Meet your course instructor Jacob Dilssner, aka Wankelmut. The producer and DJ discusses his music journey and gives some career tips.
Wankelmut goes through his Ableton template, including effects racks, audio and MIDI track setup, return channels and some vocal processing.
Wankelmut loads an acapella into the session and works out the key and BPM, establishing a guide chord progression.
Using 909 samples and Ableton’s Simpler, Wankelmut programs a basic house beat with a swung groove and sets up a drum bus.
Wankelmut writes a bass line that uses the initial chord progression as a guide, then designs a plucky bass patch with Wavetable. He then edits the guide chord progression so that it fits with the bass line, and makes a piano group with some early processing,
With a foundation in place, Wankelmut treats the lead vocal with EQ, saturation and compression, and sets up vocal return channels.
Wankelmut finetunes the bass and piano parts, and begins sketching out a radio-friendly arrangement. He then moves the track forward with filtered FX, adding impact with a snare riser, white noise and reverse crash cymbal.
Using his MIDI keyboard Wankelmut records a new piano take, edits the clip to inject some variation, and tweaks the processing. He jumps on the Prophet 6, demonstrating some synthesis fundamentals. He adds a pluck sound on top using Wavetable and blends it in.
With the main elements in place, Wankelmut extends out the section he’s been working on so far into a full arrangement.
Wankelmut composes a piano part for the bridge section, distinguishing it from the rest of the track with a different chord progression. For the final ingredient, he creates a sustained lead sound and writes a hook melody to spice up the post-chorus section.
Using mainly EQ and compression, Wankelmut cleans up the mix and gets it ready to be sent out to a mixing engineer.
Step into the studio and join platinum-selling producer and DJ Wankelmut for a masterclass in making radio-friendly house music. Using Ableton Live, Wankelmut takes you on a six hour journey from blank project to final mix, covering the full spectrum of music production along the way as he creates a certified chart topper.
Watch Wankelmut build a beat and share drum programming techniques, design synth patches, chop up vocal acapellas and create FX like risers, lifters and reverse sounds. You’ll see him grapple with basslines and lead synth melodies, turn loops into full arrangements and everything in between, with his full array of mix skills on display throughout.
The majority of the course is carried out in-the-box, with a focus on stock plugins that anyone who uses Ableton as their DAW can use. Wankelmut even goes through his personal Ableton template in full, giving you an insight into the way the pros work. Even if you don’t use Ableton, you’ll still be able to pull a huge amount of knowledge and inspiration from this course, as broad topics are covered like synthesis fundamentals, workflow, and mixing and mastering.
Navigating the waters of the music industry isn’t easy, especially when you’re trying to make a career out of your tunes. Don’t worry though, Wankelmut is on hand to share with you some insider tips on launching yourself as an artist and establishing your brand once things are rolling. As well as an in-depth guide to making banging house tracks, you’ll pick up some sage career advice from an artist who has well and truly done it all.
