Photek DnB - Production Breakdown Pt.2 (Sequencing and FXs in Renoise)

Here we are again! Second part in my breakdown of Photek’s techniques. This time were in Renoise looking at all the tips & techniques I could decipher from his music! Lots of effort to put this one together but I’ve learnt an incredible amount from really picking apart his tracks. Anyways enjoy everyone! ✌️
- - - Links - - -
Photek Sample Pack - www.groovingbiz.co.uk/photek
Photek Free Pack - www.groovingbiz.co.uk/photek
My Track Bandcamp - grooving.bandcamp.com/track/s...
Blue Mar Ten Jungle Jungle Pack - rekkerd.org/junglejungle-1989...
Paradox Breakbeat Mastery - www.ableton.com/en/blog/parad...
I’m starting a Patreon! These videos take a huge amount of effort to make so if you would like to support me to create more content like this please check out the link! / membership
1-1 Tutoring - www.groovingbiz.co.uk/tutoring
- - - Chapters - - -
Intro: (00:00)
Intro Track: (01:25)
Atmospheres: (04:50)
Pads: (07:26)
Bass: (10:20)
Layering Breaks: (14:28)
Variations of Drum Hits: (17:28)
Delayed FXs: (21:42)
Gating FXs: (25:15)
Reverse Whips: (26:49)
Reverse FXs: (28:58)
Reverse Air (Paradox): (30:38)
Flanger FXs: (32:48)
Drum Rolls: (34:02)
Percussion Layering: (36:00)
Stripped Back Breakdowns: (37:00)
Reverb Hits: (38:56)
Outro: (40:22)
Outro Track: (40:56)

[@ikarugamoo]

Absolutely brilliant yet again! Groovin with Gold right here 👍🏼

[@groovining]

Cheers Matt, Thanks for the kind words. I just got back to your email mate! ✌

[@oferoner321]

Legend brother, thank you for these videos 🤙

[@groovining]

Thanks mate, glad you've been enjoying them! Merry Christmas🎄

[@JC-pu3vl]

Nicely done man, enjoyed that!

[@groovining]

Cheers brother! ✌

[@bromy2251]

Super helpful video as always. Great track also.

[@groovining]

Thanks so much Bromy! Glad you enjoyed the vid mate! ✌

[@benfab2549]

Huge! These are both amazing! Cheers

[@groovining]

Thanks mate - glad you enjoyed these ones - Photek is a legend. Appreciate the comment :) 🥷

[@ghal3on]

so proper !!!! well done man, putting in some serious work

[@groovining]

Cheers ghal3on! You know, I've learnt a lot from studying Photek and his techniques. The amount of time and dedication he had to put into his own work to achieve results really resonated with me. Like 5 weeks minimum for a track when all these Hip-Hop and Trap heads are like 'make 3 tracks a day'. I know it's a style thing and there is beauty in simplicity and vibe, but there is also something to be said for being dedicated and putting in the hard work to build something complex & detailed. Anyways I've taken a leaf out of his book and I really hope I can keep improving the standard of these vids and my music! Cheers bro✌

[@ghal3on]

@@groovining yea man!!! Will be cool once you dive into that sampler. I'm interested in what aspects of production are easier with or without the hardware.

[@Holland2226]

Great, great job. Thank you so much.

[@groovining]

Cheers mate, glad you enjoyed this! Was my first proper breakdown and I'm still inspired by everything I learnt here. Photek was such an intresting producer! ✌️🥷

[@J-Hz]

So many good tips here. Delay fx and cutting the waveform to extend the bass note was something I haven't thought about. Thanks!

[@groovining]

Pleasure mate - and thanks for all the comments! I know that bass note thing is super handy - Renoise just has so many useful features!

[@biokode]

Bravo!

[@Artersa]

Man, it’s the little things in these videos! The lengthening of the bass note is awesome, will give that a try. I also never thought to place al of my delay effects onto a bus so that I can copy the automation as a pattern and copy/paste that. I think for anyone else reading this newer to Renoise, remember to start your effects as OFF via automation first and foremost (not just off after the effect ends). I tend to do it on the first pattern the element appears in. This is because Renoise assume your effects are ON otherwise if it’s turned on further down in the song, so even if the effect to turn on doesn’t appear until halfway in the tune, the effect will be on by default because Renoise is anticipating it to be on however many patterns down.

