ASK US ANYTHING [NO SUBJECT IS STUPID / ALL QUESTIONS WELCOMED]

[dubdub]

how do you guys deal with the fact that when you have a compressor on your drum buss, and you take the kick out for a few bars, the volume increases and you hear the hats or whatever is playing there louder than they should?

I usually automate the volume, but it is annoying and not very precise.

A simple fix on the drum bus (I don't think this would work as well on non-percussive material) would be to use a hard clipper. Set the treshhold so it kicks in when the volume increases and it should chop off the excess information (most likely transients) in a relatively clean manner without effecting the sound otherwise. Clipping acts instantly which makes it more reliable than automation or compression.

Also having some saturation on the mix bus helps with smoothing out this kind of stuff in general.

[orchard]

how do you guys deal with the fact that when you have a compressor on your drum buss, and you take the kick out for a few bars, the volume increases and you hear the hats or whatever is playing there louder than they should?

I usually automate the volume, but it is annoying and not very precise.

Not sure of the best way to implement it but making a sidechain track to keep the compressor working could be an option.
Wether you ran the track for the whole song like some people do or just switch over when you drop out the kick.

I'm sure someone else can explain it better than me though!!

[speen]

thanks guys, I'll try a few of those tricks and see what works for me.. I usually try to keep things as simple as I can but I do like a hard working compressor sometimes to get that early 2000 techno sound.

[borg]

Somehow I'm totally ignorant when it comes to clipping. I remember a few threads where it was being mentioned, but not that often. It always seemed to me making decent music is more important, but if you read into it, clipping seems like the golden ticket.
Just downloaded the Venn FreeClip (Sir standardclip doesn't seem to behave well on mac, a lot of windows only, gonna try airwindows and look for some alternatives, maybe abletons saturator?) and it immediately does extreme things to the drone I was working on. Probably overdoing it, and at the moment it feels more like a loudness war secret weapon than a handy tool...

[dubdub]

Somehow I'm totally ignorant when it comes to clipping. I remember a few threads where it was being mentioned, but not that often. It always seemed to me making decent music is more important, but if you read into it, clipping seems like the golden ticket.
Just downloaded the Venn FreeClip (Sir standardclip doesn't seem to behave well on mac, a lot of windows only, gonna try airwindows and look for some alternatives, maybe abletons saturator?) and it immediately does extreme things to the drone I was working on. Probably overdoing it, and at the moment it feels more like a loudness war secret weapon than a handy tool...

The thing about a drone is that I assume it has next to no transient information. Which means that when you start clipping, you immediately get into the body of the waveform and get distortion (remember that distortion plugins are also clipping plugins, in a way). However, when clipping a transient heavy sound, hard clipping can be incredibly transparent because you are just cleanly chopping off the transient and not affecting the body of the wave, which is easy to visually see on an oscilloscope. I don't clip everything but when you are dealing with excess transient information and don't want to change the character of the sound, it's super useful. Some people even clip their master bus because it can be a more transparant way of gaining loudness than limiting.

I've used the Venn thing, it's pretty good. Ableton's Waveshaper is also fairly interesting, although it's not the most transparant, I think.

[2latuile]

thanks guys, I'll try a few of those tricks and see what works for me.. I usually try to keep things as simple as I can but I do like a hard working compressor sometimes to get that early 2000 techno sound.

As a general answer, dubdub's advice (compress less, spend more time on the master bus compressor's sidechain EQ settings) is probably the best one - but if you want to keep the hard working compressor effect then orchard's trick can indeed help. As often the "proper" solution is probably a ad hoc combination of all those advices

[Lost to the Void]

how do you guys deal with the fact that when you have a compressor on your drum buss, and you take the kick out for a few bars, the volume increases and you hear the hats or whatever is playing there louder than they should?

I usually automate the volume, but it is annoying and not very precise.

That usually means you have set your compressor badly.
Removing the kick, if you have done things right, should barely be noticeable to level, only to movement.

Well, I say should, there are always exceptions.

[m_mori]

Hi guys,

I've been producing techno since February and getting better at but I would also like to learn how to mix so I was wondering what you guys would suggests where to begin learning how to mix? Like what gear should I get? Or is the best way to follow some lessons?

[borg]

producing techno is all about mixing, more than any genre, I feel. what's your gear? hardware? computer? Live, Fruity Loops,...?
https://soundsfxedit.files.wordpress.co ... ndbook.pdf
a yamaha book from the 90s, but still considered a bible in audio engineers' world.
remember, you don't buy a guitar and become fluent overnight. same thing with proper producing/mixing, it takes time and practice.

[subvers^v]

Get some tracks you like, listen to them critically taking some notes on the structure, how and when things develop and get familiar with the process.
There are plenty of things common across tracks that are just the done thing and then there are more unique processes/approaches from one track to another that will give you ideas for your own stuff ..

[dubdub]

Hi guys,

I've been producing techno since February and getting better at but I would also like to learn how to mix so I was wondering what you guys would suggests where to begin learning how to mix? Like what gear should I get? Or is the best way to follow some lessons?

IMO, I really wouldn't worry about mixing too much if you've only been at it for a few months. Just go make more tracks without worrying too much, your mixing skills will improve automatically.

[Be without]

Does anyone here like the band Queen?

[Ben Kohonays]

Hi guys,

I've been producing techno since February and getting better at but I would also like to learn how to mix so I was wondering what you guys would suggests where to begin learning how to mix? Like what gear should I get? Or is the best way to follow some lessons?

Just for clarity, are you talking about mixing a track or DJ mixing?

[m_mori]

Thanks for taking the time to answer, I meant dj mixing. I was looking at the DJM 250MK2 and the Pioneer DDJ-SB3 DJ controller. My main goal is to practice at home. Are these any good or are there other mixers/controllers I should check out?

[over9000]

Thanks for taking the time to answer, I meant dj mixing. I was looking at the DJM 250MK2 and the Pioneer DDJ-SB3 DJ controller. My main goal is to practice at home. Are these any good or are there other mixers/controllers I should check out?

For dj mixing i would suggest old cdjs. 350s and a 2 channel mixer. Best mixers are a&h imo but anything will do.
I would not suggest to learn it with traktor and a controler or with thr new cdjs where you have an image of everything. Like in all audio matters this is about to train your ears, fancy visualizations dont help.
The learning curve will be steeper but you will really learn it.
DJing is alot about flow, so try to do not too much preplanning of what track to play when.
Get 2 32gb usb sticks put all tracks in one folder, go!
Ah and i highly suggest the sennheiser hd25 as a headphone
On 130bpm the % value to shift one bpm is 0.76
Rest will come with practice

[borg]

Does anyone here like the band Queen?

every time I watch their Live Aid concert it gives me goosebumps. Freddy seemed a very nice guy, and one of the best entertainers ever. Not a huge fan, but they have their moments. Love that acidy synth in Radio GaGa.

[Críoch]

Yeah, an utterly iconic performance. Remember watching it on the day as a kid.

Not a fan really at all, but know all the tunes & vids off by heart. Really appreciate the diversity that used to be in music / charts / record collections back then. Would miss all the Queens / Bon Jovis / REMs of the world for that same reason nowadays.

[Lost to the Void]

I fucking hate Queen. Just could never get into that middle aged man in cardigan side of british rock.

[borg]

ah, more a Dire Straits man, then?

[Be without]

Brian May certainly seems to be a knob.

My kids enjoy Queen songs on YouTube though.