The Musician's Gig Room Chat V1 - Songwriting and Sound Design for all! - Creationism Corner

Can anybody recommend a [i]robust[/i] stereo convolver? All it really needs is a good UI.

I just hooked up a vocoder up to a program that translates guitar notes to midi and it's actually pretty funny, if you talk it pitches up your voice exactly to the notes you play, including chords, I might do something with this [media]https://soundcloud.com/mrstaneh/autotuning-a-guitar-what-can-go-wrong[/media]

[QUOTE=Rich209;50543804]Dude that was awesome, good job. I haven't been doing a good job keeping up with everyone in this thread, but since the last piece I've heard from you this is a major major improvement.[/QUOTE] Thanks! It really means a lot coming from you <3 Reading your progress as well is incredibly awesome, and well deserved! Being able to be part of your journey is a truly remarkable, and inspiring as fuck since you've got talent beyond my wildest imagination. I hope you'll be able to make a living out of it!

[QUOTE=Skeeter;50569902]Thanks! It really means a lot coming from you <3 Reading your progress as well is incredibly awesome, and well deserved! Being able to be part of your journey is a truly remarkable, and inspiring as fuck since you've got talent beyond my wildest imagination. I hope you'll be able to make a living out of it![/QUOTE] Wow dude, thank you for the kind words. <3

[QUOTE=Skeeter;50522304] [media]https://soundcloud.com/skriket/dracula-1[/media][/QUOTE] As was said before this is epic, especially love it when the hi hats come in, really nice all around [media]https://soundcloud.com/tropicalgod/tropic-ready[/media] something I just whipped up yesterday

Hmm, all of the stuff I make ends up sounding so flat and lacks dynamic - I'm a bit puzzled and at a loss because I can't tell if it's an issue with my composing or my mixing. Considering I'm not very experienced with mixing, I suspect that's where most of my issues lie. Do you guys have any tips for how to improve the dynamics in a song via mixing, and how to make it sound less like a flat mess when several instruments (synthesizers) are playing at the same time?

[QUOTE=MrJazzy;50598875]Hmm, all of the stuff I make ends up sounding so flat and lacks dynamic - I'm a bit puzzled and at a loss because I can't tell if it's an issue with my composing or my mixing. Considering I'm not very experienced with mixing, I suspect that's where most of my issues lie. Do you guys have any tips for how to improve the dynamics in a song via mixing, and how to make it sound less like a flat mess when several instruments (synthesizers) are playing at the same time?[/QUOTE] Make sure instruments are not fighting for frequency space. So like if you have a bass, rhythm, and lead, for example, make sure the lead is not introducing low end to the bass, the rhythm is controlling most of the mids, and the bass has the low parts. EQing is your friend, and you should really have an EQ on all of your tracks because nothing is perfect for all situations. For the dynamics part, you want periods of not maxing out your sound. Turn off your limiter on your master channel and see if you are peaking. Also keep in mind your loudness is not just peak loudness, but also average loudness. You want movement in your decibels, or else your song will be obnoxious. (this last part is subjective if you consider the loudness wars, but I think the music coming out of the loudness stuff is not very good.) Also stuff like dynamic EQs, multiband compressors, stereo wideners, or even just panning some instruments will really help get rid of the stale mess of a song. Experiment and see what happens!

[QUOTE=Staneh;50564220]I just hooked up a vocoder up to a program that translates guitar notes to midi and it's actually pretty funny, if you talk it pitches up your voice exactly to the notes you play, including chords, I might do something with this [media]https://soundcloud.com/mrstaneh/autotuning-a-guitar-what-can-go-wrong[/media][/QUOTE] Yeah man I've been doing work with vocoders like that for a while here's an example of it from a song I wrote in January 2015 [media]https://soundcloud.com/blazing234/from-the-heights-mastered[/media] [QUOTE=Colteh;50598042]As was said before this is epic, especially love it when the hi hats come in, really nice all around [media]https://soundcloud.com/tropicalgod/tropic-ready[/media] something I just whipped up yesterday[/QUOTE] I dig it, it's got some good elements in it. It's very ambient, like something aphex twin would write. Here's a song I wrote today, the beginning is kinda generic but it gets hard after about a minute. My headphones can't hear bass really so the bass might be too loud cause I wanted to hear it lmao. The guitar part is made using a telecaster, with a electro-harmonix glove. [media]https://soundcloud.com/blazing234/the-great[/media]

[QUOTE=PelPix123;50501622]i just use a dynamic mic because the noise rejection is much better i don't like condensers for voice anyway. it fucks up the highs.[/QUOTE] How exactly does a condenser fuck up the highs? Condensers generally capture highs better than dynamic mics do. I think as a blanket statement this is just wrong. MAYBE it's accurate if you're talking about cheap janky condensers though?

