DnB W.I.P help appreciated (collab poss)

dannyb1

dannyb1

This is my last shot
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Location
Chichester UK
Right now I have your attention (I hope) I hace got the old FL studios open again (reluctantly) and torturing myself to try and make a tune (50 times later)

Where do I start OK well I have tried (in vein) before to make something, anything, never get start to finish sometimes make my own drum patterns from hits, sometimes nice most times not so great when I go through thinking I know what I'm doing and boosting/cutting with EQ and pretty effects and laying out my pattern (sometimes 2 if I'm lucky) and then going on to find using FLkeys or Sytrus to no avail for a synth/pad wot not.

Then I would open 3xosc and try and think I was making the best bline in the world combining a sine (-24) with a saw or square (-12 maybe higher) and fart ass around making a bass that just sounds good in my head.

Well what's changed you ask (I bet you're not but hey) well as mentioned I re-installed FL for the same tragic purpose but this time I succomb to the free sample pack tasters from LM which were the bladerunner pack (which is where I'm drawing some insperation from as I love his stuff) Dread rec pack and another jungle pack.

I've taken a drum break from the BR pack as well as his signiture B-line (taken from a loop he's done, chopped a segment off and added a loop point so it tails a bit) as well as a sample from Patras "romantic call" (which I loved growing up) The reggae (probably bad) piano lick was made by myself in FLkeys.

I also have to give credit too @Moskit who has sourced some nice ragga sound clash samples that I can throw in.

So the point too this waffle is I would really reaslly appreciate any too all input, and you'll have to be delecate with me with some explination like I said earlier I would take an EQ and chop/boost without reason, gaining why you would do it (cut out below 80 for sub to fit etc) but applying it and probably wrong.

Just to let you understand what I'm working with well I recently purchased a build myself pc so have 16gb ram I3 6th gen processor asus MOBO and g710 graphics card, I was not planning on trying to make music again so never spent on a good AI but using onboard with my sennys HD25 Pro headphones.

Well if you ain't bored stiff yet and are actually insane enough to carry out my project with me then welcome onboard.

Anyway here it is just laid down at the moment as I would usually do to get a feel.

https://soundcloud.com/danny-b-official%2Fromantic-call1
 
The drums are a bit "crunchy" for my ears mate, could possibly do with a but more compression/layering? Also, a bit more space on the drop before the break... Drums are lost a bit in the mix on the drop, love that bassline though, really nice, maybe a bit loud in the mix? I think its the top end on the drums that's causing some of the issues on the intro & the drop too...

Great ideas though bro, catchy hook on the samp ;)
 
Cheers mate much appreciated, now here's where I'm gonna make you wish you never replied lol.

So compress or layer drums, well drum break is it's own sample from pack so would like to hazard a guess that that work has been taken care of? so would I be better off turning it down a tad? I did start with a 707 kick and 909 snare to start making my own beat but just thought pack would save time.

Space before the break (I guess after the easy vocal leading into the drop) that currently has a verb on the end of where the lazer/horn sample is to drag it out a bit but are you suggesting cutting back on them samples?

Like I said I might be asking a lot from any of you who contribute and it's not that I'm too lazy to find out for myself it's that I have tried to do it over and over and just give up and well this time I don't want to but may need some patience when dealing with me lol.

Again thank you.
 
Upload more of the track, that would help (y). Doesn't sound miles off tbf but only on iphone headphones.

The rest of the questions you're asking are mainly down to taste so go with what feels right, if you think it could be better, make it better.
 
dont know what youre talking bout andrew, i think it sounds just fine! sounds just to me?

if you want a more professional mixdown, you need a stricter EQ, what they used to call a "round sound" which pendulum used to be a perfect example of.
so if you want to make your tune sound less rude, you need to either pull back on all types of distortion, exciters, saturation, overdrive, and subractive EQ out all screechy frequences your original samples may have, then go the other way and EQ up the 200 hz on the snare, balance the volumes on the mixer, definitely make sure no channel goes in the red, test your mixes on different systems, and when you get one that sounds perfectly balanced where ever you play it, thats when youve acheived "round sound".

