STUDIES OF ECOACOUSTICA - Part 1: Building Dynamic Sonic Environments with 990x
Added 2025-01-09 19:30:02 +0000 UTC
STUDIES OF ECOACOUSTICA
Part 1: Building Dynamic Sonic Environments
with 990x
In this Lux Cache article/tutorial, avant-garde beat producer 990x explores the creation of living sonic ecosystems, offering a masterclass in transforming compositions into immersive, dynamic experiences. Through techniques such as binaural audio, effect automation, and the integration of foley, 990x demonstrates how to craft music that feels alive—pushing the boundaries of traditional production. Using FL Studio as the primary DAW, the tutorial provides practical insights and workflows that are easily transferable to other platforms, ensuring accessibility for producers at any level.
This tutorial is available as a Patreon text post and a preferred .pdf document format. We ask you kindly not to share Lux Cache content outside of the Patreon, our contributors rely on your donations.
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CONTENTS
0. SONIC ENVIRONMENTS & ACOUSTIC SPACES 2
4. ROUTING, EFFECTS & AUTOMATION 4
0. SONIC ENVIRONMENTS & ACOUSTIC SPACES
"Kankyō ongaku" (環境音楽) is a Japanese term meaning "environmental music," referring to ambient and new-age music that creates a sonic environment for the listener. Unlike traditional ambient music, as defined by Brian Eno—where the music is intended to subtly enhance the background—environmental music becomes the environment itself. It forms a living, breathing sonic ecosystem that envelops the listener, guiding them into an immersive, dynamic experience.
A similar approach can be observed in dub music, where stripped-back reggae instrumentals are reimagined using heavy effects on the master channel and send channels. Here, the effects don’t just enhance the music—they become the music itself, interacting with the listener in a way that feels alive, unpredictable, and deeply immersive.
Throughout my musical journey, I’ve expanded on the concept of environmental music through the use of Foley and dub-inspired mixing techniques to break the "fourth wall," resulting in musical atmospheres that feel alive and participatory.
In this Lux Cach special, I’ll demonstrate how to create these living sonic ecosystems in your own compositions. We’ll explore techniques like binaural audio, automation of effects, and Foley integration—all aimed at crafting music that feels truly alive. While this tutorial uses FL Studio as the DAW, the principles discussed are easily transferable to other production software.
The ideas presented here are experimental and challenge conventional mixing norms. While such techniques often work best with headphone playback, they can translate effectively onto larger systems with a good understanding of mixing and some creative problem-solving.
1. MIXING IN 3D
The foundation of creating sonic environments lies in understanding space and mixing. To achieve this, I recommend visualising audio three-dimensionally. I was first introduced to this concept through The Art of Mixing by David Gibson. In this framework:
Y-axis = Frequency
X-axis = Stereo field
Z-axis = Amplitude
This approach provides a clear method for constructing a sonic world. For instance:
Adjusting frequency with a filter moves sound up or down.
Panning shifts sound from left to right.
Manipulating stereo width broadens or narrows the image.
Changing amplitude brings sounds closer or pushes them further away.
Combining these principles with send effects, automation, and Foley allows us to create vibrant, dynamic sonic environments that feel alive to the listener.
2. SAMPLING
Sampling is one of the simplest ways to break the fourth wall and enrich the sonic environment. Platforms like YouTube and Freesound Archive are excellent for sourcing samples. Additionally, don’t hesitate to record your own sounds for more personalised textures.
Foley: Foley refers to everyday sound effects added during post-production to enhance realism. Sounds like rain on a tin roof, crashing waves or even animal noises can transform dull ambient tracks into rich, immersive soundscapes. Sparingly layering these sounds throughout your track creates dynamic pockets that engage the listener. Foley can also be repurposed rhythmically—using snippets for hi-hats, snares, or other percussive elements adds depth and intrigue to a track.
ASMR: Sounds that trigger Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) can also break the fourth wall. Examples include brushing, whispering, or subtle tapping. These "tingles" connect directly with the listener’s sensory experience.
