Production skills, tips, tricks and techniques

[ajcblanco]

im curious on that bright piano on axwell's resurrection. who knows how to make that?

[watchitgo]

Hey.

For the last month I have sitting down everyday and trying to get a good melody. And everyday I can't come up with a good strong repetitive melody. I do get frustrated also when I have been sitting a couple of hours.

I know pretty much the basic music theory, scales and so on. And sound design, it's just when I'm gonna lay down the melody just nothing comes up.

So I wonder if you guys have any tip or something that can help me through this?
thanks.

Don't worry, this happens to everybody and I think it got discussed a while back on here. When I made my first song it took me ages but when I came up with a melody lots of other sounds came into my head, maybe to many. Sometimes a melody just comes to me really when I'm not making a song and doing something else. Maybe you could attempt a melody from one of your fave songs and slightly alter it, you maybe able to build on from that. Keep us posted how you get on

Thanks I will try, anymore tips is much appreciated.

[Puusti]

Quick question for you guys, how is lead sound created in this track starting @ around 1:50:


It sounds to me like it's made from a vocal sample, but someone probably knows better than me.

Hey.

For the last month I have sitting down everyday and trying to get a good melody. And everyday I can't come up with a good strong repetitive melody. I do get frustrated also when I have been sitting a couple of hours.

I know pretty much the basic music theory, scales and so on. And sound design, it's just when I'm gonna lay down the melody just nothing comes up.

So I wonder if you guys have any tip or something that can help me through this?
thanks.

Don't worry, this happens to everybody and I think it got discussed a while back on here. When I made my first song it took me ages but when I came up with a melody lots of other sounds came into my head, maybe to many. Sometimes a melody just comes to me really when I'm not making a song and doing something else. Maybe you could attempt a melody from one of your fave songs and slightly alter it, you maybe able to build on from that. Keep us posted how you get on

Thanks I will try, anymore tips is much appreciated.

As 'Mick' said, try to take an existing track and change it a little. I for example tried to make a bootleg of Avicii's track "Two Million" but then decided to take the melody i came up with and make an original out of it.

Also sometimes when I don't have any ideas I take the chord progression from one track and create my own melody over it. Then maybe invert the chords and change the rhythm etc. Cheap, but it works.

[RafaelOviedo]

Quick question for you guys, how is lead sound created in this track starting @ around 1:50:


It sounds to me like it's made from a vocal sample, but someone probably knows better than me.

Hey.

For the last month I have sitting down everyday and trying to get a good melody. And everyday I can't come up with a good strong repetitive melody. I do get frustrated also when I have been sitting a couple of hours.

I know pretty much the basic music theory, scales and so on. And sound design, it's just when I'm gonna lay down the melody just nothing comes up.

So I wonder if you guys have any tip or something that can help me through this?
thanks.

Don't worry, this happens to everybody and I think it got discussed a while back on here. When I made my first song it took me ages but when I came up with a melody lots of other sounds came into my head, maybe to many. Sometimes a melody just comes to me really when I'm not making a song and doing something else. Maybe you could attempt a melody from one of your fave songs and slightly alter it, you maybe able to build on from that. Keep us posted how you get on

Thanks I will try, anymore tips is much appreciated.

As 'Mick' said, try to take an existing track and change it a little. I for example tried to make a bootleg of Avicii's track "Two Million" but then decided to take the melody i came up with and make an original out of it.

Also sometimes when I don't have any ideas I take the chord progression from one track and create my own melody over it. Then maybe invert the chords and change the rhythm etc. Cheap, but it works.

Yes, this last response is a really good one, try making bootlegs or ''unnoficial remixes'' of tracks that you like, and you can have a better chance to score a good melody, because you'll have to work in a respective key, opposed to when you're making an original, which you can work out in any key you want. It really works!

[Pink Audio]

Question about sampled kicks and master chains...

