Break Free Of The Loop And Create More Music In Less Time
Fred Everything is a world renowned DJ in the House Music Scene. Early in his career, he was given the name everything because his diverse DJ sets proved that he could comfortably navigate a variety of genres from House to Techno, and Drum and Bass to Ambient.
Over the course of his career, he has released over 200 productions
In order to quicklycreate as many songs as Fred has, you have to establish a creative workflow to get the technology out of the way so you can stay in a creative flow and continue moving forward.
In this pureMix.net exclusive, Fred shows you how he sets up his writing template so that he can stay creative while quickly creating exciting arrangements, remix, and make rough mixes. In a live remixing style session, Fred demonstrates his techniques and offers you tips and tricks to stay in the zone and increase your speed.
Once you have seen how Fred does it, you can download a copy of his template, that has been carefully translated to every major DAW and try it out for yourself.
Parts of this site and some files are only accessible to pureMix Pro Members or available to purchase. Please see below our membership plans or add this video to your shopping cart.
00:00:00 Hi, this is Fred Everything,
in this video I wanna show you
how to improve your workflow
and finish more tracks in Logic Pro X.
00:00:13 When we start a project
it's good to have certain things
already in place.
00:00:17 Like, you know,
your main ingredients,
like a Chef's 'mise en place' for example.
00:00:21 That way you can get down do business
easier and quicker.
00:00:24 Let me show you a quick template
that I have done in Logic Pro X.
00:00:28 Here I started with a nice click track
which is basically just a kick drum,
a 4 on the floor.
00:00:33 Just so you know so it's
like something to start with
if you wanna start writing so
it just goes simply like that.
00:00:42 You don't have to do that
but I think sometimes it's good to have
if you're someone who starts
for example with a kick drum.
00:00:50 After that, what I did is
I added 8 tracks of audio.
00:00:54 Personally, I use a lot of audio,
I don't use a lot of internal instruments
but sometimes I do.
00:01:00 So,
I would add just like 8 tracks of audio.
00:01:04 That's where I would record all my
analog synths and my drum machines in.
00:01:08 Here,
all the tracks are the same,
as you can see.
00:01:12 I added first a gain plug-in,
the reason for that
is to keep
all the gain structure in place,
make sure that I don't
max out the stereo bus
and my gain plug-in is
defaulted at -5.
00:01:29 There's no real reason for that,
I just it was a nice number
and it helps me at least
keep things
lower.
00:01:37 So, I like that and I can always change it.
00:01:39 It's just a good place to start.
00:01:42 Here, I have
an EQ because every channel
needs and EQ
once in a while so,
it's good to have it in place already.
00:01:49 The next thing I did was add
five auxes of my favorite
or most useful effects.
00:01:55 In this case I'm gonna run
one by one.
00:01:58 On Aux 1
I have a long reverb,
like a Hall or Plate.
00:02:03 On Aux 2
I would have
a shorter reverb,
like a Room or something like that.
00:02:10 Aux 3, Bus 3,
a delay, in this case I use a tape delay.
00:02:15 On Aux 4,
it could be some sort of modulation,
it could be a flanger,
in this case I put a chorus.
00:02:22 And on Aux 5
I put an overdrive.
00:02:25 To make it even easier,
I went on every single channel
and I already engaged
all these channels there.
00:02:33 So it's very easy to go
and test things and see how it sounds
with a little bit of delay,
a little reverb,
a little chorus,
without having to open them
one by one.
00:02:44 Now let's move to an existing Logic project
to show you a real life example
of what I just told you about.
00:02:50 So here's an example of one
of my projects
I actually pulled out.
00:02:54 It's not a final project,
it's actually the stems of
a track I already did
so I can talk a little bit more
about arrangement.
00:03:01 But first, look at the template.
00:03:02 So, when I open up a project,
I have in this track stack here,
external synths.
00:03:09 And when I open it up,
I get access instantly
to all my synths, and I can play the midi
or send a sequence information
and then re-record
on audio tracks.
