In the mean time, if you have any suggestions for an appropriate WordPress template, please send me a link or something, cause I would love to hear about it!

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Before I start, I want you to be critical to my workflow and realize that this may not work for you specifically. If you feel like any of the Pro-tips are incorrect/bad advice, don’t hesitate to correct me!
I’m going to write this workflow starting from the point where you have an acapella and want to create a track around it. You can apply any of these techniques in your own original tracks and in acapellas that you got off your mates/colleagues.

Starting out production, I always felt like I needed to wait for inspiration to be able to create a track and could never create one on demand, but the more I saw how the pros could just produce track after track, the more I realized that they used some sort of formulas and that in order for me to be able to do the same, I need to be able to understand all the intricacies of their formulas.
I set out on a quest to find out exactly what the common threads in all tracks are and started to analyze a few artists, but only one at a time so as to avoid confusion. I recreated their tracks, melodies, mixes, mastering (Pro-tip) and I learned a lot that way. For example: instead of doing what the pros were telling me to do, I did what the pros were actually doing. A lot of the time you’ll find that you’re given bad advice and false advice, so always be wary when a producer reveals one of his secrets (Pro-tip). He may just be blatantly lying to you or avoiding to reveal what the real secret is.

With that in mind, let’s get started:

1. Import an acapella into one of your last tracks (Pro-tip).
   I think this is a really good idea, because it gives you a template that you already know works and you get the choice of what you want to keep from the old track and what you want to scratch. Also I want to use the same BPM in all of my tracks (170BPM) since it makes it easier for me and everyone else to mix and I don’t see any reason to vary the speeds of my tracks. Also varying the speeds in tracks means that the DJ playing your track will have to timestretch or pitch your track, which will either make the kicks sound less powerful or the track sound out of key.
2. Beatmatch the BPM to the acapella (not the other way around, as most people would do) (Pro-tip).
   Whenever I start with an acapella that’s not 170BPM, I slow down the speed of my project. I haven’t seen anyone else do it, but I know that if the timing is right at a slow BPM, it will only be more spot on at a higher BPM. Don’t be afraid of cutting the acapella and requantizing if it goes out of sync, because not all acapellas will line up perfectly.
3. Create a bass-progression that works with the acapella.
   If the bass and acapella aren’t in the same key, it’s gonna make everything sound awful, since I base all my other synths on the bass.
4. Create a pad based on the bass (and thus works with the acapella).
5. Create a melody based on the pads (and thus works with the bass and the acapella).
6. Change various melodies, timbres/sounds and samples.
7. Delete characteristic sounds from the old track and create new characteristic sounds.
   This can be anything from an arp to a drum-sample or effect.
8. Arrange the track.
   A rough outline will do at this stage. Preferably use arrangements from other tracks you like. (Pro-tip)
9. Add details here and there (especially in transitions) to give it the pro-edge and make people go “how did he do that?” (Pro-tip).

Keep in mind that less is more (i.e. a select few good sounds will work better than lots of bad sounds) and to keep it simple. The dancefloor is the judge of how good your track is. Remember though that not all details will be heard when you play out and sometimes too much detail can steal the focus of your main elements, such as the kick/bass, lead synth and vocals.

I hope this gives you a little more insight into how I view a track as of right now and most importantly that this gives you a way to create your own workflow and lets you be more productive. The way I work is constantly shifting, so I may redesign my entire workflow by next year, but this is what I do as of right now.

If you found this article useful, please let me know and also share it with your friends!

Feel free to share your own tips!

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1. New Hardcore Underground T-Shirts
2. Hardcore Underground presents: 2010
3. Happy New Hardcore Year 2010!

At last we have more HU T-Shirts available! It’s another limited edition run with a slightly different design and colourscheme to last time around. The shirts will again only be available in black, but this time the logo is outline only, and printed in high quality white (which looks awesome under UV / blacklights). Stock is very limited and as last time we expect these to sell out very quickly.

Buy them here: http://www.hardcoreunderground.info

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1. New Hardcore Underground Artist Profiles

Today I’m going to talk about books. More specifically books that I believe every producer should have in his library. All of these books are the most popular ones in their category on Amazon.com and as such, I think that’s a good indication of their quality, which is why I’ve included them here. The books covered are as follows:

• The Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys and Techniques
• Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory
• How to Make a Noise: A Comprehensive Guide to Synthesizer Programming
• The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook
• Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science
• How to Write a Hit Song: The Complete Guide to Writing and Marketing Chart-Topping Lyrics & Music
• How to Be a Hit Songwriter: Polishing and Marketing Your Lyrics and Music

The Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys and Techniques

This book is by far the book that covers the most aspects of audio production of the books I’ve listed. I have never encountered anything quite like it. This is my go-to book whenever I have a question about anything in music/audio production. It covers what tools there are and exactly how everything works (for example, that’s where I learned about compression, if you’ve read my tutorial). It covers synthesis, music theory (basic) and will show you how to program your own drums in any synthesizer. It covers different electronic dance music (EDM) genres, their characteristics and recommended listening (incl. trance). While it isn’t very good at explaining these genres, it at least tries to give you a summed up version of it. It also explains physics in a way that’s easy to understand. Another good thing about this book is that the author is very down to earth and understands the needs of the person buying a book like this and as such doesn’t demand that the reader buys plug-ins for thousands of pounds, but rather tries to give you alternatives to inexpensive tools that sound great.
If you read anything at all, make it this book.

Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory

This book is very useful and will show you how to read notation, teach you about rhythm and the G-clef zZzZzZzZz — AHEM! Sorry… This book will teach you how to write proper melodies and it shows you how and why certain melodies are catchier than others. It will teach you how you can make sure that your melodies are in key and how you can fix your melodies when they aren’t. What’s more interesting about this though is that it will teach you things that you didn’t even know you could learn. This will give you a completely new insight into melodies and you’ll be able to spit out riffs and tons of variations thereof (all in key, of course) in no time at all. I was very impressed by this book and thought it covered every areas extensively. It doesn’t go in-depth into compositional theory, but there are other books designed for that. It will however give you all the tools you need in order to learn more about compositional theory.

How to Make a Noise: A Comprehensive Guide to Synthesizer Programming

I haven’t read this book and thus can’t really say anything about how it’s written, but it seems very good and I’m looking forward to reading this once I’m done reading my other books. There’s a free on-line version of this on noisesculpture.com that shows you down-to-earth real-world examples of patches that you can create on very popular plugins. The information on it can be applied on any synthesizer, so it’s definitely worth a look or two if you’re stuck on your synthesis skills. No matter if you’re patch junkie or a synthesis purist, this will help you get the most out of your synthesizers.

The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook

Without a doubt, the best book I’ve read on Mixing theory. It explains exactly how you should think of a mix and helped me improve myself a lot. I had read and seen a lot of material on how to mix your tracks, but it wasn’t until I read this book that my skills literally skyrocketed. It shows you various examples of real-world tracks so that you can easily follow the examples and hear for yourself what the author is trying to show you. It explains exactly the how and why of everything. Compression, EQ, stereo-positioning, etc. are all covered in a humane matter. The author of this book is not stuck up like a lot of other successful musicians seem to be (sadly) and that only makes the book even more enjoyable.

Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science

If you want to get into mastering, this is the book of choice, but personally, I believe every competent producer should own a copy of this book. Written by one of the most prominent figures alive in this area (Bob Katz, inventor of the K-metering-system) and read and recommended by lots of Mastering Engineers (including Ruffage of PureFocus Mastering). It goes very in-depth into a lot of technical areas of audio and will teach you all about bitrates, bitdepth, samplerates, compressors, etc.

How to Write a Hit Song: The Complete Guide to Writing and Marketing Chart-Topping Lyrics & Music

This book had some very inspirational tips and it shows you how a well-structured lyric is supposed to look and the author also gives some inspirational advice. This was recommended to me and it was a fun read, but the author however is clearly very full of herself, which makes this a pain to read sometimes, especially when the first thing you read in the book is an angsty rant on how music has become wide-spread because of the Internet and how her royalties suffer because of this, although she clearly makes a very good living off her songs. She is also a bit detached and tries giving legal advice which is just not possible for those starting out.
The exercises make up for this though and it’s actually a decent read.

How to Be a Hit Songwriter: Polishing and Marketing Your Lyrics and Music

This is the follow up of the former book and generally has some good exercises as well. It does suffer from the same thing as the first one though; the author. While the first book is more focused on getting the basics covered, this book is more focused on teaching you new techniques so that you won’t suffer from lack of inspiration.

Final Thoughts

I think there are some really nice books out there, especially the Dance Music Manual. I’ve listed them all in the order that I would read them. I’ve listed them like this after importance. The first book will cover the basics of all areas of production, but doesn’t go too in-depth whereas the latter books demand that you have some degree of experience in the area covered, but give you that final push from amateur to professional. As such, I wouldn’t recommend getting too caught up on mastering before you know how a track is usually arranged. You can get by without the songwriting books (unless you want to give your lyrics a nice polish) and while a lot of people will say “you don’t need music theory to write awesome tracks,” I believe they’re forgetting that knowing your theory will teach you how to write even better tracks!
I hope this tutorial has inspired you, that you’ll learn stuff you didn’t even know were possible and that all the pieces will finally start coming together. All your questions should be answered, but when in doubt, use your Google-skills.
Have you read any of these books or plan on doing so? In that case, go ahead and let me know what you think!

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1. Clip: Phenex vs. Nu Foundation feat. Le Kat — Power of Goodbye

I need you to stay
Because I’ve come to see inside my mind
All I’ll ever want is you

When we’re dancing together in a ray of light
Is when I need you to hold me through the end of the night
And I’ll always remember every word you said
When I’m flying together with this angels in my head

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I’m sorry I was so naive
We never should have been apart
I never meant to make you leave
I never meant to break your heart

You made me feel so strong
But I treated you wrong
My heart was made of stone
You gave all your emotion
But I gave you no devotion
And now I stand alone

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I hold your body close to mine
I feel your warm embrace
I know we’ll last forever

I wanna fly with you
All through the night with you
No one can take away
The feelings I have for you

One day when we’re old
We’ll look back and see
How we were joined together

Won’t you miss the life
When to hearts were as one
Just you and me forever

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