I see that some complain about their songs beeing flat.
So I’d like to give som tips as to how one might rectify this.
The easiest way is to make two similar track of everything, to double
sort of. U then apply effects (reverb, chorus, arpeggio delay, echo…etc)
to only one of the identical tracks, then you mix them.
This will give a fattening of the sound.
You should also try to set all reverb/chorus/Echo stuff with the same timeparameters. They must all play in the same “room” sort of speak.
When playing with effects, you should write down on a paper a system of
what it is that you are doing. Keep the oversight!.
When using synts and lfo’s and everything like this you are essentialy
playing havoc with timesync an frequency limits and sweeps.l
The smart thing to do here is to try to get the harmonics or the note if you
will to be in the right chord for what ever your chord or bassline is!
Do a little homework and learn basic note theory! Its not that hard!
Now, a little tip for the learninghungry muzak-due/dudette.
Make a “flat” track (no effects, just samples of natural sounding instruments)
Say base, piano , gitar and drums. Just a basic beat. 30sekond loop of a song.
Render it to wav 16bit.
Now open your audiocards controlpanel. Play the song using a player.
Then try some enviroment settings, different eq’s
Now listen carefully:
There is something called Routing, sourcelevels and parametereditor
or something like this.
When you try out a effectpreset, look at the parameters.
Whats the reverb set to, the reverbdelay?
the decaytime, etc.
Then look at the compressorparameters, chorus and so on.
Try out presets and maybe you find some you like.
Can they be modified? Try it.
Try to combine effects, vary the level and output.
Maybe you find that: Yeah! This sounds good!
Look at the numbers! Write them down!
Use these settings, these parameters to set the effects and syntparameters
in Renoise…
Before you know it, you understand what makes the sound!
You can tailor the sound, give it life!
Then there is frequency bands and so on, but now you have some pointers.
Experiment, share the results!
There is no given way to Rome… What ever tickles your fancy… use it!
Look at my signature… Control the sound, the parameters! There is a
given way of knowing what to set to what value… practice makes music
Sounds like a strange way to do it for me. Why would 1 dry track + 1 track with 50% fx be different from just 1 track with 25% fx? Of course if you add chorus, there will be a difference, but not if you only use reverb and delay… right?
Otherwise, nice tips And don’t forget to experiment a lot!! Practice gives experience
Agreed with Bantai. EQ and Compression is everything. It takes a long time of experiementing, but well worth it once mastery is obtained. This applies to a dry or a wet mix. Get these two things right and you can take the song in any direction, and it will elevate your sound where all your productions will sound good on all systems.
I use the Renoise 10 band on every single channel of of single song I’ve done in renoise. And compression just about every second (especially for ‘live’ sounds).
Agree with that! Using EQ’s may cause whole mix chaosy.
Use 'em very carefully and gingerly. Especially when you EQ’ing masterd and limited samples.
Sometimes better to change neighbour sounds than EQ tha main one.
yes bantai, and it’s not that i wouldn’t have eq on nearly every track, what i wanted to say was that before i touch the eq, i do what i can with the source of the sound, and as minor corrections as possible with eq.
also like ceejay said, the right choice of sounds that fit together is important to me.
When one looks at the Art of Mastering music, less is always more.
My personal fav is the husband of canadian godess Shania Twain.
Robert “mutt” Lange, who is in my opinion, the worlds best studiowizz!
If you listen closely to everything he made, there is a sound signature
that tells you that he was the maker…
Its not a small task to tweak or master one’s song or track.
A book I found very usefull is this one:
“The mixing engineer’s handbook”
By Bobby Owsinski
I got it from Amazon.
Dont learn some formula, learn and understand what you must do.
Develop your own thing. But most important, turn on the lights!
See and know what you are doing!
Some records have telltale signs that their “master” does not know what he is doing!
In the recordshop these resides! Wellknown groups, crap soundengineering.
So… ever hear Defleopard “sound”? Its large and dreamy, yet detailed and focused.
“mutt” was there…
And don’t forget to experiment a lot!! Practice gives experience