Intermediate FL Studio Guide Mastering Your Song

Compression

Most of you probably already know what compression is. Most of you, though, are also probably not using it correctly. The compression of the dynamic range of audio is a common thing and it is using on pretty much every modern audio track. What compression does, is making sure that the audio doesn’t clip: it makes sure that the audio doesn’t exceed the decibel limits so it makes sure that the audio simply won’t be too loud.

Now, this is how it works: when recorded audio is too loud and exceeds the decibel limits the compressor takes the peaks of the audio and compresses them so that they will stay within the limits and therefore won’t be to loud. However, it also takes the very soft part of a track and boosts the frequencies. Eventually, you’ve got a track with an average waveform and the soft parts are being boosted and the loud parts are being reduced in frequency and therefore in volume.

The problem with compression is that these days a lot of people really don’t know how to work with it. When one simply puts a compressor on a track then everything will stay within the volume decibel limits. However, it also really flattens the audio and takes away the soul and dynamics of the music.

When one plays a really emotional piece of the guitar, for example, and then on the end a louder part, then the compressor will make the first part louder to make everything have a common average decibel level. This takes away the emotion in the sound and therefore one should reduce the compression. In modern music, a lot of albums are very loud and undynamic: this is called the Loudness War. These days, it seems that most people are trying to put as much decibels within the dynamic range as they can. This will often result in an unemotional, undynamic track.

There are different kinds of compressors available, both physical and virtual compressors. Virtual compressors are getting more and more popular these days because they are more flexible and don’t require physical space in a studio. Also, they are more dynamic to work with because they are faster. Different compressors have different timbres, characteristic musical sounds. Examples of famous compressors are the VC 76 FET compressor that produces a punchy sound, and the VC 2A Electro-optical compressor that produces a very smooth and warm sound. Compressor choice is personal, and fortunately there are a lot of compressors available these days for different purposes.

Source: Wikipedia

Now that you know a little bit about compression, let’s take a look at some compression techniques. In fact, there is a session right here on beatmakers101 about compression techniques here. This is an incredible handy session as it provides a lot of different techniques on how to efficiently add compression to your track. Also, be sure to find as many resources as you can considering compression to get as much experience possible like (e-)books and other websites.

Equalization

Equalization is the boosting of specific frequencies of a sound. Two examples of EQ interfaces in Cubase are:

Intermediate FL Studio Guide Mixing Techniques

First of all, let’s start by explaining what exactly mixing and mastering is. The first term, mixing, refers to the process of putting multiple layers of audio together to make one final track, or to musically modify an existing track. The second term, mastering, refers to the process of optimizing the final track using all sorts of different mastering elements such as compression, equalization, stereo enhancement and more.
In this article, we’ll spend quite a bit more time on the mastering as we will discuss several mastering processes like compression and EQ. Now, let’s take as example me having recorded a track in my home studio. I’ve recorded the guitar, the piano and the drums using my digital condenser USB microphone onto different tracks in my sequencer software Cubase.
As I simply layer the tracks and play the song, the sound is quite undynamic and flat. What I can now do, is mixing. I can change the volume of an audio track at a certain point to make e.g. the guitar come out more clearly at a specific moment. This is the mixing of the track, the layering of the audio and the volume determination. Also, unwanted noise and clicks are removed in the mixing stage.
Now, the track will sound better but there’s still quite a lot of work to do. It’s time for mastering. By mastering the track one can really bring a track to life and spice up the sound. You can make the drum more dynamic, the guitar more or less sharp sounding, the piano more soft and you might want to boost the bass frequencies of the piano a little bit as there is no bass.
This is an example of mastering, which one does to spice up the track and make it sound way more dynamic. Below, you can here an example of a track that I’ve recorded. The first audio file is a raw recording, the only thing that I’ve done is layering the instruments. The second audio file is that same track, but now mastered. Compression, equalization, stereo enhancement and reverb effects are applied. You can certainly here the difference as the second track sounds quite different.

10 Quick Tips For Mixing Beats In FL Studio

1. Rbass from waves on your kicks is awesome. I normally use two kicks. Boost one at 100 and the other varies on original sound of it.

2. Compress your instruments and drums. Compression is tough be careful. You should first turn the instrument down to a level where it isn't too loud and overbearing. Then turn the threshold down to the new level of volume for the instrument. For regular instruments the ratio should be 4:1 and for bass the ratio should be higher, between 6:1 and 8:1. Next use the gain to get the instrument back up to the desired level.

3. Drums loud and proud. If you are mixing a beat, your drums should be the loudest thing in the beat with out creatind distortion or overpowering the other instruments. This tip may seem like it could be taken lightly so I am gonna say this. When I realized this.... "Sales Increase".

4. Effects.... Effects....Effects. When you can't figure out what to do with something as far as mixing goes, try a phaser preset, a flanger preset, or any other effects you have laying around. This is a great way to change things up.

5. Mix With the volume as low as possible. If something sounds too loud when the volume is at a minimal you have to turn it down. By listening to the beat at a low level during mixing, you get to hear exactly what is overpowering if any and out of wack frequencies.

6. "Mastering" mixer presets on the master mixer track. Right click master tab, go to file, click open mixer track state. You will see a few presets there for mastering. Make sure you try all of them out to see which is best. One preset will not work on every song.

7. Pan your percussions, not your instruments. Sounds creazy but try it. I find this more desirable. Try putting the snare about 6% right. and then setting up the others to each side not too spread out.

8. Reverb on your snares is important. Use the regular drum room reverb and turn the effect down till it is perfect with the snare. Now this should set the tone on reverb for the rest of the beat.

