>ATTENTION! DO NOT post Soundcloud, YouTube or any other links where you are not anonymous (unless somebody asks you for it). That is considered self promotion and will usually result in a bad feedback.
I can't get over how my tracks are going to sound like fucking shit at first but my mastering and mixing are improving immensely
Dominic Jackson
To the guy five hours ago having trouble installing Ableton, if you're still trying, did you replace the "Ableton Live 9 Suite.exe" file (in your installed directory) with the one included (x64 if you installed the x64 version or x86 for the x86 version)? You have to do that before authorizing.
I suggest keeping the original instead of replacing it. Simply rename the original file into "Ableton Live 9 Suite.exeORIGINAL" and it won't be active anymore, so you can paste the cracked one and it will work in its place.
What is your opinion on soft clipping vs limiting especially on kicks and bass? I feel that clipping gets me harder hitting kicks where you are supposed to use a limiter. Does anybody do this, let their drums Clip intenionally? Do You know the effect that your kicks or the whole beat Sounds distorted on bigger professional studio speakers but Sounds alright on normal speakers? Any thoughts?
Angel Nelson
Depends a lot on the genre, what specific sounds you're using, and what effect you're trying to achieve. If it's something "classy" and clean, then no (or at a minimum), but if it's an "in your face" genre where everything is already super compressed and distorted, then yes. As long as it doesn't sound bad.
>Sounds distorted on bigger professional studio speakers but Sounds alright on normal speakers If that's the case then it will likely sound bad on a whole lot of other normal speakers too. Just not yours.
Matthew Johnson
a lot of d&b clips intentionally (subtely and very controlled, though), a good amount of that snappy attack in the drums comes from careful clipping/intersample peaking in the mastering, so it has a lot of hard transients and 'microdynamics' despite being the loudest shit ever. I think darius from amsterdam mastering perfected that with the last noisia album, it's basically 1-2 dB RMS louder than the average d&b or edm release, while sounding snappier, punchier and less compressed even though it's louder. from what I've heard most of it is happening in the analog domain or clipping the ADCs when picking the analog chain back up and not with limiters that don't fully brickwall and can create controlled clipping easily like FGX, limitless or the sonnox limiter, but I think all of these are a starting point unless you're made of money and can set up your own analog chain
Parker Sanders
Want to get a field recorder, what should I be looking out for?
I want to be able to sample sounds (eg. tapping metal) and record ambience (eg. nature sounds)
Are these specialised devices or do field recorders do both just fine?
Connor Torres
I got the Tascam DR-40. It's awesome.
Justin Foster
>Maybe we should just let people turn up the volume on their own? >No, I need to clip and distort the master Death Magnetic was ahead of its time.
Caleb Kelly
I was wondering why no one listened to d and b, thanks
Robert Walker
Start with generic song structures like intro, verse, hook, verse, bridge, hook, verse, hook, break, outro
Isaac Cruz
Sounds sharp and high res but it's too cluttery and repetitive, also very chaotic
Austin Reyes
>Want to get a field recorder, what should I be looking out for? Something with microphones built in or the correct inputs for the mics you are going to use if using external mics. Portability, storage etc.
>I want to be able to sample sounds (eg. tapping metal) and record ambience (eg. nature sounds)Are these specialised devices or do field recorders do both just fine?
By field recorder do you just mean portable recorder? If so then yes. Sorry for my shitty reply, but if you want a more specified reply then maybe you need to post some more details? I can record both of those things mentioned on my phone using its shitty microphone (presuming you own a modern phone) for free or I could use a sound devices recorder, pre amp and some expensive as fuck microphones costing me thousands of pounds?
Isaac King
Got all these cool lookin things in microtonality but the scales and shit are all defined by their wedgies and badness and dodecatonic categories like damn dog just tell me the notes I gotta play, fuck
I fucking love clipping. It's perfect if you want the mood of your track to be high-intensity, or give an atmosphere of "louder than loud" to your beats. I used a bit of it in my track up there.
Wyatt Gutierrez
>Starting to learn about production >Make a kinda shitty song that I'm actually proud of >Leave making things for a while while I complete uni >In the meanwhile, watch a few vids here and there on mastering >Try some stuff >What I do actually works and it sounds nicer This stuff's so rewarding
Jaxson Thompson
you'll hit a brick wall soon enough
Jonathan Sanders
Tip for blues or writing generally unsettling / haunting / depressing music: Blue Notes
The blue notes fall between the piano keys, between each blues scale note and its closest major-scale neighbor.