[@groovining]

Yea that bass one definitely works wonders with resampled sine/808s! Copying all those FXs lanes around is so easy in Renoise as well. Doing the same thing in logic X is way more fiddly! Yea good point, I probably should have emphasised that better. I also usually end up with lots of 'FXs off' automation all over my project as when you're demoing certain parts it's so easy to scroll to another section and then the FXs remain on. It's just one of those quirks of the program.

[@seanleeduncan]

Cool video. Since first it hearing in the 90s, Rings Around Saturn has continued to be one of the most beautifully inteligent tunes I’ve ever heard. Every time I play it, it gives me that same feeling.

[@groovining]

Thanks Sean! Rings Around Saturn is such a wicked tune. Really easy listening. Drum programming is fantastic in that as always. Super complex but always grooving nicely which is a hard balance to find.✌️🥷

[@elijahjflowers]

This channel is so underrated! This makes me want to buy renoise.

[@groovining]

Thanks Elijah! Glad you've been enjoying it so much mate 😊. Renoise is the best!

[@plugexpert]

Excellent!

[@groovining]

Thanks mate!

[@mranchovydrumbass]

Nice one G, another great video ! ................to see someone else working on that wicked drum sound is inspiring, :-) thanks atvb big up Ant

[@groovining]

Thanks Ant! I really appreicated all your comments :) They help inspire me to keep creating. Just got back from a little holiday so am diving straight into Paradox part 3.✌️

[@hroyd]

One of the best things i’ve seen on youtube mate. You have some skill to share. Would be great to see something similar for artists off 720 degrees like blame, total science, simon donehue and paradox. That two revolutions compilation is always top of my playlist.

[@groovining]

Thanks so much. I've got so much cool stuff I want to get into if only the videos didn't take so damn long to make! :) I'm definitely lining up my next breakdown on Paradox as his drums are next level. Total science I also love so that's a great idea. ✌️

[@hroyd]

Yeah mate, your content is next level. Keep it up

[@boootros]

yeah man.. the 2 Revs compilation is a masterpiece. got that on vinyl and cd. would love to see some of those tracks looked into 👍👍

[@wedfrest]

Nice 👍

[@johncitizen8828]

Damn - amazing tutorial. Thank you for clearly putting so much research and work into this.🙌 Killer tune, too. I know someone mentioned Source Direct 😎, but if you are likely to do more of these breakdowns in the future could I put in a vote for Paradox.

[@groovining]

Cheers John and massive thanks for buying some of my samples! Really appreciate you supporting my channel :) I would love to both Source Direct and Paradox. I've actually already taken a huge amount of notes on Paradox both off his DOA interview and this amazing one on Ableton - www.ableton.com/en/blog/paradox-breakbeat-mastery/ I'm definitly going to do another one as its been really beneficial for me to go through the process of taking aparts an artists techniques like that! ✌️

[@cclark8088]

whoa pt.2 :) too good to us.

[@groovining]

Thanks, Wigglez! went deep in this one on all his tricks and FX techniques!

[@chadclark6556]

@@groovining so much good info this one. Thank you!

[@The_Invisible_Man]

Renoise need to sponsor you or put you on the team! I love your passion for jungle and drum and bass.

[@groovining]

Yes! I agree :) I reached out to them a while ago but nothing really came from it so I'm just on my own for now 🥷✌️

[@Ecotechnologist]

Amazing content

[@groovining]

Cheers mate, glad you enjoyed this one. Just working on my next breakdown series on Source Direct atm! ✌️🥷

[@dan_apeks]

Amazing. Thank you. Great track as well

[@groovining]

Thanks Dan, glad you enjoyed it. It's been great picking apart his techniques. I've really learnt a lot myself doing all the research for this project!:)

[@dan_apeks]

@@groovining I bet! Some proper in depth research here picking out from all those different tracks. Back in my day we had DOA forum (some good ppl but lots of misinformation/arguing, lol). The info being shared now on youtube is phenomenal - takes big generousity and skill to do it with as much care, presentation and detail as you are. Big up yourself! 👊

[@groovining]

@@dan_apeks Yea I still used DOA loads. I've been through pretty much every Q & A on there picking all the good stuff out. I'm definitely going to go through it all for a tutorial at some stage! Fracture & Neptune and Paradox ones are both goldmines. Thanks so much man, they do take a long time but I'm enjoying the process more and more. It's definitely rewarding to get such positive feedback! ✌

[@dan_apeks]

@@groovining the Paradox one is amazing. The breakage one was inspirational too, in how simple his approach was. Introduced me to trackers too! Safe bro. Keep up the great work

[@ultraswank]

Great track!

