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any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:31 pm
by Kilo beats
Any advice on making sounds fit together better? i have read and apply the knowledge found in the moneyshot thread, but i still have problems making sounds sound like they belong together..

been producing about 5 years and this is probley the biggest problem i have..

eg... making a bunch of one shots/ sampled drum hits sound like an actual drum kit

or

making the bass that sounds cool on its own, and the break/ beat that sounds cool on its own, sound good together.

ill spend hours eqing to make sure freq's are not clashing. mix down to the best of my ability. but i still cant make the seprate elements compliment each other... advice?

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:48 pm
by Electric_Head
give me an example

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:03 pm
by Sharmaji
Less eq, more buss compression with good compressors, less verb, more short delays.

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:14 pm
by legend4ry
Sharmaji wrote:Less eq, more buss compression with good compressors, less verb, more short delays.

Came to say this.

Look for "The Glue" and "Satson" - they're your buss's best friend.

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:20 pm
by Kilo beats
like in this tune, Kryptic Minds - The Weeping

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPSMddKwFJs

all the elements compliment each other and work as a whole, like a jigsaw puzzle...

compare that with one of my tracks Soundcloud and my elements sound more messy, not that there terribly bad or anything. i just want all the elements to sound like they work together... rather than just a bunch of assorted one shots....

cant really explain it.. it just sound like the pro tracks im trying to get my productions to sound like paint a much clearer picture .


thanks for the tips... im ging to look into those softwares now :)

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:23 pm
by legend4ry

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:26 pm
by Kilo beats
thanks Legend4ry

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 5:33 pm
by Sharmaji
i've been REALLY into the Waves CLA classic compressor emulations for just these reasons... not even compressing at time, just sitting in the plugin chain-- they all do nice things to get sounds gelling together.

stillwell rocket on the drums, as i've said a million times before

and i've been really into the stillwell bombardier on the master-- depending on the mix, it can do do wonders for helping things fit together better; it's also got fantastic controls for a bus compressor.

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:22 pm
by societyloser1
Sorry, but I don't think just a drum bus compressor will do the trick.

First of all, some samples are meant to be together, some don't! If they don't... Just give up and find another sample!

And also... Glueing things together is all about giving the samples/instruments the same feel! How do you do that? -> Busses! Create send/return busses. One with a short delay, one with a short reverb (and maybe one with a pretty long reverb)! Just send all of your sounds a little bit to the busses, untill you find a good mix!

And yes, some bus compression could do the trick... But I don't think it will solve the glue problems, if there isn't allready some coherent feeling between the instruments/samples/...

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:45 pm
by Kilo beats
Awesome advice guys.. thanks for the suggestions u guys rock..

quick question thou..

if i send stuff to busses this will no doubt add extra volume..

e.g.... once my individual drums are all grouped/ sent to a "all drum bus" then i start adding some send/returns like societyloser1 suggests, there will be a increase in volume..

so if i have my drum bus (before adding fx busses/ send channels) peaking at -10db, then start adding sends/ returns, now my drums (when solod with the added busses) will probley be peaking at around -6.. how do i reduce the overall volume of the whole output (original drum bus + sends )back down to -10? should i bounce the drums and bring them back into the project as audio? or just turn the original drum bus volume down so when its sent to the extra sends/ busses it peaks at -10

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:02 pm
by joshisrad
You're probably just not that good at sound design and using synthesizers in general.

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:21 pm
by societyloser1
Killo Beats... Where are you worrying about?
Do not look at numbers! -6dB or -10dB, it doesn't matter! As long as your mix is right and you stay under 0dB, there's no problem!
+ send/return busses don't add so much extra dB's... The level of the busses has to stay pretty low, because it's something you add in the background, if it's too loud It won't sound that good!

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:25 pm
by societyloser1
joshisrad wrote:You're probably just not that good at sound design and using synthesizers in general.
Trying to be the jerk, so you will look cool and stuff? Don't try to be like zomby, baby!

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:34 pm
by joshisrad
Lol no I'm not being a jerk.

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:03 pm
by Trichome
joshisrad wrote:Lol no I'm not being a jerk.
judging by the track in his sig, he is perfectly capable of sound design.
everything flows well and sounds good, the only thing i would complain about is the mixdown.

now fuck off.

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:44 pm
by joshisrad
Trainrek wrote:
joshisrad wrote:Lol no I'm not being a jerk.
judging by the track in his sig, he is perfectly capable of sound design.
everything flows well and sounds good, the only thing i would complain about is the mixdown.

now fuck off.
Lmao what the hell is this? So typical. I was not bashing on the OP, you are overreacting. YOU fuck off.

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:47 pm
by ehbes
^ stop.

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:18 pm
by joshisrad
ehbrums1 wrote:^ stop.
You stop. I've done nothing wrong in this thread.

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:26 pm
by Eat Bass
kilo just to let you know i think your track sounds pretty fuckin nice, and i think all of your sounds fit pretty well...i don't think it comes down to compression really. i think it comes down to the way you arrange and layer the track. sometimes when i listen to a professional track i find it amazing and just pure genius the way every little thing is layered and arranged. thats just my opinion though, these other guys know more that i do.

Re: any advice on making sounds fit together better?

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 6:27 am
by Electric_Head
joshisrad wrote:You're probably just not that good at sound design and using synthesizers in general.
Just to summarize, you`re a turd