Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2001 5:06 am
ABOUT THE BALANCE-CONTRAST CONCEPT IN MUSIC CREATION
We all need inspiration, and to have it at the rich of the hand you need the right tools so the sound actually attracts you to make some music and your music attract people to listen at it.
That is why it is very important to take into consideration the "CONTRAST" concept when building Pulsar projects to experience or as a "foundation" for your inspiration and creativity so your idea comes up easily.
The Dry-Wet, Fast-Slow, Fat-Lean, Loud-Low concepts are based on a sense of BALANCE.
Balance (as constantly alleged by Master Mixer experts like Bob Clearmountain) is the key point when you mix down your work. BUT, to be able to finish up with a good balanced Mix you need first of all choosing the right instruments and FXs. And to choose the right ones is never an isolated matter, but a balanced roundup matter. If you like a sound by itself great, but it is not enough, because it might not work very well with the rest of your designated instruments. So you should try to choose your instruments as a GROUP rather than one by one; unless your project has only one instrument of course.
For instance: if you were to like very much an isolated preset sound (let's say from the Inferno synth for example) and your first idea is based mainly in this preset, in most cases when you add other instruments to enrich your original idea this freshness is gone and you end up with something which is in no way what you want; even if you still like it!
What to do so? Search for a balanced sounding project environment.
If you were to build up a project with five instruments, let's say: 1- a Bass, 2- a Drum kit, 3- a Pad, 4- an Organ, 5- a Lead, you would need to choose the right presents in a way that non is overloading the others so balancing the general sound. There you have to be careful letting every instrument to CRAM "it's" particular aim not taking the whole lot of the atmospheric-place-sound for itself. For example: One being dry and sharp the other being fat and wet, and so on...
I you were to choose for instance:
1) As a Bass sound the Miniscope, preset Buzzy Bottom.
2) As a Drum the EDS 8I, preset Set I.
3) As a Pad the U KNOW 007, preset Pad B12
4) As an Organ a fat B3 played through a Sample Player.
5) As a Lead the FM One, preset Boned Lead.
So you would be likely to finish with a very heavy mass of sounds that are all too fat, and even if your idea was great at the beginning it is quite sure you would rumble it forever. Of course you can do some music with this unsuitable project (and with everything else you might like) but rather as an experiment.
The fact is that we do not create music exclusively for personal use. You would like to be widely accepted being able to give your music to as many people as possible, wouldn't you? So would I. Most people appreciate balance instinctively.
The Balance Concept is extremely important "specifically" for your idea to be properly appreciated and understood. For you to reach peoples understanding, taking into account that music really is a language and a musician a speaker (of emotions), you need to speak in a way that everybody can understand you. This does not limit what you want to say! On the contrary, it implements your language and the possibility of reaching other's emotions "CONNECTING" with them.
So choose a Bass sound that is not contradicting your Lead, Pad, Drum, sounds, etc: if your Lead sound is for some reason a "fat" preset, so choose a rather unhardened sound for your Bass and a soft (empty-middle-fat-frequencies) preset for your Pad. If your Drum sound is essential to you and it is a "big-fat" sound and you can not allow yourself to put it aside, so pass it through an EQ getting rid (a bit) of the lower frequencies that collide with the other similar fat sounds of the project.
The general sound atmosphere should always have some "space" some "breathing place" for the main elements to be heard. If you have the impression that everything is heard at the same time and nothing is supporting anything, so it will be a tiresome atmosphere that people will naturally not like. Again, balance is fundamental! If you were to intelligently provide some space onto the general atmosphere of the project, whatever instrument or few instruments were leading the main musical idea at that moment would be clearly understood and appreciated.
Put the "Balance Concept" into practice and you'll be amazed at the pleasant results you'll get from it, particularly at the moment of doing your final Mix, THEN you realize how important it was to choose the right equilibrium between opposites.
We all need inspiration, and to have it at the rich of the hand you need the right tools so the sound actually attracts you to make some music and your music attract people to listen at it.
That is why it is very important to take into consideration the "CONTRAST" concept when building Pulsar projects to experience or as a "foundation" for your inspiration and creativity so your idea comes up easily.
The Dry-Wet, Fast-Slow, Fat-Lean, Loud-Low concepts are based on a sense of BALANCE.
Balance (as constantly alleged by Master Mixer experts like Bob Clearmountain) is the key point when you mix down your work. BUT, to be able to finish up with a good balanced Mix you need first of all choosing the right instruments and FXs. And to choose the right ones is never an isolated matter, but a balanced roundup matter. If you like a sound by itself great, but it is not enough, because it might not work very well with the rest of your designated instruments. So you should try to choose your instruments as a GROUP rather than one by one; unless your project has only one instrument of course.
For instance: if you were to like very much an isolated preset sound (let's say from the Inferno synth for example) and your first idea is based mainly in this preset, in most cases when you add other instruments to enrich your original idea this freshness is gone and you end up with something which is in no way what you want; even if you still like it!
What to do so? Search for a balanced sounding project environment.
If you were to build up a project with five instruments, let's say: 1- a Bass, 2- a Drum kit, 3- a Pad, 4- an Organ, 5- a Lead, you would need to choose the right presents in a way that non is overloading the others so balancing the general sound. There you have to be careful letting every instrument to CRAM "it's" particular aim not taking the whole lot of the atmospheric-place-sound for itself. For example: One being dry and sharp the other being fat and wet, and so on...
I you were to choose for instance:
1) As a Bass sound the Miniscope, preset Buzzy Bottom.
2) As a Drum the EDS 8I, preset Set I.
3) As a Pad the U KNOW 007, preset Pad B12
4) As an Organ a fat B3 played through a Sample Player.
5) As a Lead the FM One, preset Boned Lead.
So you would be likely to finish with a very heavy mass of sounds that are all too fat, and even if your idea was great at the beginning it is quite sure you would rumble it forever. Of course you can do some music with this unsuitable project (and with everything else you might like) but rather as an experiment.
The fact is that we do not create music exclusively for personal use. You would like to be widely accepted being able to give your music to as many people as possible, wouldn't you? So would I. Most people appreciate balance instinctively.
The Balance Concept is extremely important "specifically" for your idea to be properly appreciated and understood. For you to reach peoples understanding, taking into account that music really is a language and a musician a speaker (of emotions), you need to speak in a way that everybody can understand you. This does not limit what you want to say! On the contrary, it implements your language and the possibility of reaching other's emotions "CONNECTING" with them.
So choose a Bass sound that is not contradicting your Lead, Pad, Drum, sounds, etc: if your Lead sound is for some reason a "fat" preset, so choose a rather unhardened sound for your Bass and a soft (empty-middle-fat-frequencies) preset for your Pad. If your Drum sound is essential to you and it is a "big-fat" sound and you can not allow yourself to put it aside, so pass it through an EQ getting rid (a bit) of the lower frequencies that collide with the other similar fat sounds of the project.
The general sound atmosphere should always have some "space" some "breathing place" for the main elements to be heard. If you have the impression that everything is heard at the same time and nothing is supporting anything, so it will be a tiresome atmosphere that people will naturally not like. Again, balance is fundamental! If you were to intelligently provide some space onto the general atmosphere of the project, whatever instrument or few instruments were leading the main musical idea at that moment would be clearly understood and appreciated.
Put the "Balance Concept" into practice and you'll be amazed at the pleasant results you'll get from it, particularly at the moment of doing your final Mix, THEN you realize how important it was to choose the right equilibrium between opposites.
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