/prod/ - Music Production General

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clyp.it/figsyq2m
clyp.it/rvk0twst
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clyp.it/cm2czdeh
clyp.it/nm0fyzfw
clyp.it/pdkjdmim
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youtu.be/nbam7WieK-k
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I've been scratching my head for hours over this.
Which of these 2 choruses should I go for?

Are any of them too busy or too barebones?

clyp.it/figsyq2m

clyp.it/rvk0twst

This is a wip I've been working on a little. Going for a trappy vibe without being full on trap. Can't tell if I like it or not clyp.it/l2srdubp?token=ee18576db2b5bfdb1a5145e7679bd4f8
I like the second one a little more. It might be too barebones, but without the rest of the track there's no way telling how well it fits

where do you guys get your samples?

Typically it's from songs I already like and know. I just try to see if I can get the part I want out of there

wherever i can get them for free really

Thanks for the feedback. I'll go with the second choice then.
Do you think I should go for a more enthusiastic delivery vocal wise? I feel like if I add much more to it (whether production- or vocalwise), it'll drown out the melody of the distorted keys, which I want to be the mainpoint of the chorus.

clyp.it/cm2czdeh
Here's the leadup to the song so you can hear what it sounds like before the chorus. Imagine rap vocals from the beginning to the chorus.

------
I'm loving the screams, trap chants the dog barks. You use samples well.
The song starts a little rough though, try easing into it. I'm not too big on the lead synth either. It has too much high end, so you might wanna try filtering it more or removing some distortion. Change out the snare too. It sounds a little too stock, ya know?

Yeah, I'm def working on tweaking the synth sounds and the snares. The snares were more placeholder than anything. It also might be bc of the chants layered on top of them. Going to try to use some nice tape saturated drums I have

With that buildup the chorus is great. And keep the vocals like they are.

I have a question for you guys:

List different production parts and what percentage of your time goes to every one of them for one song. E.g.

>sound design - 10%
>composition - 40%
>mixing - 20%
...

You can do it in hours instead of % too. I'm really interested on which part you spend most of your time.

>tfw all DAWs are shit for composing xenharmonic music

>xenharmonic music

I knew I wasn't the only one going full autistic with Excel.

That LeBron James Sprite commercial is pretty funny.

Autism. Consider haiku.

I think it works pretty damn good for what I'm going for.

I created this verse with Excel, any thoughts?

clyp.it/nm0fyzfw

first one better

youtube

first time recording vocals

and first hook/verse i wrote

quality is shit, i recorded it on my macbooks built in mic lmfao

whatchu dudes think

clyp.it/pdkjdmim

make future garage or smt not this top 40 shit

clyp.it/32zdqjh4

hello boys. any tips or feedback production etc?

been mixing this one for so long that i don't know if it's good or not anymore

traaaaaash

I'm trying to make an EDM trapstep track , the Drop Lead is killing me . I need help please ..

clyp.it/2inwcju1


Halp.

>clyp.it/32zdqjh4

Mix-wise it sounds good .
Composition-wise , Don't have a clue what you're trying to do here.

Why do you think so?

>clyp.it/pdkjdmim

Atleast you're on beat.

I think that lead would work if you put it in some sort of room, so it isn't that isolated and up front

Also , do the vocals sound good ?

haha

i know its sloppy as fuck but ya gotta start somewhere ya feel

i got a mic comin in the mail so the quality will get better

can you tell me whats bad about it?

But I hate those genres.

Ignoring the really bad recording quality , the performance sounds too robotic.

very useful feedback thank you very much :)

yea

i see what you mean

thanks ill work on that

sounds like a whole lot of digital clipping going on

Notice me baka desu suiseiseki

sound design 50%
composition 50%
Mixing - 10000000000%

I fucking hate mixing . so fucking much . I'm thinking of sending my track to a professional.

I think it's maybe because I am a normalfag

But I don't hear chorus material in either.

I got some free time tonight, post your stuff and I might give a shot at mixing it if I like it and if you want

True, I'm not going for pristine production..

Been mixing this track the last couple of days. I'm only still learning to mix, but I think it sounds good now?

clyp.it/kvkrgmsx

You don't need to slap an EQ or compressor on every channel or drench your mix in reverb to not clip your faders.

Just gain stage your tracks and it will sound ten times better. Digital clipping is awful sounding.

the snare/clap thing sounds out of place
to mono reverby so it's way behind all the other stuff and rhytmically it's too off for my taste - almost every hit is early, not only by a slight 'non-mechanic' margin but so that it really destroys the groove
the rest of the mix sounds pretty balanced, though. I like it

it's two different clap samples stacked. I was going for that off-beat groove, is it too much?

