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For a $100 bucks you could get one of those cheap, cheap M-Audio input boxes if you don't want to drop $400 for a nice one. And like he said, Asio will solve alot of latency issues.
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Mar 31, 2008 16:12
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Peacebone posted:First of all I want to point out that this thread has been very helpful for getting into making electronic music. The above poster mentions using a heavier kick but that's not the problem at all. The problem is that bass you're using is loving MASSIVE and it's killing your kick. There's only so many frequencies down there. To fix this? There are a thousand ways to do it. There are maybe six hundred tricks to using ableton efficiently and all of them come mostly with experience. It's a very good song for just starting out. Just read a ton of forums (other than ML!) and pick up tricks as you go. Sidechain compression would definitely be the first thing you should learn, and it comes built right into Live 7! I'll explain it if you don't know how to use it, if not, start foolin' around and see what does what. The best way to learn is hands on, no question!
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Apr 10, 2008 09:34
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Terrible Horse posted:Ive been djing at the hobby level (making my own mixes, playing house parties) on my lovely dell laptop running traktor for a little while, but it stutters and crashes and I want to run ableton, so this summer I'll be upgrading to a 2.1ghz macbook with 4 gigs of ram. I think this will be plenty to run ableton for DJing problems-free, but I'm also into producing. I've fiddled with Ableton for production and its ok but a bit weird, and I've heard it isnt the best for sound quality (just hearsay, I think I read JFK saying it on the MSTRKRFT message board) and I was thinking of using Logic. Can this macbook run both programs cleanly? Not at the same time mind you, just at all. I'm worried I wont have enough hard drive space for both, never mind processor power. A second computer is an option, but I'd rather just use the one macbook. Sorry if this is dumb, I've never used macs and am not sure what they are capable of, and my PC laptops have always run badly when theres too much crap on them Hey I post at the MSTRKRFT message board too. Just for referance, I think JFK was referancing doing his edits with MP3s when it comes to Live. He always uses Waves only when it comes to Ableton because it sounds better, which is common sense. Plus JFK uses all hardware stuff, and of course Live isn't the prime program to use when it comes to recording. Live is all about VSTs, built in instruments, and MIDI control.
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May 5, 2008 06:07
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DO NOT POST HERE posted:For the love of me, I don't think I'll ever be able to replicate Justice's / Danger's / Kavinsky's snare / drum sound. It packs such a punch and has such a distinct sound, but I can't for the life of me replicate it. I've been making stuff in Ableton / FL for nearly 3 years now. I'm in the same boat as you, except I've gotten past the hump and to the point where I think I actually can replicate all of their sounds pretty good. The trick is in simplicity. GOOD samples is SUPER key. On top of good samples, SIDECHAINS rule. It's all about how you mix a track to give it the most punch. All the little things add up. Make sure to create a dummy audio track that all of your vsts run through (except your bass) that automatically cuts all frequencies below 100hz (or higher if it sounds good, I like it around 150 because I have huge basses). This'll clear up alot of room, but that's only one of hundreds of tricks that can be applied!
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May 20, 2008 07:07
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 The single for my new album. Total electroslut stuff. I love constructive criticism, what do you guys think?
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May 21, 2008 21:17
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Threatis posted:yo you cool with DJ's playing that out yet, or you want to keep it on the down low for the next little bit? Totally cool, light that poo poo up. Hit me up on MySpace and let me know when you'll be spinning it!
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May 22, 2008 20:48
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ManoliIsFat posted:It's good, but the vocals kinda fall flat for me. Distort them, pitch them differently, vocode them, chop them harder, SOMETHING to gently caress them up. The cowbells are hot, and the synth is nice. But the "oh so sexy" electro-clashy vocals just aren't doing it for me. Thanks, but I love the vocals the way they are. I've already done vocoders, distorted vocals, chopped up vocals to death, I wanted to try something new! I'm the type of guy that can't do the same thing twice, I'll just go loving nuts. ashgromnies posted:I dig that a lot, what software are you using? I have a friend who's been using Reason for years and was big in the Detroit ghettotech scene a while back who said he'll help me out with it so I'm pretty excited to get into real producing other than my "I'm fifteen and downloaded Fruity Loops" phase from five years ago. I really dislike Reason. I use Ableton Live for everything, with maybe three of four VSTs. I'm super minimalistic.
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May 22, 2008 20:50
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extra innings lovin posted:Do you use Ableton Live for sequencing, too, or just generating the parts? I use Ableton for absolutely everything. I would probably use Pro Tools if I recorded stuff, but all of it is 100% soft synth so there is no real need to. That and probably four or five VSTs is all I use. Thanks for the compliment man  .
