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New "way" of mixing/producing my tracks...
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| DJ Robby Rox |
This was an idea I mentioned once before but instead of putting it into action I got a quad core.
But lately I've been noticing that **I** am a cpuwhore, not my vsts. I have no respect for computer speed and I hate compensating as I work to conserve it.
I hate turning up my latency, I hate when the meter passes 60% and things start getting "bouncy" in FL. I can't work like that, and just FEELING like I only have a certain amount of space/speed left as I'm mixing DRIVES ME CRAZY.
I never really made an effort to change the fundamental way I produce, and because of that, have always felt limited. This is really huge for me because like I mentioned just the aspect of feeling limited is enough to with my motivation to do something "special".
Well I finally made an effort to change and I ing LOVE working like this now. For every 1 track I make, it requires 4 seperate projects.
I make a new folder, then in that folder make 4 new folders, I call them simply "bass", "percussion" "synth" and "fx/optional". Fx/optional just means I can use it for fx, or I can just use it as a last resort in general if I need more speed.
I tried this before by using 2 tracks, and one thing I didn't do was save a new version of the track everytime I made a significant change. I didn't realize that this alone was really ing me up, as anytime I needed to go back to change something it could only really be the last change I made. But if I wanted to change something fundamental, like the entire bassline in general, the whole project was already devoted to that bassline, and it would result in entirely too much wasted time deleting/undoing .
But what HELPED ME the most was simply saving each of my 4 projects anytime I added a new synth, or did anything significant in general to the track.
Now the way I work, it takes a few seconds to set up everything, and I wind up with about 20-30 different saved versions (which turns into a mess) but ass long as they are all contained in their seperate folders (bass, synth, etc) its a million times easier to find the project I need to change, and most of all do it quickly.
I've been working like this for only a week now, but wow have my tracks already done a 180.
I'm the type of person who needs all sorts of synths open and ready when I work. And now when I make a bass I can have trillian open, z3ta, ace, albino, nexus ANYTHING I need for that track will be devoted just to the bass line, so I don't have to worry about conserving any space at all now for other elements of the track. I was hesistant about working this way thinking I'd either start overdoing layering, or wind up cluttering my tracks, but its been the total opposite so far. Everything is much more organized, everything is exactly where I need it, and I'm winding up with a TON of different synths for each element of the track.
As long as I keep the levels low, and clean up sounds right, it seems I can always add a new layer or sound if something is lacking. This opposed my whole "less is more" ideal of working, but I've pretty much concluded at this point that style of working is not for me. And I'm not sure how you can really produce quality trance w/out layering the crap out of your sounds. Maybe I'm merely compensating for a lack of programming skills, but I DO find for me "more synths" in general equals "better sound". And the whole point of layering in the first place is to make a single cohesive sound, so the end product is still usually fairly clean.
Anyway on this last bass I made, I have trillian, z3ta, ace, nexus, all going to 4 channels, extracting the frequencies I need from those sounds, and I love what I've been winding up with. It just reignited my whole motivation to mix now... feeling like I truely have no limits.
Heres the bass I did.
bass
Is it anything incredible? No way, is it 100times better than the basses I was doing last week? Absolutely. You can just feel the "depth" in it much better and its way stronger sounding in general.
Does any else work like this or have I taken this too far? lol |
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| Kysora |
| or, you could have bought more RAM, but this works too I suppose |
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| TaylorR |
from what i'm getting it's kinda like how the recording industry use master and slave sessions.
some parts of your your explanation was a bit confusing but you should try look into that master/slave thing. reading up on it might help you refine your skill of working this way. |
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| TaylorR |
working with stems can also help with mixing and workflow.
just depends on how you like to work and whatnot |
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| DJ Robby Rox |
Ram was about 5% of the original problem, cpu speed was about 95%. (for kysora)
And I thought stemming refered mainly to busing groups seperately, may have to read more about it if this is what it is. |
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| Beatflux |
| So do you make everything individually, then mix everything from all four projects at the end? I don't seem to get it. |
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| Mad for Brad |
| I think you are taking things a bit too far and mixing will be very cimbersome if you just need to change 1 element in 1 of 4 groups as sounds different once added to the other 3. How old is your computer and what soundcard are you using ? If you are frustrated, just get a new computer. |
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| TaylorR |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox
And I thought stemming refered mainly to busing groups seperately, may have to read more about it if this is what it is. |
groups can play a part and are commonly used but i wouldn't say 'mainly' cause you can have a stem of just one vocalist, keys, etc. stemming also involves printing the track(s) rather than just bussing/grouping things within a DAW. you can stem a vox track with the lead singer only then make a stem with the lead singer and the BGV's. A stem of drums with FX and Compression and also a stem with the drums dry. etc, etc, etc. the number of stems differs from engineer to engineer since it comes down to how each individual likes to work.
those stems can then be imported into the master session which will be the ideal session for doing the mixdown. |
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| Pagan-za |
Something I'm doing alot lately is making cpu heavy sections like ambience or vocals or whatever, then exporting them as individual stems, then tidying up just that sample in ableton. Export as a new stem and then use that in the original project, with all the synths and fx for it disabled, but still there.
Working with stems is 0% cpu load practically, and if its loaded in RAM the HDD doesnt even have to spin.
Also if I'm not feeling lazy I export the stems and master them in ableton instead. Much tighter control that way. |
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| Storyteller |
I cried when I heard the preview. But maybe it does well when placed in a track.
Saving multiple copies of a certain project has never really saved my ass (and I've been producing since '95) so I couldn't be bothered trying to be honest. |
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| music2dance2 |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox
This was an idea I mentioned once before but instead of putting it into action I got a quad core.
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lol that made me laugh, think it might be my new sig.
I think I get what you are doing. As someone else asked, are you taking all these separate projects then mixing them together into a final project as stems or tracks with all synths/devices etc? |
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| Coyke |
I just don't get how you could be able to catch the initial moment of inspiration quickly. If you have to jump between projects, you might work around hours on your bass but what if it doesn't fit to the rest? You have to go back to your pads and other synths and tweak them or did I missed something?
This might be a good way to create sounds in general, but I don't see where this should be better for making music. I could never work just that way, as I think this is way too much "produced" thinking.
I also have a template called "soundstation" where every instruments I own is open and ready to go, so I can either just make some FX or try different layers. When I now go back to the producing template, I have usually 4-5 sounds that I just did to start with, but I usually don't really try to work out the perfect bass in the writing / arranging stage. |
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