rayclubp Posted July 7 Report Share Posted July 7 So you want to be a Rave star? This is not as difficult as it may seem. There's a simple guidelineto follow, and you'll be on your way to cult status.Step 1, the music. Forget about talent. There's enough techno out there done exactly theway I'm going to explain that you'll soon realize that talent just gets inthe way. All you need is the will to make some really loud, poundingmusic. Oh, and you'll need some cash.Step 2, the attitude. Get attitude, lot's of it. Know what's cool and what's not cool.Know exactly how many times a song can be played and how many people can buya bands CD before it's no longer cool. Tell people you live for your music,you're an artist. Make sure everyone knows that the gear you use is thebest.Know the lingo. Know the difference between Techno and Rave, between E andX,between carbo fuel and kool-ade, but don't worry about the differencebetweenmiddle C and G. Call your synth an "axe" and refer to your MIDI hookup asyour "rig". Whatever computer you use for your MIDI hookup is the best,remember that, tell others.Step 3, the equipment. You'll need some equipment, called "gear" by those who know. You canmake some decent techno with a minimum setup. You'll need a multi-tracktapeplayer, like the Tascam 4 track decks. They're cheap, easy to use andeffective. You'll need at least two keyboards. One should be a fairly oldanalog synth like the Prophet 5 (expensive) or old Roland synths. If youcan'tfind or afford an analog synth with MIDI, you can cheat by getting a digitalsynth that makes good analog sounds, such as the DX-7, or Casio CZ series.But remember, real techno musicians use analog. Whatever you do, don't get a"Sample Player" keyboard like the Roland U-20. They have samples of realinstruments. And you don't use real isntruments in techno. Next, you'll need a sampler. You can't make those easily recognizedsongs without a few samples mixed in. A good start would be the EMAX, ifyoucan afford one. It also must have MIDI ports. Real musicians use MIDI, youmust too. If you can't afford an EMAX, try a Roland S-50, or even an oldMirage. Stretch your dollars here, it'll be worth it. And, of course, you'll need a computer. But everyone already has this,so I'll cover what you'll need on the computer. Get a good MIDI board, likethe Roland, Opcode, Passport, whatever you can afford. Don't rely on theSoundblaster Pro MIDI, though. No one uses those. And you'll need asequencer program. MasterTracks Pro is the best. Now take a day or two to learn how to hook up the sampler, synth and4 track to the computer. Hit the keys on the keyboard a few times to learnwhat sounds it makes. Have fun with it, you probably won't need to use thekeys much after this. Learn your synth inside out. You'll need to know howto make it deliver sounds so bizzare, people will know it's techno by thethird note. Spend some time with your sampler to learn how to edit simplesounds. You'll need this later.Step 4, your first song. OK, you have the gear, you have the attitude, you have some time tokill. Now for the music. A good skill to have is to be able to make thesynth deliver really long, complicated step sounds. Having to enter onlyonenote, and have it continute on to fill a whole measure is useful, and speedsthe creative process. On to the sequencer. By now you'll know how to enternotes with the mouse and make the gear play them by playing the sequence.See,no need to hit the keys! Don't like a note, erase it. Think the measureshould be played higher, move it up! Sounds too slow, just speed up thetempo.Easy, just as it should be. Now for a few rules. The tempo should be between 140 and 170 BPM, orBeats Per Minute for the layman. Real techno is around 150 BPM. Alwayskeepthe tempo an even number, like 140, so the DJ can easily mix your song in.Also, everything should be done in 4/4 time. The math is easier. Andrememberto make changes only at divisions of 4. Never break this rule. Someonemight get confused on the dance floor, and twist their ankle or something. The drum track can be as simple as you want it to be, even a simplekick-snare-kick-snare. You know there's a lot of techno out there usingthiswell known pattern. If you want to do your own drum track, try not to usestandard drum samples. Spice it up a bit. Sample someone hitting a platewith a spatula, edit it and use it. Remember the rule, sample it, loop it.If you get bored with this, or just don't have the talent, find some oldfunk album, sample a clean drum pattern, and loop it. Now you have aprofessional sounding drum track. Yes, it's that easy. The body of the song is just as easy. Find some really grindingsound on your synth, test a few random notes till it sounds dancable, andrepeat it 16 times. Now for the change. Just find another pattern ofnotes,and repeat that 8 or 16 time, then go back to the first pattern. You canget nearly a full minute of music using this simple idea. For a fullersound, you can layer another odd sound over it, repating a note at every 2ndor 4th beat. Don't get too complicated, though. That's not what techno isabout. Now for the samples. Watch some old movie that's on late at night ona cable channel you don't normally watch. Record it on a VCR. Play it backtill you find some phrase or word you think is neat. Sample it. Repeatthistill you have 3-4 samples. Now take these samples, and insert them atregularintervals in the music. If you have a sample played at the 3rd note in the3rd measure, make sure to start it at the exact same place when the measureis played again. You don't want to confuse your audiance. And remember to never use real instruments. If you use any realinstruments, they can only be included in samples, and should be edited tosound unlike the original sample. Now for a