Here is a link to Riley and Durrants youtube account

Until next time

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I have had a lot of music gear over the years. Roland MC-909, (click link to see me using it on Youtube if you are interested at all) a MK1 Electribe EA-1, an Akai APC40, an Emu X-board, an Evolution U-Control UC33e, a MicroKorg, 2 different Kaoss Pads etc etc. Plus I’ve used my friends TB-303, his Lemur Controller and lots of other stuff he has.

So how could it be possible that a sub $100 pair of headphones would become my most valuable asset?

Well to put it simply, you only sound as good as your mix.

If you produce from home and you have neighbours to consider, as I do, it can be hard to produce your tracks to a semi decent level. (Apparently old ladies in their 60′s don’t appreciate their TV’s being drowned out by some fat minimal basslines!) Multiply this difficulty if you do not own a decent set of monitor speakers and just use your home stereo speakers.

This was precisely the problem that I faced. And I found a solution.

Please, watch this short video I made and I will follow on underneath it. I am a hayfever sufferer so apologies for the blocked nose

So, if you watched the video you will have a better idea of why I like them.

I mentioned that I would give you examples of tracks I produced before and after owning the MDR-V6′s.

BEFORE
Carousel by clarkness

AFTER (This tune is heavy going but it serves as an example)
Sicko by clarkness

None of these tracks have been final mastered. These are the raw files straight out of Ableton.

When I listen to both tracks through the headphones track 1 is far too bassy and the mix is very muddy. However when I produced that track on my stereo speakers it sounded perfect. Until I listened on other speakers.

I highly recommend you grab a good set of monitor headphones and I can swear by these bad boys.

Here are some technical details for those who are that way inclined:

Sony MDR-V6 is a large diaphragm foldable headphone designed for professional audio and live/broadcast applications. The MDR-V6 is a closed, circumaural sealed-ear design with a coiled, telephone-like oxygen-free copper cord. The model dates back to the 1980s.

The MDR-V6 is usually regarded as a relatively durable headphone. For example, all of the MDR-V6′s enclosures are made out of metal instead of plastic. However, the pleather pads have been reported by some to wear out after time. The pads are replaceable parts (part number 2-115-668-03), and also other vendor’s pads can be used with some modding, such as the Beyer Dynamic DT 250′s velour pads, that some have claimed to be more comfortable and noise-isolating than the original pads.

Driver Units – 40mm Dynamic
Impendance – 63 ohms @ 1 Khz
Sensitivity – 106 dB/Mw
Watts – 0.5
Power Handling Capacity – 1W
Frequency Response – 5-30,000 Hz
Cord – 3 metres (extended coil length) coiled cord
Plug Type – Stereo unimatch, 1/4″ and 1/8″
Weight – 230g (without cord)

So what does this mean in practise? Well, if you like having deep bass in your tracks or you have problems finding the right balance when you are using sub bass, these will help. A LOT! These headphones allow me to fine tune all the sounds in my mixdown.

I had someone on soundcloud actually leave a comment on a track of mine saying that he works in a studio and he stuck my track on in the studio. He said it sounded amazing. Now, I did not do anything different from normal. I just got the track sounding good through the studio monitor headphones rather than through my old stereo speakers.

Thats it. Nothing fancy. It’s almost like magic. So, if you can produce tracks that sound good on your home speakers but sound shit on any other pair of speakers I highly recommend investing a little bit of cash in a pair of Sony MDR-V6′s.

I swear, you will thank me later!

In conclusion, I love these headphones. If you are struggling to make your productions sound well produced and monitor speakers are out of the question/budget then you can do a lot worse than grab yourself a pair of these!

Don’t take my word for it however. To read more user reviews and see prices, click on the flag below depending on your country. (Just now I can only support USA and UK but I will look to add more options)

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Hi folks,

.

It’s Alan here. I have had a mad month which included finally becoming self employed and also spending a week in New York for my brothers wedding. It was hard work wearing a kilt in that heat!

I have also been spending lots of time on Ableton after I got an Akai APC40 about 7 weeks ago. I would be interested to know how many of you have one of these. I would love to make tutorials looking specifically how to use your APC40 in a live environment.

I have been getting my head around having some bass synths set up and incorporating these, along with drum loops etc into a live DJ set. The APC40 makes these types of thing VERY do-able! I have been very happy with the results. If this sounds like something you’d like to do, let me know.

I thought I would put up a post about a great article I read recently.
Click Here to read it

It was written by a guy called Tarekith and it really is solid advice. If you have been having problems getting your tracks to sound as good as professionally produced tracks, you should have a good read at this.

I would like to expand upon one of the parts of the article.

He is talking about listening to your music on different speakers then making a mental note so when you go back to Ableton you can make allowances for your speakers. You know what it’s like when you have your track sounding perfect on your speakers at home, only to find that when you listen in the car it sounds no-where near as good?

He talks about the need for good room acoustics and I know for most this type of thing is out the question. However I recently bought a set of monitor headphones and they have really helped me sort my stuff out!

