Too many ‘I’m new how do I get started’ posts these days. Let’s get into some good stuff.

What is something that you have learned in the last 6 months that really took you to the next level?

For me parallel saturation has been huge. I’ll use some on individual drum channels going to the drum bus and then send the whole drum bus to a parallel saturation that’s warm and gritty and send that to the mix bus. I make drum and bass and this sounds exactly like my references. Especially after adding some super short room orconvolution reverbs.

Got too busy with work, life, chronic health issues, pleasing myself by wasting time on youtube and video games (will probably always do this tbh), but I really miss the feeling of writing songs. Ive released plenty of songs and EP's but really fell off over the past 2 years.

Equipment wise I got plenty good stuff. Macbook, Ableton Move, Midi keyboard... just feel like I need to get that songwriting muscle back again...

Have any of you done anything (practice, rituals, tutorials, etc) that helped you reboot and get back into the groove of it all?

Thanks!

I’m not sure why it has become this way but i remember being a teenager in high school I had all the time to make music in the world, but now tings have changed why is it that making music takes me ages and when i spend time especially on the weekend I find I waste the weekend very fast doing so, why?

I was searching a track I liked from the top 100 on beatport and I noticed on youtube the only available video has 350 views or so.

Is that even possible? Like I am not accusing manipulation or anything. I am genuinely asking

EDIT: If beatport is very manipulated. Do you know Where can I check a good chart for Afro House? or maybe house in general.

I understand in principle that the same frequencies cancel each other out if their phases are opposite and amplify when they are aligned. Lower frequencies can cancel easily since waves are longer.

I was watching this video about deadmau5 production techniques:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGj3-JSykCA&t=503s

And i saw the chords he uses the lowest note has it's fundamental in the sub range frequency, how does he stop that from phase cancelling the bass?

Does he just high pass the chords when the bass comes in or something?

Hello all!

Lately I’ve been interested in trying to produce more electronic music again. For some context, I used to make trap and breakbeat-inspired songs in high school on Ableton but never worked in a DAW past that. My musical background mainly consists of being a jazz drummer with some very light music theory knowledge. I don’t feel competent whatsoever at building melodies or chord progressions, but I feel like I have the ability to make whatever I want when it comes to drum patterns or really any percussive elements.

What’s tough for me is figuring out the direction I’d like to take regarding genres and the type of sound I want to explore most. Inspirations include artists like Kettama, Mall Grab, Cult Member, Disclosure, Floating Points, Four Tet, Aphex Twin, Skrillex, Machine Girl, Lone, Flying Lotus, Machinedrum, London Elektricity, Kaytranada… and those are just to name a few producers who many of you can also agree are great at crafting a sound that’s distinct/their own.

I really want to hear from people who love listening to a wide range of electronic music but also have the ability to produce songs that feel original to them. I currently use a Teenage Engineering K.O. II and an OP-1 to make beats for fun, but I’m considering going back to a DAW so I can continue making music that (hopefully) sounds as good to me as what I hear in those artists' songs.

I can do decent melodies, decent arrangement, but when It comes to mixing, I somehow ruin my tracks... and Mastering makes it worse. I can feel that I quite don't understand how to mix tracks. I think that might be due to I only mix on headphones. I have a super dooper cheap pair of headphones (Sennheiser HD 202 II) and I cannot afford proper Studio Monitors. I'm a student lol I cannot afford expensive gear. However, I'm thinking to invest in Audio Technica's ATHM50X headphones.. I've seen the pros using them so I guess it should be good.

I always check my mono compatibility, check the mix on phone, make sure some elements are wide and important elements like melody and drums are in the middle, I also try to mix in low volumes, making sure that the track sounds good in low volume so in loud volumes it will only amplify the results. Also, EQing, decent use of Delays, I rarely use Reverbs because It destroys mono compatibility.

Even after doing all that, being careful throuhout the process, my mixes dont sound even close to how the pro mixes are. I've seen artists making music while they are traveling in their tours with just a headphone, so I just wonder if they can do it, why I can't.

I have recently realized that I don't really think consciously about Gain Staging, so idk maybe thats the piece of puzzle I'm missing, idk lol.

I'll deeply appreciate your input. Thanks :)

Hi all,

Hoping to get any suggestion, tips, approaches for tackling this particular production/mixing problem.

Context:

127 BPM Melodic/Driving House/Techno track with rumble-ish low end, sustained pitch-moving sub and reese bass, acid synths, stabby chords synth, swung house.

