LIVE BY THESE RULES
No matter what type of music you record, or how simple or complex your studio is, there are a few tips to keep in mind when you're starting your recording project. Remember, these aren't just beginner's tips; I know many recording engineers - myself included - who've been doing this for years who live by these same rules!
tips for recording 1
The Better The Source, The Better The Recording. Think of your microphone as your ear. If something sounds bad to your ear, chances are it won't sound great in front of a mic. Making sure your source is the best it can be is the first thing to remember whenever starting a new project. That could mean a new set of strings, fresh drum heads, or having your vocalist do warm-ups before tracking. Remember that there's a lot you can edit out later on down the line, but there's a lot that you can't add if it's not naturally there.
tips for recording 2
Save Your Work Often. Nothing is worse than losing something you worked for hours on, especially when you're running your studio as a business and you have a paying client. Always save your work between takes. It also doesn't hurt to have an external hard drive that you backup your sessions to nightly; if something happens to your hard drive, you'll at least have a copy to start over from, and you won't have to waste blank media backing up every night.
tips for recording 3
Always Keep Spare Parts. Keeping basic items at your studio will always help keep things going smoothly when the inevitable happens. Stock a set of guitar strings (both electric and acoustic), some drum sticks, and always keep spare instrument and microphone cables on hand. You never know when your session will be saved because you came to the rescue! It also helps to be able to kindly suggest a new set of strings to the stubborn guitarist who showed up with old, dead strings on his axe.
tips for recording 4
Nothing Leaves Until The Check Clears. This tip applies only to the home studios that record for profit, not your simple project studio, but it deserves a mention of it's own. Don't ever, ever let any mixes leave your studio until you're paid in full. This includes mp3 copies you send out via email, and CD-Rs you let leave your studio with rough mixes. At any point during the recording process, a financial dispute of some sort may arise, and they've still got a rough mix. This is rare, but it happens.
tips for recording 5
Keep It Simple. I can't stress this last tip enough: keep it simple. One of the biggest and most common mistakes a new recording engineer can make is being too fancy. You'll waste a lot of time — and your client's money, if working for profit — by overdoing it in the studio. Examples of this include recording an instrument in stereo when a mono (single) track will do, doing too many vocal overdubs, or laying down too many guitar layers. Let the band's music speak for itself.
The Recording Process
The most common mistake is recording vocals too loud or too soft. The main goal to recording a solid vocal is to get all of the performance. It's not easy to set levels with a good, dynamic vocalist. As soon as you think you have the level pegged, they do something like move a few inches and you find out they are louder than you thought and meters are in the red. So you lower the level and find out that the meters are barely moving at all. If the vocalist is nervous and moving around, you might spend hours and never find an optimum level. The human voice is extremely dynamic, from soft whispers to piercing screams. If the level is too low, you will be bringing in noise and hum if you amplify it later. However, if you record too loud, there will be times when the file goes "over" which will likely result in damage that cannot be corrected later. The solution to this madness is to use a compressor in the chain after the preamp. The compressor, essentially, automatically lowers the volume when the input exceeds a certain threshold. It's like an invisible hand on a volume control. This allows a vocalist to get louder without going into the red. One of my favorite settings is to have the input to the compressor boosted so that all the "soft" words come through with a strong level. As soon as the vocalist gets louder, the clamping down begins and if they scream, it clamps down hard. The ideal is to have more consistent loudness no matter what they are doing.
Microphone sensitivity
The more dynamic (louder) the vocalist, the less sensitive the mic needs to be. Some condenser mics will distort like madness if the vocalist is too close when they scream and it is an awful sound, especially if you are wearing cans (headphones). There is nothing you can do to fix that audio either. Because the distortion happened before the signal hits the compressor, all the compression in the world cannot help. If there is a -10 or -20 pad on the mic, use it with untrained wild vocalists. Otherwise, use a dynamic mic which is less susceptible to break up under high sound pressure levels (SPL). Or you can have them take a step back before they commit their bellow from their personal living hell. But oops, that's in the next section.
Proper Mic technique.
