The Prodcution tips and hints thread

[CBG]

Post your tips and hints for production here, hopefully this thread can be regularly updated.

Don't be afraid to share your wisdom, give and reveive, and give rep.

Remember to make sure you state what program your advice applies to, if any.

Post your tips in BOLD, so to keep browsing through easier

This thread has the potential to be massive

[CBG]

If you want to widen your synth: load up a Filter delay on the hi freq track (providing you are layering). 1. Select, L and R not L+R. 2. Bring the Frequency up on each side so it doesn’t filter any the sound. 3. Then bring down the time manually to 1-15ms perhaps. 4. Have a different number for each side. This will widen the sound dramatically. You made need to lower the gain though cus it will really jump out of the mix otherwise.

[CBG]

Tip for bassline: Duplicate the midi notes, have one has a sawtooth waveform, or square or whatever and EQ higher. Have the other as a Sine waveform, EQ it lower.

[CBG]

Ok.

This one is a goodie.

Phase: Phase is a term used to describe the position of one sound wave relative to another sound wave, Two identical waves are 'in-phase' when the crests and troughs of the waves meet and are 'out-of-phase' when the crests of one wave meets the trough of another wave.

Phase is a good thing, when a frequency group is perfectly out of phase, there will be no sound, because the speaker is trying to push out for one sound, will simultaneously trying to pull in. Yeah?

As you can see, these three waveforms are out of phase, and the speaker is gunna be working overtime to process this, likewise the needle on a turntable. Vinyls must be in phase to insure the needle doesn't jump out

So... to avoid this, don't worry about higher freq too much. Lower is the concern.

If you have a bassline and a kick together. Upon up a Utility, a utility lowers and heightens the gain on the selected track. Automate the Utility (ableton) to drop the gain off the Sub-Bass bassline, when the bass notes fall on the same beat as the kick. This ensures the the sub woofer is able to process a phased waveform.

I'll put up screenshot if people want.

[ChevChelios]

Tip for bassline: Duplicate the midi notes, have one has a sawtooth waveform, or square or whatever and EQ higher. Have the other as a Sine waveform, EQ it lower.

As for this tip, there is an easier way to do it, you just send one patch to two different AUX channels, one high pass one low pass, easier to effect and such and keeps things more organised imo, good tip though

[CBG]

Yeah but you need the two tracks for the different waveforms. Yeah?

[ChevChelios]

Well yeah you can do it that way, which is the way I do it, but I guess you have One track going to an AUX and a send, AUX being high pass and send being low pass, or visa versa, if you dont want to duplicate your tracks

[JonnyB]

Tip for bassline: Duplicate the midi notes, have one has a sawtooth waveform, or square or whatever and EQ higher. Have the other as a Sine waveform, EQ it lower.

another good idea for this.

now myself im not very good at this nor claim to have it down pat, but i know people like datsik and excision use it.

multiband compression so you can split your track into lows mids and highs and alter each one with out effecing the others, so youd be able to play around with the low freq's with out touching the high's.

just look it up, i cant explain it very well

[JonnyB]

Tom eq's top 10 tips

1 - during a fill try filtering a long swooping pad or white noise sample reducing LF towards the drop. Maybe send it to some side chain compression too or a gate.

2 - To build a vocal or synth part up try automating a delay and gradually opening up the feedback until a drop takes place.

3 - Percussion - Send these to a buss with a nice compressor to glue the sounds together, also try a bit of sonic enhancement (BBE Sonic Maximizer) after the compressor on the chain.

4 - using more than one vocal sound, try eq'ing them differently to make them stand out/ seperate from the other samples, also try a channel strip on funny settings. I've been using the Waves SSL channel strip and using a violin preset getting a full bodied vocal different from a main vocal.

5 - mess about with pug in chains. try a compressor than add a delay effect then a reverb then a gate. why not see what happens. Bounce it all down to audio, arrange it and fuck it, add some more effects!!

6 - Kicks - Layer them, get a nice subby one, layer a clicky fast transient kick and eq to perfection. Also if you kick is full try removing 50% or so from the back of it to use as an intro kick drum. When you paste the full kicks audio after the first drop you will notice a more urgent feel.

7 - hi hats - try using an auto panner/ tremelo to get some movement in the higer frquencies

8 - Synths - Stick with one and learn it. Make you own presets and your own sounds.

9 - Analyse those frequncies - Stick a frequency analyser on the master channel. If your having trouble identifying a muddy element in your mix you can solo channels and identify tracks that may have overlapping frequencies and therefore bringing you headroom up. Eq them as need for clarity.

