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40% off LK - Summer Sale...

Published on 20 Aug 2018

We have another great promotion this week as part of our summer sales, this time it's big savings on LK.This one’s for the music makers. With 6 feature packed modules, there’s something for everyone inside LK - especially when there’s 40% off all modules from Monday 20th to Sunday 26th August!LK is the ultimate, portable, productivity tool for producers and musicians, with a plethora of creative uses:MATRIX - Take control of Ableton just like a Launchpad, launch clips, arm tracks, mix levels and more, all from your smartphone/tablet.MIDI PADS - MPC style pads in your pocket. Lay down a beat with ease or even a melody too with automatic chord options as well.MIDI CONTROLLER - tweak knobs, faders and buttons and take control of any MIDI parameters you wish.X/Y PAD - Cause some ‘chaos’ in your effects with a triple-axis, expressive pad controller you can assign to anything.CHORDER - Complex chords in an instant, CHORDER makes it easy to play all variants.KEYBOARD - take a piano wherever you go. Why struggle using your laptop keys to play a synth? KEYBOARD gives you a piano layout you can customise.So that’s 40% off all LK modules, only from Monday 20th August to Sunday 26th August.Sunshine and savings,Team ImaginandoTerms: Discount applies to all LK in-app purchases on Android and iOS devices made during the promotion period 20/08/2018 to 26/08/2018. Discount is automatically applied to all prices during this period - the price you see is the price you pay....

How to make Agoria 'Les Violons Ivres' arpeggiator in DRC...

Published on 9 Aug 2018

When considering the geography of modern electronic dance music in Europe, If Germany pitches the tents of techno, then it’s nextdoor neighbour France is where house calls home. There is a staggering amount of big name DJ’s and artists, proudly flying the french flag all over the world: David Guetta, Bob Sinclar, Justice, Martin Solveig, oh and a little known parisian pair of robots, who go by the name of Daft Punk!Citing Laurent Garnier, another heavyweight of the French house scene, as a source of inspiration, our chosen artist this episode is ‘Agoria’ with his 2006 track ‘Les Violons Ivres’ from the album ‘The Green Armchair’.Whilst the standout feature/element of the track is the glorious string section, our tutorial focuses on recreating the arpeggiated bass sound, which rhythmically punctuates the orchestral proceedings.As part of the tutorial, Lucas shows the full effects processing chain, which includes our very own DLYM Delay Modulator plugin. DLYM is available from our website for free; click here to download your copy now!Also, click here to download the free Ableton Live project for this track, which contains the full effects rack pre-built for your convenience!France music and dance music,Team Imaginando...

How to make Survive 'Stranger Things' theme in DRC...

Published on 26 Jul 2018

The science fiction horror series ‘stranger things’ is like a love letter to the 80’s. Written and directed by ‘The Duffer Brothers’, the subject matter, the narrative style, the visual and audio style, are all drenched in nostalgia and dripping with atmosphere. Both a tribute and homage to the cinematic styling of that era, the massively successful, award-winning series, draws inspiration from a whole host of pop-culture influences, the most evident being the master of suspense; author Stephen King. The final production title, a source of much debate amongst the brothers, 'Stranger Things' is notably similar to the King novel 'Needful Things'.The music and soundtrack are a rich mix of original, synth-filled compositions and dare we say 'iconic' 80s pop tracks - some we've even covered as part of 'Iconic Sounds Vol. 1' in this very tutorial series! (Sunglasses at night, Africa).Covering 4 different sounds from the series main theme in just under 13 minutes, this tutorial sets a new record for each of those stats; our longest video and the total number of sounds covered in a single episode.As Lucas mentions in the introduction, the original compositions really do contain a massive amount of individual elements in order to build up the layers of atmosphere. We hope the 4 that we have featured inspire you to go deeper and experiment with some additional parts of your own, to further tweak the sonic seasoning to your taste.Click here to download the Ableton Live projectThe stranger the better,Team Imaginando...

How to make the bass sound for Jamiroquai 'Carla' in DRC...

Published on 16 Jul 2018

Music, at its core, is pure emotion. Whilst modern music theory can offer an understanding of how certain feelings are invoked, music has been a powerful and important form of expression, centuries before Pythagorus even suggested the science of scales. As a creative outlet, writing a song or piece of music can provide a medium in which to document one’s thoughts, providing cathartic and therapeutic relief to an emotionally overwhelmed brain.This week’s track is one such outpouring of love, from Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay to his daughter, with the eponymous track ‘Carla’ from the band’s 2017 album ‘Automation’. The final track on the album sees Kay candidly open up about the massive positive effects experienced from fatherhood.This is still a Jamiroquai track though, proving that heartfelt love-songs aren’t necessarily restricted to just ballads; there’s more than enough room for a classic Jamiroquai funky bass line too.As mentioned in the video, this track was a suggestion from the community, thank you to everyone who has got in touch with ideas for future episodes - feel free to keep them coming! This is also a testament to the benefits of sharing and discovering new music; it’s a great feeling when you see someone enjoy an album as much as you do. As a team we’ve also had a fair few ‘I can’t believe you’ve never heard of this album!’ moments.Click here to download the Ableton Live projectFor the power of new experiences,Team Imaginando...