This depends on the volume of the vocalist. A soft sensitive voice requires that the vocalist nearly devour the mic. 4-6 inches away. Otherwise, the rule of thumb is about 1 foot away. The vocalist should back away a few inches when they get loud and come in a few inches closer for quiet intimate parts. The vocalist should not sing directly into the mic, or bassy wind noise will get in the way. Just a few degrees to the side is better. A pop filter should always be used. This is not only a good device for getting rid of plosives and spitty sounds, but can be used to keep the vocalist from getting too close and out of the range where a proximity effect might engage excessively.
Pre-amp Trim level
This is the amount of gain (volume) applied to the mic signal, and it is calibrated in db (decibels) from 0 to typically 60db All mics differ a bit on how much juice they need. If you have a condenser mic, phantom power needs to be engaged to power the preamp. Dynamic mics don't need phantom power. Most mics will fall between 15-40db of boost. Have your vocalist practice singing and try to get the loud peaks to peg close to 0db. This will give the compressor a healthy level to work with. If you are not using a compressor you will have to lower the trim to ensure the signal never reaches 0db. That is a much lower signal than you might think.
Compressor Settings
Setting Gates: Compressors do add noise to a signal, and they do destroy dynamic range. Noise is taken care of by gating the signal. When it dips below a certain threshold, the audio signal is muted. This is effective for getting rid of low level noise you do not want in the file, such as bleed from headphones, or the vocalist moving, turning pages on lyric sheets, etc. Gates have two parameters: 1) The noise floor threshold, and the Rate. The Noise floor threshold eliminates all of the signal when it dips below the threshold, which is set from -50db to -10db. I keep mine set to -30db. Yet one has to be careful. If the gate is set too high, then the attack of the vocalists words may be cut off or come in too abruptly. The Rate parameter "fades out" the audio signal as the gate come on. This is effective to prevent the gate from chopping off the tails of the words. Usually a rate of 1-1.5 sec is enough.
Setting Threshold:
The Threshold is the all important level at which the compressor kicks in. If you set the threshold to -10, it will leave all of the signal under -10 alone. When the signal exceeds -10 then it starts compressing at the ratio. -10 is an excellent place to start. Don't confuse this with the fact that your gear is outputting -10 or +4 impedance wise. Though the threshold seems like it is a volume control, it is not. It is merely telling the compressor at what level compression takes over the signal.
Setting the Ratio
2:1 is probably the most common setting for a compressor recording or playing back nearly anything. A great starting point. What this means, simply, is that it takes 2 decibels of sound energy to raise the output meter by 1db. You can read the 1st number as the db IN and the second as the db OUT. Again, 2db IN equals 1 db OUT.
Setting Attack and Release:
These settings can be tricky as they can "delay" the effect of compression on the attack and make is hold on a bit too long on release if set improperly. I suggest till you get these tricky settings figured out (which takes quite a bit of experimentation) you simple use the fastest attack and enough of a release so the vocal is not boosted as the word trails off. Otherwise a word may pump on you unnaturally.
Setting the output:
This is the final adjustment as the signal leaves the compressor. It's sometimes called the "make-up gain". They call it that because compression often lowers the overall signal and you may need to boost it back up. Basically you want to optimize this so it does not ever go over 0db in the recorder. With luck you should see a consistent healthy level on the recorder's input meters regardless of how loud the vocalist is singing.
Just a final note,
you can compress again after the vocal is recorded as you prepare your tracks for the mix. So, don't get too wild with settings at the input (recording) stage. You want the recorded vocal to sound natural, where the compressor just makes it an overall more useful signal to tweak later with exciters, harmonizers, pitch intonation correctors, and effects like reverb, delay. etc.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
TIPS FOR RECORDING
EFFECTS PROCESSING TIPS
TEN REVERB TIPS
1-Try using different types of reverb on one track. In days gone by, reverb was expensive and limited, so it was placed on busses, but high quality plug-ins and fast processors let you use multiple reverbs as inserts for total control.
2-Remember that in most cases, slower, sparser tracks can accommadate longer reverb times than quiker and thicker mixes without making them messy.
3-For a realistic live sound, as you increase the reverb time you should also reduce the wet signal using the wet/dry balance, and as you shorten the reverb time you should increase the wet signal.
4-Use reverb to impart a sense of 3 dimensional space rather than just width. For example, if a sound has a large amount of reverb if gives a feeling of distance, just as the sound of someone singing at the other end of a room is heavily mingled with the reverberations.