How do you get good at hearing compression?

How do you become familiar how different types of compressor affect the sound?

Whenever I read about compressors I always hear stuff like 'It distorts the sound in a pleasing way" and I don't hear this distortion - they weren't talking about hardware either.

I think it's too much, especially because it's early
laid-back stuff isn't as noticeable most of the times, but a backbeat that pulls forward all the time is kind of annoying
I'd tone it down a tad

nice loopies

work on the kick levels, bit too loud

so you sidechain your kick?

*do

work on your flow as well

of course there's extra distortion in a lot of plugins that simulate their analog ancestors' characteristics, but even the cleanest of digital compressors eventually distorts because of the nature of compressors itself: if your attack and release time is close to the time your affected wavelenght's cycle then you're 'shaping' and therefore distorting each cycle and so creating overtones - this happens a lot with bass instruments' fundamental regions and can totally be a desired effect
the compressor's characteristic knee curve and attack/release characteristics obviously play a huge role in how these kind of distortion sounds

to the rest of the question:
read about the fundamental differences of the old but gold compressor types (such as vca, opto, vari-mu, ...) and try to find plugin examples you can experiment with so you get hands on experience why each is useful for what kind of tasks and suck for some others

not bad, kicks too quiet in the mix

Yeah . I use Nicky romero's kickstart.

The instrumental is alright. You're an okay producer, assuming you made the instrumental. I would turn down the drums especially the hi hats and turn up the synths and piano and add some more changeups.

Don't think your voice is good to be honest. I would hook up with some friends who have better vocals than you but don't produce.

what software do you produce on?

FL studio 12 producer edition.

Thanks about the advice, it's weird though, since none of my faders is actually clipping, I'm just over compressing everything.
First time layering two kicks, I'll check it again, thanks.

yh i can hear those two kicks clashing to fuck, maybe not the best fit, or eq them both to fit together?

I knew that very short attack/release on compressors caused distortion but I've never heard it be pleasing, is there some trick to it?

maybe try some slate digital compressors/sidechain as they are really good, your nicky Romero one is trash sorry...

Sup /prod/,

what is a good general purpose microphone for recording (mostly vocals)? I have a few synths/keyboards and a nice drum machine, but what I feel like I need to start recording is the microphone and interface.

Any recommendations? Should I just look on craigslist to find something in my budget, which is ~$200??

totally depends on your signal and the slope of the attack and release if the results are pleasing and most importantly beneficial for your mix
a variable curve on the attack like on the el arousor makes this really easy, though. that compressor can (just like the 'real' el8x) do crazy short attack times without sounding like ass

Daily reminder that Dr Drum is the best DAW out there.
youtu.be/nbam7WieK-k

rode nt1a
audio technica 2035
aston origin

>Dr Drum
>not DubTurbo
fucking pleb

>Thanks about the advice, it's weird though, since none of my faders is actually clipping, I'm just over compressing everything.
Check your plugins. Gain staging is a bit different than just checking the track fader. You might be clipping your plugins.

Basically, you want your signal to hit your plugins around -18dbfs, which is equivalent to 0dbvu. See in pic related how it says -18 under "cal"? That means this volume meter is calibrated for 0dbvu to be equivalent to -18dbfs, which is the standard. 0dbvu (-18dbfs) is nominal signal level.

Basically, your digital meter in your daw always shows you dbfs. Pic related is a great plugin that's only ten bucks and shows dbvu, but you can download something like FreeG for free and insert it as the first plugin in the chain to check your levels. You'd want the main signal before all plugins to hover around -18dbfs, because most plugins are modeled on analogue algorithms which are designed to handle signals optimally around -18dbfs.

The thing that tricks people is that let's say you have the gain at the beginning of your track around -3dbfs (way too hot), and then it goes through compression, eq, saturation...etc, and you might see "oh I'm clipping the track fader", and so you turn it down. Let's say you turn it down to a nice level, around -18dbfs. But the thing is, while your track is now "not clipping" overall, your plugins are still clipping internally, adding noise and distortion that adds up over many tracks.

I would insert a trim plugin (freeG is a good one) at the beginning of your tracks and see where your meters are hitting.

It's the same kick actually, do you think there are pahsing issues? I'll try some eq.

of course duplicating the same sample with a time offset does nothing but comb filtering

tell me what u think pls no bully


clyp.it/04pjss5l

>arousor

The distressor emu? Isn't that UAD only?

