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Studio "Secrets" or "Tips"

I am curious about this because although I am a person who will always share what I have learned, I realized that even if there were little secrets or tricks to withhold, I do not have any. I mean I have my routine when it comes to getting certain sounds, but as far as actual "secrets" or tricks that producers tend to keep to themselves, label mates, or other producer friends, I'm more curious about that. Can there possibly be any tricks that people would intentionally keep a secret, that someone else wouldn't likely find out on there own? I just don't imagine that. Regardless, if you know of any, share them. Or, if you have any that you use and would like to share, go ahead.

I would like this to be a tips and tricks thread, when it comes to certain quirky routing, modulation, processing or et-cetera, that is either not well known, uncommon or untraditional. Or a thread where you can reveal so-called "coveted" techniques...

you know, like slapping a limiter on every channel to get that super "pro" feel.

i disagree. You can use how you do shit as a valuable marketing tool bringing people to your site and using that to your advantage. If you are a one trick poney, then ya, isuppose it sucks but if you are talented, by the time people want to copy you , you've aready moved on.

I share that sentiment. I don't want anyone to reveal too much, just what they want to. Nothing more, nothing less. If you feel like you want to, go ahead.

When i finally get my edm project thing rolling, every track, after the first month, will have a tutorial on how i did everything. As sort of a blog on how to produce.

That's cool. I have a blog, started off really well... but haven't made any worthwhile videos yet, they always end up being like 30 minutes long. Working on getting a few more tutorials set up around 10 minutes long. It's hard, will need to do some pre-planning and editing to get it in the 10 minute range. Eventually I'd like to start doing it way more often, get a popular YouTube channel going. So many crappy tutorial videos out there... be nice to get some decent ones set up for topics that haven't been properly covered in a video. My next one I have planned will be 10 minutes, and will cover writing a melody. Being only 10 minutes, not sure how well it's going to work out since melody isn't that simple at all, but I can walk through my melody creation process in 10 minutes in a video.

Re: Studio "Secrets" or "Tips"

quote:

Originally posted by Evolve140 I mean I have my routine when it comes to getting certain sounds, but as far as actual "secrets" or tricks that producers tend to keep to themselves, label mates, or other producer friends, I'm more curious about that. Can there possibly be any tricks that people would intentionally keep a secret, that someone else wouldn't likely find out on there own? I just don't imagine that.

How many people sound like Daft Punk?

Well I doubt there was a tip or a trick that made them sound the way they do, to be able to get close to their sound would take a lot of compromising and years of hard work and tons of emulation. Let's focus on the precise subject of this thread, which I have described.

Well, this may not be a secret, but I'll post it since it's what I'm currently doing. If you are working with an audio track that was recorded in a not-so-optimal environment and it has audible background noise, try using an expander (downward expander, to be precise), rather than a gate, to reduce the background noise. The problem with using a gate for this purpose is that they can be very touchy, sound unnatural and, especially, can cut off the sustained portion of notes or start to chatter on/off as the vocal fades down to the threshold level. The expander OTOH will gently push the level of the noise down, rather than cutting it off, and you won't get the on/off chatter around the threshold level.

not so much a secret, but i tend to almost everytime put some distortion on my subbas, just to add some flavour and thump

Nice, now we're talking. Yeah, I tend to meddle with distortion for sub as well, it tends to add extra flavor to the harmonics down there. Any particular plugin you use for that distortion, how much mix do you usually add?

My top 3 Tips and Secrets!

#1 RTFM

#2 Learn your keyboard short cuts to your DAW.

#3 If it's Sounds Good it's Good!

#4 Less is more.

Thanks, but not really what I'm looking for.

quote:

Originally posted by Evolve140 Nice, now we're talking. Yeah, I tend to meddle with distortion for sub as well, it tends to add extra flavor to the harmonics down there. Any particular plugin you use for that distortion, how much mix do you usually add?

a little bit of camelcrusher will get the job done imo

I really like adding the Lo Fi filter from Predator... kinda like bit crushing, if you've ever used it.. fattens it up nice

Re: Re: Studio "Secrets" or "Tips"

quote:

Originally posted by Beatflux How many people sound like Daft Punk?

First of all, I doubt any 'people' would sound like Daft Punk. Set aside the fact that they are robots from Outer Space, people can not sound like a band. Not even a good beat-boxer.

But yah Justice and probably alot of other smelly french copy-cats.

my best advice is this: sell all your gear, throw away all backups of your production and start over atleast two times.

I think it's time to make some videos.

try sidechaining your vocals into the vocal reverb send - so as the vocal volume drops, the reverb gets bigger.

and also sidechain your vocals against your synths so they duck slightly alllowing more room for the vocal.

so many things to experiment with...

Elevate your monitors if the elements aren't at or above ear level.
Don't try to perfect anything, make it sound right and move on.
Get a midi keyboard. Definately.
Listen to a variety of music genres.
Do get a decent audio interface because you need good D/A converters. M-Audio is not an option.

quote:

Originally posted by djyouth Do get a decent audio interface because you need good D/A converters. M-Audio is not an option.

Care to elaborate?

quote:

Don't try to perfect anything, make it sound right and move on.

That is an oxymoron.

Spend a few minutes each day just playing your keyboard. I tend to do this whilst the system is booting up - I can just play and hear my Roland synth without the PC being involved as my RME interface just monitors the output of the synth regardless.

I find this is helping me melodically and will hopefuly transalte into my comming track.

I dislike piano roll composing personally apart from for drums, and bass sometimes.

forget using white noise osc, just add a little bitcrushing to any fx chain for anything you feel needs white noise. goes a long way in adding character and leaves more room for flexibility imo

quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi Care to elaborate? That is an oxymoron.

D/A converters play a crucial role in how the digital signals (which electronic music is) translates to the speakers. Getting good D/A converters is essential if you want the most out of the monitors you got. Good D/A's are expensive. No use in 'upgrading' to a cheap interface such as M-Audio, nor is there any point in getting very expensive speakers unless you have decent DA's. And there is a noticeable difference, and it's motivating to have a pro sound while mixing, not just after the mixdown is done and hou play it on an expensive amplified system.
No it is not an oxymoron in my case. It's a piece of good advice, and it's based on my experience. And that of James Cameron. I've spent countless hours getting nowhere with a track, though I learn lots from it.

Not to blow my own dick, but I probably have more success in EDM than anyone who has posted here thus far. I'm still shit, but shit among less than shit, feel free to prove me wrong and sorry if I've insulted anyone.

Given that, here's a few tips that have helped me:

1) Never stop a particular aspect of a track until you are 100% satisfied with it. I can't tell you how many times I've spent days on 20 seconds of music. 90% of the time I hear some POS track from a nub, the first thing I ask is "how much time did you spend on this?". Most great tracks take one to two months of near daily work, every professional who's studio habits I know about agrees.

2) This is EDM, right? It's meant for a "club", right? When you are listening to your track, turn up your speakers, turn off the lights, close your eyes and just listen. Would you be pissed off if you heard this track come on at a "club"? Or would you totally freak the fuck out and love it? That's something that Sean Tyas told me a long time ago, he makes music for a club, not for his computer speakers.

3) I read "less is more" and that is true not only with the amount of tracks in the mix, but also with the effects. Turn down the delay/reverb, you may like how tight it makes your mix.

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