Waterbear T4 - Innovation by

Key

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-01-15 15:57:05 UTC

Red - Study Block Content

Green - Technical Development

Blue - Track Progress

Study Block 1 Reflection

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-01-15 16:05:31 UTC

I think I produced some good tracks that I liked personally, but I'm not sure I managed to give them enough polish as the master was pretty rough in my opinion - however this is also slightly a stylistic choice for the music I make, but it definitely needed toning down a bit. I also feel I made some good points in my case study, but struggled to expand on them due to lack of available information on the artists I chose - I feel in future I do need to choose more well known artists to help with my analysis.

Vocal Processing

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-01-21 10:30:58 UTC

Ripgroove - Double 99 (Satellite Recordings, 1997) (Timestretch)

Carousel - Travis Scott (Cactus Jack, 2018) (Autotune + Heavy Reverb)

Where Are U Now - Jack U, Justin Bieber (Atlantic, 2015) (Pitch Shift)

Like A G6 - Far East Movement (Cherrytree, 2010) (Heavy Autotune)

Autotune

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-01-21 10:38:08 UTC

I believe autotune can be a very useful tool when used subtly, however it can sound rough when used excessively - although this can be a stylistic choice.

Artists like Travis Scott and Trippie Redd have made it a part of their brand to use autotune, it is a common trope of Soundcloud Rap.

An example of a song which uses autotune would be Love Scars by Trippie Redd (TenThousand, 2016).

History of Synthesis

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-01-28 10:11:14 UTC

Early synths were only monophonic, but then polyphonic synths emerged which allowed people to play chords on synths.

Kraftwerk were one of the first bands to use synths in innovative ways. They mainly used the Moog Minimoog synth, and people believe that they are the reason that this synth became popular. They have also used synths such as the Creamwave Minimax ASB and the Studio Electronics SE-1.

Tracks Using Synthesis

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-01-28 10:28:37 UTC

Spiritual Aura - DJ Rap (Dee Jay Recordings, 1994)

Uses the Korg M1 synth keyboard.
Arpeggiated e-piano stab sound.
Pad sounds.

Renegade - Terrorist (Moving Shadow, 1994)

Also using a Korg M1 for the piano intro.
One of the first tracks to sample the Reese bass from Kevin Saunderson's track 'Just Want Another Chance' (Incognito Records, 1988).
Saunderson created the Reese bass using a Casio CZ-5000 synth.

Roland Juno-60

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-01-28 10:40:49 UTC

Released in 1982, the Juno-60 was marketed as a cheaper alternative to the expensive polyphonic synths of the time.

Originally popular within pop music, the Juno-60 later became popular for making dance music due to its cheap price, being accessible to smaller artists.

The Juno-60 is a keyboard-based monophonic synth, with selectable pre-set sounds as well as the ability to adjust the controls of the oscillators, filters, etc.

Yamming Snacks Like Shaggy - Tom & Jerry (Tom & Jerry, 1993)

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-02-04 10:29:39 UTC

Heavy use of flanger on the opening sample, sounds quite harsh but it also fits the dark vibes of breakbeat hardcore and early jungle.

Innovation Track 1 - No Matter What U Say

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-02-28 02:06:16 UTC

I have started work on this breakbeat hardcore style track in order to help me figure out what direction to take my innovation in. So far it is not particularly innovative apart from my extensive use of in the box plug-ins I use to make the song sound like it was produced on vintage hardware. I heavily used the Amigo plug-in for the stabs, bass and drums - Amigo is a plug-in which emulates the sound of the Akai S950 sampler which is famous for its time-stretch feature. Sequencing my breakbeat chops in the Amigo Midi sampler gave me the ability to use its in-built reversing and comb filtering effects as well as its time stretch in order to be slightly more innovative. The track features a sample from You're Puttin' A Rush On Me by Stephanie Mills (MCA, 1987) which I put a gate over to create a stutter effect. I also sampled Don't Fuss Nor Fight by Barrington Levy (Greensleeves, 1979).

