The essential guide to producing cutting-edge house music
Special Offer! Buy this book and receive a free 248MB downloadable pack of Sample Magic samples! (Link to download will be sent by email immediately after purchase).
"I would be surprised if anything can top this one during 2010. Don´t waste a moment. Buy it. This is the electronic musician’s bible." - plughugger.com
"...very useful for beginners with its clear explanations and clean cut design." - Future Music
"A superb book stuffed with intricate walkthroughs, illustrations and techniques. Essential reading." - Music Tech (Rating 9/10)
"Clear, concise and informative. A worthwhile investment." - iDJ
The biggest name in dance sample libraries brings you the essential guide to producing cutting-edge house music.
After four years producing award-winning sample collections, Sample Magic share the secrets of house music production in this 144-page full-colour book packed with hundreds of walkthroughs, hints, tips and insights from some of the biggest names in the industry.
All parts of the production process are covered, including: making beats, drum sounds, basslines, structure, instrumentals, FX, mixing, vocals, mastering, remixes, programming ideas and more. Every style of house is covered, from minimal to tribal, electro to progressive, soulful to jackin´.
In-depth tutorials reveal the tricks of the pros, with step-by-step tutorials using Logic, Cubase and Ableton. A bonus CD includes 500+MB of exclusive samples to get you started. Written by Marc Adamo (DJ Magazine, Future Music) with contributions from Wolfgang Gartner, Way Out West, Sharooz and a foreword by Mark Knight, this is the first time the secrets of house music have ever been fully revealed.
Chapter by Chapter
1. Drums > The kick drum, Snares and claps, Hi-Hats, Cymbals and percussion, Synthetic percussion, Drum programming, Groove and swing, Programming grids.
Walkthroughs: Creating an analogue kick, Layered kicks, Increasing snare width, The gated snare, Creating an analogue snare, Layered clap and snare, Chunkier hi-hats, White noise hi-hats, Humanise your beats, Zap percussion, Click and glitch percussion, Groove templates in Logic, Swing and groove in Ableton, Groove tricks in Reason, Drum programming grids Pro-tips: Wolfgang Gartner
2. Bass > The bassics, Bass in the mix, Sub bass.
Walkthroughs: Sidechaining the bass, Wider bass, Minimal basslines, Tech-House basslines, Progressive basslines, Electro basslines, Fidget basslines, Disco and funky-house basslines Pro-tips: Way Out West
3. Vocals > What kind of vocal?, The vocal session, Editing the vocals, Vocal production, Automation, Vocal FX.
Walkthroughs: Comping from multiple takes, Auto-Tune basics, Melodyne basics, Next steps in Melodyne, Chorus blocks, New harmony lines, The lead vocal, Producing the chorus block, Adlibs, Minimal vocals, Vocoder vox, Sleazy tuned electro vox, Reverse reverb, Phone filter and riser Pro-tips: The Young Punx
4. The music > Synth anatomy, Classic pianos and stabs, Pads, Fat leads and arps, Soulful Rhodes, Roots and the minor scale, Major vs minor, Inversions, 7th 9ths and beyond, Working with loops, Rex loops, Apple Loops, Creative FX.
Walkthroughs: Early 90s house, synth chord stabs - tech and prog style, Mighty lead, Portamento electro lead, Analogue anthem pads, Gated pads, Soulful house chords, Logic Flex, Slice to EXS, Creating a Rex file, Percussion loop edits in Ableton, Re-grooving drum and percussion loops in Ableton, Using Apple Loops, Turn a Wav into an Apple Loop, FX: Alarm wind-up, FX: The bomb, FX: Fizzy sweeps, FX: downshifter pitch drop, FX: White noise crash, FX: crash swell, FX: Elevator / white noise woosh, FX: Minimal verb build, FX: Full mix FX, FX: Dub siren
6. Effects > Insert or bus?, EQ, Compression, Parallel and multi-band compression, Limiter, Noise gate, De-esser, Overdrive, Distortion and clipping, Amp and speaker simulators, Bit-crusher, Tape saturation, Reverb, Echo and delay, Chorus and ensemble, Flanger, Phaser, Pitch shifter, Sub bass enhancers, Exciters, Ring modulation and frequency shifters, Vocoders, Auto-panner, Stereo enhancers, Stereo spread, DSP-effects, Repeaters, Multi-effects
7. Mixing > Before you start, Approaches, Dynamics, EQ, Panning, Space, What goes where?, Frequency diagram, Mix automation, Monitoring, The master bus, Advanced mixing, Note to frequency chart, Mastering, Remixing, Kick-starting the remix: four approaches.
Walkthroughs: 32-part mixing walkthrough, from kick drum through to the master - covers EQ, compression, transient shapers, reverbs etc, Mastering the mix, Edits to the master, The pre-drop fade
8. Outro > A word on the money, by Sharooz. Index.
BONUS CD > Limited Edition 500MB ´House´ sample CD containing 100s of the very best hand-picked loops from across the Sample Magic range, including SM16 Deep Tech-House.
