Music Production & Reason 2.5

Welcome to Old Skool Anthems
The Old Skool Resource. Since 1998.
Join now

JACKG

Well-known member
VIP Gold Member
Sep 15, 2004
1,879
41
48
Don't know if this thread should in music or help but here goes.

Something Iv always wanted to do is to make me own tunes. Got thousand of ideas but very little practical know how.

Iv just got a copy of proppeller heads Reason 2.5 which Im about to install.

What I want to know is that are many of you making your own music, and if so what style and do you compose from scratch or remix tracks somehow?

What do you use and how?

What I might need?

It would be great if I could get any info / help / advice from someone with a bit knowledge.
 

AB45

New member
Dec 31, 2003
2,134
2
0
55
Essex
Hi Jack (lol couldnt resist)

Ive been engineering etc for years and to be honest could talk an absolute load of garb about it but simply i wont.Main reason being is the best and most honest way to go about producing is to get ya head stuck into it, learn from ya own mistakes and READ the manuals.oh and Save EVERYTHING.
Ive spent months trying to teach people stuff and they just dont get it but as soon they start playing the penny drops and they learn more in a matter of days than they do in months.

Reason 2.5 is a good insight to how a hardware studio would be set up and gives you an idea how it all works. You can quite easily knock up good quality tunes on it but downer with it is that it doesnt sample or have a midi out:(
If you need i have a reason tutorial VCD that could help you with the basics PM me and ill sort it for ya :thumbsup:

I use reason mainly as a vst-i within Cubase. This is where you will get the most out of it m8 but thats way down the line (taking that you are a novice :S ). Nearly all trax ive been involved with have been done from scratch as to be honest its easier. With remixing you have to think about it, original stuff should just flow.

As for equipment i have alot of hardware but am toying with the idea of outing most of it for a Powercore set up (all in one monster studio soundcard etc).http://www.tcelectronic.com/PowerCoreConcept mmmm:)
All you will need is a pokey PC and a good soundcard for a quality sounding tune, if i were you id go for a Midiman delta as they are nice sounding at a reasonable price (no bells and whistles just good sound and latency).I have Delta 1010s and they are ace. Also you'll want a midi controller keyboard to play (the Evolution/m-audio series are ok).

Just have fun PLAY, read manuals (they will make sense eventually lol) and you will grasp it in no time m8.
 

sirius

Registered Member
Dec 28, 2001
5,309
0
0
46
I use Reason when I make things. Congratulations on using some good software ;) , good choice.

In contradiction to above (lol) Ive never read the reason manual unless I was drastically stuck. If you are relatively good with computers its pretty straight forward to navigate. I just fanny about and see what I can manage and try and have some fun.

I tend to remix tracks, mostly oldskool in flavour, and attempt an occasional Prog house track. To remix tracks you will need a software sampler like Adobe Audition and perhaps some program like acid or maybe something that outputs REX files to loop in reason.

Reason and CubaseSX is a good combination, but I generally tend to make do with reason on the whole, but then again I dont pretend to be a good musician and highly particapant in it these days :(. The Rewire is a good tool if you link them up.

You will need a midi compatible keyboard, a lead which may plug into the game adapter D pin socket on the soundcard, a software sampler, and LOTS of patience! lol.

Sirius.
 

AB45

New member
Dec 31, 2003
2,134
2
0
55
Essex
sirius said:
In contradiction to above (lol) Ive never read the reason manual unless I was drastically stuck.
Sirius.


lol of all the people in the world i would've put you down as someone who read the manuals m8 lol :p
When it comes to Midi controller charts and LFO,VCF filters, Unison etc etc you need to read the manuals so you understand why its doing what its doing so when you wanna do i it does :| lol
:D
 

Danny

Active member
Jul 22, 2002
3,223
5
38
41
London, UK
www.ketoloco.com
not got the time to read what this thread is about at the mo coz have gotta leg it up the M1 for a footy match right about now ..... but just wanted to let you know that its not long before reason 3 is released now :thumbsup: it looks wicked to be honest ..... you can check all its stats on the propellerhead website :)
 

Mayon

New member
Aug 24, 2004
164
0
0
50
Chemical Cloud HWND
www.acidplanet.com
Here ya go... a few tuts and tips on music production by people who use the software
http://www.loopcreators.co.uk/forum/index.php?showforum=59
:thumbsup: Have fun

