Can someone explain making layers "stick together" ?

[dalvare1]

I was reading an article on using sends on multiple bass layers and compressing them to "stick together" I hear this term also thrown around for percussion. Im still learning and I feel like this will help me put together fuller fatter basslines.

Can someone shed some light on how you would use a Send + Compression on multiple bass layers? What is the goal here? How do you approach this and what exactly is going on?

And how does that make it "stick together" and what does that mean?

Im using Ableton btw

[wub]

If you have multiple bass/percussion samples, send them all to the same group channel/bus on the mixer.

Apply a compressor to that group channel.

Because all the sounds are being handled by the same compressor, they will be processed in the same way.

[dalvare1]

so its just volume adjusting? Am i reading that right? Making sure they all have the correct amplitude/volume and one doesnt drown out the other?

[olyko12]

Corrective Eqing can help multiple samples stick together a lot also.

[wub]

so its just volume adjusting? Am i reading that right? Making sure they all have the correct amplitude/volume and one doesnt drown out the other?

No, compression is different to volume adjustment - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range_compression

[legend4ry]

A bus with this on it.

http://dsp.sonimus.com/products/satson/

then this.

http://www.cytomic.com/glue

[dalvare1]

thanks im going through those links now...

but im still not following, what is the goal of making somethings "stick together"?? what does that even mean??

[GothamHero]

thanks im going through those links now...

but im still not following, what is the goal of making somethings "stick together"?? what does that even mean??

If everything gels together and sounds overall polished in the final mixdown, your track will sound a lot better. All the elements flow as one and it's a lot more listenable. If all your elements are conflicting with each other, may it be in frequency range or pitch, it will sound uneven and really bad. Listen to some Ambience music, note how everything sits well, plays off each other and forms together to create a complete harmony and a really great sounding track.

Think of it like a puzzle, if all the pieces are well collected, smoothed out and share close relationships, they will fit together a lot easier and the puzzle will look great; however, if the edges aren't polished out and all the pieces are rough and can't find any bonds because they are all independent, then none of the pieces will fit together and the puzzle won't turn out great. The puzzle pieces being the elements in your track, the polish being how much EQ was applied, and the relationship being where they sit on the frequency spectrum and how much headroom you have left

Definitely read about EQ, compression, scales and arrangement.
It's all about the harmony, different elements acting as one to form a perfect sonority

[dalvare1]

Thanks Gotham! that helps a ton. I knew the gist of it, but thanks for putting it in laymens terms with examples. So its all encompassing, making sure each aspect of the mixdown works in conjuction with the rest of the elements of the track from compression to eq

[legend4ry]

not just any compression though, let me get this clear.

A normal digital comp these days has a clean sound, it adds no character its just for taking away transients and boosting floor level.

You want saturation and/or analogue modeled plugins on your bus's for gluing otherwise yes, everything on the bus will have compression and be smoothed out but theres no "glue" making them seem like they're 'one'.

The two plugins I posted above (funnily enough ones called The Glue) are made for bus's and made to help things gel! They're both fairly cheap considering without them I doubt I could ever do a mix down now; yeah plugin dependency is bad but they're just THAT good!

[dopocc]

will be checking glue soon.. thanks

[Gurnumsbug]

really stupid question, but I never understood...How would I route, say 3 different bass audio tracks into one channel that has the "glue" in it?
In Ableton..

[GothamHero]

really stupid question, but I never understood...How would I route, say 3 different bass audio tracks into one channel that has the "glue" in it?
In Ableton..

Group them, apply to group?
Add the Glue to a return track then crank the send knob for all the 3 channels?

[Gurnumsbug]

really stupid question, but I never understood...How would I route, say 3 different bass audio tracks into one channel that has the "glue" in it?
In Ableton..

Group them, apply to group?
Add the Glue to a return track then crank the send knob for all the 3 channels?

You just saved my life
Tanks

[Grimenoceros]

A bus with this on it.

http://dsp.sonimus.com/products/satson/

then this.

http://www.cytomic.com/glue

I have zero money to spare on non-essentials (food and gas) right now, do you know of any analogue comps like "the glue" you have there that's freeware and worth a damn? Because I'd like to try something different for just sends, and as far as I know all the comps I have in my stable are digital.

[legend4ry]

A bus with this on it.

http://dsp.sonimus.com/products/satson/

then this.

http://www.cytomic.com/glue

I have zero money to spare on non-essentials (food and gas) right now, do you know of any analogue comps like "the glue" you have there that's freeware and worth a damn? Because I'd like to try something different for just sends, and as far as I know all the comps I have in my stable are digital.

Well they're going to be digital anyways; just analogue modeled/colourful compression is what you're after - really.

Try this exact fx-line.

http://www.camelaudio.com/camelcrusher.php <- don't use the compressor - use the distortion, tube to about .. um.. 3-4 notches and mech to 0.


http://www.audiodamage.com/downloads/pr ... pid=ADF002 <- take down some peaks; push it a little bit so you start hearing the character of the compression. Don't push too hard.

http://antress.blogspot.com/ <- get the pack, put the modern exciter next, mess with settings till it starts sounding more colourful; don't over do it.

= Instant nice drums (providing the samples can be pushed that hard)

[Grimenoceros]

A bus with this on it.

http://dsp.sonimus.com/products/satson/

then this.

http://www.cytomic.com/glue

I have zero money to spare on non-essentials (food and gas) right now, do you know of any analogue comps like "the glue" you have there that's freeware and worth a damn? Because I'd like to try something different for just sends, and as far as I know all the comps I have in my stable are digital.

Well they're going to be digital anyways; just analogue modeled/colourful compression is what you're after - really.

Try this exact fx-line.

http://www.camelaudio.com/camelcrusher.php <- don't use the compressor - use the distortion, tube to about .. um.. 3-4 notches and mech to 0.


http://www.audiodamage.com/downloads/pr ... pid=ADF002 <- take down some peaks; push it a little bit so you start hearing the character of the compression. Don't push too hard.

http://antress.blogspot.com/ <- get the pack, put the modern exciter next, mess with settings till it starts sounding more colourful; don't over do it.

= Instant nice drums (providing the samples can be pushed that hard)

Brilliant freebies! Never heard of any of those besides camelcrusher which I already had, they all look fantastic! Can't wait to try them all out. I already implemented the chain you suggested and it works very nicely. I've always been taught to put a dash of reverb on the drum buss as well to make it sound as though from the same room, yay or nay?

[legend4ry]

I would use a convolution reverb; low cut quite high (500hz+) with about 10-15% wet with quite small decay if I was to put reverb on my bus.

I personally opt for a reverb bus of its own with the individual samples going into it with different degrees of bleed and EQ'd to suit.

[Grimenoceros]

I would use a convolution reverb; low cut quite high (500hz+) with about 10-15% wet with quite small decay if I was to put reverb on my bus.

I personally opt for a reverb bus of its own with the individual samples going into it with different degrees of bleed and EQ'd to suit.

That's fair, it would only be a micro amount anyway when I use it on a bus. Cheers for the advice! Definitely altered my drum bus work flow a bit!