WAFFLEHOUND posted:And now for something completely different. I improved it in case anyone feels like saying anything. 
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Apr 19, 2012 04:38
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Popcorn posted: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! The basic workflow of subtractive synthesis is that you have OSCILLATORS (or a triggered sample etc.), which can be "colored" by FILTERS (which work a lot like an EQ, they cut or boost different frequency ranges), and then the sound can change over time with the help of MODULATORS (envelopes and LFOs), which can typically modulate everything from pitch to amplitude (volume) to filter cutoff and soforth. Some synths have an effects section (chorus, delay, etc.) but otherwise everything on a subtractive synth falls into one of those three areas: oscillators, filters, and modulators. If you understand how those piece fit together on a simple synth, it's easier to move to a bigger/more elaborate synth and see how it's the same elements, just with a lot more options. The basic oscillator waveforms you'll see everyplace are sawtooth, square, and triangle/sine waves, and it's good to get familiar with how they sound, both as audio waves and LFO modulators. There are also pulse waves, which are like square waves where the top leg of the wave is longer or shorter than the bottom leg (many synths allow you to modulate the width of the pulse waves, which can be a cool harmonic effect). I do think that having a little scientific knowledge about how sound and synths work is useful; e.g. understanding how harmonic overtones and partials work helped make a lot of things click for me, like why sawtooth and square waves work the way they do, how to make better use of filters, how to make different parts of a sound fit together, and soforth. It's helpful to have a concrete understanding of an octave (that's where one sound has a frequency twice that of another, like 220Hz and 440Hz are an octave apart). But it's also important to experiment (Synth1 is a great synth for learning btw). I think it's helpful to start with a blank patch and try to make some simple sound effects from scratch: a race car revving, a slide whistle type sound, lasers, an organ with a wah-wah effect, etc. Is there anything in particular that you're hung up on or especially curious about? h_double fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Apr 19, 2012 |
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Apr 19, 2012 04:47
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:I improved it in case anyone feels like saying anything. This is getting pretty interesting! I'd sidechain the bass/chorus to the kick, tho, to get the kick more prominent. As it is now it's a little lost in the mix and not very punchy/bassy enough (IMO), but it carries the rhythm well enough! I like the reece bass you've got going, but i'd change the "piouw" at the start, when you trigger it. I would make it more crispy, too, try to boost the high end/try a different distortion unit (assuming you're distorcing it in the first place)? And, I'd put in a wicked tribal bongo loop somewhere, after a phrase or two. In my head it sounds good.
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Apr 19, 2012 11:17
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h_double posted:very helpful stuff Replied to this over in the synthesizer thread (where my original post here should probably have gone in the first place - whoops!)
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Apr 19, 2012 18:45
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What's the most powerful bit reduction type distortion plugin out there? I used to use the ones in Kore all the time, but I reformatted my machine a while back and lost it. [edit] Sweet, you can still download the free player off their site. : ) [edit2] gently caress, it seems like you can't. : ( They're not letting me use the serial I have from when I bought the Komplete 5 Kore 2 bundle to activate it, and they're not letting me get a new serial. Kore was loving great, It blows my mind they shut it down. Vector 7 fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Apr 20, 2012 |
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Apr 20, 2012 01:38
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Vector 7 posted:What's the most powerful bit reduction type distortion plugin out there? I used to use the ones in Kore all the time, but I reformatted my machine a while back and lost it. I like Bitsmacker a lot. It's only for Mac, but it's free.
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Apr 20, 2012 02:28
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Vector 7 posted:What's the most powerful bit reduction type distortion plugin out there? Anyway, E-Phonic LOFI does the trick in loving things up for me, if you're on Windows.
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Apr 20, 2012 02:49
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Well... if you feel like dropping a cool hundred on a bit-reduction plugin... http://www.sonalksis.com/digital_grimebox.htm
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Apr 20, 2012 02:52
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So I decided to spend the day making a track in Ableton to get accustomed to the interface (I'm used to working in Reaper). I had something fairly nice coming along, then decided to use a different reverb plugin and removed the I was using which caused Ableton to crash. Always remember to save frequently  edit: Ableton wouldn't start for a few minutes but when it did it recovered the midi tracks and the settings for all the built-in plugins I used. My Massive patch is gone though 
im a girl btw fucked around with this message at 04:19 on Apr 20, 2012 |
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Apr 20, 2012 04:13
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Yea Live is crash happy. It not having a 64 bit version is not exactly helpful either.
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Apr 20, 2012 04:24
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I do really like the interface but I ain't buying it til the 64 bit version comes out.