Here’s a guide to the blue notes in the key of C.
C major scale: C, D, E, F, G, A, B C blues scale: C, E-flat, F, F-sharp, G, B-flat C major plus C blues: C, D, *E-flat*, E, F, *F-sharp*, G, A, *B-flat*, B
There are three notes from the blues scale not found in the major scale, in asterisks above:
E-flat — the flat third F-sharp — the sharp fourth B-flat — the flat seventh
The flat third and seventh give the blues scale its tragic minor-key feeling. The very dissonant sharp fourth makes the blues unsettling and dark. Some people commonly refer to these non-major scale notes as blue notes. That’s not right — they’re [blues scale] notes that still fall on the piano keys. The /blue notes/ fall between the piano keys, between each blues scale note and its closest major-scale neighbor.
In the key of C, there are blue notes between:
D and E-flat E-flat and E F and F-sharp F-sharp and G A and B-flat B-flat and B
It seems that common practice is to bend a note to a blue note, rather than starting on one immediately. So you'd play like Eb and bend down 50 cents. And that list can be simplified to You just fuckin bend E-flat (flat third), F-sharp (sharp fourth), or B-flat (flat seventh) up or down 50 cents.
There's also some more info later on with stuff like "Guitarists will bend any note so that it’s slightly sharp when playing very emotionally and emphatically."
Jonathan Clark
What would yall say is the best midi keyboard around $200 for use in Ableton?
>grassroots label asked me on sc to make a track for their compilation because they liked some of my other tracks >no inspiration and no idea as to what to do
What do. I'm confident I can put out a good tune in two weeks, but Im cold with ideas right now. Should I just expose myself as a fraud now or later
Ryder Ortiz
>trying out the Renoise demo >all of the in-DAW and external samples I load in sound completely different from what they should >rich kick drum sounds like a wet over-distorted fart
Is it the demo gimping them or did I do something wrong here?
Leo Williams
Idk, start from scratch using the same soundset, synths
Adrian Garcia
The learning process is so rewarding. Listening to tracks I made 6 months ago and comparing it to the stuff I'm working on is really fun. Happy you're enjoying it too.
Ryder Phillips
I really love anything made by Akai. Whatever you do, don't buy an Arturia, they're garbage.
Nicholas Baker
The bass can be replaced, it sounds kinda cheap compared to the rest of the track. The kick is good, but try layering it with a brighter one. Whatever that high pitch sound is that sometimes go through, cut the highs, and do some surgical eq'ing. Add some more high end in the mastering stage maybe.
Thomas Gray
Any tips on experimenting with sound design? What do you do to make some cool new/unique sounds with synths, samples, etc?
Dylan Lewis
Yo prod, I've got a request. There is a rap album/beattape I produced and recorded back in 2015, although back then I didn't understand shit about production and music theory it's actually pretty fun to listen to since the instrumentals are original and stuff. The problem with that record is, that It's either distorted through +5db peak or not being mastered at all, also I wasn't using a limiter back then. My request is, that I currently don't have any mastering device like a computer or studio I can't remaster it myself so is there by any chance a hobby mastering engineer qmongst you who would do this out of hobby and for free? Some day I'll do it anyway just like all of those unreleased tracks I have on my computer in the basement, but it'd be cool if it could be done now. I mean I already know that nobody is ready to do that but hey asking is for free I guess haha
Twist dat knobs boi
David Gutierrez
Agreed, I know that feel (besides of the fact that I just googled various terms from plugins I didn't fully understand)
Jaxon Torres
Hey peeps. If anyone is interested I've made these Max For Live plugins for Ableton (obviously it requires max for live), if anyone is interested. I'm also willing to hear any feedback for those interested.
The first is a reverb plug-in called TeslaVerb. I've used a lot of reverbs and I think this one actually works quite nice.