10 - Stop going on internet forums all the time and make music damn it!

[ChevChelios]

Tip for bassline: Duplicate the midi notes, have one has a sawtooth waveform, or square or whatever and EQ higher. Have the other as a Sine waveform, EQ it lower.

another good idea for this.

now myself im not very good at this nor claim to have it down pat, but i know people like datsik and excision use it.

multiband compression so you can split your track into lows mids and highs and alter each one with out effecing the others, so youd be able to play around with the low freq's with out touching the high's.

just look it up, i cant explain it very well

Yep multi band compression is how they get their super awesome robot wooblers, compress the shit out of certain frequencies to get that metallic kind thing goin, that coupled with a shit load of proceswsing and sampling the transformers movies

[CBG]

Why aren't there more producers here? It's soo much better than DJing IMO

[JonnyB]

Why aren't there more producers here? It's soo much better than DJing IMO

because the forum is about djing, which would bring the dj's not producers, its just half the dj's produce as well. AKA us

[ChevChelios]

Why aren't there more producers here? It's soo much better than DJing IMO

because the forum is about djing, which would bring the dj's not producers, its just half the dj's produce as well. AKA us

I'd say Im the only non-DJ on this forum

[JonnyB]

im going to have alot to add here, most of it isnt mine, but very usefull knowledge

[JonnyB]

[b}TIPS FROM STUPID FRESH

Hi Folks,

Not written on here in a long time, can't sleep, so thought i'd share whatever stuff pops into my head regarding production. these are just some techniques i've been exploring lately and aren't aimed at any specific level of producer. i'm sure some will be obvious to you, likewise you're bound to find something useful. i use logic btw, though i think this should apply to any sequencer type shenanigans.

1) Awesome trick from Funkagenda - to add a bit of stereo to a sound similar to using a spreader except loads better (please don't use them!). create a bus track with a sample delay on it, one side delayed 500ms the other 900 ms. send something to it. i'd usually put the output to whatever bus the tracks was going to, ie if i applied this to a clap i'd have the bus output going to the drum bus.

2) Talking of busses, i don't think you can ever do enough bussing! i'm only really getting into it properly now, and it's changing the way i think and approach a lot of things. For example, you have a bass sound. play about with sending it to a few busses, maybe filter out all the low end and add a bit crusher on one, or filter out the highs and add a chorus to give it extra warmth. send all the outputs to the same bass buss!

3) Reverb can be fun! if it's on a bus, why not stick a pitch shifter after it and tease it up an octave? Instead of trying to gate it, bounce that shit as audio and cut it. that goes for anything. i used to have an unnatural fear of bouncing parts, in case i wanted to edit it later. fuck that, life's too short!

4) Save presets as you go, lots of them. if they're shit, laugh at them later and delete them.

5) Always analyse everything with an eq. really handy for controlling spikes and a good way of training your ears to accurately identify what frequencies you're listening to.

6) Sack off playing with pitch lfo's in the synth for a day, and do it in the piano roll instead. i think it's loads better and more creative, plus you can copy it to another instrument. most synths let you change the bend range to more extreme settings too. we like the extreme!

7) Lots of ways of creating builds like this, here's my version...

If you want to create a build with say, a vocal sample in your track, cut a small section to loop. i'd usually go with a 3/16th size bit, you know what i mean. one shorter than a beat etc. save this as an audio file and load it into a sampler. TURN 'LOOP' ON! draw in a long midi note, why not 16 bars. using the above pitch method, draw in a straight line from the lowest pitch at the start to the highest at the end of the 16 bars. increase the bend range of the sampler. nice!

Some more EQing notes...

Whatever one of the old classic hardware samplers i'm thinking of, would cut highs at 12k. apply this to things.

Remove frequencies that aren't in use, like the treble of a sub bass.

Tighten the kick and bass by searching for and removing peaks, often found where the peak matches the pitch of the sound. this is good for increasing clarity, and maybe a bit of headroom too.

If 2 sounds are clashing/competing for the same space, get an eq for each up on the screen. if you cut some frequencies on one sound, boost the same on the other. have a good old fiddle until they are loving each other, not hating.