9. Soft clipper. Just to be on the safe side I always add my soft clipper to the mix. It is a good tool to stop your beat from clipping.

10. Maximus plug in, this is good for adding the extra dynamic you are looking for. Add maximus on your master plug ins and use the preset Clean Master RMS, or just clean master. Anoth good one to use is the LinMB from waves. Use the Electro multi adaptive mastering and click the make up button to make that function automatic. Of course one with out the other, together maximus and LinMB would be too much. Those that don't have either may use blood overdrive and adjust the amount of the effect.


Quick tip: After mixing giver your ears about 3 hours to 8 hours and then listen to it on some different types of systems. Stereo, car stereo, laptop, etc. If it sounds good on everything its perfect.

Intermediate FL Studio Guide Mixing Your Beat

In live music recording less emphasis is put on the mixing of volume levels nd EQing. Those things are largely taken care of later, after everything is recorded.

In electronic and hiphop music a lot of mixing and EQing is done during the composition phase itself. Because in some essence, the "live instruments" have already been recorded (if you're using samples) and when you're putting together a track with samples or synths, your job includes mixing, balancing and EQ.

So you've already answered your own question. Yes, they do mixing at the composition stage. So for you to get good at it, you must also learn how to EQ, balance the volume levels of synths/instruments, pan and compress. But if I were you, I wouldn't mess with it too much in FL.

Make a "rough draft" as a painter would outlining general shapes in a painting. Focus on the actual composition, you'll concentrate on other details later. Besides, there are better tools for mixing actual wave tracks such as Audition, Audacity, etc. In FL, after a certain point, you'd be just wasting time.

FL is mainly a tool for composition, a sequencer.
Multi track recorders are mainly for mixing.


There are two places where the overall output level (volume) of FL Studio can be adjusted -
Main volume fader.
Master Mixer track fader (14 bottom of page), see the 'Mixer reference diagram' below.
The Main volume fader should be left at the default position (Right-click and select 'Reset') and the Master mixer track fader used for overall level adjustments. The following discussion assumes the Main volume fader is in the default position.
How to adjust levels of the final mix

FL studio has a Main volume, in the menu bar AND a Master Track Volume (14). To ensure the Master mixer track level is an accurate reflection of the final output:
Make sure the Main volume is at the default level (Right-click and select 'Reset'). It's probably a good idea to get out of the habit of even touching this volume slider, its main purpose is to make sure a master volume control is always available (when the mixer is hidden) and some audio emergency crops up.
Adjust Mixer Track Faders and/or Channel volume knobs to obtain the relative instrument levels you desire in the mix.
Use the Master Track fader (left most track in the Mixer, 14) to adjust the final level. Consider also, placing Fruity Limiter in the last FX bank of the master track. Limiting is a form of automatic peak volume control.
Following the above steps will ensure the Master track peak meter (5 & 11) and the Main volume meter, in the menu bar, display the same peak levels. Red/Orange peaks (over 0 dB) will indicate clipping in the final output or rendered mix, as depicted below.
Sampler Channels vs Audio Clips

If you are paying particularly close (and possibly unhealthy) attention to the output levels of Sampler Channels, you may notice they are a few dB down on their recorded level. There are three reasons for this:
Sampler Channels load at a default 55% volume, about -5.2 dB. This 'feature' is to prevent clipping when several Channel Samplers are used together and also to allow some extra headroom for note/step velocity modulation. The assumption is that Channel Samplers will be used as 'instruments' and so you will be playing (see the next point) and mixing them to sound right 'in the mix'. If a Channel Sampler is too quiet, turn it up.
Sampler Channels respond to note velocity. The default note velocity in FL Studio is 100 (MIDI = 0 to 127). If a sample is too quiet you can also play it louder.
Sampler Channels respond to the default Circular Panning Law. This reduces the sample gain by -3 dB at center pan, tapering to 0 dB at the extreme L/R pan positions.
So together the default load state for a Channel Sampler can be about 8.2 dB lower than the samples recorded level. If you absolutely need a sample to render at its recorded level, load it as an Audio Clip by dropping your samples on the Playlist (these default to 100% volume, 0 dB). Finally, make sure the Master and Main volumes (described above) are set to 0 dB and don't forget the effect of note velocity on playback level.
Using FL Studio Peak Meters
Often when mixing, your goal is to get the peaks of the loudest sections of the mix close to the maximum possible level, 0 dB, without clipping, going over 0 dB. Clipping happens when a sound wave carried inside audio equipment (analog or digital) becomes louder than the maximum volume that can be reproduced. When audio is clipped its waveform looks like the tips of the peaks have been 'clipped' off, as shown in the picture of the Main peak meter below (left). While occasional transient clipping incidents are not usually a problem, if clipping is pushed too far your audio will distort and crackle. Once a saved (rendered) audio file is badly clipped, there is no way to fix the problem (although the Edison Noise Removal Tool does have a Declipper Function that can rectify mild clipping issues).

This can easily become very frustrating while mixing and very often leaving your mixes sounding “worse” than the original beat!

I’ve wrecked a lot of beats while trying to mix.  Mixing doesn’t come easy; it really does come from hands-on practice.  If you aren’t practicing, you can guarantee you’re not going to get better!

Instead of making a beat, take time out to learn mixing.  The more things you can know as a beatmaker/producer, the more valuable you will be.

By that I mean, if you know how to make a beat, mix, and master.. well, that’s 3 jobs you have!  In the music industry, these are 3 individual jobs that take place.  So the more you can learn and conquer, the more ahead of the game you are, the more you understand, and the more money you can save in the end!

