Music Production

Recently I just got the Pulsar Audio 1178. Clean interface with really easy to understand controls and meters, can't believe how readable this is compared to most other plugins. Also has a fun "All ratio" setting and adjustable saturation settings, from clean to clipping and a few in between.

I am like the Toy Story meme of "I don't want to play with you anymore" with all of my other compressor plugins right now.

I don’t think there’s a way to do a proper poll so if you don’t see your DAW mentioned in a top level comment, make the comment to the post. If it’s already listed, maybe just upvote it? That way we can get a representation of what DAWs are more among subscribers here.

I’m curious just because it’s always neat to hear what people use and how, but also to see how possible tuts or techniques can be explained in a way more people will understand. Or provide a variety of examples for various DAWs.

EDIT: Actually, I don’t know the best way to list the ones I use without making a few comments to this post. I’ll just upvote them if I see them listed.

Another great look at the gear and process behind a classic track. I love to hear musicians set the record straight on what techniques they used to achieve iconic sounds.

Edit: the video starts out as a correction/follow-up on a previous video “Nuthin but a G thang” by Dr Dre | Minimoog G funk Lead, but expands beyond that

So not entirely music related, but my don't-use-reddit policy and this looking like the closest not entirely dead community has led me to post sooo...

I have an audio question about recording levels. I'm doing voice-over stuff for some really bad Youtube videos I'd like to make and it never sounds remotely good.

I get that the recording volume should be just the green side of clipping, but how do you take a track, and then add it to other tracks and balance the whole thing to not sound like ass?

It always seems that it's either too loud or too quiet and I'm baffled as to how to tweak the mix correctly so that things sound right.

This is a simple technique that creates a beautiful spread on acoustic guitar. It requires a few things first:

• Acoustic guitar recorded on two tracks.
  • One track with a mic capturing the neck. I like to use a small diaphragm condenser.
  • Another track with a mic capturing the body. I usually go large diaphragm condenser.
  • (or go with some other XY/stereo mic config)
• Two aux channels with a reverb. One aux panned hard left the other panned hard right.

Usually when guitars are mic’d with two mics like this, in the mix you pan them hard left and right. Like body left, neck right.

The trick here is that for the guitar track you pan left, send a bit to the reverb aux panned right. For the track panned right, send to the left reverb aux. What happens is that the reverb will fill the opposing sides and creates a super spacious and wide sound unlike just sending both guitar tracks to one aux. You can get an even better effect if the reverbs each have a slightly different setting. That’s all dependent on the sound you’re going for though.

That’s it! I hope the explanation is not too confusing. If so please let me know so I can clarify any questions. Give it a try!

Any projects or demos you'd like to share or talk about? Exploring any new sound design or composition techniques?

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/14281466

I've never seen computer keys used in place of piano keys before though I am sure being able to customize the feel of the switches is pretty nice. Are there production midi controllers that do the same?

Feedback welcome. Thanks for checking it out!

Thanks for listening!

Thanks for checking it out!

Do you ever feel like you can make a great loop but you can't make a great song? I don't know if that's your experience, but I've been there before, and let me tell you, it's a nightmare. It brings to question all of your skills that you have developed so far, because you've been able to cruise through without thinking about it. But now it just isn't enough! I needed more variety in my tracks.

So if you're like me then this video is just for you. Nathan goes into a key concept about arrangement that will help you think about it in a much more constructive way. Every instrument can be played with different articulation, loudness, rhythm, etc. and it doesn't have to play all the time. So Nathan poses three big questions of arrangement: what is playing, when is it playing and how is it being played?

This video will show you how these questions give you insight into what you were doing subconsciously (and how to answer them in a creative way). It will provide you with a simple thinking process for arrangement decision-making that will ease up some of that tension between hearing the song in your mind and putting it into your DAW. So try it out!

Mixing in mono is one of those production "tricks" that have solidified in my mixing routine to achieve clearer mixes. It's a really easy shortcut to hearing levels and even frequencies of everything in your track without the distraction of stereo imaging. It also helps to figure out phase issues between closely tuned kicks and bass and correct your synth sound design too!

But sometimes the immediate benefit it gives us gets outweighed by a longterm one of improving your critical hearing skills. For example, if you use mono to hear frequency fighting between instruments, you're undercutting your learning experience of properly working with frequencies in stereo. After all, it's not uncommon to pan different instruments asymmetrically. Having stereo means you have two different signals that should be shaped on their own terms.

Michael is going to walk us through some of the things that mixing in mono can be used for and give some perspective on how those particular uses stack up in a more robust or specific production workflow. And, I hope this knowledge helps you in your own productions!

Alright, I've had some time to think about it, and we're gonna be staying open to comments. Sorry if this post upset you earlier, it wasn't my intention to be dramatic (though I understand that I most likely was). I'm not great at these things.. yet. I hope Lemmy's cross-instance communication options improve and we can get a better way to comment on posts between different communities later down the line. For now, we have to put in work to make this community and fediverse grow, so we can have a place to share knowledge and emotions that no corporation will run into the ground for profit.

Contents of this post before the decision was made, for reference:

This is one of those techniques that can really push you over from intermediate to pro. You need a good grasp on compression: what it does to your instruments and how it affects their texture. Parallel compression is simple, yet subtlety is what makes it work, you need good ears for compression for this to work in your favor.

The essence of parallel compression is immediate and delicate control of the different textures in your recordings or even synths. You make a compressor for different elements of the instrument. In drums it is your punches, your transients and sticknoises, your long releases on snares and the color of all noises: bright, muddy, etc. Sometimes a compressor will affect multiple qualities (but not all of them). Then you make your compressors exxagerate the elements you choose separately. Then you mix the compressors in a way that you find pleasing.

That's what I've gotten out of the video and if you want to get a better grasp for the subtleties with apt explanations from Gregory, then that's the spirit! Go watch it! If you can't hear the differences, try increasing your speaker/headphones volume. The effect is subtle so don't go too loud, just enough to hear the differences described. To avoid any potential hearing damage (in case you do go too loud and/or you listen on headphones), limit your loud volume listening to ~15 minutes or so.

This one might be obvious to you folk who have worked on pro recordings. Compressing vocals and compressing instruments require different mindsets. Different in the way that you shouldn't be afraid to compress your vocals to -10 and -20db, while your instruments are at a subtle -2 to -5 (and I don't even limit myself there, because I love distorting my drums).

This video will show you every trick you did before: eq, automation, reverb, etc. and compare it to compression in the context of a rock track.

This is a great video overview on just the neccessary bits and nuances of making Drum'n'Bass. What I like about this specific video is that it helps you understand what is possible within the genre and doesn't restrict you like an instruction manual.

It will help you to familiarize yourself with the core concepts of DnB and give you some pointers on how to give your tracks a cohesive structure within it! Highly recommend.

Understanding how to manage rhythmic patterns is a must-know for any producer. Unfortunately, not everyone has a formal music education, so if you're like me, this video will help you bridge that gap and help you on your music making journey!

EDMProd gives us some insights into the process of finding your rhythm with examples from house music and you can apply these concepts with relative ease to any other genre!

Compression feels esoteric to anyone who's starting out in the world of music production. Even when we start to understand how it works technically, we just slam on the gain and work that ratio until we can hear the difference as the sound explodes from distortion. But compression isn't just a tool to make your loudness more consistent, it's a tool that can help you shape the texture of individual samples or synths the way you want them to be.

In this video, Gregory Scott, audio hardware and software designer tells us how to listen for compression (in drums, more specifically). Go check it out, and I hope it helps you on your journey!