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Apr 20, 2012 04:32
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No, gently caress, god drat it. There was one in Kore that had dither and jitter and poo poo that sounded awesome. I want one like that! Why did NI discontinue Kore? WHY?! *breaks laptop*
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Apr 20, 2012 06:35
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im a girl btw posted:I do really like the interface but I ain't buying it til the 64 bit version comes out. That might be a really long wait.
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Apr 20, 2012 07:20
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Vector 7 posted:No, gently caress, god drat it. Googling around, best free alternative with similar features I've found so far is TB TimeMachine. Can't compare the sound, because I've never owned any NI Produkt. For lack of a better word, it's quite a bit gentler and more musical than the E-Phonics LoFi I recommended earlier.
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Apr 20, 2012 13:34
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Has anyone played with "the finger". I just got around to messing with it and it is retarded fun to use.
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Apr 21, 2012 01:47
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Yeah I impulse bought it a while back. It's fun trying to work out new ways to use it. It's pretty close to an instant 'interesting sound' button.
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Apr 21, 2012 03:38
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To all the people asking about learning how to operate synthesizers, it would definitely help a ton if you tried learning how to use a modular synthesizer and messed around with that. I'm currently in a class where the main programs we use are Tassman 4, the Nord Modular G2 Demo (Available for free here) and FM8. Although FM8 is not modular, the other 2 are, and you learn a lot about signal flow and just how the sound works as it weaves around certain modules that shape the sound. If the Nord doesn't make sense and you can't get it to work, I can write a few things here that'll show you how to use it. It's only a monophonic synth that's kind of buggy, but it's pretty powerful and can even do some FM synthesis too, so it's a great tool to help you learn. Also if anyone has any trouble using an FM synthesizer like FM8, I can write a couple of things about it too. All I know is that it used to be so incredibly confusing to me, but it's actually a lot simpler than it looks. You just have to learn to navigate the environment a little and understand the signal flow of the program in order to really start working with it. It's pretty awesome for making some cool pads and ambient sounds, as well as bells and keyboard/organ type sounds.
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Apr 21, 2012 07:25
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Can somebody do me a favor and listen to this track with a sub? It sounds fine on my monitors and looks good in the software but I'm kind of curious how it sounds with a sub. http://soundcloud.com/djcounterstrike/the-wanted-glad-you-came-mixin I have gotten into the whole "DJ edits" thing recently just to screw around with Logic Pro. I am realizing that since it doesn't really have that great of a looping mechanism I am growing to hate it. So incredibly frustrating...I should have just gotten Ableton. One day I will join you all on synth chat. 
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Apr 21, 2012 17:25
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TheWevel posted:Can somebody do me a favor and listen to this track with a sub? The sampled bits are somewhat in your face in the ~1kHz-5kHz range. If you're compressing the master bus, maybe make another bus and compress everything apart from the sampled bits there and lose the compression on the master. That's just an idea, not sure if that would work to satisfaction.
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Apr 21, 2012 20:42
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Hey guys, fairly helpful thread, I have a question though (besides "oh god i'm so lost every DAW has infinite depth where do I start") This isn't the exact example I first encountered, but it works just as well: If I make a new file in FL Studio, add Massive to the first pattern, change the preset to one of the preloaded ones and save the .fl file, and then load it up again, Massive is reset back to No Preset Loaded. How do I stop this from happening? Synth1 keeps my presets fine, as well as any other vst I've used so far.
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Apr 22, 2012 05:44
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Lavender Philtrum posted:Hey guys, fairly helpful thread, I have a question though (besides "oh god i'm so lost every DAW has infinite depth where do I start") Does the preset make any sound at all when you play it? Try turning a few knobs around and saving your own preset to a different folder and then see if FL remembers it then.
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Apr 22, 2012 06:20
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I cant remember the last time my copy of ableton crashed. few years back, at least. I made a new thing. would like some comments on the mix if possible, i'm on super lovely monitors for a while. http://soundcloud.com/downpour/swan-lake
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Apr 22, 2012 17:48
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Jonny Greenwood describing a method used by producer Nigel Godrich to edit Radiohead's "Everything in its Right Place": "Nigel like used to do pro tools and scratch the sound waves and made all these mad sounds that no one had done before." "Scratch the sound waves"? Anyone know what he's talking about? e: this isn't something I need to know how to do myself, just curious about this strange-sounding process I've never heard of. Popcorn fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Apr 23, 2012 |
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Apr 23, 2012 02:56
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Maybe scratching like a turntablist would?
