Ryan Vaz

Using Ableton Live for the first time As part of our Electronic Music Production class, we were taught to use the basics of Ableton Live. It was surprising to know that this program was originally built for DJ’s to play loops and samples live, hence the name, but has now widely become a tool for music production, especially in the Trap & Hip-Hop genre. This class was the first time I had my hands on the software, being from the live sound industry, I didn’t do much, if not any, music production. Learning this new software was one of the things I was looking forward to and it was a great experience. At first glance, it can be a little confusing as to know which button does what, but once you get to know the basics, it’s very easy to operate. We learnt how to make a simple beat using a drum machine and also to play a melody using the midi instruments. We also learned about synthesis and how to layer waves to make sounds from scratch which was interesting. ...

Recording a full Drum Kit Have you ever wondered how the drums sounded so good in one of your favorite record or at a live concert? Hopefully after reading this blog, you will have learnt something new as well as have that question answered for you. In the second year of my bachelors degree in audio, we learnt how to individually mic all the elements of a drum kit. This was many people's first time mic-ing a whole drum kit, but I had done it before for live shows so I was pretty well versed, nevertheless I did learn a few tricks.  For our recording we used a total of 10 mics. Usually in terms of channels and order, the first channel would be the kick drum. We used two mics for the kick drum, a kick IN, to capture the fast transient attack of the sound, and a kick OUT mic to get the lower end, more punchy tone. Next we used two more mics for the snare, a snare TOP and a snare BOTTOM, to pick up both, the transient hit as well as the tone for the snares itself. W...

Critically Listening to a Whole Album One of my classes in the studio 1 unit at SAE Institute Dubai was all about listening critically. This means to pay attention to details that one would not notice at the first listen, but when you hear it once, you cannot miss it again. Be it a good thing or a bad thing, it makes the difference between professionalism and amateur work. By training our ears to listen and judge specific frequencies & sounds, we help ourselves to ensure a better outcome in our end product, whatever it may be within the audio field. In one of our classes, we listened to the whole album titled ‘DAMN.’ in one sitting. Listening to all 55 minutes of it in one stretch was truly eye opening, or should I say, ear opening. We were able to listen to exactly what the artist was trying to convey to the listeners throughout the album. We were able to appreciate all the efforts put into the album by the artist and all those who worked behind the scenes ...