00:03:21 But for now on,
we'll do something with that
and we'll get rid of it.
00:03:25 One function that I really love
to use in Logic Pro X
is the hide function.
00:03:30 It's very simple,
but it keeps your arrangement very clean.
00:03:33 The way to do it
again, very simple,
press 'H'
and there you go.
00:03:38 And you see the tracks that
have been already hidden.
00:03:42 So, I do hide.
00:03:44 For example,
why would you decide to do that?
Here I have 'Claps Wet'
and 'Claps Dry'.
00:03:49 I don't want get rid of 'Claps Dry'
just yet.
00:03:51 I don't wanna see it,
I want my arrangement to be cleaner.
00:03:54 So there you go.
00:03:56 Click 'H' and all of sudden
you have
only what you need to see.
00:04:02 Another very important
thing that I like to use
is the track stack.
00:04:07 So, the track stack,
is basically
putting all your tracks together
in order to keep your arrangement cleaner.
00:04:14 But not only that
but you can also use
that to further process
your whole tracks by adding EQ,
compression,
or even effects like
a whole track stack.
00:04:26 Keep your arrangement nice and
clean will save you a lot of time
at the end when you're
looking for that track,
like, 'what's that third hi-hat
or second snare?',
or 'where did I put the vocal?'
for example.
00:04:36 So, first of all,
I do recommend naming
all your tracks,
that seems very basic
but it's very important.
00:04:43 And naming them
the way you're gonna remember them.
00:04:47 The next thing that I think it's
very very important
is the color-coding.
00:04:51 Everyone will have their own ways,
I can explain my own,
but you should think
like how it's
gonna work for you.
00:04:58 For example,
my drums are always blue.
00:05:01 But then you can have
different shades of blue,
for example, for the kick,
you can say, 'I wanna
remember where the kick is',
so, make it a different blue.
00:05:10 And you can have things like that,
but you know that if it's blue,
it's your drums.
00:05:14 And then they're well labeled
so you don't spend time
looking for things,
you can just go and get down
to business of making music
and arranging your track.
00:05:22 It's gonna make your life a lot easier.
00:05:25 Moving on to another
track stack for example,
here are my keys,
which I usually have a lot of them.
00:05:32 My keys are usually orange
and my basses are usually brown.
00:05:35 There's no real reason for that,
it's just a system that,
with time,
I developed and it's helped me
because now I know where things are.
00:05:44 Strings or Pads might
be yellow for example.
00:05:48 For some reason,
my vocals are pink.
00:05:50 It's not because it's a female
vocalist or a male vocalist.
00:05:53 I always have my vocals pink.
00:05:56 And that's just the way I do things
and I encourage you
to find a system
that will be good for you
and it will save you a ton of time
and headaches really when making music.
00:06:07 One of the most common problem
people have
is they get stuck in a loop.
00:06:12 They get stuck in that 4 bar
and 8 bar loop, 16 bar loop.
00:06:17 They keep adding and adding vertically
but what I wanna do
is show you how to do things
but horizontally.
00:06:23 I want you to get out of the loop
by using the loop function in Logic Pro.
00:06:28 Let me show you while I do it.
00:06:29 Here's and 8 bar loop from
a track of mine called 'Believe',
featuring Kathy Diamond.
00:06:53 So that's nice,
but if I listen to
this over and over
I will get really sick of it
and I'll also keep adding and adding
and if you put everything that
you see on screen right here
in that 8 bar loop it's
gonna sound very chaotic.
00:07:09 And it's not the real way to make music
because making music is
reacting to what you hear
on the moment, not just like
adding stuff and then you're forced to
sort of place it in your arrangement.
00:07:23 So,
one thing that I use a lot
is the loop function.
So let's get out
of that cycle by pressing 'C'.
00:07:33 By pressing 'L'
your track will go all the way to the end
of your arrangement.
00:07:39 So, you wanna remove that
a little bit to where you think it's,
you know, you wanna a 5 or 6 minute
track or something like that.