[@groovining]

Thanks mate - glad you liked this one! I've been very much inspired by Photek for my latest track Sword style also. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWSYdZlunZxllcU&lc=Ugw6pQGJeiMkix9PN5x4AaABAg Full breakdown of this coming soon also! 😊⚔️

[@pybusd]

Gmonies dropping 🔥🔥🔥

[@Cybercowboy_69]

The homie don’t miss. 🔥 🔥 🔥 There might be some overlaps but would love to see some insights on source direct’s style.

[@groovining]

I would love to do a Source Direct one - they also have incredible tunes to go through and reference. Also, a LTJ Bukem one would be super cool! So many ideas - I have really enjoyed doing this breakdown series so there will definitely be more to come :)

[@johndoe-nh9sh]

That's a nicely put together track, on point with the Photek vibe, the drums especially so. I really like the slightly delayed 2nd snare where it's just that little bit late and creates a fraction of space that seems much longer. Thanks for putting this vid together.

[@groovining]

Cheers mate! Glad you liked the track and the vid. Photek was such a wicked pioneer of the genre! ✌🥷

[@johndoe-nh9sh]

@@groovining Credit where it's due. Rupert, Source Direct, Hidden Agenda and Dev (Paradox et al) are probably my favourite producers from that era (94-97) when I was buying vinyl.

[@groovining]

They all made fire music. Different style but their drum work espeically was top tier. ✌️

[@johndoe-nh9sh]

@@groovining It's all about the beats and the bass 😎

[@civismesecret2795]

top notch videos m8

[@groovining]

Thanks brother. Glad you you've been enjoying them! :)

[@djsanils]

Gods work brother

[@groovining]

Thanks mate, my next breakdown on Source Direct is coming next week you might enjoy also!✌️🥷

[@Liquidsoundzuk]

Really nice work...great video and the track is 🔥🔥

[@groovining]

Thanks for your comment Liquid! I like that Polyend track tune on your channel - has some cool FXs in there! ✌

[@Liquidsoundzuk]

@@groovining thanks mate just messing with samples but a great way to manipulate breaks

[@groovining]

@@Liquidsoundzuk Yea I actually had one but just found Renoise was the one for me so sold it. It's definitely a cool device! I feel like if you just used the Polyend Tracker for long enough you could get crazy quick with the interface!

[@Liquidsoundzuk]

@@groovining agree mate if its your main device I'm sure you can become rapid 😂 I use it mainly away from my main setup for ideas and chilling on holiday..then bring it back into presonus studio one..that day wine track is the only track I've completely made with the tracker.just to see if I can..trying to get to grips again with the tracker workflow..

[@beef3379]

absolutely love this series. have been trying to get my head around photek level production for 25 years and this is the best dissection of his techniques i've seen. i'm considering getting Redux as a VST to enable me to play around with break choppage in Bitwig but working with trackers is a whole new step for me at this point. Do you think Renoise / Redux provide massive advantages over MIDI / audio slicing in a modern DAW arragement environment? Also keen to know if you've worked with TAL Sampler to chop up breaks?

[@groovining]

Thanks so much for the comment mate. I really went as deep as I could trying to unearth everything I could about his techniques! Still haven't quite figured out how he got such banging drum rolls though! There are definitely some advantages to Renoise compared to a DAW like Bitwig but everything can be achieved in both. I'd say the Tracker workflow is just perfect for programming jungle breaks especially. The FXS commands, Quick Step Automation. Render to Sample are all super helpful. It also puts you in such a great mental box which is why I love it so much. I stick to 90% native plugins in the production stage and just focus on using the Tools that Renoise provides. It also has a few amazing features which people don't really talk about. One thing is you can add slice markers at any point to a drum break and it will update all your notes so that all the hits are still playing correctly! Amazing feature! I much prefer working in Renoise alone than in Redux. You can sync the clocks etc. I actually haven't tried TAL Sampler yet but I've heard great things. It has really cool analog emulations of the DAC from old hardware EMU etc.

[@senseiprod]

awesome content, as renoiser - i really love it - even i'm not in the jungle at all :) respect!

[@senseiprod]

each minute into video, i'm amazed. Now it's time to get into jungle! :P

[@groovining]

Hey Bitovi - haha thanks mate! even if jungle is not your style, there are so many techniques and tricks you can take from the genre to implement into your own work. The way all these artists were abusing the analog equipment and pushing the boundries of what was possible in these vintage samples like the EMU e64 is super inspiring. Certainly for me anyways! :)

[@trashcan9001]

Amazing tutorial again mate. awesome techniques in display here. the track is awesome. thank you very much!. if i can ask. which renoise tools you consider "must have" or most useful. thank you again!

