Listen like a producer
Listen to a track in layers, write down its sonic DNA, and balance your own track's levels and pans.
The sonic DNA audit
Producers listen with questions. Four do most of the work: rhythm (tempo, groove, what drives it), texture (which sounds, near or far), harmony (minor or major, how many chords) and arrangement (what comes and goes, and when). Write the answers on one page.
Follow one part at a time
A track is many parts at once. Follow one from start to end, then the next: the bass first, then the drums. After a few passes you stop hearing a blur and start hearing parts.
The rule of three
Only about three things hold your attention at once. If everything is loud, nothing stands out. Level moves a part front or back, pan moves it left or right: keep kick, snare, bass and the lead in the centre, and spread the rest in pairs.
Lesson 14
- Listen like a producer.
- In this lesson you will listen to a track in layers, write down its sonic DNA, and balance your own track's levels and pans.
Use this sheet whenever you study a track.
Listen once for pleasure. Then again with the sheet, writing one or two words per line. There's no right answer: write what you hear.
Two versions of one groove.
In the first, every part plays a lot at full strength. In the second, kick, bass and chords lead and the rest is quiet. Switch while it plays.
Busy sounds smaller, not bigger. With three in focus, each part has room.
Picture the mix as a stage.
Louder parts stand at the front, quieter ones at the back, and pan moves a part left or right. Low, important parts go in the centre; supporting parts go in pairs, one each side.
Copy B01 into B10 as a sketchpad
- Hold PATTERN + 1 and press RECORD.
- Then hold PATTERN + 10 and press and hold STOP until the countdown finishes.
B10 now has your sounds. B01 is unchanged.
- Go to B10 (hold PATTERN, press 10) and press FUNC + PLAY: this clears the trigs and keeps the sounds.
- Open the SCALE menu (FUNC + PAGE), set MOD to PATTERN and LEN to 16.
- Then press BACK.
An empty one-bar pattern with your six sounds.
Play your chosen track and tap its tempo
- Hold FUNC and tap TEMPO on the beat.
- Tempo is stored per pattern, so B01 keeps 90.
- Press RECORD and place kicks (T1), snares (T2) and hats (T3) where you hear them.
It won't sound like the record, and that's fine: you're copying where the hits sit, not the sounds.
- Add the bass rhythm on T5 with a single note.
- Press RECORD to leave.
- Then play your skeleton and the song one after the other, and write on your sheet what's missing: a sound, the groove, or a part.
- Save B10.
Four parts are usually enough to recognise a track. That's its skeleton.
- Go to B01 (hold PATTERN, press 1) and play it.
- Mute every track (FUNC + T1 to T6).
- Then unmute them one at a time: kick, bass, chords.
- Then the rest.
- After each, ask: which three do I hear first?
If a fourth part keeps grabbing you, it's too loud or too busy.
Balance
- Select each track and turn its LEVEL/DATA down low.
- Bring T1 up until the kick feels solid: that's your anchor.
- Then bring up bass, snare, chords, hats and perc one at a time, each until it's clear but doesn't shout.
Building up from quiet gives a better balance than turning things down from loud.
Pan in pairs
- Select T3 (hats), hold FUNC and turn LEVEL/DATA a little to the left.
- Select T4 (perc) and pan it a little to the right.
- Leave kick, snare, bass and chords centred.
- Save: hold FUNC and long-press SETTINGS.
The beat gets wider while its centre stays solid.
Four parts all grab your attention at once. What's the best first fix?
Answer
Turn one or two down, or make them simpler, so about three things lead. The ear follows around three at once; the other parts should support them.
Three in focus. Everything else supports.
This lesson's challenge
Fill in a sonic DNA sheet for a track in a style you don't usually listen to. Write one thing it does that your track doesn't, and try it on B01.