Production skills, tips, tricks and techniques

[DennieMeister]

I have a question about boosting bass of a mix. I am using FL Studio, so I have the Bassbooster handy. But my question is: Should I put in on the master channel or should I individually put it on the sounds that need boosting? Thanks

Creating a bass bus should be the easiest in that case I guess, not sure what plug-in you're refering to.
But makes no sense for me to put it on the master channel.

[Durt_Grizzly]

Here's something I haven't found the answer to yet.


My audio engine in Ableton set to 32bits internally. But my audio interface is only 24bits. I use the L2 on my master as my limiter. Should I have dithering and shaping on so the output to my 24bit soundcard is being processed by the L2?

So here's the question:

32bits Ableton --->???---> 24bit FireStudio Mobile

I'm not talking about rendering but live streaming. Just when I'm listening to music whatever. I don't think that Live is doing it automatically, so this is something I have to do.

This Pro Tools certification test I'm studying for right now says dithering is used whenever you're dropping to a lower bit depth. Mathematically speaking it would be best to dither in this situation, but it's not something you haveee to do though if you're not already hearing something wrong and are only doing it for listening purposes anyways. If you're not sure if it's something you really need to be doing, but don't hear a difference between w/ dither and w/o, then what's the point? Might as well dither tho since technically it's the better thing to do

[Cellsplitt]

I have a question about boosting bass of a mix. I am using FL Studio, so I have the Bassbooster handy. But my question is: Should I put in on the master channel or should I individually put it on the sounds that need boosting? Thanks

Creating a bass bus should be the easiest in that case I guess, not sure what plug-in you're refering to.
But makes no sense for me to put it on the master channel.

I don't think I explained myself properly, sorry. It's kinda' hard to explain, but here goes again. I'm not refering to the actual bass (instrument/sound) in the track, but the bass of the whole track (kick drum, sub bass, bassline, other sounds, etc). Is it a good idea to boost the bass level up a bit in the entire mix?

[Falkenberg]

I have a question about boosting bass of a mix. I am using FL Studio, so I have the Bassbooster handy. But my question is: Should I put in on the master channel or should I individually put it on the sounds that need boosting? Thanks

Creating a bass bus should be the easiest in that case I guess, not sure what plug-in you're refering to.
But makes no sense for me to put it on the master channel.

I don't think I explained myself properly, sorry. It's kinda' hard to explain, but here goes again. I'm not refering to the actual bass (instrument/sound) in the track, but the bass of the whole track (kick drum, sub bass, bassline, other sounds, etc). Is it a good idea to boost the bass level up a bit in the entire mix?

Then there is something wrong in the mix. Or the sounds if you want.
You should change that, instead of boosting in the master, i think? change me if I'm wrong.

[Zakii]

Pretty sure this hasn't been asked before: when sampling kicks from tracks (which are already mastered obviously) do you therefore not route the kick to your mastering channel, but rather a dry channel because it's already been compressed and whatnot?

I tried that but the kick sounded really seperate from the rest of the track, so i've bussed all other elements and compressed them before the master channel, and on the master I use some very gentle compression or just for 'glue-ing' purposses.

Nice bro, thanks

[beniii]

I have a question about boosting bass of a mix. I am using FL Studio, so I have the Bassbooster handy. But my question is: Should I put in on the master channel or should I individually put it on the sounds that need boosting? Thanks

Creating a bass bus should be the easiest in that case I guess, not sure what plug-in you're refering to.
But makes no sense for me to put it on the master channel.

I don't think I explained myself properly, sorry. It's kinda' hard to explain, but here goes again. I'm not refering to the actual bass (instrument/sound) in the track, but the bass of the whole track (kick drum, sub bass, bassline, other sounds, etc). Is it a good idea to boost the bass level up a bit in the entire mix?

Then there is something wrong in the mix. Or the sounds if you want.
You should change that, instead of boosting in the master, i think? change me if I'm wrong.

Yea you are right, bass boosting after the mixdown is bad (or on the master channel).

It will muddy up your mix, if you mixdown is right, you wont need to EQ on the master

Tips to help:

1. work on your bass sounds, little bit of distortion makes them sound louder with out actually being louder...
2. Sidechain your bass to your kick, will enable you to raise the volume.