[@groovining]

Hey Christian - thanks for the kind comments again! Glad you enjoyed the video - was a fun one to make! I don't actually use a crazy amount of tools with Renoise but two that I use all the time are the SuperNudge Tool forum.renoise.com/t/new-tool-3-1-supernudge/48548 and Better Column navigation - forum.renoise.com/t/new-tool-3-1-better-column-navigation/46034 . I think the most essential thing to do with Renoise is to get a keyboard with a Numpad and remap all your essential key commands to the Numpad. I have Transpose semitone +/- on (1,2). Transpose Octave +/- (shift + 1,2) Jump to next note data (6,3) Better column navigation left/right to (7/8). Mute the selected track is also a great one to map :)

[@J-Hz]

@@groovining thanks for this. I recently thought about reassigning the numpad as i find that i don't use it for instrument selection at all. This is a good place to start

[@trashcan9001]

@@groovining you are a legend man! thank you for the tips on using the key commands on the Numpad!

[@groovining]

@@trashcan9001 All good dude! happy to help :)

[@henridacosta9037]

Loving the content - During the pads section, you mention how to stay in key when playing parallel chords. Do you not play out of key when you play up and down the keyboard with these notes? Are there certain notes you can play to stay in key? Trying to get my head around it!

[@groovining]

Thanks so much mate. Yes, you can play +5, +7 +12 semitones. So a fourth, fifth and octave and stay in key with parallel chords. This is true for both major and minor chords. For Cmaj. The fourth is a Fmaj and fifth is Gmaj. So we can transpose up or down C and stay in key.

[@henridacosta9037]

@@groovining Thank you!

[@skrach1000]

No one has ever done a video on his legendary amens like in Presha iii, First sequence or Truper Vol2- instead theres just forum talks. I get it's super intimidating but if you were to even attempt this daunting challanage myself and I'm sure many more would be greatful! Thanks anyway for this detailed video, you smashed it.

[@groovining]

Actually a great idea for a vid. I would actually add Source Direct 'Secret Liaison to that list for just beautiful amen rolling bangers! I'm pretty comfortable with the techniques but it's difficult to put it all together. One thing if you compare all those tracks is the Amens are all processed and layered so differently. Thanks for the comment mate. If you haven't seen it already, I've just finished a Paradox series which has lots more techniques in the same light! ✌️

[@skrach1000]

@@groovining Yeah Source direct is the only one on par with that type and level of amens IMO. Agreed they are all processed and sequenced differently oc but there is a few similarity’s I can’t put my finger on that simply makes them slap. I worked out a bit like eqing the kick and the ride together separately from the rest by boosting bass and cutting some mids also compressing the hi hat shuffle snare and kick differently to get different transients.. but that only takes me half way there. Hopefully one day you might be able to share a way to get me even closer, Anyways big ups for the content!

[@TOPBOYish]

Great video my man ! I am loving these Photek videos as Photek really was on another level back then ! and for someone that was not around in the 90's you really have figured out a lot of the secrets ! quick question and I don't know if I missed this but did you manage to figure out how Photek created such unique drum shuffles ? for example in his track KNIGHTVISION, how do you think he gets those hi-hat shuffles to sound the way they do ? they sound like needles !

[@groovining]

Thanks dude! Yea Photek made so many amazing tunes back then. I learn so much myself from making this series and studying his work. Listening to Knightvision, I don't there is any crazy wizardry going on with the shuffles its just really good sound selection. Things to think about is controlling the decay of the hits to make them nice and snappy and give them a bit of bite. Also Tuning, EQ, Velocity and subtle bits of groove offest just to make things a little more natural. Too much swing can make things sound sloppy but shuffles especially sometimes want some subtle movement off the grid. Hope this helps ✌️😊

[@TOPBOYish]

Hi and thanks for getting back to me, I really appreciate it, are you familiar with another of the all time greatest drum & bass producers. from, the 90's a guy called Big Bud ? who use to be on Fabio's label creative source and then Bukems label and then his own label called soundtrax between Photek and big bud you have it all ! Photek on the minimal side of the spectrum and Big Bud on the other side of the spectrum just filling his Tunes with layer after later of very subtle sounds, truly creating atmospheric drum and bass ! and his breaks were also superb !@@groovining

[@TOPBOYish]

@@groovining Hi and thanks for getting back to me, I really appreciate it, are you familiar with another of the all time greatest drum & bass producers. from, the 90's a guy called Big Bud ? who use to be on Fabio's label creative source and then Bukems label and then his own label called soundtrax between Photek and big bud you have it all ! Photek on the minimal side of the spectrum and Big Bud on the other side of the spectrum just filling his Tunes with layer after later of very subtle sounds, truly creating atmospheric drum and bass ! and his breaks were also superb !

