Musicians' thread.

copacetic said:
Also, is it a normal thing to do, to pump the main compressor on the main out, with the bass drum? For dancy type music?
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I don't really like putting any FX on the amster channel, because you're not going to get good results, esp not while mixing - because any low bass you have on the tracks is going to distort and obviously alter the final mix out. You really want to apply very gentle FX on all the channels you use.

If you find your mix getting to chaotic, mute all your channels/tracks and then tweak your EQs and plugins very gently, then add another channel/track, usually start with bass, and drums together to make sure you're not overpowering, then add the next and so forth.
 
nihilist said:
I don't really like putting any FX on the amster channel, because you're not going to get good results, esp not while mixing - because any low bass you have on the tracks is going to distort and obviously alter the final mix out. You really want to apply very gentle FX on all the channels you use.

If you find your mix getting to chaotic, mute all your channels/tracks and then tweak your EQs and plugins very gently, then add another channel/track, usually start with bass, and drums together to make sure you're not overpowering, then add the next and so forth.
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This will be done after the mix, and quite subtly, just to give the slightest hint of the BD rhythm.

Talking of chaotic, this tune is getting a bit silly now. Too much stuff going on. I am a total noob (Well, not completely, but it's all trial and error still) when it comes to mixing and whatnot. I struggle to make space for everything.
 
Mastering takes time and patience and the best thing to start doing is to take music you love and study the acoustics and space of the track.

The trick really is to be very slow and subtle, esp with things like distortion and amplifications. EQ is easy but one must be gentle. Starting with 1 track at a time and slowly introducing new ones, esp instruments that share a common space (drums, bass) helps a lot.
 
copacetic said:
I just want the damn thing to sound [-]beautiful[/-] hardcore.

With regards to mixing, by the way, I've had a Tympanoplasty in each of my ears and I am mixing on headphones and/or normal PC speakers so results will be iffy. :p
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Mastering with headphones is not good, it's great for an accurate sound, for editing, picking up mistakes and whatnot, but you really do need a pair of monitors to 'feel' the groove and to know how it sounds. No paif of cans will ever give you that experience of the sound of a 747 taking off. I use headphones when making music and mostly monitors for mastering, I also switch between the two for best results.

With monitors, when you do purchase, you want flat spectrum monitors, nothing short of that.

It is possible to do fairly good mastering on cheaper hardware, I've done it, and did so for quite a long time. But you will want to start studying good sources of genres you like that have been produced very well and try and copy that space.. its something you'll pick up though, like any craft.

I knew someone who did his mastering with huge club speakers, sounded just fine and dandy on his setup, but when played through proper flat spectrum monitors, it sounded weak, flimsy and tinny - that's because he had his bass and treble cranked up on the huge speakers he had. It's like painting a landscape with blue tinted glasses. ;)
 
copacetic said:
I've never, erm, actually needed to. That's the whole reason this thread exists in fact, so I'll be forced to actually finish something. :o
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You sound like a virgin explaining why you didn't bring a condom on the first date.. ;)
 
I can't even imagine how long it's going to take to upload but it's trying.

The reverse cymbal is pretty yucky at points, please excuse its crass behaviour. :p
 
copacetic said:
Also, is it a normal thing to do, to pump the main compressor on the main out, by side-chaining the bass drum? For dancy type music?
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I always mix into a compressor on the 2-buss - eg a good compressor like this, then eq, then a limiter on the master out.

Every drum hit is on it's own channel, and each of them is compressed, eq'd and sent to various busses eg reverb and a drive channel with some distortion on it, and usually a parallel compression buss to to beef things up - all of this is absolutely standard practice.
You might want to side chain the kick on one of your drum groups, but i wouldn't really recommend doing that on the 2-buss.
 
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assagai said:
I always mix into a compressor on the 2-buss - eg a good compressor like this, then eq, then a limiter on the master out.

Every drum hit is on it's own channel, and each of them is compressed, eq'd and sent to various busses eg reverb and a drive channel with some distortion on it, and usually a parallel compression buss to to beef things up - all of this is absolutely standard practice.
You might want to side chain the kick on one of your drum groups, but i wouldn't really recommend doing that on the 2-buss.
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Thanks.

Anyone have any advice on how to make a snare roll that does not sound like a robot shooting a machine gun?
 
copacetic said:
Thanks.

Anyone have any advice on how to make a snare roll that does not sound like a robot shooting a machine gun?
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:) machine gunning...the plight of synthesized music and electronic drum kits
 
copacetic said:
Thanks.

Anyone have any advice on how to make a snare roll that does not sound like a robot shooting a machine gun?
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You can use a human player emulator algo that makes timings a little less than perfect. Can also vary the volumes "impacts" on each hit?
 
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Copa, I don't know about the software you're using, but in a tracker, you can use a sample offset command to cut off the beginning of the sample on each note, you can do this manually in a sample editor and save them and use 'em. You would play the sample in steps one after the other but you could cut out parts of the beginning, basically clipping off the hardest part of the snare. Hard to explain without demonstration.
 
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