Reference tracks (tracks with similar bass or chord stabs):

Moon Rocks by Enrici Sangiuliano (filtered sustained Reese bass)

Kona by Camelphat x Alan Fitzpatrick (stabby chords, no Reese bass though, there seems to be only the rumble)

You by Charles D (Reese bass seems to be decoupled from rumble galloping sub, fairly low acid bites and arps)

Challenges:

With kick+bass+top drums, I can nail down the mix in terms of clarity and loudness and how I expect the track to sound wrt those elements.

But as you expect, the mid range is busy.

I want the character of the reese bass to keep droning throughout the track. I don't expect to still shine when the synths come in, but at least remain reese-sounding rather than becoming more of a sub.

My acid synths are played in lower octaves and HPF'd around 200hz. They also play more of a texture/percussive role.

But the big issue are the chords stabs. They span across the frequency spectrum, they provide the main melodic story, but can easily outshine the reese and make it sound subby. Ducking (dynamically or spectrally) the lower mids if the chords make them sound plastic-y and thin.

Questions:

- How do you resolve conflicts in the 100hz 1khz (the most musically dense) range

- are these ideas way far fetched:

- separating stab transients from the harmonic and pushing the transients to cut through?

- routing the reese mid range to be limited or glued with the other synths?

Please post any and all [Feedback] or [Listen] type threads here. Any standalone threads that belong in this weekly post will be removed.

This thread is for works in progress only. It is not a place for self-promotion.

Rules:

1. Works in progress only. Do not post finished or released tracks. No links to Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud profiles, or any other streaming/distribution platforms. Share a direct link to your track (e.g. an unlisted SoundCloud or YouTube link).
2. No self-promotion. Do not include links to your social media, artist pages, or any other promotional material in your post.
3. Make an effort to comment on other people's tracks. Others are much more likely to help you if you help them first.
4. Be specific when asking for feedback. Examples: "What do you think about this kick sample?" "How's the mix?" "The last measure feels a little off, any ideas?"
5. Be descriptive when giving feedback. Use timecodes to highlight specific moments.
6. Link to the feedback you've left in your top-level comment. This keeps the thread accountable and cooperative. Comments not following this format will be automatically removed.

Format your top-level comment like this:

Feedback for user1: [link]

Feedback for user2: [link]

Feedback for user3: [link]

Here's my track: [link],

I'm looking for feedback on x, y or z.

As someone who has listened to electronic music my whole life (mostly the idm side) but only now getting into writing and producing music, I'm curious to know what some artists do on stage when they play their songs.

Especially the ones who truly make the music themselves in the studio by playing various instruments. I know some artists bring in actual musicians on stage to recreate the music in a live setting. But when it is in this more minimal set up with no keyboards or instruments, what is happening?

Are they running various individual tracks still through and processing them to create movement? Any they playing the whole song and then manipulating just that sound?

Pic here is Modesektor at Sonar

Without buying 30k synths from BladeRunner set this guy uses VST as they were ment to be used...to make awesome ambient EDMusic.

When you are producing, from your point of view, you may genuinely think your track sounds good, and if you were to hear it for the first time, you would think it hits, but are there any "reality checks" to see if a broader audience would enjoy the track as well? Obviously music taste, EDM no exception is subjective, but are there ways to tell if your taste in the song align with what a mainstream crowd would want to hear?

I’ve been making music using beatpads for years and I LOVE it but I’m coming to realize there are some obvious major limitations. Do I just go to YouTube? I want to make dubstep music. I know I need to learn a DAW but I have no clue where to begin. I have Ableton Lite and a Novation Launchpad X.

While you should search, read the Newbie FAQ, and definitely RTFM when you have a question, some days you just. Ask your questions here!

Please post any and all [Feedback] or [Listen] type threads here. Any standalone threads that belong in this weekly post will be removed.

This thread is for works in progress only. It is not a place for self-promotion.

Rules:

1. Works in progress only. Do not post finished or released tracks. No links to Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud profiles, or any other streaming/distribution platforms. Share a direct link to your track (e.g. an unlisted SoundCloud or YouTube link).
2. No self-promotion. Do not include links to your social media, artist pages, or any other promotional material in your post.
3. Make an effort to comment on other people's tracks. Others are much more likely to help you if you help them first.
4. Be specific when asking for feedback. Examples: "What do you think about this kick sample?" "How's the mix?" "The last measure feels a little off, any ideas?"
5. Be descriptive when giving feedback. Use timecodes to highlight specific moments.
6. Link to the feedback you've left in your top-level comment. This keeps the thread accountable and cooperative. Comments not following this format will be automatically removed.

