I usually suck at build ups so i won't be much of a help except for: Lots of fx automations, and automating your presets, but then that might just be my way of compensating for my lack of other ideas :-) I'm not a huge fan of sirens and cheesy uplifters so I always try a way around it.

Automation of sounds, filters, reverb, etc are all excellent ways to make build ups. Just a word of caution this can really be overdone, then the build up seems overly forced.


Also since we're on the topic of build ups, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEDXYa9qk9w&t=2m52s has to be the most ridiculous build up of all time.

Working on a collaboration with friend. Really trying to nail the typical current prog house (think Martin Garrix's current work) just for the sake of practice. Thoughts on the sound design aspects of the WIP?

https://soundcloud.com/jhacs/prog-house-id/s-1dE8t

There's a lot to start working on in this track.

Sample selection, sound design, composition, arrangement.

I would suggest watching some tutorial on youtube at this point. Import songs into your DAW and analyze them (when do each of the music sections come in). Keep listening to music and try to figure out what you like about it. Wouldn't hurt to read about some music theory for composition.

I'll give some feedback for what it's worth. Like you said these arent on the album but whatever, you posted in sharing and feedback.

Was Slips Away complete for the most part? Arp/gated squares in the drop felt abrupt compared to the rest of the sounds (unless the intention was to create a feeling of unsettling). Enjoyed the space you created around 3:20. For me, this track had 2 separate ideas that didn't mash together well. In Bipolar you had this gritty electro line section that you blend with a progressive house pluck fest, both of which compliment each other. I wasnt feeling that same kind of cohesion with the trance and trap/future/whatever you want to call it, even when you blended the gated trance chords at 2:00.


I'm guessing eyes open was too similar to what was on Damage Control to be included in the album?

Are you looking for criticism or what?

Finally got home so I can potentially give some intro that can help. Google/wikipedia/youtube is going to be your friend if youre really starting out with basics or if something here doesnt make sense.
Let's use C major in the example.


Before we can even start, what's C?
C is a note which is a certain tone. There are 13 notes between C of one octave and C of a different octave (C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Fb, G, G#/Ab, A, A#/Bb)
# = sharp
b = flat

Mess around with the piano role in your DAW of choice. Frequency of sound is what gives each of these notes the perception of a different pitch.

What is major?
Good question. Often times major is referred to as "the happy sounding scale" vs minor "the sad sounding scale".

Major (Ionian mode) is comprised of certain intervals between each notes of the scale (whole-steps/half-steps). Using the C major scale, our major scale is C D E F G A B C. Play it on the piano/in your DAW and you'll recognize it. The pattern here is C -whole step- D -whole step-E-halfstep-F-wholestep-G-wholestop-A-wholestep-B-halfstep-C. Imagine wholes step meaning we had to take 2 "steps" on the piano to get to the next note (to get from C to D we had to pass over C#, but for E to F, we didnt have to pass any other notes).

You can apply this pattern when starting the scale of any note which means you've now learned all the major scales.

This is great so we can finally start writing chords (in an Ionian mode). Now for a song to be in key, we can only use the notes in the scale (unless we're using borrowed chords but let's not get into that now).

For major, if we're working with triads (a group of 3 notes) for a major mode, we can apply the following:
major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished
Sounds like this https://clyp.it/2fraj2u2.

For C major, this ends up being Cmaj(I),dmin(ii),emin(iii), Fmaj (IV), Gmaj(V), amin(vi), bdim(vii^o)

Now we're in business. Start rearranging these and you're writing music. Common progressions are I IV V vi,  or I V vi IV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%E2%80%93V%E2%80%93vi%E2%80%93IV_progression

Hopefully I didn't jump into too much too quickly. To be honest, this is something that'll take some time to learn, longer to completely understand, and years to apply to your own music.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask me.

Wasn't Ohmnicide (multiband distortion plug-in) huge during this time period (2010-2012) amongst porter/skrillex/wolfgang gartner? It's still an awesome plugin but I believe a lot of producers were using it during this time to achieve the gritty electrohouse basses/synths.

Hook theory is another great resource, especially to understand some of the theory behind songs you enjoy.