Have you ever attempted mixing vocals? This starts to make your beat now “a song”. I feel when vocals come in to play, there’s a lot more room for error, as now you have to try to get that vocal to sit nice in the mix! (But practice makes you better right!)

Take advantage of that LOW CUT / HIGH PASS FILTER, this is very handy to clean up mixes, as there is unnecessary bass in a lot of sounds and instruments! — Again, the rule of thumb is to go until you hear the filter effecting the sound, then gently back off until it’s sounding how it was.

Many times even if the sound isn’t sounding normal, and is sounding a bit thin and weak because you’ve gone too far with your high pass filter, it can make the sound cut through your mix even more, so sometimes doing the cut while your beat is playing is a good technique as well! (As this is how the sound is going to be played; with the beat, not solo’d right? ;) ).

Intermediate FL Studio Guide Transition Effect

The way Flash (and I'm assuming 9th) does it, is he'll export a loop of highhats hitting on eighth notes from FL Studio to a wav file.

He'll open that wav file loop onto a track in the multitrack view of Cool Edit Pro and loop it out for a few bars.

Next he'll take his sample (already timestretched to the tempo of the highhats) and paste that onto a track in the multitrack view of FL Studio under the highhats.

Next he'll chop out (cut and paste) different sections of the sample and put them on their own tracks rearranging them following one another until he's got a melody he likes from the arrangement of the chops.

When he's got that (and any variations on that theme) in the way he wants it, he'll export that arrangement (minus the high hats) to a wav file.

Then he'll bring that new wav file up in FL Studio and trigger it along with drums.

I'm sure there are a million and one ways to chop and arrange samples both in and out of FL Studio, but if DJ Flash does it this way there's a good chance he learned to do it that way from 9th Wonder.

So let’s fast forward (>>) through your relentless digging through all those dusty records. 

Finally you’ve found it! That simply amazing record with that amazing voice/loop/breakdown/part and you want to sample it and make the hottest possible record known to man, but you don’t know how to sample in FL.

So lets get down to it. Is your sample dirty? Excess clicks, pops, noise, record hum, scratches etc? If you want it that way skip through this part, but I would suggest, and this is a personal opinion, that you work with the sample as clean as possible initially and dirty it up to your specifications after the fact. 

In order to clean up that sample (not too much though) I would suggest the Waves plug-ins X-Noise, X-Hum and X-click. Use Sony Soundforge 8 or any other audio editing application to clean up the whole song, cause who knows what other parts may work when you start.

Now that you have your soon to be sampled song ready to be chopped and re-assembled just dump the whole .mp3 or .wav file into the bottom of the playlist editor. You can load up as many different files as your computer can handle. Depending on the size of the file you may just see a blank block with the name of the file appear saying that it is being streamed from your hard disc.

In order to see the file go to the step sequencer click on the sample and click the option that lets the file be displayed.

So now you can see your file. Let the chopping looping and screwing begin.

In the play list editor to the left hand corner you will see a few tools that you may or may not have used. Let’s try the knife tool

In order to cut out the part you want just set your snap to ‘none’, zoom as close as possible and start cutting. 

Now that you have cut your loop or part play it on loop to make sure that you have cut it just right.

Hmmm. . . 

So how do I find the tempo of this?

Well you have options. You can either count how many bars you have sampled and adjust your tempo till the number of bars the file takes up syncs (once you haven’t stretched or compressed the sample before it would remain the same). Or you can stretch or compress the sample out to the required length or the number of bars the sample contains and adjust your tempo till it sounds like normal or how you want it (think chipmunks)

Ok, now you have your loop but you want to play another part of the song under it. Just cut out the part you want to use from the same file and make use of the ‘make unique’ function. Now you can have your different parts chopped up differently and don’t have to worry about parts dropping out because they start after one another. Try it. It’ll make sense once you do.

Once you click a part that you have chopped click again in an empty part of the audio section of the playlist to copy it.

Another problem you may encounter: Hit points don’t match up.

So your snare and kick sound a bit off sometimes during the sample. What you can do and get away with without any drops in the sample is cut the sample where the hit point is off and drag the hit point in the sample back onto the line where your kick or snare hits. 

Another tip: Eq

Eq out all kicks and bass, they are your enemy. Not really, but if you want to change the kick pattern and come up with something totally new I suggest you do it and replay the bassline. This way you can now have more to switch up in the song. Also to you can eq out most of the backing instruments under a vocal and put it in under your music. 

Don’t forget to use your panning and volume automation in here also.

So forget about that Fruity Slicer and going back and forth from program to program.

Once you get the hang of it I guarantee that it would help you out a great deal.

Just click my sig for examples of this procedure.

the 3 chord combo. Wich is really all that the name suggests. 

verse: 

la la lalala 

la la lalala 

la la lalala 

la la lalala 

DUN DUN DUNNN 

*chorus cue* 

Also removing instruments rather then adding them right before the chorus is cool. just for a bar or two. like have all your kicks drop out or something. makes the chorus seem much more impressive.

Intermediate FL Studio Guide Perfect Snare Roll

In this tutorial you will learn how to make snare rolls in FL studio. Creating snare rolls is very important to add variation to your beats. They can be used to create transitions between parts of the beat and create a buildup effect to the next section of the beat. Snare rolls typically occur near the end of a bar but can be used in other sections of your beat if you choose.

In order to make snare rolls interesting, there are a couple things that you should do. One important thing you can do is chop up the hits so that each hit is not the same length. This will give your snare rolls a speeding up or slowing down effect.

