Archive for the ‘sound design’ Category
The Suck Factor
The Suck Factor
I was talking to an artist I met the other day & was intrigued that he was not only getting by with his art, but that he was living a pretty good life from it. Most of what he makes sells out pretty fast, and it’s not like he lives in a big city, so I was impressed. Naturally, I had to investigate what made him tick & what separated him from all the starving artists.
I already had learned that he was very good at what he did so I figured that he obviously was born with quite a gift.
well… yes & no…
He definitely had a gift, but it wasn’t as an artist. A least not from the start. His gift had more to do with his ability to plan for what most artists would consider red flags for any artistic pursuit. Sucking.
Where most people would try something once & fail, try again maybe a year or 2 later, failed again, then give up, he didn’t look at things the same way. His art of choice was ceramics, something I tried once or twice and gave up (anyone need an ashtray?). What really surprised me is the story he told me & how he viewed his experience. It’s not the way most of us approach things or define the experience at all.
Apparently, this artist was far from naturally gifted at ceramics. I guess he started off as a hell of an ashtray sculptor himself, but he came from a physics background & instead of feeling like a failure, he looked at his artistic venture in a more scientific way. If one approach didn’t work, he would take note and try again slowly improving his technique. Sometimes it would take 10 or 20 tries just to figure out where the issue in the process was. It seemed that in his mind, he already knew he would nail it given enough time. Keep in mind that he wasn’t even thinking yet about selling or even showing his work. He was still getting the process down.
After about 1000 attempts he was prepared to show his work & people bought it up right away. Some things obviously sold better than others. There was also pricing to keep in mind. He didn’t want a $20 piece to devalue his $500 pieces but he knew he needed both to make a good living. He didn’t really have an artistic conflict about one thing selling better than another because he simply enjoyed the process of creating, not necessarily the specific piece. He knew that his art was a job, a job he could love, but a job nonetheless.
This really hit me hard and made me take a good look at my creative beliefs, my work ethic & my definition of failure & success. Was I willing to try something 10 times? 100? 1000 times? until I had mastered my creative art? If I am being honest, I’d have to say no & the reason for that is that I was defining failure as a certain number of times I don’t succeed. Sound familiar?
Remember, there is a huge difference between the art you make and the art you share. Don’t let the art you are making now deter you. If your goal is to be great at something, plan for a lot of sucking & missing the mark. Try not to let it get you down.
Remember that many people have to go to college for 4-8 years before they are prepared to do what they do well. Can you imagine someone judging their architecture skills on what they were about to accomplish & understand after a week of schooling? So why then would we judge ourselves on our art or music before we put in the proper amount of time? From that point of view it sounds a bit silly doesn’t it?
Now once you become a “natural” at one aspect of music, don’t think you weren’t meant to explore another style just because your work is not nearly up to par with the style you excel at. How about making 100 attempts at it before you judge?
I can give you a perfect example for myself in how I will use this new process. I am not great with many soft synths. My strengths would be Ableton’s Operator, Subtractor (reason), and TAL’s Juno 106 clone. Most soft synths I just poke around on the presets, tweak the knobs I understand & then use EQ, Filter & fx to get an interesting sound. If I don’t get the sound I’m looking for, I go back to the familiar. This, I must admit, slows me down & limits my options.
You could argue that less options is a good thing & I would strongly agree, however I believe that too many options mainly becomes a problem if you are not already skilled or familiar with the tools you are using. For example, you can’t have too many words in your vocabulary unless you have no idea what the words mean & how to use them in a conversation.
What I’ll have to do to get better at more synths is put the breaks on making songs & take a week (or a month) on 1 new soft synth until I can consider myself proficient at it. Then I can add it as another option. I predict that doing this process a couple times will make the process go a bit faster each time as I find similarities and common themes among different tools.
What is it that you can apply this to?
What is it that you think you are a failure at?
Do you think you will still be a failure after 100 or more attempts?
