Industrial Music Techniques?

[bartholomewpro]

I am very interested in industrial music and was wondering if anyone had tips for me for production. Trent reznor is my hero

any feed back would be appreciated cuz im a noob to the max

[Lrmusic]

He uses fuzz pedals and sexy modular synths

[Yoozer]

What have you already done with the answers given in Getting started electronic music - or will this thread not get any further replies either?

[LiquidChild]

Trent uses Metasonix gear a lot.
Vacuum Tube Modules for Electronic Music by Metasonix - Home

[Everlast]

- distortion on almost everything
- interesting sound design
- running synths through guitar amps
- processing guitar tracks with synths
- avoiding 4/4
- arrangement-wise - don't make it sound boring and forget anything you heard so far trying to copy it - make your own unique sound
- you can even forget all mentioned above and experimenting with your own visions

[loglady]

Sample machines making noises (or sample machine noises from films). Load samples into sampler/drum machine. Program midi pattern to trigger noises. Season with distortion.

[UH417]

Not needing tips for "industrial music" production is probably a big one.

[Lrmusic]

Originally Posted by UH417

Not needing tips for "industrial music" production is probably a big one.

lol ?

Everyone, even Trent, was a beginner at one point lol.......

[Yoozer]

Originally Posted by Lrmusic

Everyone, even Trent, was a beginner at one point lol.......

Case in point:



However, it's more effective to ask for specifics. You can pen down a zillion pages about industrial and how to do stuff, but it's a lot more encouraging for anyone typing the answer to hear some results first - what has been tried already, what didn't work, what direction does the topicstarter want to go in, etc.

This, IMHO, makes the difference between a beginner with promise and one who just wants to have everything handed to him/her on a silver platter.

[herokiller]

Originally Posted by bartholomewpro

I am very interested in industrial music and was wondering if anyone had tips for me for production. Trent reznor is my hero

If Trent Reznor is industrial then ABBA must be death metal.

[Acid Hazard]

Originally Posted by bartholomewpro

Trent reznor is my hero

You doomed yourself already.

[alehoe]

lots of modular synthesizers, fuzz pedals, reaktor, vintage synths

and talent

[raid]

Samplers

[W-W-Int]

none of the above mentioned things...

industrial music is more of a conceptual attitude so to speak than a production method. the same basic production methods you would use for recording a jazz trio or a death metal band apply equally well. what i mean by this is if you are recording a guitar you concentrate at the guitar as to what it sounds like and at the mixer, recording device as to how to go about to best capture that sound.

industrial music is more about how you feel about something your writing about than any specific sound source or effect etc...

industrial can cover scraping and banging on actual industrial appliances ala
einsturzende nuebauten
or lyrics portraying a drab and bleak lifestyle in a modernized world ala
nitzer ebb

it can range in actual musical style from trance to euro disco to metal to jazz or be a combo of any or all of those.


first thing you need to do is worry about the song you want to write, then worry about how to portray it the way you want (or as close as you can get within your budget)

there is no magic item that will "sound industrial". you can take a casio keyboard and a cheap free vsti effect and get it to make industrial music.

[rids]

Drum machine plus distortion pedal...

Depends on what era of nin.

My tip would be to get any synth with decent sounds and start playing around. Pretty easy, you'll find what you like as far as notes/chords just by trying out ideas you have.

[alehoe]

been working on a track similar to that of nine inch nails the fragile era

null dec09.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

like rids said, it depends what are of nine inch nails you're speaking off

it's not like trent ever really stuck to one sound/genre

and although the songs in his albums tend to be similar style and production, different albums vary greatly

[pr0gr4m]

Originally Posted by Acid Hazard

You doomed yourself already.

I agree with this statement 100% and I like NIN.

+1 to what W-W-Int said. It's where the music comes from.

[Acid Hazard]

Originally Posted by W-W-Int

to euro disco

uhhhh... huh?

[Tarkovsky]

He's interested in making industrial sounds and using them in music, not your inner emo.

[2326t]

maybe you should learn what industrial music really is. NIN is not really industrial music, just because Trent is sad about stuff and uses synths/distortion that doesn't make it industrial, maybe you should listen to bands like Coil, Throbbing Gristle, Legendary Pink Dots, Ministry (older stuff), chemlab, KMFDM, just to name a few. learn that industrial music isnt just about ultra quantized drum samples and crying about ex-girlfriends that F your best friend.

