How I Did It
UB Cool (UBQ 'Step Mix)by Da UBQ
Samples are used in:
Tools I Used
Logic Studio 8,
Ableton Live 7,
Absynth
Samples I Used
Forensic's Be Cool Co-Lab
Original Samples
Drums - EXS24/planet phatt,
Bass - Absynth
Synths - Reaktor, Imposcar, Sculpture, ES2
Process
Had a hard time getting going on this one, but let my instincts guide me. Got the pella in ableton 1st, tweaked it added compression and eq. Got one of ableton's drum machines for the intro beat. Reached into the special stash for the main beat which had beat waiting for something like this. Mainly programmed in 48ths (at 78 bpm, so 24ths at 156). Had trouble getting it started so programmed a bit of percussion using the percussion module of DFHS. Created the pad using sculpture, using a 4th triplets lfo to get the sway right. Knew i needed a heavy bass, tried quite a few things before a turned to trusty old absynth. Played in a bit of piano using akoustik piano and added a delay from delay designer. Next the synths, the clav like line is es2 with a sh*t load of distortion, then the lead line at the end of the main section with a sh101 patch in reaktor. Then the organ to punctuate particular sequencers. The arp line is the same instrument as the clav line.
Next i structured up the tune and figured where i wanted breaks and pauses etc. Then i sorted the weird verb bass change using guitar rig with a split mixer to swap between the sounds, then automated the split and verb time to get the resonance effect.
Then i go searching in my cupboard for my tape delay for the saturating delay feedback bits on the vocals, never quite in time and there's no control so i have to resort to using my thumb to slow the tape to get the right tempo, nice! Obviously not midi controlled so it takes a few goes to get it right.
The last big task, other than tweaking and tuning, was programming the breaks on the drums, no short cuts here. I do love beat repeat in ableton, but it never quite gets the right feel for these types of breaks. Nothing left to do but overlay a 48ths grid and get going. There is no more complete way of doing it than doing them one by one, trying to remember the feel of the last break and continuing the theme, also remember that not every break has to finish at the end of the bar. For the last section i used a few of those 'beyond normal keyrange' sounds from my planet phatt and a legit emu soundfont of the mo phatt. The cool filter effect is psp nitro running 3 comb filters in line, automating the first.
Due to the nature and inconsistency of some of the fx it took 14 attempts to get it to bounce as i wanted, and even then its not quite what i thought! Mastered using ozone.
Other Notes
Hard work this one, the beat was pretty much the only constant, most of the other lines mutated over time, the clav like sound started as a real clav, but even low down it didn't have the grunt, the organ started as piano and vice versa.
After the main section i was really up for doing a crazy break section, great fun. At the end of the drum break programming i was seeing in 48ths!
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