Mixing in FL studio

[cracktactics]

Since I've started producing, the one aspect im having the most trouble with is mixing. I know that its all down to practice but at the moment im completely loss. Can someone tell me how they first learnt to mix, especially in FL studio, and possibly point me in the direction of any helpful articles/videos. I've looked at all the video tutorials that are on the website, but havent found any that have helped yet. Any advice would be appreciated...

[relik]

What I'll do is lay everything out (all the samples i'm using) in the step sequencer in one pattern. It's the easiest to bang out your basic song loop quickly. Once I'm happy with all the samples and the "loop" so far, I'll start putting each individual sample/channel in it's own individual pattern as opposed to having everything in one. Just select the channel(s) and copy it and then go to a new pattern and paste it (you don't want to recreate the step sequence for the channel when you can just copy it). This way you can then mix everything in the playlist editor and bring each sample in and out as you wish and apply automation clips to them.

IE: I'll have one pattern that is only my snare hit, another that is the kick, another that's the hihat, and so on.

Once you have individual patterns for your samples you just draw them out and mix them in the playlist editor. I pretty much only use the clip tracks editor and not the pattern tracks editor. Obviously you can use more than one sample in a pattern, but I was just trying to explain it in the easiest of terms.

To create variations in sound, just copy the same patterns and create new ones with slight changes/additions or use automation clips. You also just need to know the basics of using FL...how to create new patterns, switch between playlist/step sequencer, etc. Once you know how to use the program efficiently, everything else gets done much quicker. The help file will tell you how to use everything.

[casino]

What I'll do is lay everything out (all the samples i'm using) in the step sequencer in one pattern. It's the easiest to bang out your basic song loop quickly. Once I'm happy with all the samples and the "loop" so far, I'll start putting each individual sample/channel in it's own individual pattern as opposed to having everything in one. Just select the channel(s) and copy it and then go to a new pattern and paste it (you don't want to recreate the step sequence for the channel when you can just copy it). This way you can then mix everything in the playlist editor and bring each sample in and out as you wish and apply automation clips to them.

IE: I'll have one pattern that is only my snare hit, another that is the kick, another that's the hihat, and so on.

Once you have individual patterns for your samples you just draw them out and mix them in the playlist editor. I pretty much only use the clip tracks editor and not the pattern tracks editor. Obviously you can use more than one sample in a pattern, but I was just trying to explain it in the easiest of terms.

To create variations in sound, just copy the same patterns and create new ones with slight changes/additions or use automation clips. You also just need to know the basics of using FL...how to create new patterns, switch between playlist/step sequencer, etc. Once you know how to use the program efficiently, everything else gets done much quicker. The help file will tell you how to use everything.

great mini-tutorial...

BTW respect to your music...

[jolly wailer]

I gotta say one of things that got me more in tune with how I mixed a track was exporting the track to mp3, burning it to cd, stepping away from the computer... bringing my cd along for a car ride - playing it on as many different systems as possible, and kind of making mental notes along the way as far as --- how is everything sitting? is the bass properly loud but not distorted? or conversely is it too quiet? does the bassline red-out when it hits simultaneously with the kicks? are the snares cutting through the mix but not overwhelming the mid-ranges?... I mean these are all obvious concerns.. needless to say I go through tons of cd-rs

stepping away from your computer to audition a mix is a great idea I think.. if you live in the city, get some proper headphones, burn a cd, bring a notebook and hop on the subway - listen to your shit and take notes, what works.. where are the weak points..

FL is funny because while its sort of weak soundwise there are lots of little tricks to get around its limitations... I actually miss it a little since switching to logic..

One thing to play around with is looking to see what sounds are being triggered at the same time.. sometimes say if a kick and a bass note hit at the exact same point the speakers can't handle the load and it fucks up your mix - this is kinda like a waveform cancellation issue or sort of like sonic overload.. the same thing can happen with higher freqs...

to avoid this - slide your bass hits on the piano roll (snap off) just ever so slightly off the exact on-beat so that the initial attack of the kick drum isn't hitting simultaneously as the bass attack... or lowering the volume on individual hits that are being triggered at the same time so its not all this layered full-blown noise all going off in conjunction..

also remember to try to get the absolute highest sound quality samples to load into FL - quality can only go down never up... as fo fo says "shit in shit out"

good mixing is usually about clearing some space for everything after you're done with all of the programing - usually the best thing to do is take away rather than add.. less is more

[cb_db]

What I'll do is lay everything out (all the samples i'm using) in the step sequencer in one pattern. It's the easiest to bang out your basic song loop quickly. Once I'm happy with all the samples and the "loop" so far, I'll start putting each individual sample/channel in it's own individual pattern as opposed to having everything in one. Just select the channel(s) and copy it and then go to a new pattern and paste it (you don't want to recreate the step sequence for the channel when you can just copy it). This way you can then mix everything in the playlist editor and bring each sample in and out as you wish and apply automation clips to them.

IE: I'll have one pattern that is only my snare hit, another that is the kick, another that's the hihat, and so on.

Once you have individual patterns for your samples you just draw them out and mix them in the playlist editor. I pretty much only use the clip tracks editor and not the pattern tracks editor. Obviously you can use more than one sample in a pattern, but I was just trying to explain it in the easiest of terms.

Good tips for sure.

To go along with that and a much more simple way of splitting your patterns into its indvidual sounds is to go to your playlist editor. All your patterns should be listed down the left hand side. Right click on the pattern you want to split and select 'split by channel.' This will put all your sounds (kick, snare, hat, etc.) into their own individual patterns and name them the same as your samples' file name. It will also split your arrangement.

I was doing the copy and paste thing for a while. This has saved me so much time.

[djake]

cheers good tips

[relik]

Right click on the pattern you want to split and select 'split by channel.'

Thanks for that tip. That will definitely save me time and I never knew that it was there. It's always the little features that help the most.

[tempest]

yerp i read that little tip here a few months ago, mad time saver...

but nothing has improved workflow like a midi controller, flicking thru channels and patterns with the knob, record/play/stop buttons at your fingers... damn halfway thru friday at work and im already fiending for a zoot and some beats

[cb_db]

Right click on the pattern you want to split and select 'split by channel.'

Thanks for that tip. That will definitely save me time and I never knew that it was there. It's always the little features that help the most.

Whoa, whoa, whoa...first off, no problem, b)Your tunes are filthy! and 3)how to I obtain said tunes?