Also how come I never hear electronic producers recommend distressors, but rock producers always do?

so I should get a condensor microphone?
I just remembered I will also be using it for my double bass

no, it's a native plugin for all formats
the el8x is an amazing universal tool and obviously just as great for electronic music, but since they're pretty damn expensive I don't think many producers even consider stuff like that for their private studios

yes
cardioid condensor close to a f-hole of a double bass can be pretty amazing

I checked craigslist and some pawn shop nearby has the AT2035 for only $70 which seems like a good deal.

I am going to need to buy an interface for this microphone right? Any recommendations for one?

the focusrite scarlet line is universally praised as good bang/buck, make sure to look for the improved 2nd gen, though

Honest question: Is the deadmau5 masterclass worth it? Not in terms of entertainment but information value and teaching.

Mau5 is a certified sound engineer . He knows a ton of shit about producing even though sometimes he's stuck up his own ass.

Give it a try , you'll learn alot of shit about EQ compressing and mixing.

I like the drum break, but it completely overshadows everything else in the song for the first two minutes. I feel like I'm listening to a drum sample with some white noise and can barely focus on anything else. I think you cut off all the high end for the synths and piano sample so all the high end I'm hearing is from the hi hats in the break. I was waiting for you to change the EQ and let the instruments come through at some point so that it wasn't so flat.

I started to really love it near the end when you introduced more sounds, but it takes so long to get to that point I almost stopped listening. Overall pretty good but just make sure there's more things happening than just the drums at the beginning.

From what I've heard, no.

how do I become Basic Channel?

cant wait to get off my tracker's ratio warning so i can turn the internet off and maximize productivity

clyp.it/t3lepxpv

braaaaaaap

working on a silly japanese/house/pcmusic type ep...

clyp.it/10raqgjf

would love some feedback. imo one of the better produced things i've done.

r8 my extratone track Sup Forumsstards

clyp.it/kibjyxu2

Quick question:

I'm recording on live 9 through an old MOTU traveler. Recording works fine, but when I go back to listen to what I recorded, I will get a high pitched squeal that interrupts the playback for a minute or so. This makes recording over multiple tracks almost impossible. After some reading, it sounds like this is a common issue with MOTUs

Do you know any way to make live 9 input through the MOTU but output to the PC's headphone out? That way I don't have to deal with the MOTU's shitty headphone output.

add distortion and call yourself an experimental noise folk project

as kinda great as that sounds, that still doesn't help me record.

clyp.it/g2gkn1hz

I just started producing (hiphop/trap beats), I was hoping you guys could tell me whats good/bad/needs fixing.

I use FL studio 12

>clyp.it/kibjyxu2
wat genre is this? either way make the bass sounds less loud

sounds pretty good, what percentage of it is samples/presets? honestly i think its fine as is.

it's all me baby, just the rising sound at the end is a sample

ah cool, just wondering since you said you just started

clyp.it/wvamncwj

been working on this for a while

This is solid advice, thanks again, I'm checking freeG right now, might post the finished track afterwards.

pls help

i've been doing it for like a month and a half or something

>input through the MOTU but output to the PC's headphone out
nope, can only initialize one driver at ASIO
you can totally plug a set of speakers or another headphone amp to the motu's other outputs though

fuuuuuck

thanks for the response, tho. maybe the other outputs won't suck, but i'm kinda doubtful.

how long does it take to go from total beginner to making decent work

Sorry for potentially ruining someone's day, but I have to share this comment from one YT video:


I moved to Hollywood from the Midwest in the mid-80s, and got a rather harsh lesson that I'd like to share with you and your viewers.

I'm a drummer, well-rounded musician, and songwriter. I'm one of those guys who went to college for it. One of my many approaches was to be a songwriter for someone who has charisma and an actual chance at being a star. I met a woman who seemed to have what it takes, and she said that I should meet her producer, because she would love to work with me.

We drive to this guy's mansion in the Hollywood hills. It's a huge place. His servant answered the door and brought us in to his quarters. She introduced me, and there was something odd about him. He started off by welcoming me there, and was showing me a Prospectus he had for her album. Each sheet detailed a song, which "cost" anywhere from $90,000 to $120,000 to produce.

He then decided to give me a tour of his mansion. At that point, I felt that maybe I was wrong about him.

We are walking along this catwalk, and down below us is a room with sunken wood floors. There is a huge mixing board. On the left is a young kid hunched over a drum machine, and on the right is a kid working on a keyboard.

>to be continued