electronic music – Aaron J. Trumm

What the hell is a TR-808 (and TR-909)?

February 8, 2016 by Aaron

dance music, drum machine, electronic music, hip-hop, music production, musical instruments, roland, synthesizer, tr-808, tr-909, tr808, tr909

Hi! I promised I’d talk about the TR808 and TR909 drum machines…oh – yes what the hell is a tr-808 (and tr-909)? They are drum machines. They are old school drums machines by Roland.

Above is the TR-808 and here is a TR-909:

TR-909

I love to quote Wikipedia, so here’s paragraph 1 on the TR-808:

The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer (a.k.a. the “808”) was one of the first programmable drum machines (“TR” standing for Transistor Rhythm). Introduced by the Roland Corporation in the early 1980s, it was originally manufactured for use as a tool for studio musicians to create demos. Like earlier Roland drum machines, it does not sound very much like a real drum kit. However, the TR-808 cost US$1,195 upon its release, which was considerably more affordable than digital sampling machines such as the US$5,000 Linn LM-1.

These actual machines are sort of rare these days, but samples and software that make that exact sound are not – you’ve heard the 808 everywhere. When you listen to dance music that has the big booming kick drum every beat, that’s usually some derivation of the 808. Especially when you get the booooooooooommmmm kick that has a long decay – that’s usually an 808 sample. The snare on the 808 is equally distinctive – it’s a tiny little crappy snare sound that gets used a lot in hip-hop even to this day. It’s not used to sound big but more…I dunno – clean and cute?

Here’s the most basic, classic 808 sound in action:

Recognize those sounds, don’t ya? 🙂

The TR-909 came around in 1984 and was an upgrade from the 808. It was the first drum machine to implement MIDI and the sound was supposedly an upgrade, but to me, it’s just different. In the 909, some of the sounds are actually samples as opposed to synthesized sounds (the hi-hats mostly).

This site has a whole bunch of songs that used the TR-909 (or its samples). This Daft Punk song is a pretty straight forward use:

The basic kick drum sound in the 909 is much tighter with a brighter attack, so I always tend to go for that sample more than the 808. The snare is much much thicker as well.

Today pretty much any synth or software with drum sounds will have sounds that emulate the TR-808 at least, and usually both. Usually they’re not billed as samples from the machines, but it’s a pretty distinctive sound. In general MIDI, patch 137 (Synth Set 1) is pretty much the TR-808 and patch 138 (Synth Set 2) is pretty much the TR-909. In some synths, there’s a drum kit called “Analog” which is basically the TR-808.

I notice the 808 snare is used quite a lot in recent hip-hop. In fact I’m amazed how much. Here’s a beat from the aptly named “808 Mafia”:

All 808 baby.

And here’s one that’s surprising that it’s surprising, because of how much we’ve all heard it:

Yep – Marvin Gay! 🙂 Thanks to FlavorWire for reminding me of that one!

So – you see – when I mention the TR-808 or TR-909, I’m basically talking about quintessential electronic drums, which we’ve all heard a LOT of. At this point, we’ve all heard the TR-808 and 909s as much as real drum kits.

Ok! I hope you enjoyed THAT. And yes, Third Option has used these sounds plenty 🙂 Especially the kick drums…

— Aaron

What the hell is trance music?

February 8, 2016 by Aaron

dj, electronic music, electronic music genres, paul van dyk, tiesto, trance music, uplifting trance

HI! Aaron here again, still investigating genres. This time I thought we’d check out trance music. Here’s an example of a pretty typical (although creative for the genre) trance song:

First thing I notice – a spiritual transcendent energy. Sawtooth synths that are more melodic than techno or house. You’re in the same ballpark, with BPM’s at 120-140bpm, 4/4 time signatures and of course, the 808 kick on every beat. The snare is even more de-emphasized, but it’s still there. Usually an 808 or a 909 clap sound (I’ll talk about what an 808 and 909 is tomorrow, how about?). There’s usually another 808 snare that does some filling too. And, at times, the snare is out.

But I think the most important defining factor about trance is the sawtooth synth with the super transcendent melodies. Trance is DEFINITELY for taking you to another place, which of course is often enhanced with drugs. Trance songs don’t usually have an A-B-A-B verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure – trance tracks just sort of build and build, and go and go and go. There will usually be a drop or two where the track goes down to nearly nothing. You can literally do this repeating for hours and hours and if you’re mixing it live, all you have to do is follow the feeling (or drop when you need to catch your breath 😉 ).

Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say:

Trance is a genre of electronic music that developed during the 1990s in Germany.[5] It is characterized by a tempo lying between 125 to mid 140 beats per minute (BPM),[5] repeating melodic phrases,[5] and a musical form that distinctly builds tension and elements throughout a track often culminating in 1 to 2 “peaks” or “drops.”[5] Although trance is a genre of its own, it liberally incorporates influences from other electronic music styles such as techno,[3] house,[1] pop,[3] chill-out[3] classical music,[3][4] tech house, ambient and film music.[4]

I just said that! 😉

Let’s take a look at some “early” trance type stuff – Paul Van Dyke is often credited as being one of the first…

Ahh – yes – you can hear the connection between that mix and the newer Tiesto stuff. But as usually happens, things become bigger and more aggressive as they evolve…

Here’s a quote from Wikipedia that definitely connects Third Option to trance:

Rapid arpeggios and minor keys are common features of Trance, the latter being almost universal.

