Archive for January, 2009

Circle of fourths and 5ths

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Today we are going to talk about a fundamental concept of music theory: The circle of 4ths and 5ths
The circle of 4ths and 5ths is a very easy method to learn the scales of western music. Take a look at the picture below

We begin at C. If go clockwise, we are moving in 5ths. A [...]

Synthesizer layering. A very nice method.

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

A few days ago, I was asked by a friend in MySpace how I made the sounds for some of my tracks (http://www.myspace.com/raskolnikovsdream). The truth is that many new musicians are missing lots of information on how to make and use the proper sounds, to make the music they want to do.
What someone usually does, [...]

Independent music promotion can be a hell!!

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Oh yes, music promotion can be a hell.
As an independent musician you face different challenges than those signed to a label. Surely, you got all the freedom in the world, but there is a main problem concerning this job: How can I promote my music?
You might have written the greatest hit of all time, but no-one [...]

Types of EQ. A little tutorial

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

In this article we are going to talk about the various types of EQ, so that those of you who are beginners in mixing, will get a quick grip of what is going on.
First of all, we must understand that equalizers are filters. Their job is to attenuate or amplify frequencies.
Note that in this tutorial [...]

Please support my other projects and pay them a little visit :-)

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

As you may know, I also run two more projects, besides Encefalus.
I am a musician (as it is pretty obvious from running this site), and my first project, can be found here: Raskolnikov’s Dream.

It is a melodic electronica project. In the official site you will find more information and you will be able to listen [...]

Real synths vs soft synths

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Yamaha Motif XS8
Today we are going to debate over this subject: soft synths vs hardware synths. There are many opinions, almost as many musicians, but I am going to give my view on the subject on a few lines.
First of all, you have to realize that any instrument that you are using is going to [...]

A few basic things about music theory: Pitch-class set theory and its uses

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Today, we’re going to discuss a few things about music theory. While most music theories revolve around scales and modes (which, of course, will cover at some point) I prefer another way of thinking.
Allen Forte was a musicologist that tried to analyze atonal music. He created a music theory revolving around pitch-class sets, which however, can [...]

Using Absynth to understand harmonics

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

In this article, we will use Absynth to understand what harmonics and waves are all about. Absynth allows you to see both the waveform and its harmonic content. So let’s take a look.
First we will create a sine wave

Now, let’s take a look at its harmonic content

Now, let me help you understand what this thing [...]

A few things about audio waveforms and fourier-transform

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Today, I’ll talk about a subject that can be a little be confusing to beginners in digital music: Fourier transform and harmonics. A harmonic is defined by wikipedia as follows

In acoustics and telecommunication, the harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency. [...]

Synthesizer basics

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Today we are going to talk about a topic that causes great confusion to beginning computer musicians: synthesizers and their components
When you start learning about this stuff you’ll eventually have to choose your first synthesizer, be it virtual or physical. Most of the music you’re going to write is based on a some type of [...]


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