by djnarrative | 10 Mar, 2012 | Reckorder Tutorials
This month's tutorials feature a great breakbeat masterclass from Tommy D (Ctrlz Z/Skism) and a wicked free analyser which has really helped define that solid kick and the snare starting point, as well as mixing the kick and the bass so they sit well together. Following last months tutorials, and in particular the information about getting that kick and snare sitting in their rightful place, i went searching for a better analyser. I was using abletons built in one but i really wanted something bigger and more versatile. After trying out a fair few demos of favoured one like Roger Nichols Xl Inspector and Blue cat I found Voxengo Span. This is a free audio analyser thats not only nice and clear but also allows you to view 2 channels at once (e.g the kick and the bass) After watching this tutorial on how to use it (dont be put off by the fact its trance production like i was - its easily the best how to ive found for span) i was then able to really produce my tracks and deal with any of the issues of conflicting frequencies that i was facing previously As a starter dish, i would also like to put forward one of the best masterclasses i have seen. Tommy D from Ctrl Z/Skism offering up a very thorough, honest and engaging walkhrough of how he remixed the freestylers track - Ruffneck. How it relates to Span analyser is that I remember when i first watched this it covered really well how to get those phat kicks and punchy snares hitting at the right...
by djnarrative | 29 Mar, 2011 | Reckorder Tutorials
If you're making electronic music you generally need a great kick and a great snare. A lot of work can go into making just those two elements in a lot of underground dance music tracks, but once you've got a few your happy with you can use them again so it's worth spending some time on it. There are a different styles of Kick for different genres, but basically the 3 elements i look for are punch, body and weight, so one approach is to first find, tune and eq, 3 sounds in drum rack which have those characteristics. Then layer them on top of each other and add another eq and compressor to that kick channel. Generally speaking i'm looking for the kick to punch at 80 - 100hz so i use a frequency analyser and eq, always rolling off as much as possible underneath to leave room for the sub. its also worth noting where the higher snap punches through in order to give it presence in the mix. And the other thing i do is make a dip in the eq of the bass where the kick punches so that they can exist together, or sidechain if more bass genres. I'll drop some side chaining info in another post as it can be a bit confusing if you've not heard about it, but very effective in getting your kick to punch through. Anyway for now load up a few sounds, tune and eq them so they make up a much better sound, group, and see where its punching, eq /shape as neccesary and drop a compressor...
by djnarrative | 3 May, 2010 | Reckorder Tutorials
I'm going to post a proper tutorial on mixing the kick and the bass but til then this here's a really useful video from the Mikechav on mixing the kick...
