Concerns over correct pronunciation aside, Kevin Séguin sounds fine as a DJ name to be tbh. I'm not a fan of picking a DJ name out of arbitrariness or a sense of obligation, so if you're dead set on using an alias, try to find something that you'll be fine using for the rest of your career (Though if you're just starting out, it's honestly fine to change your name to something that you like better or that feels more professional or comfortable).

Just look up origin stories for the names people use and see how you can take from that. e.g. Music theory references, animals, historical figures, etc. It doesn't have to be anything really deep. If you have to think about what your name should be, imo you're thinking too hard. The best ones just sorta come to you.

Anyone have any ideas on the bass growl type stuff in Val -Shapeshifter? Seems like it shouldn't be hard to do in serum but I'm having a bit of trouble reproducing it.

Sounds like a growl that's under a band pass or two, and the LFO on the growl itself sounds like a quarter note in a triangle or sine curve. I think I hear a flanger as part of the modulation but I'd need to mess around to try and recreate it. Mess around with a few different filter combinations and automating their cutoffs in a few different directions, and see how they sound when they're moving in the same vs. opposite directions.

If you check out SeamlessR on youtube, he does a lot of neuro tutorials and you should be able to get an idea of where to go from there.

I swear by Splice Sounds now. If I need a sample I just search for it, audition until I find one (or three) that I like, and I buy them without needing to get the other samples. It works on a credit based system, and if you use presets or like deconstructing them you can buy those too!

It actually sounds like a really fast arpeggio, not portamento or pitch automation. Listen carefully for the attack. I think it's a regular square wave with some reverb. The audio on that video is kinda distorted because cell phone microphones + giant speakers outputting massive dBSPL = crunchy city, so it's really hard for me to make out the tones.

If you're working with your own vocalist (also works great with guitars), I suggest double tracking when you want things to be super wide - record two separate passes for each line, and hard pan them left and right. Since they're singing the same notes everything is gonna glue together, but since each pass is going to have minor variations due to the natural imperfections of live performance, they won't phase cancel when you compress to mono.

Alternately playing with reverbs, delays, chorus, or just simple harmonizing can often add extra weight to a vocal track without having to overly process them.

This is a bit of a tricky question, to be honest. Digital audio is processed based on it's sample rate (frequency range) and its bit depth (degrees of difference between zero amplitude and full amplitude). Currently, digital audio can have three bit depth options: 16, 24, and 32-floating point. When analog audio is converted into digital samples, it quantizes the fluid motions into rigid steps of volume. For example, 4-bit audio has 16 different layers of volume:



16 bit and 24 bit audio have an upper limit on the decibel level of information they can contain, which is considered 0 dB. Any information processed above that limit is cut off, and is not reproduced by speakers or on a bounce of the processed audio. So when you are working in 16 or 24 bit audio resolution, it is incredibly important to properly gain stage everything and avoid redlining without specifically looking for that distorted sound. So the rules on headroom came about as a preventative measure against unwanted digital distortion.

The difference in steps of loudness between bit depths is not linear, it's exponential. There are 65,536 possible quantization points in 16-bit audio, and there are 16,777,216 for 24-bit audio.

32 bit floating point audio treats things differently. At its maximum, 32 bit audio has over 4.2 billion steps of quantization. But not everything needs that much. So it starts at 16.7 Million, and it adds on more points as needed. This allows it to process not just information that is recorded at redline, but information that goes over zero decibels. If you rendered out a 32-bit wav file that went over 0 dB and normalized it, the file would actually get quieter as it brought the highest peak to 0. You wouldn't lose that information.

What this means is that if you are working in a DAW that utilized 32-bit floating point audio processing, you can have audio that clips without it necessarily being a problem. You're not LOSING the information... inside your DAW. Your interface is 24-bit (there are 32-bit interfaces out there but they are still fairly rare). Your speakers are 24-bit. Compressed audio files are 16 or 24 bit. So as soon as that clipped audio goes out of your master channel, it is subjected to the same sort of problems as if you were working in a lower bit depth. As long as you are in some way preventing the master output from going over 0 dB, you have nothing to worry about.


Personally, I take this as a sign to just get in the habit of accounting for headroom and trying to make sure my track plays well, while giving me much more wiggle room while I'm working towards that point.

To expand on what has already been said, it's often better to have 2 or 3 small compressors working gently in sequence than to have one compressor slamming the hell out of your audio. Gentler ratios, gentler thresholds, and overall a lighter touch can multiply together to achieve the same effects while preserving much more of your original sound.

Flea markets and thrift stores are usually pretty easy to navigate, but I personally enjoy shopping at places with a little more class.

You sound like a real thrill at parties.



To be honest, I don't think it's a big deal. I have this really cool thing called a mouse and I use it to scroll past the soundcloud links that I don't want to listen to. It doesn't hurt me, and if someone posts something that's really insightful I'd be more likely to listen to it.