Jordan “Van Damn” Van Wyness is rapidly becoming one of Scotland’s hottest exports from one of its least likely sources. Hailing from the small fishing town of Arbroath, Van Damn has helped spearhead some of Scotland’s most renowned parties over the last decade. His “All Good” club brand has welcomed the biggest names in global dance music, giving him a platform to support the likes of Skream, Ben Hemsley, Patrick Topping, Ewan McVicar, LF System, Peggy Gou, and Groove Armada.
Alongside his successful promotional enterprises, Van Damn has carved his own path in the electronic music space which has seen him added to some of the most prolific festival lineups in Scotland and the UK including FLY Festival, Otherlands, Outdores as well as Sneaky Petes, Unit 51 and the iconic Sub Club.
My set up:
- Apple Mac mini m2
- 27” monitor
- Roland mx1
- Technics 1210’s
- Ableton live
- Ableton push 2
- Yamaha hs5’s
Over the years my setup has evolved a little bit but recently I can honestly say I’m happy with how it works & most importantly (and something I probably repeat a million times in this) how quickly it lets me get ideas down and moving in the right direction. Ableton is my DAW of choice just because of familiarity and how class the stock things are in there. Having used it for a good few years now I know it well enough to get my ideas out and by using my template with kits set up and EQ8’s compressors and utilities where they need to be I can press on with just being creative and I get a sound I’m happy with immediately.
I upgraded from Rockit 5’s a couple of years back and I feel the Yamaha’s give me a more authentic and flat sound even in an untreated room.
Push has been a godsend in streamlining my process. It allows me to get ideas out double quick it took a little bit of time to stop relying on the shortcuts I got used to on the keyboard and force myself to really just keep using the push but I can’t look back now. It’s really just an extension of Ableton for me, and I don’t like using Ableton without it now.
Roland MX1 is my sound card & desk all in one, I have my technics hooked up, my TB3, a mic, and an audio jack connected so I can just hit record straight from mx1 if I can’t reach my push and record whatever I need into Ableton (AGAIN, emphasis on usability and quickness 😅)
Arrangement
Main idea behind the track –
I’m a big believer in letting the creative process flow until the idea has real arms and legs, so the main body of the track was all about building to a moment (on the dancefloor) giving people a breather then getting it moving again with a payoff. So that’s how I structured this track. This specific track is built around 2 main elements. The arp percussive ping noise I had found in an old sample pack I found on the desktop & a filtered drum sample from a record I had recorded into Ableton.
The sample – technics 1210
When I’m working on music a huge part of my “process” is going through my record collection and just listening to music for inspiration or to just really give me a focus on what it is I like and don’t like.
Zip its huge driving factor began with me having a session sampling drum sounds/loops from records and this particular one I really couldn’t let sit in the project, so I began naturally using the Ableton stock filter to make it move a little and also EQ8 to just clear out some of the bottom end to make room for a new kick and bass.
Drums – Ableton push 2
Straight after inspiration strikes, I drive to get drums laid out straight away. I have a bunch of my own kits saved in Ableton Live I’ve built using sample packs & sampling records in different genres/styles. Having these saved saves a bunch of time digging into folders etc and keeps the creative juices flowing, So I picked out my more techno style hat kit/kick kit and snare: clap kit, and using the push’s step sequencer I can live play the drums in super quick. Push has been a massive game changer for me, I have been using it since they launched Push 1 and I find it incredible for getting my ideas from head to daw, rapid.
Bass – Predator
Out of vsts I don’t know if it’s a common thing but I gravitate to pretty much 4 every single time, for this project I didn’t even make it past 2 outside of Ableton stock stuff. Predator is one of my go-to instruments, the presets in here are golden, and the bass sounds specifically I always gravitate to because of how raw and aggressive they are. For zip it I just automated the filter opening it up on the build-ups and then pulling it right back for the drops. Keeping the bass pattern super simple to keep the track driving along.
In this channel I just use EQ8 & the Ableton stock Compressor side-chained to a ghost kick to pump the kick through.
Synth – Predator
Another instance where I’ve leant on the pred presets 😅 programming on this was to fill in the gaps, to call and answer with the bass. I used the stock auto filter to draw it into the track and on the build-up and EQ8 to clear out the bottom end for the bass.
Synth lead – Drum Rack & Arpeggiator
This was pretty much the basis of the track after the sample I recorded. I bashed out the pattern on the push and using the Ableton stock arp I automated the rate (on the free setting) and just opened it on the builds and tightened it up on the drops (with each progressing drop I increased how much rate I opened it by building tension each time)
As well as this I increased the transposition on the sample using automation and snapped it back on each drop, again creating tension on those build-ups.
Mixdown / rough master – camel crusher
To get the track ready to try it out in the club I usually try and mix down the track as I go keeping it -6db.
Any automation in gains I’ll do using utility so I can keep the faders for mixing it down progressively as I work on the track. I have a master chain I’ve made using stock plug-ins & camel crusher. Which I pretty much use on every track once I’ve mixed it down. It sounds/looks crass but honestly, it works pretty much every time. Camel crusher is something I go put onto by some producer pals who noticed my tracks were lacking a bit of oomph once I’d bounced them out. I usually use the subtle master preset and just tweak it to work for each track.
Notable mentions – sidechain
This track is absolutely packed with sidechain compression. I duck the synth sound and the bass to a ghost kick pattern. I tighten up the size of the kick sample a little just to make it punch through better. This isn’t something I do all the time. But if the track is characteristically kick-driven, it’s 100% getting side-chained.
Grab your copy here.
The post How It Was Made: Van Dam – Zip It [Good Trax] appeared first on Magnetic Magazine.