Level: Beginner

By turning off the quantize function on his MPC  J Dilla ushered a new era of groove in electronic music production. Composing beats using both rushing and dragging feels while also making sure that notes remained musically coherent. This workshop intends to equip you with the skills to program hip hop beats and music ideas with a drunk drummerfeel inspired by producers and musicians such as J Dilla, Questlove, Flying Lotus, or Kaytranada.

Session Learning Outcomes

By the end of this session a successful student will be able to:

• Develop an understanding of pulse, subdivision and polyrhythms

• Acquire an understanding of the Groove

• Using the Groove Pool and Warping to program beats with both MIDI and audio content

• Identify & apply the right quantization values to apply to your programming

Session Study Topics

• Drum rack for composition

• Audio & MIDI warping for rhythm programming

• The groove pool and timing features

• Audio effects for enhancing rhythms

Requirements

• A computer and internet connection

• A web cam and mic

• A Zoom account

• Access to a copy of Live Suite or Standard (i.e. trial or full license)

About the workshop leader: 

Simone Tanda is a musician, producer, multi-media artist, tech consultant, and educator.

Based across London & Berlin he is currently creating music for his own project, as well as multidisciplinary artists, film, and commercials.

Level: Some experience of norns required

Flora is an L-systems sequencer and bandpass-filtered sawtooth engine for monome norns. In this workshop you will learn how L-system algorithms are used to produce musical sequences while exploring the script’s UI and features.

Flora on Vimeo

By the end of the first workshop, you will be able to:

• Navigate the Flora UI and parameters menus to build and perform your own compositions

• Create dynamically shaped, multinodal envelopes to modulate Flora’s bandpass-filtered sawtooth engine

• Build generative polyrhythms and delays into your compositions

• Use crow and/or midi-enabled controllers and synthesizers to play Flora

Session study topics:

• Sequencing with L-system algorithms

• Physical modeling synthesis with bandpass filters

• Generate multi-nodal envelope

• Norns integration with midi and/or crow

 

Requirements

• A computer and internet connection

• A norns device with Flora installed

• Optional: A midi-enabled controller and/or synthesizer

 

We have a number of sponsorship places available, if the registration fee is a barrier to you joining the workshop please contact laura@stagingmhs.local.

 

About the workshop leader 

Jonathan Snyder is a Portland, Oregon based sound explorer and educator.

Previously, he worked for 22 years as a design technologist, IT manager, and educator at Columbia University’s Media Center for Art History, Method, and Adobe.