Warp Monkeys Mix - DJ Tech Tools - Atari Dream by Warp Monkeys

Just a heads up, we didn't want lose the bass-i-ness of track, so we didn't push the final multi-band compress much. You need to turn up the volume when listening (but it has so much more dynamic range).

We had just started writing a new dubstep-influenced track when DJ Tech Tools released the Wax to Tracks MIDI packs for competitors to play along at home. We were stoked! We picked out the Atari Dreams pack and got started right away. We want to record as much as we could using our new Shruthi synth (by Mutable Instruments) that we just finished building. This is a high level overview of the track and if anyone is interested, we can give more details and/or release the Ableton project. Just let us know. The track is release under the creative commons license and you can do whatever you like with it (it'd be nice if you mention us though that isn't a requirement).

Drums:
We really liked the feel of the drum loop, but wanted to give it more punch and make it stand out. We deconstructed the elements of the loop and rebuilt it with our own drum rack. We kept some of the smaller hits from the original to maintain the glitchy vibe, but replaced everything else. We used an 808 sample for the bottom end of the kick.

Growling Bass (the monster in the song):
This was made with a custom Shruthi patch (using two of the male vocal waveforms and a midi adjustable lfo rate on the filter). We programmed in a basic bassline midi pattern using on the E note then played with the LFO rates live while recording. We added lots of effects to create something that sounds like a giant monkey monster eating the city of ATL.

Arpeggiator:
We made a minor modification to the arp MIDI track by adding a pitched up note at the end. This was also recorded using the Shruthi and consists of it playing the same notes with three different instruments. Since the Shruthi is only a mono-synth, we had to record each one separately, but this gave us more control in the mixdown phase.

Backup Guitarish Bits:
I don’t know if you’ve noticed the trend yet, but this bit was also recorded on the Shruthi in many layers and with lots of effects (we love this synth). We like to call them “guitari.”

Piano-y Synth:
We found this great synth hiding in our Yamaha RM1X that is just picked up on CL for next to nothing. It’s gritty, dirty, distorted and awful (just like the Warp Monkeys) which made it a perfect choice for our song. This was the hardest bit to master without the distortion being too much.

Pad:
We don’t really have a hardware source for a good pad sound, so we fell back to a software synth here (if we had more time, we totally would have found some cheap hardware pad sound). We recorded multiple layers with FM8 and added a lot of subtle effects.

The Drop:
The Atari Dreams pack info said the kit was missing the drop, so we spent a lot of time on it. It was built using custom modified code from the THX sound creator. It’s basically 30 oscillators that start at random frequencies between 800HZ and 1200HZ that slowly make their way to 6 different octaves of E. Two layers (high/low) and lots of trial and error and we had ourselves a drop! Google “making the THX sound” and you’ll find the Earslap article we used as a basis (we can release our modified version code).

Us:
Monkey 1 escaped from a zoo in Southern California. His past is largely unknown, although it is rumored that he was a party king and spent some time in prison.

Monkey 2 was born in a trailer park in space and fell out of the sky hitched to a southbound rocket ship headed straight for the set of Dukes of Hazard.

Eventually Monkey 1 and Monkey 2 grew bored of monkey bingo and sought out the oracle to help them on their paths. They asked the oracle, “What is my monkey way?” and the oracle replied “MAKIN’ BEATS.”

And the rest, as they say, is monkey freakin’ history…