No Matter What U Say - DAW Screenshot

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-02-28 02:08:12 UTC

Using a Vocoder on drums and vocals

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-02-28 02:15:04 UTC

I wrote some chords and decided to experiment by putting a vocoder onto some drums and a vocal sample and then putting the chords through the vocoder. It sounds cool and quite euphoric however I'm not really sure how I'd work it into a finished track.

Ricky - Remarc (Dollar Records, 1994)

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-03-04 10:05:23 UTC

Made by sampling off vinyl and tape with an Akai sampler and arranged using an Amiga console/computer running OctaMed.
Track features samples from the movie Boyz N The Hood (Singleton, 1991), which would've been recorded to tape from the original VHS and then put through the Akai sampler to then be timestretched and pitched.
Bassline is made from the kick of a Roland TR-808 drum machine, most likely written on the machine itself rather than sampled as a one-shot with the Akai.

Iconic Sounds

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-03-11 10:29:00 UTC

10s Trap / Hiphop - Distorted 808 Kick, used in pretty much every song of this period.

00s Grime - Korg Bagoo Flute, heard in iconic tracks such as The Morgue - Wiley (Wiley Kat Records, 2003) and That's Not Me - Skepta, JME (Boy Better Know, 2014).

90s House - Korg M1 Organ & Piano, used in a plethora of tracks also became popular for use in other dance genres such as Happy Hardcore and UK Garage.

Late 80s / Early 90s RnB - Roland E-Piano, used in iconic tracks such as Weak - SWV (RCA, 1993).

Microphone Techniques

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-03-18 10:08:36 UTC

XY Stereo
AB Stereo
Blumlein
Deca Tree
Double Tracking

Prismizer

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-03-25 10:02:21 UTC

Similar to a vocoder as "it also combines pitch and frequency characteristics from multiple sources... it uses various audio codecs, and what distinguishes it from the vocoder is that it uses the mentioned pitch and frequency characteristics to achieve a different choral effect."

Innovation Track 2 - Goin' On

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-04-13 02:22:43 UTC

The track starts off with a lush rare-groove sample, Givin' It Up Is Givin' Up by Patrice Rushen and D.J. Rogers (Elektra, 1979). I actually found this sample listening to a hip-hop mix that included the track Mommy, Whats A Gravedigga? by Gravediggaz (Gee Street, 1995), as soon as I heard the guitar riff I knew I needed to make a jungle flip of it. I separated the guitar riff from the intro onto a different channel so that I could play the riff over the vocal parts as well. I paired this with my usual breakbeats and selection of various ragga FX that I have sampled from various different dancehall soundclash tapes. For the patina on this track I am using a combination of Amigo sampler for the drum sequencing and Akai timestretching, and Decimort bitcrusher on the main sample parts. To keep the track fully authentic I am only using samples dated before 1994, the era that inspired this track - so on the drop section comes an agressive ragga vocal from Think A Big Sound by Ricky General (Stone Love, 1993). After the drop plays out a bit, a pad section comes in where I decided to put a heavy delay on in order to make the pads sound like they are melting together a bit - it makes them sound more melancholic in my opinion, which makes a good contrast to the aggressive nature of the previous drop.

Track 2 - Final Master + Name Change 'Sitting In The Park'

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-04-14 02:41:39 UTC

The main change in this version is that I have replaced the intro sample with Sitting In The Park by Bobby Thurston (Prelude Records, 1980) as, although I liked the previous sample, I believe this one fits the track better contextually - this track is more the style of 'rare groove' sampling that the early jungle pioneers adopted, particularly Marc and Dego of 4Hero and Tom & Jerry. I added an outro as well which is just a loop of the drop section but without the ragga vocal. For the master, I kept it quite rough as I believe this is a characteristic of jungle music - the early producers didn't have any fancy equipment to make the tracks sound clean and perfect, and I believe retrospectively this gives 90s jungle a nice patina which I try to replicate.

