routingwithin

What an awesome example of progress. Really enjoyed watching the growth of your project Martian Arts and finally ending at the party. Ur an inspiration.

Well sure , however it can be avoidable. by checking each sound with ur vectorscope and adjusting the stereo image. Or using a stereo widening tool - take it down to mono and open it up until its close to zero, but yes, eventhough you control it like this it sometimes still shoot passed zero for a second. My point on this Q was that many reference tracks looks super wide. but with my tracks - the K&B pulls the whole image to mono - or too close to mono. Can be that the volume levels is too high, but needs to be like that to be the main elements in the track.

I actually agree. Out of all the sample packs i've checked out through the years I have never .... ever found one that has amazing samples. I am talking about the sounds you hear when you listen to a Psytrance set on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNVp5IwQcYc You can't state that it will take our tracks to the next level. lol Samples and Loops taking us to the next level. cmon Maybe if you started producing yesterday. Only way IMO, is to learn synthesis \ better yet modular synthesis and create YOUR OWN music. It's the only way to get there. No offense dude.. the samples is probly kickass

Exactly PS.. asking questions is a necessity to progress, otherwise doing it on ur own, you will start out where the guys started out when synthesis was invented. With today's technology it does give us some shortcuts to get up to speed. Even if you just sit an entire weekend watching synthesis vids on you tube will definitely help a great deal. Learning from others is key. Also nowadays you even get video courses on production and music theory etc. which would have been an amazing gift to give someone back in the day. However i believe the web has made many of the new producers lazy - cause the information is so easily available that no-one really works at it to figure it out. When ur at a dead end, you jump to the forums and ask what is wrong with my bassline.. But with the process of working at it and figuring it out yourself, would have given you so much more "in between the lines" info which is part of the bigger picture to eventually reach your goal in the end. For me it took a while to get acquainted to my new monitors. When I got them I struggled to tweak my saw tooth bass to perfection. Where with my old monitors I got to a nice sound within minutes. Here its again about the amount of experience you have with your gear. I then realized that my previous good sounding bassline weren't at all sounding good. It was proper shite.. but after a while getting used to the sound of my new babies it started to make sense what I did wrong previously, especially with EQ. When composing a track you can use anything that can generate sound waves to your ears: Headphones, crappy desktop speakers, anything.. but unfortunately through many years of struggle - it ends with the same point. That to mix and master to perfection .. a well set up studio environment is required.

Sorry man - I see ur actually Purple Sunray, my bad. - otherwise I would be Enlightened Ape, lol Yeah I know what ur saying - I own the Shure SRH440's which does have great quality. The reason it's so difficult to get strait answers in music production is because experienced producers have realized that you can only really get there with the amount of experience you have with the gear and tools. I see so many Q's like how to EQ a kickdrum... Which kick drum, cause each has unique timbres, present frequencies etc. It's all about how it was synthesized. How much the sound was filtered, if any resonant peaks was added, or harmonic distortion. But I digress The problem with the headphones for me is when I synthesize kick and basslines. It's difficult to tweak the timbres just right without using my monitors. I checked out the 112db Redline monitor software : https://www.112db.com/redline/monitor/: to use with Headphones. They say it's suppose to turn your headphones into a monitor listening environment - but after testing it I could not really find a huge difference. Sure the sound does get moved around, but exactly like listening with monitors, nah man. Yes mixing while using both is essential. Many non release times on kick and basslines can create silent clicks which you don't normally notice until you listen through headphones. Then again I find that mixing db levels is much better with monitors. The headphones kind of lie to me sometimes - but that can also be cause of inaccurate frequency balance between the elements. cheers

Many interesting points raised. Thanks Awaken I do know about the phase cancellation yes - that is not the case, however in some instances it can be - especially when playing many leads together each created individually, but then I would rather say masking would become a problem. I believe it is all about the reflections like you said. Still working on padding the walls but budget a bit tight - after my monitors. I've got wooden floors and walls so yeah not the best studio environment. lol Yes I never quite knew how important distance / placement was until I tried recording a guitar through an amp to a mic to a fast track. The distance from the mic and the amp, even though it was little, created some hectic latency - and was forced to use DI, cause I did not have the correct equipment. That's when I experienced the speed of sound for the first time. Have to say to get a perfect 30 degree angle between you and the speakers can be a bit tricky. Luckely I got some stands to keep them in place - but I doubt that they are 100% 30 degrees and forming a perfect triangle. Update on the rest: After testing my monitors for a few weeks, getting to know the sound etc. I composed 13 quick tracks (each processed differently, experimenting) mostly concentrating on the K&B. So last night burned it to a disc and played it on a few different systems. The reason is I want to start out knowing how to EQ and process my music before testing it. Have to say it helped a lot, after making some notes I found which tracks had a nice kick - where I eq'd my leads just right etc. Also gave some inspiration to move on knowing the sound is nice. My bass-line is mostly a problem since I synthesize it. (samples suck) - It always have too much boom. However I don't want to thin it out too much (it needs that beef), so a new -3db @ 60hz would be a start. Trial and testing. Those monitors do live up to their reputation - best choice I made. Thank you for the replies guys Keep well

Cheers.. Yes i've checked out the PAZ before. Still - for me Ozone's one is nicer. I do have a question though. Is it neccessary to have anti-phase present in various parts of the track cause i've seen it in many reference tracks before.. especially when the beat is not playing. ?