name. Here is where you can get original, but always staywithin the bounds of techno-rave music names. For a band title, picksomethingtechnical that clicks. Try "Raster" or "Digi-Matic" or something like that.For the song title, you need two parts, the title, and the remix version.Evenif you only have one version of your song, include a remix name. Forexample,you might use "N-CODE, D-CODE (Voltage Mix)". Try to sneak the wordsRhythm,Beat, X, E, Insane, etc. into your title. But do not put the words technoorrave in. The reasons should be obvious.Step 5, the marketing. OK, you have your first song. Get the gear synced up, and record itto tape. If the 4-track version is finished, copy it to a normal tape deck,on a Type II tape, and get it to the public. How? Easy. Take it to yourlocal techno DJ. Most DJ's have their own mixes available on tape. Theseareusually bootleg mixes of the popular stuff. Pay him to insert your songbetween 2 popular songs. This is best, since people will remember your songas being before or after one of their favorites. Make sure the tape hasliner notes of the song and artist. This is so they can request the song byname at the local dance club. And get all your friends to request the song,so the DJ's will look for it, and when they finally find it at the recordshop in the DJ-remix pile, they'll scramble for it. Afraid the DJ won't put your song on his remix? Don't worry about it,DJ's don't make much, and usually don't have high-paying jobs. Their billsare usually more substantial than their artistic integrity. Find theirprice,meet it. Get on tape. The hard part is getting your music onto a medium that the DJ can play.All DJ's spin records or CD's. Getting a song recorded to these isexpensive,and usually requires a lot of copies. Again you'll need bribary. Find arecord pressing plant as close as you can. Have your tape mastered andpressedonto a record. You'll need to get some con working to get about 10 copiesofthe master made, cheaply, of course. Promise them that if the quality is uptoyour artistic standards, you'll buy 1000 more. Don't put anything inwriting,though. Take your copies, put them in sleeves, make homemade labels if youneed to, but make the lettering look really cool. Don't include anymoreinformation than the title, record RPM and BPM of the song. The less, thebetter. It's much easier to just give them to your bribed DJ friends thantotry to get them into a record store, but do both if possible. If nothingelse,it will add a little confustion to the owners of the store when someone buysthem. You're set. Within a week, someone will play the song. If it'srepetative, danceable, and kicks, they'll play it again, and again, as themasses stomp to the techno rhythms. Wait at least 2 months before you tellpeople it's your song. Make it seem like it's no big deal, that they playyour stuff all the time. From here on, it's all gravy. You can take yournew status as a local techno-god on the DJ remix tapes and played in all thebest clubs, or you can expand on this idea, and go the limit. Con a smalllabel company into a deal where they make nearly all the profit, but agreeto buy you more gear, a lot of it. Stacks of gear. With more gear comesmore attitude, more sounds. Still the same talent, but you know how to playthe game. Soon you'll be cranking out dance tracks at high rates, and haveremixes upon remixes. Now tour with Moby or The Prodigy. Tell people youknow Praga Kahn and Flood personally. Remember, the system feeds itself.Rave on.p.s.I didn't write this so I'm not taking credit.------------------He channels the cosmos through the tables do not worship the shaman, but revere his music. 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glynis Posted July 7 Report Share Posted July 7 carbo fuel and kool-ade ???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigpoppanils Posted July 7 Report Share Posted July 7 as far as marketing goes astralwerks has been looking for new acts to sign up. more info on astralwerks.comriffage.com and mp3.com are inexpensive ways to get your name out as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavkrap Posted July 7 Report Share Posted July 7 that was beautiful, man ------------------things to see, people to do... hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayclubp Posted July 7 Author Report Share Posted July 7 bigpoppanils I can't believe you took that shit seriously can you say s a t i r e?------------------He channels the cosmos through the tables do not worship the shaman, but revere his music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdaddy Posted July 7 Report Share Posted July 7 how dissappointing...that is so formula...do you want people to take this seriously??!! only 4/4...what kind of crap is that too!?...actually, if we all listen to that analogy why don't we just listen to a monotone note for that matter?! djlovejones88.7 WRSU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayclubp Posted July 8 Author Report Share Posted July 8 that is the industry------------------He channels the cosmos through the tables do not worship the shaman, but revere his music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzojournilist Posted July 8 Report Share Posted July 8 where are the 909's and 808's909??jesus god just last month they were selling a broken one on ebay for 7000 dollarsmy advise is use the rebirth program by propellerhead its a phat program so you can make your own tunes burn em then listen to them while you driveim really looking to buy shit simaliar to rebirth how much will that have to run meand of course i am not looking for a roland tr-909 (i got bills to pay)so what can i use instead???????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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