There are few dancefloors worth dancing on that have not been touched by either Gene On Earth or his music. The funk-packed peak time cosmic bangers that Gene crafts are second to none and his jammed touring schedule is a product of this.
Gene his Limousine Dreams label is so tightly connected that they seem almost inseparable and like most artists of note, the success that he is enjoying is not an overnight thing and is certainly no fluke. A bolt from the blue has come from Gene himself and he is now offering a seldom-seen deep-dive view into his creative process. Gene’s tutorial course ‘The Blueprint’ looks to give unrivaled access to an artist at the top of his game and he has plenty of nuggets of information to share.
We won’t explain every single piece of the course as we don’t want to spoil the surprise, but like all top courses, a good introduction is just as important as the course content. As we said earlier Gene is no overnight success and he has put in the time and effort as an artist under a different name until he realised that a change was needed. During this introductory period, it is worth noting that Ableton is the weapon of choice and if you are a complete novice this course is very much for you but it is advisable that you take advantage of the pre-course tutorials that Gene has collected.
Now it is time to get started and where better to start than with some sample digging. As Gene explains he has gone from being purely Beatport-focused to becoming one of the most digging centric artists on the circuit. Here he gives an in-depth masterclass in the art of Discogs, we thought that we were fairly proficient in the vinyl marketplace until Gene gave us the lowdown on how he uses it. Once we have our tracks and sources of music it is now time to look at implementing these into Ableton.
In this next section, Gene gives the basis of his creative process when handling samples and this slowly gives you the tools to make the most out of your samples and get ideas moving quickly if there is a shortfall of creativity. What is great about this section of the course that as well as the personal creative side of Gene being presented there is also a crash course in advanced Ableton shortcuts and production techniques. These will come in very handy later on in the course.
With house and techno drums are of the utmost importance and getting these right from the beginning will take care of your grooves. A calling card of Gene’s music is, without doubt, his grooves and here he lays bare his process for formulating rhythms and later on how to process these drum arrangements. Each of these sections covering drums is around 30 minutes each for building grooves and processing them. While we won’t detail every aspect of this section, for an intermediate producer these sections are gold. This element of a track can really be the make or break of a good track so pay attention and Gene will walk you through the whole process.
The next section is a personal look at how Gene programs and implements synths and sounds into his track. As well as looking at some of his older tracks such as ‘Like A Glove’ Gene also introduces elements from his newer tracks which show the ground that he has covered in that time but also that certain skills and techniques are not time-sensitive. Moving onto the next section covering arrangement and ‘Like A Glove’ is laid bare to give perfect methodology in energy drop-offs and building the track.
Utilising everything that has been learned in previous sections it is now time to pull it all together to progress from loop to track. Again, this is an extremely pivotal part of any producers’ creative process and so this section has been extended by Gene to allow it to be poured over. These sections Gene covers arrangement, use of reference tracks, mixdowns, and the use of earbuds when producing. This last one might sound a bit leftfield but the point that Gene makes is that if you can make your tracks sound good one a pair of earbuds then you can make your music sound good on anything.
Moving on towards the business end of the course and Gene has even more nuggets in store. As well as the production prowess he possesses there is also a clear ethos framework at play throughout much of his studio work. His seven-step checklist and reading tips will ensure that whenever there is a lull in creativity or when your brain needs to be prepped for a creative undertaking. Gene On Earth is by his own admission no musical genius but what he does have in spades is the desire to teach himself what he needs to know in order to make the bangers that have made him the artist he is today.
If you want to elevate your productions to the next level we can help as Gene has kindly given Trommel readers €10 off the price of his course by using code TROMMEL. You can find the course here.
More info on Gene On Earth
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