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May 23, 2008 06:49
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Kai was taken posted:How much do you use Live's onboard synths? I ask because I use Operator for 90% of sounds. I use them fairly often, I think Operator, Analog and Electric are all loving awesome synths. Minimalistic yet powerful, just like I like them. My three big VST synths are Predator, Pro-53 and Vanguard which I probably use more than Operator though. Operator is just such a bitch to program, I usually end up scrolling through presets and then mutilating that preset until I get something I like. I think tension sounds like absolute poo poo as much as I really, really want to love it. The violin and cello just sound terrible. But it's AWESOME for guitar sounds, especially distorted guitar. I've used it several times for a "solo electric guitar" type feel.
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May 24, 2008 02:07
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BubbleBobDole posted:I did, actually. Wait, so you're saying you KNOW the beats are too loud but there's "nothing you can do" until you sit behind "better monitors"? Dude, bullshit. Your equipment has nothing to do with it. Learn your equipment and put more hours into it until it sounds the way you want it. Monitors have nothing to do with it. I Dig Gardening fucked around with this message at 07:20 on Jun 9, 2008 |
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Jun 9, 2008 07:15
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IanTheM posted:Either you have to play with the envelope filters, or there's an option for how the note de-tunes itself over the its course. It's a very common pre-set in many programs I'm pretty sure. Though I'm sure you probably know most of what I've said. :/ I know what sound you're talking about and I absolutely adore it. I can't offer much insight to any sound creation advice because I suck at programming synths.. but I did read in an interview that Genesis was done with 100% soft synths.. then after the song was finished they loaded up tons of microsamples from their MP3 library and they replaced each note individually until the entire song was redone with nothing but samples. Pretty neat.
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Jun 9, 2008 21:16
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Dain22 posted:I love French House, but I can't figure out how one makes the that sound effect that sounds like the love child between a Filter, Flanger, Phaser, and a Vocoder programmed with the sound of a glass of water being poured. It is usually used on synthesizers, combined instrumentation/samples and even drums/percussion. I slapped this sample collection of tracks together to try and capture the "sound" I'm talking about : http://www.box.net/shared/7egq5u2o04 It's a phaser. It's only going to sound as good as your phaser settings and your synth source, though. Get a kickass synth sound FIRST, then throw the phaser on it. I'd recommend a third party phaser, both Reasons and Live's don't do it for me.. and I'm one hell of a fanboy. One thing you'll learn in electronic music very fast is that if it sounds super loving complicated and you keep racking your brain to what it might be, the answer is almost ALWAYS something really stupid and simple. I was DYING to know how MSTRKRFT made that insane buildup before the climax of their Dance remix and I could NOT for the life of me replicate it. I asked Jesse and turns out it's just a reverse piano chord. I reversed the song and sure enough, it's just a loving piano chord. Retarded. Sounds so dope though.
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Jul 10, 2008 09:12
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For the record, I had a Novation ReMote 25 keys and I loving HATED IT. HATED IT SO MUCH. Couldn't play anything in B Minor because the range was so tiny. Melodies had to be transcribed to new keys all the time because I couldn't loving play them on that tiny rear end thing. I upgraded to an Axiom 61 and I still feel like I could use another octave.. but then again I am a die hard piano player/theory buff so whatever. Do what you want. But I loving hated it and I would rather click around on a mouse then bother was a dinky 25 key. I could only see it being useful if you frequently travel and wanted to work on airplanes or something.
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Jul 14, 2008 19:22
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NitroTracker is loving amazing and is one of the easiest music programs I have ever used, plus it's insanely in depth.. editing wavs, volume, a sampler.. the whole deal. Amazing. That and the new Korg DS-10 have put the DS on the map as a legitimate music making device. If only you could record riffs from the Korg to a flash cart.. because then you could use the sampler to put those into NitroTracker without ever having to touch your laptop. You could make an entire loving album without ever leaving your DS.
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Aug 10, 2008 03:56
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audiom101 posted:Just to add a little bit about layering sounds... for example, drums: I use number 2 on ever percussion element in every one of my songs. Also helps you hear the click of the kick, too, so it emphasizes the kick drum if that's what you're aiming to do.
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Aug 10, 2008 08:47
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I hate reason with a passion but if anyone has any Ableton specific production questions I'd be happy to help. I never layer sounds though.. you will never hear more than one kick, one snare in any of my songs. Although claps I do layer occasionally.
