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Surge stomps all over Massive and Reaper, especially if you want unique sounds.
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Apr 13, 2012 04:30
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:Some progress! I would like to make it less bro-y and more industrial still. I changed it up a fair bit.
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Apr 13, 2012 05:25
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I love ableton, so I might be biased ... Bitwig is promising a lot. I'll be interested to see how it actually runs. At the moment it's hyped like crazy and I can't help but feel that people are setting themselves up for a disappointment.
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Apr 13, 2012 08:53
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I've been screwing around with sampling in Ableton lately. How do you guys deal with tempo drift in sampled audio? Is it just a matter of screwing around with warp markers and tempo until you get a few bars that loop naturally, or is there some smarter way of doing it?
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Apr 13, 2012 15:44
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Yeah, you can rewarp it, extract the groove and apply that to the rest of the piece, or do it old school way and slice into 16ths (or whatever makes sense) and re-trigger them as needed*. * I've always wanted to try rearranging the pieces of that really cool Winston Brother's drum solo - could end up defining a whole new genre of music! 
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Apr 13, 2012 16:04
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ynohtna posted:I've always wanted to try rearranging the pieces of that really cool Winston Brother's drum solo - could end up defining a whole new genre of music! Sample something other than Amen, Brother and make millions.
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Apr 13, 2012 18:23
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seiken posted:You're right that you can use compressors to add punch but you seem to have things mixed up a bit here. The release on a compressor adjusts how long it keeps it quiet, not loud, it's the attack that allows the loudness to come through. A slowish attack will add "snap", a low threshold will prolong the hit - provided in both cases you use some makeup gain to compensate because without makeup a compressor only ever reduces the signal volume. http://www.barryrudolph.com/mix/comp.html No the attack is how long it takes after the thresh hold is met to compress and then the release is how long it holds the sound after the signal goes below the thresh hold. Like a slow attack will let the initial transient to come through snappy like then a long release will keep the kick almost as loud as its loudest part for longer than the original sample is. I can use them in practice, im pretty sure thats how they work and thats what that article says but its very very possible im misunderstanding things.
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Apr 14, 2012 02:22
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:Sample something other than Amen, Brother and make millions.   I bet no one's considered rapping over a Led Zeppelin sample yet.
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Apr 14, 2012 08:50
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ynohtna posted:
When the Levee Breaks drum loop?
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Apr 14, 2012 16:50
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oredun posted:http://www.barryrudolph.com/mix/comp.html Yes you're misunderstanding. Attack lets the transient come through, after the attack the compressor is reducing volume (above the threshold) and the release controls how long it continues to reduce volume after the volume level goes under the threshold again. It doesn't have anything to do with "holding the sound". The "prolonging the hit" effect is due to the loud part of the hit having its volume reduced so that relatively the tail is louder (hence why you need makeup), and it doesn't have anything to do with the release. seiken fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Apr 14, 2012 |
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Apr 14, 2012 18:53
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ynohtna posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWeAtLr8bX4  She's Crafty does have a pretty dope use of the riff from "The Ocean" though.
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Apr 15, 2012 01:52
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This is a "sketch" of sorts I've been noodling around with. I really like when electronica uses classical instruments so I made this kind of slow, moody electro-orchestral piece. http://soundcloud.com/gkchestertron/a-soundtrack-to-giving-up What I have a hard time with is deciding whether I want a piece like this to be something simple that you can have on in the background and sets a mood, or whether I should try to add lots of elements to reward the attentive listener. If it was the second one, then I'm afraid this track might be slightly boring. The problem is that the reason I love to make music is because I loved music from RPGs back in the day and always wanted to score one. So, some of my moody pieces sound like background music for a castle or something. Feel free to use this track for the ghost town in your video game if you want!
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Apr 15, 2012 23:14
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I organized some of the songs I've been most satisfied with into an album of sorts. It's mainly something for self satisfaction, but I'm mildly pleased with it. A couple of songs have EQ issues, but I've lost the project files for them so I can't do much about it. http://agreeculture.bandcamp.com/
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Apr 15, 2012 23:33
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http://soundcloud.com/hashtag-hashtag So I make club music, but I really don't feel too good about it. Frankly it's a bit poo poo in my opinion. How do I get better?
