I make techno. I have a tendency/dependency to keep adding sounds to the point that my tunes become messy and lack distinct character. Another consequence of this is that my setups become too large and unmanageable. When I listen to my favourite artists (Surgeon, Karenn) live performances it seems that they are using relatively few sounds at any one time, but it is clear that each of those sounds are not just filler but have a clear role in the mix. So, my post is regarding this - how many tracks are you using in your techno/live techno and do you have tips for keeping the # of sounds to the minimum required?
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Maximum 8 tracks, but often less.
I avoid using anything polyphonic unless itās for background texture or hi-passed beyond buggery.
Never more than five drum tracks, but definitely less if a track can contain multiple sounds. Iāve been trying to figure out a patch on Max lately where the vast majority of my drum sounds come from one track being morphed, manipulated and interpolated into various different sounds, so youāre kind of giving into your modulation and Interpolation sources to build patterns instead of relying on step sequencers, which Iāve always felt kinda add to that feeling of just adding more and more layers.
Donāt be afraid of silence, the empty spaces are the parts that tell the story.
Layering can sound cool, but is probably best practiced with prodigious use of resampling and EQing to prevent crowding the mix. Iāve found it usefil having a bit of a toolkit of samples where you have transients, one shots and tails separate, then you can layer different combinations and resample to taste.
Fuck using snares, they all sound shit. Itās fucking techno, not electro.
A bit like with percussion, using a simple monosynth sequenced over multiple octaves can do a lot of heavy lifting, just think of all them acid tracks where the 303 is covering the bass and lead in one sequence.
Unless youāre making dub techno, then ignore all this advice.
Fucking dub techno.
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Agree on everything but the polyphonic stuff. Poly stuff is amazing, even when not highpassed to oblivion. Look at some stef mendesidis tracks for expamle, or @tumulishroomaroom with OB6
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Iāll fight you.
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I donāt really make techno and I crowd the hell out of my mixes so maybe ignore my advice completely, but my advice is to try thinking of writing and editing as separate processes. Write what you want to write, make as crowded and chaotic a mix as you want until you feel like youāve said what you have to say then start sculpting eqās and cutting layers back to build out an arrangement.
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Also, detroit techno, chords everywhere LOL
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Pretty much this for me. Very rarely do I have more than eight tracks going at once no matter what genre Iām fooling around in that day.
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Detroit techno can fuck off as well then.
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Less sound sources, more FX, more Modulation.
If you cant deliver an idea with 2-3 synths maximum, you cant do it with 10 synths. or the idea is shit in the first place 
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Stef Mendesidis - Critical Ratio [CRG022] - YouTube
probably my fav track since 3 years. has techno written all over it.
go make some drones now 
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8 tracks.
(kick, bass, stereo mix of drums/percussions, and up to 4 lead/drone/acid lines)
same here!
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I have only 5 tracks going on this wee techno Jam.
I have only 6 tracks going on this wee Future Garage Jam.
I have the same problem. I use many channels for sound variations (DT+MC707 with some external synths), which I can bring in and out in the mix, but have to really restrain myself to not just unmute everything and additionally flood the drums with drum track from MC707
It really sounds way better with max 8 tracks (including drums), but Iād say max 4-5 sounds playing at the same time, so clever sequencing is important. Digitakt showed me that.
I dont make techno, but if I did, Id go with maximum 8 tracks. 4 for drums, 4 for everything else.
Or maybe a 5/3 split.
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This is an interesting topic to me, because most of my audio library consists of very layered sounds that I previously created.
I often do a lot of sound design on the Octatrack or other samplers, where I combine multiple sounds, add FX, chop, manipulate pitch, sequence, add more FX, print again, chop, sequence some more effects, layer again, chop, sequence, and so onā¦ I end up with a library of loops and one-shots that have many sounds combined, so if I make a track with 4 tracks, it might have been dozens in reality.
Maybe Iāll use one drum hit that was actually cut from the combination of two synths and a couple repitched breakbeats, layered and effected multiple times ā does that count as 7 tracks or 1? I think I consider it a single track, because at this stage Iām treating that as one sound, but I think itās interesting to hear peopleās track counts, because itās starting to sound like mine is generally higher if I actually trace back the number of tracks involved since the sounds were originally generated.
Basically I try to keep arrangements uncluttered, but the raw materials Iām using are already sonically rich, and many tracks were used to create them. I also try to keep reminding myself that silence is a very important part of music, because itās really easy to keep finding a spot to fill with sound (maybe one more track?), but if I use silence well it can make the sounds a lot more impactful ā Iām not always good at this, but hopefully one day Iāll get there.
Do any of you do a lot of layering too? Are each of your tracks the sound of only one instrument?
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Also in the ā8 trackā camp. Although TBF some of the 8 will be busses each of which is a submix of maybe 2 or 3 different sounds (eg Iāll usually send different pads/texture tracks into a single āpadsā bus).
For me itās all about keeping the mix process simple. Getting everything down to 8 faders that cover the core sounds of the track.
Kick, snare/clap, hats, percussion/FX hits on the first 4 tracks then bass, lead/arp, poly 1, poly 2 on the next 4 tracks. Beats on the left of the console, tones on the right. Sometimes it might be 5 on the left and 3 on the right depending on the song.
A good test is to solo any two tracks, play them at the same time and ask āif the song was just these two tracks, would it sound good?ā
I remember reading somewhere that this was something Prince used to do in the studio except in his case his rule was each single instrument track, soloed, needed to sound like it could be the basis of a song in its own right.
Another test I use is an old Motown thing. Canāt remember where I read this but the production ātestā in the heyday of Motown was to mute all channels on the mixer apart from the bass guitar and the lead vocal, then play the chorus. If the bass and the vocal rocked without anything else playing, then the song was a winner.
I donāt use vocals and my stuff is EDM not Motown, so my version is to solo the bass and the most important chordal/lead element of the song, and if just those two tracks alone feel good then all is good with the song as a whole.
Short version: less is more IMO. I always find it baffling when I read about audio engineering breakdowns of big hits and the producer shows off the 200+ tracks in ProTools that lie behind the mix. Never really got that personally (although obviously those tracks are then bussed to make mixing more manageable).
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I wish there was a way to automatically hide Abletonās bus and utility tracks from showing on the Push.
Usually I have fewer than 8 instrument tracks, but also a whole bunch of tracks to send midi out, or run an Overbridge plugin. I know I can shove them all into a group on track 9 or something, but in the desktop Ableton I like having them next to the relevant tracks.
so no claps either then?
Clap joke.
[scratches nuts]
(wasnāt a joke, just a question)