00:07:45 Just as a guideline.
00:07:47 I recommend doing that with
everyone of your tracks.
00:07:51 For example, these are already looped
in order to get them to the
end you just have to drag them.
00:07:56 You can highlight them all
and drag them all the way to
the end of your arrangement.
00:08:03 Like this.
00:08:05 What it then forces you to do
is to act on a structure.
00:08:10 The structure will change
but it's good to
start with something.
00:08:13 So, for example,
with House Music
often you start with the beat
so it's gonna start,
maybe some keys as well,
but you want like a mix in for the DJ,
so you're gonna start with that.
00:08:25 And,
as soon as you start the structure,
you realize that it's not long before
you're like at three minutes and a half
or four minutes
and now it's time to start
like on the end of your song.
00:08:36 So it's very encouraging,
if you get stuck in that loop
that loop only lasts a few seconds
and it doesn't really
show you that you can
finish your song.
00:08:47 Once I'm done looping
everything I want all the way to end,
at least the main parts,
what I usually do
is I do 'CTRL + L'
on the tracks to change
them into real copies
and not just loops
so you can edit them
separately and more easily
going cut through them.
00:09:03 And again,
you can highlight them all
and do the same
thing right here
by pressing 'CTRL + L'.
00:09:10 The next thing I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna show you in the flow
how I work horizontally
to create a live
arrangement with what I
already have in my session.
00:09:19 So let's begin and I
will explain more after.
00:14:45 Well, that was a little
bit basic arrangement,
that's how I would go about doing this.
00:14:51 It might have looked a little bit easy
because obviously this
is a song that I did
so I know the parts very well.
00:14:57 This is kind of a live remix,
if you may,
of something that I already did.
00:15:03 But it's interesting to work like that
because obviously that wouldn't be my last
structure
but it's a good way to start,
it's a good way to
map things out again
horizontally instead of vertically.
00:15:17 And all of a sudden,
the end of the track is in sight.
00:15:21 I've got five minutes
and sixteen seconds here,
how long I want my track to last?
Six minutes?
Or is five minutes OK?
You can pick and choose your moments
and this is just one run that I did.
00:15:35 I have other parts that
I didn't even get to use.
00:15:39 I could use them or not,
it could be more of a stripped down version
or also, it can force you to
ask you:
'Do I need those parts?'
So, you've been writing these parts
vertically but
do I need them?
In the context of the song,
in the context of trying to tell a story
do I need these parts?
And I think that's
why you need to start
thinking horizontally
instead of vertically.
00:16:02 So what I would typically do
when I start a session,
in the writing mode,
is that I would have everything
looped in from the beginning until the end.
00:16:15 And then when it's time
to start I would
mute everything but what I need
at the beginning.
00:16:21 And then I just try to
hear things as they come, you know,
when does it feel like
the vocal should come in
or this bass line?
Everything muted until that time.
00:16:34 Let's say the bass line is gonna start at
33 or 49,
I don't really think like that in numbers
but let's say it's like that.
00:16:41 Then I would unmute it there
and then I would go and delete
all the beginning of it.
00:16:47 So, already, I would have something
that resemble a structure.
00:16:51 And, I really recommend working that way.
00:16:55 So, in this particular arrangement,
I started with the drums as
we often do, especially in House Music
and then I just try
to hear the parts
that I want, to hear where they would go.
00:17:09 So, as I play it along,
I start moving things around.
00:17:13 First of all I had the
'Clap' at the beginning,
I decided maybe it's
good just with the snare
so the clap could be a pick-up.
00:17:19 I go like that and I move
the claps a little bit.
00:17:22 That's the first thing I did.
00:17:23 After that,
the bass was starting from the beginning
and I thought
it should be better
around 33 where the vocal is coming.
00:17:32 Where the vocal is coming
I thought maybe it's good
to drop the kick there,
to make it a bit more space.
00:17:39 So that's what I did.