Setting up the rack:

It's a useful thing to set the default song to an empty one in Reason. This way you can work fast without having to delete various devices which also hog a part of your memory right away. Once you have done this the next step would be to add at least a reverb and a delay to the send section of your mixer. Do this by just putting your mouse over the mixer and right click your mouse. Now select create and choose a reverb. Repeat this and choose a delay. The first thing i usually add to the rack is a Redrum because the drumtrack is almost allways the basis of a track. After that i take care of the bassline. This can come from any device except the Redrum :)


Setting up the Redrum:
When i start to compose a track it's very useful to have the beat before adding bass and melody's. I usually get the main beat line started out. This mainly exists out of a kick, snare, clap and hihats. Once this is playing it's easy to get into the groove. The Redrum has various functions to make your beat a bit more interesting. Like the shuffle. Which moves the 16th notes to get some sort of shuffling effect (shuffle:). You can set the amount of shuffle in the transport bar which also holds the start, stop and rec button and others. On the right side you can find it.

This sets the amount by which the notes will be moved. They will be moved to the right (delayed) and the pattern shuffle sets the amount of offset they will get. Standard it's at half of it's reach which will give you a normal shuffle. Put this somewhat to the right to get a tension in the notes and to the left to have less of a shuffle.

Standard the velocity of the drum channels is set to a point where the drums react to the speed of which the keys on your keyboard are being played pretty sensitive. Push a key fast to get the volume up and slow to lower it. If you set this value to 0 there will be no difference in volume when striking keys fast or slow. Usually i don't touch this coss drums which you play in with your keyboard you might want to have a bit dynamic. You can always use a compressor to make the volume more even later on. An explanation about the working of a compressor can be found in the Compression tutorial in the tutorial section of this site. If you put the velocity rotating knob to a level less than 0 the effect will be reversed so when you strike a key fast the volume will drop and vice versa. So velocity is nothing more than controling the volume with the speed of striking the keys. In the other devices you can usually assign more functions which will be modulated using the difference in speed of pushing the keys. (The time it takes for a key to be pressed in, not speed of playing :))

The Redrum has outputs for all of it's channels. This enables you to add effects to each sound individually. I usually add compression to the individual sounds and maybe a phaser or chorus on the hihats but that's personal taste.

If you make a pattern in the Redrum and you want to have it exported into the main sequencer just hold your mouse over the redrum (avoid the knobs) and press your right mouse. Now select Export to track. Make sure the Redrum's sequencer channel has been selected. You will also find a knob on the Redrum called Flam. This gives the effect of a drumstick bouncing on the surface of a drum. To add this just activate the button next to it and click the notes you want to be affected by this. The rotary knob sets the amount of time before the 'drumstick' bounces. This is actually nothing more then an echo which adds one echo to the original drumsound.

Note that any setting you make on the Redrum is a global one and applies to all patterns made in the Redrum.

You can use the Redrum in 2 ways. Either to keep the notes inside of it or to control it via the main sequencer. If you preferr the first you just have to make the patterns in the Redrum using the pattern section. You can make 4 x 8 patterns. That is 4 banks of 8 patterns. Arrange these in the sequencer by using the Pattern Lane. This is the yellow field which you can see when switching to the channels arrange mode. Now just pick the pattern number out of the list there and draw the desired lenght of playback of the pattern in the lane. You can just set the notelenght to Bar for easy adding of complete patterns. If you want a pattern to play for a smaller time maybe one beat then you should set this to 1/4 for instance.


The Bassline:

For a bassline i usually take a Subtractor. This is a fat sounding synth which can produce some amazing basslines. Just load one up and put on the second osc. This is done by clicking on the led in the osc 2 section. For a bassline i usually take just two saw waves. But using Square waves can give you a more hollow bass synth. Now set both osc's to octave 2 and drop the lp24 filter to 40 or something (First you must select the lp24 in the list of available filters). This will allready give you a nice basis for a bassline. Don't forget to set the amount of velocity in the amp section. Setting the amp knob to around 25 will give you a realistic response. Just use the controls to shape it to a bass you like. Bass usually profits from a good compression.

I usually take the following settings on my bass:

Ratio: 8:1
Attack: 50
Release: 40


Set the treshold to give you a db reduction of around 12 db.


