Thanks you James…most very important lessons!!!
Love your teaching style James, and your approach to producing a track can be followed by someone new to it. Thank you!
Nice tips, thanks!
very good indeed
Excellent Course James, thanks for all of your hard work.
Really excellent tutorial, James are always the best!
Learned so much from just the first lesson alone!
thanks james. You taught me a lot. Please do composition and sound design course in the future.
Amazing tutorial, thanks james
Hi James, great deep tutorials. My pad is cut at 14K but the high end is muddying my mix. How do you advise to approach it? remove the high cut and filter my pad while busy in the mix or any other option? Thank you.
I would start by taking a look into the instrument itself and that Pad settings to check what’s likely causing the higher frequency range to peak out. It might be easier ( and lead to a better sounding result ) to automate parameters like filter cutoff, resonance, any onboard synth Fx like Eq, Compressor… or even simply automating the synth output level.
The idea here is to get back to the source and try to fix issues at the earlier stage possible.
Hi Stephane,
Thanks For the fast reply.
I’ll look into it, I have 2 pads layers one covering the mid and the second the high from Spire initialized the preset and the 3rd osc has 7 voices, its cutoff open around 85% the problem if you cut to 70% the pad loose its drive and become dark because of my cut at 14 K on the eq
but usually for pad cutting at 14k is ideal or you need to leave it more open?
There’s no actual rule or value that will always work, it’s song context dependent for each & every track actually.
What type of EQ filter are you using to make that cut arounfd 14.0 Khz ?
This will also have a serious impact depending of the way you’re altering the sound. If you’re using a Low pass filter to filter frequencies above 14.0 Khz, then also check the slope value of the filter. Some EQ allow you to use 6dB, 12 db, 24 db or even more slope settings, the higher the value is, the more signal you’re cutting off.
You could also try to combine EQ curves ( or add another EQ after cutting off ) and add a resonant EQ curve ( more like a high-shelf to boost the frequency you think it’s disappearing after cutting off ).
But again, check the sound source and also Fx chain on the track(s), if you find yourself to spend too many time with the EQ ( unless it’s for sound design purpose ) then something else might be “wrong” with the way the sound is engineered in first place.
Gain stage and well balanced levels between tracks is also important as well as the “energy” taken by each sound in the all spectrum across the entire Mix and that’s what caught my attention when reading the last post:
Layering 2 synths / 7 voices OSC / Filter cutoff open around 85% ? → well, you already got a wall of sound here. Push those tracks in level and it’s gonna be very difficult to mix anything. Use a frequency analyzer to visualize what part of the spectrum this layered pad is occupying ).
Don’t let you ears full you or let yourself caught up by something sounding gorgeous & massive, especially if you’re at the beginning or middle stage of making a full track because then you’ll just find yourself missing energy as soon as you make some changes and it’s gonna be terribly difficult to mix your song.
Hello, I have a layered lead high cut at 12 K and I am trying to add white noise high end from sylenth1, 1 voice but it is harsh and 3xosc high end is perfect but it sticks too much because my notes are 3 octave, no space between each other and it get worst when you delay it, any advice for layering high end or other VST recommendation?
Again there’s no magic numbers or rules you can apply all the time, it’s different for each sound & project 
It’s not really possible to give you the right advise here to be honest, just more general recommendation.
Using noise and saturation can help the sound to cut through the mix, as well as using filters and EQ as discussed before, but it has to be subtle. Adding delay creates stereo spread and makes any sound more wide, so that’s why it gets worse. If you’re adding too much processing to your sound or If you find yourself having a lot to do to get the right sound to work in the Mix : then maybe it’s time to try another sound or preset.
And as a general advice on layering sounds : you should layer instruments/sounds only if a new layer is really adding something you really want and need to the sound. Not just to make it big or punchy.
This topic is dedicated to James Dymond tutorial, so it’s important to keep it tight to this since comments are also displayed on the main course page. So let’s try to keep things in relation with a video number/ time and precise example that you’re trying to replicate as you follow along the course or with the project resources files.
Hi al,
I’ve tot a small question: James uses mostly the SSL compressor for perc and kicks etc but uses the Vertigo VSC 2 for the mid bass. I can pick up the SSL pretty cheap but the VSC is a lot more expensive.
Can I just use the SSL for every compression also bass or is there a specific reason why to use the vertigo there?
Thanks!
Hi there @Maddox
By the end of the day it’s more about what sound you’re after and what tool you know will suit your need and get the job done quite well. All those type of compressors ( and any other effects modeled after their hardware counterparts ) will transform your source sound in a slightly different way. For compressors, it will depend of the type of hardware they were modeled after : FET, VCA, TUBE … they all have different attack, release and overall response time and you’ll find some models working better on transients and percussive material, other ones working better for bass lines, other ones working better on vocals…etc.
Experiment with what you have, even if you just have stock compressors and plugins that come bundle with your DAW, they can get the job done, but it’s more important to listen and “learn how to listen” to what different compressors are doing to your sound than getting the exact same “expensive” plugins you will see in tutorials.
Tomorrow you might be watching another course and seeing a tutor using an API 2500 or a DBX 160 for his Kick and Bass lines and you’ll feel the need to get the same plugins again, and again, and again…
Like James mentioned in his videos, he loves the sound of these guys, they do the job for him, but it’s more about knowing what you want to add or tame in your sound and what tool you know can do the job for you.
When you can afford to buy more expensive and highly regarded plugins, then do it, but not having access to the same tools as your favorite artist shouldn’t stop you to get similar results, and anyway, by the end of the day, you don’t want to copy-cat someone else’s sound but more likely be happy with your own production.
There’s a lot to grab and understand about compressor types, compression and way to use them, check those courses here on Sonic Academy :
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Understanding Compressors ( 1st edition )
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Understanding Compressors ( latest edition )
I’m a bit of a perpetual newbie if anyone’s wondering.
It would be nice to have something about how the mid bass presets are made, or where to get them from, and/or how to make them with other synths. I always find I can’t get my basses to sound like they do in this tutorial / much commercial trance. (I don’t have Sylenth, but have a ton of other synths: spire, serum, ultra analog, arturia, u-he, ana2.)
Another quick thought re the sub bass – it appears you only want the bottom two octaves – how is this different than using an additive synth patch with only the fundamental and first harmonic present?
Glad I found this tutorial its a god send !
Beautiful.