LESS IS MORE

Fratanize

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For the more experienced producers this is probably obvious. I have come to learn that less is more in this game. Rather than layering up heaps of sounds. Its best to really tweak what you have and process, process, process.
When i started out, i was layering shit loads of snares together and stuff like that.
Just a bit of advice for anyone starting out.
peace
 
Very true mate, most of the time subtracktive EQing or less channels benefits the mix or opens/cleans it up dramaticly. Obviously you have to add say extra bass to certain things but most of the time its best to take the lows out of the upper mids to let the bass breathe and such, same goes for the whole spectrum of the khz range.
 
So true. Layering 4 hipassed breaks doesn't make anything sound better.

A big mistake for all beginners.
 
im confused
chase & status say the same as you less is more also as little processing as poss
but
brookes brothers say layering kicks snares is the best, 2 or 3 of each and eq them to fit

two sets of pro producers before giving different info :confused:

and now fratz added to my confusion
 
im confused
chase & status say the same as you less is more also as little processing as poss
but
brookes brothers say layering kicks snares is the best, 2 or 3 of each and eq them to fit

two sets of pro producers before giving different info :confused:

and now fratz added to my confusion

two or three snares is right but all with different freqs. 3 is the most with two being the norm. Usually you will phase off the smack or the tail from different snares. One snare with a good thump and one with a high end tail.
Using more than three usually sounds shit unless you are lucky.
 
very true....... if you really wanna push yourself musically, try writing a song with one instrument...... lets say a piano

start with a decent multi sampled piano and use no processing at all..... maybe some reverb if the piano needs it but nothing else


d&b relies soooo heavily on processing and traditional musical content gets pushed aside.....

im not saying processing is a bad thing.... but its healthy to lay off it sometimes and make music the old skool way...... proper old skool :teeth:
 
yeah i used to have around 30 kicks and snares in a track now i have 1 kick and 2 snares and then whatever percussion i choose to use :lol:
 
yeah i used to have around 30 kicks and snares in a track now i have 1 kick and 2 snares and then whatever percussion i choose to use :lol:

WOW thats alot of kicks man! :D

about the piano thing, it is possible. use the untouched piano for the mid of the sound, lowpass the really low notes to use as the bass. but, it would sound too minimal in my opinion. would be a good starting point tho, then gradually add other elements in a carefull manner. thats one of my vices, i just rush into a tune and before i know it i got abuot a thousand diffrent sounds going on.
 
im confused
chase & status say the same as you less is more also as little processing as poss
but
brookes brothers say layering kicks snares is the best, 2 or 3 of each and eq them to fit

two sets of pro producers before giving different info :confused:

and now fratz added to my confusion

could it be that theres more than one way of achieving a sound ?!
less is more, the only rule is there are no rules, and loads more cliches that contradict each other, i could go on for days.

Theres literally hundreds of ways of making a tune that will rock the dancefloor. You can make a tune with a huge snare that started its life as 7 separate sounds, or you can sculpt one on a synth, or you can listen to 100 Gb of samples to find the perfect one. It really doesnt make a difference. The magic is blending everything together into a complete tune.
Wow! im a cliche machine tonight!!

But really, if im to give any real advice on layering, it would be that you should be doing it knowingly. Each sound should appreciate each other. I used to look for nice sounding kicks and snares, and tried to layer them. It was pointless, since the hits sounded good by themselves already, as they where more than likely taken off finished tunes (good work vengeance...).
If you fancy layering drums, then go for real drum kits, and layer them with drum machine samples. Check the frequencies on each hit, and either chose sounds that compliment each others frequencies, or adjust to do so with eq and compression. Play with their levels against each other. even 1 dB of adjustment between the layered snares can make a noticeable difference when the whole tune is playing.

and as a final advice, when you hear a producer talking about their way of work, remember that its only one of many ways of making a tune. Learn the rules and then brake them, follow your heart, yada yada yada brap bigop imsodrunkgointobedfirsttoliettho..,[];ac/$*!(%
 
I usually find one kick that sounds good, one snare that sounds good, usually just have a plain white noise sample in there which gives the snare a bit of "tshhhhh" and bongos forever. bongos sort my drums out always. one ride going loud quiet loud quiet (pretty quiet in the mix) always gives it Fluff, but never have more than a few snares in there.. infact come to think of it i usually have just the one snare, the one white noise, possible quiet clap, or some other scatty alternative but yeah, as nutek said definitely not 30 kicks, thats a horrible option. ive kinda started to realise that less is more in a big way - some simple EQing can give 1 kick the effect of 3, for example in no time. Shalalalala
 
i also think its important to not get tooooo caught up in frequencies etc etc (as important as they are, yes there are basic guidelines we all need to follow eg kick 80 - 110, snare 150 - 200 etc etc) but best to use ur ears, u should know what works in ur own tunes, what "fits" in the mix and what doesn't.

@ Revtech layering 4 hi passed breaks, nuthin wrong with that man, when it comes to layering use as much as u can to make the whole beat sound full. again whatever fits to ur particular tune
 
I usually find one kick that sounds good, one snare that sounds good, usually just have a plain white noise sample in there which gives the snare a bit of "tshhhhh" and bongos forever. bongos sort my drums out always. one ride going loud quiet loud quiet (pretty quiet in the mix) always gives it Fluff, but never have more than a few snares in there.. infact come to think of it i usually have just the one snare, the one white noise, possible quiet clap, or some other scatty alternative but yeah, as nutek said definitely not 30 kicks, thats a horrible option. ive kinda started to realise that less is more in a big way - some simple EQing can give 1 kick the effect of 3, for example in no time. Shalalalala

yet in my tutorial thread u said u sometimes use up to 4 snares to get it smackin right LOL:rinsed:
 
didnt actually mean four snares, meant four snare-type hits (including the white noise, etc) as said above

in which case what you said about disagreeing with me about haivng 2 main snares was pointless:ban:
 
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