We’ve never used a major key in any Third Option production – ever. 🙂 And as I go through tracks, I do hear trance elements in Third Option stuff…observe:

[sc_embed_player fileurl=”http://www.nquit.com/sounds/ThirdOption/CultOfNice/03ThirdOptionPossibility.mp3″] Possibility – wait until 2:38…

I love Urban Dictionary’s first definition:

A euphoric electronic dance music genre that’s the love child of classical music, house & techno. In essence classical music for the dancefloor or ‘the next generation of classical music’.

And wait for it…another quote from Wikipedia:

Uplifting trance is also known as “anthem trance”, “epic trance”,[3] “stadium trance”, or “euphoric trance”,[5] and has been strongly influenced by classical music both in the 1990s[3] and at present…

Remember when I said Third Option has always been referred to as “techno/classical fusion”? That’s because what we do is use classical style melody and structure (classical music doesn’t adhere to pop song structure, as you probably know)…so…are we…”uplifting trance?”…or just simply trance because we try to do euphoric classical music using new technology?

The thing is, again, even though that fits us very well…I don’t think you can put us in the “trance” category really… and that’s part of the point of this series of genre investigations, I think. Like I said in “what the hell is techno music“, there’s an un languagable thing, which eventually just comes down to listening and knowing, it either is or it isn’t…

Ok…I need to keep this short…but I hope you’re enjoying these investigations. I’ll explain what the hell a TR808 and TR909 is tomorrow, I think, and then we can get into some other more esoteric genres. We’ll never get done with electronic music, but hopefully we’ll get somewhere.

If you want our free downloads, they’re up at thirdoptionmusic.com/free-music and of course, email me at thirdoption @ nquit . com to discuss anything! 🙂

— Aaron

What The Hell Is Electronic Music?

February 8, 2016 by Aaron

dj, electronic music, electronic music genres, house, max matthews, moby, synthesizers, techno, trance, turntablism

Hi! Ok so we’re mirroring some stuff that was on Third Option’s site here – because if it’s relevant both places, why not have it both places? 🙂

I probably should have started this “series” with this question – what the hell is electronic music? It seems like an obvious answer – it’s – uhm – electronic? And it’s music?

But it’s actually a deep thing and one of those esoteric things if you think a little on it. It’s like asking “what is technology?” – mostly we think of technology like smart phones or other electronical new fangled gadgets. But technology really just means “a capability given by the practical application of knowledge” (Merriam-Webster). That means an ape using a stick to capture termites to eat is technology.

Similarly with electronic music, how do you define it? Well Wikipedia says “Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production”. Yes. But actually, EVERY SINGLE RECORDING YOU EVER HEARD employs “electronics” in its production. So when you start out and you want to become an “electronic musician” you’re really just setting out to learn to record. All the technologies are the same as in rock, hip-hop, or even flat out acoustic music (when you make recordings of it). Even deeper than that, acoustics are the same science, sound is sound, and so on.

But – you have to admit, although TECHNICALLY “electronic music” means basically any damn thing other than a live performance with only acoustic instruments and vocals – in practice it means something else. No one refers to a rock band with a live drum set and guitars as “electronic music”. And no one really refers to hip-hop as “electronic music” although it REALLY actually is.

What is it then? Is it dance music? Not necessarily. Is it bloops and bleeps? Also, not necessarily. What it is is, music that is created with mostly synthesizers or computers, and even when performed live, utilizes mostly synthesizers and/or computers. Would turntablism count as “electronic music”? No not really, but turntablism and electronic music go hand in hand, because really what “electronic music” means is playing machines as instruments. That’s not even fully right…it’s more like…playing music with stuff that’s not the traditional thing…so it’s not playing guitars or drums or violins or pianos…it’s making turntables create a beat by sampling pieces of stuff…or programming a computer to create sounds that are musical…or…wait…playing synthesizer keyboards? Or…guitars live? Wait…it’s all jumbled up!

That’s because music is music, kid. Still – just like with techno or house or trance – you know when something is “electronic music”, even when you can’t accurately describe it with words. Pearl Jam is NOT electronic music. Limp Biskit and Bon Jovi, although both chock full of the use of synthesizers are NOT electronic music. Moby IS electronic music, even though he plays a live damn bass on stage.

Confusing. But not. Here’s an incredible, overwhelmingly long list of electronic music genres. My god!

I’ve been going through some of them, to try and more accurately describe (and target) Third Option. There’s a long list, and maybe one will fit! Or not. The reason there are SO many genres is because people come along and do something that doesn’t fit. A few people will usually copy the trendsetters, and then somebody names that style. That happens really quickly now.

Still, if you go back in time, you start to see that the pioneers of “electronic music” are also the pioneers of “recording” and really there’s not as big a separation between them and “traditional” musicians as you might think. I’ve had the privilege of hearing Max Matthews play quite a mean violin! (Check out that link – Max Matthews was one of the originals – basically invented digital audio. You can thank him for the CD – and he was an accomplished musician.)

So what the hell is electronic music? I couldn’t tell ya, but I think you’ll know it when you hear it 😉

Maybe Third Option will just invent its own genre. What do you think? Why don’t you send us an idea or two at thirdoption @ nquit.com 🙂

More to come…

— Aaron