TRACKING TIPS

DOs & DON'Ts Samples Communication Publicity Vital Sites

The purpose of this page is to provide trackers with an easy way to learn the things that I had to discover the hard way about tracking. That's pretty much all there is to it. However, this site once sparked a bit of a controversy over on the alt.music.mods newsgroup, and as such I think I need a disclaimer here.

Some people might read this page and accuse me of arrogantly trying to force everyone to follow the same rules as I do just because *I* happen to think they're right. Yes, I do happen to believe the things I say here are correct, but I am by no means alone in these opinions. If you disagree with something, you're more than welcome to debate me on it by e-mailing me at [email protected], assuming you can do so politely. ;)

Others might look at this page and walk away, smirking to themselves and thinking "What a schmuck! Doesn't he realize that some of the best musicians in history are the ones who broke The Rules?" You might be surprised to learn that I agree with you 100%.

However, although a lot of people like to throw that idea at me, what such people forget is that those same great musicians had to START by learning the rules. Once they'd learned the rules, what they learned next was HOW to break them in a way that took their music to the next level. You can't just say "Oooh! I understand music theory! Now I'll start playing crunchy chords of C and C# together! Watch me break the rules! I'm so innovative! I'm a musical genius!" People who do that are ironically following a rule: "Break the rules."

The key is where these great musicians all started. They started out by learning "The Rules." Once they'd learned them, they could transcend them. But they had to learn them first.

DO give credit when you remix! Make sure that somewhere in the sample text you make it clear who wrote the original song, and that you just did the remix. If you forget to do this, you could be mistaken for a song thief, and good luck trying to prove otherwise.

DON'T use samples if the creator says "No!" Samples aren't easy to make, and somebody had to make them. And sometimes, for whatever reason, the person who made a particular sample doesn't want anyone else to use it. It's generally polite to ask permission to use someone's samples anyway, but it's doubly important if it's a highly unusual sample, such as vocals or something like that. And guess what: no matter how much of a jerk you think the person is, if he or she says you can't use their samples, don't use them. The sample is theirs. They have the right to decide how it's used, and you DON'T have the right to overrule them.

DON'T use unrealistic samples! Nothing annoys my ears more than a track with a sample that is obviously supposed to be a piano but which sounds more like a banjo or something. If you want a piano in your song, don't rest until you find a sample which actually sounds like a piano! There are good sites for finding Samples all over the place. Never settle for a sample which "sounds good enough," because it never does. While you're at it, make sure that you use the sample in a realistic way. For example, a real piano cannot do pitch slides, so don't put pitch slides on tracked piano notes. It just sounds silly.

DO use high-quality samples! The highest quality samples are those which are 16-bit and are recorded at 44100 kHz. That's not to say that ALL of your samples should be like this, since often times a lower-quality sample sounds just as good or even better for a variety of reasons, and of course high-quality samples are larger. But don't be afraid to go all out. People are more willing than ever before to download larger files.

DO release 8-bit versions of 16-bit songs! I can speak from personal experience here: if you release a song with lots of 16-bit samples which weighs in at 2.5 megs or something, don't be afraid to mix the 16-bit samples in the song down to 8-bit and release both versions. Many people aren't willing to download 2.5 megs without a good reason, but they'll be more than willing to download a smaller file. If they like the smaller, lower-quality version of your song, they'll be more willing to grab the larger file. It works. Trust me.

DON'T repeat patterns! In my mind, repeating patterns is the height of musical laziness. There is simply no need for it, and most people who repeat patterns do so WAY too much. I've actually had people send me songs with only 10 patterns, each one of which gets played 8 times in order to fill out 80 orders and get a 4-minute song length. Don't tell me that wouldn't annoy you.

Learn From Example: "The Wolf and the Girl" by Nino

DO use small changes to move the song along! If you're feeling sick to your stomach after reading my last pronouncement, don't worry, it's not hard to follow! Sometimes, a single changed note or a slight rearrangement in the drumming is all that's needed to move the song along. So, if you have a song with a lot of repeated patterns and you want to jazz it up, try copying one of those repeated patterns, pasting it into a blank space, making a small change, and using the changed version of that pattern instead of repeating the original pattern a second time. Repeat that step as neccessary, and then step back and enjoy the results. Of course, larger changes can yield better results, but it's up to you to decide when you need a big change and when a small change is more appropriate. I can't teach that; you have to develop that sense on your own.

Learn From Example: "Redemption" by RS3

DO use a repeating theme as a hook! A lot of you are probably ready to hit me with examples of repetition in music, so let me back up a bit: I said not to repeat PATTERNS. There's nothing wrong with repeating A musical element. It's just that when you repeat a pattern, you're playing that COMBINATION of musical elements exactly as it sounded before. Repeating that COMBINATION can get old fast. But there's nothing wrong with repeating a given element of a song if the other elements have been changed in some way. That's basically what a hook is: a musical element (usually the melody, but it can be anything) which is frequently used in a song to hold the song together, keep it sounding familiar even as the song explores new territory, and which often lodges itself in the memory of the listener. A hook is the oldest trick in the musical book, and hooks have been used from Beethoven to the Backstreet Boys. If NOTHING in a song ever gets repeated, the song itself can often end up sounding aimless and lost.

