Technique Sticky

2 Bit Thugs · Post by **2 Bit Thugs** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 2:22 pm

following on from Deano's wobble bass thread might be cool to have a technique sticky with advice on all things production. They got a wicked one HERE from Klaus Hill. Figured we could do the same. I know everyone has different approaches but some things are pretty universal and would be beneficial to a lot of people starting out.

Just an idea.

Silas_Greenback · Post by **Silas_Greenback** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 2:50 pm

Yes please!!! That would be awesome. Links to useful vids of production techniques would be a boon too!

stephen roche · Post by **stephen roche** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 9:58 pm

nice idea.now post all you production techniques and secrets.lol.

2 Bit Thugs · Post by **2 Bit Thugs** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:13 pm

gladly.

i honestly don't think that 2 people with being given the same production advice would end up making the same music.

i just reckon it could save time for a lot of people, rather than having to post up noob threads about making drums, or mixing, or effects.

i know it would help me, and would make the prod forum a wicked reference point for producers of all music.

BLista · Post by **BLista** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:19 pm

2 Bit Thugs wrote:gladly.

i honestly don't think that 2 people with being given the same production advice would end up making the same music.

i just reckon it could save time for a lot of people, rather than having to post up noob threads about making drums, or mixing, or effects.

i know it would help me, and would make the prod forum a wicked reference point for producers of all music.

absolutely excellent idea

to reduce stickies (there are a few) maybe the FAQ section could incorporate the Samples and VST's into the bottom of the FAQ section.

excellent idea Rolz, I'm well up for sharing what I have learned, FWIW, and more importantly picking up on the bits i am shit at

Gme · Post by **Gme** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:23 pm

brilliant

2 Bit Thugs · Post by **2 Bit Thugs** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:02 pm

spafe. need to see if jim'll fix it for us.

Domino Blakey · Post by **Domino Blakey** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:03 pm

Yep.. i can chuck in a few tips

hopefully they'll be helpful

boonos · Post by **boonos** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:20 pm

great idea!

BLista · Post by **BLista** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:47 pm

spacial/reverb tips pls boony my good man

boonos · Post by **boonos** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 12:39 am

BLista. wrote:spacial/reverb tips pls boony my good man

i dont really know if im the right man for the job, but il share what i normally do... if only we could get Wolfgang Gartner in here for some advice. the space in his mixes is unbelievable considering the amount of elements in his tracks. Also, i think Hedlflux could really help here.

CSR verbs always! i havnt used many, but they are by far the best ive tried. You can really get involved with shaping the verb if you play around in the advanced settings

Snare
If i want the snare to sit back slightly in the mix, il slap a verb on (hall or plate), high pass it so no rumble gets through, low passing it too so you can push the wet signal i little more. gate the verb (always)

Bass
My bass is normally made up of two tracks (often the same vst patch). the 'bassy' track is normally lowpassed and in mono anywhere between 500 and 1k. the higher end of the bass (used for character) i have slightly in stereo, not too much, just enough to make it sound slightly wider. ive just finished a remix where ive used a gated verb on my top bass track...made a massive difference to overall bass sound. Heavily diffused reverb so it sounds kinda muted. I got the tip off a thread i saw on Shacks forum. I think my settings were 92% dry and 8% wet, so its a very small amount of verb coming through, it almost sounds like analogue tape hiss. It drops the bass back slightly in the mix, but adds UNTOLD character! High pass the verb so it doesnt muffle the bass hits.

Il route my 2 channels to a bass group and eq that group. normally il do a small cut somewhere around the low mids as this generally gives the mix a bit of definition and removes a bit of rumble... Im probably doing this completely wrong

Spacial shit
That mda stereo plug is doing me wonders at the mo. Love It!!! Slightly negates the need to do surgical eq. If i have 2 sounds playing at the same time using similar freq's, spread one wide and keep the other central, sounds super simple but it works sometimes.

Unless im using reverb as an effect, i'l 9/10 gate my verbs.

rythmical delays are excellent for creating space, and they will often leave the mix cleaner than using verbs. Ping Pong delay in Live, Filter Delay in Live. And my secret weapon UH-HE Filterscape. I havnt got a clue how to program this thing, but it has loadsa wicked presets and will instantly give a boring percussion sample a life of its own.

err, thats all i can think of right now

Hayz · Post by **Hayz** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 1:21 am

nice idea Rolz

hippy dave · Post by **hippy dave** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 2:08 am

hayz, huuuuuuuuuge sig

George601 · Post by **George601** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 2:14 am

Great idea!!!

alex_virr · Post by **alex_virr** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 2:15 am

those Klaus tips are handy.

He came round my house not so long ago and left all the settings he uses on my desktop, they were mac only but I should dig them up

D-Syfa · Post by **D-Syfa** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 7:18 am

MIXING/EQ TIP

As you're working, use a spectrum analayzer & eq on EVERYTHING you add to cut away all the frequencies(low & high), that you don't need(ie: push it until it degrades the actual tone/sound that you're looking for, then roll back as needed).

Gives you loads of room to fill out the sounds you're using and then theres not a lot of work to do when it comes to the actual mixdown stage if you do it proper

BONUS TIP

Moderate/heavy notch w/ sharp Q @ 250kHz on all your kick/drums/perc for extra clarity.

findog · Post by **findog** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 7:27 am

3 million pages

findog · Post by **findog** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 7:29 am

tip of the day

Bit Muff

BLista · Post by **BLista** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 9:35 am

To make drums sound bigger, use gated reverb.

Set the snare to trigger the reverb as it hits then stop at a predetermined decay time.

You will get this big roomy sound

For a cracking example of gated reverb, check out "in the air tonight" by Phil Collins, or breaks wise a nice example is "Get Kinky" by the Plumps.

by gating the reverb you don't swamp the mix with long reverb tails, leaving more room for other nasty noises.

IF you are having trouble getting your head around the routing/settings, there is a cheat which works nicely:

Take your snare sample, stick it in soundforge and whack a huge reverb on it.

then, manually chop the tail off in your sample editor (a good starting point is to make it stop just before the next beat of the bar) and re-insert the snare WITH reverb into your project.

Blitch · Post by **Blitch** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 9:48 am

nice one

my tip of the day for phatter drumz : parallel compression also called NYC compression

create an FX/group channel in your DAW, then put a compressor on it. Set it to a very filthy crankin compression : very low threshold, high ratio. make it smack

Then use the sends of your drum tracks to send some signal to it.
Voila...BEEF !