Post your production tips

[c2_xlantic]

Originally Posted by datguy

I got a perscription

Never question Bruce Dickinson!

Gene Frenkle R.I.P.

[knucklehead]

Originally Posted by c2_xlantic

Never question Bruce Dickinson!

up the irons!

[Left]

Originally Posted by knucklehead

i think that is some really solid advice because of the fact that i don't (yet) know how to play an instrument. it's really frustrating to be able to come up with melodies in my head but have no ideal how to play them on a keyboard or even put down the notes in a sequencer. i know if i could play a synth i could create some killer shit of my own.
so, what would be some good reccomendations for learning how to play a piano or keyboard? community college looks like a good avenue to me, but i'm open to other suggestions.

p.s- this thread is fucking great. it is one of the longest intelligent threads i've ever seen in the ddm.

Hey man, if you can come up with melodies in your head, you must have some kind of musical ear. Just sit down at any piano / keyboard and work it out. Programming a synth sound or creating an original timbre is a diff story. Notes are just notes however, that's why we have MIDI.

[mixdude]

Watch your levels, especially with digital recording. 40 tracks of 0 peaks will eat up your mix bus. Makes the tracks sound smaller.

Guitar pedals are awesome on keyboard tracks. Pods are really cool also.

Something cool is using a noise gate to trigger sounds.
(Hi hat will open a gate of a synth pad creating a rhythm. Very cool with vocals.)

Collaborate. Work with other artists gives you loads of new ideas.

Play shows. Even if it's all tracked, It's great to see what works and doesn't.

If you are mastering it yourself, louder doesn't always = better.
Dynamics really help the song.

That's all I can think of now

[Adam D]

Originally Posted by stargazer

some of these responses remind me of something Giorgio Moroder said recently... and i'm paraphrasing as it was a longer statement... "electronic music has been infiltrated by hobbyists thinking they are musicians"

It's just a hobby for me...

[Anomaly]

backup bump

[monarch]

hehe...another classic bump...


its nice though, to get some good topics like these back into circulation

...especially now since these forum is moving so slow and you've got people like me posting up the same old shit (iDJ)

werd

[neighter]

properly position your studio monitors! it makes all the difference, esp. in hearing the low end accurately. if your speakers are too close to a wall or a corner, it will boost certain frequencies. unfortunately, most of us don't have alot of space to play with. your speakers and your head should form an equilateral triangle.

[trojan]

this thread in awsome, I havn't tryed more than one of the tips yet cuse I can only read this at work, but I think this is a great thread because so many people are giving their .02 cents in hopes of helping someone with it.
So there goes my first thread ever avout music.

Been at it for 3 years only, I'm 20 so I've been at it non stop ever since I could. I've played a few instruments before and I tataly back the advice on learning to play an instrument.

If you can't cuse you've sold your keyboard many years ago like me or you just don't have on, go to http://www.modcam.com/emusic/ in the melodies section, basicialy, because of the advice on that site, I open a file and with the pencil, I draw the notes of a minor scale. Then I try to make a melody with these notes, (I do it with a minor scale because up untill a few months ago I was always using major).

Something else, I'm a reason user, and for now, I think all I need is reason, and I had trouble equalizing untill a few weeks ago cuse I needed to see the frequencies with my own eyes. I've just found the trick, might be obvious to some of you out there but this is something a new user might ignore.

-this is what you got to do to see the frequency levels in reason (2.5 or 3.0)

-bypass auto-routing by holding shift and create a spyder audio merger splitter under the mixer
-bypass auto-routing and create a vocoder
-looking at the back of the rack, unplug the wire of the signal you are EQing from the mixer channel inputs, plug it to the Spyder Audio Merger/Splitter Split A Input (and Split B if its stereo).
-The setting will differ if the signal is mono or stereo but I prefer taking the signal and merging it in Mono, by taking the Split A and B Output 1 and plugging them to the Merge Input A 1 and 2. Then you get the Mono signal from the Merge A Output.
-Then you connect the Split A and B outputs 2 back to the mixer channel so that you can hear the signal again.
-Take the mono signal from the spyder audio merger/spliter, from the extra Mono Output you have created by plitting your signal, and Connect it to the Vocoder Modulator Input.
-Set the Vocoder to "infinit bands" (the highest amount, to see the frequencie more acuratly).
-Play the sound loop or song or what ever, and start playing with the EQs you have on the signal... not the VOCODER, I'm talking about the EQs you have in series with the signal before the mixer...

