Transitions

[sven hauck]

Anyone have any cool tips or methodologies for creating transitions from one part of the track to the next? This is a pretty open ended question, but understanding that it is a crucial part of any track to bring the listener from one section to the next, can anyone post on what works well for you? Thanks.

[Rambunkcious]

Sven,
great subject you brought up, Im intersted in any thoughts on the subject as well, and thanx to you and to jesse, for the sidechaining tips, its helped alot.

I normally half the rythmic, beat oriented tracks, so if the loop im working with was at 4 bars, my last couple of bars will be only 1 or 2 bars in length (of the original 4 bars), might even roll some of the notes, and drop out some sounds.

Im not very good at melodic passages, yet, but I would normally find the key and chord i was playing with, and try to work in that same key using another chord, to build tension either by using a minor, or diminshed chord. Or by changing the groove of the melody slightly in the last bar or so, and cutting a few notes of the end to give it a sense of inconclusion. Thus moving you on to the next part of the track.

any other thoughts????

[T-Lectual]

yeah interesting thread...

the possibitlies are endless on this I think...transitions could be abrupt, smooth, out of sync/tempo, none at all...I usually go with what fits the track...

I usually find I like nice sweeps and 1-shot FX's to build tension then kick the next gear in...but theres so much more you can do that I haven't tried

anybody else?

[sven hauck]

I always liked hearing parts decompose and fragment during a break, similar to some Derek Howell tracks. Some of the tracks made with tracker software also provided for some interesting transitions.

[admin]

Transitions are pretty important, especially in today's dance production world.

I generally arrange the whole song without any of the tricks or fills added. The idea is to get the arrangement as tight as possible without these things helping it.

Some knowledge of music theory as Rami alluded to can help. I'll record the output of SX into Wavelab as I play with the mutes in SX live t flesh out arrangement ideas on the fly. Then you can go back and pick out the best parts and use them to construct the actually flow of the song.

[stevenlibby]

I agree with you Jesse as far as getting the arrangement as tight as possible before any real tricks, fills, etc... As far as favorite transitions go for me... I suppose it depends on the feel of the tune in general...

There are many things I've done- "traditional" filter sweeps, reverse cymbals, reversing sounds already used, automate sends to buses with loads of fx, stutters, changing time signature, etc. etc...

Granted, just about every technique has been used in the endless amount of tracks out there...it gets harder and harder to innovate what tricks to use, and how to use them... Often I hear the same techniques being used in releases that come out after a well noticed track does something unique- So I try to just not be so typical A good example would be automating bit reduction...it became overkill in my opinion.

[T-Lectual]

Record SX into Wavelab live? wow I didn't even know you can do that? how do you set that up Jesse?

[admin]

I do it through the routing system provided by my Creamware SCOPE system which lets me route the ASIO out of SX to another destination like the SCOPE Wave drivers (which Wavelab is set to).

Alternatively I could route SX back into itself to record anything in SX live back on to a track within SX. That would give you the same functionality as Pro Tools ability to record its own internal busses. Great for doing live plugin tweaks direct to disk record.

If anyone has any money to burn they might actually want to check the SCOPE stuff out. Among many great plugins there is a new update to their modular system, think of it as a Nord 3/G2 but more analog sounding.

I've just got it and can't wait to explore it a bit more, so far some really nice sounds.

[sven hauck]

Yeah, I run 3 Scope boards as well. The routing capability in the system is unsurpassed. They also have some synths that are quite nice.

[13]

On the mac side of things you can use soundflower from cycling 74 to record audio between applications. It supports up to 16 channels of audio. Also Logic now supports internal recording with Logic 8 so you can record the output of the master bus, or any bus for that matter.

Cheers!