5-It sounds obvious, but dont forget that all the flexibility of modern digital reverb is wasted if the source material is a reverberating mess to begin with. Im not saying you shouldn't take advantage of natural reverb, but if you plan to add any kind of processed reverberations, the cleaner and dryer the source material, the better!
6-We humans notice change more than consistency, so dont be afraid to muck about with reverb lengths and parameters throughout a track.
7-When thickening sounds, try applying chorus or flanging to the reverb signal. Alternatively, if you're using your effects in an insert chain, try applying reverb before any modulation effects (though for a more natural and subtle effect, the first technique is probably the better option).
8-Dont overlook the power of comression on reverb, particularly reverb used as a track insert. For a spectacular pumping reverb effect, try running your kick drum into the compressors sidechain.
9-If your using heavily panned sounds, try applying mono reverbs panned to the same sides as the panned sounds to emphasise their positions in the mix.
10-To fill out a sparse mix, try using a combination of delay and reverb, but with one panned mostly left and the other right. For even more of a sense of movement, try sweeping these effects so that as the delays move right, the reverb moves left.
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FILTERING TIPS
1-For cool filter sweeping sound effects try increasing the resonance as you reduce the cut-off. To create upward sweeps, automate the resonance to rise with the cut-off. Play with these two control for endless sound possibilities.
2-Sounds can often be made to sit better in a mix by 'bracketing' them with high- and low-pass filters so as to restrict their spectral content. Many console EQs don't have the sharp filters necessary to do this, but the side-chain filters fitted to many gates are often ideal for the job. Simply set the gate to its side-chain listen mode, then use the filters to shave away unwanted high and low frequencies. Acoustic guitars often work better in a mix if the low end is rolled off in this way, though the high end can usually be left alone.
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CHORUS TIPS
1-Here’s a tip to make your lead vocal stand out from your background vocals. Chorus effects are often used to thicken layered musical parts such as pads, string sections, and background vocals. The reason for this is because Chorus effects push sounds back in the mix. Plug-in some chorus on the backing vocals to make space for your lead vocal.
2-Chorus is a useful effect for creating the illusion of space and movement, but it also tends to push sounds back in the mix, rather as reverb does. If you need a sound treated with chorus to stand out in a mix, try either panning a dry version of the sound to one side and a chorused version to the other, or ensure that the song's arrangement leaves plenty of room for the chorused sound.
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EQ TIPS
1-If your mixing a track with a vocal, try cutting around the 2-3Hz range on your other channels, because this is right where your vocal track lies in the frequency spectrum. You should notice your vocal tracks easily pop from your song.
2-Use EQ to cut around 800Hz on tracks that aren’t cutting through the mix properly. If a mix is sounding muddy, this trick can make each instrument sound clearer. This is true because the fundamental musical frequencies of most of the instruments playing are located around 800Hz. When too many elements are playing at once, the area around 800Hz can get very cluttered. By cutting that frequency on a certain instrument, you effectively increase the overall harmonic content of that instrument sound which is the very thing that defines its character and uniqueness. And one of the goals in mixing should be to give each musical element it’s own space and tonality yet making everything sound cohesive.
3-Trying to peg down a certain frequency and you just can’t find it? Set the Q to the narrowest setting possible. Next, turn the gain up very high. Then sweep the frequency spectrum from 20Hz - 20kHz until you find the frequency you’re trying to isolate. Lastly, reduce the gain and adjust the Q setting as needed. This technique saves a ton of time and second guessing and is a good way to teach yourself the frequencies. It’s also a good way to damage your ears and monitors so turn your main volume down a bit before you attempt this.
4- A common mistake for studio newbies is to boost EQ every time they grab a knob. Try cutting frequencies rather than boosting. This is called subtractive equalization. For example, if your kick drum doesn’t sound fat enough, try cutting a bit of energy around 100hz on your bass track. You may find that the kick drum leaps right out of the songs.
5-Equalisation is often used as an alternative to getting a sound right at source, but the result is seldom as satisfactory as doing things properly. Nevertheless, on occasions where equalisation is necessary, applying cut to the over-emphasised frequencies rather than boost to weaker ones generally results in a more natural sound, especially with vocals and acoustic instruments. This is especially true of in-desk equalisers or budget parametrics, as they often sound nasal or phasey when used to boost mid-range sounds.
