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Messages - Midge

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1
Inspiration/Creativity/Motivation / Re: Hardest genres/easiest
« on: December 28, 2016, 07:16:09 pm »
Easiest genres are simply those that have less elements, therefore the mix is easier and you can just rape a few presets / loops.
E.g 'future house' / Future bass / whatever the fuck people call it - can literally slam a drum groove and future bass preset patch in there and call it a day. And believe me I have seen / heard plenty of that going on. Mixing is easy due to the minimal amount of elements in the mix. Anybody can chuck in some drum loops and load up a bass preset.

Harder stuff is the stuff which have a lot of elements and layers / soundscapes. Take Progressive house (actual progressive house not 'EDM') or trance for example. Lots of layers, lots of soundscapes, lots of things to try fit in the mix, plus the actual melodic content you need to write - not just a few note bassline on a tube bass patch. Creating different soundscapes and ambiances within your track and then fitting them all together is the difficult part - and trying not to make it boring.

compare something timeless like some old Chicane stuff or even newer stuff like pryda / deadmau5 to some of this new 'deep house' (which isn't deep house) / trap / future bass etc and the complexity isn't comparable.

But no one gives a fuck how hard something is to make lol. Some of the most timeless records have sampled a disco track and slapped a drum groove under it. Sometimes the most simple of tracks are the best. Personally I have one Alias for more proggy / techno related stuff and another for simple house stuff - 909 drum grooves and basslines, nice and stripped back - usually when I'm at a wall with the more complex things I will mess around with that stuff.

2
i have used Vocalizr for my past 3 vocal tracks.
You can find really talented writers / singers but takes a little going backward and forward. Great if you don't have anyone to come to your home and record a vocal:
https://vocalizr.com/

3
Finished Tracks / Latest Progressive House
« on: December 28, 2016, 06:56:25 pm »
Latest Progressive house track from myself, part of a two track EP.



4
Finished Tracks / New Progressive Remix
« on: October 03, 2016, 07:58:55 pm »
Hey guys, progressive house remix from me! Actually made this 'unofficially' for a label I had released on previously and then forward on a while and it seen an official release:

Soundcloud link:



5
Inspiration/Creativity/Motivation / Re: I gave up
« on: September 12, 2016, 08:19:11 pm »
why would you stop doing something you enjoy?

stop focusing on finishing tracks and 'making it'

if you like making music then do it for enjoyment not for money / success / recognition  or whatever reason is getting you down. Sorry to be harsh mate but if you are making music for any of those reasons and not because you enjoy it then maybe you shouldn't be making music. The key to happiness is doing more of what you enjoy; not chasing money & fame.

hope whatever medical condition you are suffering from gets better.

All the best.


6
the worst thing I ever ever did was follow the traditional dogma of :  'go to school and get a good safe job'

By 'dogma' I mean bullshit.

wasted years of my life doing shit work I hold no joy for to make other people rich.
 If you are young, fuck it off. Start a business, follow a passion, spend more time doing shit that makes you happy because with regular 9-5 jobs it doesn't matter what the fuck you do; the government / taxes are taking half ya cash and bills / insurance / food / mortgages / rent etc is taking the rest. Then whats left is getting spunked on a holiday or some materialistic bullshit to help you forget the shitty rat race you plunged yourself into.

 Figure out a way to create a life you don't need a holiday from. The fucking worst thing I ever did (and still do unfortunately) is work for other people in a regular job.


Deep lads. Deep.





7
hmmm any particular reason why you only want to pan 400-500Hz?  that's a pretty narrow field and seems quite random?

You could just duplicate your track.....EQ out everything except the frequency range you want then stick a tremolo plug in on - set to wide then it will pan it side to side. Or do that method above!


8
Samples/Plugins/Software/Gear / Re: good laptops for producing under 1k?
« on: August 19, 2016, 09:52:03 pm »
ive had an ASUS laptop for quite some time now and does the trick nicely!! although it is getting a bit old and slow nowadays!!   All about checking those specs though but ASUS has been pretty good for me. 

9
I wrote a free ebook quite some time ago about how I approach mastering dance music. Although I wrote it a few years back now and do things slightly differently, most of the stuff is still similar an perhaps the stuff in there can be applied to your music making:

http://www.midgeofficial.com/ebooks-and-guides.html

don't worry its not too in depth and confusing. kinda stripped it down and kept things simple. it basically offers a simple little 'starting template' for your mastering sessions.

