About Damien King Expertise Being a professional music artist covering most electronic/dance genres, Damien can cover a wide range of queries, from musical questions such as explaining various subgenres and their differences, to technical help such as timestretching, beatmatching and compression/dynamics.
Experience Damien has been a professional music artist under the alias 'Digital Slave' (previously known as SephXI) for several years now and has produced a wide range of music, from cutting-edge house to euphoric happy hardcore.
Publications Melomag, Gods Of Music, Rainsford Magazine
Question Hi Damien,
I've been writing House music for about 2months. I purchased Reason 2.5 hoping to get a better understanding of the production process. So far I have been able to make a good drumline with sounds, but I lack the groovy feel. Basically I am having trouble coming up with a good lead synth line. Can you please give me some tips on how I can create a moving synth? I've got a midi keyboard, but it never sounds right when I do it in real time. I've tried using the Matrix sequencer, but always find myself inputing random patterns that ultimatly sound bad. Is there a trick or pattern I need to know about composing? I've done a lot of research on the web but come up empty handed. It feels like nobody want's to share their secrets or help an inspiring bed room musician. Any help would be awesome!
With much appreciation,
Freeman
Answer Freeman,
welcome to the world of music production! Be prepared to spend anything up to a year before you're familiar enough with software and grooves/rhythms to produce some quality music.
Writing melodies is very difficult, and house music usually has a certain funk/groove element to it, fairly laid back. It's pretty tricky to write a melody without having an idea of hearing it playing in your head; I'm guessing that you're not working with vocals yet so you'd need a strong melody line. A lot of artists swear by the NN-XT so I'd recommend giving that a go... might feel a bit counter-intuitive but it's far easier to use with your keyboard than using the Matrix would be. Load a strings sample into the NN-XT and just experiment with light chords... having a keyboard is a big advantage as its a lot easier to experiment and see what 'sounds cool' rather that entering notes into a sequencer and hoping it sounds good that way.
There's a LOT of information out there on the web, everything from music theory -- which is often more useful than people think -- to forums of producers. A few places to start include:
http://www.computermusic.co.uk : the definitive magazine devoted to music production. http://www.radiomute.com : massive forums dedicated to all aspects of music composition, production and marketing. http://www.garageband.com : a nice place to go check out what other producers in your situation are capable of, as well as a place where you can showcase your own material for public feedback.