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DELAY TIPS
1-Try adding delay to your played or programmed tracks instead of reverb. Sometimes reverb can wash out your tracks and make them sound messy. Using short delay times under 20ms will thicken or add size to your elements.
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COMPRESSION TIPS
1-Vocals almost always require compression, but rather than doing all the compressing at the recording stage, apply a little less compression than you think you might ultimately need, then add further compression when you come to mix. This dual-stage process ensures you don't record an overcompressed sound, whilst still allowing you to even out the level of the recorded signal.
2-Compressors bring up low-level noise just as effectively as they do low-level signals, so try to gate the signal prior to compression when you're mixing. Also, use no more compression than you need, or the signal-to-noise ratio may be compromised unnecessarily. However, it's usually unwise to gate the compressor input during recording for the reasons explained in the next tip.
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GATING TIPS
1-Avoid gating during recording if at all possible, as a badly set gate can completely ruin an otherwise good take by chopping out low-level sections of the wanted audio. Instead, gate during mixing, when you have the chance to reset the parameters and try again if it doesn't work out first time. A further benefit of this approach is that any noise, crosstalk or spill accumulated during recording will also be gated out.
2-Don't always set your gate to fully attenuate the signal when the gate is closed. In some situations, it may sound more natural if a low level of background sound is still audible between wanted sounds, and when working with drums, you'll find the gate opens faster if the range control is set to around 12dB rather than to maximum.
3-Single-ended noise-reduction units (the type that work by applying level-dependent top-cut) can be very useful in reducing the perceived level of hiss during material where there are no silences that would allow a gate or expander to operate. However, make constant A/B comparisons to ensure that there's no obvious top-end loss when the unit is switched in. If there is, lower the threshold slightly until you get an acceptable compromise between high-end loss during low-level passages, and audible hiss. As with gates, applying reverb after dynamic filtering may help disguise any side-effects as well as safeguarding the reverb tails from being truncated.
AUDIO MASTERING TIPS
Audio mastering is the process of taking one or more final mixes, and turning them into a truly finished sounding product. If you were merely to transfer your song(s) directly onto a CD without going through the audio mastering process, and then directly compare it to your CDs at home, you would most likely be shocked at how "unfinished" it really sounds.
Mastering is also the process in which all of your final mixes are assembled onto a Master PMCD (a "Red Book Standard" disc), which CD manufacturers will accept for mass duplication.
Mastering is serious business. A properly mastered CD means you have gotten the absolute maximum potential out of your recording project, and hopefully it will now compare favorably with the best sounding CDs in your collection (as well as other people's collections!). Anything less than that means you have wasted a lot of money. And I don't mean just in the mastering process, but the ENTIRE recording process that led up to it.
9 ESSENTIAL AUDIO MASTERING TIPS
audio mastering tip 1
Make very small changes when EQing, because an increase or decrease in one frequency range has repercussions elsewhere. For example, if you boost the treble, the bass becomes less prominent. It's amazing how even a 0.5dB change can make a noticeable difference. Adjust EQ to what sounds right, then halve the amount of boost or cut you added. This gives your ear a chance to get acclimated to the change in sound. You can decide later whether you want something more drastic.
audio mastering tip 2
Always save and back up your original unmastered, 2-track or surround mix before you start mastering, and work on a copy.
audio mastering tip 3
Duplicators will often reject CDs if the level hits 0 for several samples in a row. Yet these very short overloads may not be objectionable to the listener. To get around this problem, after assembling the entire CD, normalize it to -0.1 dB. This leaves just enough headroom that the CD won't be rejected for "overs."
audio mastering tip 4
If you mix to DAT or transfer tunes to DAT prior to sending them to a duplicating house, record a minute or two of "digital black" (silence) at the tape's beginning. This gets past the part of the tape that is most likely to have questionable surface characteristics. You can then transfer the DAT digitally to your computer for editing. Also, eject any digital tape in a space between songs. Should any tape damage occur while threading or unthreading, your song will be spared.
audio mastering tip 5
Think high resolution audio at all times. Save your final mastered versions in at least 24-bit resolution, even if the target playback medium is a standard 16-bit CD. Then apply dithering to the high resolution file to create the best-sounding 16-bit file.
