Q & A with our compo winner Mugatu!!!

[logikz]

This is the official production Q and A session with our production compo winner Mugatu!!
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for those of you unfamiliar with this kind of thing, it works like so, you ask a question,
anything from "how did you make that snare" to "how do you make the kick so pronouced in the mix whilst still having such obese amounts of bass" to "whats your creative process" to "whats a good VST, in your opinion, so i can hold all these limes" and so forth, you know, producers geeking out with the winner of the compo!

dont ask the same thing over and over, read the thread. that goes without saying, but at the same time, if something is unclear then ask more specifically, and hopefully youll get a more specific answer. stay on topic, this thread is PRODUCTION Q and A with Mugatu, strickly, no waffle or thread-jacks. if you want mugatu to listen to feedback you on your track PM him or do a thread in new talent forum and hope he notices it. btw it IS ok to PM someone about wanting feedback on a track you made, so dont be afraid to. its up to each and every man themself to decide if theyre going to play ball or not.


Ok speaking of playing ball, lets get going, post our questions, and Mugatu will get around to answering them, he said he had some time today even! so dont be surprised if you see some action in this thread today, but depending on how long mugatu can be arsed vs. how many questions there will be, chances are itll probably go on for a few days.

let me get the ball rolling (or some other ball metaphor) by asking how you get such smack and thud to your snare?
whats your creative process when coming up with the snares of your drumkit? are you more of a single hit kind of guy or is it breakbeats (siily quesiton, but its a fun subjevct and im trying to get said ball rolling or whatever it is they do)?

 

[Verva]

For my snare in the comp. It was a very basic, pitch up with kontakt and take off the sub freq and anything above about 15000. From hearing it, I gathered it was probably from somewhere like vengeance, most, if not all of their samples are procossed heavily, so it didnt really need boosting. For my snares, claps and all dat. I use sometimes up to 3 layers, thats not counting breaks. If I was making a good all round snare, I might use a normal punchy snare layered with a clap, distorting or saturating the clap. Then the breaks just fatten things up. Another tip, use hits that you think sound as if they wouldnt work, sometimes they do. I got a really deep wooden type side stick and layered it with 2 hits like it, just higher up, works a treat. In terms of reverb on snares, if your making jump up, wouldnt really bother, if your making deep stuff then a little reverb goes a long way. Ill let you in on a reverb that I use, Logic pro only. Go to space designer, then medium spaces, outdoor spaces, its hi woods natural. That not only gives you an interesting space, but actually changes the eq of the sound slightly, thats what I can hear anyway.

For creative process. I do sometimes chuck in a loop or break, just a basic one. Then maybe cut out the hits and not use the hats or snares e.g. Normally just start with some hats, snare, kick, shuffle, rides then breaks.

 

[Pauldavid]

Hello Mugatu....did you really invent the piano neck tie ?
Thanks .

 

[Solace]

HOWMUCH DID YOU PAY TO WIN THIS COMPO?!

Alright, on a serious note, do you have any new original songs? I find it a bit hard to ask questions when I don't really know your style or something... Since the most recent track on your sc (not counting the remix) is more than half a year old.

But, I do have a question, do you have a general approach when you begin a new song? I always find it damn hard to begin a track. I might have an idea, but most of the time I just don't know how to start on it, or I haven't got a clue how to make the sound.S o I end up scrolling trough sample packs, looking for a nice bass, music sample or break that start the juices flowing

 

[logikz]

Hello Mugatu....did you really invent the piano neck tie ?
Thanks .

had to be done, and even though we all know the answer is yes, lets wait for the man himself.

no more unserious questions at this point please. lets get the production geekery flowing first and then im sure we can all make zoolander jokes and non sequiteurs until the cows come back from rome.

and mugatu i think it would be fun for everyone to hear somehting recent you done?

 

[LG18]

How did you make that tight little tom roll in the song for the competition?

Thanks!

 

[$marty]

What influenced your entry for the comp?

 

[Shatner's Bosom]

Would you rather have a head the size of a tennis ball or the size of a watermelon?

 

[Dark Lizardro]

Now that you are the king of the interwebz, what are your plans on ruling the earth?

Production wise:

How you managed to get the interest of the listener through the whole song?

 

[IV4]

I know you made another remix that you scrapped, care to share it?

 

[logikz]

very interesting question ivan, mugatu, care to share that with us?

 

[logikz]

and shut up willard.

 

[Verva]

Re: Q & A with our compo winner Mugatu!!!

HOWMUCH DID YOU PAY TO WIN THIS COMPO?!

Alright, on a serious note, do you have any new original songs? I find it a bit hard to ask questions when I don't really know your style or something... Since the most recent track on your sc (not counting the remix) is more than half a year old.