Another important element of the snare roll is breaking up the pattern and leaving some spaces between pants to create dynamic combinations of snare rolls. A lot of producers just create snare hits that hit on every beat and it doesn’t really add much to the snare roll. Creating slightly more complex patterns by using gaps between them will make them much more unique and sound more like a real drummer.

The next thing you should consider is creating pitched snare rolls. This type of snare roll typically descends in pitch as the fill plays. This can create a very nice effect on the snare and I really like to use this technique when transitioning between sections of beat.
In the tutorial above you will see exactly how this process is completed. Snare rolls are not overly complicated and can really add a lot to your beats. Follow this tutorial and you will be on your way to making great sounding fills starting now.

6 Step Example : 

1

Launch Ableton Live or FL Studio and start a new project by selecting, "New Project" from the file menu. Sift through your sample library to find a good one-hit snare drum sample. If you don't have one, a quick search online will reveal a multitude of free drum samples for download.

2

Load your drum sample into the built-in sampler. If you're using Ableton Live, create a new MIDI track by dragging the "Simpler" instrument into the "Tracks" window, then drag the desired snare sample into the "Simpler" instrument window at the bottom-left of the screen. In FL Studio, drag the snare sample into the sequencer window beneath the default track names.

3

Open the piano roll, which is a virtual piano that you use to change the pitch of your sample. In Ableton Live, double-click in the first empty clip space under your snare sample "Simpler" track. The piano roll appears at the bottom-right of the screen. In FL Studio, right-click on the snare sample you dragged into the sequencer window and select, "Open Piano Roll" to display the piano roll.

4

Begin sequencing a basic snare roll to create a down-south roll. Left-click in the piano roll next to the key marked "C3" to create MIDI events, which will play your snare sound. Listen to a few of your favorite hip-hop tracks for inspiration. Arrange your snare hits according to the beat grid shown in the piano roll window. Press, "Play" to listen to your basic snare roll.

5

Turn your snare roll into a down-south roll by moving the MIDI events you created on the key "C3" to other, lower keys on the virtual piano. Drag the events up and down the piano using your mouse. The program automatically changes the pitch of the sound. Arrange the snare hits in descending order so that each event is on a lower key than the one previous.

6

Press, "Play" to listen to your down-south roll. It will have the same rhythm and structure as the basic snare roll you created, but the sound will get lower and lower as it plays. Build your beat around this roll, or use this method to inject the down-south roll into any previously created beat.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/how_7586301_do-down-south-snare-roll.html#ixzz2ghH8gKdN

Intermediate FL Studio Guide Perfect Sampling Technique

The way Flash (and I'm assuming 9th) does it, is he'll export a loop of highhats hitting on eighth notes from FL Studio to a wav file.

He'll open that wav file loop onto a track in the multitrack view of Cool Edit Pro and loop it out for a few bars.

Next he'll take his sample (already timestretched to the tempo of the highhats) and paste that onto a track in the multitrack view of FL Studio under the highhats.

Next he'll chop out (cut and paste) different sections of the sample and put them on their own tracks rearranging them following one another until he's got a melody he likes from the arrangement of the chops.

When he's got that (and any variations on that theme) in the way he wants it, he'll export that arrangement (minus the high hats) to a wav file.

Then he'll bring that new wav file up in FL Studio and trigger it along with drums.

I'm sure there are a million and one ways to chop and arrange samples both in and out of FL Studio, but if DJ Flash does it this way there's a good chance he learned to do it that way from 9th Wonder.

So let’s fast forward (>>) through your relentless digging through all those dusty records.
Finally you’ve found it! That simply amazing record with that amazing voice/loop/breakdown/part and you want to sample it and make the hottest possible record known to man, but you don’t know how to sample in FL.

So lets get down to it. Is your sample dirty? Excess clicks, pops, noise, record hum, scratches etc? If you want it that way skip through this part, but I would suggest, and this is a personal opinion, that you work with the sample as clean as possible initially and dirty it up to your specifications after the fact.

In order to clean up that sample (not too much though) I would suggest the Waves plug-ins X-Noise, X-Hum and X-click. Use Sony Soundforge 8 or any other audio editing application to clean up the whole song, cause who knows what other parts may work when you start.

Now that you have your soon to be sampled song ready to be chopped and re-assembled just dump the whole .mp3 or .wav file into the bottom of the playlist editor. You can load up as many different files as your computer can handle. Depending on the size of the file you may just see a blank block with the name of the file appear saying that it is being streamed from your hard disc.
In order to see the file go to the step sequencer click on the sample and click the option that lets the file be displayed.

So now you can see your file. Let the chopping looping and screwing begin.
In the play list editor to the left hand corner you will see a few tools that you may or may not have used. Let’s try the knife tool
In order to cut out the part you want just set your snap to ‘none’, zoom as close as possible and start cutting.
Now that you have cut your loop or part play it on loop to make sure that you have cut it just right.

Hmmm. . .
So how do I find the tempo of this?
Well you have options. You can either count how many bars you have sampled and adjust your tempo till the number of bars the file takes up syncs (once you haven’t stretched or compressed the sample before it would remain the same). Or you can stretch or compress the sample out to the required length or the number of bars the sample contains and adjust your tempo till it sounds like normal or how you want it (think chipmunks)

Ok, now you have your loop but you want to play another part of the song under it. Just cut out the part you want to use from the same file and make use of the ‘make unique’ function. Now you can have your different parts chopped up differently and don’t have to worry about parts dropping out because they start after one another. Try it. It’ll make sense once you do.