I've included a verb ducking compressor that compresses the wet signal from the dry as I know this is quite common in mixing, especially with vocals. It's not meant to be a compressor on the dry *and* wet signal, it's just supposed to work with an already dry processed signal. It features dampening controls on the lows and highs and a width control. It's a very dense sounding reverb, good for long tails and also sounds great as a simple spreader to add more stereo information to a mono track. Here's an example of how it sounds with a moderate type of reverb: clyp.it/baw4c4wr?token=21c6a9659433e14fdb371099c01fcc51
In order for presets to work properly, you need to copy dampening.json into the same folder as where you copy tesla verb from.
Julian Smith
Next is a mid-side/stereo mastering compressor/limiter that I've called Compo. It features an independent mid-side mode, a stereo-link mode (in LR mode), and a limit mode (soft "tube" or digital clipping) with bit-depth quantization *if* you want to use it as a master plugin. Unfortunately I still need to work on gain markers, I know it would be nice to know how much gain reduction is happening, I will probably include this in an update if people are bothered by it.
Jaxon Clark
Last is a multiband exciter plug-in called Disto. There is a low, mid and high section which you can determine the frequency passes for. There's also width controls for each frequency tier. It might be useful for sound design or adding a little extra HF excitement on a master. I've found that it sounds quite good on bass or just to add a little bit of extra grit to a vocal for example. There is 4 different "distortion" types- Regular overdrive "Odd", Rectified overdrive "Even", Bit-Depth control "BitD" and Sample Rate control "Digi". Drive control degrades the signal. Unfortunately I cannot figure out a type of relative gain control because the Overdrive type has a weird non-linear/non-logarithmic volume curve, so forgive me.
well i just performed to almost empty stage and feel shit about it + am probably gonna drink for rest of the night. what kinda music i should do if i dont ever want shitty teenagers in the audience?
>place forced me to take my shoes off before arriving >soundchecker was mumbling about the beats being lame to audience >audience jock bragging to chicks about how hes moved on to bigger stages >awkward pause after gig before i got the audience clapping >they forgot to put microphones in for my intro so i didnt have a chance to chat with audience and since it was teen audience i didnt feel like doing it anyway
So what can i learn from this and what to do better next time? If i dont quit doing music?
Nolan Gray
No. >what kinda music i should do if i dont ever want shitty teenagers in the audience? Do whatever music makes you feel good man.
>So what can i learn from this and what to do better next time? If i dont quit doing music?
Don't quit man, it was just a shit gig, keep working on your shit and it's gonna be lit.
Leo Perry
I paid for Iris, may or may not pay for Stutter Edit but I've heard that it's basically something for live performance (which is something I'll never do.) I'll pay for Renoise down the line.
Basically, I only pay for things that I'm too dumb to pirate. Except for Metasynth. I'll never pay that much for Metasynth.
Bad shows are a fact of life, man. It's not going to be the end all be all of your career, unless you let it. It's not important enough to focus on.
Leo Torres
its just kinda hell at times. okay wont quit next live coming up ASAP
Michael Hill
Don't quit man, but if you're really passionate about the shit you don't need me to tell you that.
Camden Brown
try fivr / mastering
Aiden Baker
what kind of music do you make?
Jonathan Campbell
Did you tell anyone/ thing you were performing
Lucas Lopez
I'll give it a shot if I like the tunes
Elijah Wright
Don't be a fuckboy because I would kill to do more live shows
Jason Green
keep going. I quit Djing after a shitty show. I wish I didnt but whatever. I could have made up so much time
Ryder Allen
the greenlight for it being okay to get on stage came like 24 hours before live so day went into doing new set of songs and then suddenly you just dont have hours to promote the event
That thread on Bad had me going back listening to MJ's music and it hit me: the music is almost always is incredibly simple, especially between Dangerous and History, but it's so effective.
I can't even finish a four bar loop. What's wrong with me.
Aiden Taylor
Yo! I would be very thankful if someone had any input on this
I came across a pair of used old speakers/monitors. The brand is "Phonar" and on the back it says
I produce some music in FL and i am wondering if these are studio monitors or could be used for that and if i should buy them, i get them for pretty cheap. I can't find much information on them online, even their website has nothing on them. Is this just speakers or monitors?