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Aug 10, 2008 19:05
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CodeMaster posted:Hey guys, here's my first attempt at electronic music production: If you already know what you don't like about the track.. then work your rear end off for the next three weeks and come back when YOU think the track is perfect, THEN ask for some friendly construction help. I've found it works better that way, but maybe that's just me.
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Aug 12, 2008 05:20
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I never, ever layer kick drums. I don't like the way it sounds at all. Plus I know for a fact that alot of my idols (MSTRKRFT and Daft Punk come to mind) don't layer kick drums on principle alone. MSTRKRFT has GIANT kicks and has openly stated there is never more than one kick in a song, it's all about processing and mixing. If you listen to a couple of my songs I think you can tell I get kicks that are pretty loving heavy as it is. Why fix it if it's not broken? Why spend that hour or two layering a kick drum when I can get the sound I want simply from a good mix? I don't know, that's my take on it. Yours can be different.
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Aug 14, 2008 01:01
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Terrible Horse posted:So what do you do to them? I started the 3 layered kick method caus my stock 808 and 909 samples sounded too small. I've used single kicks from VEC Essential Club samples to better effect though. I guess the original sample quality is the most important thing I don't do anything to my kicks. No compressor, nothing. The occasional REALLY LIGHT EQing.. but that's it. Yeah, the sample of the original kick matters alot. I don't like VEC sounds at all, I have my own stuff I use. But it comes down the quality of your mixes. If you mix it right, it should sound huge. I don't use compressors on any channel except for the master. I also always have my kicks set to -10db, believe it or not. The volume of the rest of the tracks I judge by both my ear and in comparison to how they sound next to the -10db kick.
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Aug 14, 2008 02:34
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stun runner posted:What sample library do you use, then? It really doesn't matter.. I could use VEC it's just a personal preference. If I made trance I'd be all over VEC, but it just doesn't fit my style of music I think. I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't have a special magic box of ridiculous kicks or any crazy tricks I'm trying to hide, I have the same poo poo as everyone else. I just trust my ear and KEEP IT SIMPLE!
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Aug 14, 2008 02:52
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breaks posted:You have a fair point about mixing well and all, but I think it is wrong to say you never need to layer or process and then turn around and say you've gotten drum samples from somewhere and finding a big sounding sample is important. Well ok, someone else has layered or processed for you, that doesn't mean it never happened. Daft Punk makes their kicks by using a 303/808/909 through a 100$ compressor. And they probably have the best loving kicks in the industry. And I don't believe any of my samples have layers on them. An occasional sub-osc set to tonic, but no layers.
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Aug 14, 2008 04:01
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oredun posted:lol where do you think your kicks come from? magic? the sample bunny? I don't use sample sets if that's what you're trying to imply. And read my above post about Daft Punk. You can get huge kicks without layering if you know what you're doing. I'm not trying to say my method is better, the best, or the only way to do it. It's just what has worked for me and what I think sounds good. So no need to be sarcastic, I'm just trying to offer my point of reference.
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Aug 14, 2008 04:13
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I don't like impulse or even drum rack. I think it SEVERELY cuts into your creative right-sided brain power. Not in the terms of how you manipulate samples, but in terms of patterns. I use a simpler for every single drum sound I have. Sure, that means I have a billion tracks for just drums.. but that also means I can change that hi hat pattern without going into that massive grid of notes Drum Rack or Impulse gives you.. finding the right note.. painfully manipulating it while weaving my mouse around the other four hundred notes.. maybe I'm exaggerating but I don't like it! PLUS, I can have different length loops for every drum element. My cowbells can have a 32 bar loop while my hi hats can have an 8 bar loop. If I have one pattern, one grid for all of my drums not only is it a bit more painful to do that, it's hard to keep track of as well. I can PHYSICALLY see where the loops to EVERY drum element come into play while using simpler. I color code them all so it's super obvious. And to top all of it off, I can route specific drum parts to specific aux tracks. For example, I usually put a light saturator with a spring reverb and a high pass filter on everything but the snare and kick. So I just route everything but the snare and the kick. If something needs more reverb I just turn up the send channel. Simple and powerful. I love it. I'm just a firm believer that you have to see the song as a whole, not as a collection of a bunch of loops. It forces you to be more creative, with very little effort added.
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Sep 19, 2008 08:32
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Yoozer posted:But Drum Rack is Simpler for every drum sound! I understand that, that's not really my point. The point is when I'm in arrangement view it's clear as day where the cowbells come in and where the kick drum stops for the break. I can see all of the individual drum tracks and how they interact with each other. If I use drum racks it's just one big blob on one track. At a glimpse, that gives me cy information as to what's going on in the drums. Plus, the whole routing thing like I mentioned. I like to route poo poo .I've tried Guru.. and iDrum.. and I don't like them. I like to keep my production stupidly simple and organized because I am stupidly stupid and very unorganized.