Once you click a part that you have chopped click again in an empty part of the audio section of the playlist to copy it.

Another problem you may encounter: Hit points don’t match up.
So your snare and kick sound a bit off sometimes during the sample. What you can do and get away with without any drops in the sample is cut the sample where the hit point is off and drag the hit point in the sample back onto the line where your kick or snare hits.

Another tip: Eq
Eq out all kicks and bass, they are your enemy. Not really, but if you want to change the kick pattern and come up with something totally new I suggest you do it and replay the bassline. This way you can now have more to switch up in the song. Also to you can eq out most of the backing instruments under a vocal and put it in under your music.

Don’t forget to use your panning and volume automation in here also.

So forget about that Fruity Slicer and going back and forth from program to program.
Once you get the hang of it I guarantee that it would help you out a great deal.
Just click my sig for examples of this procedure.

Intermediate FL Studio Guide Automation Effects

Above a certain feedback level, delays begin to regenerate. In other words, the echoes begin to get louder rather than quieter. This is fine up to a point, but soon makes a train wreck of your mix if left to its own devices. To control this, we've set up the delay on an auxiliary, sent our signal to it at the critical moment and automated the feedback level – nudging it up and down to keep the delays alive, but dropping them back when unruly. Panning or tremolo after the delay makes the whole lot bounce from side to side. We've also automated the tremolo speed, so that the movement isn't predictable.

Occasionally wanted to delay the snare to get some characteristic heavy echoes. To do this, we set up our delay of choice on an auxiliary channel and automated the send level from the snare to it. Most of the time, the delay remains straight, but every once in a while, the send rises to produce a greater amount of echo.

Left to their own devices, pads can often become dull and simply take up space. Here, we've livened one up considerably by varying its tone, vibrato, distortion amount and effects settings. We've routed it to two auxiliary buses, then adjusted the reverb and delay/phaser combinations on them.

Big, fat basses that evolve and grow throughout the duration of a note are all the rage, whether in dubstep, DnB or even house. You can get this effect using filter envelopes alone, but if you want variable growl each time, automation is the key. Here, we've written a basic part and automated the filter cutoff by varying amounts. We've also used Logic's curve tool on some sweeps so that they take you by surprise.

When editing an automation envelope in the playlist, you can use snap on the horizontal attributes of a point using the snap drop down menu. But how can i use snap on the vertical attributes of a point? This is very annoying, especially when you are trying to add lots of points to something like the master volume. is there a way to use snap on this so i don't spend all this extra time making sure all my points are at the exact default volume level???




You need to know how to send Channels (samples or instruments) to Mixer tracks, and set up basic stock FX.

1. The need for Automation

Scenarios frequently come up in music production where you need to automate some parameter - volume, cutoff frequency, channel panning, etc. A very common need is in dance/trance production, where the cutoff point of a low pass filter must slowly increase (i.e. coming out of a breakdown), sweeping some fat, detuned multi-sawtooth synth from warm and deep to bright and harsh. Another example would be the fade-in of deep, powerful strings underneath a piano-driven soundtrack piece.

The ability to do this, naturally, is called Automation - where actual control movements are recorded into the song, and those controls automatically repeat your recorded movements on subsequent plays.

FL Studio has significant support for automation. Just about every control available can be automated - the primary exception being the pre-computed FX (those found in the first tab of the channel settings window).

2. Automation - How to do it

Now, time for a simple walk-through of the process! For this tutorial, I've made a simple beat, then automated the cutoff of a "Fruity Fast LP" effect on the master FX channel. I love sweeping beats - they make you feel like something powerful is welling up... you can listen to the end result clip here.

1. Start a new FL project.
2. Make a groovy little beat on Pattern 1. Or use mine. Note - I am not including the samples with mine because they are all stock. If you don't have the samples for some reason, it should be pretty obvious what you need to substitute in (basic hat, kick, snares).
3. Place 4 bars of your beat sequence (Pattern 1) in the Playlist.
4. Press F9 to bring up the Mixer.
5. Put a Fruity Fast LP on the Master FX channel.

OK, so we've got our four bars playing our groovy little beat. Time for some automation! Bring up the window for your LP filter, set Cut-off control low - I set mine to 2 "ticks."


Automation Clips

There are several ways to create automation clips. The easiest way is to right-click on the control you wish to automate and then choose ‘Create automation clip’. See the below screenshot where I create an automation clip for the channel volume control (Trance lead channel):



Note that this method can only be used for native FL Studio controls. For controls on VST plugins you can first manually tweak the control you want to automate and then select Last tweaked parameter | Create automation clip from the Fruity Wrapper menu. See below for an example with the Nexus plugin:




Regardless whether you automate a native control or one on a VST plugin, the result is the same: An automation clip is created for the control in question (it is already linked to the control) in the upper part of the playlist view (where all clip tracks are placed). See below:




An automation clip created in this way spans the entire length of your playlist. In the example above, I have not yet begun to place any pattern blocks and the automation clip therefore assumes the default length. However, I can now start to manipulate the clip. See the screenshot below:




Initially, the automation clip only has one (last) control point. To increase the length of the clip, simply left-click it and drag to the right. Release the mouse button when done. Make sure that you have selected the middle focus button and checked Slide and unchecked Step (see picture above).

To give the clip a shape, add control points. To add a control point hold down the Ctrl-key and move your mouse pointer to the position where you want to add a control point. The mouse pointer changes and shows a plus (+). Then, left-click and voila, you have an new control point. You can ‘pick up’ control points by moving over them (the mouse pointer changes into a hand), holding down the left mouse button and dragging the point to another position. Release the mouse button when you are done.

