How much tension is too much tension? Let's talk about Shepard tones!

[@OscarUnderdog]

Torc: soundcloud.com/torcaudio 🔥🔥🔥 Face the Sun: soundcloud.com/face-the-sun-be 🌈🌈🌈 Face the Sun instagram: instagram.com/facethesunmusic/ 📷📷📷 Find Oscar's video courses here: courses.underdog.brussels 🖤🖤🖤 Join the Underdog Discord channel: discord.gg/z5N9CTA 👾👾👾

[@geordy21]

It's great that you now also do these videos with sign language so that the deaf and hard of hearing can also learn something of it.

[@OscarUnderdog]

😂

[@enoodle]

Honestly the rhythmic example was sick

[@juanhamilton_]

I would use that drop live

[@PowerCardio]

OMG the techno example of percussive Shepard Tones was SO GOOD LOL. I know you made this as an example but I was like, THIS DROP WILL HIT HARD. Make it a real song please!

[@OscarUnderdog]

😂 thanks, that's what I was secretly hoping to read...

[@AUTOSAD777]

You must have read my mind. So bizarre. Just yesterday I was explaining to my little brother what a Sheppard Tone is, and lo and behold, the NEXT video you make is this. So crazy. So, now I'll just send him this. Lol

[@GregKletschka]

Pink Floyds "Echoes" was my first introduction to the Shepard Tone

[@qracle]

For me it was the staircase in Super Mario 64!

[@floriansimet6638]

Si Mr.

[@erock.steady]

it wasn't the first, but the first that comes to mind was - mescaline

[@bobbyrinehart1299]

The percussive example was dope! The "KNTXT plz call me" comment made me laugh! Good stuff as always! Thanks for sharing!

[@dpbennett]

The 'Shepard Tone Dance' is magnificent.

[@benbawden3348]

Absolutely love listening/watching you explain things, so funny and engaging but very educational and well structured, please keep these coming as they're very well received and very much appreciated. Thank you!!

[@battledj2933]

6:47 Nice "acid accent start" just before the kick. Also the "crunchy rumble" on the kick is a killer! i love it 🙂 Well done! 👍

[@ReasonStudios]

Awesome!

[@diegomella5060]

Thank you so much for this kind o content! I'm from Chile and is very rare to find this type of information with such amount of quality focused on techno music. I simply love your videos! Thx so much 🥷🖤✌️😊

[@urphakeandgey6308]

I love your calm 'rant' on 'How Art Dies.' I agree with you. I don't know everything, but after learning music theory, producing electronic music, playing in classical, jazz, and local rock bands, I've come to your same conclusion. *_Art is not a sport. It's not a competition._* Comments like that are just gatekeeping, however, I do think criticism is fair. A lot of genres don't take advantage of composition. I understand part of it is sound design. If you use sounds with lots of timbre (overtones), chords with more intervals sound very dissonant. There is a valid rebuttal there, however, I'd love to see more artists that take advantage of this part I think is lacking a bit. I'm sure there are some, so spread the word!

[@johnscott8955]

I've been producing 20 years and didn't know the stacked riser trick, somehow. Thanks so much.

[@carlrowlinson2833]

Wasn't much of a fan of that synth Shepard tone, but that percussive one was real nice and not something I'd thought of! Will definitely give it a try!

[@clintonpeck]

That's genius, thanks for sharing. I am definitely trying that out in my next track.

[@elwazaraza]

Oscar, you never fail to deliver awesome content. Thank you.

[@ambientthrill6687]

Hello everyone .... yesterday I watched the breakdown of 'Save Yourself EP' by Virtual Riot and in that video he purposely wanted a long buildup so we know buildup usually contains the speeding up of snares or pitching up of one element so there he explained when snares almost matched the BPM of the project then he kept them going on and then at that point he introduced huge Toms which gradually felt like a rise of another buildup so yes this is wonderful technique to make long buildups / risers intentionally with more than one element !!!!

