One of the few musical genres that is still popular in today’s culture is electronica. Electronic music is enjoyed by people of all ages, from considerably elderly to younger generations. In the current generation, teens and young adults should pay particular attention to it.

It may not be justified, but dancing music does have an impact. It contributes to the rise in musical productions we see today. Simply denying its rising popularity among this generation would be absurd.

Beginning as a means of artistic expression for composers and musicians, electronic music. People desired alternative means of self-expression that dance music could facilitate. Yes, young children express themselves in different ways, but keep in mind that they are exposed to this type of music from an early age, which makes this generation seem more “exotic.”

When everything began

Since the first decade of the 1980s, there has been electronic music. It was a period when synthesisers and drum machines were used extensively by bands like Depeche Mode, New Order, The Cure, and many others to dominate the music landscape. Over time, dance music has undergone a significant evolution. It is now among the most well-liked musical genres among the current generation.

Dance music is widely available in today’s culture, which is one of the key causes of this. The internet offers a wide variety of electronic music.

Hip-hop, house, techno, dubstep, and many more genres fall under this. Electronic music comes in a huge range, and it’s all free on iTunes or any other streaming site!

Younger folks searching for entertaining music to listen to while studying or working out at home have also grown to love electronic music. When compared to other genres like hip-hop or rock ‘n’ roll music, this type of genre gives them a platform where they can express themselves creatively without worrying about getting sucked into the mainstream pop culture scene!

Electronic music not only serves as a medium for amusement and expression, but it also has a significant impact on other genres. These days, pop songs also include aspects of electronic music, particularly in the rhythm.

Due to the global appeal of electronic music, festivals like Tomorrowland are held all over the globe, giving musicians from all nations the chance to perform for a large audience.

Today’s generation values electronic music

Electronic music is a popular genre of music in the modern world. music’s because listening to music has an impact on our bodies. Why then do so many teenagers like dance music? Here are a few explanations:

• When heard, electronic music promotes stress relief and relaxation.
• People get delighted when they hear it because it makes them happy.
• Electronic music features many beats that may drive listeners to move their bodies in time with the music’s rhythm, which causes people to dance.
• One of the most popular musical genres in general nowadays is electronic music. The genre has always been more of a party music than a daytime listen.

What makes electronic music appealing?

However, you should take a listen to some dance music. Why? Since electronic dance music is created by humans using complex machines like computers and synthesisers, it is created by humans.

When it’s claimed that dance music is “heavy machinery,” it’s referring to the talent and labor-intensive process that goes into creating a tune.

Anyone who wants to can create dance music. How imaginative a song is is entirely up to the artist. They may begin producing as soon as they have an idea of how they want their music to sound.

If someone wants to write an emotional song, they can use instruments like pianos and strings to help the song express their feelings. Use sounds that sound really happy if you want to create a song that is truly upbeat, like bells and plucks.

Because it can express very intricate and fascinating ideas solely through sound, electronic dance music has a lot to offer. There are many sounds that may be produced in the music that would otherwise be impractical since it is entirely synthesised and does not use any instruments.

Why is electronic music so popular?

Because the rhythm in electronic music is so straightforward, more people can learn to match it up with it. Certain rhythms in the brain help us match up with the rhythms in music. Your brain finds it more challenging to understand complicated rhythms. This may be the reason why ambient and techno music are so well-liked.

Conclusion

This generation, as we all know, is increasingly interested in cutting-edge technology and the expanding capabilities of our devices and software. Rap and hip hop are the most popular genres of music among today’s youth, but why?

The next great thing in our time might be electronic music. Why hasn’t dance music taken off as a popular form of entertainment for young adults? Why are people finding this genre so difficult to accept?

The post Electronic Music’s Value to Today’s Generation appeared first on VolSliv.

If you buy a synthesizer for home creation, you are unlikely to buy an expensive model with lots of extra features and complicated navigation. But even among the budget “synths” there is a good choice, and you only have to decide what type your new instrument will be.

Electronic synthesizers come in monophonic, paraphonic and polyphonic, the instruments of the first kind are single-voice, mono-processed. Paraphonic synthesizer implies simultaneous sound of two voices, but can also work in mono-mode, polyphonic “synth” supports multi-voice polyphony (3-note and above), is the most common among such instruments.

