The Reason Q&A Thread

[Ongelegen]

Wow I never knew you could access the manual via reason. Spent half a year trying to figure this shit out by myself going to become useful lol.

Btw when does Reason 5 come out? Really look foward to it. Hopefully a all round improvement.

Props homepage says end of summer

[ENZA]

Trying to find a good way to analyze my frequencies?

seen a lot of tuts where alot of mixing is explained alot thru the frequency analyzers and where each type of sound should be in the range of..

thanks

solved my problem: http://reasonpatchaday.blogspot.com/200 ... lysis.html

[apastrat]

Dont know about that one to be honest, i'd rather rewire and use some frequency anayzer on the host program, more accurate feedback.

[ENZA]

Anyone have a good tut on how to use the compressor, maximizer or stereo imager??

thnks

[futures_untold]

The manual will help explain what each control does on the three devices mentioned. Read that first.

Also realise that a maximiser is a just a fancy limiter. Maximisers allow the signal to be compressed and boosted in volume at the same time. Limiting of course, is compression with an extreme compression ratio, i.e. a compression ratio over 10:1.

There are many many ways to use a compressor, so to give a decent tutorial we need to know what you're trying to achieve with compression. Afterall, compression can be used to make things quieter, make things louder, make things distort, make sure distortion doesn't happen, make things pump rhythmically etc etc (compression, expansion, saturation, limiting and gating respectively).

Wikipedia has an excellent entry explaining compression and all the related dynamics control tools. This should give you a decent understanding of what compression/limiting/maximisation does.

If you're really serious about learning about compression (and other audio effects), buy Sound FX by Alex Case. This book has the most in depth and easy to understand explination of compression I've come across. (You won't be disappointed, as others here on DSF also found this book useful too).

Stereo imaging is used to make a track sound wider or narrower in terms of percieved panorama. Pop your headphones on and pass a pad sound through the stereo imager to get an idea of what it can do for you.

[Ongelegen]

If you're really serious about learning about compression (and other audio effects), buy Sound FX by Alex Case. This book has the most in depth and easy to understand explination of compression I've come across. (You won't be disappointed, as others here on DSF also found this book useful too).

[ENZA]

thanks futuress!! another question. i was reading the reso Q&A and seems he does alot of resampling. is it possible to it to the level that he does but for me on reason? any tips and pointers would be great!

[Ongelegen]

yea just bounce and then load into 1 of the 2 samplers, nn-19 or nn-xt

[ENZA]

yea just bounce and then load into 1 of the 2 samplers, nn-19 or nn-xt

okay and then wat add effects two it or mess with the eq and effects to get a different sound combined with another sample of the same synth? if that makes any sense haha

[Ongelegen]

yeah,

process a sound, export, import, process, export etc.

[ENZA]

yeah,

process a sound, export, import, process, export etc.

Makes sense thanks alot mann. still very new to all this but gettn tha hang..

and this goes for subs and err thang so i gotta new trick up my sleeeve

[ENZA]

another question, if i have a amen loop sample at 165bpm can i slow it down to 140 bpm to make it fit in my track? if so how?

[futures_untold]

I think there are a few resampling threads in this forum if you're prepared to dig a bit. Use the custom DSF Google button in my signature strip to do a few searches.

Resampling in Reason is certainly possible.

My advice is to stack several synths up in a combinator without too many effects, then to bounce that.

Bounce several notes out at different pitches, perhaps C2, F2, C3, F3 etc. That way, when you reimport the samples into the samplers, you can play most notes without to many audible pitching artifacts.

Notice I said don't use to many effects to start with? If we use to many effe ts before bouncing, adding more effects after the bounce can be overkill. this is especially true of distortion.

Aim to get a decent full tone before the bounce, then apply effects after the bounce.

Good luck!

[futures_untold]

If the Amen is a Rex, it will automatically play at 140bpm once it has been imported.

I think Record has the ability to timestretch actual samples.

If it doesn't, download Reaper for free and drag and drop the sample into the sequencer window. Set the project tempo to 140bpm. Hover the mouse over the righthand edge of the sample whilst holding down the 'Alt' key, and drag the sample to the grid so it fits nicely into 1 bar. (Holding down the Alt key whilst dragging the edge of a sample or midi event timestretches it). With snapping switched on, this should be really easy. You can switch on snapping by pressing Alt-S if it isn't already on.

Finally, render the audio as a wav using the 'Render' dialog found in the 'File' menu and reimport into Reason.

[ENZA]

Awesome info thanks and i found a great resampling thread. Learn like 10 new things everyday in this damn place hahah

[Rolaz]

Soundcloud



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[ENZA]

Soundcloud



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Soundcloud

[step correct]

The manual will help explain what each control does on the three devices mentioned. Read that first.

Also realise that a maximiser is a just a fancy limiter. Maximisers allow the signal to be compressed and boosted in volume at the same time. Limiting of course, is compression with an extreme compression ratio, i.e. a compression ratio over 10:1.

There are many many ways to use a compressor, so to give a decent tutorial we need to know what you're trying to achieve with compression. Afterall, compression can be used to make things quieter, make things louder, make things distort, make sure distortion doesn't happen, make things pump rhythmically etc etc (compression, expansion, saturation, limiting and gating respectively).

Wikipedia has an excellent entry explaining compression and all the related dynamics control tools. This should give you a decent understanding of what compression/limiting/maximisation does.

If you're really serious about learning about compression (and other audio effects), buy Sound FX by Alex Case. This book has the most in depth and easy to understand explination of compression I've come across. (You won't be disappointed, as others here on DSF also found this book useful too).

Stereo imaging is used to make a track sound wider or narrower in terms of percieved panorama. Pop your headphones on and pass a pad sound through the stereo imager to get an idea of what it can do for you.

OK, what settings are a good starting point for say .. subs. On a compresser. 2:1 ? Attack and release all the way off? Just wondering if I'm doing it right lol

[futures_untold]

A few things can be said here.

Help yourself to fit the sub into the mix by eqing the low end off everything else except the kick. By low end I mean anything under 150Hz. If the sub and the kick are sequenced to play at the same time, they may interfer with each other. Again, eq the kick below 80Hz (or higher if it doesn't effect the tone of the kick sound).

What compression settings? There are no hard and fast rules as it depends on what else is going on in the mix.

As you said, start of with 2:1 compression and turn up the compression ratio until it sounds crap. Once it sounds bad, back off the ratio auntil it doesn't sound bad + a little more for safety's sake.

You may want to compress both the sub and the kick drum, so they really can't mess with each other much. Try a ratio of 5:1 on both, with very low threshold (so it always triggers), a fast attack and slow release. this will apply almost constant compression, and you'll be able to adjust the output gain on the compressors to get the balance right between the two parts.

You may actually wish to use two compressers per part instead of one? If you set the first compressor to a ratio of 3:1, set the second to 5:1. That way, the first compressor can lower the majority of the peaks and the second can really squash anything that has still slipped through. I'd set the threshold for the first compressor to something low enough for it to be constantly compressing. On the first compressor, you could set a slower attack and faster release than the second one, which should have a fast attack and release.

If in doubt, turn the volume down on everything in the mix.

Hope that makes sense and helps!

Patrick

[step correct]

Thanks man!

Well.. I'm sidechaining my kick and sub.. and I have a mid range going.
I kinda have compressers on all of them seperately. It doesn't sound that bad..
should I spider my sub and mid range into one output and put that into the compresser I'm using for my sidechain?
It's kind of becoming a mess