Part I: Producing

Multiband compression
Combining with reverb and delay
Band-specific sidechain compression to
avoid clashing
Compression
Basic taming on synths via compressors
like C-3A, bouncing out tracks to see if
they are tamed
Making kicks pop more with parallel
compression
Sidechain compression
Using LFO Tool / Volume Shaper on synths
Doing 4/4 sidechain even when it the song
is half-time
Upward compression to make synths
attack stronger
Kick and Bass
The relationship of these two has a great
impact on whether the song grooves
correctly
EQ
Finding a good EQ for different purposes
such as
Equality for opening high frequencies
Pro-Q 2 for almost everything else,
 using its piano roll for tonal EQing;
mid-side processing; and lastly, its
linear phase ability.
Middle and side
Keeping a good mono translation by
adjusting oscillators and being careful
with processing
Creating more width using MSED and
processing the sides separately
Creating width with Vitalizer and Ozone
Imaging
Reverb & Delay
Putting these effects on a bus to process
them in isolation
Timing for impact and movement
Its important that synths, piano, etc. line
up and that their timing is not tainted
by processing for IMPACT
It is useful sometimes to add reversed
chops of the synths / synth reverb to
create MOVEMENT
It is often very useful to pitch bend your
bass for movement
Imperfect drums are great for MOVEMENT
(e.g. pre-shifted claps and top loops)
All of these things are important so that
your melodies are EXPRESSIVE
Part II: Making good
songs
Songs should tell a story
Music is story telling just like the movies
and theatre
Much EDM music will not stand the test
of time because it is made for live
utility rather than for the soul
The soul listens best when being spoken
to by a person
How do you make electronic music feel
like a person is inside? How do you
make it human?
Real instruments
Kontakt and EW Play (EW Play has a
subscription service thats legal, cheap)
They are more difficult to fit into dance
music, but worth it
When necessary (almost always) you must
compensate for:
Their relaxed timing - by printing the
audio and shifting or using negative
track delay
 Their volume inconsistency - by using
compression, limiting and
sometimes compressing their left
and right channels separately
Their lack of presence - by EQing
them and removing their reverb and
replacing it with your own
Key switches
Key switches are notes you can add
via MIDI in the lowest octaves (e.g.
C0, D#0, etc). They dont make any
noise but they tell the instrument to
switch to a different style.
For instance, maybe you want a violin
to play 4 drawn out notes and then
some staccato notes, like Tremor
Some keyswitch when velocity is
maxed
Real melodies
Human musicians have a beauty to their
play, which can get lost when using
MIDI. You can get it back by using:
Different velocities - real musicians
dont hit every note with the same
velocity
Pitch bends - real musicians are
expressive through detuning and
 vibrato, like with the Duduk
Chord theory
Get out of your usual cycle of chords by
stealing chords - Secrets chords were
from Heads Will Roll
The V always gets you back home
Vocals
The most obvious way to humanize music
is through vocals, though getting a good
toppling can be hard
Vocal chops are an easy way to humanize
it, and I really recommend building a
stash of vocals
EDM Voices by Nexus is really useful
Synths
Of course, synths are necessary as well to
make a track sound big
IMO, presets are fine. Many times, they are
just a tool to enhance the track. When
you need a supersaw just grab one
Finally, good melodies
The goal, ultimately, is using all these
tools to make good melodies that are
expressive and sound the way they do
in your head
Literally nothing matters except that you
end up first with melodies, and then
 ultimately a song that makes you feel
something
This means using the right expression
(pitch bend, velocity, etc) to give the
melody the groove and drama it
deserves
Layout
The layout of your song tells the complete
story
A hard hitting drop is like the climax of
the movie, and a climax of the movie
feels so much more important when the
rest of the film has set it up right
When all of these elements come together,
you tell and a story and your music will
have a soul

Part III: Artist /
Success
Why I got into dance music
I think many people looked at dance
music as an easy in
I actually felt like there were a lot of
 things missing
Creating what you feel like is missing is
the key
Honesty is the most important thing
I realized I wasnt good at being a social
media hype man
Social media is still important but you
have to use it in a way that is honest,
so you can do it sustainably
Bill Clinton - so long as youre honest,
people will forgive your mistakes
Individuality
When youre first getting started, its like
your playing music out of a laptop while
the other guys have the studio speakers
You cant get big just producing tropical
house better than everyone else, etc
It is much better to be a just ok producer
with a style of his own, using weird
sounds, than an amazing producer who
just kind of recreates whats going on in
dance music (I know lots of these)
Being palatable
I highly recommend against being an
artist that is for everybody
Your favorite artists didnt write lyrics by
taking a survey asking people what the
 next line should be
Being artist is not about figuring out what
other people like, its an internal thing.
Its about gaining an understanding of
what you like, what your tastes are,
how to present that to the world in a
way that hasnt been broken down by
the inevitable lack of success we all
face early on
Mistakes can be good
Keeping one close friend around can be
helpful, to tell you when an error you
made actually sounds good
These mistakes can result in a unique
sound - that makes you special
Basic philosophy
Bad: not attempting to do difficult things
and keeping people around who tell you
they sound good
Good: attempting to do difficult things and
appreciating peoples criticism so that
you are forced to make them better