Are you willing to let go of instant gratification to allow yourself to improve at whatever pace is necessary?
If the art you make doesn’t satisfy you, pat yourself on the back for the improvements you made since your last attempt & then refocus on perfecting your weaknesses in your next attempt. When you attempt something new, set aside some time for the “suck factor”. Maybe that’s why they call it suck-cess 
Happy music making,
Jason
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).All your feedback & support is appreciated!
Ableton 101: The worlds most Ableton tips packed into 1 video!
The most Ableton Live Tips, tricks and shortcuts packed into 1 video!
If you are new to Ableton or just want 1 resource to increase your knowledge, this should help quite a bit.
Feel free to add to this list in the comments section. Enjoy!
1. Cut copy paste
2. Duplicate
3. Command A – All
4. Tab selects session or arrange window
5. command shift i – create scene with playing clips
6. Highlight & effect multiple
7. Cmd f – scroll display to follow playback
8. Sidechain w/ compressor
9. Sidechain w/o compressor
10. Freeze
11. Audio to midi
12. Command 4 (no grid)
13. Command 1,2 &3(grid)
14. Cmd b – pencil
15. Hear samples w/ speaker icon
16. Tune drums with EQ
17. Tune drums w/ freq shifter
18. Send returns
19. Step record
20. Assign midi knob/fader
21. Assign midi button
23. Assign midi key
24. Midi key select (no wrong notes)
25. Warp: alt drag
26. Warp: shift drag
27. Warp: Select multiple, alt Drag
28. Warp multiple
29. DJ cue
30. Split DJ track
31. Record multiple tracks
32. Consolidate
33. Add time
34. cut time
35. dup time
36. Group tracks
37. Group instruments
38. Group effects
39. Chain selector
40. Add random w/ groove
41. Bass/low layer/high layer
42. Reverse reverb
43. Impulse- separate samples
44. Macros
45. Record session to arrange
46. Sustain midi loops
47. Send output to
48. Receive input from
49. Envelope automate (draw)
50. Envelope automate (record)
51. Dummy clips
52. Make kick
53. Cut non bass at 120hz
54. Shift & up/down arrow key moves selected midi notes by the octave
55. Shift tab: clip properties to instruments/fx
56. Click arrow to return to zero or center
57. Double click when zoom tool appears to show full arrangement or select area
59. Space bar stop, hit again restarts from cursor point
60. Shift space bar to stop and continue
61. Linked unlinked clip automation
62. Shift click to grab multiple tracks. Effect 1 and they all are effected (like volume)
63. Change cue to a different output to be able to cue each track (headphones icon)
64. Ctrl + shift + m – add midi clip
65. Alt + click – expand/collapse all tracks
66. Click + shift + arrow key – shorten or lengthen selected midi notes.
67. add return track ctrl + alt. + T
68. Cmd + Del – deletes automation but not the clip
69. Drag section of a clip to a midi track, automatically creates a simpler with the sample
70. Assign knob to 1 clip for looping & pitch correct
71. Highlight all clips change warp settings, save, launch info etc
72. Simpler to sampler
73. Shift + – zoom in. – zoom out
74. Shift ? – shows info
75. Cmd alt B – show/hide browser
76. Cmd alt O – show/hide overview
77.cmd alt I – show/hide I/O
78. Cmd alt S – show/hide sends
79. Cmd alt m – show hide mixer
80. Cmd , – preferences
81. Cmd drag – fine adjustments
82. Cmd R – rename tab, rename next
83. Cmd up/down double or half loop length
84. Cmd up/down on midi part – goes to next midi note
85. Shift left right on midi note – lengthen shorten note
86. Enter – launch selected clip/clips
87. Cmd L – loop selected
88. Shift drag over envelope breakpoints.
89. Cmd t – create audio track
90. Cmd shift t – create midi track
91. Cmd alt t – create return track
92. Cmd M Midi map on off
93. Cmd K key map on off
94. Cmd U quantize95. Cmd drag (alt drag PC) adjust velocity on selected midi notes
96 Cmd shift U quantize Settings
97. Route multiple tracks to sidechain
98. Utility for automated volume & volume for fine tuning later
If these tips have helped you, please consider making a Donation or picking up one of my Full collections.