9) Getting a better overall sound...

i find myself using less compression and more eqing in my old age. unless it's on a group track. every sound i use is bussed to a group track. this is useful for compression and limiting, and makes it easier mixing the levels. on my usual blank template i have drum, bass, vocal, fx, and 2 spare group tracks already set up. lets look at my drum group! i use various plug-ins to get a nice sound that doesn't peak. (usually i'll have the drums touching -7dB and no louder, and the overall unmastered song sitting around -5dB). i'll name a few plug-ins later, but mainly i use a multi-band compressor, eq, limiter, and something to bring the kick out.

10) plugins...

for synths - i use vanguard (see Stretch The Canvas, and forthcoming track Spanish Bounce) (ps mock this in front of me or Hot Mouth at your peril), albino (dubstep-tastic, used for Twist remix), predator, massive (Spam Javelin), the fm synth in logic (a lot more than you'll think), FabFilter Twin (Sexual Peanut, For Everyone remix), virus (whenever i go to slim's studio and make tracks like Do It).

for sounding gooooood - Ohmicide, Guitar Rig, Voxengo stuff, T-RackS (if you don't try that on your master channel with 'master 1' preset you are a nob), vintage warmer (open it on a track, don't touch it, then bounce), TC Powercore (Character plugin on this is delicious)

11) other things worth trying one day...

when you're drawing in midi notes, unless it's the kick drum, turn the snap off.

instead of trying to create complex filter lfo's on a synth - turn the sync off, automate it on one long note to start slow and get fast. bounce this as audio. cut it up and make the bass from this.

send the pitch and cut-off freq to the same lfo of a synth

if you were about to, don't make a bootleg (just this time)

12) steal all of your drums

13) if you have a feeling you're about to make the track sound shit, 'save as' first

14) hmmm, one more. oh yeah, when mixing down unplug a monitor, switch to mono and make sure it still sounds good out of one speaker.

that's an hour and a half i'll never get back, hope some sucker reads it

[ChevChelios]

some good stuff in there ^

[CBG]

yeah and I havent read it all, but looks gd so far

[JonnyB]

i agree, probably even worth rep

[ChevChelios]

ask and you wont receive... maybe if you wrote it it would be worth rep but you dont get rep for copy paste jobby

[JonnyB]

hmm, why am i the only one to get shot down when asking for some rep .....haha.

i could always pass the rep on to stupid fresh and tom eq:) haha.

i should have some compression knowledge coming up from klaus hill. just gotta find it

[JonnyB]

KLAUS HILL GIVES WORDS ON EQING AND MASTERING

EQUALIZATION

The Basics

There are four general elements that you would use EQ for while working on

a mix.

1. Increase the clarity of a sound.

2. Make a sound bigger and fuller.

3. Help a sound/sounds sit in he mix better and work with the other parts.

4. Remove unwanted frequencies.

USING THE EQ

There is one golden rule to EQ: don't boost when you can get the same

result by cutting. The reason for this is that whenever a boost is applied

it will introduce phase shifting and noise. This can make it even more of

a problem getting those sounds to sit in the mix correctly.

I'm not saying never boost, but do it with care and sparingly.

EQ TIPS

1. Use small Q values (wide frequency range) for boosting and a large Q

(narrow frequncy range) for cutting.

2.Boost a small amount at two different frequnecies instead of a large

amount on one.

3. Try avoid EQ'in when in solo mode as much as you can. You want the part

to sound good in the whole mix. Doing it without solo means you can hear

when its sitting right in the whole tune.

4.When making a boost or cut, get into the habit of checking the frequency

that is 1/2 and twice that of the one you adjusted.

An example: you give a loop a boost at 5khz. You should also check 2.5khz

and 10khz for problems. This is because boosting a cutting can increase

prominent harmonics at these intervals.

[JonnyB]

KLAUS HILL: STEREO IMAGING PLACEMENT

Stereo image in a mix is a very overlooked and underrated part of a mixdown. But when used right, it can be as invaluable as EQ'in. If you listen to a mix by someone like Toni Maserati or Bob Clearmountain their use of panning and EQ'in makes up roughly 70% of a good mix. And these guys are amongst the best of the best!

So the basics. In stereo you have three prime spots, the center, left and right. When mixing your latest dance floor bomb think carefully what you choose to fill these areas. These are the areas that will have the greatest affect on your final mix. To much hard panning, tunes will sound lost with no cohesion. Keeping your track center heavy can make it sound cluttered with to much going on.

Kicks and Bass sound best in the middle. The reason being, bass needs lots of energy. So sounds in this middle area are being driven equally by both speakers so those low frequencies are slamming you hard. Secondly, these two tend to be the building block of you tune, holding it all together. Having them tight in the middle just sounds right to a listener. But this is dance music, and rules are meant to be broken! So sometimes panning a bass sound can create something special, catch the dance floors attention. But if you do it, you got to nail it otherwise it will be ugly!!

