Electronic Music 411 - how do you Drone? long rich tones seamless

10/09/06 + lunatinker

Digg it and Delicious? oh crap. i didn't see that coming...just above the {username's}recent blogs... omg. trendy?

Recent blogs: how do you Drone? long rich tones seamless

10/09/06 + bsr

my process for a drone piece:

- record a mutitracked acoustic guitar piece about a minute long, doesn't have to be tidy or clean cos the artifacts add elements
- in cooledit fade each track in and out so there are no hard cuts
- time stretch then listen and kill any resonance using eq (repeat until you're happy)
- layer the audio in multitrack mode and build up the skeleton of a track (usually add distortion/overdrive to a couple of get some nice harmonic sounds)

other ways i sometimes do it are to use metamix ( link ) or recently paul stretch, the most fun way though is to set up a mic, get the guitar on my lap and use some space reverb from reaktor, it has a virtually infinite reverb so any sound coming in gets turned into a beautiful wash.

being patient and clinically obsessed with eq is what i've learned make a huge difference, it's why my pieces from a year or two back sound dull and cloudy: link (sucks quite a lot) but the new ones are a lot clearer, bright and crisp.

don't use any synths; they don't sound organic and you don't get the lush artifacts/happy accidents.

10/09/06 + quip

freeze function in audiomulch's granulator is pretty dronesome.

Recent blogs: The Stainburn EP - Free, bad reviews, Acid Compendium

Oct 09* + Ochre

Or if you do use synths, convolve them something noisy like pots and pans falling down the stairs, and you'll be able to turn the simple synths into evolving textures. It's a poncey method, but when you get the sources right things sound a million times better than the originals. This also stretches the audio sources to match each other, so two long sources work well for ambient pieces. It's up to you if you just wanted droney timbres (no chord changes ;) ) or ambient washes (have some choord changes in there for some nice Dead Texan style pieces).

Edit: oh ohoh remember to use EQ judiciously as Jon suggests, especially with convolution, as resonances between the two audio sources will be amplified.

Recent blogs: New Album 'Like Dust of the Balance' Out Now, A Midsummer Nice Dream double 12" available for £6 + P, Death of an Aura EP up on Bleep

10/09/06 + Roshi

I pretty much agree with what bsr said. I use quite a few different distortion plugins and filters on spectrally rich starting material to get where I want to go. Sometimes I start with symphonic samples, sometimes it's just guitar, sometimes I layer in something like Cheeze Machine to give it some more texture.

One of my songs started with an chord progression made from sampled cello that was distorted to all heck. I added different levels of coloration with careful filtering and automation mixed with lots of delay and white noise.

Even though drone seems to be nothing but repetition, variation in tone color from phrase to phrase is key - IMO, it's not something you can really do by just drawing in a single filter curve in live.

Recent blogs: New EP by Roshi, The Year in 15 Songs, Cello at 33

10/09/06 + lunatinker

Definitely wanna try audiomulch granulator now..
right Roshi. I have worked on it a bit more than one line and still fall below the mark for what i want.
I still wanna try comb filters + ring mod + tube warm/distort sounds.... i'm limited by time ....
... so i ask what the most fun filters might be....
I think convolution is fun. And thanks for the reference to The Dead Texan (hadn't heard that before; nice).

i still wonder wtf "Accoustic Mirror" does. its like convolution, no?
also freeware SIR is something I looked at before: link for to download the .dll and also the IR files.

Recent blogs: how do you Drone? long rich tones seamless

10/09/06 + lunatinker

also, curious what anyone thought of steve roach? link
old school droner.....
I think the music that pulled me into this whole deal in the first place was the Barramundi Compilations!
that stuff blew my mind.... link there's three of 'em...
thanks for the tips. will update this blogs with my prgress (if any, haha, hehe)...

Recent blogs: how do you Drone? long rich tones seamless

Oct 09* + lunatinker

the results are in for my trial of the drones technique.
I used the first two seconds of my last release (devil_loop)
and made it more like 2 minutes.
link
thanks for your help! I think i'm getting the idea...
still, much more practise!

Recent blogs: how do you Drone? long rich tones seamless

10/09/06 + implexgrace

oh man this question is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too vague..

you can do anythign to drone man, you just gotta work the sustain.. maybe cut some .WAV files perfectly for looping and then smooth it over with fx.. or create a self evolving drone patch with synthesis..

so many ways

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10/09/06 + implexgrace

learn about granulr freezing and then use the billions of apps that do freezing to make drones... that shit is so simple a baby could do it

bring me a baby and i'll prove it

Recent blogs: "NON" SONOIO Remix Album

10/09/06 + implexgrace

also... check out Aidan Baker (of Nadja)

his drone is incredible

Recent blogs: "NON" SONOIO Remix Album

10/10/06 + lunatinker

thanks for the tips. and ps...

implexgrace said: "learn about granulr freezing and then use the billions of apps that do freezing to make drones... that shit is so simple a baby could do it ...bring me a baby and i'll prove it"

nobody's brining you a baby. =))

Recent blogs: how do you Drone? long rich tones seamless

10/10/06 + quip

oooh ooh - grm freeze is what i use when i do the live guitar drone thang. thats a wicked vst that.

Recent blogs: The Stainburn EP - Free, bad reviews, Acid Compendium

10/10/06 + skab

here are my ideas:
if you have a turntable - turn it off and rotate a record with strings (or anything) using your fingers to get a nice fluxing tone that can be processed
i agree with bsr - it's best to work drones/textures in as part of the whole track rather than aiming to make loops.
the scanned synth vst (can't find the link right now) - can generate some great slow drones. any kind of househod appliance produces good materials for drones - but watch out for interferance. detuning a radio so the station is warbling slightly can also make interesting sounds when down shifted.

Recent blogs: Weak Plugin Jokes, Twisted Tools Vortex, New Podcast

Oct 10* + tmns

nice guitar drones can be made with an auto volume pedal and a multitap delay or just by playing really close to your guitar amp, and as the note fades out, slowly move the guitar right up to the speaker then it should start feeding back infinitely with the same pitch. i like putting things through my analogue vibrato pedal, with a really slow speed setting, to create a sense of movement. pluggos long stereo delay can be nice on a send to add a slow evolving feel to something quite static sounding. also reaktor grainstates is amazing for making drones out of any sound source (almost too nice, sometimes i just sit there for ages listening to it drone away). check out Bidule too.

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