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).All your feedback & support is appreciated!
How Reverb works
How Reverb works:
I recently was asked to post something about reverb and how to use it best. I’m not going to claim to know all there is to know about reverb but I’ll do my best to share what I know. I’ll also try not to use too much geek speak when explaining things. let’s start by defining some of the most important features.
Reverb decay – This is how you control how long the reverb lasts before it fades out. Depending on what you are going for, this can be long and washy, or short and barely noticeable. keep in mind though that even though you might not immediate hear what a reverb is doing, the brain is exceptional at picking up these subtleties & can make a huge difference between a flat, sterile and lifeless sound & a realistic sound. By controlling these, it’s possible to use reverb rhythmically. You can have it fade after a 1/4 bar or 1/2 bar. Slightly adjusting this can create a bit of swing or groove to your mix.
Diffusion – Diffusion is created when a sound reflects off a surface. A flater surface will have less diffusion because it simply hits the wall and bounces back. If you are in a cave, the surface is going to have all kinds of angles causing your sound to bounce and echo in a more complex way, creating a reverb that is less like the original sound. Less diffusion will have a brighter sound while more diffusion will make the reverb darker.
Reflection – Reflection is similar to diffusion in that it has to do with the angle at which soundwaves bounce around. As soundwaves spread throughout a space and bounce off all the encompassing surfaces, they will undoubtedly bounce back into eachother causing the waveforms to change, phase cancel eachother out, or to double up and increase in volume. Each of these reflections hit the ears at different times creating the full effect.
Predelay – This is the time between the original sound playing and the reverb reacting to that sound. Adding predelay can help the attack of a sound come across much cleaner as it’s not yet effected by the reverb. A longer predelay can create a short echo or a slapback type effect.
Types of reverb -
Plate reverb – A plate reverb is named that way because they used to send sound to a “plate” of metal which it would reverberate off of. It doesn’t take up as much dimensional space & thus doesn’t bury & blur sounds in the way other types of reverb do. It tends to blend with the sound more and helps give sounds more impact. It’s a cleaner reverb in that it doesn’t take up as much space. It can be great for a smooth sounding vocal that doesn’t get lost in the mix. Although plate reverb is great, you will want other reverbs used to add depth and dimension to your mix.
Gated reverb- This isn’t really a type of reverb, but more the effect that is put after the reverb effect. This allows you to make a sound bigger but not have a long tail (or decay). This effect was used a lot in the 80′s (some might say overused). By setting a gate effect after your reverb, you can adjust the gate to silence your sound once it goes beneath a certain volume. This effect can be used to clean up your mix so it doesn’t get too muddy. Too much reverb used in the wrong way can drastically lower the quality of your mix.
Spring reverb – This type of reverb was popularized in guitar amps. The sound is created by metal springs and gives a vintage feel to some instruments. Great for a more lo-fi vibe. It’s not smooth like other reverbs, but can add a different character to instruments.
Hall reverb – Adds depth and dimension & fills in gaps in the mix but keeps in the background where it doesn’t clutter the mix. Using a large room size but a shorter delay time can help with a cleaner mix (even though it is not a natural sound found in the real world). Using too much can push important sounds to the back of the mix, but can add further thickness and space to sounds with long decay like pads or piano. Slower songs can typically handle longer reverb times.
Room reverb – Similar to hall but typically has a shorter decay and smaller size than hall reverb. Good for guitar or drums to give it a realistic space in your mix. A realistic space can be important when using acoustic instruments.
