Talking Trip-hop Techniques

[rockstar_not]

I just KVRmarked this page - cuz I want to give a try at this genre in the near future, just to see if I can.

-Scott

[justin3am]

I took a stab at a trip hop type tune. I found that, simplicity is key and the sound is mainly in the drums and bass.

http://www.3amnoise.net/untitled_love_song.mp3

It goes into more experimental territory at the end but the beginning nails the style IMO.

I used an Ibanez acoustic bass and cut off the decay abruptly in some place to make it sound sampled. The drums are a pearl export kit I recorded in a rehersal space to get a really trashy garage sound. I over compressed everything with slow attack and a fast decay and sent the e piano through a fuzz. I did some time stretching to the synth parts to make them sound more gritty.

[butter]

Trip-hop is primarily what I produce but I follow more of the Portishead formula than the, say, Massive Attack formula. Mostly on the slow side, minor scales/keys/chord progressions, dense atmospheres and heavy grooves. Instrumentation for me are all electric or electromechanical with virtually no synthesis and acoustic drums. I probably spend more time than anything working on the core component of the groove and then building the melody from that. Really, with trip-hop, there's no hard and fast rules that a person needs to apply. Some things will give a track more of a vibe that could be called trip-hop but there's nothing saying what you can and can't use. Hell, even a slow tempo is necessary in trip-hop. There's plenty of Tricky songs over 100bpm.

[Sickle]

You guys gotta hear the Silent Hill (video game) soundtracks. There's a lot of good TripHop songs in them. Akira Yamaoka is a freaking genius.

You can download the soundtracks here:
http://www.evilunleashed.com/v2/index.p ... dtracks-sh
I like the 3rd one the best. I recommend hearing them all though.

I've only heard the second one and I liked it a lot. Thanks for sharing the download links.

[butter]

That soundtrack was pretty sweet. That's a big reason i went out and bought that movie.

[vurt]

most of the earlier stuff, the likes of portishead, tricky, the rest of the bristol mob, was a mix of predominantly hip hop and dub, the beats indeed coming from the same sources as hip hop producers where getting there bits from. as dwb says, not so much a dancefloor vibe here so the beats tend to be kept looser than most hip hop of the time.
for keys and such same sounds really e pianos and such played in minor keys for that sullen feel, the way you feel whan you been smoking afghan black for a good hard session, even the walls are talkin about you
nice double bass, surf esque guitar lines and boom!

if you can find a hotty like beth to front for you as well youve got my vote

to me trip hop always sounded black n white. like an old tv.

I don't know... some of the more interesting stuff could be shot on oversaturated cheap colou film a la The Harder They Come. Crowded with eclectic detail but still keeping its cool.

It might just be my tastes, but I think the straight up moody noir Rhodes / break / double bass / horn samples sound is getting pretty tired, but there's still lots of interesting stuff to be played with by bringing in some new ingredients and stirring the pot a bit.

indeed, genres should move on encompass new sounds and such
i was talking of and did say the earlier stuff though
and i find that if someone wants to maybe try new things its better to return to the oldest and see if you can find maybe an avenue that already hasnt been pushed out there, ie a new new form thereof instead of just adding to the more recent

but yes, most genres do become over cliched if no one experiments, but that doesnt stop the original purveyors being awesome albums
portisheads dummy is to this day a fine piece of music in its entirety, maxinquaye too(tricky) plus bristol aint too far, back when this was just kickin off me and some mates would club it over there occassionally so i get very nostalgic about it
there aint many genres we brits get to say that about these days

[DWb]

maxinquaye too(tricky)

Actually, that's what I had in mind particularly when I posted. The variety and depth of sounds on that album goes so far beyond the trip hop 'slowed down breaks, hammond, double bass, willowy female vocals' cliche it's not true.

[diverdee]

IT IS ONLY WORDS.

.... and words are all I have
to take your heart away.

[Meffy]

Anyway, entertaining though this is, it's taken Coxy's thread WAY off topic and that was clearly unwelcome. I'm going to lock it temporarily, just long enough to split off the master debate into a separate thread. Once that is done, I ask that this thread please be kept free of genre angsting, drama queening, and the price of beans.

[edit: There, done. Any posts not relevant to the Production Techniques forum -- that's what this is, you bet -- please put in this thread instead: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2689681

I tried not to split off posts that were actually relevant to production techniques, but if I made a mistake please feel free to re-post in the on-topic thread with my apologies. ]

[frequency_algorithm]

maxinquaye too(tricky)

Actually, that's what I had in mind particularly when I posted. The variety and depth of sounds on that album goes so far beyond the trip hop 'slowed down breaks, hammond, double bass, willowy female vocals' cliche it's not true.

I simply wanted to make the point that Portishead, although meaningful music to you, is not the ideal form of "trip hiop" that one should study if trying to really make authentic Trip Hop in my opinion.


"'slowed down breaks, hammond, double bass, willowy female vocals' cliche"

is EXACTLY what most people in the states would call portishead.

[Meffy]

Keep it in the other thread. Twice -- fair warning.