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Apr 16, 2012 06:14
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WickedIcon posted:
Honestly that should be the title of this thread. A good way to get better is to make sure you've been eating as healthy as possible and exercising all the time while continuing to practice any free chance you get. When your mind is functioning at an optimal level your imagination and creativity will surge during your practice. That advice could apply to many things, actually. Good health is the ultimate not-so-secret secret advice for life. Tostito fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Apr 16, 2012 |
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Apr 16, 2012 06:41
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So basically, keep the mind sharp and keep throwing poo poo at the wall until something sticks. That's pretty nonspecific advice, I was hoping for stuff more pertinent to the tracks I posted, but I'll keep it in mind.
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Apr 16, 2012 21:12
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WickedIcon posted:So basically, keep the mind sharp and keep throwing poo poo at the wall until something sticks. That's pretty nonspecific advice, I was hoping for stuff more pertinent to the tracks I posted, but I'll keep it in mind. Your synths sound really boring and dead. Which software/synths are you using?
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Apr 16, 2012 22:15
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WickedIcon posted:So basically, keep the mind sharp and keep throwing poo poo at the wall until something sticks. That's pretty nonspecific advice, I was hoping for stuff more pertinent to the tracks I posted, but I'll keep it in mind. Making the production sound good will come with several years' practice. Also you might want to learn some music theory because a lot of things are completely out of tune and developing a good ear for that kind of stuff is essential.
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Apr 16, 2012 23:43
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WickedIcon posted:So basically, keep the mind sharp and keep throwing poo poo at the wall until something sticks. That's pretty nonspecific advice, I was hoping for stuff more pertinent to the tracks I posted, but I'll keep it in mind. Its the only thing that really truly works. I dont know what you were expecting; a 5 step guide to success perhaps?
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Apr 16, 2012 23:57
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EDIT Essentially beaten, so tl;dr above ^^^^^WickedIcon posted:So basically, keep the mind sharp and keep throwing poo poo at the wall until something sticks. That's pretty nonspecific advice, I was hoping for stuff more pertinent to the tracks I posted, but I'll keep it in mind. Now, it's frustrating, because, unlike with language, barely any of these rules are written down somewhere. They vary largely by genre, which is one of the main problems with that. On the creation side of things you'll be mostly stuck with throwing poo poo at a wall and seeing if it sticks. Creation just is like that in a broad sense. But you can work on the analyzing side of things to develop targets, targets lead to targetted practice, wich leads to an increase in aim, all the while developing a feel for which poo poo flings best and which poo poo sticks best. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: listen to music in the genre you're trying to make. And I don't mean going to a club or having it on your ipod while you work out. Listen with intent. Use your brain, not just your ears (and heart). Analyse the poo poo out of it. To the point of reverse engineering. Literally. Notice things, make notes. Pick a thing and find out how it's done. It won't always be as tiresome as that; after a while you'll develop the instincts to do this automatically. Like when learning to drive stick. But first you need to kickstart that habit. This might seem like overly broad advice, but it's the best I can give you. I'm sorry I can't quantify or qualify what makes it "a bit poo poo". Maybe that's a good thing, since I don't really believe in shortcuts in this learning process. It reminds me a lot of the sort of thing I used to make when I started out. Everything I've learned since is very hard to put in words. What I know is that things started to change once I stopped trying to create as if I was in a void and started setting myself some concrete goals based on music I liked. I'm still no real musician by a long shot, but what I make is a shitload closer to what I intend to make than when I started. I suppose the less you know what you're doing, the more you'll benefit from formalized exercises. If you want something more tangible: club music doesn't use rock type drum sounds, nor rock type drum patterns. It's one of those unwritten rules. You can't break it without weirding out people who expect club music. So start there, I guess. What does a snare drum sound like? How are the ones I'm using different from those on a club track I like? Learning to pick another, more genre appropriate sample is a start. vvvvv I'll stick my neck out and say I don't get the mocking in this specific case. All he asked for is some tips that are more specific to making music than "live healthily". That doesn't seem overly unreasonable to me. Appropriate considering the thread title, even. Flipperwaldt fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Apr 17, 2012 |
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Apr 16, 2012 23:59
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Quincy Smallvoice posted:Its the only thing that really truly works. I dont know what you were expecting; a 5 step guide to success perhaps? I think he needs the Waves mercury bundle, what do you guys think?
