Five techniques for composing with contrast | Making an album EP.3 

Hi, I am Hainbach, good to have you back!

This series is so full of great insights, I learn something every time I revisit it.

Man its so interesting to hear you talk about music.. Not only you are an awesome synthesist (is that word? I mean creator of sounds) , not only your music is exactly what you are aiming for it to be (engaging), but you seem to have a great philosophy about life too.. Listening to you talking about WHY you use a technique is truly inspiring, I think even to the non-musician or the non-ambient musician, or for the amateur musician that usually doesnt really pay much attention to the textures of sounds like you do, the content is still inspiring and greater than the sum of its parts, like, in a sense, Adam Neely's videos.. Thanks for existing, greetings from Greece!

Plese make video abaut this analog computer on 0:0

At about 16:35 in the Video i got blown away, this part has an optical 3D effect i have never seen before in a video. Very well done.

I have trouble breaking things down while keeping organically true to my inner Idea. I can’t memorize that feeling. I can’t show you my inner universes while explaining how I would go about doing it. May only be my problem, alone... or there are some like me in that regard. But only so many aspects can be thought out without starting to be telling a lie with my instrument. I enjoy your total freedom in this way. Like... letting the music play you, more than an audience plays a band with reaction. The smile on your face I see always looks genuine to me. I need that Love for my process... as I once had.

These intros are giving me "Look Around You" vibes and I 100% approve! 😁

I wish I could watch a new video from you everyday! I love your content

a someone who produces psytrance i have to say that this track is more psychedelic than most psytrance out there. especially the contrast between the toy piano and the soprano sax all with the monotonous syntrix playing below them is great in this respect.

Brilliant track again, the soundstage is so large and deep, and it sounds wonderful even on my crappy HS-5 speakers so mix is top notch. But more important, I love the way the sounds drag you in and out of everything you can get in and out of.

I really like how you bend (automate?) the size of delay/reverb to create that modulation effect. You could also talk about how you juxtaposed chords upon a ostinato bass playing with harmonic tension and frequency contrast (in the blue lady track at the end of vid) - that's sounding fabulous! I would really like to mention that your speciality is textures and drones and how you can take the listeners attention. Contrasts can also be hugely subtle. Love your style! Thanks for your sounds and tracks and experiments!

You were absolutely right about the use of (too much) Reverb. For quite a while now I try to avoid that, but I keep falling back to old habits. Quite difficult I find. Anyway, really like your stuff. Thank you!

This is so legit!! This playlist is probably the most inspiring piece of media regarding electronic ambient music on the internet

Great Video! I absolutely agree that contrast and tension are essential for good ambient music. Ambient music (especially in regards to a full album) needs to tell a story which has tension and conflict. So many amazing tips and inspiration in your video!

your videos are so calming and inspiring, i want to record somethinging today now

great advice you're giving here, I thought about these aspects mostly only in photography. love your videos! very inspiring

I like the videos and his calming voice and all the weird sound making tech..

Embrace the darkness. That piece is massive!

Following your releases since a long time, I can say that this is next level stuff. Production wise and also because of the depth of the composition. It really sounds like you're getting out of the lo-fi tradition to unknown new territories.

Hi Hainbach! New Patron here. Catching up on your videos and I found this to just be SO helpful. So many channels focus on the gear, the sounds, or Ableton. Others focus on boring music theory. You focus on WHY I care about music. To take someone on a journey. To tell a story. To get them to feel something. Exploring the different ways that contrast can be used to do this is imparting these really memorable principles that can then be applied in so many ways on my own. THANK YOU. Really inspiring to the soul and useful for my goals.

Both Curious Marc and yourself show me analog computers and then say "but this is not the topic of this video" and on both channels I'm left saying "ooooh.... but I want to see"..... leaves me needing to learn how to say "tease" in both French AND German! ;)

Great video. I think these are superb tips for anybody getting into producing their own music, no matter what the genre is. Contrast is the best spice to keep to keep any musical dish interesting. Fantastic track too. I'm very much looking forward to hearing the whole album.

Wow!! That tune is powerful stuff.. Thanks for the lesson in dynamics.

Wonderful content! Contrast is such an important aspect of all art and perception. As somebody learning composition and electronic music, this puts a lot in perspective with some straight forward yet infinite ways to create contrast. Thanks for posting, and for all your great videos!

Riddle me this. Setting aside your music for the moment, I'm astonished by the number of Germans who have a great command of the english language, often better than native speakers. You articulate your thoughts, your process, brilliantly, and I learn a lot- it goes without saying, your music hits the spot. Two thirds, or more, of english, is french. Is this a matter of the anglo saxon mindset being the dominant factor? Give me your thoughts.......

