- Joined
- Mar 18, 2010
- Location
- Madrid, Spain
So I wrote this as a response in the feedback forum (new talent...) but thought it would be worth a post so here it goes, as for the question in the Title:
It all has to do with psychoacoustics to me (and for MP3 encoders...),
making a drop sound f-ing huge is just a matter of psychoacoustic comparition (i.e. what your brain compares too).
Say, you're in a room with a level of sound of constant blabery (lets say constant 30db) and then suddenly someone speaks at you at like 40db
because you were seem not to be paying him any attention (he was probably a douche) but at this point you look at him and start paying more attention to him (what a drop can do).
If he spoke to at a 20db level he would mantain his douchery (i.e. you wouldn't listen to him - a drop would sound awfull and unperceived)
but what if that guy, spoke to you at 40db when there was nobody in the room? well, you'd get scared as hell (explanatory video from total silence to...).
So mixing this in a propper way with psychoacoustics we get: Make the intro lower than the main verses (not much lower), try to get the comparition point (the exact bars where the drop is) to me well differenciable. For example, people are more satisfied by stereo sounds (sounding more natural) and mid high freqs in a moderate way. Lowpassing the bars before the drop, making it mono, and then letting all the machinery come in TEH drop with many stereo stuff and a good stab of a good mellody will be much more likely to be a good drop (example, any skrillex or spor tune, stabs stabs stabs and mini drops all over the place).
Oh and what works to me the best is working FIRST in the verse, then building the intro all around it, so at the same time I know how my tune's gotta drop and what it has to give to the ear, I build up new sounds to use in the second verse (after or in the bridge).
After all, don't take this as any fact or else, it's just what I found all over the place and I'm no sound engineer...
Hope this helps anyone out or makes anybody rages and replies with some more information on the topic.
What works for you guys?
TL;DR. Get out of here and go to the waffle! I even posted links to videos and wiki articles!!!
It all has to do with psychoacoustics to me (and for MP3 encoders...),
making a drop sound f-ing huge is just a matter of psychoacoustic comparition (i.e. what your brain compares too).
Say, you're in a room with a level of sound of constant blabery (lets say constant 30db) and then suddenly someone speaks at you at like 40db
because you were seem not to be paying him any attention (he was probably a douche) but at this point you look at him and start paying more attention to him (what a drop can do).
If he spoke to at a 20db level he would mantain his douchery (i.e. you wouldn't listen to him - a drop would sound awfull and unperceived)
but what if that guy, spoke to you at 40db when there was nobody in the room? well, you'd get scared as hell (explanatory video from total silence to...).
So mixing this in a propper way with psychoacoustics we get: Make the intro lower than the main verses (not much lower), try to get the comparition point (the exact bars where the drop is) to me well differenciable. For example, people are more satisfied by stereo sounds (sounding more natural) and mid high freqs in a moderate way. Lowpassing the bars before the drop, making it mono, and then letting all the machinery come in TEH drop with many stereo stuff and a good stab of a good mellody will be much more likely to be a good drop (example, any skrillex or spor tune, stabs stabs stabs and mini drops all over the place).
Oh and what works to me the best is working FIRST in the verse, then building the intro all around it, so at the same time I know how my tune's gotta drop and what it has to give to the ear, I build up new sounds to use in the second verse (after or in the bridge).
After all, don't take this as any fact or else, it's just what I found all over the place and I'm no sound engineer...
Hope this helps anyone out or makes anybody rages and replies with some more information on the topic.
What works for you guys?
TL;DR. Get out of here and go to the waffle! I even posted links to videos and wiki articles!!!