Convulsion reverb – Imagine if you wanted to “sample” the reverberation of a specific location, be it a stadium or a bathroom. Convulsion reverb makes that possible. This can give you some very interesting options. Perhaps adding the space of a wooden barrel or the inside of a metal pipe. This could be a powerful asset in creating both real world environments or alien environments & can be a sound designer’s best friend. Since this reverb is essentially sampled and then applied to a sound, there isn’t a whole lot of flexibility to a specific reverb setting but can offer results unavailable any other way.
Chamber reverb – Also known as an echo chamber, this reverb was created by sending a speaker into a specially designed room and a microphone strategically placed to capture the reverb effect and added to the original signal.
Reverse reverb – This effect is where you hear the reverb effect before the original source sound. Used a lot as a vocal or drum effect. This can be accomplished pretty easily in the digital domain by reversing your original source sound, adding reverb to the reversed sound, rendering the results and once again reversing so that the reverb plays in reverse while the original sound plays forward.
Reverb tips:
In most situations, you will want to set your reverb at the end of your effects chain. Basically you’ll want to dial in your clean sound before smoothing it out with reverb. If you are wondering whether to add reverb or delay last, I’d suggest reverb. This will give you the most natural sound and make it easier to get the effect you are looking for (unless you are going for something unusual). In some cases I will add a compressor after the reverb to boost it’s effect.
Reverb on send/returns – By creating a send track you can set up 2 or 3 reverb types and assign a specified amount of any or all of them to whichever instrument you want. Not only will this save CPU on your computer, it is great for placing multiple sounds in one space (like your drums). Since all your reverb will be sent to your send track, you will have more control of it’s overall volume & eq.
I personally like to eq out reverb frequencies below 120hz. Sometimes higher depending on the instrument.
Another use for a reverb send is to switch it to mono and pan your reverb just like you would an instrument. You can keep it in one spot or automate your panning. You can do this with more than one reverb send if you like. this should give you some interesting results.
Using more than 1 reverb on a sound can give you more a realistic effect at times. this would typically consist of a short reverb and a long reverb.
Create great pad sounds with reverb by creating a long reverb of several seconds (even 10-15 seconds can sound good) and setting the wet/dry setting to 80%-100%. The reverb smooths out whatever sound you run through it. I like using a simple synth melody or vocals but have gotten great results from less conventional sounds as well.
Sidechaining reverb tricks – This is another widely used trick in dance music. For this effect, you would typically want to have a reverb send/return track and throw your sidechain compressor on the track. Sidechain it to your kick drum for that pumping effect or you can sidechain it to the original dry sound you are adding reverb to. This will push the effect down while the original sound plays for a cleaner sound and then the reverb will rush in after the original sound stops playing. You can get varying results by adjusting the threshold.
Accent your groove with Reverb - By adjusting the attack and release envelopes. You don’t have to just use reverb to add dimension to your song, you can have it assist the overall feel of your song by adding it to any instrument that could use it. You’d be surprised with the results you get when using this trick correctly. You can set your decay to fall to silence just before the next beat or bar or any multiple that works for you. I like 1/4 note or 1/2 note intervals. Making slight adjustments can give your groove a more rushed or laid back feel. By adjusting your predelay, you can change the groove as well.
Experiment and have fun with this wonderful but often misunderstood effect.
Happy music making,
Jason
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).
All your feedback & support is appreciated!
How I Write Songs
How I Write Songs
I wanted to share my process for writing a song from scratch. I’ve gone pretty deep into this with my 30 day Ableton Production Journal but those of you who haven’t purchased it are still left in the dark. Plus I figure if I could give a breakdown of my process, it might help people save some time making their own songs. Some of this might be a bit technical and understanding it might push you to research further in Ableton or google. I’m not purposely trying to confuse anyone but rather wanting to go through my basic process in an unedited way. I’ll do my best to be clear.
Blank Slate:
This is pretty much how it all starts. For me, I rarely have “go to” sounds or templates set up. I probably should in some cases, but I usually can’t be bothered. Besides, it doesn’t take long to set things up. I’ll usually drag a reverb and a delay onto the 2 default return tracks. I’ll add another return track for Compression. This will be used for Parrallel or “New York” compression, which is basically mixing the fully compressed sound with the original. This has the advantage of adding punch and fatness without losing the transients. You also have control over how much you want to add to any of your tracks.