According to the method of sound processing synthesizers are divided into digital, analog and hybrid, and they do not always have a keyboard, and even more so acoustic system.

The model without a keyboard is also called a synthesizer module, such a device has a very compact size and light weight, is able to work with a variety of midi-keyboards, easily controlled by a computer.

The most popular synthesizers for electronic music are produced under the brands Roland, Arturia, Dave Smith, Korg, Clavia Nord, Moog, equipped with a step-by-step multitrack sequencer, arpeggiator, many models are supplemented by special software, with which the work becomes convenient and comfortable, especially if you use a computer.

Rack synthesizers and modules are made in a housing that allows you to install the musical instrument in a rack, such devices are popular among professional musicians.

Synthesizers for electronic music are quite specific and cannot be used as an arranging station, a synthesizer with auto accompaniment or a digital piano.

The post Tips and Tricks for Choosing an Electronic Music Synthesizer appeared first on VolSliv.

For example, my home studio is equipped with the Universal Audio Apollo audio interface, which has a built-in mono button. Regardless of what DAW or program I’m listening to, the hardware will put my mix into mono.

However, if you don’t have an interface with a mono button, you have to resort to a DAW. For example, if you want to go to mono in Pro Tools, you can hold down the “alt” key and press the master fader pan knobs.

Each DAW has a different method of stacking mixes in mono, so be sure to check your user manual. Once you figure out how to stack your mix in mono, you can start working on it.

Balancing the levels of your mix in mono

Long before processing plug-ins were invented, and even before hardware equalizers and compressors were integrated into music studios, mix engineers were “balance” engineers. Their main goal was to make sure that every element in the track was heard, and that the most important elements were heard better than the least important. To this day, volume balancing remains the most important factor in a good mix, but many young mix engineers overlook it.

There are many different ways to achieve good volume balance.
For example, some engineers like to arrange volumes in order of importance.
With this method, you switch all faders down and start by raising the fader of the most important instrument. The most important instrument depends on the track, but in many cases it is the vocals. The idea here is that you bring the vocal to a good place, leaving a lot of headspace on the master bus, and slowly raise the other instruments around it in order of importance until each element is clear and defined.

Although this technique works for some people, it never worked for me

I have become a big fan of what I call the “bottom up” technique.

To get the volume balance, I will start with basic instruments such as drums and bass. I will continue my way up, balancing rhythm guitars, keyboards, synths and effects, knowing that at the end I leave room for the main elements (leads and vocals).

If you’re crazy like some engineers, you can turn all the faders on at once and slowly adjust until you find the right balance between all the elements.

The way you do this is up to you, although the ultimate goal is to make sure that each element has its own space and a clearly defined role in the mix.

EQing your mix in mono

Monophonic fun isn’t limited to volume balance! I often like to do EQ and compression while I’m at it. When listening in stereo, it can often be hard to tell if two instruments are competing with each other or not, especially when listening to low-pitched instruments such as drums and bass. Similarly, it can be difficult to determine whether midrange instruments such as guitar, keyboards or vocals are absorbing low-frequency instruments because they themselves have too many low frequencies.

With monophonic mixing, we can adjust the EQ across the entire frequency spectrum to avoid fighting for space. Many engineers use panning to compensate for EQ masking, but this is just a band-aid for problems that become apparent when listening on monophonic systems. You can even listen to dynamic problems when mixing in monaural.

For example, when listening in stereo, the background vocals may seem quite balanced. However, when mixing tomes, you will notice several dynamic inconsistencies in the background vocals, causing them to overshadow the lead. To make the dynamics more consistent, you can use compression.

When should you switch to stereo?

There’s no reason why you can’t do about 80-90% of your mix in mono. It can end up being quite useful. As I said before, my philosophy is that if you can get your mix to sound great in mono, it will sound absolutely incredible when you listen to it in stereo. That said, at some point it’s important to recognize that stereo systems are just as common as mono systems. From headphones to cars to large concert venues, having width can add a whole new level of excitement to your mix for different audiences.

