Thursday, October 3, 2013

Intermediate FL Studio Guide Make Your Kick Sound Better



Kicks sound layered....instrumental sounds heavily compresses as well. For starts you can layer different kicks .sounds like there is a wide stereo field on the kick as well. Might want to experiment with that ..

Well basically a limiter is a compressor with a ratio set to 10:1 or higher....

It allows you to basically turn the gain on that track up more, without having it clip. Your signal peaks will not reach the levels they did before, meaning you have more headroom to work with and again can therefore turn up the kick track....

i can eq and compress each specific channel that has a kick drum or even snare,also i read what u wrote and i really agree with what u said,that its all in the mixing,for the first time i tryed mixing 2 kdrums layered but at diffrent levels and like u said i got a better sounding kick drum.........i have been making beats for 9 months and i have focused my time on the beat making process,building diffrent patterns,layering......now that i feel more confortable with the beat making process(which i will have to allways keep working on)i want to get some experiance on the mixing part of the process and adding in compression ,eq and reverbs....reason2.5 has a 14ch mixer(which was designed after a makie mixer)......i cant remember which model # makie but i will let u know.......i have a very low budget setup,everything i have evolves around the reason 2.5 software,i also have sonar 3 pro edition i also have cubase sx but i really havent learned how to use the daw softwares and ireally also want to put in the time 2 learn these 2 softwares but i guess in due time......i work pretty well in reason.....but i feel that i need to be alot better....i really just a rookie,there's guys who have used reason for years and their pretty much veterns of the software,so i feel that that i must constantly work on making my self better at making beats in reason...if i have enough money one day maybe in a year i like to buy a mpc1000 to add it,in to my production with reason 2.5...but anyways, thank you for the headz up i like to hear more on your ideas on mixing kick drums and adding effects......(hopefully it will start a big discussion on kick drums then we can get everybodys take on it.)


Random tips... not always useful but nice to know.

1.) Snares love plate 'verb

2.) Multiple 'verbs on snare often works

3.) Cutting top end off room mics is often good

4.) "Modern" kick drums have a lot less low end than you may think, and a lot more 4-6K... you may end up boosting +12 db in that range... don't fret, it happens.

5.) Nail you kick/snare compression attack/release curves right away. Once you nail that (and you'll hear it when you do) you've got the drum sounds nailed.

6.) Don't pan the toms too far... 75-45% wide does the trick.

7.) Don't go insane with the top end of the OH's.... too much 10K+ ends up with a very amateur sound.

8.) Snare EQ: HP around 70hz, boost around 120-240, cut around 500-700, boost at 1.2K, and look for something between 3 and 10 K for more boost depending. Depends on what you got and want. Piccolo snares tend to like 6-7k boosts.

9.) Try parallel compression on only the rooms--run one fairly mild, and the other set to annihilate. Balance them out until it sounds cool.

10.) Knock out some 200 and 800 hz in room mics... leave the rest of it alone except for maybe some mild 8 Khz lowpassin'. If the kick has to be tight, HP the signal as well.

11.) Ruthlessly cut the lower mids on kick.... 6-15 db cuts should do around the 300-500 area. Set bandwidth to taste... the tighter the kick you want the more around 150-250 you should be rollin' off on.

12.) Pick either your OH's or rooms as being dominant. Don't put 'em in at the same levels--have one louder than the other. The "modern" way is to choose the rooms a bit more--to balance out the ultra compressed and loud direct mics. Most OH's these days are cymbal info and a little clarity only and are often low in the mix (like -12 db on the meters it seems).

13.) Limit *AND* compress kicks and snares. Love compression with a vengeance for that Lord Alge sound.

14.) Put a stereo widener on your OH's... makes the drumkit image bigger, can make the snare sound a bit fatter too.

15.) Put 20 ms delay on your room mics to get that Albini sound.

16.) Apply vigorous amounts of tape saturation as the first plugin in your chain.... you'll need less compression later on. Gets a good vintage/indie type sound if you lay it on there.

17.) 20-80 ms of predelay on snare 'verbs can be cool.

18.) Non-lin verb sounds on drums is probably going to come back in style--I've already gotten requests for "big 80's drum sounds, tons of reverb" from young bands.

19.) Don't compress your OH mics.

20.) See if you can get a good sound using only your OH's and (some) room mics. Add minor amounts of close kick/snare (maybe not snare) for a vintage type sounds. It can be interesting how great you can get this to sound (except forget it when doing "modern" rock or metal--you need all the close mics you can get).

21.) When in doubt use triggers/samples. However, if it's a "learning" session or your trying to improve your chops don't use those things until you learn how to mix without it. Use the bare minimum when you do use 'em...
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