To change the shape of the spline between to control points, use the tension handle. Simpy left click a tension handle and move your mouse up or down (holding the mouse button down). Release the mouse button when you are done.

To remove a control point, right-click it and choose Delete in the menu. Also, experiment a bit with the menu options Single Curve, Double Curve, Hold, Stairs and Smooth Stairs. You will see you can manipulate the shape of the spline ending in the selected control point by using these options.

Make sure to play around a bit and create various shapes. Being able to create clips precisely the way you want it will defintely benefit you further down the road.

Now, listen to the way the automation clip influences the Trance lead sound.

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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Intermediate FL Studio Guide Make Your Hi-Hat Sound Better

I see a lot of people trying to get hi-hats the exact way they hear them. Like making them sound they there spitting out so I wanna let the people know how to get it like that at least almost exactly like that without having to do the compression and EQ'ing yet. 

First, when you load any sample from your browser presets to your project, click on it, open it's window and click "Normalize". It basically brings the waveform higher making it louder, it might sound super loud for some samples but that's what mixing is for, turn it down through it's channel volume or through the mixer after assigning it. 

Second, there's a little knob on the "Channel Settings" for whatever sound you click, in this case it should be a hi-hat, it says "CRF" which means crossfade. Basically what this does is sets two markers in the beginning of the sample and at the end making it to where the sound only plays for however long the note of it is. So if you were to hold a key, the sample would repeat and repeat, if you were to tap it, it would play real fast and cut off. This is essential for hi hats cause if you are putting in fast hi hats without it, all of them overlap. So when you put them in, making them as short as possible without having them cut off. 

Hope that was easy to understand. I didn't start doing it until recently but I had to figure it out on my own and it really makes a difference. This works good with sampled 808's too. Which is an essential actually but I don't use sampled 808's.

Just to clear this out as well, you can do this with any sample. It would probably make things sound more clear as well because your sounds won't have that 'flat' sound in the end of it. Especially for people using low quality samples from free drum kits.

tip 1

wow - normalise your sample(s), just wow. Unless the sound is a one shot sample you are removing all degrees of velocity gradient control

A good hi-hat sample set will have a several layers of velocity specific samples so that you can recreate a range of playing techniques and volume levels - to turn them all all the way on is just plain - there is no other way to say this - idiotic or stupid

tip 2

Highlights my point about which daw you are using.

CRF could be implemented as loop start-end points or just plain loop segment depending on the daw in use.

I never read or heard Dilla's original quote, so it's difficult to assess exactly what he said or what he may have meant. However, I interviewed 9th Wonder for The BeatTips Manual(full interview included), so I'm confident that 9th wasn't using the term "scale" in the music theory context of the word. Instead, I think he was using "scale" as in the scale of the beat—an adjective to describe the scope and length of the sequence. So what Dilla most like meant is: playing hi-hats hits (and other drums) much more naturally on or rather across the pattern, sequence, etc. However, that being said, it must be noted that since 9th Wonder used FL Studio (at the time of the interview) and J Dilla used an MPC 3000, 9th Wonder had to translate and transfer Dilla's knowledge and method to a software environment.

Programming through the use of a software program is different than with an MPC. This is not an endorsement of way or the other, it is simply a fact. A fact that must be considered whenever one seeks to emulate ANY method, technique, and/or concept that was first developed and formalized through the use of hardware EMPIs (Electronic Music Production Instruments). Again, I'm not necessarily saying one setup approach is better or worse, I'm pointing out the fact that certain aesthetic approaches and techniques were first developed using hardware, and are therefore, often more suited for hardware. But this doesn't mean that those aesthetic approaches and techniques can not be translated andtransferred to software EMPIs.

For example, hi-hat programming techniques can indeed be achieved (realized in) with FL Studio. But, before one moves to modify and adjust any functions (parameters) within FL Studio (or any other software solution), they must first grasp the notion of how hi-hats work in beats as well as the common hi-hat pattern types (i.e. 1/8th and 1/4 note placements, etc.) In that way, it's not about making hi-hat programs like Dilla or 9th Wonder or any other beatmakker. Instead, it's about understanding how to make hi-hat programs that fit your own unique style of beats.

Another thing want to point out is that to view rhythm abstractly through mathematics can actually be counterproductive to making dope beats. Just as with other black music traditions, rhythm has always been a major aesthetic of hip hop/rap music and its main compositional practice: beatmaking. But rhythm isn't just a mathematical concept, it's a 'time' concept as well. Rhythm, fundamentally speaking, deals with how musical elementsmove through time. When you attempt to reduce (or pin down) rhythm to a solely mathematical principle or equation, you actually subtract away from the "natural essence" of time in music. For instance, think about timing correct. Timing correct is the "mechanical correction" of time. It corrects or perfects—depending your aims—the value of timing that you set in your sequencer. But another way of looking at timing correct is that it disrupts (if not absolutely destroys) the natural—live—sense of timing, by making time artificial.

Finally, it's important to note that when we make beats, we are essentially moving between artificial and natural (live) realms. And the more artificiality we incorporate into our beats, the more likely they are to sound more mechanical, stiff, "stuck," or just plain lifeless. On the other hand, the more naturalness that we are able to incorporate into our beats, the more likely they will have a 'real' feeling to them, more vibe. Hence, hi-hats (and other percussive elements) are ideal for incorporating a more natural feel to your drum patterns and your beats overall. Therefore, the less corrective measures you take with hi-hat programming, the better the chance you'll retain some naturalness and vibe in your beats.

