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Anyone ever think of starting a thread full of production tips & tricks?

 

If anyone has any ideas to start off, you can put them here:

(That is, if you don't mind sharing a little of your knowledge)

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OK... - I'll start off with one - I just came across this (http://www.musiciansfriend.com):

 

Believe it or not, some thought should be given as to where the compressor goes in your signal chain. A good rule of thumb is to place any gain-type effects before modulation effects: i.e., compressors and overdrives before delays or flangers. Another one that's practically set in concrete is to put the compressor before any overdrive, distortion, or fuzz pedal - in order to send a stronger, better signal to the other effects. There are some musicians who place the compressor last, though, to boost their signal just before it hits the preamp of their amplifier. The drawback to this approach is that any hum or hiss introduced by other effects will be increased by the compressor's output gain. Sometimes you can remedy this by placing a noise gate before the compressor, however, the noise reduction can have an effect on the tone quality. A best-of-both-worlds approach might be to put your compressor first and use a signal booster just before your amplifier. Some musicians also like the sound of putting their wah or envelope filter before the compressor to give it a wider frequency range to affect. Experimentation is always encouraged, but putting the compressor first is recommended.

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-Producing music isn't all about the time you put into experimentation, but also the time you put into listening and studying what's already out there.

 

-Try starting tracks with a solid idea in your head, and tweak your synths until it sounds exactly the way you want it too.

 

-Good sounds can be made by mistake, but better sounds can be made with determination and concentration.

 

-Your tracks are NEVER done. Put a track to rest for a while and come back a few months later... You will be suprised by what can influence an old idea by taking time to let new ideas stir in your "creative cortex" :)

 

-Don't produce to get on a big label, produce music for yourself. If you love it, chances are that other people will too.

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The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

 

Albert Einstein

 

:)

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The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. 

237078[/snapback]

That sounds like the secret to web-design... :lol:

I like where this is going...

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Don't steal my thread! :angry: There are plenty on this forum.

Look at the "layered basslines thread". There's some info in there.

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-Your tracks are NEVER done. Put a track to rest for a while and come back a few months later... You will be suprised by what can influence an old idea by taking time to let new ideas stir in your "creative cortex"

 

 

i find it real hard to come back and find what key or scale i was using...

so i try to remember to type it out in one of the playlist track title when i start to make the track...

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i find it real hard to come back and find what key or scale i was using.....

237820[/snapback]

to resolve this issue you could do one of the following...

 

1. save your midi parts as reference.......well duhhhhh :blink:

 

2. stop smoking so much of the pot -_-

 

3. write all your tracks in the same key :lol:

 

easy squeezy cheesy peasy eh!

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That`s what I think is important for the beginners :

 

- Pick some track from the demos and learn its structure and what types of sounds are used, and so on.. If you try to make something similar, but with the sounds you like, and if you succeed, that`s a good start... :)

 

- Learn how to use the effects, by experimenting a lot :)

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Here's another tip for you all... Modulate anything you can. I am a big fan of having lfo's handle most of my modulation for stuff. The synths that have a modulation matrix are some of the ones you can have the most fun with.

 

Noise ocillators are your friends... White noise tends to occupy a large frequency range and when routed through a filter, can make some really nasty leads...

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@ Mubali , heh at the time reading this, i was just listening to one of your songs, youre a freako! in a good way , keep up the good work ! :D

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VA - Mushy Mystery

 

01.

Intro by Megalopsy

02.

Mubali - Shake Lasta Mubali - Shake Lasta

03.

Dejan & Shenz - Heu2 Dejan & Shenz - Heu2

04.

Dronebixie - Zo Moth Dronebixie - Zo Moth

05.

Derango - Implosions (final) Derango - Implosions

06.

Kemic-al - Xifajk (Little Devil) Kemic-al - Xifajk

07.

Derango - Mushy Mystery Derango - Mushy

08.

Savage Scream - Freak Show (Evilcore edit) Savage Scream

09.

Psyfactor - Spawn Of Satan Psyfactor - Spawn

10.

DarkPsy - Elastik Darkness (2nd version) DarkPsy - Elastik

11.

Outro by Megalopsy Megalopsy - Outro

-

 

http://www.trishula-records.com/preview/mu...aka%20lasta.wma

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I find the best way to optimise your work is by first referencing a song you like on several different speakers/systems. By doing this you can understand the strengths and weaknesses of the system you mix on, i.e. bass heavyness, weak lower mids, etc.

 

A simple trick that almost always works for me during the level mixing process is to lower the master volume of your song and listen if certain sounds mask others or if a sound doesn't come through at all. If the latter is the problem, then obviously that specific track needs a boost (of course first check for clipping).

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then where can we hear Mubali's songs?  <_<  :)

239421[/snapback]

Also you can go to www.resonantearth.com and there are 3 of my tracks up there...

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@ Mubali , heh at the time reading this, i was just listening to one of your songs, youre a freako! in a good way , keep up the good work !  :D

239412[/snapback]

 

Thanks!!! I will have a couple more coming out soon... 1 on Trishula and a collaboration track with Ocelot coming out on Manic Dragon sometime soon.... I am supposed to have a track out Insomnia coming out sometime this year too... (I hope)

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More tips for you guys...

 

Most producers take predominantly vocal samples from movies. I like to take the atmospherics from the movies instead. For one thing it can't be as easily recognized as being from certain movies. It also can really add a psychedelic surreal layer to whatever you have going on, which doesn't have to be much...