[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;50605907]How exactly does a condenser fuck up the highs? Condensers generally capture highs better than dynamic mics do. I think as a blanket statement this is just wrong. MAYBE it's accurate if you're talking about cheap janky condensers though?[/QUOTE] Having had the pleasure to work with both u87s and u47s I cannot possibly think why anyone would say a dynamic mic would sound better on professional vocals. Like one can argue that a ribbon mic would be better in certain situations, but never really a dynamic. Their range is just not fleshed out enough to work with somewhat low spl force like vocals. When you get to louder stuff like horns, guitar cabs, or close miked drums, then dynamic mics start to shine. The reason dynamic mics are used in live settings is because they are generally cheaper, can take more of a beating, and have better noise cancellation due to the nature of their design. [editline]27th June 2016[/editline] Also it's kind of difficult to argue that they fuck up the highs when some condenser mics frequency responses look like this: [img]http://recordinghacks.com/images/graphs/_gen/small/0/0475.png[/img] [img]http://www.learnhowtosingbetterfast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Neumann-u87-frequency-response.png[/img] vs [t]http://blog.shure.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/FreqChart-SM57.png[/t] [img]http://recordinghacks.com/images/graphs/_gen/small/0/0552.png[/img] For reference, the mics are the neumann u47, neumann u87, shure sm57, and finally the sennheiser MD421 II.

But the Shure SM57 is not a condenser mic

[QUOTE=killerteacup;50609359]But the Shure SM57 is not a condenser mic[/QUOTE] Neither is the MD421 II, they are both dynamics. Was just trying to show that if anything dynamics would fuck with the highs more than condensers, since condensers are usually flatter.

[QUOTE=Colteh;50598042]As was said before this is epic, especially love it when the hi hats come in, really nice all around [media]https://soundcloud.com/tropicalgod/tropic-ready[/media] something I just whipped up yesterday[/QUOTE] Your song reminds me of zelda, in a good way. Only thing I'd do is make an 808 sub bass ride with the kick for some of the parts. I think it'd give it a nice gangster feel. But if it's not what you're looking for don't listen to me ;) Here is something where I recorded guitar and tried to go electronic with it. Let me know what ya think. [media]https://soundcloud.com/conquistador-697754746/god-is-love[/media]

Lotta trebel in there. It's generally harsh on the ears and the first synth is out of scale. You had a cool thing going the second to last bar and the guitar sounded good. [vid]https://my.mixtape.moe/ectajd.webm[/vid] Do all A/D converters remove DC offset like this, or is it just the ones on motherboards? I'm trying to find out why my VCA doesn't close completely.

Cranked this out after a month of work: [url]https://soundcloud.com/virtual_dreams_98/last-song-for-you-thank-you-for-3k-plays[/url]

[QUOTE=Claxx;50630008]Cranked this out after a month of work: [url]https://soundcloud.com/virtual_dreams_98/last-song-for-you-thank-you-for-3k-plays[/url][/QUOTE] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qlFuRED.jpg[/IMG]

Sorry I didn't notice anyone else's links in the thread let me fix that [editline]1st July 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Skeeter;50522304] Anybody else have a problem when it comes to mixing with a reference, as in ; You can't find any tracks of a similar genre that you produce yourself, so you essentially just try and mix&match various elements of other types of tracks into something? I find it hard to get this track to sound like I want to, and I'm not sure how to progress. I fear it has to do with the tracks themselves, and that this is essentially the best I can do mixing-wise. [media]https://soundcloud.com/skriket/dracula-1[/media][/QUOTE] That's actually an amazing mix It reminds me of a slightly less hyper-melodic Anamanauchi I have to ask, what Synths/VST did you use?

Noisia's got a new album coming out, holy shitfuckballs I'm hyped. Here's one of the two tracks they've released, video is amazing. [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pb-MQCPQsc[/media]

[QUOTE=chaz13;50632758]Noisia's got a new album coming out, holy shitfuckballs I'm hyped. Here's one of the two tracks they've released, video is amazing. [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pb-MQCPQsc[/media][/QUOTE] That's one hell of a video, sick track too. It's been like 4 years since he released an album didn't he?