10
for electronic I would try look for anything mixed by Wez Clarke - he is probably one of the absolute best mixing engineers in the game and has done work for a ridiculous amount of people.
I thought porter Robinsons latest work sounded pretty good.
Eric prydz and deadmau5 are always good to look at for mixing, great balance in their work.

Also check out some more electronis 'band' type stuff for example RUFUS, Fenech-Soler, Rudimental.....stuff like that.

11
Mixing/Mastering / Re: Professional Mixing Services
« on: August 08, 2016, 08:10:19 pm »
Back in the day before I knew how to do it all I used a guy called Mark Sherry - good service and affordable. His main music is trance but he does quite a few top level guys. he mastered some of my older progressive stuff fine.

Another I approached is Cid inc - I know he does a lot of mastering for popular progressive house labels.

Another guy is Glenn Morrison - you will need to pay top dollar for him though. Really friendly guy though and a bloody genius. He is the bloke with all the fancy outboard gear and what not.

12
Finished Tracks / New techno / Progressive House
« on: August 08, 2016, 08:07:36 pm »
New Remix From me, sitting somewehre on that techno / progressive house fence



13
Composition/Arrangement/Theory / Re: Recomendations to start a remix?
« on: July 29, 2016, 06:27:54 pm »
I start by going through all the remix stems and thinking what I would like to keep in my original and then delete everything else. Often I remix tracks and use 1 or 2 sounds from the original so its practically like a brand new track.
I remember one remix I did I literally made a full track and used one little synth riff every now and then from the original. Decide what the focal point or the thing that people recognise from the original then incorporate that in a brand new track.

This is just one angle of course. People do 'remixes' where they basically swap out the drums and bassline haha.

14
Mixing/Mastering / Re: Vocal Mixing Help
« on: June 13, 2016, 08:05:45 pm »
1. get the absolute best recording you can.
2. cut out any unnecessary noise or breaths in the audio.
3. Compression. Personally I like either Fab filter or the Glue.
4. Your dry vocal track needs reverb - for me I like Valhalla or Lexington verbs.
5. De-ess your tracks -  cutting out the sharp 's' 't' psh' ....that sorta thing ....basically tame your sharp sounding syllables. Do this with a compressor that is focused in on the proper frequency range or notch out on an EQ - or both.
6. Subtle stereo delay can work wonders on vocals.
7. use a vocal rider or draw in manual volume automation. Obviously a vocal performance isn't done at one constant volume level. Certain words are belted out loud and others are quiet - use a rider or volume automations to smooth out the volume differences so everything is more uniform.
8. As said above its about creating space. No matter how many times I listen back to my vocal mix I always end up fucking about with my volume levels of the vocal. Just how it goes. Try find the sweet spot and like I said above create volume automations throughout to suit the track.
9. You can try using things on sends....such as the reverbs or the delays and see if it works better than using them as inserts.
10. Vocals will always have really resonant parts somewhere in the performance. I like adding random EQs that are only activated on certain word. Example: I'm currently working on a vocal track and there is a word 'Dark'  and part of the 'a' sound rings out a little during the break - so I have added an EQ and notched out the frequency that spikes up and then immediately deactivated it so the EQ isn't affecting anything else throughout the track.
11. if you want...you can try sidechaining things to your vocal. Used subtly it can create more space for your vocal. I prefer just sitting the vox higher in the mix.
12. If you have different vocal stems try bussing them together and adding some compression to reduce the dynamic range between the stems.
13. Duplicate some of your vocal and drown them in reverbs and sit them back in the mix. Adds to the ambience of the track.


theres some stuff to try :)


15
honestly this is one area you don't want to skimp. don't just buy 'budget' speakers and then want new and better ones in 6 months. It is what I did. I really wanted the Adam speakers but then just went with HS8 instead (still a respectable speaker for a bedroom studio) but I was kicking myself because I always wanted the Adams.

Seriously just go without speakers for longer and get a good quality pair - you will have them for years and years anyway. Just don't go out or spend money on shit for a few weeks and put that money aside for better speakers.

my recommendation from all the ones I listened to in the shop were definitely the Adams.

I also have KRK rokit 8s and they are good but like any speaker you have to learn how to mix on them specifically - they can be a little boomy down the bottom end I think.

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