Get monitor speakers and follow his advice and you will be onto a winner. I always kept thinking about more gear for making sounds or controllers or soundcards etc when considering new equipment. By far the most valuable piece I have now is my monitor headphones!

For anyone who is interested, I use Sony MDR-V6 headphones. They are unbelievably good and as one CNET review said about them: “The best sound outside a studio”.

I am going to write a review on these headphones in the not too distant future for those who may be interested.

Enjoy the read and keep your eyes peeled for loads of new content that will be live over the next weeks including a tutorial on how to get massive bass out of Ableton live and how to manipulate the bass in a live set! You will love it.

Plus

I am starting a new Podcast with one of my good friends and the main focus of our podcast is going to be unsigned music from Soundcloud.

The first show is a stormer, just getting the finishing touches done to it. It will be free and I will let you know some real gems that are available for free download. But I won’t spoil the show by going into it any more right now.

Get involved on Soundcloud and join our group. I’ll listen to as many tracks as I can manage. You could be on it getting recommended to potentially a few thousand people. Sounds Good?

My soundcloud is @ CLARKNESS
My Twitter is @CLARKNESSMUSIC

Catch you later,

I’ve a lot of stuff to get ready for you.

Alan

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Hi,

Seeing as I don’t watch TV, ever, it means I can spend more time finding stuff like this!

These 3 tutorials are worth their weight in gold! If they had a weight.

The videos show you how to master your tracks using Ableton Live and a plugin call iZotope Ozone. You are shown how to grab the EQ settings from any professionally produced track you like and apply them to your own track! It’s amazing.

You are also taken by the hand through the entire mastering process using the plugin! Compression, Limiters and a whole load more you probably don’t know you should be doing!

I hope you enjoy them!

The videos were made by someone I have got to know called DJ Vesper! I recommend checking his webpage out if you liked these! He does crazy things with Ableton Live and Electronic woodwind instruments! Sounds crazy but it’s true! haha

• Keep a Limiter on your Master (wiretotheear.com)

The videos were made by someone I have got to know called DJ Vesper! I recommend checking his webpage out if you liked these! He does crazy things with Ableton Live and Electronic woodwind instruments! Sounds crazy but it’s true! haha

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Hi people!

I have been busy coming up with a marketing plan for all of us when it comes to getting your music more exposure on Soundcloud and Twitter!

I have created an excusive MEMBERS ONLY group on Soundcloud!

It is at The Members Only page I created for us all.

Please watch this Youtube video I have uploaded all the way through so you can see how this will benefit you greatly and give you massive value!

How do you fancy getting more people to listen and comment on your tracks?

How do you feel about getting more exposure?
We can all help each other massively, with hardly any effort and we can learn more about producing with Ableton from each other!

ENJOY

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In This video you will see how to make a minimal style bassline using the low end of an 808 kick.

Thanks again for tweeting the posts and feel free to make comments.

This is a short and sweet video, Enjoy.

Oh and remember to select HD to get a better quality!

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To lead on from the 808 Kit tutorial I decided to show you how to create a bass rack using Analog, one of the great instruments supplied with Ableton 8.

I build an arpeggio bass rack from scratch and assign the macro’s to give me a useable instrument for live manipulation. You can build as many racks as you want! Literally.

By the end of this 3 part series you will have a useable instrument ready for jamming away on LIVE. The hands on control you can have really gets the juices flowing!

I do not claim to know absolutely everything when it comes to Ableton so forgive any mistakes. I do however put many hours into what I do and know enough that I think people get good value from the videos!

I’d have loved for someone to have shown me this type of thing when I first started using the programme!

Also, if any of you guys knock out a tutorial, let me know. I’m considering putting YOU on the blog posts which my entire list will get to see! If nothing it will get you traffic to your Youtube page. Which is always a good thing!

Thanks for ReTweeting the posts! It is making a huge difference to the popularity of the website! Traffic is increasing steadily and subscribers are growing! PLEASE KEEP DOING IT!

EVERY TIME you come here! Please! haha

Enjoy the videos and let me know your thoughts!

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Welcome Back. More of the great content you have come to expect.

One of my main aims is to get people using Ableton Live like an INSTRUMENT so you get good at performing your tracks live.

There are ways of working and setting up effects so you can really get involved in the mix of your track. This is also true of how you “perform” your drums. Once you get good at producing your tracks this way, you naturally become talented at DJ’ing using the program. You start to  apply production effects to entire tracks and live remix them etc.

This 3 part video series shows how I approach making beats using Ableton Live.  I’m not going to be showing how to construct a beat though. I’m going to show you what to do with your drum loop after you have created.

Have you ever wondered how the beats in some tracks have  so much variation? It is hard to imagine how they have been programmed. Well this is the answer.

People are performing amazing effects live over a drumloop.

This sounds amazing with just a single bar loop but even more impressive when you do a 16 bar or longer with some variations in it. There aren’t any limits to this really.

Please Retweet this post. At the top just click retweet. Help me get more visitors and I’ll keep making stuff like this.

Cheers

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