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Sep 19, 2008 09:36
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Terrible Horse posted:I tried this on the last track I made but my cpu really couldnt handle the extra tracks. If youve got a baller computer though, its great because you can easily take the hats out for a bar or whatever then bring them back in without messing with the MIDI When I switched over from impulse/drum rack to my simpler method now I didn't notice ANY increase in CPU usage, are you sure it's not anything else? I could be totally wrong but I don't think that would up your CPU. Plus I use a Macbook that's more than 2 years old and only has a bit extra ram. I got it the day Macbooks came out.. Runs Live like a champ at the moment. I have thirty STACKED tracks for my latest remix and it's running at 40%. Edit: oh yeah! And you're dead on with the muting thing. I guess you could do that with Drum Rack too or even impulse, but it's so much smoother to just click the big yellow speaker on/off button to do it. Sometimes when I find my kick/snare to be too clicky or high pitched, I mute the hi hats to see if they're the problem, then push them back a few milliseconds.
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Sep 20, 2008 01:53
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Kai was taken posted:This is a tip that I picked up for compression A/B. I learned this trick on my own, when one day I plain asked myself "does this even do poo poo?" and now I do it on EVERY track I compress. Well what I actually do is lower the "output" of the compressor until the meter peaks at the same spot as it would have without the compressor. Turn the compressor on, hit reset on the peaking meter and note the level, turn it off and do the same. Do that until it's the same number, ya dig? Honestly, I rarely find it to be useful to compress nearly anything if it's software born (which is all I use). But of course if you record anything externally (vocals are the only thing in my case) it's beneficial. It's not a "rule" I have per se.. but I almost always avoid compressors as a whole. None of my tracks have any compressors on them pre mastering. None.
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Sep 24, 2008 01:58
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wayfinder posted:Am I reading something wrong here or are you? The original issue was A/Bing the effect of the compressor without the psychological effects of louder=better. The gain in loudness comes from what you are describing (turning up the gain until the peaks are the same as before compression - making up for the compression, hence make-up gain). Some compressors do this automatically, it's called auto make-up. So what you're describing (and what I dig gardening had discovered on his own) is actually the opposite of what the guy was doing, and that's why I posted what I did. No, auto make up is related to the threshold if I recall correctly. IE if your threshold is -10 for activating the compressor, auto make up will raise the output +10 so it stays the same. If you turn it off the compressors output would be -10 what it is without the compressor on. So what Kai and I were doing is the same thing, mine is just the "long way" apparently!
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Sep 24, 2008 20:41
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The Fog posted:To me, A/Bing a compressor on different loudnesses, is like A/Bing an EQ on different speakers. Word, it's called the Fletcher-Monson curve (did I get that right science goons?!). Loud will always sound better to the human ear. Which is why you should mix at low volume and A/B your compressors!
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Sep 24, 2008 20:43
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I took a completely different approach to mastering with this song, did some things I've never done before and I'm pretty drat happy with the results considering I have no idea what I'm doing. http://www.zshare.net/audio/19613736863c0046/ Anyone care to comment?
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Sep 29, 2008 05:15
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oredun posted:sounds to me like the vocals and the song are not in the same key, pretty dissonant sounding, but it could just be me...decent song tho, nice indy dance feel to it Definitely in the same key. The key is Eb minor and the main melody goes Eb, Gb, Ab. Its a little "bitey" on purpose, just wanted to cause a little bit of grit To Quincy - The vocals are straight from the stems I was given. Meaning the acapella is set to 0db with no effects whatsoever around it. I didn't want to EQ it or give it any crazy reverb cus I thought it sounded so good in the original that I could just work with that. The vocals mostly run through the 500-1,000 frequency range, so the lead and all four pads have a huge dip in that area. I can see how you'd think the vocals are a bit hidden but I'm gonna have to disagree, after listening to this mix on so many different soundsystems it sounds generally good on all of them, and isn't that the point of a master? Also I know it's loving weird and it has some weird mixing to it, but I just wanted to do something different and maybe something not so "clean"
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Sep 30, 2008 03:38
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New remix I just finished for Radiohead's new remix contest.. let me know what you guys think. If the feedback is mostly positive (which is what I've been getting thank goodness!) I'll submit it tonight. http://www.zshare.net/audio/19833954f9b80597/
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Oct 2, 2008 20:43
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Camelphat is my favorite distortion plugin. It's simple and amazingly versatile. It will phatten the hell out of any sound you throw at it, it's dangerous.