But, I do have a question, do you have a general approach when you begin a new song? I always find it damn hard to begin a track. I might have an idea, but most of the time I just don't know how to start on it, or I haven't got a clue how to make the sound.S o I end up scrolling trough sample packs, looking for a nice bass, music sample or break that start the juices flowing

I paid with bit coins.

I have been in your position before. I used to never be able to make a bass for my drums and vice a versa. But the more you make sounds the more different style of drums your bass can work with. It is just a time thing. But for now, spend a good time just making bass, drums or fx. Later down the line you can use what you made before.

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had to be done, and even though we all know the answer is yes, lets wait for the man himself.

no more unserious questions at this point please. lets get the production geekery flowing first and then im sure we can all make zoolander jokes and non sequiteurs until the cows come back from rome.

and mugatu i think it would be fun for everyone to hear somehting recent you done?

If you bare with me, by tomorrow (hopefully) Ill have a clip of 1 or 2 wips to post. It is of the deeper, more techy side.

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How did you make that tight little tom roll in the song for the competition?

Thanks!

The tom roll was actually a loop that came with the comp. But I added the snare and just pitched it down 1 to add to it. With percussion or tom rolls, at the time being, I use loops with my own productions.

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What influenced your entry for the comp?

hmm. Id never done a remix before and wanted to challenge myself and improve my production skill, winning was never on my mind. I didnt think I could make something like that and it took about 3-4 weeks to finish the song.

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Would you rather have a head the size of a tennis ball or the size of a watermelon?

Youd look proper weird with both. Couldnt answer that. Would you rather fuck jay lo or beyonce. But they both have thrush and you have to go down on them.

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Now that you are the king of the interwebz, what are your plans on ruling the earth?

Production wise:

How you managed to get the interest of the listener through the whole song?

I always find this hard to do. Im having trouble answering this one. Bare with me on this one.

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I know you made another remix that you scrapped, care to share it?

All I have from it is the drums which were half deleted. I made the final one on the same project. But just imagine a 2 step beat with a pitched down snare and the reece with an lfo on it. lol, yeah it was shit.

 

[logikz]

so take us through your creative process and setup, a little.

what do you work in for sw? what plugs do you turn to when you want saturation, compression, and reverb?

do you have any gear? if so what, and why? in fact, whats your setup?

whats a trick thats obvious to you, but not to the rest of the world (cos they dont use it like you do) to make an interesting bass? line or sound or whatever

 

[Verva]

Re: Q & A with our compo winner Mugatu!!!

This is a my current setup. I use a virus c, ns-10's, an ediroll and logic pro 9. I also have a sub under the table, its to close for proper mixing but it gives a rough idea.

I have a few plugins that I use outside of the built in logic ones. Massive, ssl compressor, ohmicide, fab filter volcano. But apart from that, for my reverb I use space designer, amazing plugin, great even if you use just one reverb but you can blend multiple spaces on different tracks. Delay designer also, again, amazing, partner that with space designer and you can make the best drones and atmospheres. For my distortion and saturation, I use logics built in overdrive, great on a lot of things. Dont limit your self to distortion on only bass... When I start making a track, I dont start on drums everytime, I little rolling sub can get me inspired or some hats. I use a mixture of loops and single hits, but I try to stay away from loops when I can, if I can make the loop with hits, I will try. A lot of people on here know about processing, but, one thing I find works a treat is firstly adding overdrive, then ohmicide, then space designer and finally eq. I dont split my bass' or synths up much, can someone tell me if it does much? One more thing, when using massive, just play around with the pitch of the osc and the phase osc, heavy detuning and radical difference in pitch is a little secret to getting that old jump up reece bass, Ive nearly got that hazard busted sound, its fucking close its unreal.

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A wip of something deeper will be posted tonight



A clip of something Im working on.

 

[RUSSLA]

Re: Q & A with our compo winner Mugatu!!!

I dont split my bass' or synths up much, can someone tell me if it does much?

We never do this within in one synth, generally a bass will consist of at least 3 or 4 layers, all managing different parts of the spectrum. Much much more control over the overall sound rather than splitting on bass into 3 busses, imo.

 

[lasiien]

How do you rate the virus c then mugatu ? Something you use much or do you tend to work more in the box?

 

[sam the dnb man]

Splitting sounds into different frequency bands can work but it depends on the sound. If you have a heavily detuned bass sound the bus can sound flappy so it's good to duplicate the channel and just have a raw sub underneath that won't phase

 

[Verva]

How do you rate the virus c then mugatu ? Something you use much or do you tend to work more in the box?

The virus is more a bit of fun than actually using it to make my bass for tunes. But, I know a few top dnb producers use one and get very nice sounds out of it. I have not used it as much as massive so I dont know its capabilities yet.

 

[logikz]

ok good talk everybody! i think we can close this now, thanks a million to mugatu for the invention of the piano tie, and for taking the time to chat.