Learn From Example: "Beacon" by Novus

DON'T overuse cut-and-paste! Here I go again, jerking you back and forth... Based on what I just said, you're probably ready to start writing songs where you copy one element of your song and paste it all over the place, and then do so with other elements as well. But you keep in mind that you're not supposed to repeat patterns, so you make sure that each pattern has a different COMBINATION of these elements. Yet even though you don't have a single repeated pattern in your song, it can still sound repetitive. You see, repetition is a tricky musical tool to use. You need some repetition in order to make your song familiar, yet you can't overuse it. It's kind of like salt: use too little, and your french fries taste bland. Use too much, and your french fries taste too strong. This is where using small changes can become particularly useful. Change a few notes around in your hook so that it sounds pretty much the same, but not exactly the same. Or try having a different instrument play the hook. Or do both. :)

DON'T just use one chord progression! Using the same four-chord sequence over-and-over again in a song can also lead to a repetitive-sounding song. Don't be afraid to use a different set of chords to change the direction the song is heading in. You can also try using what is called a chord inversion. I'll give you an example. A typical major chord is C-5 E-5 G-5. The central notes in the chord are C E G, but they don't have to be in that order. Try putting the C at the back instead of the front: E G C. The actual notes here would be E-5 G-5 C-6. You can also try transposing the end of a song up a half-step or a whole-step (except for the drums, of course.) Check your tracking program's instructions to find out how to transpose notes.

DO use Sample Global Volume in Impulse Tracker to solve volume problems! In the more recent tracking programs (including Impulse Tracker and any programs released after it), each sample has two different volume settings. The first is Default Volume, which is found in ALL tracking programs. That sets the default volume level at which that sample is played, but it can be overridden in the pattern data by setting a specific volume. The second is Global Volume, which is a confusing name since there are two types of Global Volume. One controls the volume of the ENTIRE song, and the other controls the volume of a particular sample. I'm talking about the one which controls the volume of a particular sample. The nice thing about this is that it sets the volume of the actual WAV file itself. Default Volume and any volume settings laid out in the pattern data are all relative to the Global Volume setting of that sample. The upshot is that Global Volume is great to use for fixing volume problems. Just raise or lower the volume of the appropriate samples as needed. (If you use Fast Tracker 2, this trick won't work. However, the next trick will.)

DO use Volume Envelopes in Fast Tracker 2 to solve volume problems! Fast Tracker 2 doesn't have a Global Volume setting for each sample the way Impulse Tracker does. However, Eggbird alerted me to a trick he uses to get around this. Just take an instrument's volume envelope and change the volume values as needed. Even if a particular instrument doesn't use the volume envelope, you can simply give it a volume envelope with an exactly horizontal line, and then raise or lower that line as if it were IT's Global Volume setting. (Eggbird also suggests using using FT2's built-in Sample Editor to change the volume, though that solution seems more cumbersome than the envelope trick to me.)

DON'T use chirping birds in a ballad! I don't know why, but it seems like every new tracker who writes their first ballad finds and uses the same 10-second loop of birds chirping and then plays it in the background of the entire song. It's supposed to sound romantic, but it just sounds pathetic. This didn't even work the first time I heard it.

DO keep yourself in mind! If you haven't figured it out by now, music is full of balancing acts, trying to find just the right amount of a given element. The same is true here. If you write music with ONLY your other listeners in mind, pretty soon you'll find yourself concentrating on music that will be popular, rather than truly good. But like a lot of things in life, people who go out of their way to write popular music often fall short, whereas people who concentrate on writing good music are often more likely to become popular. My point? The songs that you write should make YOU happy. Be yourself. Be true to your music. That's the tried-and-true method of becoming popular anyway, since people will recognize and be attracted to the sincerity of your music, as opposed to the calculated sound of the next Backstreet Boys clone.

Learn From Example: "Blue Flame" by Chris Jarvis

DO create emotional dynamics! This applies to ALL styles of music, from the softest ballad to the most in-your-face techno tune. If an entire song always aims to keep the listener in the same mood, it gets boring very quickly. Even dance tunes often feature a short break or two to give you a chance to relax before throwing you back into the flow. This is why change within a song can be so important. Change the mix of instruments. Change the chord progression. Drop the percussion, or make the percussion line softer or harder. Change the key of the song. Take a firm grip on the emotional feel of the song and take it up slowly, build it to a huge emotional climax near the end, and then drop the emotions back down and ease the song into an ending. Truly good artists will really play around with this, repeatedly building the song up to a climax, ramping things down, then building back up to a higher climax, ramping things down yet again, and going through this process over and over again, with a higher climax each time through.

Learn From Example: "Ancient Stories" by Awesome

DO use a key shift to add emotional power! One of the simplest ways to add an emotional dynamic to your song is to just shift the key. I referred to this earlier: take the end of your song and transpose all of the notes up a half-step or a whole-step (except for the drums of course). Now, all you have to do is figure out a way to smoothly transition from the old key to the new one, and there you go! Instant emotional power jump! Of course this isn't going to work in every song, and you shouldn't use it in every one of your songs anyway. But if you're looking for an added emotional boost in one of your songs, this is a great way to generate one. Don't be afraid to try this in not-so-melodic genres of music as well. Even a drum'n'bass tune has a bassline, which means it has notes, which means those notes fit into a key whether you meant to do so or not. Put a key shift on that bassline near the end, and see if it works.