Another area where creative panning can add new life to your mix is with reverb. Most people simply leave the reverb return to full stereo and get on with it. Having reverb in the center can actually obscure things like kicks and snares. Next time your mixing mess around with the reverbs panning, give it 30% to left or right, just taking the reverb out from the center and have a listen to what it does to your track, i think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Don't pan reverb hard left or right as it tends to make the mix sound muffled. Subtle is what you are after.

Nine times out of ten lead vocals sound best dead center. Only time I'd think differently is if the vocal is doubled, then panning them left and right makes more sense and leaves more room for other parts of the track. With backing vocals try panning inwards, makes for something different. Small vocal hit's and snippets can be stuck all over the place, they make for interesting EFX's and incidental sounds.

Get into that automating page and get those pans moving. This will create motion and movement in your track and give a sense of a even bigger stereo image.

Avoid having sine wave type sounds panned hard left or right. Sine synths are hard to blend in the first place so sticking them way out to the corners of your mix just makes it even harder.

Hope this gave you a little food for thought? It's all very basic and simple stuff to often overlooked, but the results can be very effective and even dramatic.

Until next time

Klaus

[ChevChelios]

hmm, why am i the only one to get shot down when asking for some rep .....haha.

Hey now! I rep'd you yesterday mofo

[JonnyB]

yeah i know i was just having a whinge haha, ignore that!

found some stuff from aniki ill post up in a sec

[JonnyB]

Aniki give words on monitor placement.

Here are some really nice guidelines for monitor placement and other helpfull stuff. It has really helped me out, and it might be helpfull to some of the peeps on the potty board aswell. Enjoy

1. If you are about to buy new monitor speakers, or upgrade existing ones, choose something with a neutral sound. Although slightly aggressive, detailed-sounding speakers are very popular, using such monitors as a reference may make your mixes sound bland through more typical systems. One school of thought says that if your monitors have any tonal trend at all, it should be the opposite to that of your music -- so if you want music with lots of bass, mix on speakers that are not bass-heavy, and vice-versa.

2. If you have the luxury of expensive monitors with a very clean and detailed sound, remember that subtle background details in your mixes may be lost on more typical systems which have more colouration. For this reason it is still useful to double-check on cheap and nasty speakers, and many engineers use two pairs of monitors -- an accurate pair for detailed work, and a more 'typical' cheaper pair for checking how the mix will sound on a real-world system.

3. Choose a sufficiently powerful power amp to drive the speakers properly. It is better to have a powerful amplifier connected to small speakers, coasting along with a super-clean sound, than the other way round. Running a small amp flat out into expensive speakers is an easy way to get unexpected repair bills, since the amp may start clipping when you crank it up. Clipping removes the tops of the waveform, which generates lots of harmonics that could fry your tweeters. If you've ever had to replace your tweeters, this could be the reason, and a larger power amp may prevent the problem recurring.

4. Make sure that you use heavy-duty cables between the amplifier and speakers. You don't need exotic hi-fi ones -- although some people swear by them -- but cheap and nasty cable such as bell-flex will compromise your sound, particularly at the bass end. Thicker wiring (some people use solid-core cooker cable) results in a lower overall impedance, which in turn couples your amplifier more closely to the speakers, resulting in tighter and cleaner bass.

5. Speaker positioning can make a huge difference to the final sound. Nearfield monitors (used by most people apart from the dance fraternity) should ideally be about five or six feet apart, and about the same distance from your ears. You won't go far wrong if you position them on two corners on an imaginary equilateral triangle, with your head as the third corner.

6. Keep speakers well away from the corners of the room to avoid boomy bass, and follow the manufacturer's recommendations regarding position relative to the rear wall. Some designs rely on the bass reinforcement that you get when pushing the speaker close to the wall; others will sound balanced only when positioned well away from a wall in 'free space'. Try to place each speaker the same distance from side walls, otherwise they will sound different from each other and spoil the stereo image. It is also advisable to keep their distance from the rear walls as different as possible to that from the side walls, to minimise the effect of the room acoustics.

7. Tweeters should be at ear height, since high frequencies tend to be more directional. For the same reason most speakers benefit from being toed-in slightly, by turning them so that both tweeters are pointing towards your ears. If you regularly have two people listening side-by-side, reduce this toe-in slightly by pointing each tweeter at an imaginary mid-point slightly behind your heads.