How to make the bass and pad from Maceo Plex - 'Ain't That Love' in DRC...

Published on 6 Jul 2018

To a lot of people, Ibiza is the spiritual home of clubbing, the combination of sun, sea and super-star DJ’s, pull in thousands of partying punters every year. With most of the big opening parties already done, the summer season on the white isle is now in full swing.Up until 2016 another ‘S’ which dominated the Ibiza scene was the super-club ‘Space’ with its iconic outdoor terrace, an open-air dancefloor, playing host to many huge house acts over the years. One such artist is Cuban-American DJ and producer Eric Estornel, more commonly known by his stage name ‘Maceo Plex’.A long-time regular at many Ibiza clubs, Maceo Plex’s blend of deep house, tech house and techno provides an effortlessly cool sexy style, a perfect fit for the trendy, discerning party-goer. (Much like DRC’s cool, sexy style, makes it an excellent choice for perspicacious producers!)In today’s DRC sound design tutorial, we take on Maceo Plex’s 2011 release ‘Ain’t That Love’ - a record we think is a great way to get into the party mood. After a couple of weeks of gorgeous but moody techno, this one is sure to give a hot, soulful start to your summer celebration season, wherever you are.Click here to download the Ableton Live projectHere’s to a super sonic summer,Team Imaginando...

How to make Stephan Bodzin Singularity basses in DRC...

Published on 29 Jun 2018

Can you remember the toys and games that you used to play with when you were 4 years old? Maybe you can recall driving your parents crazy with the first Casio keyboard that Santa brought you? Even if you can remember, the answer is probably not going to be classic Moog analog synthesizers. For Stephan Bodzin however, this was reality.Thanks to his father being an experimental musician, Stephan grew up on a sonic diet of some of the tastiest analog hardware ever, and instantly fell in love with the warmth and personality of the Moog.“It’s totally different from any other synth, it's just more alive, it’s more powerful, it’s breathing, it has soul.”This is also a rather good description of Bodzin’s music in general, a definition of his style and how it distinguishes him from others inside the techno genre. All of Bodzin’s tracks have a palpable sense of emotion, you can feel the masterfully crafted synths are a labour of love, bursting with character.We’re obviously not comparing DRC to a Moog (well, maybe just a little bit!) but that warm, sensuous richness that you only get from analog gear is the inspiration and driving force behind the birth and development of DRC today.Click here to download the Ableton Live projectWe like to Moog it, Moog it,Team Imaginando...

How to make Moderat 'Bad Kingdom' bass in DRC...

Published on 22 Jun 2018

If you checked out the free ‘Iconic Sounds Vol. 1’ Ableton Live project we released a couple of months ago, you’ll know that we’ve already tackled one track from the mighty ‘Moderat’ techno collective, with our tutorial on ‘A New Error’. So by popular demand, today we take on another, in the form of fan favourite ‘Bad Kingdom’.It’s no secret that here at Imaginando, we love the Berlin techno scene, and we believe one of the finest examples is Moderat. Breaking onto the scene in 2002, the collaboration project ‘Moderat’ joined Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary of ‘Modeselektor’ and Sascha Ring of ‘Apparat’ to form one glorious electronic trio.Combining funky, shuffling beats, moody synths and fantastic haunting vocals is an easy winner in our book. ‘Bad Kingdom’ ticks all three boxes and was released as a single in 2013 with an animated music video directed and produced by pfadfinderei also uploaded to YouTube. The video is very much in keeping with the art style seen on a lot of Moderat release covers, and features an intriguing narrative of 1960’s London and the seedy underworld thereof. Presented as a series of zooming cartoon comics, it’s certainly a compelling visual which adds to the mystery of the vocal.Click here to download the Ableton Live projectThis is what we had in mind,Team Imaginando...

How to make Muse 'Madness' bass sound in DRC...

Published on 14 Jun 2018

When thinking about the British rock band Muse, it’s fair to say that analog synthesizers will probably not be one of your first thoughts. Investigate the progression of their style and sound a little however, and the influence and inclusion of synths and effects takes centre stage for some tracks.Whilst Muse’s latest studio album ‘Drones’ saw a return to the bands classic guitar fueled rock roots, the previous release ‘The 2nd Law’, had a distinctively electronic focus, with frontman Matt Bellamy even citing French house act Justice as one inspiration.The 2nd track on the album, ‘Madness’ (which fittingly was also the 2nd to be released as a single) Bellamy stated to be his proudest piece of songwriting of the 13 included tracks.There are all sorts of influences and elements which can be attributed to the stripped back styling of Madness; a kind of mash-up of 12-bar blues, George Michael’s ‘Faith’ and Queen’s ‘I want to break free’. Possibly add a dash of Depeche Mode in there too, for good measure.If you feel in inspired to rock out with DRC in any of your band projects, then be sure to let us know about it so we can check it out!Click here to download the Ableton Live projectLet DRC be your musical muse,Team Imaginando...