As you play with the EQs wach the band pass levels on the vocoder and it will give you a very good idea or what you're doing, ex: if your EQ boosting or subtracting is being effective.

[JOLLYGREENJIANT]

1. Only Mono out Snares and Kicks.
2. Run compression on kicks and snares
3. Render out the wav from your sequencing prog and dump into a hi fi prog like nuendo, cubase, or Ableton to render out the mp3. I personally am a fan of wavelab.
4. cut your bass notes properly. Overlapping bass sounds like ass
5. LAYER LAYER LAYER your drums
6. Tape FX and Tube FX are key to create noise and warmth in your drums and strings.
7. Depending on the sound you want, use a limiter and crank the gain. It will give your bass that techno swell.
8. Never ever make a track with just beat loops (amens and such) its been done and sound terrible. If you have reason, use the Redrum.
9. Dont overload on VSTs. I know some producers that enjoy the VSTs more than the music, You only need a couple anyway. I suggest for dnb the z3+a, the albino, the vangaurd, and the sytrus.
10. Dither. This creates inaudible white noise when there is silence
11. And for the love of GOD master your tracks. Dont just render and think its gonna sound good.

[Darren Afrika-ka-ka]

Originally Posted by nuwanda

smoke copious amounts of high grade marijuana

DRUGS ARE BAD?

[molecule]

Originally Posted by Plato

The 1 thing that has helped me the most over the years of writing music is to put yourself and all your bullshit aside, go into it with the right mindset, set goals and try to accomplish somthing. Fucking about is fine as far as playing with sounds, creating patches ect. But you need to discipline yourself in order to make things happen.

The pieces i have been most happy with have come from somthing specific i am trying to convey. An idea or theme im trying to get across. Not just sitting down to see what happens(not that thats bad) I work best when i feel like i am communicating somthing with each note and sound, rather than fucking about.

Good luck to all.

what he said.

don't beat yourself up over a track. if it aint flowing, move on to something else. writing a good song is like telling a story, if its not coming easily, it most likely will not be good, even if you finish what you started. Tejada once told me that if he doesn't finish a track in a few days, it most likely will never get finished. Great music connects with people, even the most technically oriented music has soul, feeling, emotion. Great music comes from real inspiration (life experiences, love, loss, joy, fear, etc)

mixdude has some good technical advice regarding levels. too much of todays music lacks dynamics, is overly normalized, and compressed. Listen to what your compression is doing, don't just compress because you think you should. low-mids are problem areas. EQing is many times more about reduction rather than boosting frequencies, especially in mastering.

[Kiri]

Originally Posted by nuwanda

smoke copious amounts of high grade marijuana

damnit, john, you beat me to it!

[Anomaly]

My latest tip: Make your own drum sounds. If I were made of money, I'd buy a 909 and go office space on it.

[Stefan Anion]

Sample random stuff around the house, any good condenser mic will do, like an SM-58 or a Rhode Mic. Pots and Pans are great for percussion. Pringles tubes make great tribal drums, so do rubbage bins. Stick your mic out the window and sample some ambience, citysounds are cool for chill out tracks and work well as a foundation for making crazy pads and atomspheric sounds.

also useful:

flipping a credit card using your fingers (i don't really know how to explain this in words) makes a cool wobbly "thump" sound for weird bassy bits.

if you've got an old pc sitting around with a crappy soundcard, record the sounds of the PC as it processes and writes stuff to the HD, it makes all these weird electronic sounds.

:-)