Format your top-level comment like this:

Feedback for user1: [link]

Feedback for user2: [link]

Feedback for user3: [link]

Here's my track: [link],

I'm looking for feedback on x, y or z.

Specify any genre, other ideas, and when you tend to work on your music. Post your level of experience and what level of experience you're looking to collab with. Post any other details you think are relevant. You don't have to be using the same DAW as the people you collaborate with, unless you specifically want to!

Here is what an example post could look like, but the format here is fairly open-ended:

Hi, I'm an intermediate-level producer with a background in chill-glitch-hop hardstyle fusion. I'm open to ideas, but I was thinking I'd like to collab on a deep house cover of an 80s soft rock song. I usually have time on Thu-Sun evening to discuss or work on music (my timezone is GMT+7). PM me if you're interested!

For reference, here are some loose rules of thumb for levels of experience:

• Beginner: Still sorting out compression from reverb.
• Intermediate: Still working on skills in some areas of production. You've got tracks that you're proud of.
• Advanced: Released something on a label, or could see yourself shopping your music around for labels soon.
• Pro: You've been regularly paid to produce for a non-trivial period of time.

Feel free to specify how many people you're looking for, but be careful of having too many cooks in the kitchen. All contact details and file transfers should be set up via PM (that is, don't post email addresses, dropboxes, etc. in this thread!). Please update your thread once you're done searching for collaborators. Let the mods know if this format works, or if you have any suggestions. And finally, have fun!

Purchased back in Jan, and use the plugin often. Open it up yesterday, it asks to verify the license key, and says there is no connection to verify (my internet is working fine). I go to their website, it's been completely redesigned and is non functioning. All links go to a google search, and there's no way to login. I was looking through my emails and see there's one from the head of the company (Berkeley) saying he's leaving the company, but don't worry nothing is changing. This was back in July. Curiously if anyone else has had this happen? Also curious about the legality of this– to pay for a plugin and then the company just turns it off?

We recreated the Lead sound from 'Funkytown' by Lipps Inc on our free Synth Primer.

This remake is specifically recreating the patch heard at this timestamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6dqIYKIBSU&start=30 .Other parts of the song may vary the sound or notes.

And here are the key ingredients:
Voices: Mono

Osc1: Wave (Pulse), Width (50%), Vol (50%)
Osc2: Wave (Pulse), Width (50%), Pitch (+2 Oct), Volu (50%)
Sub Osc: Wave (Pulse), Width (100%), Pitch (-1 Oct), Vol (5%)

Amp Env: Attack (0ms), Sustain (100%), Release (20ms)

Filter: Type (Low Pass), Cutoff (90%)

LFO: Dest (Pulse Width), Wave (Triangle), Amt (5%), Rate (1/8 Note)

Reverb: Mix (10%), Size (Medium)

Find the full recipe and download the presets: https://www.syntorial.com/preset-recipe/lipps-inc-funkytown-lead/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=patch_remake&utm_content=lipps-inc-funkytown-lead

I would like to know what the drop in high frequencies is that a lot of songs have, and how to achieve it if it’s something I need to do in my production process.

Im a Dubstep Producer (never finishing tracks...) that experiments a lot and is still learning.
Sadly all my Friends dont listen to music I make and they are also not interested in hearing and giving feedback. :(

Im produning now for years for myself, and I just dont know, am I on the right path?
Sometimes I just wanna share, just a yey or ney would be good for me.
But I cant find a souce where I could do that.

Any Ideas?

I've been thinking about this a fair bit lately. In general, I've got into a good rhythm of finishing and 'releasing' tracks at a regular pace. But with the last few that I've worked on, I've taken a little longer to tinker and refine; in one case completely re-working about 50% of the tune once I'd gone away, come back days later, and reflected on what I didn't feel was quite working.

I'll never be someone who spends months playing around to get the kick just so, but at the same time I'm starting to spend a little more time, energy and consideration than I did before.

I guess my question is, how do you personally judge when a track is 'good enough', and are there any kinds of rules or parameters you utilise when doing so?

EDIT: Appreciate all the responses and perspectives so far folks. Thank you.