[Cellsplitt]

I have a question about boosting bass of a mix. I am using FL Studio, so I have the Bassbooster handy. But my question is: Should I put in on the master channel or should I individually put it on the sounds that need boosting? Thanks

Creating a bass bus should be the easiest in that case I guess, not sure what plug-in you're refering to.
But makes no sense for me to put it on the master channel.

I don't think I explained myself properly, sorry. It's kinda' hard to explain, but here goes again. I'm not refering to the actual bass (instrument/sound) in the track, but the bass of the whole track (kick drum, sub bass, bassline, other sounds, etc). Is it a good idea to boost the bass level up a bit in the entire mix?

Then there is something wrong in the mix. Or the sounds if you want.
You should change that, instead of boosting in the master, i think? change me if I'm wrong.

Yea you are right, bass boosting after the mixdown is bad (or on the master channel).

It will muddy up your mix, if you mixdown is right, you wont need to EQ on the master

Tips to help:

1. work on your bass sounds, little bit of distortion makes them sound louder with out actually being louder...
2. Sidechain your bass to your kick, will enable you to raise the volume.

Thanks for all the tips guys!!! Really helps!! So then, its good idea NOT to have the bass booster on my master... getting rid of it rigth away!!! Haha!! I don't think I need to use any EQ on my master, things seem to sound okay at the moment, and yeah, I recently started sidechaining my basses to stop it from eating up the kick drum! Thanks to all for the help!

[dyro]

I have a question about boosting bass of a mix. I am using FL Studio, so I have the Bassbooster handy. But my question is: Should I put in on the master channel or should I individually put it on the sounds that need boosting? Thanks

Creating a bass bus should be the easiest in that case I guess, not sure what plug-in you're refering to.
But makes no sense for me to put it on the master channel.

I don't think I explained myself properly, sorry. It's kinda' hard to explain, but here goes again. I'm not refering to the actual bass (instrument/sound) in the track, but the bass of the whole track (kick drum, sub bass, bassline, other sounds, etc). Is it a good idea to boost the bass level up a bit in the entire mix?

Then there is something wrong in the mix. Or the sounds if you want.
You should change that, instead of boosting in the master, i think? change me if I'm wrong.

Yea you are right, bass boosting after the mixdown is bad (or on the master channel).

It will muddy up your mix, if you mixdown is right, you wont need to EQ on the master

Tips to help:

1. work on your bass sounds, little bit of distortion makes them sound louder with out actually being louder...
2. Sidechain your bass to your kick, will enable you to raise the volume.

Thanks for all the tips guys!!! Really helps!! So then, its good idea NOT to have the bass booster on my master... getting rid of it rigth away!!! Haha!! I don't think I need to use any EQ on my master, things seem to sound okay at the moment, and yeah, I recently started sidechaining my basses to stop it from eating up the kick drum! Thanks to all for the help!

In your case you do need a eq on your master.

[Cellsplitt]

I have a question about boosting bass of a mix. I am using FL Studio, so I have the Bassbooster handy. But my question is: Should I put in on the master channel or should I individually put it on the sounds that need boosting? Thanks

Creating a bass bus should be the easiest in that case I guess, not sure what plug-in you're refering to.
But makes no sense for me to put it on the master channel.

I don't think I explained myself properly, sorry. It's kinda' hard to explain, but here goes again. I'm not refering to the actual bass (instrument/sound) in the track, but the bass of the whole track (kick drum, sub bass, bassline, other sounds, etc). Is it a good idea to boost the bass level up a bit in the entire mix?

Then there is something wrong in the mix. Or the sounds if you want.
You should change that, instead of boosting in the master, i think? change me if I'm wrong.

Yea you are right, bass boosting after the mixdown is bad (or on the master channel).

It will muddy up your mix, if you mixdown is right, you wont need to EQ on the master

Tips to help:

1. work on your bass sounds, little bit of distortion makes them sound louder with out actually being louder...
2. Sidechain your bass to your kick, will enable you to raise the volume.

