Category: Tutorials

What’s it like to teach Max/MSP to High Schoolers?

Pretty much the same as teaching it to adults, except the patches sometimes look like this:

(below: what a normal one would look like):

Let’s break it down from top to bottom:

  • “METRO 500” = This object is like a metronome – it sends button pushes out at whatever interval is specified (in milliseconds)
  • “RANDOM 24” = This object, when sent a button push, generates a random number between 0 and whatever number is after the word “random”.
  • “NOTEOUT” = This has three inlets, for pitch, velocity and MIDI channel.  Normally your keyboard sends out these messages, but we used math and stuff to make it instead.  The synth will play whatever this tells it to.

For those who are still reading, here’s what this is: an automatic MIDI note generator.  Basically, this thing will bang out random MIDI notes at a specified speed and pitch level (within 2 octaves of the base pitch value).  When we actually use this, the device chain looks like this:

The Max patch is routed to the Scale plugin (which would be really hard to write – it filters the random notes down to a few that sound good together).  The last device in the chain is the synth that’s actually making the sound.

We put this chain on 3-4 tracks, and record ourselves playing notes at different speeds and levels.  The result?  Auto-ambience.

Moral of the story: high schoolers can learn “advanced” music tech stuff, so long as you’re willing to learn it yourself and teach it to them.  I’ve had multiple students over the years contact me during college thanking me for teaching them patching.  Why?  Either they’re in a music tech class and already know how to do the advanced stuff, or they’re in an engineering class using Matlab or something else extremely similar to Live.  Others who go into computer science are basically familiar with logic routing and object oriented programming concepts.

In an age where music classes don’t usually apply to the “applicable” world for most students, stuff like this is an awesome experience to give your students.

Chiptune Example Project for Ableton Live and Max for Live

Something I cooked up for my Level 2 class today. Tutorial may or may not follow soon, but here’s the low down:

Software/Plugins:

Max4Live:

Protip: The redux plugin is (somewhat) set to the specifications of a Nintendo Game Boy to emulate the drum sounds correctly.

Teaching compression by using fatty dance beats

You all know what I mean by fatty dance beats. You’ve all made that “oom-tiss” beat with your mouth before.

In the past I’ve found that teaching compression (and other dynamic-level effects) can be challenging. Most engineers use them to ‘sweeten’ a mix and add clarity and subtlety to a recording. These methods are simply a bit too elusive for most students. They need something rather obvious to start out with when learning how these plugins work.

So I’ve done things like radio ads which are generally over compressed, and it worked ok but then using dance music dawned on me as the holy grail of over-compression.


Learning compression by making dance beats

Since i still haven’t decided which class should do this project, I did it in Ableton Live for now. I’ll post a video of this in GarageBand if I later decide Level 1 should do it.

ANATOMY OF A FATTY
Let’s start with the kick drum. There are usually two parts to this sound – a sample of an actual kick bass drum, and a synthesized bass note to give it fatness and length. In 99% of dance music you want this to play quarter notes at about 140-150 BPM

SYNTH PAD
To hear the compression artifact we’re about to add, you need something constantly sounding. I like a good four bar chord progression on a pad-style synth. This washy type of sound is common in the Trance genre anyway, so it will make your song a bit more accurate if it’s in there.

ACID BASS
To make this type of bass line, you need both a harsh mono synth and a way to make the notes glide. I didn’t put this in the video but it’s easy to try anyway – in Garageband or Logic you can use the “Ominous Dancefloor” presets as a starting point. You can alternate this with your chord pattern, or playing them at the same time.

COMPRESSION
Now you may already know, but compression basically does two things: it lowers the dynamic ceiling, making louds and softs closer together, and then it brings the whole signal back up to 0db.

For this, you need to put a compressor on the master track, set the ratio to “infinity” (or alternately use a limiter plugin instead). Set the attack to a short length, and the release to a slightly longer length. Then, mix the tracks so the kick bass and supporting synth kick are the loudest tracks. Evereything else should be underneath.

If you do this right, it will sound Iike the once-constant synth part gets “pushed into the background” every time the kick hits. This provides the perceived effect that the music is very loud.

PSYCHOLOGY
It’s been noted that compression makes music sound louder even if your volume is turned down. This is due to the natural compression that takes place inside of the human ear. Our auditory membranes can only be shaken so hard, and sound beyond that threshold gets mixed together and no longer exhibits a difference in amplitude.

Picture someone yelling in your ear. Or a really loud concert with no earplugs. This is what dance music forces you to hear, no matter what venue you’re in. Bonus points for compressing in favor of the beat, which keeps everyone dancing.