Teach how Seth Hills create a track from scratch

 So first of all, thanks all for coming.Really cool to see all these people. I'm curious who's not Dutch right here?Lets just raise your hand if you're not Dutch. 

Okay lets do it in English then.So the thing is, I saw a lot of masterclasses from artists like explaining their oldtracks that are already done and mixed and mastered, but I get a lot ofquestions like how do you start a track what's the process of your tracks, how's your workflow? So I thought it was cool to do like a track from scratch.

 So I'llexplain my tricks meanwhile in the track do some mix and mastering tips and ifyou guys have any questions just ask them and I will explain everything youwant. So to begin I had these chords a while ago and I had this on my laptopand I was like yeah let's do something with this at Dancefair and I'm gonna work itout as far as I can and if I'm stuck we're gonna do some questions they'regonna show you some other projects and we'll see how far we can get. So I'lljust start and if you have any questions just ask them. So these are the chords. So let me know if it's all clear? Thesound? Perfect, so I have an idea that I can add a little dreamy vibe with some cool vocaleffects so I found this library in Kontakt a few days ago I thought it was really cool. So maybe we can use that. 

Who from you guys are working in Logic? It's my boys! Anyone in Ableton? FL studio? Okay! So yeah I'm working in Logic forlike eight or nine years now and I never switched I think it doesn't matter. I'mnot a guy that like: "You should work in Logic." Or "You should work in Ableton". It's whatever you're conformable with, that's what you should work with. This is like a libraryfrom Kontakt, I can really recommend like using libraries from Kontakt becauseprobably all of you guys know Splice right? Okay raise your hand if you knowSplice and if you use Splice. So the thing is with Splice, I really use it alot, but most of the samples on Splice are like really overused,as you probably might have heard, so I think it's cool to get your samples fromsomewhere else, like this this is a really cool bank with some vocal. 

It's really handy you can sit like These chords were in A-minor so youcan just select like A-minor and just play whatever you want like a sample. I'm just gonna try some stuff and see where it ends. Not a really big fan of these sounds so I'mgonna search for another one. Might be cool. I'm gonna make a little bit bigger with somereverb that I really like. It's ArtsAcoustics I really recommend you guysgetting it because it's like I use it like 90% of the time that I use reverb Iuse this one and this presets is like really really fine for almost everythingso guys can copy it later on if you want. So it has some atmosphere but still not good enough. 

The thing is it's really handy becauseyou can't go wrong like the stems are already in A-minor so whatevernote you choose is like already fitting the chords if you already have a proper chords schedule Maybe it's just cool to loop it. This is a real cool tool as well youprobably might know it but it's a free plugin from Xfer, it's OTT and I use it onalmost every one every sound and it's like a really easy way to like compressyour sound and also use it on my master sometimes just to make it a little bitmore tight. 

Maybe we can add it a reese bassunder this, because like just it is maybe a little bit too weak for only the bass, so I'm gonna loop. Just copy the chords. Still not a really big fan of the vocalcuts so that's why something different. If you guys have any questions just askthem and I can answer some now. Very cool to combine those two vocals. I can do it like this. That's better. Maybe it's cool that like a real vocal usethis for the atmosphere and then Think this one is on the right key, it's a pack thatI really like. It's on Splice so it's pretty much used and a lot of tracksbut if you edit it like the right way then it might work. So it's in the right key and in Logic there's a tool like flex tool it's like really simpleyou just activate it and then you see it's like a little bit too long because it'slike 120 bpm so this is 126 so it's needs to be shorter it's like exactly 8 bars, so now it's perfectly in place. 

What I really like to do with vocals lately islike use format I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with that butit's like pitching the vocal without changing the key, so it's gettinglower or higher without changing the pitch, so it's this vocal quite highbut I think it's cooler if it's a little bit down so I used this one forthat. It's the iZotope Nectar and it's likereally easy to use. You just select the pitch and here you can like change theshift. And then it's cool. As you can hear the sound is gettingreally mono so what I do to make mono things stereo is the iZotope Imagerbecause you can you can like just activate this he takes the differentmultibands like the vocal like mostly like around 1K til 20K so thisone is not important.

 It is not important that part. I might think the vocal can work sowe're gonna make it a little bit cooler with an EQ. That's like really dry so what I liketo do is add a delay and I'm mostly use this delay from Waves. And ofcourse we have to make it biggerjust like really dry right now also the same Reverb used on the vocal cutsjust the same preset and then play with the volume of the track. Might be good. Okay so let's add in like make a smallbuildup. This is my own signature build up that I created in inthe last couple of months, it's you might recognize from other tracks. 

I use this alot and it's it's not really a big snare but it's like more snappy snare that itdoesn't take too much space in the spectrum so I think... question. Do you often prepare your samples and presets? Yes I have like my own sample bank I find samples sometimes even cut samples, edit them andmerge them together and at the end you have your own sample bank so it's likereally handy also for your workflow to have your own sample bank which if youalways have to search for your samples and like search for new ones itkinda kills your workflow so if you have this is like a complete buildup. 

It's like really easy to work and that's in my opinion a good way to alsocreate your own signature sound. Okay so what a cool tool is for like useon your master chain is the Endless Smile from Dada Life. It's like reallyeasy trick to make a build of a little bit bigger because it adds some reverbit cuts away some low frequencies so I'm gonna show you what it's gonna do. It's like really heavy but to do it likelike precisely on your masters can create a really cool effect that's whatall my doing every track so I can recommend like use that plugin on yourmaster and you can even do it on your own with like your own low cut andreverb if you if you liked it but it's like it's like a fast way and it itworks for me so you create like an automation on your master and justautomate the intensity of the Endless Smile.