best idea is actually to group everything (as in route all samples/synths to their respective mixer bus in a logical way, many of them dont need separate processing, they can go to the same effect channel, like for example all high frequency FX, i.e sounds that go "swoosh" should be on the same FX channel, or mixer bus as its also called, because that makes sense, same as all kicks and kick-ish type sounds can be on the same channel and so forth, i think i read somewhere the pros usually end up with about nine stems. kicks, snares, sub bass, distorted synths, leads, pads/chords/fx/something i dont remember, also, this was a techstep producer who said that, so i dont know how releveant you feel that is to your style) the way you want it on the mixer, pull all volume faders on the busses master (the mixer, F9) down to zero, and then redo the mix by pulling them up, one by one, in the order appropriate for the tune and the genre we call "drum and bass". so as to acheive a new mix, a more balanced mix, a rounder sound.

ive read this bit of advice a hundred times, and it works, its just i hate doing it. my sound is my sound, know what im sayin. no, but honestly, this is a good thing to do regardless of what type of music youre making, i really think so.

i personally dont like round sound at all, i like rude sound, i hate sample packs, other than classic breaks and oldskool rave sounds, and i want overdrive on everything.
 
Right so project extended some elements changed (crash at end of break beggining of drop)
Used high shelf and low shelf on EQ to drag highs out (from 14k) and lows (80hz) off the break
Took out hook vocals from the drop as I think it would make it a bit repetitive and not in a good way.
Pulled drums down to -6db and bass -22db vox -9 with a HPF around 40%

https://soundcloud.com/danny-b-official%2Fromantic2
 
oh, and a reference track. get a professional tune in the same genre and copy that mixdown, basically. and lets not talk about mastering, mixdown is the most important thing of all, when it comes to technicalities. musicality is the most important thing when it comes to music, so, you know. thats why i like a rude sound, i guess.
 
dannyb1 said:
Right so project extended some elements changed (crash at end of break beggining of drop)
Used high shelf and low shelf on EQ to drag highs out (from 14k) and lows (80hz) off the break
Took out hook vocals from the drop as I think it would make it a bit repetitive and not in a good way.
Pulled drums down to -6db and bass -22db vox -9 with a HPF around 40%

https://soundcloud.com/danny-b-official%2Fromantic2
Click to expand...

GOOD work on taming the sound, but somehow i feel like the high end should be a little higher on the break, and the vocal can definitely be brought back on top of the drop but just wait a little, like where the tune ends now, drop the vocal there and replace the think with an amen. or maybe do both, amen and think combo is awesommmmmme

maybe? shit, dont know.

edit: your main break is a think, is it not? the breakbeat with the tambourines?
 
Ok so busses in my terms would be (route to this track only) on FL, as in channel 1 strips my break chans 2-3-4 could be a layered kick n snare and ghost snare pattern but would "route" all that to chan 5 to mix together?
I don't know about a more pro mixdown lol just an achieved track start to finish with some input in pretty laymans terms as to what I'm doing, what I may need to apply to something and how to best go about it (remember laymans :) )
 
no thats correct, "routing" a "sample/synth" to a "bus" means putting the sound on an FX channel, is all. so all low end type stuff other than sub and kick goes to the same fx channel, is a good idea to get a cohesive sound and to save processor power. then, when youve done all your sounds on the relevant fx channels, you can group the fx channels by turning off their output to the master, and setting them to output to the same effect channel, which in turn becomes a kind of secondary master, as that is then their connection to the master, if you get my meaning?

im assuming you know how to route stuff in the FLP mixer? theres a button (or more of a dial actually) at the bottom of the effect channels in the mixer you can use to turn on/off the sending of the sound to the master and the other different FX channels. you can make incredibly complex fx chains or just group stuff, its a fantastic feature. specially since not all plugs have a wet/dry dial. you then output each stem, and put them together again, thats how the pros do it.

then, after its all been put together, you have mastering (more processing but done on the final product as a whole), but thats not for here.
 
Ok so yes I know about "route to this track or route to this track only) so now.
1) what are my individual elements (as in low mid high etc) I guess vocal hook I'm using could be a mid section as I've HPF it? my bass again is a sample so I'm guessing the works been taken out as it's pre processed.
2)my looped break is not chopped the conventinal way as in I have taken the whole loop and slimmed it down to single hits or shorter loops not cut.
3)piano riff on intro would be mid I guess.

