How to Make Music Like Boards of Canada

[@hollowgroundproductions]

1-on-1 lessons. Email me - [e-mail]

[@balloonhead61]

Where you based? I'm in Kildare meself I only use hardware, could be interesting

[@lucag.lisickza425]

how much bro ? I have a mac book air and thinking buy ableton

[@adrianconsta1139]

Orange! Yeah, that's right!

[@luanhramos00]

LAKE!

[@casperchristiansen2458]

Aquarius+The Colour of Fire+An Eagle in Your Mind= Pretty damn nice.

[@hollowgroundproductions]

You sound like a proper fan, spotting all the inspirations!!! High praise!

[@zakaroonetwork777]

So awesome. Thank you. Boards of Canada literally saved my life in 1998.

[@hollowgroundproductions]

Really good music will do that!! 🙏

[@KacyKnight]

It's doing that for me in 2024. Everything else just sounds like noise now.

[@earlsfield]

one extra note about the bells. BOC bells are usually so distorted, that you can cleary hear them "crackle" if the filter is opened enough. Now, you can achieve this effect by adding minor amount of frequency modulation. I know their bells are just sines that are demolished by tape overdubs, but I think fm or just a little noise is the closest way to get there. As for the drums, the staple sound of their samples comes from Akai samplers. You can hear that digital flattening on kicks and snares in Kid for Today and Olson, specifically. And ultimatelly what makes BOC so unique is the way they glued those VHS and tape degradations in rytmical manner. So, take your LFO's guys, and add some actual movement to your lo-fi plugins, be that rc 20 or Satin, or what have you.

[@frankv.9525]

One of the most deconstructed and analyzed musical acts in known history. Beautiful tutorial, bravo.

[@davidthegood]

I have never seen anyone with this level of studio talent. My hat is off. Nice work, man.

[@evanmscala]

This is so insanely detailed and spot on it legitimately feels like a masterclass Michael or Marcus themselves

[@gedgar]

i have a feeling im going to be coming back to this video for years. very new to ableton (4 days)

[@auriscalidem6592]

The most insane thing is that the duo never had any of this digital stuff when they made MHTRTC

[@billypilgrim1]

Just their trusty Akai sampler

[@MasDouc]

Back then you had to be innovative

[@disectormusic]

Its actually easier without the "digital" software. hardware instruments are much more tangible

[@d-rex7043]

@@MasDouc 🙄

[@d-rex7043]

@@disectormusic 🙄

[@АлександрКузин-з6б]

Truly best BoC tutorial. Thanks a lot!

[@diglerfreaky5559]

I love that you just inserted an orange picture among the random BOC album photos.

[@wulfshead]

Absolutely nailed it! Every single element. It could literally be one of their own! Well played man. You’ve done this before!

[@darpsyxer]

Are you sure you're not the guy from Boards of Canada? this is simply freaking incredible

[@adriansullivan4433]

Lol imagine doing this in the 90's tho, amazing

[@brandonwiebe8132]

Absolutely amazing. It's as if I'm listening to a leaked BOC studio track. Excellent work.

[@nannue]

Very fun walkthrough. Thank u for the orange hexagon sun ☀️

[@moodswings353]

this is the best BOC trailer i've seen. thank you!!!!!

[@Ancaja123]

for being a really good recreation of their synth sounds and drum sounds, you missed one of the most important elements of their tracks: the structure. They typically have an unusual amount of bars before it repeats. It's typically 5 or 6, and the last bar or two bars act as that breakdown/dropout/transitional bar. I truly believe that its intrinsically important to their music

[@AutPen38]

To be fair, he told us to loop the pads after 6 bars at about 1:45.

[@atetraxx]

No he didn't . He literally said loop it 6 bars

[@adrianconsta1139]

Amazing result and tutorial! And you actually reminded me to check again your album, which is sounding dope. Thank you.

[@eelponna3145]

The main question here is - why isn’t this guy giving us BoC records (seeing as the duo themselves aren’t producing any)? I’d buy his stuff!

[@morganlak4337]

Whoa this is by far the best tutorial on BoC I've seen. Nailed the sound design

[@apostrophicom]

damn not only did you really nail the aesthetics (not an easy task, I've tried lol) but your workflow is really fucking cool. New sub, new fan, good shit. thanks!

[@urbsketch]

The pieces at the intro: All from Geogaddi 00:20 Track 002 Music is Math 00:23 Track 006 Sunshine Recorder 00:24 Track 012 The Beach at Redpoint 00:26 Track 010 1969 00:28 Track 016 The Devil Is In The Details

[@ProjetHomeStudio]

One of the best tutorials out there on this topic, if not the best. I'm a sucker for BOC sounds, and like everyone I'm trying to reproduce some of them to no avail. This tutorial is very helpful.

[@marcusplaysmusic8628]

if anyone is wondering the chord itself is taking the root, 5th, and 9th interval, making the chord seem ambigous melodically because of the lack of 3rd or 7th. Is the chord progression in major or minor? Neither lol

[@Digiphex]

I liked your video production on this and you got quite a bit of the sun baked LP on the back seat of the car.

[@LucasDegen]

Woow. Great tutorial. Well done. I study there music for years and this is one of the best BOC tuts I’ve seen. Added to my playlist: How to make IDM.

[@fredwilkins4195]

easily the best tutorial on youtube

[@monocore]

love the trippy edit. On charater. Subscribed.

[@ConahyRocks]

Your an inspiring storyteller! astute observations and wizardry around ableton - looking forward to watching and learning more, thank you 🙏

[@vailace2728]

Video is 15 minutes long but the content packed here worth hours and hours of your time

[@ChrMmn]

Very true! A wealth of information here.