Hi guys. I've notice that when I use sampled kicks in my tracks they always sound different once they hit the master bus, usually losing power. For example, I have a sampled kick and the original level is -0.2db . When I send it to the master bus and adjust the kick level until the master out is again -0.2db the kick sounds less punchy. I was just wondering what your guys' experience is with this and how you work around it. From what I have understand we sample kicks from songs we like so that when we put them in our own productions we have a clear guideline to follow. But having everything including kick going to a master bus changes the sound... unless you only use a limiter, but I see most chains are comp, eq, comp, limiter. So how do you maintain the original sound or can you?

Thanks

Kicks are always evolving. This is because people are pushing them further and further in their productions. i.e. harder limiting and compression on the master bus. If you want your track to stand up with all the professional tracks out there you can't really preserve the exact kick drum sound you have sampled. This is because of the hard limiting and compressing.

Hope that helped,

AleXx

Use a sampler to "de-compress" the sample by lowering the sustain volume using the ADSR. You'l keep the sound and reverse the effects of the over-compression a bit. It's not good to have a brickwalled kick getting brickwalled yet again.

hello guys! im having trouble with this too! and i dont understand what he(djdstar) ^ is saying! is there anyone who can expalin un better detail on how to fix this problem?? i use fl studio btw. thanks in advance

ANYONE?? :/

[djdstar]

Question about sampled kicks and master chains...

Hi guys. I've notice that when I use sampled kicks in my tracks they always sound different once they hit the master bus, usually losing power. For example, I have a sampled kick and the original level is -0.2db . When I send it to the master bus and adjust the kick level until the master out is again -0.2db the kick sounds less punchy. I was just wondering what your guys' experience is with this and how you work around it. From what I have understand we sample kicks from songs we like so that when we put them in our own productions we have a clear guideline to follow. But having everything including kick going to a master bus changes the sound... unless you only use a limiter, but I see most chains are comp, eq, comp, limiter. So how do you maintain the original sound or can you?

Thanks

Kicks are always evolving. This is because people are pushing them further and further in their productions. i.e. harder limiting and compression on the master bus. If you want your track to stand up with all the professional tracks out there you can't really preserve the exact kick drum sound you have sampled. This is because of the hard limiting and compressing.

Hope that helped,

AleXx

Use a sampler to "de-compress" the sample by lowering the sustain volume using the ADSR. You'l keep the sound and reverse the effects of the over-compression a bit. It's not good to have a brickwalled kick getting brickwalled yet again.

hello guys! im having trouble with this too! and i dont understand what he(djdstar) ^ is saying! is there anyone who can expalin un better detail on how to fix this problem?? i use fl studio btw. thanks in advance

ANYONE?? :/

I don't use FL Studio and not having a PC for like 10 years I can't say I know how in there, but the basic principle applies:

Import kick drum into sampler
Use Attack/Decay/Sustain/Release Amp Envelope of sampler to lower the volume of the sampled kick. I pull my sustain down about -6DB. Then it goes thru the master chain and doesn't get brought up super loud...if it's somewhat square and gets limited hard again it could be why they sound bad...

[Lancie]

Hey guys

Got a question about panning. Where do you pan different instrument like drums, claps, synths, pads/strings etc? As far as i know kick and bass, atleast subbass should stay center. Am i wrong?

Yes, Kick drums and bass should be in centre/mono. In some cases, toms too. I don't normally pan my claps to either left or right, I just have them in stereo, this way they sound wide. Synths and pads, well in my opinion it just depends on what you are looking for. Try different panning settings on each synth/pad then play with another synth/instrument and from there just make small tweaks until you get what you are looking for (I do this a lot). Hope this helps a bit

remember tho its all about FREQUENCYS, specific frequencys should be in mono or stereo its not as straight forward as 'bass in mono' and this can be specific too your style...i generally use 150 and down in mono but i know some guys go right up too 300hz. with claps i find layering them and panning works a treat. so yeh 1 might be centre but ill have others panned around and i never keep them locked on the grid.

Thanks for the tips guys. I use the Otium FX Bassline plugin to stereo the bass but keep the lowend in mono. This also might depends on what u are looking for in i mix i assume. Will def try to pan stuff more around!