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Apr 23, 2012 04:46
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Been working on this one lately, techno of course. Still tweaking but thoughts are appreciated, I made changes to my last few tracks thanks to this thread! http://soundcloud.com/the-sargents/synchrotron-clip cubicle gangster posted:I cant remember the last time my copy of ableton crashed. few years back, at least. This is really cool, my type of tune. Love the noise impacts.Hi-end sounds good, I can't really comment on the low end because of my setup but it sounds pretty tight. Maybe you could briefly cut out the hats etc. and give the verb tails one bar before kicking it back in around 4.22min to give it some real impact on the kick? skrath fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Apr 23, 2012 |
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Apr 23, 2012 05:38
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Oh man. Why did I ever stop making dark drum and bass for 3years? Just something about the distorted basslines and fast breaks does it for me. So much so im back at it and experimenting with running basslines through distortion pedals (this one kinda gets some good dirt): http://www.soundcloud.com/hostisdnb/dysphoria
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Apr 23, 2012 14:58
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boxorocks posted:Oh man. Why did I ever stop making dark drum and bass for 3years? Just something about the distorted basslines and fast breaks does it for me. So much so im back at it and experimenting with running basslines through distortion pedals (this one kinda gets some good dirt): http://www.soundcloud.com/hostisdnb/dysphoria Really liking this, it reminds me of the stuff that people were spinning that got me into D&B to begin with, really grindy noisy stuff. No matter what I do, I can't quite nail the drum sounds and end up chopping the Amen break into bits. What kind of samples/processing are you using on those?
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Apr 23, 2012 15:57
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boxorocks posted:Oh man. Why did I ever stop making dark drum and bass for 3years? Just something about the distorted basslines and fast breaks does it for me. So much so im back at it and experimenting with running basslines through distortion pedals (this one kinda gets some good dirt): http://www.soundcloud.com/hostisdnb/dysphoria Fantastic stuff. Please make more! cubicle gangster, I'll run your track through the studio monitors tonight and let you know my thoughts. However, I did have an interesting chat earlier with a mastering engineer mate about the "intricacies" of mixing and mastering heavy techno (and similar genres). Basically, you've still got to put a bunch of effort into making the track sound decent and appropriate on a variety of systems - including giving it's naked playback on small "laptop"-esque speakers enough oomph such that listeners will buy it - but there's a point of diminishing returns in sweating over the minute fraction-of-a-dB details 'cos the DJ will re-EQ the track to suit their headphones and monitors, the mixer will saturate/distort as it fancies (thankfully Allen & Heath mixers are taking over from Pioneer), and then the result will either be nicely multi-band compressed and pumped out by a well-calibrated sound system in a good club, or be waffled to poo poo by the dodgy woofers, blown tweeters and brick wall reflections of a poo poo hole basement.
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Apr 23, 2012 16:28
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killhamster posted:Really liking this, it reminds me of the stuff that people were spinning that got me into D&B to begin with, really grindy noisy stuff. It varies a bit, but this is how I basically do my drums (there are plenty of videos / tutorials out there that recommend EQ cutting/boosting frequencies, but I usually cut only and substitute different hits if it sounds too weak): I will slice up some break I find interesting into separate audio lanes (Im using ableton). So one track will be KICK1 for example, another track will be SNARE1... if you can tease them out of a break you'll have rides, hats and ghost snares as well. But you'll end up de-constructing the break into smaller hits split across audio lanes. I'll usually do this with 3, maybe 4 breaks and group all of the kicks together into a kick group (so; kick 1 + kick 2 + etc.), plus I'll find some more single hit samples from whatever pack or sample my housemate's yamaha DTX which has some pretty cool hits. In the end I might have up to 7 or so snares layered up for example. Adjust the levels accordingly in each group so I have a dominant kick/snare/whatever coming through with others layered over (I might adjust the fades on some of the hits too to get the start of one and tail of another etc). Also, I love ghost snares, so I'll usually pull a few out of a break but for some reason I love the amen ghosts which I'll usually layer in there (even if I don't use the main hits from the break) and have them crammed in whereever. Finally, I'll grab another break or 3, hipass them and chop them up as well then layer them over the top for a different high end to the rest of the break. Each group (snares/kicks/whatever) is then EQ'd / compressed individually and then sent to another audio track I label the break bus which I might compress or do something with. Usually you can't go too wrong and there are plenty of subtle things you can do. Plus with the amount of layers, you can drop layers in and out and make the break change a little bit here and there over time but still have a full sound. It is time consuming; but I only just got back into production a few months ago and picked up ableton. I must say, the workflow is alot faster in ableton than it is in reason (what I used to use) so I can be a bit more complicated for the same amount of time, I guess? As for the bass: It's also layering. Lots of layering. I'll maybe run 3 variations of a patch I make up in massive layered over the top of eachother, then bounce that down to audio and run it through some effects ad nauseum. I'm really liking running it out of the audio interface, through some distortion pedals and back in again at the moment. I also end up saving a file, then deleting the bassline as I sometimes don't like how it goes (save the old stuff for later, you never know). I've picked up an E-MU e6400 ultra and I'm currently waiting on parts to try and mod it to make loading samples easier; and I'm itching to get my head around it. :3
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Apr 23, 2012 22:54
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Popcorn posted:Jonny Greenwood describing a method used by producer Nigel Godrich to edit Radiohead's "Everything in its Right Place": "Nigel like used to do pro tools and scratch the sound waves and made all these mad sounds that no one had done before." This is just standard producer self-promoting interview nonsense (much like how Aphex Twin "built" his own sampler by putting a sheet over a Sequential Studio 440). Jonny Greenwood was most likely just not paying attention while Godrich fiddled with a couple of plug-ins in series and PT edit windows.