So, when should I go back to stereo in the mixing process?

The most obvious answer is when you do any stereo processing, including adding stereo reverb, stereo delay, stereo amplification, etc.

You’ll want to see how your stereo processing solutions will respond to stereo systems in the real world, and it’s impossible to listen truthfully when mixing in mono.

Use Mono to check for phase disturbances

One of the most common culprits of phase problems is sounds scattered across the stereo spectrum. Mixing engineers make certain processing decisions with panning, EQ or effects that sound great in stereo, but when mixed in mono they find that they destroy certain parts of the mix.

Phase problems can not only give a weird, hollow and metallic character to the timbre of your instruments, but also make certain parts of your mix disappear completely. This often happens with paired vocals that are scattered all over the stereo field.

When you mix in mono, you get a hollow, chorus-like tone that sounds unnatural. Avoiding this is very easy by making the right EQ choice to separate the two sounds when mixing in mono.

The main point here, however, is to constantly check for mono compatibility in your mix. Whenever you take a stereo solution, press the mono switch and listen to see if anything sounds weird or unnatural.
Always double check your stereo decisions

When you’re nearing the end of your mono mix, be sure to double check all of your stereo mix solutions to see how they sound.
For example, you may have made some volume adjustments early on that now feel like they need a little adjustment when panning.

Not only are you balancing your mix by making compromises for every element in it, but you’re also making compromises in your mono and stereo mixing decisions so that the whole track sounds equally good in both cases.

Do you need to use plug-ins to extend stereo

With so much talk about mono compatibility, many engineers worry about using stereo width plug-ins, which are some of the most notorious culprits of phase problems. Few things in life sound as good as a soft Rhodes keyboard laid out on the sides of your speakers with a chorus plug-in.

But will it destroy your mix?

I can’t give you a definite answer, although I can advise you to check in mono if you decide to use this type of processing. In some cases it won’t have any negative effect, and in others it can cause a huge amount of phase problems. However, if there are phase problems, that doesn’t mean you should back out of your creative solution. You might think, “I’d rather have that gorgeous, ultra-wide Rhodes keyboard in my mix than have to worry about whether people listening to mono can hear it as clearly.”

That’s perfectly fine!

Compatibility with Mono is not a cause for fear. It’s just something to consider. However, there are some stereo extension plug-ins that are better compatible with mono than others. One of my favorites is the iZotope Imager, which is a simple tool for extending mono signals over the stereo field or narrowing down wide stereo tracks.

Final thoughts – incorporating mixing in mono into your music production process

Working on your mix in mono is a great way to make sure your stereo mix will make sense to listeners in the real world. Try mono mixing yourself and see what you think! Remember, though, that you want to mix your track the way YOU want it to sound. Even if you don’t want to do the whole mix in mono, check it often in mono to see if you hear phase issues or if your EQ balance is good.

If you’re mixing a song with tons of stereo sound that you want people to listen to on headphones, make the mix with that in mind. On the other hand, if you’re mixing a track that you plan to hear in a club, your mono mix is crucial.

Ultimately, listening to your mix in mono is a great way to get a clean sound out of your mix. Without the distraction of a stereo image, you can better balance your mix and thoroughly analyze the different frequency ranges.

Mixing in mono can save you a lot of time and headaches.

The post How do I Mix in Mono? appeared first on VolSliv.

Why send your release to someone

First and foremost, an artist is driven by the desire to be heard. We send music when we want to get some feedback from professionals and understand our level, make conclusions not only about the quality of our own ideas and music production, but also to make useful contacts and build new relationships. In the music business, as in any other, connections decide a lot: often, not the strongest music with properly built up contacts takes higher positions than the result of the work of talented, but invisible in the industry authors.

In addition, working with other channels to promote their release allows the artist to reach the maximum number of listeners from their target audience through all available tools – promos from labels, playlist curators, various communities and others.

How to prepare to send a release

Make sure you’re ready to communicate and won’t abruptly interrupt the communication

The artist should have no illusions: as you prepare to send your release to a label or playlist curator, make a sober assessment of your desire to communicate. Don’t think that you have to overcome yourself and turn from an introvert into a communicative person in one moment. We are all individuals and we shouldn’t consider this a disadvantage, but if you take on the task of sending music and engaging in dialogue, make sure in advance that you will be able to complete it when you receive any feedback.