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Apr 16, 2012 23:59
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yes waves, then - sidechain it. sidechain what? IT DOESNT loving MATTER!
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Apr 17, 2012 00:05
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Tostito posted:Honestly that should be the title of this thread. hahahahah what the hell, seriously Anyway I have a friend who is just starting making music and I've been berating him over the same stuff. Your synths sound dead because you are just taking a standard crappy preset, dumping some notes, and letting it fly basically. You might be able to get away with that with a super high quality ROMpler/sample library but there's no way you should spend that much money at this stage in the game. You have to think more about structuring your song cohesively (4 chords) and then making it interesting with automation. Everything can be automated. A simple, boring electronic song can blow the roof off the club with amazing automation, and a masterfully composed electronic song in terms of harmonies will be just kinda eh if the production isn't on point. Your basic understanding of harmony will improve over time but it doesn't hurt to study your favorite music/import a midi/whatever and break down why it sounds good, how it gets there, etc. Like: okay, these are chords, this is an arpeggio, this is a lead, this is a bouncing bassline, now what, how does it all fit together? Then once you learn more about sound design and production techniques specific to whatever you want to produce, it will start to come together. Sidechaining chords, routing the leads past, is he making his own drums or is he just sampling something and flipping it? Oh, now he's making a breakdown and filtering stuff, how is the song gonna be different when it comes back. With a more concerted approach to songwriting/production, your stuff will improve immensely even if your actual skills don't improve that much. Edit: This might make drive the point home a little better  Looks pretty cohesive, right? Now think in terms of how those instruments evolve as the song goes on and you may have something Peter North fucked around with this message at 06:12 on Jan 25, 2013 |
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Apr 17, 2012 01:26
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Alright, here goes. Here's a track I've been working on for the past few days. I understand its genre (doofy distorted brostep, I guess?) may not be very well-respected, but any feedback would be great. I'm specifically worried about the mix, and to a lesser extent, the drums. My ears are too used to the song and won't notice flaws anymore, so I'd love it if someone could tell me any huge, glaring errors they hear. I'm new to producing and I can tell that the mix is muddy, but I just don't know where to go first.  Anyway, thank you if you decide to check it out!(Oh yeah, Soundcloud put some weird compression on it that makes the drop a little more underwhelming than it would be otherwise. The dynamics are better in my version.)
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Apr 17, 2012 06:42
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Cobweb Heart posted:Alright, here goes. Almost every element in the track (apart from the kick) seems to be spread wide stereo-wise, often without significantly adding anything. A mix will muddy up pretty fast that way. Reducing stereo width for nearly all of the elements will definitely help. Do this as early in the process as possible, ie. in the synthesizers themselves if the different oscillators have a panning knob as opposed to putting a mono effect on the end of the channel. The latter one may cause unwanted phase cancellation when combined with earlier stereo effects, removing every bit of punch from a timbre. Doing this from where the track is now, may still occasionally feel like losing out on essential characteristics of the timbre, but remember it will never work together like this. The point is mostly that you shouldn't listen to/tweak the instruments in isolation too much. They may have to sacrifice individual greatness to work together. Using (lightly tweaked) synthesizer presets may be part of the problem, as they're mostly created to sound awesome in isolation. Homebrew sounds don't have all that baggage, unless you added it yourself. This is another great argument for making your own sounds, if you're not doing that already. Work on this before you start carving poo poo out through equalizing (which will be necessary as well), as there's room in a mix for surprisingly many mostly mono instruments with the use of some subtle panning. With all the instruments at maximum width, panning means nothing. To this end, panning with the master track set to mono is the best trick to detect where things clash and where they gel together. Treat wideness like an effect such as reverb. Adding some selectively can have an amazing effect on a bone dry track, drowning everything in it is setting yourself up for trouble. To avoid a muddy mix, there's roughly five stages (not strictly in a chronological sense):
EDIT: Sidenote: In general, stage 3 and 4 should be balanced out against each other, based on their subjective priorities. In some cases, equalizing a minor track element is the more logical solution over panning it out of the way (which might make it stand out more than it deserves). I recommend starting at stage 3 for this track, as that seems the most noticable problem. You might need to revisit stages 1 and 2 later; at this point it's hard to tell if that's really necessary. Once the muddiness has cleared up, giving the drums their proper place should become a whole lot easier as well. Flipperwaldt fucked around with this message at 11:39 on Apr 17, 2012 |
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Apr 17, 2012 11:31
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keyframe posted:Your synths sound really boring and dead. Which software/synths are you using? This and the music theory/production guy are more the kind of advice I was looking for. I'm using Reason 5 and mostly Subtractor/Malstom synths on those with a couple of Thor ones dropped in here and there.
