What's a "healthy" looking waveform?

[_Agu_]

But I'm 80% certain I've produced waveforms that look like #2 that were WIPs that had no compression or limiting going on.

This depends so much at the music you're making. If you have the whole spectrum filled, and Pendulum/Skrillex/jumpup/tearout 80Hz-100Hz Kick + 200Hz Snare + Sidechain everything, you can get that flat waveform without any squashing. However if your kick hits the same frequencies as the sub, even with sidechaining meter jumps aka waveform doesn't end up flat unless you squash it to shit.

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

Just make a tune and if it sounds good disregard how it looks lol

[nameless133]

If it has no noticeable DC offset, there's no problem.

[Pulsedream3]

Healthy seems subjective to me, idk. There's a lot of artists now that use fucked up waveforms and they seem to do okay with it. Some even use clipping to their advantage

[hubb]

sure

but clipping individual sounds like opticals drums is useful

and clipping the whole waveform is just bad practise tbh

[Pulsedream3]

sure

but clipping individual sounds like opticals drums is useful

and clipping the whole waveform is just bad practise tbh

Yeah, true. That's what I meant I guess

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

U can clip individual things sure. But even that will probably sound "bad" done in the digital domain

[hubb]

http://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/c ... recordings

[ftwgmorm]

1. Only looking at a waveform tells you virtually nothing about it.

srsly

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

http://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/c ... recordings

Fuvk that was amazing.
I think he was talking about clipping his emu tho which has to be more vibey than clipping reason 4 or some shit. Idk big up hubb

[test_recordings]

Lol great posting but wtf is with it being in the edm category on reddit

[hubb]

well its now the most common umbrella term
especially in the us

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

Under my umberella Ella Ella ella ehh ehh

[hubb]

I know they do clip ITB aswell btw

but yeah ofcourse it's not the same same as raping the gains of the emu .. but it still has that magical effect on a mixdown, because the transients stick out..

it's imo central to darker dance music, where other bits are either drenched in verb or distortion, because the clipping reintroduces the dynamic of having overpowering transients... it's a bit like frying compared with boiling ...hmmm gnnnnhgghh hmm ..

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

I'm gonna have to try it at some point to see how it sounds.

[hubb]

ok .... it's easier to figure out at waveform level zoomed in..

you know when you go into a waveform and how it looks ... like how it either goes quickly up or down ... what you do then is to try to find the most 'trust' worthy line
( yes lol abstract) and mark that up...

what you have then is part of the attack portion of the sound (perc hit, kick or snare, something percussive .. could be anything ofcourse)
it's usually a gradual slope and now you've highlighted the bit you're going to treat... then if you add enough volume .. that slope will begin to straighten out and look like part of the waveform is getting crammed inside a box (forcing it to cling to the ceiling or the floor). .. it becomes sort of manual compression in that sence, but instead of having to depend on attack or release settings you get to time it .. ..
...and another 'bonus' is that because it's not actually contained in a box like most compressors actually do in a way- by having a filter threshold and often lowcuts @30/40hz that also introduce phasing (which they put in to emulate hardware where it's necessary to lowcut to not blow up speakers but doesn't have the same logic in the digital domain),
it means that the whole sound is treated equally from the sublevel to the top highs without the filter offsetting the hi/lo's (which in lol 'our' culture is exaggerated by the fact we re-sample already compressed samples all the time.. causing mudd or distortion that mask all the cool deliberate distortion hahah)
to further try to make that point clear... hmm .. with compression it's like we cut a sound in half horizontally and then blow them up inside two independant chambers and then glue the top bit back on... but it usually becomes a squiggly mess ....especially when magnified on either good PAs or when trying to mix to another format or in the mastering phase etc

all of this is worth to think about when you're past the 140 bpm mark or so, mainly because most compressors aren't quick enough to react inside even just a simplistic 4/4 bar structure! at that tempo
also another reason to compress sounds individually instead..

but only in like the interest of fidelity and dynamics... not forgetting that it's sort of the same nonos that have been misused or mistreated that has lead to the sound we like in for example jungle..

[jaydot]

Just make a tune and if it sounds good disregard how it looks lol

this