registering both applications with the same user account takes care of that.) You’re using Record with all the Reason devices available inside of it, making the workflow familiar/more intuitive for Reason users.  This video also briefly touches on feeding live audio through Reason devices BV512 Vocoder, Scream 4 sound destruction unit, and other processing units.

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Micro tutorial 3 – The Line 6 POD in Record – Guitar recording with the Line 6 POD and Bass POD in Record. The Line 6 Guitar Amp comes with three different amps and cabinets and the Bass Amp offers two amps and two cabinets. You also have the option of mixing and matching between the two amps. Also contains combinator presets, effects patches. for Simply plug in your guitar, create an audio track, and add a Line 6 Amp

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Micro tutorial 4 – Channel strip rundown – a look at the main mixer in Record, modeled after the SSL 9000 mixing console.  The video breaks down key features in the mixer, including the input stage, setting the input gage, reverse signal phase, change the processing order of EQ, dynamics, and insert sections, and going further  into each section and briefly explaining the effects.

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Micro tutorial 5 – Insert effects (are the effects put between a sound source and the mixer, and they are unlike send effects.) These effects are typically used to process the whole signal (i.e. adding compression, distortion, or EQ to voice or instrument.) It also shows how to tweak and build and save your own effects settings in Record, which already comes with a while array of effects patches.

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Micro tutorial 6 – Audio clips
This video looks at the Sequencer in Record, and how it handles audio in the Arrange mode and the Edit mode. In the Arrange mode, you see/access all your tracks and devices and MIDI recording, and it is where all “top-level” editing occurs with a range of tools for cutting, copying, resizing, and more. In Edit mode    Also shows how easy you can navigate between the two Sequence modes.

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Micro tutorial 7 – MIDI in Record
This tutorial looks at how MIDI clips and MIDI recordings in Record’s sequencer. You simply hook up your controller/keyboard, set up an ID8 device (from the devices palette) and select an instrument of choice and record a clip which will appear in the sequencer. You can edit, move, re-size, duplicate, split, merge, automate these clips in any number of ways.

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Micro tutorial 8 – Comp Mode Editor – used to compile several takes (for the this video, guitar audio recordings) into one clip, and fine-tuning takes to perfection.

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Micro tutorial 9 – Setting up Record
Briefly explains the basic setup steps, from the first time you open Record, setting preferences, selecting audio card to autodetecting keyboards or manually selecting a remote template and opening the demo songs that came with the application.

Beatgridding in Traktor

Traktor Scratch Pro and Traktor Pro have proven to be the industry standard in DJ Software.  Traktor can help your DJ workflow tremendously depending on how much work you put into preparing your tracks.  Whether you are using Vinyl, CD’s, MIDI controllers, or even a mouse, Traktor has a very handy button called the “Sync” button.

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The proper use of the Sync feature is commonly misunderstood in Traktor.  A common complaint with Traktor is “I press the sync button, and everything goes off.” This problem occurs because Traktor needs to know where the downbeats are in your tracks, as well as the speed (BPM) of your tracks. This is where beatgrids come into play. Beatgrids are the backbone of Traktor.

A Beatgrid is a series of Gridlines set across your tracks that mark the downbeats of your track, and tell Traktor the BPM of the track.

They are like Warp markers in Ableton Live, except setting a beatgrid in Traktor is much easier.  Once you set a beatgrid for your track, the BPM reading of your track will be accurate to the 1/1000th of a BPM, and if you are mixing it with another track that is beatgridded you can visually mix using Traktor’s Phase Meters.

Below is my method of beatgridding in Traktor. Some artists I’ve trained such as Victor Calderone, Dubfire and Nic Fanciulli use this method religiously for every track they play.

I would do all of your beatgrids in your headphones since the music is directly in your ear. I would also recommend doing beatgrids at home or on the flight to your gig, and not live at the gig.

1) Make sure Traktor’s Auto Beatmarker function is turned on by going to Preferences / File Management / BPM Detection Range / and turning on the option “Set Beatgrid when detecting BPM Range”. With this option enabled, Traktor will automatically set a beat marker in your track where it thinks the first downbeat is located. You also might want to change the BPM detection range to the Tempo (BPM) range that you usually DJ at.

2) Next you want Traktor to analyze your new tracks when you load them into a Deck. You will turn on this option by going to the Traktor Preferences / File Management and turning on the option to “Analyze New Tracks when loading into Deck”.  So, when you load a track into a Deck in Traktor for the first time, Traktor will Analyze the gain, transients, and BPM – and with the Auto Grid function turned on, it will place a beatmarker where it thinks the first downbeat is in the track.

