I really enjoyed this tutorial very much! Thank you. I am excited to try out your techniques with the limited set of tools I have, a Mother 32, VCV Rack, and some patches with Pure Data. I have subscribed to your channel and look forward to learning from what you share. Your time and effort in both learning you music/art/craft and then creating all the tutorials is respected very much. I am just a beginner and your work helps my enthusiasm to learn.
What a fantastic low entry level explanation. This one is going right into my "How To Berlin School" playlist for later reference. Thank you so much for your effort.
Thank you very much indeed for these tremendous Berlin School videos, Luke! I've been listening to the music and loving that effect and wondering how to produce it, and Lo, here you are! Again, my thanks for making it so approachable. :)
After following this tutorial on hardware I'm grateful that you've uncovered what previously felt like a mystery. I don't know if you've covered this elsewhere, so apologies if you have, but there's one more facet to the classic Berlin School sound. Ratchet sequencing on the fly. When Chris Franke (I believe) created ratchet sequencing he basically invented TD's mid-70s sound (Ricochet & Encore have my favourite examples of this) and it's the variation that seems to create the most pleasing tension. If you've figured out how to emulate variations like in Cherokee Lane, from 4:57 to 5:55, I'd love to understand that. Franke had the ratcheting capability built in to one of his Moogs so it's hardware-specific there. You could emulate it by creating and triggering lots of pattern variations but I want to jam that sound the way the Tangs did.
Hi Mike! I'm working on a series of video about Berlin School "tropes" or common techniques that have (or we can assign) a name to. Ratcheting is one of those (and the first one I want to talk about.) I'll try to cover at least some of the interpretation of each trope...though I'm sure I'll miss aspects and people can clarify in the comments. Now, when you say ratcheting, do you mean the sub-selection and repetition (usually faster) or doubling (or more) of notes and phrases of sequences? That sounds like the form of ratcheting I hear when I check the example you cited above. I just want to be clear on what you're asking about. :) Let me know!
Wow again! Keep up this incredible nice work. Me as a non English native speaker, your voice is absolutely precise and super understandable, it´s a pleasure to watch your videos and your presentation is very very good. What is your profession, because you´re doing so well?
LOL, thank you, I think I get excited and speak too quickly...but hopefully (and from what you say) people can still understand. I work for a software company near Boston, USA during the day, where I spend most of my time talking to (and being) a nerd. ;)
Hello Luke, thanks for this great series, after watching the videos i feel more "in the zone", coming from a guitar background, synth is a whole new world and with your advice one can get the Berlin school fundamentals in play
Another great tutorial, thanks! Enjoyed the look into process. A bit of very general music theory: typically, parallel motion in harmony is not as strong as oblique (one voice stays the same and another voice moves) or contrary (the voices move in opposite directions), and you will want parallels to typically be in thirds or sixths, as those are very consonant. Also, when moving voices obliquely or in contrary motion, you want to keep the motions pretty small (typically, two scale degrees at the most). I liked your point about the shape of the sequences as well; shape is also very important when writing contrpuntal melodies. Lastly, when working out your melodies, knowing where the STRONG beats vs WEAK beats are is very important, not only for syncopation, but also for reinforcing consonance: it's usually good to start with chord tones (root, 3rd, 5th) on the strong beats and non-chord tones on other beats, then branch out from there.
Thanks Ben, information like that in the comments goes a long way to expanding the useful scope of the video. I’ll experiment and follow on with your details. Thanks!
This instructional task shocks me into recognizing that I have no handle on shifting aspects of a pattern like this, especially not live. Some may be not having learned my sequencers well enough, some may be which sequencers I’m using. Sobering!
Can someone post the Berlin School Plucks video link here - I don’t see it in the corner on any of these videos & it is not searchable by name- frustrating. Thank you!
I really enjoyed this tutorial very much! Thank you. I am excited to try out your techniques with the limited set of tools I have, a Mother 32, VCV Rack, and some patches with Pure Data. I have subscribed to your channel and look forward to learning from what you share. Your time and effort in both learning you music/art/craft and then creating all the tutorials is respected very much. I am just a beginner and your work helps my enthusiasm to learn.
Apologies to Jean-Michel Jarre for misspelling his name. #facepalm
What a fantastic low entry level explanation. This one is going right into my "How To Berlin School" playlist for later reference. Thank you so much for your effort.
I hope all the videos have helped!
Thank you very much indeed for these tremendous Berlin School videos, Luke! I've been listening to the music and loving that effect and wondering how to produce it, and Lo, here you are! Again, my thanks for making it so approachable. :)
My method shown isn’t the only way, but it’s a good place to start then keep moving forward! Thanks for the kind words!