Thanks for all the tips guys!!! Really helps!! So then, its good idea NOT to have the bass booster on my master... getting rid of it rigth away!!! Haha!! I don't think I need to use any EQ on my master, things seem to sound okay at the moment, and yeah, I recently started sidechaining my basses to stop it from eating up the kick drum! Thanks to all for the help!

In your case you do need a eq on your master.

Oh, right! I see, so I actually boost the low end on the EQ? Kinda complicated, but I'll soon get my head around it Thanks!

[Eelias]

Shit, this thing is getting on my nerves. My MIDI keyboard has some knobs on it (CME UF60) and these knobs can ofcourse be used as a control surface for Live. I haven't been using that since it always changes the patch in my VSTs automatically. Whenever I change the patch with the mouse it just flips back to another patch, always the same. I think that's the patch that the control surface is on. Now my problem is that this is happening even if I don't have any control surface on at the moment, and that means I cant turn it off, since it's already off. I can't do anything. my MIDI controller is acting like a dictator.

Please help me!

EDIT: This even happens if my MIDI keyboard is unplugged.

Found it. MIDI clip information was set on a specific preset.

[alexflood]

Hey Guys,

I would really appreciate your help with this.

When I import my kick drum sample into the session and EQ it filtering 30Hz I find i still get a BOOMY sub sound that I don't hear in other peoples finished tracks. Its almost like a slight echo of sub bass. So I cut more off the low end. However, I find the kick drum to turn out kind of weak when I do this. I was wondering if you guys had any solutions to this annoying problem?

Also, what Kick drum samples are you guys using?

Thanks For Your Help,

AleXx

[DFRKZ]

Luke says: sample kicks from good tracks. I'd try that first!

[Cellsplitt]

Hey Guys,

I would really appreciate your help with this.

When I import my kick drum sample into the session and EQ it filtering 30Hz I find i still get a BOOMY sub sound that I don't hear in other peoples finished tracks. Its almost like a slight echo of sub bass. So I cut more off the low end. However, I find the kick drum to turn out kind of weak when I do this. I was wondering if you guys had any solutions to this annoying problem?

Also, what Kick drum samples are you guys using?

Thanks For Your Help,

AleXx

You should check out the Vengeance sample packs. You'll find some good kick drums there. The "Vengeance Electroshock" packs contain some good kicks There are some pretty good kicks in there for layering up too!

[Eelias]

Hey Guys,

I would really appreciate your help with this.

When I import my kick drum sample into the session and EQ it filtering 30Hz I find i still get a BOOMY sub sound that I don't hear in other peoples finished tracks. Its almost like a slight echo of sub bass. So I cut more off the low end. However, I find the kick drum to turn out kind of weak when I do this. I was wondering if you guys had any solutions to this annoying problem?

Also, what Kick drum samples are you guys using?

Thanks For Your Help,

AleXx

You should check out the Vengeance sample packs. You'll find some good kick drums there. The "Vengeance Electroshock" packs contain some good kicks There are some pretty good kicks in there for layering up too!

I don't know what DAW you're using but I _always_ use a modified version of the 606 (I think) kick in the ableton libraries. Works super, sounds like the pros. I personally try not to think too much about the kick drum (even if it's hard, lol) because in the end it wont be the kick that makes the track. Just listen to Tim Mason's kick, if I were to produce a track like that I would never release it with a kick like his, but then what happens. It creates a kind of a trademark, atleast I think it does and it works well.

But then again, we are all quality crazy producers, It's kind of an obsession.

[Zakii]

Little tidbit from the mixmaster himself Dave Pensado on the ordering of EQ and Compression, hope it helps someone out:

"1st ask if you wanna EQ the compressor, or compress the EQ. Think about this for a minute. Say you have a fat lo-endy kik. You don't want all that 60-80 triggering the compressor. So compress it first to bring out the knock, and EQ the lo end back in. On a guitar you might want to EQ it to get all the strings to sound, or to bring out a certain frequency, then compress it a tad to keep it in a certain dynamic range, or to bring out the attack. Remember, if you put the EQ 1st, then you have to reset the compressor everytime you make an EQ change. But always remember, there are no rules, just what sounds good to you. Experiment."