KSHMR Masterclass (Nov 28, 2015)

Part Part I: Producing Multiband compression ⁃ Combining with reverb and delay ⁃ Band-specific sidechain compression to avoid avoid clashing cla shing ⁃ Compression ⁃ Basic taming on synths via compressors like C-3! bouncing out tracks to see if they are tamed ⁃ Making kicks pop more with parallel compression ⁃ "idechain compression ⁃ #sing $%& 'ool ( )olume "haper on synths ⁃ *oing +(+ sidechain even when it the song is half-time ⁃ #pward compression to make synths, attack stronger ⁃ ick and Bass ⁃ 'he relationship of these two has a great impact on whether the song grooves correctly ⁃ ./ ⁃ %inding a good ./ for different purposes such as ⁃ .0uality for opening high fre0uencies ⁃ Pro-/ 1 for almost everything else! ⁃

using its piano roll for tonal ./ing2 mid-side processing2 and lastly! its linear phase ability ⁃ Middle and side ⁃ eeping a good mono translation by ad4usting oscillators and being careful with processing ⁃ Creating more width using M".* and processing the sides separately ⁃ Creating width with )itali5er and &5one Imaging ⁃ 6everb 7 *elay ⁃ Putting these effects on a bus to process them in isolation ⁃ 'iming for impact and movement ⁃ It,s important that synths! piano! etc line up and that their timing is not tainted by processing for IMPC' ⁃ It is useful sometimes to add reversed chops of the synths ( synth reverb to create M&).M.8' ⁃ It is often very useful to pitch bend your bass for movement ⁃ Imperfect drums are great for M&).M.8' 9eg pre-shifted claps and top loops ⁃ ll of these things are important so that your melodies are .;P6.""I).

Part II: Making good songs "ongs should tell a story ⁃ Music is story telling 4ust like the movies and theatre ⁃ Much <.*M= music will not stand the test of time because it is made for live utility rather than for the soul ⁃ 'he soul listens best when being spoken to by a person ⁃ >ow do you make electronic music feel like a person is inside? >ow do you make it human? ⁃ 6eal instruments ⁃ ontakt and .@ Play 9.@ Play has a subscription service that,s legal! cheap ⁃ 'hey are more difficult to fit into dance music! but worth it ⁃ @hen necessary 9almost always you must compensate for: ⁃ 'heir relaAed timing - by printing the audio and shifting or using negative track delay ⁃

'heir volume inconsistency - by using compression! limiting and sometimes compressing their left and right channels separately ⁃ 'heir lack of presence - by ./,ing them and removing their reverb and replacing it with your own ⁃ ey switches ⁃ ey switches are notes you can add via MI*I in the lowest octaves 9eg C! *! etc 'hey don,t make any noise but they tell the instrument to switch to a different style ⁃ %or instance! maybe you want a violin to play + drawn out notes and then some staccato notes! like <'remor= ⁃ "ome keyswitch when velocity is maAed ⁃ 6eal melodies ⁃ >uman musicians have a beauty to their play! which can get lost when using MI*I Dou can get it back by using: ⁃ *ifferent velocities - real musicians don,t hit every note with the same velocity ⁃ Pitch bends - real musicians are eApressive through detuning and ⁃

vibrato! like with the *uduk ⁃ Chord theory ⁃ Eet out of your usual cycle of chords by stealing chords - "ecrets chords were from >eads @ill 6oll ⁃ 'he ) always gets you back home ⁃ )ocals ⁃ 'he most obvious way to humani5e music is through vocals! though getting a good toppling can be hard ⁃ )ocal chops are an easy way to humani5e it! and I really recommend building a stash of vocals ⁃ .*M )oices by 8eAus is really useful ⁃ "ynths ⁃ &f course! synths are necessary as well to make a track sound big ⁃ IM&! presets are fine Many times! they are  4ust a tool to enhance the track @hen you need a supersaw 4ust grab one ⁃ %inally! good melodies ⁃ 'he goal! ultimately! is using all these tools to make good melodies that are eApressive and sound the way they do in your head ⁃ $iterally nothing matters eAcept that you end up first with melodies! and then

ultimately a song that makes you feel something ⁃ 'his means using the right eApression 9pitch bend! velocity! etc to give the melody the groove and drama it deserves ⁃ $ayout ⁃ 'he layout of your song tells the complete story ⁃  hard hitting drop is like the climaA of the movie! and a climaA of the movie feels so much more important when the rest of the film has set it up right ⁃ @hen all of these elements come together! you tell and a story and your music will have a soul

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Part III: rtist ( "uccess ⁃

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@hy I got into dance music I think many people looked at dance music as an easy in I actually felt like there were a lot of

things missing ⁃ Creating what you feel like is missing is the key ⁃ >onesty is the most important thing ⁃ I reali5ed I wasn,t good at being a social media hype man ⁃ "ocial media is still important but you have to use it in a way that is honest! so you can do it sustainably ⁃ Bill Clinton - so long as you,re honest! people will forgive your mistakes ⁃ Individuality ⁃ @hen you,re first getting started! it,s like your playing music out of a laptop while the other guys have the studio speakers ⁃ Dou can,t get big 4ust producing tropical house better than everyone else! etc ⁃ It is much better to be a <4ust ok= producer with a style of his own! using weird sounds! than an ama5ing producer who  4ust kind of recreates what,s going on in dance music 9I know lots of these ⁃ Being palatable ⁃ I highly recommend against being an artist that is
neAt line should be ⁃ Being artist is not about figuring out what other people like! it,s an internal thing It,s about gaining an understanding of what you like! what your tastes are! how to present that to the world in a way that hasn,t been broken down by the inevitable lack of success we all face early on ⁃ Mistakes can be good ⁃ eeping one close friend around can be helpful! to tell you when an error you made actually sounds good ⁃ 'hese mistakes can result in a uni0ue sound - that makes you special ⁃ Basic philosophy ⁃ Bad: not attempting to do difficult things and keeping people around who tell you they sound good ⁃ Eood: attempting to do difficult things and appreciating people,s criticism so that you are forced to make them better