The bit at the end where you're recording the whole thing into clips, my brain lit right up!
Ah good, cognitive collections are a good thing.
After following this tutorial on hardware I'm grateful that you've uncovered what previously felt like a mystery. I don't know if you've covered this elsewhere, so apologies if you have, but there's one more facet to the classic Berlin School sound. Ratchet sequencing on the fly. When Chris Franke (I believe) created ratchet sequencing he basically invented TD's mid-70s sound (Ricochet & Encore have my favourite examples of this) and it's the variation that seems to create the most pleasing tension.
If you've figured out how to emulate variations like in Cherokee Lane, from 4:57 to 5:55, I'd love to understand that. Franke had the ratcheting capability built in to one of his Moogs so it's hardware-specific there. You could emulate it by creating and triggering lots of pattern variations but I want to jam that sound the way the Tangs did.
Hi Mike! I'm working on a series of video about Berlin School "tropes" or common techniques that have (or we can assign) a name to. Ratcheting is one of those (and the first one I want to talk about.) I'll try to cover at least some of the interpretation of each trope...though I'm sure I'll miss aspects and people can clarify in the comments.
Now, when you say ratcheting, do you mean the sub-selection and repetition (usually faster) or doubling (or more) of notes and phrases of sequences? That sounds like the form of ratcheting I hear when I check the example you cited above.
I just want to be clear on what you're asking about. :) Let me know!
@@synthseeker yes, that's exactly what I'm wondering about!
Another very useful video - thank you!
Glad you found it useful! :)
Wow again! Keep up this incredible nice work. Me as a non English native speaker, your voice is absolutely precise and super understandable, it´s a pleasure to watch your videos and your presentation is very very good. What is your profession, because you´re doing so well?
LOL, thank you, I think I get excited and speak too quickly...but hopefully (and from what you say) people can still understand. I work for a software company near Boston, USA during the day, where I spend most of my time talking to (and being) a nerd. ;)
Hello Luke, thanks for this great series, after watching the videos i feel more "in the zone", coming from a guitar background, synth is a whole new world and with your advice one can get the Berlin school fundamentals in play
Well thank you for saying so! I wish you well on your music travels and let me know if you have any questions! :)
Спасибо! Очень доступный материал, ничего лишнего!
Спасибо на добром слове!
@@synthseeker Sorry forgot to translate )
Did my message seem clear? ;)
@@synthseeker Absolutely sir!
Your videos are very helpful, thank you!
Glad to help!
Another great tutorial, thanks! Enjoyed the look into process. A bit of very general music theory: typically, parallel motion in harmony is not as strong as oblique (one voice stays the same and another voice moves) or contrary (the voices move in opposite directions), and you will want parallels to typically be in thirds or sixths, as those are very consonant. Also, when moving voices obliquely or in contrary motion, you want to keep the motions pretty small (typically, two scale degrees at the most). I liked your point about the shape of the sequences as well; shape is also very important when writing contrpuntal melodies. Lastly, when working out your melodies, knowing where the STRONG beats vs WEAK beats are is very important, not only for syncopation, but also for reinforcing consonance: it's usually good to start with chord tones (root, 3rd, 5th) on the strong beats and non-chord tones on other beats, then branch out from there.
Thanks Ben, information like that in the comments goes a long way to expanding the useful scope of the video. I’ll experiment and follow on with your details. Thanks!
Super Tutorial! Thanks a lot for that.
Glad you liked it! Carry on!
Thanks. Nice tutorial. I Hope #4 #5 ......
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
In time! ;)
Excellent tutorial, learnt a lot from this, thanks :-)
Any time...have fun making your music!
This instructional task shocks me into recognizing that I have no handle on shifting aspects of a pattern like this, especially not live. Some may be not having learned my sequencers well enough, some may be which sequencers I’m using. Sobering!
Sobering is not an adjective I’ve ever received as a comment before, but I hope your exploration yields fun, sober or otherwise. :)
This is so helpfulll. Thanks.
Sure thing! :)
Thanks for this great tutorial! Going to try this in Logic. I’m curious, does this technique work with loops longer than four notes?
Absolutely! I was just trying to keep it as simple as possible, you can explore whatever length loops you want to.
Can someone post the Berlin School Plucks video link here - I don’t see it in the corner on any of these videos & it is not searchable by name- frustrating. Thank you!
ruclips.net/video/7THqiyUS4UA/видео.html
subscribed and i never do
Why thank you! 😊