MUSIC TECHNIQUE

TRIP HOP KEY!OARDS

hink of trip hop and a few names spring to mind: 3ortishead, Lamb, Morcheeba and others, all occupying different streams within the genre, from dark and brooding to upbeat and melodic. The term itself isnt favoured by every band to which its applied and truthfully, these days trip hop is an umbrella term thats often used to group together a very diverse range of bands and artists. 3erhaps most interestingly, many of the characteristics it embodies are now used heavily in film and TA soundtracks it was, after all, defined at least in part by the cinematic nature of its sound. Trip hop production varies enormously across the genre, from moody electronica to lush pop productions. Apart from being universally downtempo and rarely venturing north of 1EEB3M, the main constant in a lot of trip hop is the keyboards. They are the glue that hold tracks together, and its no accident that the warm, rounded tones of the Fender Hhodes are favoured above practically any other keyboard sound. Along with acid jaJJ, the emergence of trip hop in the early KEs rescued the Hhodes from the obscurity in which it had been languishing since the early LEs, when synths had taken centre stage. Back then it was still possible to buy a real Hhodes for a sensible sum, but they started to disappear quickly from second-hand music stores soon after. Oemand for the Hhodes sound, however, remained strong, and workstations began to feature Hhodes and WurlitJer patches with varying degrees of success. The Hhodes sound is hard to copy because a real Hhodes reacts uniquely to the way you play it. For a long time electronic keyboards werent able to re-create this sensitivity, and it wasnt until the advent of multisampling and velocity switching that some keyboards started to actually feel and sound like the real thing.

Creating authentic trip hop productions almost always entails the use of a vintage keyboard or two. Hollin Jones details your options...

jaJJ, but rather elements of the jaJJ sound given a more conventional structure, slowed down and set to beats and scratches. Rot everyone is a jaJJ guru, but there are a lot of samples collections on the market featuring loops played by people who are. For accomplished players, trip hop is an interesting style to work in as it permits some moderate showing off in the context of music that has a much wider appeal than straight jaJJ.

Rhode works
If youre lucky enough to find an original Fender Hhodes, it will sound its best running through a Fender Twin Heverb guitar amp. Originals of these are also fairly hard to get hold of, although there are new models on the market. And interestingly, the Hhodes is also in the process of being reissued surely a sign that its appeal is stronger than ever. The controls on a Hhodes are straightforward, with bass, treble and tremolo knobs enabling you to tweak the dynamics. Hecord the amp using a mic rather than the OI technique as it will sound much better. You can also run the signal through effects, of course, with wah-wah, warm distortion and phaser being popular in either software or stompbox form. Marginally easier to find in working order are WurlitJer electric pianos, another trip hop staple. Smaller than the Hhodes, its sound is not entirely dissimilar but is brighter and harder, becoming overdriven when played full pelt. Hhodes are more popular in trip hop because they blend in and fill out the sound, but WurlitJers sometimes take over when a more insistent tone is required. A third keyboard instrument often used in trip hop is the Hammond organ typically a BY or BY clone. The upper reaches of the keyboard are used much more than the lower, providing soundscapes rather than melodies. All three of these instruments initially found fame in the world of jaJJ, but were appropriated to become essential tools in the production of trip hop.

You can find project files for Cubase and Reason plus all the necessary sound files on the coverdisc.

ON YOUR DVD-ROM

!IOGRAPHY
Hollin Jones is a hip hop producer and writer on music, video and multimedia issues as well as a Mac specialist and occasional university lecturer. Author of numerous music technology books on Reason, he is happiest behind a keyboard playing jazz, blues or anything else that fits. He has just finished his latest studio album in Bristol.

Tripping up
Another thing to remember about trip hop keyboard parts is that they usually require some skill to play. Qnlike other electronic styles in which an arpeggiator and a sequencer do a lot of the fingerwork for you, trip hop has traditionally been based around jaJJ chords, patterns and changes nothing as complicated as real

New originals
Sadly, unless youre very lucky and fairly rich you wont be likely to find many original Hhodes, WurlitJers or Hammonds. Space is also an issue for many people, with even modern Hammonds

MusicTech MAGAZINE July 2007 41

MUSIC TECHNIQUE
RETRO FEVER
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The Fender Rhodes is the classic trip hop keyboard, but since it went out of production years ago, finding one in good working order is a rare occurrence at least for anyone with a reasonable budget. The good news is that Rhodes has developed a new version, with all the mod cons such as USB, MIDI, XLRs and so on built-in. Its reported to be spectacular by the few who have so far tried one. Real Hammonds are easier to find and still produced as new, but theyre costly and awkward to move around. Many keyboard players love the idea of having a genuine Rhodes or Hammond, not least because playing and owning them is almost like being a member of an exclusive club.

The Nord Electro offers authentic-sounding Hammond, Rhodes, Wurlitzer and Clavi re-creations, as well as having an eminently playable 73-note keyboard suited to trip hop.