[@RogueFire29]

Thanks a lot Oscar! another amazing trick ! and really nice for your two projects ! Fan :)

[@flechtheim_tab]

Absolut awesome! My first thought was totally wrong. I thought: just another shepherd tone video. But the rhythmic part totally blow my mind. Thank you for teaching me patience and inspiring me again 🖤

[@danielrhoads8676]

Awesome! So glad you read the comments I was like yo!! Follow up with a Shepard's tone video. I think there is so much to explore with Shepard Tones. Great video man. Helping spread the good wisdom in music. I find Shepard Tones difficult to execute in my tracks because they take up a lot of energy and attention and I think the beauty in Shepard Tones is being able to blend them in nicely into a track. I still struggle blending the Shepard Tone into a song but they are so powerful I will keep trying until I find my way!

[@JamesRamboPearce]

Tbh your techno rhythm demo was sick

[@qracle]

Fantastic video! Love your energy in this one, very fitting for a lesson in never ending risers! Thanks Oscar

[@trippdaly8262]

Buddy that buildup is friggin madness!!!!

[@fabiansofsky3030]

Seriously Oscar! I already you noticed in earlier videos that you are a humorous and funny guy! And I have the feeling that in recent videos this comes more to the fore - keep it up! And of course, your content is a gem - as usual :)

[@OscarUnderdog]

😀🧡

[@potitwist]

Oscar! Another one of those iconic underdog videos of yours, very inspirational. I must say that your techno-mood-example was spot-on, at least for my humble taste and I find your techno productions to be really f-ing good. - about those Tai-Chi-style-hand-moves, though😂

[@gaetanofrangella]

great vid! i do how ever feel that the shepard rhythm you demonstrated is not in fact a shepard rhythm. your example has the percussive element only doubling with in the beat/BPM rather than making the tempo feel like its going faster.

[@mechanicom]

Temple Dance - what an excellent track Oscar. Massively uplifting! Great tips as always dude ❤️👊❤️

[@MikeH_PR]

Next month I'm signing up for the Foundations course. I've parked music making, installed Ableton Live Lite & will focus on getting under the skin of my UNO Synth in the meantime. No more diving into making a track & getting lost. These tutes are inspirational 💪

[@standardgoat9831]

This is a really informative video, could you please make an extended video on creating the rythmic Shepards from the third section of the video? This would be amazing, I'm struggling to find more content on constructing shepard grooves like this. Thanks for the awesome videos you make!

[@srisarakhamtimothee8470]

Ouccchhh the acid line from the second sounds is amazing ( as the kick ) haha Always a pleasure to watch and learn through your videos

[@bunningtonhevy]

Super interesting!! Thanks so much.

[@martinbridgewater]

Strictly Oscar Dancing………😆 This is the content I came for! Very Excited by Face the Sun by the way.

[@enensis]

😂 That dance haha. Another example of the shepards tone was used throughout the war movie 1914. They had this low drone running through lots of the scenes to help build tension. I wonder if you could use this type of sound buried low in the mix pre buildup?

[@DmitryPuffin]

Wow, rhythm example is awesome!

[@mattporter6886]

fine tune sir!!!!! ( love the lessons too many thanks)

[@djse]

Riser are fine as long as you don't end them with a "3-2-1 jump !" vocal sample

[@pufu21]

Nice!

[@immersyon]

Maybe my ear is not common, but I hear that as a clear loop. Not as a something is "infinitely" scaling the tone

[@mbezik]

same here, just sounded like a crossfaded loop that rises then loops back to the low tone

[@OscarUnderdog]

I know what you mean - I think in my example I might have left too much dynamic range in the volume, so you feel the waves of volume come and go. In retrospect maybe I could have limited quite strongly and flattened it out, that might have made the example more "illusory".