audio mastering tip 6
Use normalization sparingly. Normalization sounds like a great idea: click a button to amplify your signal so that the peaks just reach the maximum available dynamic range. But music doesn't work like that. A heavily compressed tune may seem much louder than a less compressed tune whose peaks are actually higher.
audio mastering tip 7
If possible, test the album's song order before you start mastering. Use your CD burning program or Apple iTunes-type program to assemble a "playlist" of tunes, and record it to Red Book CD, portable MP3 player, Minidisc, etc. Live with the order for a few days so you're sure everything flows smoothly.
audio mastering tip 8
When mastering with a digital audio editor, save the setup you use (plug-ins, levels, etc.) as a preset. For example, Wavelab has a Master Section Presets option. If the vibe of the CD changes over the course of mastering, you can go back to earlier tunes, recall the preset, and make a few tweaks rather than start over from scratch.
audio mastering tip 9
Don't do any more processing than needed. These operations sometimes round off numbers; if these errors accumulate, there can be an audible "fuzziness." While this was mostly a problem with 16-bit systems -- 32-bit floating resolution has given a lot more operational headroom -- it's still a good idea to keep any processing to a minimum.
MIXING TIPS
Audio mixing is used for sound recording, audio editing, and sound systems to balance the relative volume, frequency, and dynamic content of a number of sound sources.
Typically, these sound sources are the different musical instruments in a band or vocalists, the sections of an orchestra, announcers and journalists, crowd noises, and so on.
A recent trend is mixing to 5.1, which is "surround" audio. This requires 6 channels of audio: left, center, right, left rear, right rear, and low frequencies (subwoofer, or LFE). The demand for 5.1 in the audio and music domain was once small, but has recently increased dramatically, along with the introduction of 7.1 & 9.1 surround channel audio.
REFERENCING OTHER CDS AT THE MIX SESSION
Many times musicians and engineers will work for long hours on a mix only to find the next day that critical balances are off, i.e., vocals too loud / too low, certain instruments too loud / too low, the mix overall too bright / too dull, too much reverb / too little reverb, etc. The way they usually discover this is by playing them in a more familiar environment (their home or car), and comparing them to other CDs in their collection. Much better to bring those CDs to the studio and compare there, while mixing. Bring along some of your favorite CDs, and do an A/B test periodically. For example, if you find that you have more bass than the reference CDs, turn down your bass! Does your vocal seem low by comparison? Adjust it accordingly. If your mix doesn't pass this comparison test in the studio, it won't at home either.
If you are using a computer-based recording system (Pro Tools, etc.), try importing the reference songs right into your session file. Play the CD tracks through the same outputs as your song. Now you have a totally level playing field. Just remember to turn DOWN the CD tracks, as they will be much louder than your mix, due to the CDs having already been mastered. Also, if you have any plugins on your master fader, you will need to avoid your CD reference passing through them, so you may need to rout them to another set of outputs. But once you get this set up properly, consistency will be yours. There's no need to reinvent the wheel at every mix session.
Two things to be careful of:
1 - Don't try to match your mix to the volume of the reference CD. It's already been mastered. The mix that THEY used for mastering was not as loud as their final CD, and neither should yours.
2- Don't try to match their compression. Additional compression was likely added in mastering. If you squash your mix, you will be stuck with whatever you did.. Mastering is usually a better time and place for that.
CHECKING THE MIX IN MONO
Sometimes mixes fall apart in mono, for a variety of reasons. Why is this important? Who listens in mono anyway? We all do, all the time. If you are not sitting right in front of your speakers, you are hearing some form of mono. If are are listening from way off to the side, or from another room, it's now mono. Most club sound systems are run in mono. Unless you are right in front of the jukebox, you are listening in mono. The majority of TVs are mono. If you are listening to a boombox from more then a dozen feet away, it might as well be mono.
That said, here are the pitfalls to be careful of. Any instruments that have been recorded with more than one mic, such as drum overheads, acoustic piano or guitar, choirs, etc., AND panned wide apart, need to be checked in mono, as there may be phase cancellations that dramatically reduced their perceived level in mono. I have seen cymbals and pianos utterly DISAPPEAR in mono. This can lead to severe inconsistencies when your mix is played in different places.