Track 2 - Experimenting With Resonators

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-04-14 03:07:59 UTC

In place of my standard jungle pitch-shift snare rolls, I wanted to experiment with using resonators to make a melody with the drums. I was inspired to do this by modern jungle producer Sully, he uses it in a couple of his tracks such as Windswept (Sully Fader Mix) - Sully & Tim Reaper (Future Retro, 2024). I tried it, and unfortunately I don't like it at all - to me it doesn't really fit in with the jungle I make; the jungle that Sully makes is far more modern sounding, whereas I'm trying to keep mine true to the original sound. I feel for the innovation in my project, I may stick to finding more interesting ways to replicate the low fidelity crunch of early jungle.

Track 1 - Final Master + Adjustments

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-04-14 14:29:58 UTC

For the final version, I have added some siren FX to parts of the track which I thought felt quite empty. The master is quite similar to Track 2 as they are similar genres and also supposed to be replicating similar eras, although this one is supposed to be earlier (around 1992).

No Matter What U Say - DAW Screenshot FINAL

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-04-14 14:42:39 UTC

Sitting In The Park - DAW Screenshot Final

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-04-14 14:45:42 UTC

Small Pond Studio Session - FX Chaining

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-04-14 14:58:59 UTC

I brought two sample loops into Small Pond in order to put them through some FX pedals seeing as usually I only use VST FX. Firstly, I wanted to run an instrumental sample through it, the track I chose to sample is More Than Magic by Motif (London Records, 1993). I felt the lush softness of an early 90s RnB slow jam would pair well with a delay and a pitch shift. I also ran it through a compressor. The second sample I brought was a loop I made of the Think Break (originally sampled from Think (About It) by Lyn Collins (People, 1972)), I ran this through the same FX chain and got some interesting results. I don't think I will use the instrumental sample purely because I don't think it came out that great, but I may incorporate the drum break as I think it sounds quite cool.

Small Pond - Think Break

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-04-14 14:59:34 UTC

Evaluation

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-04-14 15:08:13 UTC

I am proud of both of my tracks, although I did struggle to find ways to innovate. I found that, when I tried new techniques, I generally didn't like how they sounded and that stumped my motivation to carry on using said techniques. However, I do feel that I have innovated with my tracks - I have not done anything crazy, but I feel that my attention to detail when looking at my genres retrospectively is innovative in itself. I can't think of many other artists other than me that are making jungle/hardcore and making it sound low quality on purpose to emulate 30-40 year old tracks. A few people do similar things, Pete Cannon for example uses 80s Akai samplers for his productions - however he modernizes his sound by using FX that wouldn't have been possible/accessible for jungle producers in the 90s. I set myself clear limitations when I produce to ensure that my tracks have a vintage feel and sit well in a DJ set with period tracks.

Works Cited

samuelwilcock2 — 2025-04-14 15:33:46 UTC

Bieber, Justin, and Jack U. Where Are U Now. Atlantic, 2015.
Boyz N the Hood. Directed by John SIngleton, 1991.
Collins, Lyn. Think (about It). People, 1972.
DJ Rap, and Aston. Spiritual Aura. Dee Jay Recordings, 1994.
Double 99. Ripgroove. Satellite Recordings, 1997.
Far East Movement. Like a G6. Cherrytree, 2010.
Gravediggaz. Mommy, What’s a Gravedigga? Gee Street, 1995.
Levy, Barrington. Don’t Fuss nor Fight. Greensleeves, 1979.
Mills, Stephanie. You’re Puttin’ a Rush on Me. MCA Records, 1987.
Motif. More than Magic. London Records, 1993.
Ricky General. Think a Big Sound. Stone Love, 1993.
Rushen, Patrice, and D.J. Rogers. Givin’ It up Is Givin’ Up. Elektra, 1979.
Skepta, and JME. That’s Not Me. Boy Better Know, 2014.
Sully, and Tim Reaper. Windswept (Sully Fader MIx). Future Retro, 2024.
SWV. Weak. RCA, 1993.
Terrorist. Renegade. Moving Shadow, 1994.
Thurston, Bobby. Sitting in the Park. Prelude Records, 1980.
Tom & Jerry. Yamming Snacks like Shaggy. Tom & Jerry, 1993.
Travis Scott. Carousel. Cactus Jack, 2018.
Trippie Redd. Love Scars. TenThousand, 2016.
Wiley. Morgue. Wiley Kat Records, 2003.