The electronic music community is a small circle of people, every act can affect your reputation because almost all of the big managers, promoters, label and venue representatives communicate with each other. So remember, if you correspond with a label or publisher for a long time and then suddenly disappear, it’s bound to affect your reputation.

Be clear about what you want and why you’re starting the dialogue

When mentally preparing yourself for correspondence with a representative of the industry, make sure that you have at least a rough idea of the whole chain of events from the first contact to the appearance of your work in streaming, advertising, movies and related areas of monetization. Assess the frequency with which the label you’re writing to releases, how often the curator updates their playlist that you want to get on: when you understand the busyness of the person you’re writing to, negotiating promotions and waiting your turn is much easier.

Prepare for feedback

If you’re not prepared to hear rejection or an inadequate response, delay sending the release. It’s not uncommon for a musician’s request for a promotional release to result in an email recipient demanding that they remove their address from all mailing lists and never send anything ever again. If you’re potentially hurt by such reactions, it’s really best to postpone the communication until you’re in a more prepared state of mind.

Make sure that all the contacts you provide are working and that you check them systematically

Keep in mind that when you provide contact information, you should be aware that it can be used, which means you commit to checking the email, messengers, and social media you’ve provided. You can abstract away from excessive communication so as not to be distracted, but make it a rule to check all incoming messages and respond to them at least once a day.

Clean up your information about yourself and your releases

Start with a nickname in working messengers – it should be simple and clear, related to your last name or nickname for easy retrieval. Prepare in advance all the actual information about yourself and place it in the cloud storage: when you have such a link at hand, it’s easier to respond promptly to emergency requests from promoters and labels, which means your chances of getting additional promo increases. Make sure that all the tracks in your folder are named and numbered correctly, that the information about your project is in an understandable presentation, and that you can really be contacted by the contacts given.

What details are important to consider when sending a release to a label

Be responsible for the text of your cover letter

When you begin communicating with a label, prepare a cover letter. The recipient should understand that this is not a “carpet bombing” of everything at once, but a personalized request. Write about yourself in two words – you don’t need to describe your biography in detail, focus on the main facts and stories, list the labels you’ve been published on, tell about the tracks you’re sending. A label manager doesn’t always have his headphones at hand – your letter should make the right impression even before you start listening to it, make a person interested just by the text description, so that they change the priority of your letter or close it as unread and come back to it later.

Write only on the merits – what you worked on, why it would interest the label. And, of course, don’t forget about the correct and full name of the files: note, for example, that not everyone reads Cyrillic. Do not overload the name with unnecessary technical details in order to impress the listener, do not forget to specify the author, so that the file was easier to find after downloading.

Another important element of the promotional letter is a description of your immediate plans. Tell us what genre and style area your search is in at the moment, indicate that you intend to record an album or EP, perform a live show in an unusual venue, or come up with a collaboration with someone from a completely different genre. In other words, make it clear that your creative life extends beyond this letter, so you’ll give the impression of a coherent, independent person to work with.

Send only completed, finished tracks

First, don’t comment on your work in a negative way. If you send a release, you automatically think it’s a finished work and you’re not ashamed of it. If a label employee appreciates the idea, he’ll hear it through all the technical imperfections.

Secondly, don’t admit that you outsource the mixing and mastering. Many musicians are rather inconsiderate when sending in a release to say that it was mixed and mastered at some famous studio working with the stars of the genre. Such information looks strange to the label recipient of your letter: a competent publisher probably has its own team of engineers, who comb the entire catalog to their standard anyway. Also, the label manager has a reasonable question: why did you spend this money if you haven’t signed this release yet? It either shows that you are so confident that it will be signed, or that you are very unsure of your mixing and mastering skills.

Follow the rules for submitting files

Keep in mind that the more comfortable the process of listening to your tracks is for the label manager, the easier your life is. If you know that the label manager you’re communicating with is not listening to tracks online, there’s no point in sending them a link to SoundCloud. Instead, upload the files to a convenient file-sharing service with an interface that’s available in the language of the recipient.