I dunno this is where you guys patience wil be tested lol.
 
Cool sounding tune man!
Agree on Logikz to add a amen. Would make it more energetic :)
Maybe add some more fx synth sweeps or something. Since its a bit repetitive
 
dannyb1 said:
Ok so yes I know about "route to this track or route to this track only) so now.
1) what are my individual elements (as in low mid high etc) I guess vocal hook I'm using could be a mid section as I've HPF it? my bass again is a sample so I'm guessing the works been taken out as it's pre processed.
2)my looped break is not chopped the conventinal way as in I have taken the whole loop and slimmed it down to single hits or shorter loops not cut.
3)piano riff on intro would be mid I guess.

I dunno this is where you guys patience wil be tested lol.
Click to expand...

um no, you cant quite think of it solely in terms of frequency content, the important bits have to get a bus of their own. after it all sounds right, you group the busses for the rendering of the stems.
bullshit like swooshy fx which is just high frequency content can all be put on the same fx channel, but you cant put chords and snares on the same channel just because they have similar frequency content. so all main elements on individual fx channels, all bullshit whatever sounds that seem similar can go on the same, then, when the mix is done, you group the fx busses in even bigger groups, like sub, kick+snare, reeces and 808s, chords and pads, strings, hihats and cymbals, fx and something else, i dont remember, but nine does seem like a logical number, and in a technical sense, this does seem to make sense.

to make matters worse, what you do then, is take the stems, and put them together in ANOTHER daw, like cubase or logic. i prefer vegas (but back in FLP is perfectly fine), and apply more EQ, compression and reverb and whatever, live cuts if you have turntables, live FX if you have any outboard FX like a CD-J mixer (has a bunch of built in fx) or something, and if you feel raunchy, live synth riffs.but thats risky. a good artist knows when the tune is done, this is key for being a good artist.

i did that once, turned out great actually. problem was i was an amateur, just following instructions from the internet, so even if the sound turned out fantastic, the song wasnt all that great. i mean i still like it, one of the few songs i done that i can openly say "i like my own song, so what!", but not many other people liked it.

and the work that goes into making tunes like this is so time consuming id rather fix the mixdown in the daw as i make the song and leave it at that, too much work and i lose motivation and scrap the project, probably why all my mixdowns suck tbh. you NEED that ambition!
 
Ok so deleted earlier examples and fleshed it out a bit more.
Sorry @logikz I haven't got round to putting you're methods to use yet, although I know how to route to seperate tracks I don't know which of my samples I should club together.
@Leniz If I whack an amen in where? (I guess after drop) which copy of? (I do have one called future amen which is pitched down a bit) and sorry for sounding like I want you to make it but synth sweeps (bleeps risers atmos etc) may need to find some.
Anyways thanks for you're overall persistance with me so far I really appreciate if this gets finished :)

https://soundcloud.com/danny-b-official%2Fromantic3
 
amen it at 2:14!! and turn down the intro drums a tad, they are larger than the drop drums, im thinking thats because the reggae piano stab sample is on there, but still, youll have to solve that somehow, as the intro cant be louder than the drop. then drop the vocal again at 3:26! WITH A HOOVER or some fucking shit, a hoover or an incorporated distorted 808 stab or something. then breakdown (as in repeat the intro but slightly different) and then 2nd drop SAME AS THE FIRST starting from the amen part, and outro by taking away the amen.

JOBS A GOODUN BADDY
 
cheers guys much appreciated.
I did pull the amen i had in to the project and mucked about quick before i called it a day so will return to that idea.

dropping the volume on intro drums, so if i decide to stick with them then i guess i will have to automate the volume to be lower there then back to normal at the drop (there =3db at the mo)

distorted 808 (I'm guessing the kick) gets that kind of dillinja bass if my mem serves me right, and am i right in thinking that this will be to complement the end of a 8/16th bar? so i have the long wobbly sub then a pattern of 808 stabs back to the sub?

sorry again for all the noob sounding questions, what you see and hear is fundamentally pivotal to me to try and take in and give it one last shot.
 
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