There are several ways to watch out for this. The best place is when you are doing the initial recording. Some of the more expensive consoles have phase meters. If you are using Pro Tools, your can download the free Bomb Factory Phase Correlation Meter, which will do the same thing. Put it on the master fader, and solo your stereo track. The phase meter should swing to the right when there is sound. If it stays in the middle, or swings to the left, try moving the mics and checking again. You can also check with your ears by switching to mono for a moment, but the metering is much easier and more reliable. For "after-the-fact" phase canceling issues, simply narrowing the panning and raising the level a bit usually fixes it.
HOW RECORDING LEVELS EFFECT THE FINAL SOUND
Most people record at levels that are way too hot. Overly hot recording does audible damage on many levels, even if you don't hear distortion while you are doing it. Here they are, in order of appearance.But first, a quick primer on digital vs. analog metering.On a digital machine, the top of the meter is just that. Try to go above it, and you will distort the signal. But on an analog machine, it's not as easy to know where the top really is. There is a 0dB marking on the meter, and then there is another 3dB of markings beyond that, with the knowledge that one can maybe go even higher than that. How do these two different metering systems compare with each other? Depending on the individual unit's calibration, the "top" of the digital machine is 14-18dB higher than the 0dB marking on the analog machine. Does this mean you could (or should) using the apparent "extra" range? No, and this leads us to #1:
#1 - MIC PREAMP DISTORTION
If you are playing "pack the meter" on a digital machine (in other words, recording as close to the top as you can without going over), then you are running your mic preamps, compressors, and any other gear you are using PRIOR to the record inputs of your system, at maybe 10-15dB hotter than is was designed to do. You are certainly moving past it's comfort zone, which potentially impacts transients and adds distortion. It's like driving a car at ninety miles per hour all the time.
#2 - DIGITAL INTERFACE DISTORTION
Inputting overly hot signals will also assault the analog electronics in your convertor box, as well as the A-to-D convertors themselves. Some convertors do okay with this, but they tend to be the expensive ones.
#3 - PLUGIN DISTORTION
Now you're in the system. What happens next? Your hot signal will now likely go through some plugins. Some plugins may well show clips lights lighting up. Clip lights indicate overload (of course). Plugin designers DO NOT intend for you to do this. For example, you can hit an LA2A plugin hard and get some kind of emulation of "tube saturation". That is built into the modeling of the plugin itself. But pushing it until the clip light comes on IS NOT part of the design. Now your are past the available headroom of the plugin, and you are clipping in the digital realm. It's not emulated LA2A distortion anymore, it's a clipped digital signal path. Even if you think you can't hear it, it's adding to the global downfall of your mix sonics.To make matters worse, many plugins will ADD gain to your signal, will takes us to the MIX BUS.
#4 - MIX BUS DISTORTION
Here is where some serious damage gets done. Twenty or thirty channels of high gain tracks will kill the mix bus. Even if your individual channels show no clips, and your master fader shows no clips, the mix bus is still being slammed. Clipping in this place will rob your mix of transients, collapse your stereo image, and make for a small, ratty-sounding mix.
SOLUTIONS
1 - Don't record at levels higher than -10dB, and in most cases, -15dB would be better still.
2 - if your tracks have already been recorded hot, use a destructive gain plugin to permanently change the track to a lower level. In Pro Tools, the (Audiosuite) GAIN plugin works well for this. Carefully monitor the level of the track (not the fader level, but the ACTUAL level of the track itself) until you have it down to a reasonable level. In Pro Tools, you can monitor the actual level by switching the fader reading to show "peaks" instead of "fader level".
3 - Be careful to not add gain with plugins, and if you are using a plugin where that is unavoidable, then gain down the track an additional amount to compensate for it.
4 - Keep your individual faders low enough so that you don't get clips on the master fader. But you were already doing that, right?
5 - If you want to make a LOUD mix for a CD, put a limiter plugin on the master fader and go to town. That is the place to get your hot level. That place and ONLY that place. Record and process your tracks at a reasonable levels, and then crank it THERE. With your tracks clean and transients intact, it's not so hard to get it loud and still have it sound good.NOTE: If you are planning on doing ANY additional work on the final mix (like mastering), skip the limiter. Limiting must be used LAST, and if you mix is going to be mastered, then your mix is not the last processing step. Failure to do this will yield a noticeably inferior end product.
