3 Things Every Producer Should Steal From Björk
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 มิ.ย. 2024
- If there's one thing that we've all become great at in 2024 its overcomplicating things - especially in the music production world of youtube.
But costumes and music videos aside, Bjork doesn't seem to do that.
In this video we will look at three lessons we can learn from how Bjork made Homogenic back in 1997 that will help producers of any level develop their skills without overcomplicating the process, and maybe even have fun too. - เพลง
Steal the swan dress
Lady GaGa, is that you?
yung thug gonna make a comeback when he get out of jail lol
No, steal from The Swans.
Mark Bell was a Genius…
"if you dont know what to record then dont record anything." - steve albini. r.i.p
Love albini. The complete refusal to be a producer, only engineer, obsession with representing musicians he recorded as close to what they truly sound like. So much love and respect for this man. RIP
I'm sure having Mark Bell around didn't hurt
I didn't realise how involved she was with the production of the track.
If asking for drums that sound like magma is "involved with production"... then yes. But she wasn't into tech stuff. However, ideas are more or at least equally important. 😉
The "... But do we have more wisdom?" Got an immediate subscribe lol
Now I can finally sound like a professional 90s producer, as I've always dreamed of being. Thx.
heroes don't always wear capes
sometimes
I actually started lo-fi recording with hardware, it was really useful to me starting that way as a home producer. I have used Ableton in the past but usually only for multitrack arranging/recording and the only DAW kinda thing I use now is Caustic 3 on my phone because it is comparatively limited. Good video.
I'll start by saying your videos are cool! I think your first two points are great and very important.
Now, I'm sorry for being the first negative comment here but I feel some sort of way about Björk. I've written papers and essay on her compositions and production haha. Here's my wall of text:
Björk is the worst example you can use to "keep it simple." I know you're choosing Homogenic as the focal point, but even with the limited palette of sounds (beats and voice), I'd hardly call that album "keeping it simple." It was a massive culmination of collaboration, her ear for composition and orchestration, and experimentation. I mean, Pluto alone is enough to show that. Heck, even Hunter! That 909 drum rolls were all done by hand.x
Also, all that gear you pointed out was anything but minimal. If we're looking at it with 2024 lenses, for sure they're limited. But by 90s standards? That was a top of the line studio!
I feel like a better example could've been to talk about Medulla and how she took a single concept (the human voice) and explored it to basically its extreme; with the production just being voices, even if it was sequenced.
fair points, but I didn't say keep it simple! The point was limitations/constraints. She did have top of the line studio equipment and a plethora of collaborators, yet she still chose to impose constraints upon herself :)
@@cuppychupsclassroom yeah she could have just chosen no restraints how many ailments do you have
This thumbnail was nice and so clickable 🥰 just started the. Vid but editing is on point ☝️ excellent job 🙏🏾 much growth to you in your future
honestly this
Re: Limitations. Look at John Foxx's list of rules for Metamatic
The genius behind Homogenic is MARK BELL (R.I.P) ACT LIKE U KNO!
What many producers lack is an actual conception of what the music should be like. This is what Björk is really good at, she knows what she wants and turns what she hears in her head and imagination into music. The other thing many producers nowadays seem to lack is the ability to let things develop, insert emotion, and have space. If you keep on adding layers, things sound small and are really difficult to mix. Make space, let things breath, it will sound bigger immediately. Make room for emotions instead of that over produced "perfect" pop vocal sound with fake Disney emotions. It's ok if things are bold and daring. Bjørk often makes me really uncomfortable with her singing (Medulla…). I don't like it but man do I appreciate it. It is what makes her music what it is. And it works…
duude, your video was awesome!! I felt engaged the whole time. Very well crafted, Im subbing to see more !
thank you for this video. its exactly what i needed. i feel that getting into production on modern day DAWs and computers can be extremely overwhelming to the point where you just cant even find a place to start so you dont. youre 100% right about the limitations thing - it can be liberating. one thing i know is that my best work on ANY creative front wasnt made because overcomplicated things for myself. love this perspective and love bjork lol
Timebase 24. Figure that out before the effects.
That was a good video! You deserve more subs
Nice videos!! I’m not a fan of the Beatles (probably an associational complex admittedly), but I love your take and I LOVE Bjork. I recently was a part of a recording that was technically great, and each instrument sounded spot on, but the mix lacked any sort of design and left a lot to be desired for my taste. It seems to be pretty common with recording engineers to get so caught up in “standards” that the idea of coloring outside the lines feels self-destructive from a career standpoint. This is by far the most level headed presentation of the line to ride in taking those chances and not overcooking your mix.
the whole reason I got into mixing and production in the first place was because I felt the pros I would hire were doing it wrong (despite not knowing anything about it myself). Fast forward 6-7 years and they probably think I do it wrong but I still enjoy listening to my stuff even after spending all that time working on it, which wasn't the case before, so I'm happy!
