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Muzik
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Book Description
Welcome to the second edition of Electronica Dance Music Programming Secrets. In the first edition we explored the main styles that constitute Electronica and showed how to produce your own examples. This second edition brings us up-to-date with the latest emergent styles in Electronica, from Trance and Dreamhouse to Big Beat and Nu Skool Electro. One of the best kept secrets of Electronica is the way in which a few, very basic, breakbeats, basslines and melody lines are manipulated via sequencer and synthesiser programmining to produce magical effects, and we'll explore more of the these secrets in this expanded and revised edition.
Another of the London dance scene's best kept secrets is Newtronic, an expert band of programmers beavering away producing beats and basslines which are sold as building block kits. Many professional Electronica musicians use Newtronic's building blocks and I am proud to collaborate with them on this second edition to bring their secrets to you.
The power of sequencing lies in its empowerment of the individual to produce professional quality music from a modest home set-up. Musical tricks and secrets, previously the preserve of professionals with huge budgets and the time necessary to learn them, become easily understood through a sequencer's graphic displays, paving a much smoother path from musical novice to explorer and innovator. Who hasn't played around on a friend's guitar or keyboard and heard something in their untutored ramblings that sounded great but which they lacked the skill to replicate? With a sequencer your moment of musical genius can be captured, isolated from the dross surrounding it and replicated to form the basis of a new groove.
Beyond the simple process of recording and replaying, sequencers offer a wealth of music processing options that allow you to take your original idea and experiment or generate harmony parts which in the past would have required a studio full of expensive session musicians and years of learning music theory. This opens new avenues of musical exploration and is the driving force behind the continuing development of Electronica. No longer does a composer have to patiently explain to a bass player or drummer just the feel he has in mind and await their understanding of his concept before they can hear their own musical idea - now you can try out the juxtaposition of patterns you had in mind and adjust the results yourself until the required feel is obtained. Once achieved it is there to be replayed perfectly at any time, not just when the musicians are in the right mood. Using the power of computers to capture those precious moments of inspiration leads to faster working and a freedom to experiment which was previously only enjoyed by the classical or jazz musician with years of training and practice behind him.
Electronica Dance Music Programming Secrets is organised so you can simply dip into those areas of Electronica which you are most interested in. There are stylistic links and similarities between the various styles and I hope this book will lead you to explore those links and thus evolve your own, original, style. Along the way, sequencers' music processing features are introduced in context, where they make the most sense. Too often instruction manuals assume you have a degree in computer science and the musical knowledge of a classical musician, introducing powerful features out of context, bewildering novice and expert alike.
Introducing features from sequencer tricks through to sample manipulation and sound effects as they are required will help you unravel many of the mysteries surrounding Electronica music-making. This will free you to create the music we all hear in our head but which most of us have been unable to realise until now. Ultimately the magic that is music depends on that indefinable something that makes a chord sequence or riff transcendental and it would be foolish to say that simply reading this book will make a Derrick May or Goldie of you. What I hope it will do is allow you to discover the magic that is making music and uncover the hidden musician that beats in everyone's breast.
Nothing in this book about the different styles of Electronica is true of course. The very act of creating electronic music denies the existence of formulas. Take the patterns for Garage drums and make a Jungle track with them, try writing a Trip Hop bassline in a Techno style or mash together patterns from all the different styles. Above all else, remember, there are no rules, anything is possible.
Synopsis
This second edition text covers the new styles of dance music since the first was published, namely, Big Beat and Speed Garage. It takes the reader through the example MIDI files provided covering drumbeats, basslines and melodic motifs. The means of getting the right sounds is described.
From the Back Cover
The bestselling all-in-one user's guide to composing sophisticated electronica and dance music in all the leading contemporary styles: House, Garage, Trance, Techno, Big Beat, Drum 'n' Bass and much more.
Fully updated to cover the latest stylistic developments, Electronica Dance Music Programming Secrets 2nd Edition provides a tour of all the essentials of MIDI sequencing, digital audio, sound production and advanced General MIDI programming. With the help of the complete set of musical templates and digital sound files supplied on the CD, the book offers readers all the knowledge and raw material they need to produce their own professional quality dance music.
IN THE BOOK:
All the Basics ~ Programming House & Garage ~ Programming Trance & Techno ~ Programming Big Beat ~ Drum'n'Bass ~ Programming Trip Hop ~ Audio Programming ~ GM, GS, XG ~ The Mixing Desk, EQ & Effects ~ Getting Your Work Published ~ Sequencing & the Internet ~ Computer Basics ~ Program Change Tables ~ GM Sound Sets ~ Control Change Events ~ Synchronisation ~ Other Computer Music Software
ON THE CD:
Newtronic's MIDI files - a professional set of musical templates covering all the major styles in electronic dance music. Newtronic's Audio files - a professional set of sound files (two and four bar loops) for readers to produce their own tracks quickly and easily.
