Is your music... too balanced? 

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The best mixing note I ever saw was, mixing isn't about balance, it's about focus; it's our job to inform the listener on where they should be focusing their attention at any given moment in the song. The lesson in the video definitely follows that note, from a compositional POV. Great video!

Renato Cohen - pontapé. BANGER track, thanks for reminding me again. It was a banger when it came out in 2002. Crazy how time goes by and it is still fresh when hearing it again.

This was a more interesting lesson than I anticipated! The title made me think this was going to be about frequency balance in a mix. I thought maybe you'd be discussing the idea that true, "perfect" balance between lows, mids, and highs can sometimes come across as bland and unexciting and possibly even sound "small" compared to a track with less balance and a more distinct foreground/background within the frequency spectrum. I enjoyed this alternate concept of balance you presented that was more about rhythmic symmetry in the groove and the importance of breaking that symmetry, even just briefly, to create tension and anticipation. Good stuff! 👍

This takes me back. So Simple but so good. It's like a Techno blank canvas that invites DJs to paint over it with acapellas, scratches and 3 deck wizardry.

Pontapé is a timeless techno anthem 🎉

When you mentioned the refreshing turnaround, I felt exactly what you meant. You articulated precisely what I couldn't put into words about this impactful kind of music.

Cool you are exploring this style Oscar! The tense hypnotic loop punctuated by a surprise moment was key to the late 90s techno sound. I love this idea, It's every effective BUT the simplicity isn't just a 'balance' choice or something the audience would have to 'endure', many of these repetitive loop tracks were specifically designed to be layered and filtered. Rarely would any track get played on its own for very long.

Oscar, the boss of electronic music! That was a nice one, and actually, I still remember when I started with all this, how I tried to describe exactly that with my words to a more experienced friend, but my noob words back in the day didn't really make clear what I meant. Intuitively, I found this short, refreshing moment of silence at the end of a bar so massively fascinating, but my ears and words just weren't good enough to even try to extract knowledge from whatever place or person. Then, I forgot about it and now, you come along and solve this old mystery. Made my day (right before going to bed, lol). Thanks! By the way, there is a similar thing which, I'd say, serves a similar (if not the same) purpose: I can only describe it as some kind of "delayed kick". I'm not sure if it was an otherwise normal 4 on the floor when it happened, or just before the drop after a break / buildup, and at the end of it, there is this "delayed kick", which isn't really delayed, though, and maybe it's a bit shortened, it's like a tiny micro break from the sound, and before you even realize it, your ears tripped over it and it's over. Too bad I don't have an example, but maybe someone knows what I mean and can shed some light (or sound) on this. :)

Your tutorial videos are always the best. I learn a lot from your videos.

Even though your channel is more Techno related it has helped make my Funk tracks do much better. I can’t thank you enough earthling!!! 🤘👽🤘

Great video, really insightful!

that stab sample made iron to gold like a true alchemist.

wooo it feel great , such a inteligent hack made renato , i dont know taht track and just listening taht few secods you showed i already love it. but not more than i love you oscar. you're the best teacher amigo! realmente valoro mucho tu trabajo y tu manera de comunicar! love from buenos aires! ♥

Thanks for showing me this track and thanks for the project file over on Patreon. Today “Kmyle - For The Flash” and “Jam & Spoon - Follow Me (Jerome Isma-Ae Remix)” are my suggestions. Have a nice rest of the week everyone.

This is why Pontape is so good still man!!! DK8 - Murder Was The Bass is another beast of a tune with the same kinda thing going on but even better!! ⚡️⚡️

That little jumpy bit was actually a mistake- a happy accident- that Renato left in. Thank god he did. Incredible track.

Pontapé means kick , like kick in the face or in the leg. Renato is a friend of mine, from Sao Paulo, I am from Minas. =)

😆 I was listening for instrument level balance in the original playthrough and wasn't paying the least attention to compositional or phrase balance or whatever it's called. I need a do over!

Great topic!!

Mate!!! Absolutely made up you made the video! Amazing brother, thank you☺️🙏🏼

Man this inspired me as hell. Thanks! (Opening Modplug Tracker and FL-Studio)

Pontape is still legendary:). Perhaps you could do vid on the pounding sub bass of I.e abelhas? Sick bass line

In terms of 909 sample of 4:06, do you have any good recommendations where to purchase those good percussion samples from?

First time i heard this was on Scott Bond's Ahead album, it was Cohen vs Tim Deluxe - Just Kick! (Carl Cox mix). Banger!

I was listening to it and I completely overheard the change. Music I make and I listen to is way fuller and allways changing. So for me its more of a reminder that to a lot opf peoples ears, also smaller changes can make an influence.

Pontape OMG how I loved that as a teenager :D and still

Haha you nailed it! That was precisely what I was thinking and feeling. 1:30 to 2:00

Pontape sounded fucking unreal in the club back in the day, went off every time

Thanks Oscar!🔥! I’ve been searching for this track for about 20 years! It made such an impression on me way back then. Thanks for covering! I’ve tried to recreate from memory a few times. Do you have a link to the original track?

I enjoy your videos. I'm the guy who has been stuck in the loop for 30 years. I was wondering if your skills also involve Cubase 12 too?

Makes me think of Maximaal from Egbert. Here the bass changes after every 8 bars or so

Thx Oscar...👍👍👍 ❤☮☯❤☮☯❤☮☯❤

I listened to the whole track. It sounds very much like a loop sampled from possibly a late 90's trance track, and the 'glitch' is part of a synth from the same track. The clap sounds like more of a very echoed clap, which got a lot of use at that time, rather than a reversed clap. The rimshot thing makes it sound like something from gouryella, but I can't be sure of that. The name of the track translates to 'kick' so he probably added a more techno kick.

Another great tutorial.

Renato Cohen is the goat

I’m still wondering what sort of distortion he used to make the sound.

That’s brilliant! Shall we connect?

🎉

If u really like The Techno Music, ..., you will easily understanding the concept here, wich is a fundamental one. Good tip !

Please analyze "Dj Sterbinszky - Discography" it is a good old Hungarian classic

The question is, hahaha, is art 🎨 unbalanced? Music is artistic too, you know

The punch didn't seem that drastic to me, not enough to offset the rest. It was still boring to me

I bet I'm not alone when I say that I prefer Oscar's version, it has much nicer sound design 🤘

It's such a horrible track. I get your concept and the tension release but this is not a good track in any way. If the chord changes and an extra element is introduced to break to the 4x4 then maybe a nice build but anything more than 32 bars of this and I'm ready to never listen to it again