So you want to be a Rave God?

[rayclubp]

So you want to be a Rave star?

This is not as difficult as it may seem. There's a simple guideline

to 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 the

way I'm going to explain that you'll soon realize that talent just gets in

the way. All you need is the will to make some really loud, pounding

music. 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 buy

a 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 the

best.

Know the lingo. Know the difference between Techno and Rave, between E and

X,

between carbo fuel and kool-ade, but don't worry about the difference

between

middle C and G. Call your synth an "axe" and refer to your MIDI hookup as

your "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 can

make some decent techno with a minimum setup. You'll need a multi-track

tape

player, like the Tascam 4 track decks. They're cheap, easy to use and

effective. You'll need at least two keyboards. One should be a fairly old

analog synth like the Prophet 5 (expensive) or old Roland synths. If you

can't

find or afford an analog synth with MIDI, you can cheat by getting a digital

synth 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 real

instruments. And you don't use real isntruments in techno.

Next, you'll need a sampler. You can't make those easily recognized

songs without a few samples mixed in. A good start would be the EMAX, if

you

can afford one. It also must have MIDI ports. Real musicians use MIDI, you

must too. If you can't afford an EMAX, try a Roland S-50, or even an old

Mirage. 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, like

the Roland, Opcode, Passport, whatever you can afford. Don't rely on the

Soundblaster Pro MIDI, though. No one uses those. And you'll need a

sequencer program. MasterTracks Pro is the best.

Now take a day or two to learn how to hook up the sampler, synth and

4 track to the computer. Hit the keys on the keyboard a few times to learn

what sounds it makes. Have fun with it, you probably won't need to use the

keys much after this. Learn your synth inside out. You'll need to know how

to make it deliver sounds so bizzare, people will know it's techno by the

third note. Spend some time with your sampler to learn how to edit simple

sounds. You'll need this later.

Step 4, your first song.

OK, you have the gear, you have the attitude, you have some time to

kill. Now for the music. A good skill to have is to be able to make the

synth deliver really long, complicated step sounds. Having to enter only

one

note, and have it continute on to fill a whole measure is useful, and speeds

the creative process. On to the sequencer. By now you'll know how to enter

notes 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 measure

should be played higher, move it up! Sounds too slow, just speed up the

tempo.

Easy, just as it should be.

Now for a few rules. The tempo should be between 140 and 170 BPM, or

Beats Per Minute for the layman. Real techno is around 150 BPM. Always

keep

the 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. And

remember

to make changes only at divisions of 4. Never break this rule. Someone

might 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 simple

kick-snare-kick-snare. You know there's a lot of techno out there using

this

well known pattern. If you want to do your own drum track, try not to use

standard drum samples. Spice it up a bit. Sample someone hitting a plate

with 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 old

funk album, sample a clean drum pattern, and loop it. Now you have a

professional sounding drum track. Yes, it's that easy.

The body of the song is just as easy. Find some really grinding

sound on your synth, test a few random notes till it sounds dancable, and

repeat it 16 times. Now for the change. Just find another pattern of

notes,

and repeat that 8 or 16 time, then go back to the first pattern. You can

get nearly a full minute of music using this simple idea. For a fuller

sound, you can layer another odd sound over it, repating a note at every 2nd

or 4th beat. Don't get too complicated, though. That's not what techno is

about.

Now for the samples. Watch some old movie that's on late at night on

a cable channel you don't normally watch. Record it on a VCR. Play it back

till you find some phrase or word you think is neat. Sample it. Repeat

this

till you have 3-4 samples. Now take these samples, and insert them at

regular

intervals in the music. If you have a sample played at the 3rd note in the

3rd measure, make sure to start it at the exact same place when the measure

is played again. You don't want to confuse your audiance.

And remember to never use real instruments. If you use any real

instruments, they can only be included in samples, and should be edited to

sound unlike the original sample.

Now for a name. Here is where you can get original, but always stay

within the bounds of techno-rave music names. For a band title, pick

something

technical 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.

Even

if you only have one version of your song, include a remix name. For

example,

you might use "N-CODE, D-CODE (Voltage Mix)". Try to sneak the words

Rhythm,

Beat, X, E, Insane, etc. into your title. But do not put the words techno

or

rave in. The reasons should be obvious.

Step 5, the marketing.

OK, you have your first song. Get the gear synced up, and record it

to 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 your

local techno DJ. Most DJ's have their own mixes available on tape. These

are

usually bootleg mixes of the popular stuff. Pay him to insert your song

between 2 popular songs. This is best, since people will remember your song

as being before or after one of their favorites. Make sure the tape has

liner notes of the song and artist. This is so they can request the song by

name 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 record

shop 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 bills

are usually more substantial than their artistic integrity. Find their

price,

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 is

expensive,

and usually requires a lot of copies. Again you'll need bribary. Find a

record pressing plant as close as you can. Have your tape mastered and

pressed

onto a record. You'll need to get some con working to get about 10 copies

of

the master made, cheaply, of course. Promise them that if the quality is up

to

your artistic standards, you'll buy 1000 more. Don't put anything in

writing,

though. Take your copies, put them in sleeves, make homemade labels if you

need to, but make the lettering look really cool. Don't include anymore

information than the title, record RPM and BPM of the song. The less, the

better. It's much easier to just give them to your bribed DJ friends than

to

try to get them into a record store, but do both if possible. If nothing

else,

it will add a little confustion to the owners of the store when someone buys

them.

You're set. Within a week, someone will play the song. If it's

repetative, danceable, and kicks, they'll play it again, and again, as the

masses stomp to the techno rhythms. Wait at least 2 months before you tell

people it's your song. Make it seem like it's no big deal, that they play

your stuff all the time. From here on, it's all gravy. You can take your

new status as a local techno-god on the DJ remix tapes and played in all the

best clubs, or you can expand on this idea, and go the limit. Con a small

label company into a deal where they make nearly all the profit, but agree

to buy you more gear, a lot of it. Stacks of gear. With more gear comes

more attitude, more sounds. Still the same talent, but you know how to play

the game. Soon you'll be cranking out dance tracks at high rates, and have

remixes upon remixes. Now tour with Moby or The Prodigy. Tell people you

know 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.

[glynis]

carbo fuel and kool-ade ????

[bigpoppanils]

as far as marketing goes astralwerks has been looking for new acts to sign up. more info on astralwerks.com

riffage.com and mp3.com are inexpensive ways to get your name out as well

[lavkrap]

that was beautiful, man

------------------

things to see, people to do... hehe

[rayclubp]

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.

[cdaddy]

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?! djlovejones

88.7 WRSU

[rayclubp]

that is the industry

------------------

He channels the cosmos through the tables do not worship the shaman, but revere his music.

[gonzojournilist]

where are the 909's

and 808's

909??

jesus god just last month they were selling a broken one on ebay for 7000 dollars

my 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 drive

im really looking to buy shit simaliar to rebirth how much will that have to run me

and of course i am not looking for a roland tr-909 (i got bills to pay)

so what can i use instead????????