What to watch out for when sending a release to music streaming editors

Use release pitching tools. If your track wasn’t picked up for the showcase or playlist the first time, don’t despair – keep filling out the pitching form with each new release. If editors see an artist pitching their tracks every month or every two weeks, sooner or later they’ll pay attention to the release. It might work on the tenth, fifteenth time, it’s important to get noticed.

If your music is released on a label and the pitching is handled by its representatives, consider that not all publishers thoroughly approach the working out of each single. Therefore, it is very important that you fill out pitching forms in your own name and put all the necessary information to attract an editor.

How to communicate with radio music editors

Electronic artists have some sort of advantage when it comes to promotion on radio. Often non-priority hours on the air – before and after shows, nighttime and earlier – are filled with an automatic playlist. You can offer your track at an unpopular time and, if your accounts and listens start to grow after that, show that dynamic to the station by offering to move your music to a higher rating time.

What’s important to consider when dealing with DJs

Collaborating with DJs can benefit the electronic musician in several ways at once. Firstly, you can ask to test a track in public and see the response after his set. Secondly, get feedback from the DJ – he’ll tell you what’s wrong with the technical part of the track, whether your release rocked or not. This feedback is worth a lot: the DJ who takes your track for testing runs a great risk of being the first to get a negative reaction from the dance floor. In addition, DJs are good networking assistants. DJs can be called the evangelists of your creativity: if they like something and your musical ways haven’t gone in diametrically opposite directions for several years, you can be sure that they will support you by inertia.

When submitting material, it is important to pay attention to some nuances. First, you need to be clear about your intentions. No need to say that it will definitely “blow up the dance floor,” will be “the high-light of your set” – the DJ himself knows how to do it, even with a dozen regular tracks. Use a personal approach, accentuate the fact that the DJ plays music close to your spirit in your friendly establishments, emphasizing the fact that you do not create him competition in these clubs, but only hope for cooperation.

Don’t be shy to ask for feedback if you’ve sent something: a DJ should always remember that other people’s music has a certain value, time and emotional resources are invested in it.

Remember that DJs appreciate novelty, and it’s important to send only fresh releases. That said, if a DJ is interested in your new work, he’ll run through your back catalog as well, and maybe play old tracks in a club set as well.

What to watch out for when working with playlist curators

Playlist curators do not monetize for their own benefit the music they compile, while investing effort and communicative effort in assembling and promoting compilations. Obviously, then, they make their money primarily from paid placements paid for by musicians. Many curators also compile playlists for various services, brands, and public spaces because their taste and their speed are trusted. Often over time, curators create their own label, and then they already share auditions in shares with the auditioning musician. So, working with curators is first and foremost a long-playing story.

When sending music to curators, check the contents of your files – your track should fit the genre and mood of the playlist you want to get on, listen to it beforehand, and pick the right material. When posting, it makes sense to include your listening figures and experience with other playlists in the text. Be prepared that in most cases you may be offered a paid placement: no need to enter into an ethical discussion – if you categorically reject this format, limit yourself to a brief thank-you or try to discuss additional terms of cooperation.

It’s important to keep in mind that most curators are only interested in new music: based on the date of your release, they may decide not to post it at all or publish it on a playlist on less favorable terms for you.

How to offer your track to admins of large resources

In general, admins of large online resources are similar to playlist curators in their functions, but they are less subject to restrictions on all kinds of commercial activity. That’s why many publishers and channels openly post information about the cost of posting tracks. When deciding on a paid placement, keep in mind that administrators can show you nice statistics, behind which there will be no real listeners among your target audience.

Before sending your material to the publisher or channel administrator, study the posts on the page, the background of its creators and your audience, and also check who your colleagues appeared in the posts and whether they were paid publications or were noticed by yourself. Assess the genre relevance of recent posts to your music, remember that audiences in most cases can easily tell the difference between a native posting and a promotional purchase that is not worth responding to. Always start with a “suggestion”-format the post in the style of the publicity and wait for a response-and don’t send music in private messages to the admin without accompanying information.

The post Tools for Promoting Electronic Music appeared first on VolSliv.