Disappointed to see its made in FL and not one of the decent DAW’s like Logic or Ableton especially for uplifting Trance. Also disappointed in no synthesis techniques shown however i agree you cant teach composition. I cert havent been waiting on this.
@Gomiun and @Producer1 what you can do is that after applying your boosting & reduction of frequencies onto your sub with your EQ you can bounce it to audio and load it into a sampler, that way your EQ adjustments stick with your sub changse
Hi @strigata, can assure you the FL studio is a very decent DAW, and you can apply all the same techniques James shows you into any DAW.
Well Done! Great tutorial!
Hey all, replying to the few comments about the Sub EQ.
Generally once I’ve EQ’d the Sub on the root frequencies I won’t do any further EQ during the chord progression section. I understand that sometimes the Sub can become a lot louder or quieter in certain keys - to combat this you can add a compressor to the Sub AFTER all of your EQ processing. Use the Voxengo Span to identify which chord progression increases the volume of the Sub, and try to make sure the compressor is compressing by a few DB at that chord only.
You could also try what other people have mentioned: render out the Sub to audio and then apply additional EQ (dips/boosts on the correct frequency) for the different chord changes to smooth it out. However, I sometimes find this makes the Sub sound a little inconsistent.
When the Sub is put through the Kick & Bass bus, the 2x compression on there will also help to smooth out the Sub chord changes. You’ll notice in the track there’s really not a massive difference in volume during the chord sections.
Unless there is a really huge difference in volume over the chord changes, I haven’t noticed it being a big problem when playing my tracks out live. As long as the chord changes are consistent within a few DB, then they will sound fine on the club sound system.
Also, remember that your speakers/studio room can effect what you’re hearing. Certain keys will produce more “standing waves” or bounce around your room in funny ways. For example, my room has a noticeable increase in volume in the keys of G.
Hope that helps 
James.
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Thanks alot James, darkmemoria, producer1 …Great Course, Thanks James & Sonic Academy for puttin’ this up!
@Strigata … I agree with @chris_agnelli on this one. Even though I’m a Logic Pro X user, I can say that these days FL Studio is a top DAW that is on par with Logic, Cubase, Ableton… Long gone are the days of “Fruity Loops” being an amateur DAW.
In fact a great thing on this iteration of @James_Dymond SA courses is that he finally upgraded to a more recent version of FL Studio, because as you may see on his previous courses he was still using FL Studio 9 (I think), which had many quirks that James was fully aware of, but he said that with his schedule he didn’t had the time to upgrade and learn a new version. For this new course I think he finally upgrade to FL Studio 12 or 20, not sure which one as I’m not an FL user, but definitely he’s not anymore on FL 9.
Glad to see @James_Dymond back on SA.
Excellent Tutorial!!! Thanks a lot James!!
Please keep adding more FL Studio content. Thanks!
@Kerris Which plugins do you not have? Maybe I can suggest cheaper or possibly free alternatives?
True, these plugins can be very expensive. However, I bought the majority of them on discount. Sign up to the Waves & Plugin Alliance newletters and they will let you know when they are discounted. They are expensive for a reason, but totally worth the investment I have found over the years!
Let me know which plugins you
Hi James. Thanks for getting back to me. I subscribe to Slate Digital so have all their plugins and the FL Studio Producer ones. Is there a Slate Digital alternative to the Maag eq4? I was thinking of the Slate Digital Eiosis Air EQ.
Many Thanks
Kev
@Kerris I don’t have the full Slate Digital collection so I’m not sure about the Digital Elosis Air EQ.
But I’ve used the SD “Revival” plugin and it has a really nice top end boost (the “Shimmer” toggle at the top).
The Maag EQ is particularly special with it’s Air Band EQ shelf, which is why it works so well.
Eiosis Air EQ is a great one & you can do similar things as the Maag EQ 4 but with more tweaks & settings, the joy of the Maag EQ is the predefined frequencies which makes it easy to dial in & get instant results. Alternatively & surprisingly there’s a free plugin that emulates the Maag EQ an that have similar freq. & band choices. Just check it out, really incredible for a free plugin, it’s called Luftikus ( Click on the name for Link ). You can check this comparison video between the 2 as well 🎚 Luftikus vs Maag EQ4 Plugin Emulations - YouTube
Hi great tutorial. Im wondering why am i clipping on the master channel given that none of the busses or the faders are over -11.
First thing to keep in mind is that each individual tracks & busses outputs are summed to the master, so overall level just increase when you’re adding tracks to the Mix, therefore it might just be that setting those faders at -11 is still too hot, give it a try at -14.
Another reason could be processing on your Master like Compressor or Limiter or even on individual tracks if you have some instruments or audio files creating short momentary peaks. That could be either right at the source ( i.e soft-synth output level ) or post effects ( after compression…etc ).
Great stuff James, really helped me simplify my tracks where I was definitely guilty of over-producing and the results are so much better, especially in terms of clarity. Many thanks!
Re FL Studio being a top DAW, i stand corrected. Would still love to know how James made the mid bass sounds though 
Great stuff James. Loving the simplicity of some of this
fantastic course
Excellent course, James!