After adding the return tracks, I’ll usually drop a Drum Racks kit into a track to make a basic beat. I dial the sounds in as I go but I usually want to find a groove with a good set of sounds. Again, although I do have custom kits, I don’t have any “go to” sounds. I just keep testing sounds until something catches my attention. Once I have a working beat, I’ll dial in the volumes, attack, decay and release on each sound. I’ll use compression to try to get the most out of kicks and snares. I’ll also drag in a reverb as a return within drumracks. What is great about Ableton is that I’m able to do anything with each sound within drumracks as I would be able to do on any regular track (and that is ALOT).
I also have Drum Racks kits that are strictly hi hats, or snares, or kicks. I may find myself dragging several more tracks or drums to layer with the original kit. Usually 2-3 sounds make up a kick or snare that I’m happy with, typically choosing which sound has the best low end and which have the snap or high end. I’ll then EQ out the low end of the sample that doesn’t need it. Sometimes I’ll use a low pass filter as well to purposely take off some of the high end frequencies, giving the drums a darker or more dubby sound. Other times I’ll enhance the the highs for a more agressive sound. It all depends.
Bass
Next I’ll dive into bass. Sometimes I know exactly what I’m looking for, but usually I haven’t got a clue and I need to find the right sound before I know what to do with it. Depending on whether I want a more analog or digital tone I may look toward a virtual Moog, Juno or Ableton’s own Operator or Analog. Since I know Operator pretty well, it’s easier for me to dial in a sound from scratch than with most other synths. With the other synths, I rely a bit on presets as a starter point and the tweak to taste. Another great bass tool is Spectrosonic’s Trilogy. A huge range of great acoustic and electronic sounds. With some groove quantizing and good programming, you can get some pretty believable sounds. If I am not already using a simple sine wave, I’ll usually add an Operator just for the purpose of Sub bass. Then I’ll back off the low frequencies of the other synth. I may also back off the highs of the bass so it’s not too aggressive. If i later need more “bite” I may duplicate the synth and pitch it up an octave, knock out most of the lows and mids and add a bit of distortion or saturation. I usually can keep this layer quite low and it’ll still have an impact on the overall sound. You can duplicate again and add another layer pitched up 3 or 7 semitones to create a harmonic if you want. I’ve found this to give me a far more exciting sound at times.
For drums and bass, I’ll usually create a group for each and add a subtle compression (2:1 or 2.5:1) just to make things gel together. I rarely add reverb to my bass or the kick drum, but certainly use it lightly on other drum sounds if it helps to add depth. With Drums, I find it important to have a combination or wet and dry sounds. The dryer sounds being the ones you want to stand out while the others play more of a support role. I’ll also try to remove any “mud” in my bass or drum sounds. I use a highpass filter to knock out anything unneccesary. I also will put a dip in the 350hz-650hz range to sharpen some sounds. This range tends to by where “mud” lives. A little subtractive EQ goes a long way.
Tuning
The next step I might take after getting my bass sounding good is to tune my drums to the bass. This is easier than it might sound and there are a couple approaches that work for me. The one I use most is using an EQ8 effect and sweeping the frequency with a thin Q and alot of gain until the sound rigs in harmony. Then I’ll back off the gain so that the tuning is a bit more hinted instead of in your face. I may add a 2nd or 3rd harmonic on the same sound if it seems to work. Another approach to tuning drums I learned from Ableton guy Dennis Desantis’s misuse of the Frequency shifter. Using the fine tune can give some great results without ruining the sound.
