Rebuilding 'Unstable Condition' with John Tejada

John Tejada’s ‘Unstable Condition’ is undoubtedly one of the biggest Deep House tracks from the last decade. As such, Producertech are thrilled to release this new course, in which John rebuilds the track from scratch, designing sounds, mixing and constructing the entire arrangement, so viewers can not only witness the process but also download and keep the completed project.

John is no stranger to production with a career in electronic music spanning from 1994 to present. In this time John has released four albums with the revered label Kompakt and had releases on Pokerflat, Cocoon, Plug Research, Seventh City, Playhouse, Defected and his own label Palette Recordings. He’s done over 100 remixes for acts as big as The Postal Service and Télépopmusic and played at clubs and festivals in over 30 countries across the world, as well as gracing the Late, Late Show with James Corden and Conan, performing with collaborator Reggie Watts as their duo project Wajatta.

The course starts with a quick analysis of the track and a look at the original project, after which the beats are put together using one-shots from Loopcloud. John then designs each of the synth parts one by one, using entirely Wavetable from the Live Suite. Once all parts are in place, he explains some of the key steps involved in mixing the track, showing the importance of metering in balancing parts and a wealth of techniques for processing individual sounds with effects.

Signing up to the course gives you immediate access to the streamed tutorials, as well as the Live project and a bonus pack of loops from John’s Loopmasters sample pack. For an example of the course style, check out the sample module, where John explains how to implement the Haas effect using factory effects in Live, to improve stereo imaging and the character of secondary leads.

Sample Module

Course Breakdown

Module 1 - Intro to ‘Unstable Condition’ and Original Project

John begins with a quick analysis of the actual track and then listen through all of the individual components within it from the original project. - 16.47

Module 2 - Building the Drums

Using one-shot samples from Loopcloud, John recreates the classic drum break from the track, laying out the 8-bar intro along the timeline. - 12.01

Module 3 - Designing the Main Lead

Using Ableton’s Wavetable, John redesigns the main lead synth from the track, employing FM synthesis, enveloped filters and unison voicing techniques to get as close as possible to the original. - 14.08

Module 4 - Adding the Secondary Synths

Again with Wavetable, John designs the accompanying synths, playing in MIDI notes and then processing them with various effects. - 15.09

Module 5 - Creating the Bridge Melodies

After considering the final synth layer in the initial phase of the track, John moves onto the main Bridge section, reconstructing all of the synth lines once again from the ground up. - 18.54

Module 6 - Effects Processing

John begins treating various sounds with effects, mostly from Live’s factory library. Echo is used extensively on the bridge section, whilst reverb is added to the drums. 3rd-party plugins are introduced to give the kick some extra life. - 10.32

Module 7 - Balancing and Master Channel Metering

After providing some invaluable mixing advice, John looks at the level and frequency meters on the master channel, showing his process for getting the mix right. - 17.08

Module 8 - EQ and Compression

Regular and mid-side EQ techniques are used to shape the frequencies of various sounds in the mix, whilst some parallel compression is additionally applied to the kick. - 13.48

Module 9 - Automation

John demonstrates the important role automation plays in the development of sounds in the track. - 8.07

Module 10 - Haas Effect

Considering the width of sounds in the mix, John sets up the Haas effect using Live’s delay and then applies it to different sounds, adjusting levels and panning as he goes. - 8.49

Module 11 - Final Master Bus Processing

The width of bass frequencies are analysed and some light compression applied to the master channel, to help get the final mix under control. - 4.10

Features

• Over 2 hours of streamed tutorials
• Access 24/7/365
• Included Ableton Live project
• 60MB bonus audio samples

Please Note: This course is available to stream in the COURSES section of your User Account and is not downloadable.

*Cover photo by Holly Parker