I’ve recently got into a very bad habit of sidechaining everything, and really, putting too much compression on stuff. Have to stop that.
My approach when trying to keep everything clean & tidy, is to have everything sitting in its own space, frequency range… or area, as if it were all playing on the Piano at the same time.
By doing that, I’m doing fk all EQ’n. Which in itself helps to not lead to other problems. Same with compression, should really only use it if its needed… and not add too much cos it’ll make things less clear when more is added later.
I’ll also use the wet/dry on plugs, to give a flavour, without going the whole hog.
Also using the Utility plug to widen sh!t with its M/S shizzle…
What techniques / approaches / methods does everyone else use?
Its all those little nuances that make you do, or not do something that are fkn interesting, not the bells & whistles on the latest gizmo.
If it makes any sense, I’m trying for a more electronically fabricated sound that is purposefully designed and arranged to sound as if it were being produced through “natural” means. In other words, not so tight with EQ and compression. Frequency is always on my mind with regards to placement so I don’t have to do a ton of EQ/comp to make the sound fit.
I use a coarse grade sandpaper first, then move onto a really fine one. I’ll also then proceed to go to the hallway, find my coat amongst the other guests ones and then leave with it quietly whilst everyone dances to ‘come on eileen’
I have also found that adding a little bit of chorus to synth-y and perc-y sounds make a world of difference. Have two different reverbs on a Particular sounds also seems pretty good, one reverb with a short tail and minimal amount helps bring out the sound and another reverb with more amount and tail for the actual reverb effect
I’m better at getting a distorted muddy sound though tbh :w00t::hehe:
Another one to try! How many of you create all your sounds with the baseline and kick playing through your track? For me sometimes they get in the way
Why not back of the bassy sounds so they don’t get in the way of hearing everything else? Set up an eq preset that you can turn on and off, to audition the rest of the mix
My biggest problem is things sounding muddled after I get a lot of different sounds put in the track. Mainly like percussion sounds dissapearing under the bass or chords. I do use compression and sidechaining along with reverb on some things. But I see all these people online saying they slap a compressor on everything. That’s not always needed is it?
[quote]ICN (19/10/2011)[hr]Do you use a spectrum analyser on your master Jay, and solo the bass, perc etc… to see where it sitting in the spectrum?
If you have too much in the same area, you are gonna get clashing.
Are the parts all in the same area? and are you EQ’n them much?[/quote]
I’m still learning how to use Spectrum correctly. It could be the EQ too. Everything sounds good separately, but not always together. I think I need to watch some more tuts on these… I know it is going to take practice :blink:
You have your Kicks on the lower keys… and your rides on the keys at the end.
Everything else has to find a place somewhere inbetween.
Its all layers. If you think of it like a Piano, you can only put one finger on one key at a time. Apply that logic to your sounds.
Once you know where the sounds in your track reside, you can solo them, and take some EQ away… or possibly detune or even pitch up something else, to bring it out of a clash. Even a few notes up/down - or an octave, can fix things up no end.
Regardless… with the spectrum, you can see where you have gaps. If you need a new sound, you can choose something that fits there, rather than hoping for the best. You will know, depending on the key of your track, whether the new element should be around D5, F#6 or wherever that gap is…
Its free & has a function where you can hover the cursor over the waveform & lets you see the musical note… such as A1, C2, B5 - whatever… Put it on your master.
[quote]ICN (19/10/2011)[hr]The spectrum is just like a piano Jay.
You have your Kicks on the lower keys… and your rides on the keys at the end.
Everything else has to find a place somewhere inbetween.
Its all layers. If you think of it like a Piano, you can only put one finger on one key at a time. Apply that logic to your sounds.
Once you know where the sounds in your track reside, you can solo them, and take some EQ away… or possibly detune or even pitch up something else, to bring it out of a clash. Even a few notes up/down - or an octave, can fix things up no end.
Regardless… with the spectrum, you can see where you have gaps. If you need a new sound, you can choose something that fits there, rather than hoping for the best. You will know, depending on the key of your track, whether the new element should be around D5, F#6 or wherever that gap is…
Its free & has a function where you can hover the cursor over the waveform & lets you see the musical note… such as A1, C2, B5 - whatever… Put it on your master.[/quote]
I downloaded Voxengo and will try it out.
I am still new at all this and the tips really help. Thanks!
I tend to EQ and Spectrum analyze everything. Drop main frequencies of the kick from the bassline(s). Drop main frequencies of bassline(s) from the kick.
Sidechain bassline(s) with a sidechain kick. Low cut everything apart from the kick.
Besides that, it helps quite a lot when you select the elements that fit the mix. Kick should be in harmony with the bassline and melody (if you have one) in the track.
In addition, when creating the percussion/hihat parts, I always slightly move around the different elements by hand. This gives the track a more natural feel and groove.
And keep on listening, a/b-ing, closely to the things your working on.
What i like doing as i build a track i start the mix right away i usually start from the lower portion of the spectrum and build my way up like the Kick Sub Bass Lower Mid portion and i usually have an audio track where i route the channel to a Voxengo Span where im routing many signals into each channel withing span to do my EQ and see which Frequencies are colliding with each other and do some cutting and making room so the sounds gel together, doing minor notches and if there are any portions of the frequency range that need to be added i will see where i can add more. Try creating the sense of depth and wideness from the beginning, for example if im adding toms or percussion or even sometimes with drums and leads its that i have some of the hits send back to the mix a bit with both pitch and amp modulation and maybe some panning not only will it give it a nice groove but it will also give everything its space within the depth portion of the mix…
Lately I’ve been doing what subject said. Start with the extreme-lowend bass + kick of the mix. getting that as perfect and as loud as I humanly possible without clipping.
Once I get the kick + sub working correctly… I make my sidechain-trigger.
Because my kick + bass are as loud as possible and sound awesome…
The rest of your sound design for the track will appreciate it a lot.
Doing this causes the mix to get more in front of your face.
The other thing for me lately is…
You have to compress for a REASON.
You have to EQ for a REASON.
I do little things like, cut out pieces of things to make space for drums, hits, etc…
Also I don’t just arbitrarily set settings on a compressor or EQ and I don’t just use my ears.
I now know what all the little settings do on each plugin for the most part.
So I spend a lot of time making sure that each important setting isn’t set on some random number.
