A few questions
A few questions Posted on: 25.02.2013 by Cindie Somoza Alright, first of all, I have no knowledge of this what so ever, so any information from the most simplistic point to the most advanced would be widely appreciated. Ableton and myself just cannot get along when it comes to grooving out a beat, I know it has the groove presets that you can attach to the beat, but it just doesn't do what I have in my head. I also know that you can basically 'jam' once you have any Drum Rack or Impluse filled with sounds/instruments with the computer keyboard/external MIDI Device (like a keyboard or drum pads), but what I believe I really want, after being a drummer for 11 years, is to use an actual Electronic DK as a MIDI device, this is where I am in over my head, first of all, I don't even know if they can be used as MIDI Devices and I also don't know which ones can/cant be used. I'm a real hands on musician and need it best suited to my style. If I could somehow trigger my acoustic kit to respond to MIDI notes (is this possible?) then I would. Second of all, I am having great difficultly getting a full bodied track laid out in Ableton, I have your usual Synth VSTs (Massive, FM8, BassLine, etc..) what I am missing out on is the background noises to complete the sound, the ambient long piano key noises, the swoosh build up noises. I have samples of these that I have further processed through programs like Audacity to get my desired sound, but I just wanted to know if their where particular VSTs that could help me out, to get that non-synth harmonic sound? Last of all, I plan on buying a MIDI Keyboard, I was looking at the Akai MPK 49 with the 12 pads and all the knobs, are the knobs auto assigned to the knobs when you open up a VST or do you have to custom map them/can they be custom mapped? If anyone can help, I'd love to hear your thoughts, thank-you. | |
| Cindie Somoza 25.02.2013 | Alright, first of all, I have no knowledge of this what so ever, so any information from the most simplistic point to the most advanced would be widely appreciated. Ableton and myself just cannot get along when it comes to grooving out a beat, I know it has the groove presets that you can attach to the beat, but it just doesn't do what I have in my head. I also know that you can basically 'jam' once you have any Drum Rack or Impluse filled with sounds/instruments with the computer keyboard/external MIDI Device (like a keyboard or drum pads), but what I believe I really want, after being a drummer for 11 years, is to use an actual Electronic DK as a MIDI device, this is where I am in over my head, first of all, I don't even know if they can be used as MIDI Devices and I also don't know which ones can/cant be used. I'm a real hands on musician and need it best suited to my style. If I could somehow trigger my acoustic kit to respond to MIDI notes (is this possible?) then I would. Second of all, I am having great difficultly getting a full bodied track laid out in Ableton, I have your usual Synth VSTs (Massive, FM8, BassLine, etc..) what I am missing out on is the background noises to complete the sound, the ambient long piano key noises, the swoosh build up noises. I have samples of these that I have further processed through programs like Audacity to get my desired sound, but I just wanted to know if their where particular VSTs that could help me out, to get that non-synth harmonic sound? Last of all, I plan on buying a MIDI Keyboard, I was looking at the Akai MPK 49 with the 12 pads and all the knobs, are the knobs auto assigned to the knobs when you open up a VST or do you have to custom map them/can they be custom mapped? If anyone can help, I'd love to hear your thoughts, thank-you. |
| Cindie Somoza 25.02.2013 | I'm working on something now, I'll post it up shortly! |
| Zulma Ramji 25.02.2013 | like i said - just upload to soundcloud and it would be easier to point you in the right direction |
| Cindie Somoza 25.02.2013 | Thanks for the reply! Some good points, however the bassline is not the part I'm having problem with, that and the beat are the only bits I'm getting done right now (and they still lack that groove I want), what I'm missing is Lead and Dynamics that help build a more full bodied sound, basically sounds that the first time you listen to a song you wouldn't even hear it, but then take it out and it would be flat. I believe (or hoping, for myself) the controllers will, as you say, help my workflow.... flow. |
| Zulma Ramji 25.02.2013 | I believe you are going through something i was going just few month ago. Getting a full-bodied track is not easy but not as hard once you get a hang of your work flow. I only have been producing for a year but i feel i have learned quite a bit. I have been experimenting a lot and i feel it all comes down to the shortcuts that work better for you. What really helped me is to work in this manner: 1. through in a basic kick for reference and maybe a clap 2. write a bassline. Spend as much time as needed here. As one of the artists from DJTT's interview said - if bassline sounds good on it's own without any drums or anything - you are going in the right direction. Also I believe what works well for me is to make all lower frequencies tight to the center so they don't mud the track and make like a center foundation for everything else 3. I like working on the mix down so here i would work on the kick. layer it, EQ and do whatever needed to make it sound awesome with the bass. this would complete the foundation of the track that would already have a full body to the track. 4. I like drums and percussion so i would through in congas, drums, hats whatever. Make sure you space them properly with some playing different channels and reverb them to give more depth in the mix. I don't put high hats till the very end because i feel they through off my workflow giving me a wrong perception of the groove. You know what i mean when hi hats come in - the track just explodes in my mind. So i make sure it sounds good without them. 5. I believe synths are good when they at times follow the bassline and at times fill up the space outside the bassline timing. 6. add ton of random effects that would keep the track interesting and to fill up the space. reverb, delay to stretch the sounds and fill space. In ableton i usually create in the mix -board view the peak of the track and then in the arrangement I just strip down the peak part and slowly build it up. to get more groove - automate various knobs so that the track is evolving, quantize some of the notes but not all of them, use sidechaining slightly. just random tips that hopefully can somehow help. if you have anything - post on soundcloud and share and I would be glad to give pointers on things i know. |
| Cindie Somoza 25.02.2013 | Ah, thank-you very much, answers everything quite clearly. |
| Stan Brevil 25.02.2013 | If you have an electronic drum kit you can use it to input either midi (for the most part considering most are midi based) and have that trigger drum rack components, or you can use the presets on the rack and input as audio (or both). You can make background sounds in most VST synths etc without too much trouble. If you want non-synth based ambient sound you can always try sampling & stretching or another method. Most softsynths have noise generators which will help as well. The knobs will in most cases need to be manually mapped (unless the VST has a template for that specific controller, which is fairly uncommon in VSTs). Mapping doesn't take long though and I believe you'll find for the bigger VSTs with more controls than you have knobs it will be better to map your own knobs. I find this helps me remember what controls what better anyways. |
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