00:17:41 And then, a little bit further,
when the vocal is in,
I was hearing the 303 come in
so I decided to move the 303 around there.
00:17:50 And then
I was trying to experiment with
other parts that were muted,
other key parts like the 'Bleep' thing,
the 'Prophet' melody.
00:18:00 Those two kind of work together
and I already know that.
00:18:03 So, I decided to
put them together
after the 303 had been
introduced as more of
an evolution.
00:18:10 After that comes
another breakdown.
00:18:13 There's
often
two kinds of breakdowns
in House Music,
again, it's not a rule or
anything and I don't go by that.
00:18:22 But it's often like that
where like you have sort of,
your early breakdown
would be
more like of an introduction
and at the end would be
just a breeder
before the track ends.
00:18:34 We're not talking about
big EDM drops here.
00:18:37 Although if that's your take that's fine.
00:18:39 I'm just talking about
how to create
a nice kind of House structure.
00:18:44 And then,
for the piano
what I thought it would be a nice
thing as a pick-up
to introduce that towards the end
in the last break
to just accompany us
until almost the end.
00:18:56 And then I had this part
which is kind of a weird
experimental piano thing
that I thought could be good just to
bring up towards the end of the track.
00:19:05 Again,
that wouldn't be my final version
but it's a good way to start
and a good way to know that
you can finish a track easily.
00:19:14 Now that I've done
the first pass
let me see if I can come up
with some new ideas
with all the parts I haven't used yet
and maybe tidy up a few things on the fly.
00:24:49 So, that was the second pass,
already you can tell that things are
coming a little bit more together.
00:24:54 My advice would be just to
have fun with it and really
enjoy the process
and not be scared of it.
00:25:02 Once you've done a few
passes that you're happy with
it's time to clean up your
arrangement a little bit.
00:25:06 Tidy it up,
delete things you don't want.
00:25:09 It's time to also do the
sweetening of your track, basically.
00:25:14 I don't know, maybe remove
a kick drum here and there,
work on some fills,
work on some automation,
you might wanna automate a filter,
some reverbs here and there
or, in a moment like I'm gonna show you,
in a second break of the track,
I'm gonna automate some filter
and some reverb just to
work on that specific moment
and to make it stronger
into the next segment.
00:25:41 I'm gonna add a filter to
the Keys' section, the whole Keys.
00:25:46 Here I'm using the
Sonalksis Creative Filter
because it's very simple
and I like very simple interfaces.
00:25:53 It does what it's supposed to do
and it's perfect for that.
00:25:55 It has a low-pass,
band-pass and a high-pass.
00:25:58 In this specific case I
wanna use the high-pass
I wanna remove all the bass,
kind of creating the same sort of
element that you would do
in a DJ set for example,
in a breakdown.
00:26:11 When it comes back,
with the bass, it's very strong.
00:26:14 I'm gonna go ahead and
automate those things.
00:26:17 And then I will explain
to you a little bit more
after what I just did.
00:28:35 So, in this specific example,
I wanted to take out all the bass,
from the Keys' section.
I could have just gone,
with like
each element and do it separately
but it would take like a whole video.
00:28:47 So I thought it would be good
just to also explain
that you could do that on your Drum Bus.
00:28:52 I decided to do on the Keys
because there's is just
a lot of Keys there and
there's no Drums anymore.
00:28:58 I wanted to remove all the bass
and then create
this kind of spacey feeling,
this kind of like, let's call it like,
euphoric moment that
you would have on the
dance floor when
there's a breakdown.
00:29:09 And,
I usually do a lot of it actually, live,
in a Pioneer mixer.
00:29:15 I also automated
a delay and a reverb
and I slightly automated
the actual volume
of the bus of the keys
because I was losing some volumes
and I wanted to have more intensity
with the sound,
I didn't wanna lose the power before
it goes back into the breakdown.
00:29:35 Again, this could have been done
more scientifically
in many other ways
but I think it was good
to show how we can do it nice and quick.