[@ssneg]

Genuinely cool

[@-zoave-]

Your dance is magic 🤩

[@michakowo8298]

God damn... this rhytm rise from 6:12 🧃 and the Drop 🌝

[@kip-kip]

0:55 nice moves

[@brandonreyes9587]

holy moly that second example song drops haaaaaarrrrdddddd

[@witamine758]

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge for free. BTW: Do you also educate your dancing moves? Just kidding 😉 I Love your videos, you always explain the things very good and so it's always easy to understand. Keep the groove ✌️

[@simontomalik1095]

Nice, man soooo good, I've heard hopkins use it even talk about it. really cool. I don't really use risers myslef even though i make dancable music but this is so cool it's a crime not to take under consideration

[@davidpetersonharvey]

Oh, yeah, couldn't remember the term. Those harmonics can really fool the ear. Great video.

[@drax93333]

Hi, I love your channel and I'd love to see a study of NTBR's sound, he is great but I can't figure out how he makes that powerful acid sound in his tracks and the others texture sounds to build up tension. Big up!!

[@benjaminjohnson8431]

Infected Mushroom are legends!

[@54LZ]

You're fun! Love your videos. :D

[@budsticky]

OK...so how do you create tension in genres that don't use risers? If the risers are one piece of the tool box, what are some other tools? Thanks for the great videos.

[@thomasdeserville]

Clever : ))

[@diegobeccaris4270]

with this technique we could kill art for an infinite time!

[@OscarUnderdog]

Art massacre

[@grandmasteryoda503]

This instantly reminded me of Slam - Hot Knives :D

[@luke3055]

Great content as always and who knew you have a second career as a street mime artist 🤣

[@hixemusic]

Thanks, that's just what I was looking for. Very good explanation

[@topsycrets6658]

I'm more interested in how you make the uplifting synth that comes in at 2:18 ! if you got any heads up on how to build a synth like that :) a bit trancy and rising in a euphoric way

[@goth4noireason]

thank you for your video

[@jerdie]

That's how I dance too. Neat. 😂

[@TheDjAliceD]

@Underdog Electronic Music School can u pls explain how you make that acid notes at the end... thats sounds so much better than mine... and i nerver understand why...

[@DjAdam16]

Total Departure remixed by Cirez D is a good example of a track with cool shepard tones

[@JeremiahTrue]

this was one of the first things I built when Reason's Eurpoa was released. I can send a file if anyone wants it.

[@pierlaurenzi]

I am !

[@crapopotateptl]

You have a Prophet! Maaaan... i can only dream on getting a Behringer Pro-1

[@nicolacorsini7960]

SebastiAn - Threnody !!!

[@m.t-thoughts8919]

I love to combine it with different elements, not just use it on one sample which, I think will always gives that cheesy feeling if you just use it on one, so it works wonders with a delay/reverb automation and well rythm and with that approach I dont think it wont sound cheap at all, for example you can have the delay of one sample goin faster start/down and other sample (noisy) going up more static, with a rising reverb effect, while the delayed faster start sample becomes slower

[@Rex-dk1rx]

Just use vital it has Shepard tone preset up or down plus you can modulate the sound

[@abrotronic]

A great example of this is in MARS by Caribou (aka Dan Snaith, Daphni - DJ alias, @CaribouVideos). I don't think they have the "siren" on their album, but they do incorporate it live, and it's pretty amazing. It really adds another dimension to the song. Check out their Pitchfork set (Mars starts at ~8 :10): kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGiYZnqlgLili6c The Shepard tone starts at ~12 :30.

[@dominiksowinski9986]

6:20 what is that track name? Lit!

[@williambrandon9660]

yoooo Oscar that torc track was fuckin evil btw damn :')

[@earlsfield]

For whatever reason i wasnt subscribed to your channel anymore - did you change something?

[@erock.steady]

attention please may i have your attention - art would like to announce that it regrets having done itself in. carry on.

[@onemanvoin]

Lol dat hand visualization :DD

[@viliusscerbickas2507]

i use Fl11, and project after project i had learn about somethink of sound, but allways i'm in looking process some "shadow" sounds, wicth one give my track some massive sound

[@lazykid9167]

song was cool

[@TribecaBlackstarr]

it bugs me tremendously that you arranged the rising shepards tone session with the tracks cascading downwards, not upwards

[@takkat4037]

❤️❤️

[@shortcutDJ]

Jacob collier made a shepard groove , pretty trippy. my kind of shit

[@accno5]

How do i get my bassline to sound like that? 6:47

[@UserName________]

Why do I feel like I can tell where it starts and where it ends?