Sidechaining
Sidechaining can be a godsend for much more than just making that dancefloor “pumping” sound. Used more subtly it can really help sort out places where the low frequencies of the kick drum and bass interfere with eachother. I typically decide whether the low end of the bass or the kick is more important and sidechain the other. By layering an instrument rack you can sidechain only the low frequencies and leave the higher frequencies untouched. This makes the effect much less noticeable but improves the clarity of the mix. I may sidechain the hi hats to the kick for that typical pumping sound as well as atmospherics and reverbs. This can really clean you mix up. Another use is in mixing. Instead of automating one part down everytime another part comes in, I’ll just let the sidechain compressor push the sound down automatically whenever it hears the other sound coming in. I may duck a pad to make a lead or vocal sound more clear. I highly recommend you look into this.
Stab
Then next step I will usually attempt is some sort of Stab sound. Something with a fast attack and decay. This is the part that will play of the drum and bass rhythm. The goal is to get a good sound that cuts through the mix and doesn’t screw up the momentum of the track. For an idea of a stab that really drives a dance song, look no further than Lil Louis – French Kiss. People have been ripping this off for ages because, quite simply, it works! If you have an arpeggiated bassline, you might not need a stab. I’ll usually create a 4 bar stab-like part just so there is a bit of variation in the pattern. Be careful not to lose the hypnotic quality of the part by changing things up too much (unless that is exactly what you are going for).
Pads, stretched tones
I’m a bit lazy when it comes to making pads and they are typically an afterthought even though they can be incredibly important. They give a track that loops alot of movement and keeps the song sounding too clean, which can often make things sound too mechanical or even unprofessional. A great way to get a good pad or drone is to stretch the hell out of a sample or play it on the low note of a sampler. Stretching vocal samples it a favorite of mine. It can sound so good so easily that it almost seems like you’re cheating 
I will typically add delay and long reverb to make it sound nice and wet and to smooth the edges. This is a fantastic way to add some much needed atmosphere and movement to a track. Just make sure you are in the correct key. A simple pad layered with a stretched vocal or sound effect can give you excellent results.
Sometimes chopped up pads can make a very good stab or melodic hook sound if done correctly. Sasha’s – Xpander is a perfect example.
Hook/Lead
At this point in my songwriting I usually have to make a decision. Either let the song cruise along as is without an obvious hook or lead riff, or realize that it would seem lacking without it. In my 30 Day Ableton Journal. I attempted several leads but in the end, decided it was better without them. This is a completely subjective thing as your musical goals might be different than mine. As long as you are using your best judgement and you aren’t just throwing parts in because they are “supposed” to be there, you should be in good shape.
Crashes/effects/reverse/cut ups
This is where I do a bit of filling in the blanks. I’ll usually drop crashes and reverse cymbals in their logical places. Sometimes I just use these as markers to possibly be replaced by another sound. These will usually be placed at 8 or 16 bar intervals. Pretty obvious stuff, but definitely makes a difference. Some artists don’t use crashes at all. Listen to Daft Punk for example. If you can make it work for you, go for it. Personally I’ve tried, but it’s deceptively difficult to do what they do and still keep things interesting.
Once I’ve got the basics crashes and reverse sounds in place, I’ll put atmospheric sounds with a good amount of delay, reverb or both in spots throughout the mix. Especially when a build or breakdown is needed. Without overdoing it, I just filled in the gaps. I check to make sure the intro part of the track isn’t too empty. Although it’s nice to save the good part for later, you don’t want any of your track to be boring. Using cut edits of parts that play later with some delay can give good results, especially if you are lacking hi frequency content.
Structure
This part is always tough for me. I know it shouldn’t be as I’ve been making songs since 1988, but structuring club music can still be challenging. One example of a song structure may look like this:
Intro: 16 Bars
Bass dropp: 16 bars
Added layers and elements: 32 bars
breakdown: 4/8/16 or 32 bars
Full on track with hook or lead: 32 bars
short break: 4/8 or 16 bars
groove with less elements: 16 bars
outro: 16 bars
Although it’s good to have a fairly solid structure, sometimes using odd times can create some nice tension and make your track less predictable. Otherwise, straying from multiples of 4 bars will just sound off. Use your own judgement and don’t be afraid to “borrow” the structure from another song. People have been doing this for ages, it’s not a big deal.
