I think many artists use compression twice before mastering. Once on groups of synths and samples, such as 1. kicks/drums 2. basses 3. leads 4. background elements.

Then you add a small amount of warm bus compression on the master before you export it to Wav. The final result with warm bus compression should be like -6 dB at the loudest point in the song. Then the mastering engineer adds a third layer of compression.

Now, some synths and probably most samples (like kicks) come with some compression on them, but I would still then group compress them and warm bus compress the master (meaning they will have 3 layers of compression b4 mastering though, you didn't add the first).

I would air on the side of using compression on the bass if you are going for even remotely commercial.

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Thank you man

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Juan Paulino - Quantum Break (Original Mix) [Progressive Breaks]

No problem, I don't know how well I answered the question, I am not much more than a novice myself.

I hope I am answering the right question on the hihats. What I will say is that most tracks don't really build the drums up like they used too. Most songs I hear start immediately with kick and hats as well as even bass and or other elements sometimes. Rarely just a kick. However, the kick is sometimes a 'smaller' kick (less subs and shorter) for the first minute or so.

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Last edited by Trancelover03591 on Sep-14-2012 at 23:00

you want your bass to be rather uniform like a kick. Compression works great but something you should also try out is Spline EQ. basically, it allows you to move your EQ curve by note. You use to have to do this with automation and look at the numbers and ball park it. This makes it really easy. Up or down a semi tone. The biggest change in sound from the bass is usually ptich related and this will do alot of the work much better than compression which uses a broadband value to control it.

In terms of your first question not really sure what you mean. djs beatbatch with material that is in our most sensitive area so hihats are problem what djs use most to beatmatch. You can't hear bass in headphones in a club. Most djs use to boost the mids and highs while doing this to make it easier.

But i don't think you need to make the mistake of having 20 high hat loops. I also don't think you should really make your tracks with beatmatching in mind. People don't really do that anymore. I mean unless you add tempo variations but i would only do that if you are a #1 selling artist and you can add slight tempo fluctuations to fuck with people/

Just a question , when you mix, do you ever have the basses on both active ? Like do you fade them ? I'm not going to say there are any rules but this is something that just doesn't work. Bass doesn't mix. 1 or the other. When you are ready to change the emphasis on the other track, you change that relationship. And you don't do it over time.

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Juan Paulino - Quantum Break (Original Mix) [Progressive Breaks]

This is how I use compression for bass sounds. If the quality isn't good or you don't understand something let me know. Did this pretty quick (and the editing).

Fuck the DJs

Make them work.

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What helps djs to beatmatch is not the low end but the clip of the kick what i usually do is to boost a bit the ~5khz frequencies to have stronger clip and make it stand out from the bass.

quote:

Originally posted by tehlord Fuck the DJs Make them work.

No shit....