[herokiller]

Originally Posted by 2326t

maybe you should listen to bands like Coil, Throbbing Gristle, Legendary Pink Dots, Ministry (older stuff), chemlab, KMFDM, just to name a few. learn that industrial music isnt just about ultra quantized drum samples and crying about ex-girlfriends that F your best friend.

I'm pretty sure I've listed to almost all of Coil's discography and very, very little of it could be called industrial in any sense of the word.

[alehoe]

Originally Posted by herokiller

I'm pretty sure I've listed to almost all of Coil's discography and very, very little of it could be called industrial in any sense of the word.

and KMFDM turned into metal a long time ago

[zosthegoatherd]

Originally Posted by 2326t

maybe you should learn what industrial music really is. NIN is not really industrial music, just because Trent is sad about stuff and uses synths/distortion that doesn't make it industrial, maybe you should listen to bands like Coil, Throbbing Gristle, Legendary Pink Dots, Ministry (older stuff), chemlab, KMFDM, just to name a few. learn that industrial music isnt just about ultra quantized drum samples and crying about ex-girlfriends that F your best friend.

Go too old with Ministry and it stops being industrial...
On a different note I would really love to know more about Sleazy's production methods. I know he uses ableton and a lot of samples. Early stuff used a synthi and a mirage. I also know he used a roland sdx330. Given that he worked with trent on a few projects I am sure his methods may have trickled down to the more accessible pop-industrial NIN makes

[zosthegoatherd]

Originally Posted by herokiller

I'm pretty sure I've listed to almost all of Coil's discography and very, very little of it could be called industrial in any sense of the word.

Industrial records was founded by Genesis and Christopherson. The term industrial music was invented to market TG, and TG begot Psychic T.V. that begot Coil I would say that Coil has a better claim to the title industrial then most of the second wave and EBM bands that the term is applied to.

[herokiller]

Originally Posted by zosthegoatherd

Go too old with Ministry and it stops being industrial...
On a different note I would really love to know more about Sleazy's production methods. I know he uses ableton and a lot of samples. Early stuff used a synthi and a mirage. I also know he used a roland sdx330. Given that he worked with trent on a few projects I am sure his methods may have trickled down to the more accessible pop-industrial NIN makes

I've been trying to find out for years. Let me know if you learn anything.

You've probably read it but this article is interesting (although it's about their Horse Rotorvator era) -
Keyboard Magazine


He mentions a...

"Fairlight II and III for sequencing and editing, Emulator II as the main sound generator, Yamaha DX7, PPG Wave 2.2, and an EMS Synthi for the heavy, distorted sounds."

[herokiller]

Originally Posted by zosthegoatherd

Industrial records was founded by Genesis and Christopherson. The term industrial music was invented to market TG, and TG begot Psychic T.V. that begot Coil I would say that Coil has a better claim to the title industrial then most of the second wave and EBM bands that the term is applied to.

Not sure if you noticed, but Coil ain't Throbbing Gristle.

[zosthegoatherd]

Originally Posted by herokiller

Not sure if you noticed, but Coil ain't Throbbing Gristle.

Is RevCo Ministry?
Granted Coil went in a slightly different direction but I would say that more then the other projects TG spawned they worked in the same sonic territory.
I wish Sleazy would open a school.
Coil FAQs has a little bit of info...

[cfalk]

Originally Posted by raid

Samplers

+1 bang on shit>sample>detune>process>repeat.... the grittier the better, Casio FZ10, Ensoniq Mirage, Akai S612...etc.

[Acid Hazard]

Coil is more closely related to the original industrial sound than almost anything out right now. Just because Coil isn't TG, doesn't mean they don't carry on the torch. However, since JB died, there is no more Coil =o[

[zosthegoatherd]

Nobody can agree on what industrial is, was, or should be. Granted most scenes are like that, but it seems industrial music fans take pride in developing their own list of what constitutes industrial. Going back to the original topic....
Mangling sounds with samplers/filters/distortion is a good start. Experimenting with non-standard arrangements/composition helps. Instead of thinking in terms of drum, baseline, pad, lead, etc. try using different parts of the audio spectrum to carry the melody. In quite a few "industrial" songs the lower voice "bass" instrument caries the main melody, while the higher portion of the spectrum may alternate between a voice elaborating/mirroring the main theme and pads or noises/samples.
As for getting a sound closer to NIN, buy some '80's gear, listen to skinny puppy, chase Al Jurgensen around, and get Adrian Sherwood to teach you to mix.