Music Projects with Propellerhead Reason

reviewed by Daphne Kalfon, November 2006

First off, although it is not stated outright, this book assumes that one already has a working knowledge of Reason - in other words, that one has read through the user’s manual to at least some degree, otherwise I would say that it may be somewhat, if not very frustrating, trying to fully understand and follow what is being done in the tutorials.

The book consists of 11 chapters. The first is an introduction. I really liked the candor of the author when he states that although Reason comes with orchestral sounds as well as synths, this software program is best suited for the creation of electronic styles of music such as trance and hip hop rather than acoustic, jazz or blues styles. The author explains that the book shows one not only how and why to use certain techniques, but specifically how to use Reason to accomplish them.

The author then goes on to explain that there are eight separate tutorials, one each for Hip hop, Drum ‘n bass, Dub, House, Techno, Trip hop, Trance and Electropop. Each one is self contained and therefore can be done in any order of preference, and each is prefaced by a brief history of the genre in question, a list of notable artists of that genre as well as recommended listening. This serves as an excellent preparation for the ears before embarking on the tutorial.

The book then discusses how to use the sample project files as a guide to each successive stage of the tutorials. The author lets the reader know how the sample project files will be introduced at each stage so that the reader knows when to refer to them. The importance of experimentation, individual preferences and of course creativity is emphasized; the sample project files are only to be used as a basic guide.

In addition to the sample project files for each tutorial, there are a number of ReFills and REX files to which the tutorials refer. All of these files are available for download from the PC Publishing website. Making these resources available online eliminates the need for CD-ROMs and allows for updating of useful links and other information. The reader is directed to the URL on the PC Publishing website, and given the username and password required to download these files, which I did without encountering any problems.

Chapter Two is titled “Setting Up” and I think it is a very smart inclusion in the book. For those who have not yet decided what equipment they should consider purchasing for their music studio, this chapter offers some helpful advice on things, like what kind of computer one should buy and which features it should have. The author gives a very fair and unbiased comparison of Mac and PC, essentially leaving it up to the reader which route to go.

From there, the author explains how to install Reason for both platforms.

Chapter Three is Hip hop, the first of the eight tutorials in the book. As mentioned earlier, each genre is given a brief history, which I found very helpful in further understanding the nature of the genre. Recommended listening consisted of a listing of eight artists, such as Jurassic 5 - “Jurassic 5” (1998), Public Enemy - “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back” (1988), DJ Shadow - “Endtroducing” (1996), and Wu Tang Clan - “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” (1993).

This is the tutorial I tried and although hip hop is not my preferred style, it was interesting to actually learn some of the techniques used in this genre. The author is easy to follow for the most part, explaining each step in detail.

We start off by creating a mixer and setting the tempo and time signature. We then create a ReDrum and choose a kit from the Hip Hop Kits folder, followed by the creation of a basic drum track, add in some hits using the NN-19 sampler as well as some effects using Filter Frequency, Scream 4 Distortion and an RV7000 Reverb unit.

Next, a piano intro is added to the track using the NN-XT sampler, and to that is added a Dr. REX drum loop, using the “Change Events’ under the “Edit” menu to change the latter up a bit. This was very interesting to know, as it is an easy way to add instant variety to your drum beat.

Next, we load up the Combinator and select a patch, which provides a fat bass as well as a lead line.

From there, the tutorial shows how to go about doing some drum editing in “Drum Edit” mode. At this point, I am at “File Stage 4”, as indicated in the page margin. So what this means is that already in this tutorial, there have been three previous sample files for me to listen to in order to monitor my progress. I have listened to each one and they have really helped me to see if I was on track with what was being explained at each stage of the tutorial. Having something to listen to was very helpful in illustrating and teaching what goes into creating a hip hop style track, and I’m sure the same applies to the other tutorials.

At this point I should also mention that the book is full of screenshots of what is being discussed, be it a sequencer window, a menu or a unit in the Reason rack. Also, each screenshot is accompanied by a brief explanation of exactly what is being shown. I really appreciated having those as an additional handy reference as I moved along through the tutorial.

The tutorial continues on, adding more instruments and effects, and culminates in a brief guide on how to go about creating the final mix. Once complete, you can listen to the final audio sample file for the hip hop tutorial, “File Stage 10”, and see how you compare.

The final chapter, titled “Exporting from Reason”, shows you how to export, share and publish your tracks.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book especially to anyone who is a new user to Reason and who needs to learn the basics of how to put tracks together to create a piece of music in the electronic styles.