New on producing, lots of quesions and my first track.

[timdevette]

Hey,

I started since a few weeks now in Fl studio and i enjoy it very much.

However i still need to learn a lot about compression and EQ. I know the basics of EQ but i want to know how to get that clean and FULL sound. My first track is lacking something

My questions are:

-I am putting a Master limiter on my master at 0db. Is this a good thing to do, i've seen Avicii in the Studio and he does it.

-Is Sidechaining for every track necessary or is it just how pumping you would like to make it sound. If i use sidechain on the bass i like the sound of it.

-How can you get a full sound? With panning and layering?

-I heard Avicii talking about reverb after the sidekick, what does that mean?

-Do you guys start with making the song/arrangement and mix/eq after?

-If a Kickdrum sound good, compression is not necessary right? Is compression a pre on Synths/bass and stuff?


Would be great if someone could answer these questions.

For now im just gonna read and read.


This is my first track: http://soundcloud.com/timtim2011/project-v1

Let me know what you think and what it needs.


Thanks alot!

[Keith99]

I think you are looking for rules to follow when there really are not any. The only judge of what works is your ears. Of course there are common practices to obtain a sound but you need to be able to hear what is happening. Never do something because you think you should.

[tehlord]

It takes several years to become good at making music.

There's no magic list of techniques that'll instantly make you sound good.


Just keep practising.

[Keith99]

Been thinking that my reply, while what I think, is maybe not very useful to you just yet Some things that may help:

Compression can be used to alter the character of a sound as well as smoothing volume changes. The latter is achieved by reducing the dynamic range (difference between quietest and loudest part). Importantly compression on its own actually lowers volume. However if you then boost the volume back up (via make up gain) you can make it sound louder.A lot of the time compression like this is just used to save time, ultimately you could go through automating the volume of a sound by hand but it would be time consuming.

Using compression to alter the character of a sound is more complex but via attack , release times, threshold and gain you can 'resculpt' the sound e.g. you could have a slow attack on a snare and then hard compression to get a certain sound.

Side chaining is a useful technique to get one sound to duck out of the way of another but modern music takes this further and uses it to really pump the music along.

-Do you guys start with making the song/arrangement and mix/eq after?

Yes

-If a Kickdrum sound good, compression is not necessary right? Is compression a pre on Synths/bass and stuff?

You don't have to use compression on everything, in fact generally try to use effects as little as possible

[kritikon]

Hey, I am putting a Master limiter on my master at 0db. Is this a good thing to do, i've seen Avicii in the Studio and he does it.

Most people use limiters nowadays, but go easy on it at present until your mixing gets better. A limiter will make a good mix shine but will make a poor mix loud but no better mixed. Concentrate more on mixing than loudness until later.

-Is Sidechaining for every track necessary or is it just how pumping you would like to make it sound. If i use sidechain on the bass i like the sound of it.

No, absolutely not. Sidechaining has its uses but it's over-rated and webmyths make it believed that sidechaining is everywhere. I've read questions asking how to set the sidechain on such-and-such a song, and the example given is simple wideband compression, often simple pumping, NOT sidechaining. Ignore sidechaing until your mixing improves (which generally is through practice. No quick way around it.)

-How can you get a full sound? With panning and layering?

That's a huge question. Start with small chunks, sorry.

-I heard Avicii talking about reverb after the sidekick, what does that mean?

No idea. Sounds like babble to me. In some of the music mags, some musicians talk shite, basically to sound way more knowlegable than they are.

-Do you guys start with making the song/arrangement and mix/eq after?

Yes. Absolutely. You can do it all in one go, but at least for me, mixing is not part of the first wave of inspiration. When you've got ideas, go with the flow. Mixing too early will bog you down. And whatever you mix early on, will undoubtedly get changed once the song is fuller. A waste of time to mix too early on IMO. Get used to the song quality not being that amazing at first. Too many people expect the song to sound full quality in the early stages. Which is unrealistic. If everything has to be now, your song ideas will get lost.

-If a Kickdrum sound good, compression is not necessary right? Is compression a pre on Synths/bass and stuff?

Not necessarily. It entirely depends on the track. What I will say is that not everything has to be compressed. At the early stages of learning how to mix etc, personally I'd ignore compressors altogether. When it was all h/w we used to basically mix without compressors, and they were only slapped on at the end, because it was too expensive to have compressors all over the place. And mixes didn't necessarily suffer for it. Your mixing will improve quicker if you reduce the number of gadgets you have to learn all in one go. Just because you have these tools doesn't mean you have to use them all.

[timdevette]

Ok cool thanks.. I think i expect to much, which isn't realistic.


What do you recommend to begin with, just making melody ideas and arranging a track and learn about EQ/compression later? I eq but i'm not sure if i am doing it right.


Also i have 2 things in FL which i cant seem to find out.

If i draw a patternblock it never sticks to the other pattern on the right bar, i always have to zoom in and fix it myself. Is there a way to solve this?

And also if i have my melody in my piano roll and lets say its 5 bars, it plays the 5 bars in a loop, but if i have a other channel with 3 bars it plays also 5 bars.

[wachimol]

Also i have 2 things in FL which i cant seem to find out.

If i draw a patternblock it never sticks to the other pattern on the right bar, i always have to zoom in and fix it myself. Is there a way to solve this?

And also if i have my melody in my piano roll and lets say its 5 bars, it plays the 5 bars in a loop, but if i have a other channel with 3 bars it plays also 5 bars.

not sure what you mean by the first question but for the second you'll have to put the 3 bar sequence in a new pattern.

[redsunmuzik]

Also i have 2 things in FL which i cant seem to find out.

If i draw a patternblock it never sticks to the other pattern on the right bar, i always have to zoom in and fix it myself. Is there a way to solve this?

And also if i have my melody in my piano roll and lets say its 5 bars, it plays the 5 bars in a loop, but if i have a other channel with 3 bars it plays also 5 bars.

not sure what you mean by the first question but for the second you'll have to put the 3 bar sequence in a new pattern.

Perhaps he refers to snap to grid...

[timdevette]

Yes,

Thanks

[tzink]

Gave your stuff a listen on soundcloud. You've got good ideas--I'll just mimic the others on here by saying it just takes time and practice and learning little pieces at a time. I wouldn't expect to create anything you're really happy with in the first year or so. Too much to learn in so short a time.

[timdevette]

Thanks, i just made an second track which i changed already because im not satisfied with the sounds.

Does having a onboard soundcard matter for the quality of the sounds?

Because i recently watched futuremusicmag in the studio and i did a remake with the exact same presets/pattern but it didn't sound the same.