The 4 rules of techno minimalism

A lot of dance music revolves around maximising the impact of a very limited set of musical ideas. How do we achieve minimalist elegance but avoid sounding amateur, simplistic, underproduced?

Here are the 4 steps to getting effective minimalist productions.

Contents:
0:00 The four magic ingredients
2:38 How to groove at all levels
5:24 How to create movement in the timbre
7:00 Dealing with too much movement
9:19 The golden rule of movement
9:29 How to add polymeters to your techno groove
14:45 How to build tension and release in minimalist music
17:27 Summary and next steps

[JWIE]

You always make me wanna get up and go straight into the DAW. Thank you.

[riobit]

Man, just love you.
I'm 54, from Buenos Aires. Started using a bit deeper Ableton 2 years ago.
A Beatstep called a miniLab and then the SQ-64. Then came the volca Sample, TR-6S and the Roland S-1
Well, now is time to learn. I never subscribe myself to any channel.
But your deserve it.
Thanks a lot.
You make the universe be nice
Que sea Rock

[zenchiefengineer]

This information is far more important than some people realize. I'm guilty of the "amateur" and "underproduced"

[Gregorovitch]

I'd wager a tidy sum a lot of folks who watched this are gonna make the tune they're currently working on sound a whole heap better.

[cheddarcheezit]

4:51I didn't fully get how flat the "no groove" was until you switched back to it... the "yes groove" has a sort of heartbeat to it, a rolling.

[g_aware_nerd]

I love the look of excitement in his eyes...he's like a little kid! Nothing like passionate teachers!

[MNolanMillar]

I don't usually make Techno, but these are solid tips for composition.

[vohomusic]

Decades of experience condensed in a few sentences. This is golden.

[nitrotuneofficial]

I have been watching tutorials more than 10 years about grooves, techno, edm, etc. and honestly this is the best one I have ever watched!

[ibrahimmancilla]

These are the rules not only for techno but for life

[JamesRamboPearce]

A tip for ya! You can reverse any audio clip by simply pressing R (so you don't need to menu dive!)

[zero-x-music]

The four magic ingredients:
BOM BOMM BOMMMM

You're a genius, Oscar!!

[philharmonie]

it's crazy how much useful information you put in these 18 minutes. Basically a guideline for developing an electronic music track in general, helped me a lot!

[budsticky]

This might be my favorite video of yours yet. Would love to see a video about how you take something like this and hold that interest for a full 7 minute track, especially in this minimal style. I feel like it's kind of touched on here as you show how to create the tension and "make them wait, " but would still love to see a video on expanding ideas like this out even further. Great stuff. About to go try some of these techniques to a track I'm currently working on to see if I can improve it.

[slackdave]

5:04 ... I really enjoy switiching between the amateur and not so amateur version.

[oscillatorstorm]

I love how these great tutorials can be aplied to so many more genres than techno

[FFabianoFonseca]

luky ive found you! i use to make songs FULL of EVERTYHING... now, i will try to relax and do as you showed... thknx

[mvanbreemen]

This is genius! Something that I’ve been looking for for a very long time.

[thegiftofbread]

YES. Agree with comments below, this was very clear and very instructive. I want to get something like Tomas Novoa style. This will help a lot.

[lemurdreamur]

There isn't enough love for techno out there.