8. Check the speaker toe-in angle by moving your chair forwards and backwards. If you are too far forward, central mono sounds will be hard to pinpoint, and moving too far backward will reduce the width of the stereo image. You will probably find an optimum position for your chair, and if this is too far back then your speakers either need moving closer together (or toe-ing in more), and if you need to sit too close then they can probably be moved further apart. You'll soon get a feel for this, and it only needs to be done once.

9. If you can persuade some friends to help, speaker positioning can be carried out the other way round -- by moving the speakers as you listen. Choose the most convenient position for your chair, and then have the speakers moved slowly further apart while you listen in mono. You should get a strong central image exactly halfway between the speakers, but after a certain width this will start to become indistinct.

10. Once speakers are roughly in the correct position, listen to a wide variety of well-mixed stereo material, and adjust the amount of toe-in in for the best sound 'focus'. Try moving your head slightly side to side to check for a suitably wide 'sweet spot' -- although its size is dependent on speaker design, it is also affected by how you position the speakers.

11. Nearfield speakers should, as a rule, be mounted on rigid stands, although there are some heavy-duty wall-mounting stands available if you need a position close to a rear wall. If you are keen on DIY, you can find suitable plans for floor-mounting stands in the November '95 issue of Sound On Sound.

12. However your speakers are mounted, the idea is to fix them rigidly in the optimum position. Any wobble or rocking will degrade your sound. Think of it like this: every time the bass driver cone is forced forward by the amplifier signal, the cabinet will try to move backwards. If the cabinet ends up moving in time with the music, it not only affects the bass end, but also the high frequencies which are now emerging from a moving source. As the wavelength of sound in air at 10kHz is not much more than one inch, your top end clarity and focus may be seriously affected.

13. Don't perch your monitors on a meter bridge -- not only does this compromise rigidity, but the entire top surface of the mixer then acts like a mirror and therefore artificially boosts mid-range frequencies. You can demonstrate this effect by putting a duvet on top of the mixing desk and listening to the difference this makes to the sound.

14. Many floor-mounting stands have adjustable spikes, which are ideal for ensuring that the speakers are both level and stable, even on uneven floors. Placing some pieces of Neoprene (or three or four blobs of Blu-Tack) between speakers and stands will provide a firm fixing, but still leave a tiny amount of 'give' so that bass frequencies won't rattle the floorboards and spoil the bass end.

15. After everything is in position, re-check your monitoring system by listening to some well-produced commercial mixes. If there are still problems in the sound, it will probably be due to the acoustics of your studio/room. Many books have been written about studio acoustics, and if you aspire to producing commercial releases you may need to consult an expert, but there are still many simple things you can do to improve most rooms...

16. Start by making sure that your recording gear is arranged in a reasonably symmetrical arrangement. To ensure the best stereo sound, the left and right halves of your room should ideally be mirror images of each other. You should also try to prevent strong audio reflections bouncing back from the wall behind you and interfering with the direct sound from the speakers.

17. Unless you have a large, acoustically treated room, avoid using monitors with an over-extended bass response as this will only excite troublesome room modes and give you a false idea of what the bass is doing. A low-end cutoff of around 60Hz is quite adequate for most small project studios. Furthermore, a high bass output makes it harder to concentrate on the crucial mid-range -- whilst it may impress your clients, it will probably result in a worse mix.

18. Strong early reflections from nearby objects in the room will muddy the sound and cause problems with the stereo image. Imagine that each speaker has a laser beam emerging from it. The direct (and strongest) path is directly between the speaker and your ears. However, there are various other important paths that involve only a single reflection (for example bouncing off the ceiling, or the mixing desk).

You can check for strong reflection paths using a mirror -- get someone to hold it on the walls, ceiling, and nearby large objects between your normal listening position and the speakers, and when you can see the speaker in the mirror you have found such a point.

19. Don't put nearfield monitors on their sides (unless they are dual-concentric types) as the sound from the tweeter and bass/mid unit will move out of phase if you move even slightly from the exact centre of the sweet spot. Sideways monitors may look trendy, but they don't work nearly so well as setting them up properly.

20. Finally, check your mixes on several other systems. There is no such thing as the perfect monitoring system and, even if there was, you would still need to check how your mixes are likely to sound on the more modest setups used by most normal listeners. If your mix still sounds good on the car stereo, and in mono through a single 3-inch speaker, you'll know you've done your job well.