Binaural Audio: Binaural recording mimics real-world spatial audio, creating a striking sense of depth. Examples like virtual barbershops or overhead aircraft noises feel uncannily real. Specialised microphones enhance this effect, but free tools like dearVR Micro can replicate it effectively in a DAW.
3. RESAMPLING
Resampling is a powerful technique that involves capturing sound in a new context, allowing the environment itself to imprint unique textures and artefacts onto the audio—textures that cannot be achieved purely within a DAW. By re-recording audio in the physical world, you invite unpredictability and a layer of organic imperfection that brings your music to life.
For example, playing your track through a speaker in a reverberant cave can introduce eerie, spacious qualities, while recording it in a tin can might impart a metallic resonance. Similarly, capturing audio on a busy street adds a chaotic, dynamic layer of real-world ambience that feels alive and in flux. These environments naturally interact with the sound, creating distinctive artefacts such as echoes, resonances, or subtle distortions that enhance the sense of immersion.
One of the most famous proponents of this technique is dub artist Lee “Scratch” Perry, who was known for his unorthodox methods, including burying speakers under palm trees to infuse his recordings with natural resonances and vibrations. Such practices turned the environment itself into a collaborator, blurring the lines between sound creation and sound discovery.
By layering a resampled version of your track with its original, you can create a dialogue between two acoustic spaces, guiding the listener through contrasting sonic environments. For example, combining the dry clarity of a studio mix with the murky reverberation of a resampled version recorded in a large hall can produce an otherworldly effect. The interplay between these layers adds depth, dimensionality, and a sense of evolution to your track, transforming it into a living, breathing entity.
The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Experiment with unconventional spaces—place your speakers in containers, underwater, or even buried in sand. Record using lo-fi mediums like cassette or VHS to introduce nostalgic, degraded qualities. Moving microphones around the space while recording can add further motion and dynamism, creating textures that shift unpredictably.
4. ROUTING, EFFECTS & AUTOMATION
As mentioned in the introduction, dub music has been a profound influence on my creative process. Traditional dub artists often use the mixing desk as a dynamic instrument, manually adjusting sliders and twisting knobs to manipulate send/bus and master effects such as reverb, delay, panning, and filtering. These techniques breathe life into otherwise repetitive riddims, giving individual channels a natural, organic quality that makes the music feel alive.
In modern production, automation serves as a powerful tool to achieve similar results. By automating send, bus, and master channel effects, we can seamlessly bring individual sounds in and out of various acoustic environments. A personal example of this can be found in my collaboration with Katebi on the track Particle. Through precise automation, both individual tracks and the master channel itself pass through different "environments," effectively breaking the fourth wall and creating a deeply immersive experience.
4A. SENDS & BUSES
Sends and buses are essential routing tools within a DAW, allowing audio signals to be processed collectively or individually with specific effects. While their functions differ slightly:
Send: Routes a portion of an audio signal to another channel for additional processing.
Bus: Combines multiple signals into one channel, often for collective processing.
For simplicity, I’ll refer to these processes collectively as routing.
Routing gives you unparalleled control over how effects are applied. For instance, you can send multiple sounds to a bus with reverb, delay, or filtering, creating a unified atmosphere. In FL Studio, routing is straightforward: click on the source channel and then click the arrow below the destination channel. Remember to mute the dry signal on send and bus channels to avoid signal doubling. Note that this doesn’t apply to the master channel.
4B. DUB DELAY
Dub delay remains one of the most iconic effects in dub music. Engineers often automate the feedback and delay time to craft hypnotic, swirling effects that entrance listeners. These techniques have since found a home in ambient and atmospheric genres.
In FL Studio, the stock Delay 3 plugin is a versatile tool for achieving these effects. Once added to a bus or master channel, you can automate parameters like feedback and delay time to create evolving, trippy sounds. I prefer to use ping-pong delays for a more psychedelic effect, combined with the built-in modulation panel to add movement to the delay's cutoff frequency.