I do have a vectorscope. I use the one that comes with Izotope Ozone. And I do keep the phase between +1 and 0. The above replies gave me a good idea. It could be a combination of the harmonics of the room and the stereo effect of the instruments. Cause I do tend to want to have stereo on every instrument to keep the stereo image as wide as possible. Obviosuly Kick & bass stays in mono.. And all that stereo can give that loose sounding effect to the track. Cause many of the leads have uncontrolled stereo, u know, not synced - which probly causes the moving sound when I move around. Thanks astralprojection Cheers guys

Cheers man. Yeah I've been producing psy for about 12 years now, and have read so many tips and advice that everything starts to become a cliche. However I never seem to implement the advice and knowledge that people give me. So it's good to hear it over and over. One of my problems is that I tend to mix from the start. Which after a long time I have found counter-productive. You get stuck in the loop. And then afterwards you've listened to loop so much that you're fed up with it. Cause without a storyline the loop does seem to sound like nothing. Then I move on and start over. Around and around we go. Best would be to compose the track and level the stuff afterwards. The track through time carrying your intrest. Yes i've seen that mixing or checking your track on low volumes does work wonders. Think I should try that again.

Thanks for the offer Veracohr - but that would be too much P.T. - don't have any accounts on the web @ the moment to upload it to. Djuna: I guess you are right. Think it has something to do with the acoustics - the reflections playing with my ears. So in a way I can assume that if the track sounds good in the sweet spot then it sound great elsewhere. Haven't tested it on other systems yet. I am using Yamaha HS7 monitors so I'll just finish the track and take it from there. Cheers guys

Lately I have realized something that I would just like to get a second opinion on. Been working on a minimal loop that just kicks ass, the quality is rich, flow is spot-on, everything just vibes correctly. In the sweet spot it sounds great - or when I put my ear real close to the speaker, but the moment I move back - or stand up and walk around, the frequencies kind of change. At first I thought it's the room harmonics, but previewing a reference track and do the same walk about, all the frequencies stays the same. As if while walking around the sound stays in the same place in the air. Is this something to do with phase alignment ? Feedback appreciated

Agree with you on apple - also a PC guy, however they're coming out with some amazing technology these days. Review Macs vs PC for Music production and you will be surprised how much a Mac is optimized for that sort of thing. I would also agree with many that Apple is the future, but for me it's just too much of a change to switch over. (lazy) I don't like that its kind of a selfish technology, not being compatible with other teq devices. C'mon guys - was it designed for another better species of humans. But yeah - kind of a natural selection - climbing the ladder of success type deal. I would not bet on getting a stand alone version for windows, but why not ask the guys from Logic. They would know best. Logic is a great DAW - as seen in many tuts on the web, just love those plugins that Logic has. Very proffesional I use Ableton 9 - very happy with it, much more organized, solid and smart than FL-Studio. Unless you know what you're doing. Don't forget, it's all about the music - I don't think if Mozart was a electronic producer he would mind which DAW you gave him. He would have pulled those scales man. What an epic composer/producer he would have been.. ;-)

There were just so many stuff I had to share it.. Filling up your library. http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/free-music-samples-download-loops-hits-and-multis-217833

What is music to you ?

I am using Fostex PM2 MkII Active Nearfield Monitors at the moment, connected to a basic subwoofer. - Untreated room. Carpet floors, a bit cramped.

Just thought Id share a tip with you guys regarding delays. Sure using delays is an easy way to extend the decay/sustain of a sound, however it can also cause frequencies to overlap, messing with your db levels and balance. With many plugins you will have a cutoff knob which will filter out high frequencies on the delay making it fade out gradually. Still it would be uncontrolled. Music is organized sound, so having control of each element is key when producing digital music. You can quantize everything but your fx may still mess up the flow in the music. Rather than using delay plugins, you can cut up your sample into repetitive blocks, then automate the low-pass on the EQ to gradually fade out. You get many benefits from this. One: with the low-pass automation you can bring the high-end back at the end of the bar or in the middle, fully controlling the presence of the sound. You also get the option to high-pass or band-pass (automating the Q) Two: You can cut the repetitive blocks up into smaller parts through time ( 8th or 16th notes ) creating more interest. Three: Shifting the blocks around at the end of each 4 or 8 beats. This will give the impression that the sound has a delay but hey, it changes within the delay. Showing control and keeping it synchronized. With this you can also create rhythmic patterns, locked to the bpms. Four: Nothing overlaps, each block ends where the other one begins. Five: The delay can be as long as you want it to be, and end it without extra background delays which are inaudible. I use delay plugins as a preview and then break up the sound in synchronized blocks afterwards. Cheers guys

What in your opinion would be priority one. Good monitors + Well treated room or Hardware Gear?