[t]http://i.imgur.com/HVMEoJi.png[/t] Working with stems makes me feel so [img]https://facepunch.com/fp/ratings/rainbow.png[/img]

[QUOTE=FurrFagsMurr;50611948] Here is something where I recorded guitar and tried to go electronic with it. Let me know what ya think. [media]https://soundcloud.com/conquistador-697754746/god-is-love[/media][/QUOTE] Woah, this is pretty neat. The mix is kind of iffy, I would've preferred a sub bass during the "drop" at 1:09. Speaking of, the drums were really quiet and tiny, compression could totally fix that right up. Another thing to add, near the beginning, the melodic fills were really cool, but it seemed that some were out of key, or hitting some notes wrong. Either way, super cool. --- Haven't posted here in a while, have I? Here's something I've finished today. Glitch hop? [media]https://soundcloud.com/relaxedcreeper/solitary-shine[/media]

I was on a biking trip and stopped at a gas station. Noticed some of the sewer pipes behind it were making funky noises so I recorded it, maybe someone finds it useful. [media]https://soundcloud.com/timopy/sewer-pipes-making-funky-noises[/media] Download available from soundcloud

:snip:

[QUOTE=RelaxedCreepr;50654289]Woah, this is pretty neat. The mix is kind of iffy, I would've preferred a sub bass during the "drop" at 1:09. Speaking of, the drums were really quiet and tiny, compression could totally fix that right up. Another thing to add, near the beginning, the melodic fills were really cool, but it seemed that some were out of key, or hitting some notes wrong. Either way, super cool. --- Haven't posted here in a while, have I? Here's something I've finished today. Glitch hop? [media]https://soundcloud.com/relaxedcreeper/solitary-shine[/media][/QUOTE] Hey man I dig the song, the drums are interesting. I'm gonna have to hear it with my other headphones to really judge the mix itself. But overall nice progression. This track is unmastered with little eq if any, I wrote it in C minor as far as I can remember. [media]https://soundcloud.com/blazing234/horns[/media]

[QUOTE=Speedhax;50658132]This track is unmastered with little eq if any, I wrote it in C minor as far as I can remember. [media]https://soundcloud.com/blazing234/horns[/media][/QUOTE] I like the variations, but the track sounds like it's just one long drop. You should add more tension with breakdowns and buildups. You could also experiment with glitch hop sudden stops, glitches. Retrowave. [media]https://soundcloud.com/soundhero2/prime[/media]

snip, nevermind

[QUOTE=blah2;50658365]I like the variations, but the track sounds like it's just one long drop. You should add more tension with breakdowns and buildups. You could also experiment with glitch hop sudden stops, glitches. Retrowave. [media]https://soundcloud.com/soundhero2/prime[/media][/QUOTE] Those drums are so punchy dude, I love it. Really well mixed and I love the panning on the rhythm high synth (not the lead, idk what to call it). The phrases are really well spaced out, really well structured. Love the dynamics on the percussion, especially the hi-hat groove. Those subtle hits really flesh the beat out. --- [media]http://vocaroo.com/i/s1c3tQaGmzf8[/media] Excuse the vocaroo recording, but this is just something I wrote yesterday; not finished yet. Just have a few questions: What do you guys think of the harmony in the beginning? I plan on doing more but it's just a proof of concept; I'm not too well versed in mixing background vocals so I would love tips. I don't know if it comes through but I mixed the first harmony backing vocal part way to the right and the second part way to the left. So I know that's a start but it still sounds... too obvious? I might need some help with that. Also I don't know if I should add another vocal track over the chorus, or if I should just keep it the way it is. [editline]8th July 2016[/editline] I might also just be overlistening the hell out of the harmony so it might just sound fine, my friend said it sounded great but I need a second opinion.

It sounds fine.

[QUOTE=blah2;50658365] Retrowave. [media]https://soundcloud.com/soundhero2/prime[/media][/QUOTE] Overall really good. Drums have a really nice new beat feel to them, but the snare sounds kind of odd. Sounds like you have the 909 snare decay and then a very slight reverb after it, and it sounds strange having two different "release" effects playing at the same time. Might cut down on the bass on the drums a tiny bit but that's probably just personal preference. The supersaw at 0:38 also sticks out a lot and sounds harsh, it sounds like there's some frequency range that's too loud or something. If not fooling around with an equalizer, turning the volume down and increasing the reverb a little may help with that. I made piano house/eurodance [media]https://soundcloud.com/grandmamax/you-made-it-even-worse[/media]

Pretty basic question but I can't get anything I'm happy with. Where would one source kick samples for trap, like so: [media]https://soundcloud.com/nickraymondg/krne-x-stooki-sound-medicine-thissongissickcom-premiere-free-download[/media] [media]https://soundcloud.com/krane/krne-x-alexander-lewis-cotton-candy#t=0:58[/media] Not talking about the 808/sub, but the actual kick. It's a nice an powerful sample but doesn't sound like "traditional" kicks you use in other genres, and I don't have any suitable samples kicking about (heh).