Panning/EQ’ing/Mixing
Next I go through the mixing stage and dial in the panning for each sound. I may add an auto pan or automation to some sounds to give some random movement. This works well on atmospherics while subtle panning is good for drum sounds. I like to use Ableton’s auto filter to give subtle movement as well. I may do a stereo spread of the upper frequencies of the Bass while keeping the subs mono. Keep in mind the panning is also important for sounds with the same frequencies. Often times panning is more effective than EQing to bring out a part’s clarity. Unless I’m going for an artificial sound, I try to avoid extreme EQ’ing. For a more natural sound start with panning and then attenuate unwanted frequencies instead of boosting frequencies. If you are using extreme boosting to try to bring out the bass in a sound, you probably should rework the source sound. You can’t bring out something that isn’t there to begin with.
When it comes to mixing, it’s a good practice to listen to all the other parts besides the one you are mixing. It’s very important to concentrate on how a part effects the totality of your song. If you do find yourself focusing on the part you are mixing, take it to where you think it sounds good and then drop it back about 10-15%. If you don’t get this habit under control, you’ll end up with the newbie mistake of having the first parts you mix buried by the last parts you mix.
Mono mixing
Once I have a basic mix I like to switch to mono. In Ableton it’s easy. Just drop a utility effect on the master track and change the stereo spread to zero. Then turn off 1 of your monitors and get in front of it. I have written a whole blog post of mixing in mono, but in short, mixing in mono reveals phasing issues, if your effects are overdone or if your panning is making a part less clear than it should be. Another great thing is that in mono, there is no “sweet” spot. Wherever you are sitting, you’ll get the same results. If you can get things sounding great in mono, you can be sure it’ll sound excellent when back in stereo. Don’t forget to turn off your utility before mixdown!
Editing for groove
Once I’ve made it this far, the first question I ask myself (when making music for clubs) is “is this danceable? Does this make me want to move or just stand in one place and nod my head”. There is nothing worse than a well produced track that doesn’t move you… or your audience. If I find that it isn’t giving me the results I was hoping for I inspect what part is slowing the track down. I first make sure the drums and bass alone get me excited, then I add parts one by one until the track sounds less danceable. Once I find it, I’ll consider changing the rhythm or even pulling the whole part out. Then I’ll continue adding parts going through the same process. This can be frustrating after all the work you’ve put into each part, but it’s important not to be married to any one part. If it’s not improving your song, it’s making it worse. Also it’s not a bad idea to experiment with groove templates. They can make a pretty drastic difference in the vibe of your song.
Final tweaks
Some of these final tweaks can make the biggest impact on whether your song sounds great or just ok. Typically at this stage I’ve made a pretty safe mix. Everything has it’s place and nothing is taking up too much attention. That’s a good place to be but not a great place to end. It’s important that you let certain parts have their chance to shine, so for each important part, find out where that is. Once you introduce it loud enough to grab the listener’s attention, they will hear it throughout the mix even when it’s lower in volume. These little moments for each instrument gives your song more dynamics and constantly keeps your attention. A little boost goes a long way, so don’t try to make ears bleed here, just make sure the listener knows when something new has arrived.
Once I’ve gone through this process, I’m usually pretty happy with my mix and I mix it down. Of course you want to make sure to burn a CD and play this on a few systems and do some a/b tests with some songs you like the production on and if necessary fine tune your mix. I’ve been known to be “happy” with my mix and still go back 3 or 4 times for final tweaks. Luckily this isn’t all that bothersome because you know you are very close to finished and that’s a great feeling.
Conclusion
Well folks, generally speaking, that’s my process. Everyone has their own approach and all are valid if they work for you. Hopefully this has given you some ideas which I encourage you to borrow or steal.
Happy music making,
Jason
P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).
All your feedback & support is appreciated!
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