[@DeroriMusic]

Severely underrated work being done here

[@windowdresser1643]

this guy is fucking insane for making this free. this is a treasure trove

[@joepow8717]

Jeez this is seriously impressive! If you told me this was a BoC song I would absolutely believe it.

[@zeejustin6]

Yeah even the basic stuff he did was just like BoC to my brain.

[@electrypnose2494]

Highly educative and inspiring, just watched 2 videos of yours and it feels like accessing a big secret list of cheat codes.

[@garycrocker186]

Incredible talent

[@jonhewson7303]

Only know a few BoC tunes but I feel like I know them all now. Great vid, great vibe, great editing and explanations. Big up my man

[@cchoge]

Oh my god I love this almost as much as I love Boards of Canada

[@nunasentus]

This guy could take anything and create the sounds he wants

[@zeejustin6]

I have no idea wtf you were doing, but enjoyed the boards of canada sounds, I think you're probably quite talented.

[@XIIIWinters]

You are a madman when it comes to producing! Love this content.

[@ottolaakso1944]

This video is pure quality in every single way

[@michael.pulling]

This is genius

[@michaelarthurholloway9539]

Fucking Masterclass right here. Amazing work. Thank you for this!

[@MattRanks]

this guy likes geogaddi lol great album by an amazing band

[@dj_Davepz]

This is mind-blowing mate, thank you!

[@MrDigash]

Outstanding work!

[@WavesOfRed92]

underrated af

[@lungind]

Awesome, man! You really got it!

[@osmark86]

great ear for different styles mate. subbed!

[@INADRM]

You gotta have fun with the numbers as well. In Aquarius the sequence can be seen as 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27 + 28 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666

[@orbitalforest]

Superb !

[@diceman2914]

Awesome tutorial

[@DesertPunks]

This sounds really faithful, color me impressed!

[@TheCinnyBun]

manipulator is such an underrated and underutilized vst

[@prodthayerperiod]

this is absolutely fantastic

[@deniz90899]

that intro is superb

[@WENDEL852]

dude what a great tutorial, quality stuff.

[@chaosevolution]

Awesome tutorial. And great video production.

[@jakubbenda532]

Incredible. Instructive. Entertaining. Bravo!

[@robotussin_synths]

This taught me so many things about Ableton that I never knew. Thank you!

[@Rutanen]

Absolute gold!

[@lukejones6293]

This is incredible. Gave me so many new ideas to try out

[@seanmuldoon38]

A fellow Irish boards of Canada fan!

[@hollowgroundproductions]

🇮🇪 🇮🇪 🇮🇪 🇮🇪

[@MenteEmergentePodcast]

Cada segundo me da mas emoción que vaya sonando como el tema. Que bueno eres, que gusto ver a alguien tan fluido produciendo.

[@evaSerafea01]

love this

[@ChrisLebaume]

Bro you're a monster and this video is a jem ❤

[@gesslr]

This is brilliant. Thank you.

[@ibuprofen-noodles]

this is mad inspiring dude. thanks a lot

[@alwaysanotherday1421]

Absolutely insane.

[@RichardWakefield]

Really insightful and full of golden nuggets. Very inspiring so thanks!!

[@eldenhor737]

thank you ❤

[@Blueblackngold]

That’s a perfect tutorial

[@juanignacioruiz1775]

Insane techniques, thank you

[@haroldwing3960]

love the delay on the voice

[@icedcooly9127]

Wow. I’m so impressed, like speechless. How long have you worked with ableton and how long did it take you to get to a point of being able to successfully make this work? I know practice and time will get you to that point but personally I get so caught up in loops that it prevents me from achieving the next step if that makes sense. Anyway I’d love to hear your story if you don’t mind commenting, 🍻 cheers!

[@ojedalistellobrunoramiro5014]

AWESOME! Saludos desde Argentina!

[@uisato_]

Amazing video, my friend. Super-well crafted. Congratulations!

[@maynk7096]

It's spot on! and it's awesome

[@DavesMusicTube]

Amazing video dude! Thanks!

[@LUCKYKATmeowsic]

really excellent tutorial mate. i have just started using similar sounds for my breakdowns so super useful

[@Jaspertine]

I've had some decent success by recording some guitar chords, then using the freeze function on ableton's stock reverb to sustain them indefinitely, resampling that and then dropping them into simpler and treating them like synth pads.

[@originalsynth]

Crystal clear and concise tutorials. Glad you mention 'FIND YOUR OWN STYLE" as that's exactly what it's all about in the end, and this is inspiring stuff :-) Plastikman?

[@youngchopsnare234]

nice. really nailed the drums

[@VXOSX]

This guy never misses

[@WoozieFace]

loving ur album!

[@hollowgroundproductions]

Great, thanks!

[@raavenstark5905]

WTF ? A BOC tutorials without expensive shits inside ? WOW ! I use often wavetable to have a kind of a sound of BOC, but you did lot of stuff i have never try. I wasn't that far after all ^^ Always thought that the movement in the BOC synth was due only to tapes, i tried with so much gears to have it, but it was because it's not only that. I learn so much in 15 minutes !

[@balloonhead61]

Well done, no fuss Great result

[@jasonkh4]

This is amazing, great work 👍

[@anzipex]

"Boqurant" from cassette "A Few Old Tunes" reference as I see 👀

[@robertparenton7470]

Thank You!

[@eugeniomartinez4666]

this is a gem

[@panta_rhei.26]

Fantastic

[@Deft78440]

Incredible. Genius.

[@milankosmos8738]

ok awesome. comment so this can be better seen and found. deserves it

[@tonio9973]

really awesome. you have tons of skill :)

[@7wheels]

wow. you are genius !

[@mrtreevis]

No idea what's goin on but it's great

[@gracebasom6609]

this is the greatest video i’ve ever seen. can you make more like this but more for beginners? i love u