[Sexton]

Hi Guys Im really struggling to with sound design. I have a load of ideas in my head about the types of sounds that I want and what I want to do with them but I cant seem to figure out how to get them right.

Im trying to create sounds that have a lot of presence in the upper midrange like the sounds deniz koyu has in his tracks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaTMKaSSYbY

My problem is that I cant seem to find that sweet spot and the sounds I create sound too filtered, too weak or just end up sounding like obvious saws.

I know its all about practice and experience but can anyone give me some pointers or point me towards some really good sound design tutorials

Actually one other thing about that deniz koyu track it sounds to me like its all single note sounds being played rather than chords am I right in thinking that?

[KalemA]

Hey everyone, someone commented on this bootleg of mine about 2 weeks ago and It's been bugging me since. He said the panning of the track was weird? And I thought to myself, "I never messed with the panning?" I went into my DAW and I went to the same spot he mentioned. Nothing seemed odd to me. Can you guys help me with what's happening?
Skip to 3:02
http://soundcloud.com/melfrez/adrian-lu ... ge-crime-1

EDIT: He actually said the whole track sounded like it was jumping left and right.

[alexflood]

Hey everyone, someone commented on this bootleg of mine about 2 weeks ago and It's been bugging me since. He said the panning of the track was weird? And I thought to myself, "I never messed with the panning?" I went into my DAW and I went to the same spot he mentioned. Nothing seemed odd to me. Can you guys help me with what's happening?
Skip to 3:02
http://soundcloud.com/melfrez/adrian-lu ... ge-crime-1

EDIT: He actually said the whole track sounded like it was jumping left and right.

sounds fine to me

AleXx

[KalemA]

Hey everyone, someone commented on this bootleg of mine about 2 weeks ago and It's been bugging me since. He said the panning of the track was weird? And I thought to myself, "I never messed with the panning?" I went into my DAW and I went to the same spot he mentioned. Nothing seemed odd to me. Can you guys help me with what's happening?
Skip to 3:02
http://soundcloud.com/melfrez/adrian-lu ... ge-crime-1

EDIT: He actually said the whole track sounded like it was jumping left and right.

sounds fine to me

AleXx

Alright...so I'm not crazy. Thank you!

[RyanBrennan]

Hey guys! this is my first post in the forum, but I think its awesome theres a place where aspiring producers as well as seasoned producers can share tips and what not.

My question is, for one of my productions I am using a heavy kick (sampled it from Vengeance VES2 Bassdrum 65) and it sounds great on its own, but I really love sidechaining my bass to the kick to get that pump feel, but ive been experiencing the kick being to present in the mix taking away from the other sounds. What are some tips on how to lower the presence of the kick a little bit while also keeping the kick powerful? Is there any Eq'ing I should be using? Would love any suggestions

[RyanBrennan]

Can someone also explain what the function of the PSP vintage warmer is?

[djdstar]

Hey guys! this is my first post in the forum, but I think its awesome theres a place where aspiring producers as well as seasoned producers can share tips and what not.

My question is, for one of my productions I am using a heavy kick (sampled it from Vengeance VES2 Bassdrum 65) and it sounds great on its own, but I really love sidechaining my bass to the kick to get that pump feel, but ive been experiencing the kick being to present in the mix taking away from the other sounds. What are some tips on how to lower the presence of the kick a little bit while also keeping the kick powerful? Is there any Eq'ing I should be using? Would love any suggestions

Shorten the midi note, or amp ASDR in envelope of sampler..

As for Vintage Warmer its kind of its own thing, it is a tape saturator simulation, acts as a compressor/limiter too. It's an odd plugin in ways, you can even use it to distort things. Even the people that make it seem to not understand how it works exactly in certain ways haha, I have read their forums to try and understand it better...they suck at explaining things!

[RyanBrennan]

Does anyone know what the buildup sound at 4:08 is? I've heard it before I know avicii has used it before.

If its a sample what is it?
if not does anyone know how to make it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMdBigfSJIw