I wouldn't really pay attention to the bass because its a squashed mess of generic crap.. like most my basses lol.

But as far as hats/percussion, I have to be doing something fundamentally wrong that I simply don't know I'm doing. When I equalize a lot of my hats, I tend to push the hi end up a bit, and then a bit less on the mid end, just so they are more "hissy" sounding and come through clearer, but I fear I might also be amplifying the bitter parts of my percussion.

I'll do a sweep with the equalizer, to see if a certain region will reduce the abrasive feel, but I can't ever really here the abrasiveness till everything plays together. And at that point going through the loops one my one I can't here where its coming from. Does this have to do with bad equalizing, or should I be putting my hats through something other than reverb to add a bit of warmth? Right now I'm just using stock FL reverbs on them. Anytime I make a loop it seems no matter what it always lacks warmth and sharpness. But when I try to make them sound "sharper" I always think I boost that abrasiveness.
And if its a matter of picking better sounds, than why it does it seems to always happen no matter what sound I pick? What you do guys think is the number 1 cause of the abrasive/brittle sound? So hard to get warmth along with clarity in my loops.

here

And please don't make fun lol, I just threw this together like an hour ago. Its repetitive and boring just pay attention to the how it seems to screech your ears. I know how to variate my mixes better its just no what I'm focused on right now. Thanks!

http://www.fabfilter.com/products/volcano.php;)

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sounds distorted. most engineers will also tell you to never compress your hi hats as well. most hats if they're just from a sample CD need a nice clean high pass filter (sonnox eq is very good) set at 2 poles or so and that's it. don't over process your percussion

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Sounds alright to me

try distortion, lowcutting around 1500, sidechain, less reverb, panning, and lower the volume on some of your hats

and most of all, bus em all and COMPRESSSSSS

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I prefer hats that have more mid content. I hate those hihats that sound like little shakers they have been so hipassed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwmSqiHTzY

then again i've always enjoyed everything a little more gritty. I hate that clean trance sound so much.

Yeh I know what you're saying I'm not a fan of clean trance myself. Which is why I already have some distortion on some of those hats. But realistically I like when the mids spin in the middle and the higher freqencies soften it up and add a bit of "smoke" to the main groove, if that makes any sense. Just more of an arrangment that focuses on contrast.
Oh and that track is awesome by the way, never heard it before.

As for the rest of the comments although there is distortion its really the tiniest amount on the main loop. And than the faster hitting closed hats are hi passed and boosted a tad on the high end.
I do usually overdo it on compression a lot but I think thats the only way you can find a balance is by pushing boundaries. I'd definitely rather use it than not use it, as I'd wind up just wanting to use it in the future and just having that much less experience.

I think I also try a lot to create complex interacting grooves, but I often find it near impossible to make sounds properly "talk to each other". I hear it so much in other tracks where once sound quickly plays its role and then draws in another sound, and all the sounds kind of snap and throw each other around which creates a nice pumping type of drive. I can really waste so much time because it feels like I'm putting a puzzle together w/out the picture. Even though I have a theoretical idea, or a vision in my head of what I want, actually hearing the sounds interact before you piece them together is just impossible.

why are you putting so many mids/highs into the kick?

quote:

Originally posted by jupiterone why are you putting so many mids/highs into the kick?

I think I do it because I can never get the actual depth or low end that I want in a kick so I compensate by boosting the highs and occassionally the 150-200 region. I find when I boost the highs it sometimes makes the kick sound thumpier, adding more contrast to its low end, and when I boost the 150-200 region its usually to break through the rest of the hats.

Im most likely just overdoing it will have to watch out for it next time.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox I think I do it because I can never get the actual depth or low end that I want in a kick so I compensate by boosting the highs and occassionally the 150-200 region. I find when I boost the highs it sometimes makes the kick sound thumpier, adding more contrast to its low end, and when I boost the 150-200 region its usually to break through the rest of the hats. Im most likely just overdoing it will have to watch out for it next time.

here are some frequencies to go by for kick:

bottom @ 60-80
slap @ 2.5.35
edge @ 10k
tubby @ 350-850

get rid of that 350-850, give it more depth. and if the bassline interferes with the kick then take out its lows and boost @ around 125 (bassline)

it gets lost in the mix when everything comes together later one dude, there is little bottom from the kick, too much punch. i didn't mean to sound dickish, just wanted to help because the kick seems out of place with the frequencies you've selected

take a listen to this track I did years ago.

http://soundcloud.com/mad-for-brad/touchdown-m

it has distorted hats actually made from white noise, and then you will hear later hats that don't really have any highs and then the open 909 which has been highpassed at a rather low hz. It isn't a production master piece but maybe it might give you some ideas of how to use different hihat types together.

Its a German Goose step stomper.

Here is another with 5 high parts all playing on each other

http://soundcloud.com/mad-for-brad/touchdown-m

by panning , having certain hats at certain registers, you can really get some interplay going on.

btw, I used to be a hard trance producer so that explains all the german stuff.

Last edited by Looney4Clooney on Aug-17-2010 at 03:46

Not to derail the thread, but how did you make that synth that starts building at 2:04? I posted a thread a few months ago on how to recreate a sound similar to that but nobody seemed to have an answer.

the 303 or the stab ?

My memory is good but this was 9 years ago. The 303 If I remember correctly is vanguard but for some reason I don't think that was out at the time. Basically just filter modulation and playing all the notes changing octaves making it seem like it is sliding but it isn't.

The other synth , i know for sure was FM7 with just lots of voices and detune and a boost to the highs.