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Customer Reviews
“Electronic Dance Music Programming Secrets” is nothing more than a beginners guide to MIDI programming in a Drum/Piano roll - there are no secrets exposed, just the very basics. Practically nothing is mentioned about song Arrangement - something that I would have thought would be included in the term “programming” surely? The book doesn’t really delve into anything complex and focuses mainly on creating simple patterns. There is no mention of groove quantise or anything like that.
The styles described and demos on the CDs are iffy and outdated to say the least, even for when it was published (2000) and before. The sort of thing you can expect in the demos are dry solid 808/909 beat box percussion sounding like early 90s electronica for the 4/4 stuff, and some not very big “Big beat” breakbeats.
A whole quarter(!) of the book (appendexes) is completely wasted listing such things as Drum and GM maps and directories/files on the CD with double spacing. You can get such maps out of the back of any keyboard manual. The book also goes completely beyond it remit turning into a beginners guide to technology with sections such “what is a computer”, “what are files”, “what is an application”, “what is the internet”…
They are some semi useful sections for beginners on describing the very basics of mixers, effects (compression not mentioned though) and marketing/publishing etc. But the chances are you probably know this info or can learn more reading a mixer manual or magazine.
I think the book is well done. its definitely an introduction to electronic music. I don't think a guy like BT would have any use for this book. The rest of us however can learn a thing or two.
there's good advice on how to program basslines and the basic beat patterns for most music styles are there. its not all sequencing though. they go over how drum and bass artists use sampling and recycle to get their beats.
this book is not a huge and exhaustive in depth study of electronic music programming. read future music and computer music magazine for cool articles and tips.
its the basics of the whole affair and its well done. I would have liked it be more in depth but the art form is so new and versatile that it would be a monolithic task to collect and organize everything that's going on out there in sequencer land. It would be behind the times in six months anyway. its a hell of a good place to start though.
here's what they give ya.
four on the floor house, trance, etc, drum patterns. some cool ideas for fills. good ideas and thoughts on the arrangements.
very good advice on basslines. one of the best parts of the book IMHO.
they advise you to use gated pads for trance leads (duh) and that's about as far as they go on that subject.
they tell you how to program some hiphop style breaks. nothing fancy though. you're not gonna get the chemical brothers or prodigy secrets from this book.
some good advice on programming guitars and other instruments.
helpful midi advice. covers gm, gs and xg. nice touch.
good info on drum and bass breaks and bass patterns. If you are a total drum n bass head this book has a good chapter on that style and is worth your time to at least look at in the book store or library.
Here's what you don't get.
A detailed chapter on leads and synth programming. they provide with some basic stuff like filter sweeps but nothing in real detail. So you're not gonna find out how digweed did the lead in heavenscent. I would have like some info on what synths(besides the tb-303) create what often heard sounds. nothing on that in the book.
This is definitely for the beginner. however if you have a little talent and a lot of dedication you can come up with killer sounds yourself. you're not gonna find the formula for a kickass dance tune in a book. This book doesn't tell you how to paint. rather it provides the brushes, paint and canvas.
Theres nothing on two step which can be good or bad depending on your opinion. I'm american so its makes no difference to me but that might seem like a glaring omission to UK programmers. There's also nothing on hardhouse. the book should help you to figure out a lot of that sound on your own.
no aphex twin type craziness. I'd pay the price of this book to know how he did bocephus bouncing ball.
I think this is a good book. very informative and helpful to those just starting out. As someone who's been doing this for a while I would have preferred something more in depth and technical but then they probably wouldn't sell as many books. i can see this winding up on a lot of hipster coffee tables. nothing wrong with that.
the writers of the book were obviously influenced by the "blah blah for idiots or dummies" type books. the physical dimensions of the book are the same and the layout is very similar with little tip boxes and an included cd.
a little over half the book is actual programming knowledge. the rest is midi, eq, effects, etc.
I know this review is long but i'm just putting down the review I'd like to read if ya know what I mean.
this book has its strengths in rythm programming. that is to say the drums and the bass. the leads info is to me a bit thin but its enough to start with. that's the part of techno that's probably the most fun to discover for yourself anyway. good all around advice. A book with a good heart.
peace
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