00:29:44 And again,
just the same
philosophy that I did with the arrangement,
just to do it.
00:29:49 Do it how you feel it,
and after you can spend a lot of time
going and changing the
curve of your automation
or whatever you wanna do.
00:29:57 It's just...
00:29:59 it's important to fight the
constant need for perfection,
specially in the beginning,
when you're creating a track,
you wanna keep that energy
and the initial intention.
00:30:13 And if you spend too much time
in the details
then you never gonna get there.
00:30:18 One thing I like to
do as well is I record
pretty much everything I do,
any jams I do
onto my iPhone,
into Voice Memo,
not plugged in, nothing.
00:30:27 And that helps me
remember what I did.
00:30:31 And sometimes, you know,
ideas that I completely forgot about,
I listen to it on there and I know:
'Oh, I should reword this track'.
00:30:38 But in this particular case,
what's interesting is that often,
I would do a fake structure
just to record it on my phone,
like a weird iPhone demo, let's say.
00:30:49 And sometimes,
it helps me like,
sort the structure of the track
because I may start
with just like
the Pad and the Hi-hat at this time,
and then just add random things
and they sound good to me
because you're not committing
to your DAW,
that's how you come up
with interesting ideas that
might help you finish your tracks.
00:31:07 I listen back to these tracks
on this very speaker.
00:31:11 Sometimes I'll send it
to maybe a friend,
but also what it gives me
is a different,
like a bit of a distance
and a different perspective on the sound.
00:31:20 OK, so, we just talked about
improving your workflow
and improving your
arrangement skills.
00:31:25 In the next video we'll talk about
how to mix this track.
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
French Canadian DJ/Producer Fred Everything is a key player in the world of House Music with two decades in the music business
and a discography of more than 200 releases to his credit. Born in Hull and raised in Quebec City, Fred caught the bug early for
electronic music in high school, working summer jobs washing dishes to buy his first synths. He then formed a few bands while
spending his weekends as the youngest kid in local nightclubs. In the early 90s, he started playing live in raves and clubs across
Canada. He was then known simply as “Everything,” because of the eclectic nature of his sets, which would include Techno, House,
Ambient and even Drum & Bass. A highlight of that period was opening for Sasha at Metropolis in Montreal. Tired of carrying his 909
and 101 around, he started to DJ more actively and changed his name to ‘Fred Everything’. A move to the big city of Montreal was
the next obvious thing, where he landed a job at the city’s legendary Inbeat Record Store. It wasn’t too long after, that Fred found
himself releasing on some of his favorite labels and touring internationally.
Parts of this site and some files are only accessible to pureMix Pro Members or available to purchase. Please see below our membership plans or add this video to your shopping cart.
A little disappointing, $49US for a half hour video. More basic concepts than I expected, but that's on me for not reading the chapter description. Dont get me wrong, this video is informative and well put together, i just think its a little pricey for the amount of content.
loekazz
2018 Aug 07
Thanks! When will the 2nd part of this video be online?
LucaSkyline
2018 Jun 12
Always a pleasure watching these videos!! the only thing i don't like about Fred's template, is the gain on every channel at -5...Id rather prefers simply take down my faders but everybody s got a different idea and workflow! Thanks puremix team for this amazing video! :)
socalsilva
2018 Jun 12
Great advice/best practices on workflow and arrangement. Fred demonstrates these concepts on an actual released production, doesn't get any better than that.
This video has made me realize that I've been getting too detailed when I should be moving beyond the loop and finish blocking out the structure.
I've been into Deep House for close to 20 years now, been following Fred's work for a decade or so. Fred is easily one of the best Deep House producers out there - prolific, consistent, and has his own sound. Subbing for his series was a no brainer.
composermikeglaser
2018 Jun 09
Nice introduction to house music arrangement and workflow, awesome tutorial Fred & pureMix!!
PoPe
2018 Jun 09
thank you so much Fred. So refreshing and inspiring to see other peoples templates and workflows.
