Welcome to another issue of Technolite

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In todays newsletter:

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1. Updates

2. Site Community

3. Top Music Tips

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1. Updates:

There has been alot of editing, building and general house keeping that is only going to help you. So what has been done?

First 2 new pages have been added, one will be an ongoing project.

1. Music Articles. This is going to be regularly updated (so check on the mini blog for updates), and also in time I will be creating a form for you to upload your own articles for everyone to see.

2. Making Chip Music. This is now part of the Techno music world, so I have shown you how to make a drum loop easily and for free using chip sounds. Also there is a great link to find loads more sounds for your music.

3. Music marketer Kavit Haria got together with me and we chatted for about an hour about....music marketing. I wrote all the information down (tips, tricks and cool insight), and it is available for free as a pdf here: Music Marketing Ebook.

4. I have created some more music, this time for a quick YouTube video movie. You can check out the new tunes and the video here: New Music.

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2. Site Community:

Hope you enjoyed the music making ebook from the last issue. I have had some great reports back, you seem like you are really getting into making tune...great! Read the following because this is really going to be cool for you.

The best thing that has happened to the site recently is the implimentation of community pages. I would really like to call them your pages. These have been taking some time to set up, but now that they are they will be of great importance and a huge advantage for you.

"Your pages" are just those. Pages with you in mind. I understand that there are loads of VSTs, there are loads of music making software, there are loads of sample sites and general music which you may love and want to tell everyone about. Now here is your chance

On 4 specific pages there are areas where you can tell everyone about the best everything. Lets look at them:

1. I know that there are loads of sample sites out there. Most suck and blow at the same time. However, there are some that are really cool, but undiscovered. That is where this first page comes into play. Do you know of a Refill place, a cool sample site or even a free drum loop site? Well tell us all about it! You can add a site (telling us all the cool things about it) and then send it through. People can then rate it and comment on it. So we will never have to see another rubbish sample site again! You can check it out here: Techno Loops.

2. There are many free VSTs out there at the present time, unfortunately there is not enough time in the world to check out everything. Some have time limits, some are pure demo ware. But some are really cool (like the fantastic Intro). So are you using a VST that someone should use? Do you want to write a review of one? Do you want to make a tutorial of one? Tell us about it!. The VST section has been updated so that now you can tell us about it. Find out more here: Your VSTs.

3. Recently I posted an article on Ezinearticles.com (click here for the article) explaining the 5 best techno music making software available. Do you know what? There are absolutely loads of them around. It is always best to have more than one (one to do loop, one to sample, one to mix) because sometimes software is designed to be great at something, not everything. So that got me thinking. And I have made an area for you to tell us what you are using and why. If you find some software cool, tell us all about it! Do a tutorial on it, do a review! You can find the techno making software area here: Your Software.

4. this is my own pet project and I think it is so cool. i know that some of you have no way of letting everyone know about your tunes, or that you would like some feedback from the tunes you make. Well, here is your chance. Let everyone know what you have done. If you have created some cool music, tell us about it! Let people review it, let people rate it. But PLEASE remember critisism is only good for your music. Someone telling you where you could be going wrong puts mistakes right so that you music sounds better...not worse. You advance from it, your music has to get better. So get your music heard here: Your Music Reviewed.

Please note as well. The forms don't like html, so don't put it in. If you have music to share put in the form like this: www.yoursongsaddress.com/mymusic.html. I have had one or two artists stating a tune is good, but then not putting in the link. Bit hard to find :)

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3. Music Making Tips:

Here are some pretty cool tips to help you in most of you music making areas:

1. To get some great synth leads make sure that you have two oscillators (most synth VSTs do, Intro has them in the middle of the screen under OCT). Find one that is a "saw lead" then, put one oscillator at 2 octaves lower than the other, say -2 and +1 respectively. this then gives you trance leads that have a "bass sound" behind them.

Please note, we will be covering different types of VST and how to use them soon.

2. If you are looking for a bassline or a good lead that is original try an arpeggio VST for some cool synths. One good one is REZ: http://www.ugoaudio.com/

3. Inspiration will never come to you easily. I love VSTs so I mess around with them and sometimes something just clicks and you can make something straight away. If you are a piano player, dabble on the piano, if you are a drummer, drum. If you are out of your comfort zone your inspiration will be very low = no music.

4. Still stuck? Rip a loop that you really like, copy it. Then mangle it, use different instruments, then tweak the notes a bit, lengthen it out. Eventually you will have a sound and a loop much better and to your tastes than the original.

5. Do you like some techno or trance? Why don't you make some vocals for them, or even write some new one for an existing track? Remix a track that you like (never sell it), completely revamp and old track then send it to the label.

6. How do people make some great sounds and others just use presets? It is because the best use the presets and then mangle them, mix them and mess them up so they don't sound like the original- but still has its bassline. It would take commercial artists ages to read the manuals fully of every single VST that they have. They don't. they learn one very well, and get fantastic sounds from that all the time.

7. Make sure you know what you want to come through on the track. I know many people who play everything at the loudest level and then you can't hear anything. If you have a bass and drum tune make sure that the bass and drums work together and not against. If you put in strings they should be less of a presence because it is a bass and drum track.

8. If a sound is sounding harsh try adding a little phaser to the mix. This will reduce the harshness, but will not let it sound dull.

9. An obvious one, but if you come up with a great sounding preset/ effect- save it. You can then alter it later on, but once altered it is very hard to get back to the original- so save everything.

10. Filter sweeps sound great when you sweep the resonnace as well as the cutoff. Cutoff and resonnace can be seen quite clearly in the SuperWav P8 VST. They can be swept together using automation.

11. If you have loads of sounds within your track a good rule of thumb is this. The ones with a low attack (ones that when you press a key the come in slowly) are usually assigned to the background. Ones that have a quick attack (when you press a key down the sound comes in straight away) should be to the front of a track.

12. Like the chip music, alot of artists are actually downgrading their music. "Bit crushers" and down sampling some of your sounds will actually make them sound "cool". The best ones to do this to are loops.

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