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Oct 11, 2008 23:20
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What do ya'll use to organize your drum samples in Logic/Pro Tools? I'm a diehard simpler in Live kinda guy, with seperated tracks for EVERY indivdual drum hit.. but now I'm attempting to learn Logic and quickly learning I don't know what the gently caress to do with drums once I've lost my precious Simpler and Impulse. I'm thinking about just straight up putting them all in as audio tracks.. but working with fills just sounds horrendous without MIDI. And I really hate iDrum, Drumagog, all of that bullshit. I HAVE to have separated tracks for all of my drum parts. Anyone have a neat solution for this in Logic?
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Oct 21, 2008 21:49
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Stux posted:If thats the only reason then set the EXS up as multi out, you get seperate channels for each hit for putting on EQ, compression, effects etc, while having the ease of using one track for all the programming. It was a trick I learned from MSTRKRFT. My drums have improved quadruple ever since I started doing it. What helps me is that I can CLEARLY see where the hi hats come in, the cowbell drops.. where the break happens.. etc. If it's just one track holding all that info I can't visually see any of that. All I see is a single bar. That visual aspect for me is key and it let's me be more creative and intuitive! Plus I like to use alot of semi-complex routing when it comes to my drum tracks. I usually have a couple aux tracks dedicated to different eq's, reverbs and saturators. That's something I can't do with Drum Racks or EXS, even if every drum channel has a spot for separate effects. Thanks for the EXS suggestion, I'll try it out.
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Oct 22, 2008 01:53
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Fortuitous Bumble posted:This is a kind of weird question, but as someone who still has loads of trouble writing songs, a lot of times I start something and it sounds OK but it's not really going in the direction I want. Is it better practice to just try and finish those songs anyway or drop them and try to start something that I like better? FINISH SONGS. The most important skill a producer can have is the ability to make a FINISHED PRODUCT. If you can't make a finished product you are nothing. Nothing. You could be a musical genius but if you can't say, "okay, it's done", then you are useless. Finish poo poo, package it up and send it out, then immediately move onto new poo poo.
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Nov 21, 2008 08:36
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I'm thinking of buying the NanoKontrol tonight so I can DJ with it at my next gig on friday. I REALLY hope this thing is legit because if it is.. I'd be stoked on life. It looks really clean and functional with alot of action in a small space. If they did a good job with it they're going to be top sellers for sure.
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Nov 24, 2008 02:17
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Kai was taken posted:
While the rest of your post is spot on and wonderful I have to fully disagree with this quote, its not great advice. Reverb removes low end at high volumes, and at low volumes it won't help a kick much at all. If you really want to give your kick a full boomy, roomy sound you should split the kick into three tracks. The first should be a midi track that's triggering the other two tracks. Track one should be your kick with a low pass filter around 100, the other should be your kick with a high pass filter on the exact same spot as your other track (so usually around 100 as well). Now you can hook up a reverb send to the high passed track and throw as much reverb as you want on it without affecting the low end quality of your kick. Keep in mind this can tend to destroy the initial click/attack of your kick, but if it's mixed right and you use the right kind of reverb on it (spring reverb or large room reverb with predelay both work good) it should be fine. You can experiment with different kinds of stereo effects on your kick, and as long as they aren't touching frequencies below 100.. boom baby! Try removing all stereo separation from the low pass filtered track as well, with something like Live's Utility. If you're working with a kick from a sample set this is probably already done, though. Bass needs no stereo spread. Bass is simple.
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Dec 8, 2008 22:44
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Halo posted:FL8 is still the best sequencing app for the windows platform, hands down. Ableton feels like a toy to me, and is not worth anywhere near $500. And really, if you are looking for good synths you are in the wrong mind if you are thinking any application has good pre-bundled synths. Operator is not really that good, nor are the pre-bundled synths that come with FL. They're OK, but they're not good. I have nothing against FL but to say Live and ProTools are a step BELOW FL studio is a truly laughable statement. Also, Daft Punk uses Operator and has called it one of the best soft synths on the planet. Because it is.
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Dec 30, 2008 21:50
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Halo, can you link to your MySpace or somewhere where I can listen to your music?
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Dec 31, 2008 04:29
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oredun posted:after listening to your music i think a 4 track tape recorder would do everything you do in FL studio. i dont even think you have used any other DAW before and ill bet your copy of fruityloops is warez. no offense Wait that MP3 is really his music? I thought that was a joke. Hahaha I can't believe that guy was complaining about the lack of midi support in Pro Tools. (Which, by the way, is now a non-issue in the beautiful Pro Tools 8)
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Dec 31, 2008 07:09
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