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Apr 17, 2012 13:01
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WickedIcon posted:This and the music theory/production guy are more the kind of advice I was looking for. I'm using Reason 5 and mostly Subtractor/Malstom synths on those with a couple of Thor ones dropped in here and there. Rick Snoman's Dance Music Manual is a great book that covers all the basics.
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Apr 17, 2012 13:44
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Yea reason instruments are high quality. Read that dance manual book from cover to cover and then practice everything you read while reading it again and then read it again while practicing more. If you are not into reading that guy has some pretty drat good video tutorials for sale on his site as well.
keyframe fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Apr 17, 2012 |
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Apr 17, 2012 18:41
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If you guys are up to it and have the time, I've got a few tracks I've finished up fairly recently that I'd like some feedback on: 1 2 3 4 5 I exclusively use Reason and Recycle, and have been for as far back as I can recall, so I feel I know my way around the software pretty well but I'm always up for suggestions. Just got Reason 6 yesterday so I'm finding my way around all the new stuff.
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Apr 18, 2012 06:31
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These are not as polished. Reminds me of when I suffered from eternal "everything must be louder at once" syndrome and started putting limiters on every individual track. A bit harsh. Not bad tracks, though. Love these, my sort of thing and very well executed. Would honestly not know what to complain about.
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Apr 18, 2012 07:22
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And now for something completely different. I'd like to bring the chanting in later after some more interesting elements maybe as a bit more of a background element, possibly harmonizing (kind of) against a more lead sound. This is mostly a sketch at this point. I also need better tingsha samples.
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Apr 18, 2012 13:15
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I'm pulling the trigger on a pair of Barefoot MM27s.  After demoing them, I just couldn't live without. Going back to my VXT8s was almost painful, although I think I'm going to keep them around as a B reference.
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Apr 18, 2012 15:53
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Flipperwaldt posted:These are not as polished. Reminds me of when I suffered from eternal "everything must be louder at once" syndrome and started putting limiters on every individual track. A bit harsh. Not bad tracks, though. Awesome, thanks for giving it all a look. I don't have proper monitors so I'm constantly worried about levels and trying to get into the habit of EQing better to keep stuff from getting muddy. I've done a little recording for traditional guitar/bass/drums bands but I get carried away when I write my own stuff and end up having to carve lots of little niches out for various synths and stuff. I know pretty much nothing about mastering and am guilty of cramming stuff through a compressor/limiter to get that loudness war sound, so any tips or tricks or useful guides on mastering would be much appreciated. I try to lurk this thread but lost track of it ages ago, I'll stick around and help if I can. I've been using Reason since v2.5, so I can help out with that. I'm not saying I know everything, but I'm pretty experienced with it by now.
