ADAM SMITH

DJ Adam Smith has been making his name known for over a decade, mixing is eclectic tastes and developing a unique sound for himself. Consistently remixing tunes by other artists to incorporate a dirty tribal-influenced electro sound, his DJ sets are not to be messed with. He even won Toronto’s NXTDJ competition (sponsored by Fly - Fashion.Art.Toronto.

Ghost Kicks :: The Silent Thriller


There are times when silence has the loudest voice – Leroy Brownlow
In drumming, ghost notes are used to create more complex beats by adding anti-accents through
snare, tom or kick hits. In addition to volume attenuation the producer can use pitch shifting or
eq filtering to vary the sound of the ghost notes. In electronic music, drum and bass, dubstep,
tribal and tech house producers will commonly use this production technique.

Ghost Kick Defined
A ghost kick is used when referencing a quiet kick drum recording that enhances the over all hit
of the drum. This term “Ghost kick” is not to be confused with another popular production
technique known as “sidechaining”. This is when a dedicated kick track with muted output is used
to trigger the compressor of another track. The kick itself is not audible but its triggered reaction
is heard on the compressed track by way of a ducking or pumping sound.



Ghost kicks are indeed audible and can be accomplished by dropping the velocities or changing
the pitch on your kicks that don’t fall on 1,5,9,13 if you are using a standard 16 step drum
sequencer. The result can add interesting drive and groove to a standard 4/4 kick sequence
used in dance and house music.

Working With Ghost Kicks
bar try to slightly vary the ghost kick placement, velocity and complexity. This adds variation and
gives you the ability to mix and match the assorted beat patterns which will best match the overall
sound you want to achieve.

You can also try dropping in repetitious ghost kicks to different parts of the step grid can produce
various popular feels and grooves.



Raw Atmosphere
In some tracks it seems that adding reverb to the kick works to help get a raw warehouse sound,
but then again, that kind of empty concrete room reverb can be applied to less frequent song
elements to invoke the atmosphere. Reverb seems to in some ways define atmosphere or at
least remind one of a certain environment.



Try applying various types of reverb to your ghost kick such as gated, reverse and plates varying
the short delay times. Each reverb will add a different groove element to your beat. It’s also a
good idea to roll off the low end of reverb to avoid any muddy sounds which may clash with your
main kick and bass tracks. Sidechain ducking on reverb in general seems to be very effective and
has become more common, it seems to represent air getting sucked out of the room when the
reverb has some higher frequency content.

Summary
Originality in beat production is becoming harder and rarer especially in electronic/pop music
genres. Every kid and their mother have access to the same tools that the top music producers
in the world use. Using anti-accents and ghost notes are tools which can assist you in attaining
that signature sound your trying to achieve.

- Audio academy

The night prior, Sat. Feb. 16, fly Nightclub brings in Montreal resident Stéfane Lippé to headline but it’s the opening DJ I’m highlighting here. A few months back, fly presented the first ever (though, hopefully not last) NXTDJ night. In the fashion of American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance, six fledgling DJs were given 30 minutes on the turntables and were judged by fly manager Gaelen Patrick, host(ess) extraordinaire Walther, resident DJ Shawn Riker and myself. DJ Adam Smith won the competition and now opens for Lippé on this night. NXTDJ proved there are a lot of young, up-and-coming DJs that are set to explode on the scene. I say bring ’em on! www.flynightclub.com

http://www.fabmagazine.com/panther_patrol/archive/339.html - Fab Magazine (Charles Pavia) Issue 339