#21

I have a live act that stays mostly within dance music tempos and rhythms (although is pretty varied within that) and I use an Octatrack, Machinedrum, Lyra-8, and an analog mono synth (right now it’s a Vermona Mono Lancet) plus some effects and a mixer. A lot of times this feels like too much to keep track of but it gives a fair amount of flexibility. It’s good to remember that you don’t have to use every piece of gear on every track, especially when playing live. A couple of tracks might rely really heavily on the Machinedrum, while another would leave it out entirely and just use drum samples with the Octatrack. The nice thing about having both the MD and Octatrack is that it allows me to switch up drum patterns on the fly without disrupting any of the patterns playing on the Octatrack. I’ve considered getting a smaller, cheap drum machine for live use as the Machinedrum can be a little unwieldy at times (16 tracks is a lot to keep track of live) but for now it’s working.

The Lyra-8 allows me to create transitions between tracks with different tempos and also to add a bit of chaos to some of the material that is more planned out.

3 Likes
#22

Also, here’s a really nice video of Adam Jay using the (humble) Elektron Model:Samples as the main instrument in an hour long techno set. The Octatrack is mainly for FX and looping (as well as master tempo).

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#23

Equipment: anything goes, but for dance music I need beats and that usually means Jomox 999, TR-606, MPC. Classic dance synth sounds from Pro 1, Juno 60, MKS-50, V50/TX81z. Compressors.

Performing: I’ve done it, but I don’t do it. I’ve been a DJ since the early 90s and prefer to play records for dancefloors. I can provide much more diversity and emotional range with records, and really just much better music overall. As a once avid dancer, I’ve always had a much better time dancing to DJs and live bands than sequencer performers.

Tension: same as any kind of music. There are no rules other than “don’t clear the floor”.

Artists: too many. Leroy Burgess, Randy Muller, Skyy, Patrick Adams, Loleatta Holloway, Nile Rodgers, James Brown, The Fatback Band, Midnight Starr, Change, Francois Kevorkian, Larry Heard, Steve Hurley, Juan Atkins, Drexciya, Chez Damier, MK, MAW, Pretty Tony, Rhythm & Sound, NOIA, Klein & MBO, Motorbass, Liaisons Dangereuses, Robert Hood, Steffi, Linea Aspera, New Order, Vince Clarke, Front 242, ESG, Konk, Liquid Liquid, Arthur Russell…. Too many to list and particularly too many one hit wonders as is the way of the 12” single. This is why DJs are better than music journalists (or algorithms).

Culture: the question not asked. Too often I feel this is what’s missing from the electronic dance music I hear from the synth crowd on the internet and the discussion around it. Anyone can download the right sounds, put them together and then upload, but it feels empty and insignificant. It used to be that you had to go to that club/warehouse/basement/field/studio/record store and exist as part of the culture to get there, and your music would show it.

It’s easy to listen to a Rob Hood minimal track or a Berghain banger and think that it’s a complete abstraction, born in isolation from all reality. This is not the case. This music is informed by an interconnected web of cultures as diverse as Black gospel, gay bathhouses, cheesy italodisco and German anarcho-capatlism. The sounds chosen have cultural significance and reference other sounds recursively across time and space, which is why they appear abstract but induce emotion.

There’s a feeling you feel, when it’s early in the morning and you’re catching that third wind on the dancefloor, system is bumping, everyone is sweaty and broken down, and THAT song comes on and you’re dancing and crying and feeling that special connection with all the dancers who ever danced. Dance music is the culture of people who feel that feeling from dancing and people who make the music that makes you feel that feeling. From dancing.

I’ve spent far too long typing this post turned borderline rant. Anyway, since we can’t go out to a dope underground soundclash right now, here are some references for those who are less familiar with where dance music culture is coming from (Not that there are rules, there really aren’t. Just don’t clear the floor.):

Words:
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life by Bill Brewster
Love Saves the Day by Tim Lawrence

Video:


Pump up the volume: A history of House music
I Was There When House Took Over the World
Maestro - The History of Larry Levan & The Paradise Garage
Vogue Supremacy 90’s Ballroom Style
Sub Berlin -The Story of Tresor
Detroit Techno City Documentary
Detroit The Blueprint Of Techno
22 Likes
#24

I think most folks on this site know the history but thank you for explicitly stating some of this.

Especially on the day Mike Huckaby passed away. Earlier this week the UK community lost Ebow Graham (of Royalty)

It would be hard for me to forget either of them when a topic like this comes up.

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#25

You made me think he died for a second there! :cold_sweat:

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#26

Sorry!! This made me laugh, though. My English is life-threatening. I’ll need to edit that.

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#27

I was very sad to hear about Mike passing. He wasn’t very old. Seemed like a good guy, giving back to the community and whatnot.

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#28

so many ripples he created not just with tunes themselves but by advancing dj/dance music culture thru education in his community

I learned about Kyle Hall and Jay Daniel because of him

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#29

Terrible news. Mike Huckaby was such a talented and generous person.

#30

I was incredibly sad to hear about Mike’s passing. I attended a free production workshop he did at the Detroit Public Library a few years back; he really was a great teacher as well as musician. His work at YouthVille Detroit had real impact for a lot of young people here. Also he was legitimately one of my favorite DJ’s period. His selection and ability to read a room were really special. He could get a room full of deep house heads dance to hard techno and vice versa.

