Coming up this Friday, May 16th is my first ever hosted event. I partnered with my good friends at ZilkerBEATZ to curate my own event at The Oven in Austin, Texas. MelodicBEATZ is going to showcase loads of awesome melodic and trance music and serve as my first time bringing a great group of artists together to tell a beautiful story with our music. We have some exclusive lighting and artwork that we are going to bring with us to make the night extra special. The only thing we are missing is YOU! I encourage you to make a trip out and support some amazing local talent if you’re able. I’d love to meet you all and I’m bringing some merch too!

Shirts are Flying

The first month of the new Makoom shirts has proven they’re a hit. If you think they look good and are waiting for the perfect time to grab one, you might miss out. I already have some color/size combinations running low and want to warn you not to wait much longer. They’re $35 a piece and if you’d like to secure one before they’re gone, shoot me a message or email!

Tonight [Red Soho]

My latest release ‘Tonight’ Red Soho is still going strong. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about the message and I’m happy that many of you all are touched by it the same way I am. Check out the link below to give this track a listen and let me know what you think!

Makoom’s Menagerie

As always, we will have a monthly mix of Makoom’s Menagerie. I don’t know what style I’m going with this month and I know its worth tuning in!

Tip of the Month: Making Your Kick Shine

I’m talking about kicks this month. If you’re producing dance music, you know that this is the most important element of every track. Without an awesome kick, people aren’t going to dance! You need to find a kick that really stands out and I almost exclusively use samples. I recommend spending time looking through samples and finding those kicks that really speak to you. Once you have your sample, you can do a few things to really push it even further.

1. I generally cut everything above 16,000 hertz in order to clear room for other parts of the track.

2. I put a 1-1.5 db boost around 8k to really make the transient of the kick shine through.

3. I like to put a 2-3 db boost with a Q factor of ~2 around 120-130 hertz to give it some mid-low warmth.

4. I cut around 10-11 hertz to remove some of that excessive mud that is in the lower range.

5. Finally, I use the Bark of Dog 2 plugin on passive and boost around 2db at 90 hertz. This is a great way to generate even more presence without increasing the volume of the kick too much.

I hope this helps you with pushing your kick to the next level. If you’d like to chat about it more, send me a message or email!

Photo of the Month

I was traveling a lot for late April and Early May, but I was able to meet my wife for a quick weekend. I think that it is extremely important to spend time outside or with your loved ones. I find that my creativity is super charged by the positive experiences and memories and I find myself making better music after. This time was no exception!