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Apr 24, 2012 08:24
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skrath posted:This is really cool, ... Maybe you could briefly cut out the hats etc. and give the verb tails one bar before kicking it back in around 4.22min to give it some real impact on the kick? Thanks! I'm with you on that - I want to go back to that section, the energy doesnt carry through at all and it does some weird things. Not sure what to do about those big noises, might push them forward a bit/make the kick in bigger, it'll help make it not such a sudden end either. Gonna cut out the hats like you said too i'll have a listen to yours tonight i hope - my laptops not been on since sunday. ynohtna - it's been through 2 sets of headphones, my housemates 5.1, some poo poo floorstanders and monitors with much less low end than i'm used to. it sounds ok to me overall, but I still dont trust it because they're all poo poo... haha. I dont have access to any really good or even just huge speakers atm.
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Apr 24, 2012 17:07
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Hahaha, the old NS10 maxim: if it sounds okay on a bunch of poo poo speakers then it'll likely sound great on a decent system! Brittle bits of a mix (particularly snares and mid-range percussion being too loud) stick out massively on weak systems. (I didn't get around to punting it through the studio yet and seeing which floorboards rattle yet, sorry.) On the subject of arranging for energy, if you've got the gear and inclination then having a little DJ mix with a rough cut can usually identify places and tactics for messing around: dropping kicks, EQ cuts, chops, full buss effects sweeps, sections which need looping longer, lack of tonal variety, etc. I really should do that more often with my own stuff but I get tired of hearing my own crap by the time I'm ynohtna fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Apr 24, 2012 |
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Apr 24, 2012 17:30
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http://soundcloud.com/ellywu2/sidechain1 Here's a link to a thing I did. I'm trying to get a complextro (?) sound to it, but I am struggling. Anyone have any tips? My mastering has always been bad - I don't know if I can blame it on equipment (crappy bud headphones or 2.1 10 year old speakers) but, for whatever reason, stuff always sounds incredibly bass heavy. If I cut bass frequencies out it sounds ok and rounded to me, yet people on other systems complain.
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Apr 24, 2012 19:15
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Work-flow survey here: Do you guys create one solidly crafted/layered set of drums to use in multiple tracks or do you remake your drums from scratch every time you start a new track? I'd been starting from scratch every time, but I always end up using similar samples, so I'm wondering if I should just spend a few hours meticulously building "the perfect drum rack" to drop into my tracks to save me time later.
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Apr 24, 2012 21:12
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I go from scratch every time. I used to use simplers and do my samples one by one, but i've got a maschine now. I tried using drum rack before I got it but i found everything I did ended up sounding like i'd started from the same base and i hated that. With a maschine now I open it stand alone, make a couple minutes of beat & variations then export it as .wav. after playing with synths & ideas for a bit - if i decide i'm going to carry on with the track the maschine comes back out to export the loops one after the other to end up with a 10odd minute long .wav to chop up & rebuild. cubicle gangster fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Apr 24, 2012 |
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Apr 24, 2012 22:35
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Best convolution reverb?
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Apr 25, 2012 00:37
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I'm making a thing. There are some sounds I'm not super fond of, like the one at 30 seconds, and I'll be replacing the vocal samples eventually (but the content will likely stay the same/similar). Any advice would be SERIOUSLY appreciated.
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Apr 25, 2012 03:33
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haakman posted:http://soundcloud.com/ellywu2/sidechain1 Not a huge fan of this genre but this sounds pretty well produced and professional to me. The "break" right before the main complextro riff starts to come in - I think that could be cleaned up a little bit - there is a quiet snare in it that sounds a little out of place, or maybe just needs to be louder.
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Apr 25, 2012 04:17
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:I'm making a thing. There are some sounds I'm not super fond of, like the one at 30 seconds, and I'll be replacing the vocal samples eventually (but the content will likely stay the same/similar). I would recommend a lot of modulation, a lot of the sounds seem kind of static. I would have the percussion change up too - sounds like it is pretty much the same loop for the whole song?
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Apr 25, 2012 04:23
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Anal Surgery posted:Work-flow survey here:  ). There are some stalwarts that I will use on more than one project however - especially snares and rides for some reason.
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Apr 25, 2012 05:54
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