Jeff Mills | The Bells | Breakdown 

I saw Jeff playing in 99 in Madrid for first time and he blew the foocking roof off! Totally insane beats on 3 turntables and the 909. Those were definitely the days ❤

Absoutely brilliant breakdown of this tune - I saw Jeff Play this in a club '96 . Three decks a drum machine and a sampler - He was known as the three deck wizard - not such a big deal now with CDJ s but with Vinyl it was far different - would swing the pitches wildly from record to record but made that part of the sound - a bit like Jimmy Hendrix and feedback I always thought - I'm pretty sure some of the sound elements of this tune were on seperate records on each deck and mixed because the pitch shifting was really obvious in the fidget part also - it slowed down and sped up to sync I seem to remember - and it was played as a live jam without the rigid structure of the recorded tune. It also went on for about 20 minutes with the elements being dropped in and pulled out at will - Very memorable.

I love hearing your enthusiasm as much as your insight.

The Definition of Less Is More.

Really interesting video talking about the arrangement!

DAMN I NEED MORE OF THESE BREAKDOWN VIDEOS! SO HELPFUL FOR ARRANGEMENT PROCESS.

this was really nice, thank you

Great video and break down, the bells are spot on to the original.

I remember hearing this at voodoo Liverpool 98 when it was new a classic techno stomper

Love this

Great breakdown. I really enjoyed it, hope you do some more. Regarding the ride coming in just one measure after the hi-hat, I think it's likely that Jeff just played this live on his 909 and just unmuted the ride channel a little later than the hat channel. As far as the synths go, I'm pretty sure it's two different synths. The one you have as Bell 1 was an FM which apparently it's a DX-100.The one that's Bell 2 sounds more like an analog synth of some kind.. maybe an SH-101 / MC-101 or a TB-303. If you listen closely to the recording you can hear both the Bell 1 and Bell 2 tracks simultaneously.

If you want the PROJECT FILE you can email me at wilcox.alex@me.com. You can also SUPPORT ME on PATREON: Patreon.com/alexwilcox ^^^You can also get one-on-one PRIVATE LESSONS via zoom, AMBIENT FIELD RECORDINGS made by myself, and TRACK FEEDBACK.

nice! thanks for the vid

thanks to you I understand better! thank you

Might Ave been released in 96 but he was playing it 94/95

Thanks for this video! Great explanation and format! I have a few suggestions: - A short introduction to the artist, song, history, context and time of the song. Like which impact the track had or has. Bit more info than in this video - If you stop and talk about something please make sure we had enough time to hear it or play it again (like the ride part at around 1:10) - Please less 'jokes' or 'memes' like the pictures of the big guy with a lot of hair. Your format is interesting on its own and really doesn't need such distractions - If there's something rising or falling maybe you could draw some automation in your DAW so it is easier to see for the viewers - It would be great to zoom out a bit more. I think it's better to see more structure of the song than the notes of the track. - Maybe it is possible to not zoom and move so much, a bit less casual and nervous explanation - When there's a change in the track maybe you could say after how many bars or time the variation comes and not just say 'there's a change' - Please don't ask to subscribe too often. I find that really annoying and people will subscribe because your format is good and not because you kept nagging them to do so - The summary at the end of the song is great! Maybe you could show the whole structure and all tracks and then summarize the general structure of the song one last time. Again, thanks for your video and I'm looking forward to what's coming next :)

Hello and congrats on this extremely useful tutorial! Ive followed your accounts and sent you an email about the ableton file!!! congrats again!

impressive rebuild in Ableton! Got my interest on Patreon.

Two thumbs up 👍 👍

yes, jeff mills is known for doing the 909 live @2:00

Yeah of course Jeff Mills play Bells live for sure ! That where are the magic !

Very randomly found this video but it was super helpful. Thanks

I believe there is also a slight volume automation on the claps

For the love of god any of the Basic Channel BCD-2 songs. Just to take out the guesswork for you, how about Phylyps Track I? It might be a super long video but I'd watch it however long the video is.

It's coming up to christmas, everyone has to go and check out the Jingle Bells version of this track, it's perfect

Jeff said he wants the sounds to have a conversation, to be taking to each other.

The stuff coming in at weird, not quantized to bars, points. Is probably down to the fact that I expect a lot of these tracks were mixed down to DAT [or two track tape] live. So he'd have different instruments/machines on different channels on a desk. Then he'd bring them in and out at different points throughout the track. We only had computers [frequently Atari ST's] that were only sequencers back then [Cubase, Notator], not the fully fledged DAW's we use today. So we needed another way of recording what was coming through the desk [multitrack or stereo tape, or digital audio tape]. You could absolutely plan everything out to the bar in a sequencer, but some people still liked the live feel of mixing it on the fly, you could get happy accidents and a more humanized feel doing it that way.

OK the Bell thing is 2 synths playing the same line at the same time but he keep muting then 'top' mine so you only hear the quieter line on its own, you can watch the exhibitionist 2 on utube to see how he records

Your track breakdowns are really good! Could you do one for Ame - Rej ? It's incredibly hard to figure out what's going on in that track

This video is amazing! Is there anyway to get the project file/midi?

is there a download link for the midi files or project file?

Is there a tutorial out there how to make such rolling hats? Almost christmas like😂

Hey Alex, thanks for the vid, it’s great! May I have the midi files of this project? I just sent you an email and didn’t get a response

This is pretty sick and pretty close. Could you share the synths preset? Thank you

I think your video could be more interesting if you had show what vsts/plugins, devices, you use.

How the heck did you recreate it? Is there like certain VSTs and stuff like that?

Call and response comes from influences from African music.

The Bassline is lifted from MORODER’s I Feel Love.

Wow the original is on top

It's early jeff mills ov course this it was a live take. Great vid tho

Thank You for this video ! Do You know the chords of this track, please ? The bassline, bell 1 & 2 melody and fidget keys... Thank You, Vincent

Drexciya Davy Jones Locker

the bell section with the call and response sounds like a toggle between two filters.

I was at this party, and Jesus Christ.. Jeff is amazing!! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VWlcVRmfUXo.html You have a new subscribers :)