Yeah they look great, I'd get them. If they aren't nearfield monitors, no one could blind test tell the diff anyway
Christopher Morgan
They “look” like hifi speakers. The only real difference between hifi and studio monitors should be that studio monitors should be flat sounding and not “colour” the sound, although if you put in some research on studio monitors and look at some reviews you’ll see that there are huge differences in sound between almost all studio monitors. So even that idea is somewhat open unless you are in the position to drop some serious money on monitors then I personally wouldn’t worry about it too much. In my opinion It’s actually more helpful to get to know whatever you use really well so you know exactly how they sound. Reference your mixes against other simular music you know well and just work with them. If you know your speakers/monitors have a bit of a boost in the low and mid frequencies then you can adjust your mixing to compensate for that. Plenty of great mixes have been made on NS10’s over the years and they sound shit, but you still see them sat alongside hugely expensive monitors in top studios due to the fact that “if you can get a mix to sound good on them it’ll sound good on anything”
TL;DR: Most people listen to music through their laptop speakers so it really doesn’t matter.
Cooper Evans
>Plenty of great mixes have been made on NS10’s over the years and they sound shit
For example?
Camden Hall
My range on my hs8 is 38 Hz to 30 kHz
but if your mixes transfer good from that system to others then by all means use them because that's what I like about my monitors. Granted I got my real cheap on Ebay by luck and they're mint new and you can always sell them later on to get better equipment.
I've been looking at hs8's what do you think of them?
Joshua Gonzalez
Depends on what the delta is on that spec. could be 4 or -/+6 dBA for all we know.
Thanks my dudee! Always looking for input too ;)
Jonathan Green
fivr aint free pal
I doubt that since it's really amateurish stuff with basic song structure before I post my bandcamp link what I don't want since It'd be advertising give me an email adress and I'll send you the link or somethin
How good are you at mixing/mastering? Rudimentary applying of youtube tutorials is enough though haha
Xavier Butler
thanks user
Brody Evans
>fivr aint free pal
neither is mastering
Owen Sullivan
I've never paid for a plugin before, but now that it's black friday, it seems like the time. IR1 Convolution Reverb is 69 dollars instead of 249. Should I do it?
Jaxon Campbell
It can be
Landon Hall
>For example?
You are joking right? They are pretty much sat next to the main monitors in almost every studio.
Hudson Sullivan
Waves c6 or LoAir
Jason Martin
>IR1 Convolution Reverb is 69 dollars instead of 249. Should I do it?
Just buy Valhalla vintage verb for $49 Unless you really want a convolution reverb. I’ve always used free convolution reverbs as you are loading in the reverb impulses anyway
Benjamin White
Oh it sounded like you knew of specific albums that were mixed badly on ns-10s and I was curious which ones they were
Logan Russell
This, you can find lots of great free IRs like the bricastis on the web, just need a basic convolver if your daw doesn't come with one
Dominic Rodriguez
Hi there!
You seem to have made a bit of a mistake in your post. Luckily, the users of /prod/ are always willing to help you clear this problem right up! You appear to have used a tripcode when posting, but your identity has nothing at all to do with the conversation! Whoops! You should always remember to stop using your tripcode when the thread it was used for is gone, unless another one is started! Posting with a tripcode when it isn't necessary is poor form. You should always try to post anonymously, unless your identity is absolutely vital to the post that you're making!
Now, there's no need to thank me - I'm just doing my bit to help you get used to the anonymous image-board culture!
Carter Lee
but they arent using tripcodes
Cooper Clark
namefags != tripfags
lurk more
Nolan Price
No I was saying the opposite. NS10’s are renounced for sounding a bit shit, but plenty of great albums have been produced using/referencing them. Which is why you often find them sat alongside much more expensive monitors.
(Pic related)
Dominic Adams
what do those have to do with my question? are you saying i should get those too? in what contexts would i use a suboctave generator aside from noise/ambient?
Aaron Jackson
i pay for everything i use
Kayden Johnson
Its not that they sound shit, its that's they're ultra clear so when you're mix is bad it shows it up like you say. My monitors are that way and I hate them, I'd much prefer sweet coloration at the expense of accuracy so you could listen to them for more than ten minutes without you ears falling off
Easton Baker
Yes
LoAir can give the entire mix an extra touch of soft pumping bass, combined with a transition shaper it can make the mix extra spicy
Also suboctave harmonizing is often used in common popular production
Damn I'm hell of a shill/advertizer hahahah
Kevin Morris
so if I had to buy 3 plugins, you think those would be the best option?
