Transform your tracks into dance floor destroyers. Swedish techno producer Tiger Stripes offers production tips and tricks in exchange with 6AM. These nuggets of wisdom provide insight as to how Tiger Stripes takes his sound to new heights, and how the producer achieves success in the electronic music industry. Tiger Stripes’ new EP Rocket marks his return on Drumcode in thrilling fashion. You can catch the producer’s forthcoming EP release here.
We all love the kick drum, so let us hear it properly! I put my kick all the way up to zero in the mix, making it the loudest sound of the track. Then I mix everything else lower from that point.
I put everything under 80-100hz in mono, every sound. That’s how most club sound systems are built and it will give your bottom more power.
I love mono but I like some of my sounds in stereo to make the track sounds bigger and wider. I put a wider like a discreet chorus or a short delay on a synth pad a stab or whatever sound I want to bring forward in the mix. Find the right balance of stereo and mono in your music and your track will sound huge! For example, I like my hi-hats sounding large so I often use a stereo sound together with a second, short and hard-hitting hat in mono for more attack and power.
Don’t try to please others with your music, or you will most likely fail doing just that. Go your own way and produce what you really like and feel is sounding interesting and the labels and the dance floor will follow. If not immediately then eventually.
Make some room and air inside your groove by letting the chords, stabs, vocals and samples rest a little, letting the kick and the beat hit us alone a few times before bringing your other elements back into the groove again. This will make us really feel the drums and keeping the funk steady in the track.
Courtesy of Johan Bergmark
However good a moog bass or a 303 pattern sounds we have all heard them many times before. Sometimes it can be a good idea to pick a more unique sound, like a weird vocal or maybe something industrial and pitch it in an unexpected frequency or together with some excessive fx’s. If your’e lucky it can make your track sound like nothing else in the Beatport charts. Try it!
When it comes to creating powerful beats, selecting the right cymbal sets can make all the difference. Experiment with a variety of cymbals, from crisp hi-hats to explosive crashes, to add depth and texture to your tracks. Tiger Stripes recommends exploring different cymbal sets to find the perfect sound that complements your music. Remember, the right cymbals can elevate your productions to new levels of sonic brilliance. For more guidance and recommendations, check out our article on Picks for the best Cymbal Sets.
Some of my most successful tracks have started with me having an idea of using a sound in a creative way and not just building a track from the beats, then moving on with the bass etc etc. A good example would be my track ”Brrr” where the idea was to use a vocal as a drum fill. Together with a strong beat, that was it. Track done and everybody from Adam Beyer, Kerri Chandler to myself was playing it to excited dance floors all over the world.
I find that mixing different genres of music is a great way of making your music sound fresh and creative.
If you want your techno track to have great energy, shorten your sounds might be a good idea. Cut your wav files hard or use a transient designer to shape the sustain just right. I find this often brings my music to the next level.
These days the record labels are spending big money on promoting their tracks and they want something they really believe in as the first track of the release. So keep working until you feel certain you have that track, maybe even before you finish the music for the “b-side”. When they listen, it will make them feel you are a professional that can deliver the goods without them asking for more tracks.
