646
Sound Design / Re: The Kick Designing Thread: Click, Punch, Thump!
« on: January 06, 2016, 04:07:19 am »I've tried a lot this Kick thing but I don't really like it
What don't you like about it, if you don't mind me asking?
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
What don't you like about it, if you don't mind me asking?
647
Sound Design / The Kick Designing Thread: Click, Punch, Thump!
« on: January 06, 2016, 03:51:49 am »
How do you do it? Synthesizers? Samples? This can be a sort of general discussion thread for how you create your kicks or how to create your kicks.
Right now my kicks are split into two parts: The top, and the body/tail. The top layer is a sample - something with a super snappy click or a nice acoustic airy top end. I program all my sampled drums in Maschine, so I'll use the sampler's built in filter to high pass off everything below about 100Hz or so. Then I layer it with Sonic Academy's http://www.sonicacademy.com/KICK/ synthesizer, which really is the meat of the sound. I'll skim through the presets to find something that's close to what I'm looking for then start tweaking the note values within the kick's parameters and figuring out how long I want it to be. I feel like this gives me way more control over the low end than just layering a bunch of samples.
Right now my kicks are split into two parts: The top, and the body/tail. The top layer is a sample - something with a super snappy click or a nice acoustic airy top end. I program all my sampled drums in Maschine, so I'll use the sampler's built in filter to high pass off everything below about 100Hz or so. Then I layer it with Sonic Academy's http://www.sonicacademy.com/KICK/ synthesizer, which really is the meat of the sound. I'll skim through the presets to find something that's close to what I'm looking for then start tweaking the note values within the kick's parameters and figuring out how long I want it to be. I feel like this gives me way more control over the low end than just layering a bunch of samples.
648
Mixing/Mastering / Re: The Do and Don't Encyclopedia
« on: January 06, 2016, 03:36:20 am »
Do: High pass anything that you don't want to have bass at 100-120 Hz (or higher! Use your ears.)
Don't: Forget to have a separate sub for your basses (it's easier than having to try and mix the sub from five different synths!).
Do: Listen to tracks that you enjoy and try to analyze the various components - How long is each section? What instruments are being played, and what instruments are playing the melody/chords/bass/rhythm? How many instruments are there? Does anything special happen at the end of every 4 bars? 8 bars? 16 bars? What happens during transitions? etc., etc.
Don't: Compare your progress to that of other musicians! Everyone advances at their own pace, and everyone has areas they wish they were better at. Keep with it!
Do: Pick one to three synthesizers and figure out every single thing there is to know about them. Try to create sounds you know where made with them, and try to create sounds you know weren't made with them. Explore presets and reverse engineer them! Become the master of those synths.
Don't: Chase the gear! It's very easy to get caught in a VST-hole (I'm a victim of it myself), but you need to know the fundamentals of synthesis and you need to be comfortable with ONE synth before you try to learn ten more.
Do: Spend a month or two doing nothing but clicking every little thing and opening every little menu in your DAW and asking "what the heck does this do?" If you learn the ins and outs of your working environment, you'll never get lost when in the creative process.
Don't: Forget to read the manual! Instruction manuals are an essential learning tool, in my opinion, for getting the most out of your equipment. You'd be surprised at what secrets the developers may inform you about.
More to come as I think of them.
Don't: Forget to have a separate sub for your basses (it's easier than having to try and mix the sub from five different synths!).
Do: Listen to tracks that you enjoy and try to analyze the various components - How long is each section? What instruments are being played, and what instruments are playing the melody/chords/bass/rhythm? How many instruments are there? Does anything special happen at the end of every 4 bars? 8 bars? 16 bars? What happens during transitions? etc., etc.
Don't: Compare your progress to that of other musicians! Everyone advances at their own pace, and everyone has areas they wish they were better at. Keep with it!
Do: Pick one to three synthesizers and figure out every single thing there is to know about them. Try to create sounds you know where made with them, and try to create sounds you know weren't made with them. Explore presets and reverse engineer them! Become the master of those synths.
Don't: Chase the gear! It's very easy to get caught in a VST-hole (I'm a victim of it myself), but you need to know the fundamentals of synthesis and you need to be comfortable with ONE synth before you try to learn ten more.
Do: Spend a month or two doing nothing but clicking every little thing and opening every little menu in your DAW and asking "what the heck does this do?" If you learn the ins and outs of your working environment, you'll never get lost when in the creative process.
Don't: Forget to read the manual! Instruction manuals are an essential learning tool, in my opinion, for getting the most out of your equipment. You'd be surprised at what secrets the developers may inform you about.
More to come as I think of them.
649
Samples/Plugins/Software/Gear / Re: favorite foley samples/packs?
« on: January 06, 2016, 03:20:39 am »
Freesound.org is constantly getting new user-submitted content, so it can be neat to just browse or search through it and see what comes up!
650
Composition/Arrangement/Theory / Re: Theory for beginners
« on: January 06, 2016, 02:58:02 am »
Youtube has a ton of resources available to get you started, but it can be hard to know which direction to go. I think one of the best launching points if you've never studied theory before is Varien's Theory 101 Tutorials. I'd spend an hour and a half or two just watching each video on theory in order, jotting down little questions you have after each one. Then go back video by video, rewatching and messing around in your DAW with the concepts he brings up. Try to see if you can answer the questions yourself! If you can't, you'd be really surprised what google has for explanations. By the time you're up to basic song structure, everything will really start connecting and making sense.
Good luck!
Good luck!
The Producer's Forum © 2016