Use the cut/cut by. This is exactly what it's for.

i.e. route close hi hat to fx 1. route the open hi hat to fx 2 (let's say). Then for both channels set the cut/cut by to the same thing. i.e 2 / 2 or 1 / 1.

This means that the two samples will but each other. That means that if either sample is triggered before the previous one is finished the previous sample will be stopped (cut). So, playing the open hihat will stop the closed hihat and playing the closed hithat will stop the open one in this case.

the open hi hats, put that on 'cut itself'

2. where you want to open hi hat to close, you put another note with the open hi hat in the sequencer where the closed hi hats begin

3. then on the top, the button next to the piano roll i forget what its called , the one with volume, pitch, ect. you open that.

4.then at the spot where you want that open hi hat to close, remember, you already put it there in the sequencer, you simply drag the volume down to 0

Intermediate FL Studio Guide Create The Drake - Successful Effect

I know Drake uses Auto-tune on some of his songs, but on his new album a couple of the songs sound a little different. I understand the concept of layering audio tracks and using different effects such as reverb, expanders and eq's but it doesn't seem like i could achieve the same effect using just those methods. I like the way his vocals sound on a couple of the tracks, you can see that it sounds very mellow and ambient. I'm not sure how else to explain it.

how during the hook the whole beat goes into this sub effect where

all the high end frequencies are cut off (if i'm explaining it correctly technically).

Intermediate FL Studio Guide Chopped and Screwed Hooks

Typically, the vocal would be taken from an acapella, so there wouldn't be any drums or bass or anything in there.

what software/hardware are you using?

Turn the pitch down, then use an eq or filter to minimize the low end ie; a lowpass filter or on an eq, turn down the low bands, 180hz and below. As for the tempo, you should match it before alterting the sample, since your pitchshifting the tempo stays the same, if it's not on after you pitchshift it down, then it probably was'nt on before hand, so get it sync'd to tempo first, then go for the pitchshifting and eq'n/filter'n

im thinking about chopping and screwing the intro and outro of a very important song im in the process of making.

do ya think its played out and over used?


im saying besides tpains track what was the last successful song that had a screwed hook or a major part of the song?

Intermediate FL Studio Guide 808 Cutting

Try cutting frequencies in your kick to let the 808 shine and vice versa. I.E. Cut the kick 40 and below with a high pass filter, find where the kick is strong, usually 60 - 125, and do a cut there in your 808 with a thin q setting. Sometimes I will do a low pass filter on the 808 so all you hear are the low, "round" sounding bass frequencies. This takes the "punch" out of the 808 but will let the kick shine. If you happen to have Waves plug ins the Rbass plug in is SICK for bass and 808's.

There are a lot of reasons why that 808 might not sound good. There could be too much decay going on the 808 or they may be sitting in the same frequency space those would be my first guess. Cut down some decay and duck the bass under the kick and see how that works. EQ and playing in a different octave also helps.

Either you arrange your way around it, or sculpt some sonic space for the 808 to sit in with EQ & filters. Or you can use compressor sidechaining to have the relevant bits duck out of the way when the 808 hits. I'd probably start with automating a hipass filter to shave off the low end from the other bassy stuff when needed.

I would treat the 808 like I would a bassline... sidechain the 808 with the regular kick so that the 808 "ducks" when the regular kick is played. If that fails then eq the sound for space.

depends on the type of music and desired effect you want... if it's hip hop I wouldn't sidechain the 808 cuz that's not the sound you want. If this is hip hop... adjust the volume of the 808 to be 4 to 6 db lower than the kick. 808s usually have a sweetspot of about 40hz-ish, you'll want to bring an eq band up a few db in that area, and then have a little drop off around the 60-90hz range with another eq band. Then eq the kick like this, with your first band pull down a couple db in the 40hz range to emphasize the 808 you just eq'd into that range, then raise your next band where the kick's sweetspot tends to be (60-90hz usually) and a third band can be used with the kick to accentuate the mid range somewhere or roll off on the high end... whatever works for the kick in question. good luck

Intermediate FL Studio Guide Mixing Your 808

I love the warm character of the 808 and got myself the Tape808-Package (cheap & great stuff btw the samples are tuned in G).

I always do my projects from the scratch and ended up in totally different chains of my 808 kickdrum mixing. Usually the 808 kick is lacking of "snap" on "boom" which means they always need some editing.

some example

3 layers:
1. pitch to key - natural sample, no editing
2. pitch to key - natural sample but a lot of distortion for the "boom"
3. pitch to key - heavy lowcut, heavy compression for the "snap"
- mix to taste all 3 layers into a bus, with EQ some peak around 100 htz (usually 110 for track-key is A)
result: is ok , then it depends on finetuning each layer an eq.

there is a lot more possible i am sure, any suggestions? the method from above is ok so far but it needs some hell of fine-corrections. it also offcourse depends on the bass (which makes me dipping the kick around 60-80hz often to make room for the bass)

Compression EQ and Layering is applied to bring out the best in sampled drums. 808s are created. I'm pretty sure if you get better samples and take 10 mins out of your day to google and download some free 808 kits. You'll get the sound you're looking for way faster than Layering EQing and Compressing everything.