I had the pleasure of meeting Björk and got to work with her on her biophillia app when I was in high school that was the best week of my life
Whilst at it, don't use EQ and compressors while you're making a song. Just basic FX and basic EQ and comp. if the sound really needs it (or other fx of course), and be careful with levels - set the levels so they sound good without any EQ and comp. Mixing - EQ , Comp, master reverb, limiter, is supposed to be just the final polish to the song. 👍Cheers!
Subscribed the moment I heard the "MIDI Chord Pack" drop.
Love that you highlight the distorted drums used on this album, love that sound, although what effects was it to achieve it? Is it overdrive? It’s the sound on 5 Years, All Neon Like and All is Full of Love (Single Version).
I can't say that this works exactly, but I've had interesting results using something forment shifting on drums. Shout out the free version of interpitch from graillon.
@clashpanda120 I'm going to simplify it a bit, but if you start with a basic 909 drum kit like I did, its a combination of pitch shifting the kick sample for each "drum" (even what functions as the snare is the kick sample in this example) and adding a few different distortions and using bit reduction. You can also split it up into different layers for "top" and "bottom", and modify this basic chain with EQs and whatever else you like to get it sounding pleasing and not too harsh!
The main components that will get you the bulk of the sound are EQ-distortion-bit reduction - EQ though
Keep going, surprised at the amount of subs for the quality of content. Keep going! Love Bjork, love limitations, I couldn’t agree more about everything you covered… nice to have a reminder of this stuff.
Her decision to go with only beats, strings and vocals is reminiscent of Peter Gabriel's "no cymbals" rule for his third album. Self inflicted limitations breeds invention, arrangement wise.
3:13 I KNOW THERES A BJORK SONG LIKE THIS BUT IDK WHICH ONE AM I HAVING A BUTTERFLY EFFECT...?
All Neon Like
My favorite approach to limitations is to be generous with the “delete” key. If it sounds/feels wrong, then just get rid of it and move on.
That approach makes every moment exciting and every idea feel fresh
Very nice walkthrough. Love it.
Sometimes I have even forced myself to only a single instrument and move from midi to audio since it opens up a lot of options and good visual insight of the sound. If that makes sense? :)
totally! I print midi to audio too but admittedly not enough as I should!
Thanks! Bjorks production isnt spoken about enough
Her style is limitless, love her music
Production and quality earned you a quick subscribe--well done!
inspiring video mate do more of this
I love this video - Especially the limitation rule. I'm currently writing the next project for my band and the rule we've set is that at least eight to nine songs from the next project need to be under 3:40 minutes and two have to be 2:00 minutes or less. I've also imposed a rule that as much as we're double tracking the guitars, there's only going to be one guitar part that plays throughout.
It's ended up with songs that are more aggressive and to the point, and a lot more experimentation that's gone into the sound design. Including elements of no-input mixing, field recordings, synth leads and pads that are more experimental, and on my guitar I've been using different effects to give my intention in a much more direct manner. It's been so exciting to see where these limitations take us!
sounds awesome! it sounds like the best part is that regardless of the end result you will have enjoyed the process, good for you!
Good video!! I'm just getting back into producing after a break due to some of these pitfalls. I spent a lot of the break learning guitar instead (so I guess opposite of you!) but now trying to figure out how to combine the two is kinda overwhelming me. I have an acoustic guitar (w pickup) and 1 condenser mic, and want to record vocals and guitar simultaneously instead of overdubbing... any tips on this? 😅 The DI tends to sound kinda shitty. I think I could get somewhere with some srs mixing but I'm not sure if there's a simpler solution I'm missing?
I don't have a ton of experience with acoustic guitar DIs but a couple options come to mind:
1 - you can try placing your mic in such a way to capture both your voice and the guitar simultaneously. Of course this means you won't be able to treat them separately when mixing, but if you experiment a lot with the placement before recording full takes you might find something that you won't need a lot of mixing. This also depends a lot on how much ambient noise is in your recording environment though
2 - (can also be combined with #1 to an extent) for the guitar DI you can experiment with some parallel processing. Ex duplicate the DI track and have one dedicated to processing the high frequencies and the other for the lows. Sometimes if you try doing too much processing on a single track the guitar will stop sounding like a guitar and splitting it up into its component parts will do more but in a more transparent way. Another version of this would be to duplicate the vocal track and try using some of the guitar bleed to your advantage. This will also affect how the vocal sounds though, but it might be worth a shot!
maybe these are the things you were thinking of when you mentionned "srs mixing", but the short answer is that I've always found acoustic guitar DIs to be lackluster too! If you really can't get it to sound good it might be worth considering recording guitar and voice seperately
Put up some heavy blankets, moving blankets if possible to deaden the room as much as possible. (less noise means more headroom for gain and effects) Put mic at the height between the guitar hole and your mouth. (Also try above your nose height and aim it slightly down) Change cardioid pattern to 'infinity' symbol. Sit about the middle of the room, but test and move till you find the sweet spot. Set up two mono tracks. Record. You can then add effects, filter out the noise frequency just a little, room reverb, and pan the two tracks L and R till it sounds good. That was the method I used.