To trigger the effect, automate the input fader for brief moments. By increasing the feedback, you can intensify the sound, making it ring out. When applied to the master, this can transform the entire track, creating the illusion of an expansive echo chamber.
4C. REVERB
Reverb is another powerful effect for shaping the perception of space and adding depth to a mix:
Fruity Reverb 2: This plugin can simulate an "out of body" feeling when placed on the master channel. By removing the decay and dry signal while boosting the wet signal to the maximum, it can create the sensation of standing outside a nightclub or in a vast, reverberant space. Use sparingly to avoid overwhelming the mix.
Fruity Convolver: Convolution reverb uses impulse responses to replicate real-world acoustic spaces like caves, church halls, or enclosed boxes. It’s particularly effective on the master channel for adding a tangible sense of the environment.
4D. TIME-BASED EFFECTS
While frequency, stereo width, and amplitude form the three primary dimensions of music, time can be considered the fourth. Automating time-based effects introduces dynamic, evolving characteristics to a track:
Tempo Automation: Simply right-click the BPM in FL Studio and create an automation clip to speed up or slow down your track. This effect is commonly used in trap beats to simulate altered states of mind toward the end of a track.
Tape Stops and Starts: These effects mimic the sudden halts and gradual starts of analogue tape and can add a sense of unpredictability.
DJ Screw’s Chop Effect: FL Studio’s Gross Beat plugin offers a "1 beat juggle" preset in the momentary tab. Automating its volume on the master channel replicates this classic effect.
4E. GRANULAR MANIPULATION
FL Studio’s Granulizer is an underrated tool for adding chaos and unpredictability. To use it:
Resample a portion of your track.
Load the resampled audio into the Granulizer plugin.
Experiment with the top four knobs in real time to create chaotic, grainy textures.
For added depth, pan the grains to around halfway, creating a three-dimensional sound. Record the results with Edison and layer these sporadically into your track to add a sense of randomness and life.
4F. PAN WEAVING
Automating the pan of elements like hi-hats or snares, then duplicating the layer and reversing the modulation direction, can make the sound feel like it’s breathing. This technique can also be applied to stereo knobs on mixer channels. For a more dramatic effect, export your track, bring it back into your DAW, and automate the pan of the entire master.
4G. LAYERING CONCEPTS
The real magic lies in combining techniques to craft a multidimensional sonic experience that captivates the listener. By blending different methods thoughtfully, you can create textures and movements that feel truly alive and dynamic. For example:
Tempo Automation with Filters and Delays: Automating tempo changes while simultaneously applying filters and delays can produce a disorienting, almost hallucinogenic effect. This approach manipulates not just the sound but also the perception of time, pulling the listener into an unpredictable and immersive state. Try pairing rapid tempo shifts with resonant low-pass filters and long, modulated delay tails to heighten the psychedelic feel.
Underwater Binaural Audio with Reverb: Layering underwater binaural recordings with a dense reverb on a bus channel can create a sense of submersion that feels visceral and enveloping. Using convolution reverb with impulse responses from underwater environments can amplify the realism, making the track feel like it’s physically pulling the listener beneath the surface. Further movement can be introduced by automating subtle stereo panning or adding faint bubbles and ripples for texture.
Cross-Environment Transitions: Combining resampled audio with effects-laden buses allows you to guide the listener through different acoustic "spaces" within the track. For example, transitioning from a dry, intimate soundscape to a cavernous, echo-heavy environment can simulate moving between physical locations, heightening the narrative potential of the composition.
Dynamic Contrasts: Experiment with layering multiple sonic textures that evolve independently. For instance, combine a filtered drone with rhythmic, foley-based percussion routed through a dub delay. Automating each layer’s amplitude and stereo width over time can create a breathing, morphing quality to the track.
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990X is an avant-garde beat producer and sound artist based in Sydney, Australia.
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