 

Some people really frown on this next tip but.... A good start for writing leads is taking the midi file that you have written for your baseline and using it as a start for your lead. It doesn't really work as well if your baseline is monotone, but it'll always be in key!!!

 

This tip will really save you a lot of time in the future... Once you make a good sound on a synth, save the patch as a preset!!!!! That way if you tweak it and don't like it, you can always go back to what you had before.

 

There are some producers that write in midi only and never record their synthlines to audio untill the do the final mixdown on the song. Personally I like to do both... There are sometimes where I will bounce the synthline and it doesn't sound quite as good as the original non-bounced file... Try experimenting with both...

 

Bussing is your friend!!!! Rig up a few different busses with "universal effects" Like have one or two busses that have different delays on it, one or two with reverb on it, etc.... This way you don't have to apply it directly onto the channel that has the instrument or audiochannel... I also tend to route all my instrument and audio channels to certain busses. My drums have their own bus complete with compression for the channel, and my synths always go to a bus with a low cut on it to keep the low frequencies from affecting the baseline.

 

Here you go... Have fun with those....

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Just wanted to say hello and cheers to Mubali for making such filthy tunes! Good luck with future releases :)

 

Does 40 acres and a mule have any connection to Public Enemy - who stole the soul? ??

 

My tip : Dont spill beer on the mixer.

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40 Acres and a Mule is previously referrenced in the movie "Gone With The Wind". This dates back to just prior to the civil war here in the mid 19th Century. There was some propaganda from the Northern faction of the United States that urged the black slaves in the South to assist in the uprising and the ensuing war, stating that if the blacks assisted , that they would be each rewarded with 40 acres and a Mule so that they may start their own farms and homesteads. Needless to say such things did not actually come to pass, even though the slaves did assist with toppling the factioned southern government.

 

Public Enemy also reminded the ethnic community about this situation while they were in their highly "militant" phase.

 

Just in case nobody could tell from my photo, I am of African-American decent and whereas I am not a militant individual, I never forget my cultural history and occasionally like to have it surface in my art.

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Mubali cheers for your reply. I had assumed that 40 acres and a mule was in reference to that particular historical scenario. I'd been puzzling as to where I had heard it used lyrically though for some time. I dragged out all the old P.E albums and narrowed it down to Fear of... and Apocalypse 91. I thought it was too much of a coincidence that you just happened to name your trak that, and I hope you don't mind my curiosity.

 

I will however express once more my absolute enthusiasm for your tracks. 40 acres, relentless, delayed agression, shake lasta and m.o.e are the tracks i have. If these are some of your first few tracks then I cant wait for more Mubali in the future. Would love to hear some of the ones listed on your site. As i said before good luck with future releases.

 

 

Cheers.

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So many tips and tricks...

 

-Make sure your kick is short enough that it doesn't overlap your bass. If you're doing a roll of quick kicks, make a version of the kick that is short enough that they won't overlap. I typically make, for the given bpm of a song, a 1/8 beat, 1/16, 1/32, and 1/64 version of my kick. That way I know my kicks never overlap.

 

-Use Waves C4 like a compressor-EQ hybrid (which it is). You can use this to boost/cut frequency ranges while also compressing/expanding those same ranges. Sometimes it's better to cut a frequency with EQ, sometimes it's better to compress that frequency with a compressor. Sometimes it's better to do both simultaneously and C4 lets you do just that.

 

-Listen to your favorite trance song, carefully. Plop a wave of it in a new project file, find the tempo so that the sequencer syncs with the song, and draw in all the elements to visually see what the song looks like arranged. Kicks, hihats, FX, leads... it's great to see how other artists lay out their tracks.

 

-Layer your synths. A synth playing a melody sounds cool. Two synths that sound the same playing the same melody sound even cooler, especially when you get to the big energy part of a song and one of the synths switches to a new melody.

 

-Layer your hihats with similar sounding hats. To add a subtle groove you can play just a single hat instead of the pair and it will stand out.

 

-Get funky with that modwheel. Live instruments sound awesome, and the modwheel is an easy way to give a boring synth line some life. Get in there and flick it open and closed, adding spice to the song.

 

-There are two ways to bring in a new element: predictably and by surprise. Be careful with the 'by surprise' way as it quickly leads to music that sounds 'disjointed', though it certainly has it's place. To help bring in new elements predictably, use sounds that build in energy like noise sweeps, reversed explosions, percussion builds (snares, etc). All of these tell the listener "get ready, something's coming!" One of the classic ways to bring in a new element is at the last bar of a phrase, drop most of the other elements out and play a bar of the new element, then bring it all back in at the start of the next phrase with the new element. Combine this with a long noise sweep or percussive build and this is a smooth way to bring in even the nastiest lead.

 

-Write other styles of music. Challenge yourself to write a downtempo track, and ambient track, a pure melodic track, anything. Everything you learn you will be able to use to make your trance that much better. If nothing else, you will learn what makes that particular style of music *not* trance and appreciate trance that much more.

 

-Don't be too hard on yourself.

 

-Know when you've written crap and don't let it get you down to trash it.

 

-Don't take advice as law.

 

-Have fun!

 

 

peace,

 

-fk

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Luvvly. I must come add some more soon as I have the time.

 

Been a bit busy with multimedia design and all, but I'll post some more soon.

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Hey, I just wanted to say Mubali, your track is awesome, really! Twisted and creepy, just how I like my psy. In fact the track is maybe the best Ive heard in 2005 so far. Keep it up!

 

I am currently writing a Psytrance tutorial which will cover some basics for newbies that want to start producing Psy.

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