[@speakerfreaker100]

Grindhouse dubfire planet terror remix my fave

[@konzekuenze]

I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of tension... Is "ok" in some tracks, but in most of them just kills the groove and doesn't bring nothing in the end. In my opinion when using tension the track should "explode" after it and bring that vibe everyone is expecting, but never happen...

[@streglof]

you can build up tension without risers. Imo risers aren't even the best way to do it anyway.

[@konzekuenze]

@@streglof I didn't mention any risers. ;)

[@demikross6669]

Lol oh I just got it

[@andycordy5190]

I'm not going to offer examples of this because I am not at all organised but I can recognize the beauty of your eternal riser as it cycles and, though I didn't really get the physical manifestation of the riser in rhythm presentation it certainly bore a dynamic drive and continuing interest I rarely hear in mainstream electronica. I think the riser resolving into a target note is pure genius which you can only really understand in the context of the track, where the effect is really powerful and I think pretty emotional.

[@isaacanthonydj4124]

i have to figure out how to do this with my Octatrack....

[@isaacanthonydj4124]

i gotta figure out how to do infinate rolls on my TR8S or Octatrack... trying to be a musician with these instruments, not just a producer...

[@isaacanthonydj4124]

as a recovered alcoholic, with tons of anger issues, i can tell you all the haters with negative comments, are because people are in pain, and it comes out in unhealthy ways on the internet. You're doing a great job, thanks Oscar!

[@isaacanthonydj4124]

i can do this on the MC707, transposing scale and instrument used, easy peasy lemon squeezy, LoL

[@antonm_]

5:00 So you mean to say these are "Shepard Tropes"? 😅 A continuous series of tropes being killed by tropes. Lol.

[@OscarUnderdog]

Heck yeeeaaah :D

[@matthiaspeene5631]

Shepard tones don't seem to do anything for me? I just hear the same thing over and over.

[@matthiaspeene5631]

The rythmic sheperd tones are dope tho.

[@laviejaguardia1900]

Oscar... jajajajaj

[@hiddentechno8266]

Is that being used on this? kzbin.info/www/bejne/e325k316dtx8Zqc never understood how they managed to get the effect of the constant rise in tension throughout this track.

[@invalid.reference]

No, this track is using a flanger on that synth, which is making the pitch rise and fall in a loop.

[@thomasfontin4688]

thanks for the video. were you high when you shot it? funny faces :)

[@TRTSMTT]

Look up Jacob Collier clapping a shepard's groove.

[@soo3379]

Perfectly used by villalobos here m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4OQeWZsi8ylZpI

[@ZenboyGalacticMedia]

Dude maybe did a quick bump of the booger sugar before making this vid. Keep up the good work.

[@shot1999]

6:20 war ein sehr schmutzig track

[@raptor.1]

Snare rolls are how art dies.

[@OscarUnderdog]

TRIGGERED Next video: snare rolls

[@sachins6196]

Lot of comedy too in this video

[@feraldonkey3241]

Please refrain from showing joy by dancing.Dancing has been condemed and apparrently banned by our caring pollitical representative because it is unsafe and spreads c19. I would appreciate it if you would follow the science. Our current outbreak originated from a fully vexxed nightclub in Melbourne, further proving that dancing is far too dangerous, even at home, to partake in. Maybe you could also stop refering to Tehno as Dance music. Danger music would be a far more pollitically correct term.

[@OscarUnderdog]

Danger music. You sunuvabitch, I'm in.

[@林晚林]

00:01 Exactly how white people dance

[@aaronashton9675]

Great share!! Become a YT god - P r o m o S M!!!

[@nobordersnoflags9905]

your videos are great but that's not a proper Shepard tone.

[@rickyspanish4792]

How so?

[@nobordersnoflags9905]

@@rickyspanish4792 Ask Tom Cosm ;-)

[@Kruse1]

I hate when this is used in EDM, especially when every bloody song in a set/night uses it.