Eq-ing a 808 kick with a high pass filter around 60 hz is not a bad idea. So it is not bad to eq drum samples. And I sometimes filter off the air that is in some 808 kick samples due to the fact that my samples are not off of already mastered tracks. They are raw. and there are lot's of people that use a 8:1 at the top of a kick to get it some more boom. Example... lil Jon uses kicks that are compressed to hell and back. It is true that many samples floating around on the internet are already mastered and compressed but not all are. Remember that engineers can do more with something that you spend more time making perfect. G.I.G.O ( good in good out, garbage in garbage out)

I have found out that you can compress an 808 kick all day long and lower it to fit in the mix and it will still be prominate on a good monitoring system that can handle the freq.

A Beginners Guide To Making A Basic Beat

Trap music is on fire lately, so naturally everyone wants to make it.

Elements of Trap Music:

1. Roland TR808 kicks, hats, toms and snares

Kicks are made to sustain for a long time typically to emphasize sub bass tails. 808 Toms are probably the most common element used for “fills” (maybe every 4 bars or so, depending on energy of the tune and what else in it).

Typically the snare is an 808 snare with an equalizer boost around 200hz and highpassed somewhere in the 50-120hz range (depending on the bass of course!)

You can obtain these from any 808 sample pack on the net, use an actual TR808 or Nepheton by D16 Software which emulates a TR808 in a VST (I happen to use Nepheton myself).

2. Drip effects

Sampled or synthesized water droplet sounds are very common.

3. Chants

Made popular in recent history by Crunk artists like Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boyz. Sounds a bit like old native american chants (think of the classic Ho-Ya Ho-Ya Ho-Ya Ho-Ya war / drum circle chant used in a lot of movies). But in crunk, it’s “Hey!…Hey!…Hey!…Hey!”, or “Grr” “Uh-huh” or any other type of repetitive short vocal hit. You can cut these from rap acapellas a lot of the time.

4. Leads, other basses etc

This is the best part about trapstyle – the rest is pretty much up to you! A lot of artists will put moombahton leads hits and elements to fill the lead line, or some will play something dubsteppy to give it a melody, or even electro or swing elements go well in here. Another alternative that is fairly common is to do literally NOTHING in this place, instead putting in a raw lead vocal acapella or emphasizing variations of the standard elements of trap in the beat. It really is up to you… And I think this is what motivates a lot of artists like myself to make this type of music. You are left with a lot to your imagination as to what goes in (at this point in time, anyway!)

I attached a sample pack of loops made in Nepheton (a TR808 emulator VST). Feel free to cut out the individual drums or use the loops in your own compositions, however you see fit.

Have fun with em, I reserve no rights except to ask that if you redistribute the raw loop files let everyone know they came from angryrancor and bassadelic.com. Otherwise go ahead and use them in your own free or for sale music – you can give a mention to me and bassadelic on your tunes if you want, but it isn’t required.

Likely the most talked-about genre to really surface in 2014, trap seems to have dug its claws into every corner of electronic music—whether through its hip-hop proponents like Lex Luger, or its clubbier progenitors like TNGHT and Baauer. It’s been called “the new dubstep,” and even the biggest main-room electro tracks have been given a taste of its southern rap-tinged vibes via some huge remixes.

But what’s it all about? Technically, it’s about big basslines and skittering 808s set to a low-slung, head-nodding cadence. It still swings heavily towards southern-style rap beats, but, as this great piece from Resident Advisor indicates, there’s plenty brewing in trap’s dancier realms. So check out some choice jams from the genre here and here, and peep five helpful how-to tutorials below to get you started in the studio.

What I like about the drums in trap music is that there is such a big variety.  Everything ranging from live drums to 808 drum machines, to drum sample libraries are fair game when it comes to choosing where you are going to get your drum sounds.  Often it is best to combine a variety of different sound sources.  For example if you want your drums to have a deep kick and really boom than you should try to combine the boom of an 808 kick drum with a live kick drum on top.  You just have to hollow out the low frequencies of the kick drum to make room for the 808-kick drum to fit in the mix.  This will give you a clean deep kick sound that has some live elements to it.  Perfect for trap Music.

These same ideas can be applied to the snare drum as well.  The characteristics of a live snare and an drum machine created snare are pretty vast.   Generally if you want clean go synthesized, if you want grimy go with live.  Beyond that there is a lot of grey area in between.  Try combining the two.  One of my favorite things to do is add a small lives snare to my 808 snares then send them both to the same bus channel and compress them together.  This will glue them together and make it sound like 1 snare instead of two layered snares.  The same idea holds true when you put reverb on your snare.  Put it on both to help glue them together.

The other driving element in a trap beat is the bass.   The bass line is can either be comprised of a live bass, or a synthesizer like a moog synthesizer.  Stylistically speaking the different subgenres of trap beats tend to have a certain bass sound that is commonly used.  For example, a group like "The Roots" is a live band and use's a live bass guitar in their tracks.  Generally speaking the underground community of trap beat producers tends to gravitate toward the sound of the live bass.   If you are doing southern trap beats or "trap beats" you are probably going to use a sine bass sound.  This gives you a bass tone that is clean, deep and really grabs the subwoofer.

Typically the frequencies of an 808 kick drum and a sine bass will overlap.  This in turn will create a problem for your mix when the kick drum and bass play at the same time.  A common solution that engineers use to solve this problem is taking a compressor and side chaining the kick to the bass.  What this does is every time the kick enters the mix it compresses the peak of the bass tone allowing both instruments to seamlessly fit in the mix.

If you want to take this side chaining trick one step further you can use what is called a "Linear Phase Compressor" which allows you to compress individual frequencies.  What this allows you to do is compress only the frequencies that the two instruments share.  This way you don't take away the entire sound of the bass, just the frequencies that overlap with kick drum.