Things to try !

[intoccabile]

. In order to keep things neat and clean in the mix, instead of applying a lot of reverb, which muddies up the mix a lot, apply a slight tempo synced delay, and then a slight reverb on that.

. Instead of having one lead synth playing a complex part, have two synths play simpler parts that combine to the complex part. Have one synth be up front, and one slightly filtered and reverbed so that it sits in the back of the mix.

. If you have a square lead which needs to be detuned too far before it sounds "fat", apply a bit of PWM on the square wave.

. If you're distorting something and it doesn't sound fat enough unless you apply so much distortion that it becomes unclear ( or in general if you want a fatter distortion ), turn down the distortion and put a chorus in front of it.

. When you're fading in a part, filter it slightly at low volume and have the filter open up more as it gets louder. The effect is barely noticeable but makes the fade in more noticeable.

. SAVE AS.....

. A patch that uses more frequency spectrum than another is usually more versatile, because you have more tonal shaping possibility. You can use an EQ to cut things you don't want, rather than trying to boost what isn't there.

Your turn people !

[shonky]

Good thread this

Try a bitcrusher rather than a limiter (the one in Logic won't allow you to go above 0db). Limiting with attitude.

Use glitch vst on a sample, put it into Recycle and use it as a percussion set/multisample

For the sub, boost the low frequencies on the channel and then low cut them on the main output (seems obvious, but only just found this one, duh).

Try a convolution reverb using another wav instead of a room impulse, can get some strange otherworldly sounds with the imprint of the other.

Invert a genre cliche

Listen to as many different kinds of music as possible, and incorporate any ideas into your sound.

Don't try and sound like someone else, they already do and have the lead in that race.

[andythetwig]

A few beatmaking tips in Ableton

If they are rendered loops, use the sample offset or impulse retrigger tricks to create endless variations, almost instantaneously.

If you're constructing a live set, and you have used the above methids to create several variations, use follow actions to automate a random sequence of loops- this leaves your hands free to do more knob twiddling after you have triggered the group!

It takes a while to set up, but once you have got it, your can do an entire live set without a single repeated bar, and trigger a breakdown or a build up or a bridge with a single key!

[2000f]

Wicked idea, Intoccabile.

* My stereo buss setup:
(use which ever plugs or hardware units)
Comp (4:1 ratio, mid to slow attack, fast release, gain reduction of 2-6 dB)
EQ (cut at 20Hz, boost 3-4dB at 16kHz. The rest depends on the track)
Limiter (fast attack, fast release)
+ maybe another limiter/maximizer

* Make sure to pan out a lot of the stuff in the mix (ie. shaker left, tambourine/HH right etc.). Spread it out. Except for bass, kick and snare.

* Get hold of a VU meter (hardware og plug-in) PPM/peak doesn´t really show you anything of value (except for dFs clipping) in digital work stations. The VU meter will show you what you really need: the overall level of the track. I find this VERY important.

* Remember to listen to check your mixes for mono compability. This applies for both radio and club play.

* For a more massive snare or clap sound: detune the same sound and spread it out L-C-R or even better; use 3-4 different sounds and layer them (+ spread them out). Remember to compress and/or limit.

* I usually tend to use dynamics + eq on almost every single drum track, but also tend to compress the drum buss too. Sometimes I´ll also feed an aux from the drum buss to a limiter/compressor (working hard) and mix it in the track next to the original drum buss. In this way you can keep the dynamics + have the benefit of the "squashed" drums. If you just want max. levels and no dynamics, go for limiter/compressor on the drum buss.

* For Grand Danois-style breakbeats and drums: Compress the drums/breakbeat buss, feed this into a reverb (not aux. but straight into the reverb unit. Remember to turn it mainly to the "dry" side) and compress again. In Reason I tend to do like this:
Dr. Rex and/or ReDrum -> Screamer (set to Tape, with highest settings for hard compression) -> RV7000 (not too much "wet" reverb) ->Screamer (set to eg. Tube or Tape again) -> Compressor.