3) To make sure you can hear Traktor’s Metronome over the track that you’re beatgridding, set Output routing to  “EXTERNAL” mode by going to the Traktor Preferences / Output routing and changing the output routing to “External”. Also make sure you have an output set for Deck A. For example, if you were using your built in output (Mac’s built in speakers or headphone output), I would set the output for Deck A to Output 1 and 2.

4) In the Traktor Preferences set the Mouse Control to “SNAP” mode by going to Preferences / Transport, and changing the Mouse Control Mode to “SNAP”. This will make it so you can click directly on the transients (kicks, snares etc) inside the track with your mouse. Also Make sure the option to Highlight Beatmarkers is turned on in Preferences / Global View Options

5) The next thing you will want to do is turn the “Cue” button on for Deck A on Traktor’s Mixer, and also turn the tick button on in the Master Panel. This will make it so you can hear a metronome over the track loaded in Deck A.

6) Next open your “Grid” panel in Traktor by clicking on the Arrow beneath the “Active” button in Deck A, and then click on the “Grid” button to open the Grid panel.

7) Now, load a new, unanalyzed track into Deck A in Traktor. When Traktor is finished analyzing the track, you’ll notice a white marker in the Track. This is your auto-beat marker. You’ll also notice a series of evenly spaced white lines across the track. This is your beatgrid. Each of these white lines is where Traktor thinks the beats are in the track.

8) Zoom in as far as possible on the waveform by using the + and – buttons in the deck. Click on the top waveform (in the deck) and click on the first kick drum in the Track with your mouse. You can sample the kick drum by clicking the mouse button and holding it. It is best to set your grid markers on the first beat of a bar.

9) Once you’ve found the first kick drum, set a 4 beat loop starting at this point by clicking on the number “4″ beneath Deck A.

Now click on the play button and listen to how the Metronome lines up with the Track.

10) While the loop is playing, you will want to shift the grid left and right with the top 2 MOVE GRID Buttons. This will shift the entire grid left and right. Keep moving the grid left and right until the metronome is perfectly in sync with your track. If you are new to doing beatgrids, I recommend shifting your grid far to the left and far to the right of the beat, so you can hear how it sounds when the tick is off beat, and then adjusting it back onto the beat – not unlike tuning a guitar. If you need to move the grid faster, you can hold the control button. In this step you are only using the TOP 2 Grid buttons. Do not touch the bottom 2 yet.

11) Now that you have the first 4 beats perfectly synchronized to your metronome, let the track play by clicking on the loop button (4). Now you are going to listen to see if the metronome stays on beat with the track as you skip forward in the track. If it does, then skip through the song by clicking on the waveform and listening at different points of the song to make sure its on beat, then skip to the end.

If the metronome is drifting off beat, listen to the track from the beginning and use the bottom 2 BPM INC / DEC buttons to make the grid lines closer or farther apart. This is also changing the BPM value. Usually for tracks you buy on Beatport you will not have to use the bottom 2 buttons. You will just need to shift the grid left and right, and maybe change the BPM from 127.999 to 128.000.

12) Now set a 4 beat loop at the end of the track, preferably on the last measure of the track that has percussion. Listen to how the metronome lines up with the last 4 beats. If it lines up perfectly, then you are done. If not, use the BPM INC/DEC buttons to compress and expand the grid until the metronome perfectly lines up with the last 4 beats. Now your BPM reading will be accurate to the 1/1000′th of a BPM. Usually if you’re BPM shows up as an even number like 128.000 this means that you don’t have to touch the bottom 2 grid buttons, and that you only need to shift the grid left and right.

13) Once you are done, and the metronome perfectly lines up with the track from beginning to end, click on the LOCK button to save the beatgrid to the track. This will save the beatgrid to the tracks ID3 information and will make it so if you send the track to another Traktor user, they will have your beatgrid, cue points, and loops inside the track. If you do not click the lock Icon, Traktor will still remember your beatgrid in your Traktor collection, but will not write the beatgrid to the actual track.

Now that you have a beatgrid set, you can use Traktor’s SYNC button to keep all of your tracks perfectly synchronized, and they will never go off beat, and all of your loops, and effects will be perfectly on beat.


Straight from sunny Miami WMC Jon Margulies breaks down DJing w/ Live 8 – check some cool new features in this four part tutorial from the Remix hotel.

Video: DJing with Ableton Live 8 DubSpot Class Pt. 2
Video: DJing with Ableton Live 8 DubSpot Class Pt. 3
Video: DJing with Ableton Live 8 DubSpot Class Pt. 4