Michael Cretu Ideas

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  • Many Layers, e.g. Often Bass is Layered with a Higher Synth 
  • Many Fillers, i.e. Fill All Empty Spaces, Often with Percussion and FX
  • Many “Invisible” Delays and Reverbs, i.e. Rather Distinctive Rooms for Instruments also Bass or Drum Kick etc.
  • Strophe Sometimes “Filtered” (Less Highs) and then Chorus Opens with Highs, e.g. Strophe Filtered Dark Snare and Chorus Gated High Snare
  • Often Sample Like Additions in Intro, Bridge, Refrain, End
  • Bass Changes Much More than Keys, i.e. Many In Between ARP Like Basses
  • Bass Melody and Voice Melody Makes the Hit
  • Very Often Bass and Keys Change Together and Keys Change with Same Bass Note as Root as Bass
  • Female Vocals are Added by Male Vocals and Viceversa to Complete Each Other, Not Necessary at the Same Time but Rather to Fill Gaps
  • Rather Often Darker Intervals but then at the Right Time Open 
  • if he Thinks a Part Repeats to Soon, he Inserts a Different Part Before, e.g. 2nd Strophe of Cold Days Hot Nights Comes Quite Early After 1st Strophe and Refrain so he Inserted 4 Parts of Something Total Else
  • Bass is Always on the Move in Arrange and Technique, i.e. Different Layers, Uses Played Bass Articulations and Synth Bass Articulations to Fill Gaps
  • On the 1 After Each 4 Bars a Big Kick Hall to Make the Part More Explosive, e.g. Refrain
  • or Make the Verse Kick Not as Exciting as the Chorus Kick, e.g. Low Cut Mud and Cut Kick a Little Around 260Hz During Verse
  • or Make the Verse Bass Not as Low as the Chorus Bass, e.g. Low Cut Mud and Cut Bass a Little Around 260Hz During Verse
  • Great Dynamic Range, also Frequency Spectrum is Optimally Balanced with High vs Low Sounds Where it Needs to Cut Through, also Attack vs Sustain, e.g. Where there is a Big Sound the Underlying Stuff Should be Minimal
  • Drums / Rhythms are Always a Little Shuffled
  • Tambourine has 1/4 Ping Pong Delay and Reverb to Add “Silver”
  • Snare and Bass Alone can Often Define What Genre a Song is  
  • Lots of Samples Used, i.e. Sample Instead Synth for Stabs, Voices etc.
  • Mixes Low ARPs with Bass Lines, i.e. ARP Goes Through while Bassline is Often Accentuated with Kick Drum
  • for Bass he Preferred the PPG Wave
  • Often Overlaps Bass to Accentuate Certain Spots, e.g. Where there is Space and the Arrange Benefits from it
  • Separate / Duplicate Things and Add a Special Reverb or Delay to Accentuate Parts, e.g. Layer Words from a Vocal or FX Stuff to Drums on Separate Layers
  • Non Linear Saturation / Distortion from the Start to Give Grouped Sounds a Character
  • Dip Mid Channel on the Stereo Buss Around 1.3kHz About 3dB but then Add the Same Spot Back In the Side Channel, i.e. Fill the Side Channel of Mostly Mono Placed Material with Harmonics

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