 Okay so let's find a drum fill so we canstart on the drop, let's just use a simple one because we don't have a lotof time so mostly I'm searching for like hours like this small details but wedon't have that time Might work As you can see this sample is like 128 BPMwhat we're working in 126 so then I activate the Flex modejust turn it on and then make sure it's like exactly on the grid and now itstretched to I think I might have an idea for the drop.I'm not sure if it's gonna work so don't laughs it's sounding shit but justtrying some things.

 This is like really fun way to work like a kickloop that I already made some times and it's just already looped so I can justdrag it in my project and don't have to copy and paste every kick. So you might recognize this samplefor my tracks it's like a little signature thing and I like to use in allmy tracks just like this synth stab it's funny because I found this stab inVengeance and it's not really something special actually but I EQedit a little bit and gives like a really good impact to a drop so you mightrecognize sounds or maybe not. It's already in key so it's a cool trickto use like reverb automation in your tracks. 

If you havelike really shorts samples I might like fill the gap I learned from a friend ofmine it's like really cool to fill the gaps with reverb automation so you havelike you feel like the sample is dugging in and I'm doing it almost all my leadsand samples in my drops if you listen carefully because if I wouldn't do thatlike it it's like way less dryer than it is right now It's cool, so I need a clap as well That's a clap loop That might work. Okay so let's find a lead for the dropthink I'm gonna use my "Fire" lead right now that I used in my track "Fire" together with Magnificence it's like cool for you guys to see I think how our processeslead you might recognize it. 

As you can see there's a lot on the chain but it'slike 80% EQing because it's a really ugly frequencies in it I can show youthe preset without. I started in an OTT. Just gives a little extra edge, then acompression. It just compresses the lead it's just taking it the peaks out andpush it a little bit more so like a straight line since it's likepeeking and stuff and it's cool to use this presets "Pump it to the radio" thatI'm using a lot so I can recommend that. Saturn is like a saturation plugin thatI can recommend using on a lot of your sounds if your sounds are a little bittoo small or misses some frequencies before you use an EQ try to use this onebecause It's like combining with an overdriveand with an EQ you won't get some sounds that you can get with this so ifyou boost for example the mid. It's already sounding like really full,because without it's like really small and now it's getting reallybig as you can hear like a lot of frequencies so that are hurting yourears so this is a cool plugin for adding some highs. Some waves and just boost the10K a that you can select here and this is the painful frequencies for your earsa little bit better for you is you just see it an analyzer like if I see thatthis 2K and 5K is really hard for your ears so be careful with that and if it'stoo much just pull it down So another EQ, not doing that much.

 I didn't doanything on this but what was cool and SSL channel is that you can boost like300 Hertz really naturally. You can make sounds really full because filters are reallyimportant for your sounds like if it's too thin and it probably needs some 300 Hertz and you can EQ that but I can recommend doing it with this because ifyou do it with an EQ it's getting a little bit fake because you are boostinglike fake frequencies with an EQ and this is exactly the same actually but somehowwith this plugin is really naturally and of course another EQ, not doinganything and what's cool is a M/S EQ you if you have like a trackthat has little bit an comparable lead and your lead isn't reallyright there just drag it in the M/S EQ you click on match and it will tell youwhat what frequencies you are missing and what frequencies are too much onyour sounds so and after you do that you can like apply it as much as you want soyou don't have to copy the lead or the EQ but just for a little bit extra thatyou need. 

So just let's make it drop. I use pitchbend a lot in my synthsbecause it's like really static without any pitchbend so try to use a lot of pitchbend to make it like moveable like it's starting to move like if you're using straight notes it's cool but if the notes are like sliding and moving it gives moreenergy so try to experiment with that You already hear the difference with or without the pitchbends. It's like really big difference. Okay so this it's cool for now becauseI see we don't have a lot of time so I'm gonna add a low bass to it so it'sgetting somewhere to a drop this is a bass I use in my track "Centipede" on Revealed and it's actually an 808 bass in Serum and it's like differentthen just a sine because an 808 is like a lot of lot dirtier than a sine.

 So it's already really heavy and what I did was just compression and overdrive,not really a big fan of overdrive realized but it worked in this case togive a little bit more edge. Three equalizers like not really doing specialthings also an equalizer and then this time I use an LFO tool. Also with bass notes is really cool touse pitchbend, it adds a lot of energy to it especially when you pitch it downthe last part of note. You can hear there's already a big difference with the first. Also this one And what adds a lot of energy to your dropsis of course noise. I always use this one somehow the sounding like the CO2 toeffect at festivals is like exactly the same so it works for it drops. 

It's cool to have just one stab Okay so after you guys if any questionabout this project just ask them right now because after is I'm going to switch toanother project of mine and so my latest release, my upcoming release so if youguys any questions from this. How did you make the sub bass in the beginning? The sub bass in the beginning? In the break?This one? This one? Yeah it's just a 808 in Serum and just EQ it put anoverdrive on it and there it is. Nothing really special actually. So I'm gonna save this I mightfinish this but I think it can be cool but yeah so the time is done now,so thank you all for coming and I hope you learned something!