electronic music

back from the ashes?

March 19, 2024 — Leave a comment

i’ve been quite away from this place, as well as from the music production itself. however, this doesn’t mean i’m not completely away from the topic “music”.

a little bit more than two and a half years ago i discovered a whole new world: the world of dj’ing. disc jockeying was always something i really despised, simply as that and out of nowhere. never looked at the guy behind the turntables (now “cdjs”, as if cdjs were still in used these days) as a musician – an artist, undoubtedly, but not a musician. of course this poor judgement of mine never took in consideration the possibility that the person there could be a musician or a “bedroom” producer (while s/he doesn’t own his/her own house hehe). so, shame on my for thinking like that for so long.

in the middle of the 2nd year of the pandemics i started fiddling with the subject, using an old controller (a hercules dj console rmx) and an open source mixing software: mixxx. i enjoyed this thing so much so that a year or so later i bought myself a mixstream pro, because i’m totally pro gears that work independently from computers – that’s why i’m constantly trying to work on setup that work without the need for a computer – unless i’m recording stuff, obviously.

so, while the day my gear will see me again doesn’t come, i will leave you with the latest mix i dropped. hope you guys like it.

listas descompromissadas – triphop!

June 30, 2021 — Leave a comment

tempos atrás eu tinha um projeto de motovlog. nisso veio uma mudança de cidade, e a moto passou a ficar mais tempo na garagem do que na rua. com isso, o diário motociclístico acabou ficando de lado.

em uma das ocasiões eu saí com uma idéia na cabeça: por que não fazer listas descompromissadas? diferentemente do protagonista de “alta fidelidade”, que sempre organizava as coisas como “as 5 mais”, me permiti elaborar algo mais relaxado, sem incorrer na problemática de ser injusto com essa ou aquela banda.

a lista descompromissada da ocasião fala de #triphop. movimento surgido na ilha da rainha múmia, cujos nomes mais conhecidos – e que caracterizam o movimento – são: tricky, portishead e massive attack.

pra vocês verem… nesse vídeo eu acabei deixando o tricky de lado, falando bem mais dos outros dois grupos. 😬 evidente que isso não quer dizer que tricky seja ruim (“hell is around the corner” é duca!), mas simplesmente não me ocorreu. xD

ao longo dos próximos dias eu posto algumas observações pessoais sobre os discos que citei no vídeo. o link para íntegra dele está na bio. 😉 e como o de costume, se você curtiu, então deixa aquele xoinha, bem como um comentário. =) Viel Spaß!

consistency or variation?

April 16, 2021 — Leave a comment

recently a bloke i follow on twitter posed the following question:

https://twitter.com/fusedofficial/status/1380455710006390784?s=20

it’s definitely an interesting topic. some said they tend to stick with a drum kit, because that would bring cohesion and/or coherence to the songs, especially if they belong to an EP or album. on the other hand, some said it’d be better to tweak the drum section from song to song, which can offer the listener some alleviation from the fatigue. (it does make some sense, even more if we’re talking about songs for video games, where the loop technique is still in use, and the audio variation is key to avoid the hearing fatigue.)

the piece of hardware responsible for the drum section in my setup is the roland tr-8. i think you will notice its presence (almost trademark) if you are an attentive listener. in live streams i tend to believe that rare are the occasions where the squarepusher in action tweaks the drums that much.

guess i’ll pay more attention to this detail, as i tend to stick with many of the patches i already have programmed on it. a friend of mine kinda complained a bit. hahah! but then i pose you a question: what to say about all these trap, EDM, drum ‘n bass, house, techno songs that use to have virtually the same drum section? don’t you think this is more a relevant aspect only if you’re a beatmaker/producer, as the listener (casual or fan) won’t make a real distinction about that matter?

“behind the scenes” – p. ii

March 21, 2021 — Leave a comment

at this time you shoud be aware that in D-4 i’ll be releasing “be water, my friend”. today i’ll talk briefly about a another “guy” who plays an important part in the song.

so… some days ago i posted a video with the transformation process. roland tr-8 is the man behind the drums. after a minor tweak here and there, voilà: habemus drum section ready to go! the initial snare was sort of dim, a bit “pale”, not in tune with the presence the snare has in the beat. then i chose a more snappy/clappy one.

there was a 3rd option, which would demand way more time: checking the oldest of my grooveboxes – my beloved dr-202. but i’ll save this for later, as it is already appearing in the bonus track: an abstract/downtempo version of “be water, my friend”. there you guys will see it in action.

<p value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">by the way, there are two cinema/animation characters in the footage. will you be able to spot them? if yes, drop me a line. =)by the way, there are two cinema/animation characters in the footage. will you be able to spot them? if yes, drop me a line. =)