This will get you going for sure when starting out a song. Having a nice rythm and bass makes you play in more easier. Also when composing it's better to not look much at the levels yet coss it's tempting to keep adjusting the mixer while you are composing but this will definately distract you from what you are really doing which is composing the song and not mixing it. That comes when you are done composing and will keep you from lot's of frustration while composing. This will stand in the way of your creativity for sure.



Using a sampler:

Just load up a NN-19 or a NN-XT and load in the sample you want to use. In the NN-19 you load a single sample by pressing the blue folder button and a patch by pressing the beige folder button. A patch can contain multiple samples which usually form a multisample. The samples are all different notes then which reflects the original instrument's pitch. But they can also contain multiple samples which have nothing to do with eachother. Like a drumkit or an effects kit. To load a single sample into the NN-XT you have to fold out the remote editor and use the load sample button there. A patch is loaded in the main panel.

Standard the velocity is turned off. Activate this by turning the amp knob clockwise in the velocity section. This will make the sampler to react to hard/soft key hitting and controls the volume with it. You can also use the other knobs to let the velocity control other aspects like Sample start (s.start) or Amp attack (a.attack).

Just play with the functions and you will get to know them in no time. Remember that the sampler is a sample player not a recorder and that it only loads Wav or Aiff files. You can also load in Rex files. You have to do that using the load patch button (beige one on NN-19 and the one in the main panel in the NN-XT)
You should then load up a Dr.Rex and load in the same rexfiles as you have loaded into the sampler. Then export the loop to the sampler's channel. (select the sampler's channel in the sequencer and press To Track on the Dr.Rex. This will give a message that you will export to a wrong channel but just press oke). The NN-XT can also load in Soundfonts. They also need to be loaded in as a patch.<



Automation:

Automation really makes your life so much easier. And what would a program like Reason be without it? All sounds get much more life in them when you put a good dosis of automated effects on them. Especially a cutoff on a melody or just a simple volume change over time. Or maybe your compression needs another setting on some parts. And the nice thing is that if you group a certain part of your song the automation in it will be copied also when you copy the part. (Not only when grouped but this proves easier when composing) To automate things you have 2 options. Either to record button movements or drawing the changes directly in the automation lanes. Just set the L and R handles around a part which you want to have knobs be automated in. And press record (make sure the channel has the midi symbol present on the left of the channel name) and turn the knob which you want to automate. Make sure you record from L to R or otherwise the knob's automation will be set back to the initial setting abruptly at the moment you stopped the recording. Just set Loop on in the transport bar.


Eq:

Sometimes you will have to use eq on certain sounds when they interfere with other sounds. This is usually the case with basslines pushing the kick away. A kick most times sits around the 90 hz area so if you find your bass pushing your kick away to much (this doesn't always have to unpleasant a kick and bass who are united prove to be very effective) just use the eq to cut the frequency's of the bass around the 90 hz. just try some spots in this area. This doesn't only apply to bass of course. Other sounds can also interfere with eachother. So just use the eq to cut the frequency's which do that.


Effects:

The use of effects is of course totally dependant of the sound you wish to achieve. Effects in Reason come in 2 variaties: Send and Insert effects. The send effects are: Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Distortion. Insert effects are: Phaser, Eq, Compressor, Filter. Since there is no insert channel on the mixer available these effects must be connected to the device directly between the output of the device and the input of the mixer. To easily add send effects to the mixer just hold your mouse over the mixer and create one of the send effects. An insert effect can be connected easy while holding your mouse over the destination device and create one of the insert effects. You can of course also make chains of effects. When you want to make a send chain you need to manually insert the outputs from the first one into the second and so on. Then connect the outputs of the last in the chain into the mixers return input for that send effect. To create a chain of insert effects just hold your mouse over the inserted effect and create the effect you would like to add. You can keep on adding them. Automatically the last one in the chain will be connected to the mixer channel of the destination device on which the chain was created.
 

JACKG

Well-known member
VIP Gold Member
Sep 15, 2004
1,879
41
48
Cheers for the advice Guys. :thumbsup:

Gonna get myself a MIDI keyboard in a week or so (Might see if I can get 1 free off me king n queen for a crimbo present if I do a bit of beggin :p lol)

Will no doubt have loads of questions for ya in future if you dont mind me harrassin ya :eyebrow:

Think the thing I need to do is put the hours in learnin the program and not try to run before I can walk.

Think I might struggle with me plan of knockin something up in time for the Christmas No 1 spot.