TOP TEN MUSIC ARRANGEMENT TIPS
1
Listen, listen, listen. There's absolutely no substitute for experience, so be sure to analyse the arrangement of all your favorite tracks. Listen to what other producers have done and try to figure out why it works (or doesn't work as the case may be).
2
Don't feel like you have to use a dull old fade out at the end of your track. If it's an album or radio track, you can have an abrupt finish, or one that's not at the end of a bar-if the music just stops dead, people will notice and consequently remember your tune.
3
Try fading in a track through the intro, perhaps over a sound effect, such as running water or whatever you want. The classic 80's house cut 'Sueno Latino' uses this technique for a stunning effect.
4
You dont have to have an intro at all, and a number of tunes, particularly hip-hop tracks, do perfectly well without. A popular technique is to have the vocal start slightly before the instrumental, with the beats and music kicking in quickly on bar 1, beat 1.
5
Layering is powerful! Layering is the key to getting a pro sound. Not only does it add fatness to your parts, its more a question of sonic variation. If you have a plinky lead riff, for example, use a more rounded synth part with a more sustained envelope playing the same pattern over the chorus (and try compreesing them toegether for extra oomph).
6
If you happen to have a guitar part in your arrangement, why not begin the track with it and kick everything else in afterwards?
7
If you want to liven up your chord track a little in different sections, try having various synth pads play the notes of your chords, one for each note.
8
Don't underestimate the power of vocals. Dont be shy of dropping out everything but the vocal in sections of your arrangment.
9
If you need to fill out your choruses, try reinforcing your vocal with an instrument part playing the same notes.
10
Arrangment should be fun, so dont get bogged down trying to squeeze large round pegs into small square holes - if a part isn't working with everything else, ditch it!
How To Produce A Great Drum And Bass Track
From its humble beginnings on the london rave scene in the early 90's, when breaks were innocently looped instead of sequenced, and vocals pitched up instead of timestrecthed, to the present day, it has always been at the cutting edge of electronic musical innovation. Much of the scene's early output was characterised by a total disregard for the conventions, techniques and rules of the day (largely because none of the producers knew what they were), while todays producers are among the most skilled, meticulous and innovative there are. But the common thread is a determination to rinse it, and rinse it in even more ingenious ways.
As the production bar in drum 'n' bass has been rased on an almost seasonal basis, it's taken the learning curve with it. Even producers who don't like the genre will often sit and marvel at the complexity and density of modern DnB productions. Also drum 'n' bass has a distinct sound, and it places emphasis on different areas of the mix to other genres, so that even producers in other types of electronic music can struggle to achieve that DnB vibe.
20 MUST KNOW DRUM 'n' BASS TIPS
1- Layering chopped up break beats (DRUM LOOPS) is a good way to get that authentic DnB sound. For a tight, modern sound, put each hits end point before the next drum sound occurs: simply leaving the end point at the end of the sample makes it easier to program junglistic beats, but you'll either have to tune or time stretch it to make sure it plays at the correct tempo.
2- One of the main advantages of using really tightly chopped beats is that you can easily pitch bend your drum part up and down without it ever going out of time. This technique can be used to create stunning percussive effects. For the best results try combining this method withother forms of processing such as filtering or degrading effects.
3- If your track's switch lacks bite, try using a different break beat or rythm pattern to keep the crowd on their toes, processing such as pitch shifting or flanging can do miracles here.
4-When using heavy compression on your rythm track for that fat break beat sound, you may find that your beat gets overpowered when a big kick drum sound is triggered. Consider putting any such sound on a seperate channel with its own compression. If your kick drum needs enhancing, try beefing it up with a layered TR-909 kick drum sample, but resist the urge to turn it up too loud, make sure the sub bass and beat still have enough room to breath.
5-By using a variety of layered re-programmed breakbeats, you can quickly build up a complex rythm track. The trick is to make it sound like one cohesive part that develops and builds, rather than several different parts all fighting for space. The golden rule is to accurately program your drums in the first place, although additional EQing of flabby kick drums, cymbals and hihats may help reign in errant beats.