3 Likes
#31

Damn, Hamilton Bohannon too.


#32

powerful and incisive essay

9 Likes
#33

Right now I’m using a small 4U modular rig, Digitakt & Digitone, plus Ableton and heaps of software synths when I track everything out. I’m aiming for whatever a minimal version of disco house might sounds like.

I started playing laptops sets back in 2003, took a long break and not I’m just writing and producing.

For me, the tension is all about not resolving chords or patterns right away - groove and vamp are the name of the game.

Current folks - Floating Points, Channel Tres, Caribou/Daphne, Tricksi

1 Like
#34

I don’t have a lot of experience (I played few times more dance oriented live sets publicly) but I think the most important technique for dance music to me is to have some freedom of movement while making music so you can dance (or do the aproximation of dancing). If you don’t feel like moving while listening to your own music it is hard to expect others to do the same.
Also it is good to avoid too much abrupt changes, when I started making techno I tried to show my musicianship and I felt like repeating something for 8 bars was too much while in dance music even 80 bars might not be too much. People need to start to really feel the groove and my advice would be: when you start to get bored with it and feel a need to change wait a little longer until it stops being boring again :smiley:
Other thing is that for some reason a lot of sequencers have 16 steps on one page. When I started I felt like even 64 steps would be too limiting but to be honest the best combination for me is to use only one page o 16 steps and then maybe use something like conditional trigs on Elektron hardware to add some variance.
And to answer questions from opening post:
Right now I mostly use Octatrack for dance oriented music
I played few shows which were more dance oriented
My favourite artist from such genre would probably be Legowelt

6 Likes
#35

this is a good point! There was a time when I was making all my music at a standing desk, and I do feel it inspired a different kind of energy than when I’m sitting on the couch with headphones.

#36

On quarantine Fridays, I love to reply to emails listening to some loud dance music. There’s something fascinating about it, but at the same time alien to me.

I began listening to electronic music more intentionally only about four years ago. Before that, I was a big listener of Vangelis and rock and pop bands with some use of synthesizers. But none of my friends were into electronic music nor did I go to clubs of any sort, so I didn’t have a realistic notion of the dimension of its history and current scenes, as I did of rock music.
So it’s been mostly about internet research, which might not necessarily be a very intuitive path to great findings in the field.
The people I met during this couple of years who make electronic music are in some local scene in one way or the other. Some are clubbers and others not so much, but as musicians who immersed themselves in the scene at some point, they got a hold of what it means to them and what motivates them. They pretty much make music for the scene.

Progressive House has the biggest scene here in Argentina and the producers of the genre that I know personally or that I know of, work 90% ITB. If there is any hardware synthesizer, it is probably midi sequenced from the DAW and routed back for processing.

Kevin di Serna is a local producer that I like. Some 90s vibes in this EP.


Super Flu makes great music all around. This one came out through Monaberry (I love this label).

Mall Grab is something else entirely. I love this EP in particular.



And I find this one from Ross From Friends in a similar ‘lo-fi’ zone".

I would love to listen to any dance music you people make and have a little background on how it was technically made and what the inspiration was.

4 Likes
#37

I will get around to writing a proper reply, but in the meantime, here is a great documentary about the beginnings of house music.
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#38

will be making my way thru these essays over time

some of you may enjoy em

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#39

People on this thread might be interested:

Thanks for the rec @glia , this compilation is incredible! (Half of the proceeds are going charities, bandcamps proceeds going to NAACP legal defense fund today 6/19, the rest to the artists so all good stuff :slight_smile: )

3 Likes
#40

Cool thread! All I do is dance music. I can share some of what works for me.

I have a hybrid setup. So the first thing I needed was a bridge between the PC and the hardware that had no jitter. I use the analog rytm MKII as my drum machine so luckily overbridge set to low latency works perfectly for that.

I send that stable clock from the AR to my other hardware. I have a palette modular case and right now I have morphagene in it. I also control my DFAM with Maths or Pamelas in my case.

The DFAM to me is amazing for making percussion. I use it almost religiously. Of course I also make kicks and claps and snares with it and sampled those.

The one thing that really helped me out was committing to audio quickly and modulating that audio. So if I get a good thing going on the DFAM, I record 16 bars of that, and then while still recording jam on the knobs until I get a bunch of other movement. The way I do it is very musical so I basically imagine people are watching and dancing to it…how do I feel like changing the intensity? That usually gets me at least 64 bars that I can arrange however I want.

I apply the same concept to anything from my modular as well.

With the Analog RYTM, I get a beat going, program in little movements in the Plocks, use the LFO to affect stuff like sample start (instantly makes hats groove once you dial it in), add swing,…etc. I get 16 or 32 bars recorded in, but the trick there is that while its recording, I tweak different parts a little as well for added variety. What’s super cool is Overbridge remembers all this automation in Ableton.

Anyway main point is that if you do layers of modulation and do it all by hand, even the plugs in Ableton - its faster and gives off a more organic feel. At least for me. Of course don’t forget to sidechain :slight_smile:

4 Likes