Random Production Tips Thread™

[Burgeamon]

Great speakers help but they aren't a must have.

Yes they are

Tell that to KOAN Sound, skrillex, Kill the noise etc....

I highly doubt koan sound doesn't have halfway decent monitors at this point. And if they didn't when they first started, that would explain why their older stuff sounded so drab and poorly mixed. I also highly doubt that skrillex didn't at least have a pair of good headphones when he started mixing.

I'm sure it's "possible" to mix on shitty speakers; but a decent pair of monitors is worth so much more than buying a thousand different synths and plugins to try to get "that sound". The fact is unless you know exactly where your speakers fall short, (and crappy speakers fall short in just about every area), you have no real frame of reference on what it's going to sound like on different systems. You might have everything sounding perfect on your speakers, and then the mix just falls apart as soon as you put it on in your car.

KOAN still mixdown on the same pair of shit £15 headphones that they started with a few years ago. They just know that pair of headphones ridiculously well. New EP in a few weeks and we're releasing some remixes of their earlier tunes that we signed just after.

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

Instead of spending years getting to know your wank headphones you could spend a few weeks getting to know your entry level monitors.

[Augment]

@epo
I see where you are coming from man, it's just that to me, saying you HAVE to have good monitors just seemed kind of dumb. I'm buying my first pair now btw ^^

[Maxxan]

Workflow tips:

Save a blank midi/audio channel on your sequencer with color coded clips that mark different sections of the track - intro, 1st 16, breakdown etc.
Save this to your project template.
Whenever you start a new track you'll have a visual reminder and 'encourager' to think about the track as a whole, rather than getting stuck in loop hell.
Increased my productivity ten fold and is now hard wired to how I work. Beforehand it took me flipping ages to complete a track.


Stuck on a loop?
Copy it, then force yourself to replace 2 instruments and change 3 other elements [insert as many or as few changes as you feel your tracks need].
Repeat x 4
Listen back and you'll have a stack of ideas, may even have the track pretty much done.

Good ones, thanks mate.

Fuck all this monitor bullshit. If you've got it in you you can make at least a decent track on shitty monitors. Of course you're not gonna have mastering engineers mixing on their iPhone headphones, but it's not like everything you do is instantly shit because your monitors are slightly bassier than a pair of studio monitors. At the end of the day if a track is good I'll still listen even if I think the high hats are a bit too loud in 2nd break.

And, just as a reminder to myself. When you're in a long production session, TURN YOUR MONITORS DOWN EVERY NOW AND THEN. I keep sneaking up the volume to 'test' my drops and then I forget, get carried away and my mix goes to shit.

[bkwsk]

Try mono reverbs. Also try a gated reverb on a kickdrum.

[NinjaEdit]

What would you say is then?

MIDI keyboard. Especially considering price.

[cryptic]

Chll/research/ read in the morning (or play cod)

Mix downs/finish previous projects in the afternoon

Start new projects at night, so the next day you can review what you have done. As i find the next day everything sounds completely different. Nothing worse than making a tune all day to come back the next day and thinks the 5 hour track you made sounds shit lol

[wub]

Instead of spending years getting to know your wank headphones you could spend a few weeks getting to know your entry level monitors.

End result is still the same though...you know your output device really, really well.

[goldengrime]

Great speakers help but they aren't a must have.

Yes they are

Tell that to KOAN Sound, skrillex, Kill the noise etc....

I highly doubt koan sound doesn't have halfway decent monitors at this point. And if they didn't when they first started, that would explain why their older stuff sounded so drab and poorly mixed. I also highly doubt that skrillex didn't at least have a pair of good headphones when he started mixing.

I'm sure it's "possible" to mix on shitty speakers; but a decent pair of monitors is worth so much more than buying a thousand different synths and plugins to try to get "that sound". The fact is unless you know exactly where your speakers fall short, (and crappy speakers fall short in just about every area), you have no real frame of reference on what it's going to sound like on different systems. You might have everything sounding perfect on your speakers, and then the mix just falls apart as soon as you put it on in your car.

KOAN still mixdown on the same pair of shit £15 headphones that they started with a few years ago. They just know that pair of headphones ridiculously well. New EP in a few weeks and we're releasing some remixes of their earlier tunes that we signed just after.

Holy fuck!! I can't believe you even believe half the shit that gets said about mixing on headphones and shit monitors, I cant tell you for sure about their setup but they for sure are not mixing down there own stuff anymore... Why do you think skrillex, alvin risk, koan sound, kill the noise all have the same 'sound'. I'm talking about the engineering here nothing to do with the tracks. And just like when 501 had that track on owlsa did you not notice the difference in sound? We could argue that all this is done by the mastering engineer but either way they still all sound the same.

[KOAN Sound]

KOAN still mixdown on the same pair of shit £15 headphones that they started with a few years ago. They just know that pair of headphones ridiculously well. New EP in a few weeks and we're releasing some remixes of their earlier tunes that we signed just after.

Holy fuck!! I can't believe you even believe half the shit that gets said about mixing on headphones and shit monitors, I cant tell you for sure about their setup but they for sure are not mixing down there own stuff anymore... Why do you think skrillex, alvin risk, koan sound, kill the noise all have the same 'sound'. I'm talking about the engineering here nothing to do with the tracks. And just like when 501 had that track on owlsa did you not notice the difference in sound? We could argue that all this is done by the mastering engineer but either way they still all sound the same.

lol

[ehbes]

[AxeD]

KOAN still mixdown on the same pair of shit £15 headphones that they started with a few years ago. They just know that pair of headphones ridiculously well. New EP in a few weeks and we're releasing some remixes of their earlier tunes that we signed just after.

Holy fuck!! I can't believe you even believe half the shit that gets said about mixing on headphones and shit monitors, I cant tell you for sure about their setup but they for sure are not mixing down there own stuff anymore... Why do you think skrillex, alvin risk, koan sound, kill the noise all have the same 'sound'. I'm talking about the engineering here nothing to do with the tracks. And just like when 501 had that track on owlsa did you not notice the difference in sound? We could argue that all this is done by the mastering engineer but either way they still all sound the same.

lol

Haha, this one for the books
Seriously though, the crummy headphones aren't still in use I'm guessing

[Today]

you can mix on tin cans with strings attached to your PC's audio line out, if you want

but I wouldn't

[Cubicle]

KOAN still mixdown on the same pair of shit £15 headphones that they started with a few years ago. They just know that pair of headphones ridiculously well. New EP in a few weeks and we're releasing some remixes of their earlier tunes that we signed just after.

Holy fuck!! I can't believe you even believe half the shit that gets said about mixing on headphones and shit monitors, I cant tell you for sure about their setup but they for sure are not mixing down there own stuff anymore... Why do you think skrillex, alvin risk, koan sound, kill the noise all have the same 'sound'. I'm talking about the engineering here nothing to do with the tracks. And just like when 501 had that track on owlsa did you not notice the difference in sound? We could argue that all this is done by the mastering engineer but either way they still all sound the same.

lol

Quoted for best reply.

[Huts]

owned

[glottis5]

Here's a tip: put a pinch of sage in your boots and all day long a spicy scent is your reward.

[Fauster]

Here's a tip: put a pinch of sage in your boots and all day long a spicy scent is your reward.

dafuq?

[dickman69]

^^ LOL

[_v_]

Here's a tip: put a pinch of sage in your boots and all day long a spicy scent is your reward.

dafuq?

[wub]

Here's a tip: put a pinch of sage in your boots and all day long a spicy scent is your reward.

Hark to the tale of Nelson,
And the boy he loved so dear...
They remained the best of friends,
For years and years and years!