Mad Zach’s Tutorial On Building Soundpacks

Written by Dan White on February 17th, 2013 47 Comments

If you’re a DJ TechTools newsletter subscriber, then you probably know about Mad Zach’s popular, playable, and fun sound packs for Ableton Live. Ever wondered how to make them yourself? Today we’ve got you covered. Continue reading for a free tutorial video that reveals two basic techniques – along with information about a new one hour video workshop that goes deep into expressive Ableton sound design and advanced controllerist sampling techniques!

SOUNDPACK CRAFTING SECRETS

In the last year, we’ve given out over thirty soundpacks (all crafted by Mad Zach) with demand for more growing every day. When requests started rolling in for a tutorial on how he makes them, it was a no-brainer educational opportunity.

“I think anyone who watches will be inspired to create their own personal soundpacks that can provide hours of musical joy. This tutorial covers the new frontier of production techniques that enable live performance without boundries” - Mad Zach

While building each pack, Mad Zach spends about 8 hours in total, including finding the sounds, planning out different playable elements, and setting up real time mastering that makes the pack rich, crisp, and cohesive. The attention put into each pack (see an example in the video below!) has even been praised by other well-respected names in the industry, including bass music pioneer and Ableton legend, Ill Gates:

“Dude. Wow. I can’t thank you enough! I bought all of your packs from DJTT, your programming is incredible.” - Ill Gates

THE SIX LESSONS THAT MAKE IT HAPPEN

The full 60 minute tutorial goes deep into every detail of the sound pack creation through six distinct lessons:

Crafting the Beat: techniques for creating more dynamic drums for live performance – from scratch!
Setting The Mood: creating pads and atmospheres, including starting from a vinyl sample and turning it into emotionally driven sounds that will act as the hook and set the vibe of the track.
Melody of One: one note melodies re-envisioned, which can be easily played using one button while still remaining expressive and diverse
Risers 101: Creating Builds To Fit The Pack: creating interesting risers out of samples you already have on hand for buildups, breakdowns, transitions, and more.
Bass Face: Addressing The Modern Sub: How to use MIDI clips, modifiers, and clever patching to create a dope bassline that can be played live
GTFO: The Sounds, The Magic – adding flair to a performance soundpack, including making cool sounds using the simple delay, and recording some vocal samples that take the pack up a notch.

Watch all six lessons in the video workshop now for just $30!

From fun techniques like using a beer bottle to make an amazing kick, to more complex production topics, this tutorial covers a wide range of valuable material:

creative sample manipulation
mixing and mastering for live performance, including sidechain compression, compression, EQ, and more
pitch, filter, and volume envelopes
non-retriggering LFOs
granular looping and modulation
layering in instrument racks
FX bussing and drumrack routing
modifiers and sound layout
proper and creative use of delays and other FX
vocal processing
tweaking kickdrum sounds from scratch

STREAMING GOODNESS

If you are interested in diving deeper into soundpack creation. Mad Zach’s workshop is available to watch right now for only $30. Here’s what you’ll get:

unlimited streaming of each lesson, as many times as you want, forever.
all of the sounds used to craft the pack
the complete Ableton template

I Loved This Article >

le_phreaK

yes, YES, YES!
Anonymous

Yes,

Give a man a fish, he can eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish, he can eat for a life time!

:) scamo
kilbot

great stuff! the red jacket really does it for me :)
DJ Clashy

Nice one :) When is the new mapping for MF Spectra gonna hit us??
Yokanda

Cool! yes! I just bought this.
I Wait your next tutoral yet.!
Shawnyd

Exactly what I needed! Thanks Mad Zach and DJTT!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1137292039 Ronald Edwards

Wow, I didn’t think that article would be revisited so quickly (heh). I hope your class makes you enough money to live in S.F. I know it’s expensive here. Keep up the good work!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1137292039 Ronald Edwards

Until the fish get over-fished and then there’s no fish left… (just sayin’)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Trevor-Nordberg/1169749589 Trevor Nordberg

This is Exactly What I needed!!!!!
Reinout

mad zach for president!
Anonymous

That’s why it costs $30. Not everyone will go fishing, when they have to pay for it first, so there will be enough fish to fish for. Go fish! Hahaha!
RockingClub

But it’s absolutely right!

By far too many people underestimate the importance of know-how! Buying another music production or performance tool doesn’t do the job if you don’t know how to achieve certain results!