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Apr 18, 2012 20:46
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Can anyone recommend 1. A good (ideally free) beginner's synth VST to learn how synthesisers work and 2. A good (ideally free) tutorial on how to learn to use them? I'm using Synth1 and Superwave (VSTs) at the moment and SORT of understand them but SORT OF don't. e: or recommendations on books would be good too. Popcorn fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Apr 18, 2012 |
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Apr 18, 2012 21:39
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killhamster posted:Awesome, thanks for giving it all a look. I don't have proper monitors so I'm constantly worried about levels and trying to get into the habit of EQing better to keep stuff from getting muddy. I've done a little recording for traditional guitar/bass/drums bands but I get carried away when I write my own stuff and end up having to carve lots of little niches out for various synths and stuff. As far as real mastering is concerned, you can't do it, don't even try. I personally have given up on limiters specifically almost completely. The key is to make a great mix without needing to pump it up in the end. If your kick or sub bass needs to be the loudest thing in the mix, that means the rest of the mix will need to be quieter. If you need to hear all of it louder, turning up your monitoring is a better reflex. If you get lost, you shouldn't be afraid to backtrack a bit either, instead of piling on another compressor. Save the current state, pull all faders down and start over. If you get it right at this stage, all you may need to prepare it for SoundCloud, is a subtle tiny bit of quality character compression on the master track to glue things together and a limiter to catch the very occasional stray peak (both as opposed to using them to boost the volume). I'm going to admit this didn't work for me until I learned to use a compressor properly, using all available parameters (I overlooked timing settings for a long while). I also admit that for Drum & Bass, some limiting on the snares may be a prerequisite, I don't really know. If your monitoring situation is really crap and the budget tight, decent quality studio headphones are a good investment to hear details you're otherwise missing. With reasonable speakers you can get by by listening to a lot of reference material, doing a/b comparisons, testing mixes on different speaker systems and using visual aids (all varieties of metering). From experience, this works reasonably well once you more or less know what you're doing. It's a lot more work though and there'll always be the occasional nasty surprise. Anyway, this is mostly going from the first two tracks. If 3/4/5 are more representative of what you're doing now (didn't go back to check the dates, sorry), disregard all I'm saying, because you're doing absolutely fine Popcorn posted:Can anyone recommend 2. This thread had some great tutorials for Synth1, sadly all the pictures are gone Recreating things that were requested in the thread based on the responses, might still prove informative, though. Youtube has some good and lots of terrible synthesizer tutorials. It's worth just trying some, even if they use another synthesizer in the video.I've only really read one book that tackled synthesizing, but it's a good one: Rik Snoman's Dance Music Manual. There's a link higher up on this page.
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Apr 18, 2012 22:50
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Seconding dance music manual. Or go buy his synthesis dvd. At the end of the day all synths do the same thing and once you know the basics and the difference between synthesis types, wave types, filters, modulators and all then you can use them all where you need em.
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Apr 18, 2012 23:05
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The Synth School articles on SoundOnSound are a good read.
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Apr 18, 2012 23:37
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h_double posted:The Synth School articles on SoundOnSound are a good read. I think I must've asked this question before because I'm sure I've read some of this in the past... and I think I remember why I didn't learn anything from it: quote:Even FM synthesis, which multiplies sine waves together in an attempt to generate complex waveforms more quickly, tends to add several of these products together to get to its more effective results (which is why 6-operator FM sounds better than 4-operator FM, because you can add more products together). What the hell are you talking about! Why is this in lesson one!
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Apr 19, 2012 00:11
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It reads like it assumes that the reader already knows that sound is a wave and instruments are created by having several waves going at the same time. Which may be a fair assumption, I don't know. I guess it wouldn't have hurt to spend a couple paragraphs talking about it just to get everyone on the same page.
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Apr 19, 2012 01:52
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I know that in principle, it's just that 1) any mention of maths and physics scares the poo poo out of my brain (which may prove a barrier in understanding synthesisers ever) and 2) it's information I don't need to know or read right now and aghhhh I'm easily frightened. It's a serious lump of text to jump right into! whatever. I TRY HARDER, I CONTINUE MY STUDIES.
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Apr 19, 2012 03:25
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