Also, the website for the suboctave generator says it works well with multiphonic material, how do they do that without making everything sound like muddy garbage? does it just isolate the fundamental of the bass note?
Nathan Bailey
You can tell the plugin which frequency has to be harmonized I remember tweaking around so it was a firm, not muddy at all sound You have apply it very subtle
Oliver Harris
>so if I had to buy 3 plugins, you think those would be the best option?
One's from companies you haven't pirated otherwise they won't work
Asher Sanchez
Yes meant to say very flat rather than shit but you know
I’d go for:
Fabfilter proQ2 Valhalla vintage verb or maybe eventide Black hole Waves j37
I really want the ProQ2 but its a bit out of my price range this month, maybe theyll have a boxing day sale
Brandon Sanders
Why did you post a sad cartoon batman?
Jeremiah James
is this a real thing? i haven't pirated a plugin before
Jeremiah Adams
It's an inside joke you understand first when the others have something against you in their hands
Cameron Peterson
>ultra clear >very flat I don't think either of you has ever heard ns10 they don't sound like any modern near field monitor, they're literal midrange cannons farting all the clashing problem zones of your mix into your face, they are far from flat and sound like complete ass. auratones are a similar and maybe even a tad more exaggerated take at shitboxes to reference with, these are very common lately because they're still in production unlike the ns10 the whole point of these things is having a very bandpassed, mid-focussed speaker to check your basic levels and timbres with because everything but the most important fundamentals and lower harmonics are gone - so you have to get some amazing clarity in your midrange to make shit work and therefore the moment you switch them off the most of your mix is done and the fun part begins
Jacob Brooks
Well you don't have to worry about it then
Jordan Ward
idk, i just like old cartoons
Blake Miller
Do it.
Jordan Roberts
They aren't far from flat
Ian Howard
up to +4 and down -5 dB over the spectrum is far from flat from modern standpoints, since even a cheap entry level monitor is flatter these days. also the fact that they have no bass at all does not help
Jonathan Mitchell
>not true. A mate of mine has had a original pair since the 90’s. I’ve spent many many hours back then listening to them. They sounded pretty flat back then.
>they don't sound like any modern near field monitor I wasn’t comparing them to any modern near field, but that’s probably why as I said in my previous post they are often found next to other monitors in the studio for cross reference. There wouldn’t be much point cross referencing them if they sounded the same. So back to my original post which was about knowing the monitors/speakers/headphones you use rather than worrying too much about the fact that they aren’t perfect. This applies (again in my opinion) much more to those who are newer to production or haven’t got the funds to drop thousands of pounds on some top quality monitors. I mean even if you get to the point where you want to record an album you could go hire a studio with nice monitors and go do your mixes there. For the rest of us we mostly produce at home in badly treated acoustic rooms in less than ideal situations. I hardly even use my monitors for production now as I live in a flat with paper thin walls
David Long
I apologize for the break boys, but I only work on weekends and work is where the autism comes out get ready for the shitting up of these threads
P.S. Fruity Parametric AS 2 has the best workflow because you can adjust Q with the mousewheel and can change shapes by hardly moving your mouse
Josiah Scott
Recommend me a good software synth for Logic/Mac that can beat ES2/Alchemy They're both useful but I feel like I'm in a fucking rut with them lately
Easton Wood
Harmor
Ethan Cox
Alchemy is pretty hard to beat. I think you need to turn your focus away from looking outwards to getting a new synth and focus inwards on why you’ve become creatively stumped?
Easton Morgan
I went from Alchemy to Serum.
Alchemy was the first synth I actually learned all the way through (I had it as my phones lock/home screen for a year lmao) so believe me I know how awesome that thing is. I miss the arpeggiator and the awesome ass envelopes, as well as the ridiculous unison and ability to pan harmonics in the additive part, but I just found I was making much more usable sounds much faster in serum. The workflow in serum to me is much better, and for some reason it sounds more warm and inviting than sounds I got with alchemy. Honestly though I kind of forgot how much I love that synth until now tho so I may be coming back to it now thatvyiuve asked this
Sebastian Ross
Is Garageband adequate for recording and mixing indie/rock/folk type music?
I see a decent amount of lo-fi or indie musicians using it, but does it really lack in some aspects that things like FL or Pro Tools give you?