[@groovining]

Yea for sure mate - Big Bud has some classic tunes. This was always a favoureite - Big Bud - Temptation :)

[@TOPBOYish]

Hi and thanks for getting back to me, I thought that maybe I had got lost in the traffic ! Anyway I am very impressed with your knowledge of those days and for a young lad like yourself that obviously wasn't around to experince those days, you really know your stuff ! I was lucky enough to be around from the very beggining of the whole dance scene that exposed in the late 80's with the acid house warehouse parties into the big field raves and then on into all the top club nights of the 90's ! I was there and experienced it all ! and have many many stories I could share from those days but especially the birth of the drum & bass scene that evolved out of the jungle scene around the mid 90's I Dj'd myself for along time and have played around over the years with making music, mostly house as it's not as hard to produce as D&B but I always wanted to have a go at making the early D&B like you are covering on your channel and agin I am very impressed with your knowledge and am interested in possibly working with you on a one to one bassis, If your up for it and not to busy ? And in regards to Big Bud have you listended to any of his albums which are superb espechially his first one he released on good looking called infinity + infinity ? @@groovining

[@philadams9254]

Nice track! Send it to Equinox. I can see him smashing this one

[@groovining]

Cheers, Phil - I definitely will! :)

[@delta-9969]

using hexidecimal would make a lot more sense if every parameter was 00-FF. But like the pan command is 00-80, 40 being center, and the volume command caps at C0... having to remember the unique parameter ranges for everything is a PITA. If it's arbitrary anyway, why not have everything just go from 0-99? They stuck with hex as an homage to early trackers, but it's a lot of trouble for what amounts to an aesthetic choice.

[@groovining]

One of the main reasons for Hex is you can fit more information on two digits 00 - FF = 256 compared to 99. Also in hex 10 = 16, 20 = 32 so each jump up 16 which makes sense in music.

[@biokode]

One thing I found searching for Photek studio footage is that it seems he chopped his breaks in some early version of Cubase/Logic - could that be right? 🤯🤯 I just assumed he used OctaMED or something.

[@groovining]

Hey Biokode, Yea it's Cubase 3 which is actually just doing the Midi. He used an EMU E4 and E64 which are hardware samplers. He moved on to Logic a bit later I think. I covered his break chopping technique a little bit in the previous vid and used that clip also! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpXFlYCQprqsrpo

[@biokode]

@@groovining awesome, I just tried some of those techniques on my SP-404 and it works GREAT 🙂

[@groovining]

@@biokode Epic man! that's the whole point of these vids. Take these techniques and reinvent them in your own workflow. Good stuff :)

[@biokode]

@@groovining Cheers! Ever tried the TAL Sampler and chopping stuff there? Seems cool, but I've barely scratched the surface of it. Just trying it now, the slicing isn't very intuitive (at least not for me lol)

[@danman397]

Stakka and Skynet please....

[@groovining]

Thats a great combo, I would love too. Definitly in the future. (paradox might be in the works atm.... 👀)

[@cheesypeanuts]

where can i get a copy of your track though?!

[@groovining]

In the comments I think! :)

[@cheesypeanuts]

@@groovining yeah man I wanna buy the intro track!

[@jobsonindustries]

High grade

[@groovining]

Yes, Chiz - welcome to the channel!

[@thegroove2000]

clyde stubblefield should be a billionaire.

[@thegroove2000]

fantastic as always. Thanks.

[@groovining]

Cheeers mate! Yes he absolutely should! Bernard Purdie also :)

[@thegroove2000]

For real.@@groovining

[@Endle185]

These producers did not have any music theory, it was all done by ear. I’m 100% sure source direct did not go to university my friend. Weed and energy to create was there school

[@groovining]

Yea most definitly, weed was certainly used! kzbin.info/www/bejne/n360q5arm9CHpas Source direct were for sure doing it all by ear but some simple music theory can be useful just to show which certain notes etc go together. Artists like Optical, Nosia and Photek were all very technical producers so I'm sure they picked up some basic understanding of the theory throught the years! ✌️

[@tarekwayne9193]

You do not need to go to Uni to know music theory. It's a very outdated concept that knowing theory makes you less "authentic/cool/or whatever"