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Going soft
A good software Rhodes re-creation is Applied Acoustics Systems Lounge Lizard, available for both PC and Mac.

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step-by-step Trip hop keyboards in Reason

Propellerhead provides a free ReFill for registered users of Reason 3.0 thats dedicated to electromechanical keyboards. Heres how to use them in trip hop productions.

! I Go to www.propellerhead.se and download the ElectroMechanical ReFill (you must log in first). Open a new project and create a mixer, then select Create Device by Browsing Patches.

" I

Navigate to the ElectroMechanical ReFill and try

# I

Add a Scream 4 with a low overdrive setting and

out the Rhodes presets then record some chords. If the sound is a little lifeless you can start to add some effects to make it more interesting.

a simple, short reverb. Use the Cut section on the Scream 4 to boost the lower end of the sound a little and also maybe the mids.

$ I

Now load an organ from the ElectroMechanical

% I

To liven up the organ part and make it sound less

& I

Production is crucial in trip hop so use effects

ReFill. Record some held chords over the Rhodes part. Use the top end of the keyboard for a dark, moody effect and push the NN-XTs mod wheel up.

artificial, add a little reverb, some compression and again some warm overdrive from a Scream 4. Use EQ and the mixer fader to keep it in the background.

such as compression, reverb and EQ to keep the elements balanced. Try using some hip hop REX drum loops in your tracks they work well for trip hop.

42 July 2007 MusicTech MAGAZINE

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MUSIC TECHNIQUE
MIXING AND MATCH
accurate multi-sampled instruments and high-quality effects that capture the essence of dusty, vintage keys. Among the best are <ative Instruments Elektrik Piano, Applied Acoustics Aounge Aizard and the Scarbee Vintage Eeyboard Collection, all reasonably priced. For Hammonds specifically theres <Is I4 and KVI Soundcard Retro Organs, plus many other more general sound modules with decent vintage keyboard patches built-in. makes use of strings T both traditional and synthesised T and bleepy old synths. These are quite easy to track down in software form, with Moogs and the Eorg MS-2W in particular favoured for their bleeps, sweeps and warm tones.

Mixing drumnbass can be tricky in a home studio simply because the bass end is so crucial unless you have hefty monitors youre not going to be able to fully appreciate how it will sound over a big club PA. Your best bet is to press some test mixes to vinyl or CD-R and play them on the biggest system you can find perhaps out of hours at a club and listen to how the mix behaves. Because it has so much energy, DnB usually needs to be mixed loud, with a fair amount of compression.

In profile
Trip hop may now appear to have a somewhat lower profile than it once enjoyed, but this is largely a result of its splitting T like other styles T into narrower but related sub-genres. In fact, most of its values and characteristics are still going strong T just watch an episode of CSI and listen to the soundtrack music for proof. At the heart of many of the scores are the omnipresent keyboards that define its sound, and the jazzinfluenced chords and sequences which give away its heritage. Auckily for producers, there are more options available for playing and producing trip hop keyboards today than there have ever been. MTM
If you dont have room for an organ or prefer hardware to software, the Roland VK-8M may well be the solution for you.

Loops and samples

In terms of effects, the Scarbee Vintage Eeyboard FO suite of plug-ins is well worth checking out as it re-creates in great depth the controls you find on electric pianos plus a host of effects. Even if your keyboard sound starts off a bit lifeless, this plug-in can always be relied on to lend it an air of authenticity. There are any number of samples collections on the market containing superb crusty jazz Rhodes loops and Rurli stabs for you to play with, although some musicians will experience a greater degree of satisfaction from knowing that they have played everything themselves. Trip hop also

step+,-+step Vintage keyboards in Cubase 4

Cubase 4 comes with some handy electric piano sounds built-in, while VST plug-ins enable you to tailor your recordings to your own taste...

! I Open a new Cubase project, load an instance of the HALionOne player and click the MediaBay file browser button. Filter the list using the E Piano option to display only electric pianos.

2 I

The HALionOne player enables you to assign

3 I If you record some external audio a string part, for example you can use specialist vintage keyboard effects to modify the sound. Here we are using the Scarbee Vintage Keyboard FX plug-in.

appropriate real-time controllers that change according to the instrument you load. Here, the pan and cutoff controls will help you soften the sound.

4 I

Load another HALionOne and find a Hammond

5 I

If the sound is still a bit too clean, try adding a

& I

The Tremolo plug-in can be used to add interest

organ. The Combo Jazz Organ preset sounds good. Modify the Rotation Speed control on the plug-in until the sound is to your liking.

Tremolo plug-in from the Modulation Inserts section of the Plug-ins menu. Use the Sync button and the Rate knob to set the speed of the tremolo.

to guitar, keyboard and even drum parts. Subtlety is the order of the day when it comes to trip hop, so keep an ear on the atmospherics of the piece.

44 July 2007 MusicTech MAGAZINE