Hi, Heinbach, It is really good to be back :)

Always feels good to learn stuff AND to get some of your positive vibes, thanks Hainbach. [Note: the Golden ratio, (sqrt(5)-1)/2=0.618..., or (\sqrt(5)+1)/2 :-)]

I really loved this video. Also, I’m looking forward to the topic of using all this to help melodies feel alive. Although I have an arturia minilab mk2, I find that I still fall back to my sp303. Unfortunately, I think my workflow with the 303 typically results in more repetition in this area. I’ve been using a variable speed tape recorder in tandem with the arturia controller for sound design though.

Really interesting perspective on contrast! Thank you for the video! Its given me some inspiration for a track i was feeling stuck on.

Amazing stuff, combining interesting thoughts and aesthetics. Your videos are kind of short trips into sounds and colors.

Really looking forward to this one!!

can't wait to see the analog computer...

Haha you’re like the mr Rogers of synths...that just hit me. Great work my man

Thanks Hainbach, some very useful pointers there which I should be able to employ on an album I am currently recording.

it's a great intro, and a great series, can't wait for the next instalment ! Thanks.

This track sent shivers down my spine! I hope this album is for sale when the series is done.

Really enjoying this series. Keep them coming!

Really enjoyed the piece at the end. And the visuals are killer! Nice.

2:36 The piano part really sounds like a theme from Westworld called "This World" (by Ramin Djawadi)

Hi , this video is inspiring , love your approach to composition , did you end up making the video discussing the technique of Counter Point as another form of contrast ? could you please flip me the link. Cheers.

2:03 Hainbach. Emo lord

An interesting use of drowning everything in reverb (distant and far) would be Gas' Pop record. Great track at the end btw!

Big thanks for the great advice! Mainly about space, as I always use my big sky for the mentioned reasons (must be the Nostromo love, big Alien fan here 😄). Just tried this out on a track in progress, and it does sound different (had a piano track above the main one, and it had a separate reverb channel, now it's dry). The music video was awesome! Thanks again :)

The music video was absolutely awesome

Great video! Such a simple tool to create more interesting music that is often overlooked.

That music video was wild! Great visual representation of the music.

you're a continuous source of inspiration. and your joy of making music is so contagious. million thanx

Hey Hainbach, thanks for sharing so much of your knowledge. It's great hearing your perspective on being creative. Quick question in case you circle back around to read this. How are you trigging the chord change/ harmony structure on the Syntrx when demonstrating the V-I change in this video (7:45)? Thanks for your time.

Ok......... Thanx, man. :-) This was not my style, but I appreciate you doing an effort. Stay safe, and take care of those around you. Peace :-)

This is so good. Like a lifetime of musical practice in 20 minutes. Question... Do you hear or sense what the layers will be of a song? Or do you experiment with a sound then see how it will interact with the next sound you experiment? I recently wrote a bunch of lyrics for songs. I roughly hear a beat but Im not coming up with a process or way to create sounds on instruments that feel like the essence of a particular song lyric I wrote. I can totally appreciate this could be a learning curve I need to go through for understanding more about how notes play together. I feel like I know enough about theory, chord degrees, scales, and relative modes to compose. Guess the big question is do you hear it before composing or noodle with an instrument and go from there?

very excited for this

superb

Love watching our videos, the ideas and suggestions, and the sheer enthusiasm. However, athough it's none of my business, I'm always curious to understand ... how do you afford all this material? When I see just all the Peter Blaser pieces, I imagine how much I'd have to spend to get those, and we haven't really started with all the other stuff.

Hainbach is the boss

interesting points definitely some things to keep in mind!

Whoa. I've seen you using Valhalla stuff in several vids, but I was surprised and delighted to see you "play" the shimmer plugin (at the 13:32 mark). I love changing the speed of an analog delay pedal, and this seems like another inspiring way to add texture. How do you record that motion so the change in sound is bounced, rather than just, say, a video/audio capture for the sake of this video? I don't use Ableton, so... is this an Ableton thing, or a trick that works in any DAW?

Interesting, I'm waiting!

Bravo very well articulated

0:16 Teaserrr!!

Thanks for the great video!

I am voting for a brain dance track from Hainbach :)

Really good video on important fundamentals, it can be easy to forget some of these ways to create contrast, I enjoyed the reminder :) Awesome music & visual as well! (The saxophone is

hello, please, can you provide us with ambient albums/eps/tracks that are in your opinion great/inspiring/influential? thank you!

Every one of these videos is so hard to finish, I just get so inspired to go make something myself ah.

Feels like that track would've been funner with a slightly quicker tempo.

How can we follow Orca? Brilliant animations!

0:31 I'm blue da ba dee da ba daa

Löwenzahn-Style. :)

@HAINBACH 3:26 autotune???????

What's the name of the track?

You don't want to be on the Nostromo through space...

3:26 autotunebach

Da schau mer mal.

Question for Andrew; stare much?

music cant be intelligent unless its made by AI. brain dance is a way better genre name than intelligent dance music. industrial dance music laid claim to the idm name and i dont think it would want to give it to anybody else.

show me da wae