so, thought i would post my workflow, in case it helps/inspires others, or at least initiates some thoughts/discussions. at any rate i spend countless hours thinking/rearranging this stuff and talking about it. still figuring out one or two details.
in the last couple of years i have bought/sold a ton of instruments to find my favorite workflow, and this is definitely it. 1-3 elektron boxes with some sound sources, mostly the iPad.
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so for the last 2-3 months i have set up a personal challenge, where i produce at least one video a week. breaking up things easily and into small chunks. this is what i do:
DAY ONE: usually in korg gadget i’ll setup a kick or minimal drum in one track and then create 3 more tracks, which will be the basis of my song. normally a bass, a pad and usually some keys. I make a main 4 bar pattern for each instrument and then one or two related 4 bar patterns and export these dry (except for any internal synth fx).
DAY TWO: in auria pro i apply various fx to these track and optimize them and then export to dropbox in the rytm format. i power on my rytm, boot up a new pattern and load my template kit, save as new and rename it. then on my mac i use sds drop and transfer the 6-9 loops over. (to keep things easier on my brain i use the same pad setup.) save kit.
DAY THREE: jam. sequence those loops in and start adding shit, live play a4 parts in, etc. kit save like a madman. bounce and groove as i sit until i look over and see my wife’s eyes staring at me as if saying “jesus, how old are you?”. ok netflix time.
DAY FOUR: expand my jam, add new patterns, add conditional triggers, setup performance controls, “finish” these 2 or 3 patterns.
DAY FIVE (saturday or sunday morning): video day. i’ll setup the equipment on a desk in the living room, set up the camera (iPhone) and recording equipment (usually the k-mix andiPad) and quickly go through the patterns and have a quick jam and get an idea of what instruments will start off and kind of the order to bring the others in. i hit record and play what comes to mind.
this has been really fun for me, way different from when i used to spend weeks obsessing on minute details for a produced track. all this stuff is one take, except for one video where i had too much stuff going and messed up the first try. very liberating because many times i have thought at the end of the fourth day that i really didn’t have much for a video, nothing i really loved, but i set up the video and in with all these great expression controls etc it just happens. i see the video and am pleasantly surprised with directions i took, etc. haven’t multitracked anything in months. sure there are mistakes here and there, and stuff that i would obviously tweak the shit out of if i had multitracked (and i can to a large extent since the k-mix is 8 in), but am loving this performance capture bug. and the output of the rytm is great. that and the deco. so warm and fuzzy.
so….long winded…but happy to answer any questions. here is the one i made this morning:
