I recently asked a number of psychill, psybient and ambient music producers for some tips and ideas about making music that they would like to share here on the blog. I didn't specify any particular format for the tutorial and simply asked artists to provide any ideas, as short or long as they like, that they feel are worth sharing in terms of production or inspiration.
I received a lot more feedback than I expected so I'll post these ideas over a number of different articles in order to keep things readable and at a manageable size. If you are a psychill producer or ambient musician and would like to share some ideas about how to make psybient music then please feel free to email me or contact me on Facebook and I'll be more than happy to add your input to this ambient tutorial.
Okay, Lets begin ....
Kalpataru Tree is an ambient dub producer who combines both digital and acoustic elements to create a hypnotic blend of ambient bass-scapes that has proven highly popular. His latest full album, Luminosophy, is a fine example of what can be achieved in music if you follow your heart.
Kalpataru's tip :
Disassociate yourself from all practicalities of living, find a remote cabin in the woods somewhere, dive into your soul and believe that you are channeling the magic of the universe, and begin to dream sound for days and nights on end.
Russian producer Mahaon draws inspiration from his experiences as a monk and produces a vibrant pallet of ambient and psychill sounds from his studio culminating in 2012 with the release of his critically acclaimed album "The Awakening".
Mahaon's Tip :
I make clear crystal sound. The secret of this sound in equalization. Every instrument must sound in his spectrum, frequencies of different instruments should not intersect. When I make a kick, snare and hihats, I remove decay and release to a minimal point where it can sound with no tail. When the kick is short enough, I put plugin Waves RBass 80 hertz on it. On snare and hihats I put some reverb. Bass must be very deep ! I cut a lot of high frequencies from it. After that I put also RBass on 65 hertz. Also you can add some chorus.
This is the base of crystal sound - no "porridge" in drums and bass. In all leads and pads I cut low frequencies, until it will sound good. This instruments should not mix with kick and bass at low frequency. But this is only a recommendation. To make good crystal sound and music - you must have good taste and beautiful soul ! It's very important.
Xerxes has been creating awesome psychedelic ambient music for a number of years and has appeared on many successful compilations. His success is built largely on his fundamental understanding of his sequencer, hardware and software.
Xerxes Tip:
I think my tip would be to learn your sequencer, whatever it is, by heart. Take a few months to really learn the tools you want to use. There are tons of tutorials on the internet for both DAWs and various synths etc. Learn them ! And then, once you have practiced and are ready to rock, you don't have to spend time thinking about anything else other than music composition. I guess pretty obvious advice, but I have seen many people lose interest in composing because they gave up on the tools themselves.
Gabriel Le Mar is one of the most recognized names in ambient psychedelic music over the past two decades. He has a huge fanbase from his solo work and as a member of acts like Saafi Brothers and collaborate work with Pete Namlook.
Gabriel's Tip:
A nice method to produce bits and pieces and interesting parts out of already existing material on your sequencer or from your mixer is to use the Effects Return track. I use Ableton Live but you can produce this also on any other DAW or even analog through your mixing desk as well.
For example: you put a ping-pong delay on your send-effect track (or Aux send) and mix it into the Bass Drum - you adjust the timing of the delay, filter the EQ of the delay send, cut out the bass frequencies.
Stop all clips and play back only the bass drum with the send return on it and mix both signals. Then press solo on the Effect Send Track where the ping pong delay is on so that you only hear the effect. Copy the bassdrum part into the arrangement and loop it for some bars for example 8 bars. Adjust the loop-marker and then export (or bounce) audio.
The result is a new rhythmic sample that you can use a new musical piece in your tune.