I’d almost bet: Spending 30$ for these tutorials is way more useful than spending 3000$ for gear!
http://www.facebook.com/arthurnava Arthur Nava

And then there are those that will be saying: “If only I had a midi-fighter.” Seriously, this is tight. Mad thanks Mad Zack.
tr4gik

Mad Zack you’re golden man, I think his insights are worth every penny.
dj_sensible

really good video, but the buffering is driving me fucking mental and there’s definitely nothing wrong with my internet connection…..
DJTT John

Hi, can you try lowering the quality using the “HD” button on the player and let me know if that helps?
bootymusic

Mad Zach, you are a genius!
ridlol

Mad Zach is just an extremely talented dude! I could figure the very first time i saw him.
ridlol

btw Guys, what’s the name of midi fighter with faders?? is it being sold?
Tom

I cant find the link to watch it again…? It says its in the store???
Tom

I cant’t find the tutorials in the store to watch again…? Please link
skrill crosby

soo can you only use sound packs for abelton? orr would they work with fruity loops as well?
Mad Zach

you can pull the samples into FL if you want but the soundpacks are optimized for drumrack in Ableton
Mad Zach

login to your my.djtechtools.com account (free), go to your “videos” tab and walaa
Mad Zach

go to my.djtechtools.com, login (with the same account you used to make your purchase) and go to your videos tab
Mad Zach

midi fighter pro https://store.djtechtools.com/products/midi-fighter-pro
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=506930664 Dave Stickland

yeah boyyeee!!! helps loads, sorry if my message seemed a bit abrupt i didnt mean it that way. Cheers man
DJTT John

Cool, I want to know if there is a problem, I can’t fix it if I don’t know! I upgraded the server yesterday too, just to make sure.
http://twitter.com/eljmayes Edward Mayes

Mad Zach looks like a Bond villain sans a fluffy cat. As for the video I think $30 is a bit steep- is there a paid for DJ Tech Tools app in the pipeline in which you could have an in app purchases like this?
Anonymous

I’m as broke as a joke but you best believe I’ll be buyin this shit next friday ;)
Alex B

Would anyone suggest this for beginners in ableton?
http://kontroleryzm.pl/mad-zach-soundpack-tutorial/ Mad Zach i jego "Soundpack Tutorial" | Kontroleryzm.plKontroleryzm.pl

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y

Agreed. Consider maschinetutorials.com is $10/month for hundreds of tutorials, puts it in perspective. But LOVE you guys keep it up!
slslslslslsl

anyone purchase the tutorial and have any feedback yet?
SonSon

Hey DJTT, just bought the vides and can’t wait to get started. My only concern is that I can’t watch the videos on my iPad. Any fix for this? Thanks.
Tom

Cheers Zach :) Great videos btw!
Mad Zach

someone just sent me this on facebook:

“yoyo!
just bought your sample pack tutorial and watched it in one sitting, i was thoroughly entertained!! I watch alot of tutorials and i must say alot of them are boring as hell, but yours was on point! It was inspiring, resourceful, easy-to-follow, hilarious and down right tasteful! Hella juicy beat too! I would buy another right now if you had it, meaning you should totally do another. You should do a part two of this series with more simpler and some sampler techniques. I would to see how you write a track from start to finish using these topics covered, that would be tiight!

keep killing it~”
Mad Zach

yes absolutely
Die Famous

Hey we watched your video and were so inspired we had some fun and made our own check it out let us know what u think!!

http://youtu.be/hN0VnRBKSKg
Mad Zach

good question, we’ll look into it!
Letson

Hey Mad Zach…is there anywhere we can send you personal messages for questions we might have relating to the videos? Thanks
DJ RB0t

nice dude
i loved it
Guest

Hey! Have any of you guys built a sound pack yet? I’m dying to see what other people have come up with.
http://www.facebook.com/indo.grin Aeonian Kafkawits

Hey! have any of you guys made a sound pack yet? You got any videos up or anything like that? Just wondering if that know-how is being put to use.
LachieWatson

Hi Mad Zach. Awesome set of videos, super stoked with the purchase. Just wondering if you could make a video detailing how to make a setup with multiple banks for a single controller? I’m looking to play sets with finger drumming (>5mins) and the same kit can get quite repetitive! Been trying to use the build up whilst trying to swap, but I’m not quite getting it right! Thanks anyways, Lachie
http://www.grooveschool.co.uk/?p=1524 GrooveSchool – Mad Zach’s Tutorial On Building Soundpacks

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