Nice video. Love Bjork.
Limitations: I started using Soundpaint a few months ago. It comes with a nice piano and some other free sounds and I have bought some other instruments to run through the player.
There is a lot of control and there are a lot of effects available in the player.
I have found that I can get a lot of work done inside sound paint without even stepping the other VSTs in my DAW.
This created a very efficient workflow, and as I am an overthinker by nature, it helped prevent me from spinning out on deciding what other plugins to use and negotiating their different interfaces.
Maybe you have a similar plug-in that offers a lot of depth and options and learning to use it to its full extent can help keep you focused.
Or not. :)
yes, I have reduced a lot of my tools in recent years! Mostly stock plugins and a handful of virtual instruments and I try to just modify as necessary. Practicing working quickly has also helped a ton!
Probably the best music production tutorial ever 💚
And , Last but not least, finish a Song!😉 Many Peoble working since 20 Years+ for the first Album.
when I get to 4:17 I like to just get to a stopping point n make a new song instead of just thinking of endless possibilities- - bc there are look at all the fans who make remixes of music endless pits of sound creation there is no one and done when it comes to art you just create it and give it to the world to interpret it ❤
great video, pls keep it up!! 🥳
Good stuff. going back to study this album now
The 3rd especially changed my music creation long ago. Limitation is so liberating!
Squarepusher and aphex twin have a lot we can learn from 👍
Nice video man thank the algo for boosting it 🎉
The first rule is there are no rules
The second rule is trickier
Bjork as songwriter , adds to her arsenal of ideas as a producer.
Great ideas. Like the thinking behind these about limitation breeding creativity, sound design and using your influences. Bjork is pronounced wrong though. Just thought I'd mention. Cheers
idk how this found me this is like exactly what i needed
parameters and deadlines = tracks
Very refreshing video. Subscribed✅ and Liked👍🏼
BYÖRK: rhymes with work, Kirk, and jerk. Is Icelandinc for Birch, like the tree
You really on your 4th TH-cam video and got 300 subs, 10k views?
Pretty good. When I started the video I didn't believe you were just starting out lmao.
Good job :D Imma sub
Good points here! Thanks for the video.
never stop w these!
Good advises! Your voice on vid is too high frequency EQ .
hear hear. solid advice there. listen what bjork says and stop being resentful and start embrace shit instead. let's grow up.
Seeing as nobody asked:
Björk - Ö, between "uuh" & "eeh", and hard rather than soft R.
You're welcome, Nobody.
thanks, I was aware that I was using the anglicized pronunciation - my Icelandic pronunciation still needs some work!
One thing... she's a genius, most of us are not even close :)
This was a great video
Great video topic
i agree. totally. nice video. THX
I relate with just about everything you said.
great advice love this
great video
MIDI CHORD PACK hahahahahah
Well, honestly, why doesn't every producer put more effort into doing more original stuff rather than stealing/plagiarising from others? no wonder every top 40 song sounds like everything else.
love this video!!
Doom scrolling in the 90s.... I mean, I guess we kinda doom scrolled on LimeWire? That's about the closest approximation I can think of 😂
I read somewhere that every youtube video is allowed one anachronism :P
thank you
What about bongos? 😂 Very good.
Awesome!
Good advices
her music is much more complex than you, or her leads on. There are often multiple people, and large productions going on. I agree with your work flow, but this as the premise.. nah
✨🤟👁️❤️🔥👁️🤘✨
1 be original
It's getting out of hand. Sick and tired of these types of videos. Claiming they're about to teach you something about bjork and what not. What you get is mumbo jumbo for 2 minutes and it quickly turns into about them and who they are. Like I care about your personality or bragging. I guess I just don't like sweating somebody. I'm close to ending my TH-cam experience. Throw it in the trash like my Netflix subscription. Never liked stupider things either. I've never had any TH-camr beg me to subscribe, hit the like button and notifications and I actually listened. Not one time did I actually subscribe. The Internet is dead. It's been dead but it will never go away... so I guess I have to
have a good day
Ah don't stress. You want old school experience then IRC good way