6- For those liquid funk moments, a housey organ bass always sounds great. You can make your own using sine, pulse or triangle waves low-pass filtered until you get just a few harmonics poking through. Try detuning one oscillator up seven semitones for a handy fifth that will bring back some old school memories.
7- These days it seems everyone is rockin the saw wave lead. This sound is easy to create - short attack and release envelope, a little chorus or pitch modulation on the saw wave and your there. Things can be made more interesting with a little degrading effect, and a bit of glide can add an interesting twist to your nasty lead noise.
8- For artificial intelligence style warbling synth lines, an LFO tied to the filter cutoff is your best bet. Make sure the LFO's phase is synced to the start of the note and try a variety of rates and phase positions until you come up with a suitable noise. Experiment using different wave shapes, LFO amounts and filter cutoff settings,and try further developing the sound with a little LFO based pulse modulation.
9- When using 'real' instrument samples or presets, it's important that they sit comfortably alongside your more processed sounds. If possible, create reverb and delay send effects so you can place all your sounds in the same virtual space. Along with good playing or sequencing, reverb can disguise synthesized reverb sounds. For an even more pronounced effect, try applying a reverb pre-fader soundscape style effects.
10- Make more sophisticated arpeggiator leads by applying frequency or pulse width modulation envelopes to the sound and varying the decaytime. High-pass work well with this style of sound. When filter sweeping the sound in or out, try automating another synth setting, such as one of the envelopes decay time or filter envelope amount. For a trancey sound, delay is a must, but don't make it too extreme or you may mask any chord changes.
11- Now days, most virtual analogue synths feature a massive amount of wave shapes for you to experiment with. Instead of using a sine wave, try a variety of different wave shapes and low-pass filter them to remove all but the lowest frequencies. This will give you a sub bass with more interest than a standard sine tone, which can be enhanced further with tube amplification and other effects.
12- A proper sub bass is all important when creating DnB tracks. In order to create the desired wall of sound effect, the bassline has to hit the low end of the frequency spectrum. The easiest way to create a sub bass is to use a sine wave with a very short attack time and quick release. Try using this sound to double the lead part, thereby adding beef, but remember to watch the levels, as you can have too much of a good thing.
13- Another classic DnB sound is that of the 'Reece' bassline, as used in Renegade Feat Ray keith's Terrorist. While it's unlikely you'll get in trouble for sampling this much loved tone, you can create your own version by layering up detuned square waves with a touch of low pass filtering. This can then be resampled and further processed to create your own fearsome basslines.
14- Another good way to keep the energy levels up on a switch is to introduce a kick drum roll underneath the main beat.
15- To create the familiar wah-bass effect you'll need a synth with a an oscillator set to a wave shape with at least a few harmonics (ie, not a sine or triange), filtered with a low pass filter. An LFO or, alternatively, a short attack and decay envelope, can control the cutoff of the filter. When using an envelope, the note must be retriggered quickly to create the undulating bass riff.
16- Variation can be added to wah-bass riffs by modulating the LFO speed or envelope amount via key-following, eg, the higher the note played on the keyboard, the quicker the LFO oscillates or the more envelope is applied to the filter cutoff. Try varying amounts of one or both of these techniques to create progressively more twisted bass flutters.
17- When adding overdrive effects to filters, try out the different distortion types available and experiment with varying amounts of your chosen effect. Using vast amounts of overdrive may sound menacing,but in the context of a track, less is often more. Try starting out with a small amount of distortion and increase the levels slowly until you reach the optimum settings for your sound. The key is experimentation!
18- Another parameter that requires judicious tweaking when creating distorted bass noises is resonance. While it's very tempting to crank everything up to the most ear bending levels, try to stick to subtler settings- the highest db filter won't necessarily sound the best. Experiment with a combination of filter types and resonance settings until you get just enough harshness to offset the, rumbling bass end.
19- If your using an LFO to create your wah-bass, there are a couple of options available to you. Syncing the LFO to the track is a convenient way of getting it to play in time, but you may find the flexibility of the LFO rate control is worth making use of instead. Try any alternative phase and shape settings to create a variety of sounds.
20- Try using your synth or samplers pitch envelope to automatically bend notes downward. Experiment with different attack, decay and level values, and additional LFO pitch modulation, to create some unusual effects. If your instrument is capable of it, try applying different pitch modulation settings to each voice for yet more twisted bass.
