(Todays Session Above)
Well, i've been making music for the past week, just not blogging about it...been kinda caught up in it and running out of time. Also, I have been doing some art lately, so I havent had a lot of time to blog. Anyway, im about finished with this track. Its the track I started on 3.2.2010. Ive only got a little bit of EQing to do, clean up of some reverbs and delays, and one little explosion at the end to clean up. This track is really cool cause I sampled "I have a dream" all through it....FroBot getting all political...haha. Anyway, notes for today.
Make sure explosions (even small ones) are in the right key. Explosions can range between different tones, so its important to make sure the FIRST general tone is the same as the key of the track (or within a nice harmony). Its easy to forget about this, and its hard to notice sometimes. I need to pick up a vst that tells me the KEY of a sample...i dont really wanna have to run it through MIXED IN KEY...I would just like a plugin that could tell me. Wonder where I could find one....
Today I used the erosion effect for the first time. I used envelopes on the frequency and amount. Made a nice distorted buildup. I chopped it up in 1/8 notes, then applied the rolling erosion effect. Sounded really dirty, and i bet club speakers will just sound destroyed on it! Very cool.
Ive said this many times, but ill say it again, CHECK WHERE YOUR REVERBS and DELAYS end....gotta get them JUST RIGHT.
When using an autofilter really quickly on a sample, its nice to use a spectrum to check what frequencies are sitting strongly in those points, and then, make the filter end within those same frequencies. Makes the mix of a buildup with an autofilter sound really nice.
I was trying to make a REALLY cool ALL AUDIO CUT AWAY effect with a bullet shot sound, then the audio comes back it. Tough as hell! You gotta get a nice QUICK explosion on the come back....but, in my case it couldnt be so long or it sounded bad. I also needed a quick explosion before the audio cut, but it kind or defies the point of the audio cut cause you still hear the explosion. If you cut the explosion, it just sounds too drastic....so I used the volume envelope and a reverb envelope to let the explosion sit (for .3 second) over the audio cut, and it sounded ok. Im still not satisfied with it, but that will be for tomorrow.
Taking a midi sample, and then routing it and recording it as an audio sample gives you a lot better control of the transpose envelope. You can use envelopes on a sample coming from a drum rack (within the sample), but it is tough coming from a softsynth. So, just make an audio sample and play with it that way. Its also nice to CHOP your samples in 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 pieces...which is not able to be done as easily with midi. You can use audio envelopes within the midi sequence, but it takes more time, and sometimes you want to do more than the midi can do. So just make an audio sample out of it, and play with it from there. If all is recorded at 0db, it should sound identical.
If you have vocals during a lot of the track, and then all of a sudden, for a long part, you do not, sometimes it can sound awkward because those vocals are sitting at such a distinct frequency, that something sounds missing. A nice little trick I did with the "I have a dream" sample, is took a small audio clip and cut it into a HIGH HAT melody. That way, that frequency is still there when the vocal stops, and sounds really creative. Most people will not notice that it is part of the vocal sample, but they wont feel anything missing because those strong vocal frequencies are still being used. This is important around 1K.
I need to clean up my track mutes. Its important to get them EXACTLY on the right beat (i mean EXACTLY) to get the disappearing effect to sound just right. Thats for tomorrow too.
Well, thats it for today.
FroBot
Make sure explosions (even small ones) are in the right key. Explosions can range between different tones, so its important to make sure the FIRST general tone is the same as the key of the track (or within a nice harmony). Its easy to forget about this, and its hard to notice sometimes. I need to pick up a vst that tells me the KEY of a sample...i dont really wanna have to run it through MIXED IN KEY...I would just like a plugin that could tell me. Wonder where I could find one....
Today I used the erosion effect for the first time. I used envelopes on the frequency and amount. Made a nice distorted buildup. I chopped it up in 1/8 notes, then applied the rolling erosion effect. Sounded really dirty, and i bet club speakers will just sound destroyed on it! Very cool.
Ive said this many times, but ill say it again, CHECK WHERE YOUR REVERBS and DELAYS end....gotta get them JUST RIGHT.
When using an autofilter really quickly on a sample, its nice to use a spectrum to check what frequencies are sitting strongly in those points, and then, make the filter end within those same frequencies. Makes the mix of a buildup with an autofilter sound really nice.
I was trying to make a REALLY cool ALL AUDIO CUT AWAY effect with a bullet shot sound, then the audio comes back it. Tough as hell! You gotta get a nice QUICK explosion on the come back....but, in my case it couldnt be so long or it sounded bad. I also needed a quick explosion before the audio cut, but it kind or defies the point of the audio cut cause you still hear the explosion. If you cut the explosion, it just sounds too drastic....so I used the volume envelope and a reverb envelope to let the explosion sit (for .3 second) over the audio cut, and it sounded ok. Im still not satisfied with it, but that will be for tomorrow.
Taking a midi sample, and then routing it and recording it as an audio sample gives you a lot better control of the transpose envelope. You can use envelopes on a sample coming from a drum rack (within the sample), but it is tough coming from a softsynth. So, just make an audio sample and play with it that way. Its also nice to CHOP your samples in 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 pieces...which is not able to be done as easily with midi. You can use audio envelopes within the midi sequence, but it takes more time, and sometimes you want to do more than the midi can do. So just make an audio sample out of it, and play with it from there. If all is recorded at 0db, it should sound identical.
If you have vocals during a lot of the track, and then all of a sudden, for a long part, you do not, sometimes it can sound awkward because those vocals are sitting at such a distinct frequency, that something sounds missing. A nice little trick I did with the "I have a dream" sample, is took a small audio clip and cut it into a HIGH HAT melody. That way, that frequency is still there when the vocal stops, and sounds really creative. Most people will not notice that it is part of the vocal sample, but they wont feel anything missing because those strong vocal frequencies are still being used. This is important around 1K.
I need to clean up my track mutes. Its important to get them EXACTLY on the right beat (i mean EXACTLY) to get the disappearing effect to sound just right. Thats for tomorrow too.
Well, thats it for today.
FroBot
3 comments:
yo wats up. been reading a bit on your website lately...so i thought lets bounce some information back:
for checking the key of any sample i recommend digital ear(i m not from the company). RTFM though ... ;)
greetings from amsterdam,
audiohufter
Thanks man!!!
hi. i mentioned you tutorial on Reverb in my blog. plz chk it out. thks.
KHz Wilkerson
khz4hgp.blogspot.com
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