Alright Newbies, Ask A Question

[nowaysj]

Ain't no wrong now, ain't no right, just pleasure and pain.

[RKM]

yeah, use different reverbs to get different feels on parts, and the send channel to get an overall reverb feel on the whole tune

the cpu thing, sorted by deleting all the samples not in immediate use, and all the effects i'd put on stuff to try but not used

[hellagargoyle]

I got a ableton lag problem too maybe someone can help. Can i change the hotkey placement for duplicate ctrl-D to somethin else so its not right next to save ctrl-S? almost everytime i try dupe without looking i miss press S and my pc laggs out for like 10 seconds saving when it should be fuckin dupe'nnn

[Mordern]

I don't know if you're joking or not, but I don't think there's a way to change hotkeys, and even if there was, I assume almost every key would be taken already. The obvious answer is to use a millisecond to look at the keyboard before pressing a key. Or you could start playing computer games, which may increase your keyboard accuracy.

[hellagargoyle]

kind of a joke but i would have really changed the hotkey if u had a way.... i wish u had a way...

[Lye_Form]

Good fred

Will return when i think of a Q nowaysj.

[nowaysj]

I'm more likely to ax you a question.

[Lye_Form]

I'm more likely to ax you a question.

Willing to answer any question, i tend to do things in a very roundabout and weird way tho

Oh i got one,

Explain resonant frequencies and how/why to cut them out when mixing? Most of the stuff online seems to be pretty clueless about the subject.

[nowaysj]

Resonant frequencies of the sounds themselves, or frequencies that hit room resonances?

[Lye_Form]

Resonant frequencies of the sounds themselves, or frequencies that hit room resonances?

those 150-300 hz(?)ish frequencies in a tune that get called junk frequencies cus they do nothing but hurt ears.

[nowaysj]

Okay, I'm no mix master, but here is a rambler for you.

Those are not junk frequencies. There are no junk frequencies, imo.

But! There is a lot of energy there, AND most sounds have content in this range. So you start to get a lot of build up here. Or maybe 150-400.

It is a cross roads area. Sub and bass sounds will have higher harmonics that are still very present in this range, and your high sounds will have a foot down here. And usually the base/bass of your snare/clap is going to be right in here, which usually is used for a hard impact to drive beats. Just a very busy area.

The point is all these sounds will start stacking up in this range. Best to really think about this, really listen. Decide how much weight and impact from the higher sounds you can pull out by pulling out the low mids, but then how much of the presence from the lower sounds can you pull out and still be heard on a variety of systems, and how much character those sounds can have.

It is all balancing, and as with any aesthetic decision, there is no right choice. You can choose to have a muddy mix, you can like muddy mixes.

But! Many amateur mixes are way too thick in this range. Just too much going on, at the same time, so everything gets lost, and the whole mix is quiet and dull. The next step after amateur mixing, is when people figure this out, and then pull too much out of this area, and mixes become loud and bright, but often shrill and thin. Haha. It is all about making decisions. Who is going to do what, and how is it going to feel. The synthesis of this process is getting everything right. Everything balanced. A sub where the sub wants to be, balanced with the kick where it wants to be. A lead where it wants to be with its weight set right. A snare that smacks in the right way.

This is pretty easy to clean up though. Gentle low cuts, experiment with 6db cuts, or 12db cuts, or try shelves on higher sounds, and then the opposite for the lower stuff.

As a sampler, some of your job is easier, some is harder - you can pick samples that fit into the right spots. Pick sounds that fit right, and don't need a lot of eq'ing, ie, chiseling to wedge into place. But then if you are sampling, a lot of times, you have to pitch stuff around to make it fit, and that can take sounds that would have fit, and now they're stepping on everybody else's toes.

Most important to listen, hear that shit, and make decisions.

[Masfrin]

I was wondering, when it comes to the length in bars for dubstep. What is the preferred length? I know there aren't any strict rules for this. But, I'm guessing DJs want it to be a certain way, for it to fit in the mix. I've been seeing quite a few people dropping it way past 32 bars and some as low as 16 bars. Could you give me some insight on this? Also, hello everyone! I know this isn't probably the best place for me to introduce myself. But, my name is "Samuel Becker", I go by the stage name "Masfrin", and you can just call me "Sam".

[Lye_Form]

I was wondering, when it comes to the length in bars for dubstep. What is the preferred length? I know there aren't any strict rules for this. But, I'm guessing DJs want it to be a certain way, for it to fit in the mix. I've been seeing quite a few people dropping it way past 32 bars and some as low as 16 bars. Could you give me some insight on this? Also, hello everyone! I know this isn't probably the best place for me to introduce myself. But, my name is "Samuel Becker", I go by the stage name "Masfrin", and you can just call me "Sam".

IMO:

To make it easier on yourself and others for mixing the standard is:

32 intro 64 'drop' 32 break 64 drop 32 outro

However as long as you stick 4/4 and phases of 8 or 16 its mixable, and you should go with your gut and what you want to happen with the tune, if you are unsure try 32 64 32 64 32 and listen through it, you may want to switch it up if you feel things change too fast or slowly.

welcome to dsf

[RKM]

yo, been using samples for melody/bass recently,
do you have to transpose them or is it possible to get them into midi/piano roll, it's quite fiddly doing it all by transposing and means i can't make chords and struggle to get shit in time chopping little bits off either end,
when ive got them into midi they've sounded really flat and bad (presumably the sample itself was layered or a chord)

[Lye_Form]

yo, been using samples for melody/bass recently,
do you have to transpose them or is it possible to get them into midi/piano roll, it's quite fiddly doing it all by transposing and means i can't make chords and struggle to get shit in time chopping little bits off either end,
when ive got them into midi they've sounded really flat and bad (presumably the sample itself was layered or a chord)

Yes, you use ableton iirc?

Go to instruments and insert a sampler into a new channel, then drop the sample you want into it , you then can play the sample like an instrument (make sure the sample note is correct)

[RKM]

safe geez, was in a bit of despair thinking i had to do it the long way every time

[Lye_Form]

safe geez, was in a bit of despair thinking i had to do it the long way every time

Nah but you can have a lot of fun transposing stuff,

try pitching up/down using beats transpose mode (or any) then consolidate (cntrl j) and then pitch back using a different transpose mode, you can get completely different timbre to the sound - works really good with vocals too.

[nowaysj]

yo, been using samples for melody/bass recently,
do you have to transpose them or is it possible to get them into midi/piano roll, it's quite fiddly doing it all by transposing and means i can't make chords and struggle to get shit in time chopping little bits off either end,
when ive got them into midi they've sounded really flat and bad (presumably the sample itself was layered or a chord)

I'mma little confused about what you're trying to do. What genre, what samples, what are you really trying to do?

[RKM]

dude just tried that, samplers there, samples in it, but it looks a lil grey and it's not making any sound?

[zosomagik]

dude just tried that, samplers there, samples in it, but it looks a lil grey and it's not making any sound?

You probably have to change the sample start position.