Music Production

[copper portal]

It has to perfect

As in I went through tonnes of takes to get two decent ones

And it’s probably because most genres of metal require quite technical playing, which takes a decent chunk of time to practice and can be hard to get as tight as is now “required” by the industry

And vst guitars are getting better at sounding normal

I have also done a lot of processing on the drums lol

[stiff raptor]

i kinda hate that honestly 😭

[copper portal]

Why though

Like yeah you can argue that it means less talent is required to get to similar levels as label artists, which craps on the hard work and practice of others

But at the same time it’s convenient and intuitive, and means that so many more people can make the music they want to far easier than before

And hey if it’s really that bad

They can’t do live shows

If they can’t play their parts 🤷

[stiff raptor]

yeah, the first point

honestly i dont really care about convenience if it doesn't have human effort and spirit put into it

i think where we are now is fine, if all music technology stopped advancing i think we would be better off

i'd be happy with that

[grave marlin]

Chiming in to say Neural DSP Archetype Misha Mansoor is pretty sick tho

[stiff raptor]

I'll stick to my old freeware 😈

Y'all can have the expensive ones

LOL

[copper portal]

I feel like you’re being a bit of an old man about it lol

[copper portal]

Like there’s still human effort going in, they’re making riffs, using key switches to make it sound nice and there’s still somebody behind it

Like I get if it’s just some ai doing it then yeah it would suck, but for people who just want to make some music, I think it’s a valuable tool

Also the thing about stopping music technology from advancing from where it is currently is the most old man yelling at clouds thing I’ve heard

Like yeah ai music does suck and it’s a shame that that’s where a decent proportion of the advancement is put to, but so much other stuff gets made that’s now just a part of the production process

Like you don’t get mad at people for using a DAW 😅

But back in the day, people used to think that just being able to even record music was going to kill the artistic spirit of it, because now it could be perfectly captured and repeated the same each time

Technology advancing and making it easier for people to make music is a good thing; effort still has to be put in to make something listenable

“All you kids using this neural nonsense, I’m going to stick with my amp farm”

You do that lol enjoy it

[stiff raptor]

At a certain point, it just doesn't feel like a human wrote it

[stiff raptor]

Im 19 twin

[stiff raptor]

The problem is that effort margin is shrinking

Call me an old man but when music loses it's humanity it's not worth making anymore

[copper portal]

Lmao I know that’s just the vibe I get when people mention that kind of thing

I mean I didn’t know how old you were but considering you’re on discord you probably wouldn’t be an old man lol

[stiff raptor]

LOL facts

I just have really conservative opinions when it comes to music

[slender pond]

Here I am @trim harbor

[trim harbor]

Alright what questions you got

[slender pond]

what gear should I get to make life easier? I've been playing guitar for around two years now, got an audio interface (focusrite scarlet solo) and NDSP Gojira X, Amplitube 5.
Found some free plugins for drums and bass that I've used to power the MIDI items took from Songsterr export function
But I'd really want to mess around with my own ideas.
How to learn MIDI drums and bass, are there specific plugins that are superior for metal production, is Reaper good of a DAW or should I move up? Should i get a MIDI keyboard?

ChatGPT is lying all the time that's why I am here atp lol

[trim harbor]

Yeah don't listen to AI

First off, what you have gearwise should be fine, unless there's a specific issue you're having

What plugins are you using for drums and bass

[slender pond]

Midi mapping is hard 🥲 can't get a hang of it, i feel llike feeling out the rhythm on a keyboard would be easier

[slender pond]

Think it's CIRCVIT bass and Kontakt 8 deviant drums

[trim harbor]

If that's your problem then yeah a midi keyboardwill fix it

[trim harbor]

never tried the latter but the bass is good, what are you using for tone

[slender pond]

Wdym tone?

[stiff raptor]

Reaper

Yes

and yeah don't use chatgpt

[trim harbor]

Like the bass amp, your effect plugins?

[trim harbor]

Forgot to say this but yeah reaper will be fine
any daw really, there is no bad daw, just ones fitted to suit different production workflows

[slender pond]

uhm I just open the plugin and leave it on the drive option lol, seemed to work for now as I refuse to get a bass and learn to play it, but when I try to map out a MIDI part myself it sounds terrible, the notes are cut short etc.

Also I only have a basic understanding of music theory, never found a proper source to learn it

[trim harbor]

can you send what it sounds like?

[stiff raptor]

I give lessons :)

Production, mixing, daw basics, and theory if you want

[slender pond]

What is the pricing?

[slender pond]

solo, with a MIDI stolen from Eyeless is fine?

[trim harbor]

sure

that midi could be the problem though

[slender pond]

How come?

I've got no idea of the thought process behind this map, but it works fine i guess?

[trim harbor]

this sounds fine to me

[slender pond]

yeah this one sounds nice, but if I tried to midi map it myself it would sound terrible

[trim harbor]

could be a problem with circvit bass

[zinc coral]

humanize that fine sir

or atleast randomise the lengths of the notes

[slender pond]

This sounds easier, what % is adviced? lol

[zinc coral]

idk what bass library it is

so like

95

[trim harbor]

circvit bass

[zinc coral]

huh

idkk much about that

i do recomend shortening those tail ends

[stiff raptor]

$50 week for an hour long weekly call!

[slender pond]

Advise me on some good ones to stick with, for bass, drums and some synth perhaps, I will get them whenever the buget allows me to

[stiff raptor]

I gotchu as well

bass anything from submission audio

[slender pond]

Not a great English speaker mate! Sorry that format would be highly disadvantageous

[stiff raptor]

I suppose text works too! You don't have to talk, actually

it's moreso i screenshare my screen and go through my process with you

[zinc coral]

Modo bass, shreddage 3

Those are free

[stiff raptor]

those are good afaik

[slender pond]

Yeah but generally having to focus on a weekly lesson like a chore would lead me to firing out quick to be fair, I am more onto safe video lessons that i can hop onto anytime and leave whenever I feel like it

Hope you get it lol

[stiff raptor]

I'm down to do that as well ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[slender pond]

That would be more comfortable, I've recently changed schools too so i really have a lot less time for my hobbies

[stiff raptor]

yeah just shoot me a dm and we can set that up!

[torn lynx]

I want the og Pod Farm 1 but I cant find it anywhere, can anyone help?

[stiff raptor]

i only got pod farm 2

I have amp farm though

[past shell]

aint no way these are real guitars lmao

[stiff raptor]

im sayin lol

that sounds so incredibly midi

theres no pick transient

also hi ross

[past shell]

hello

[torn lynx]

Im also trying to find Addictive Drums 1, any help there? Im doing an Utsu P / Maretu tone quest

[zinc coral]

made this random crap

[copper portal]

I can prove it if you want :)

Like yeah it’s using a neural plugin with some crazy amounts of pitch bend and such but its a real guitar :)

It’s also got a synth in the background so that might be some of the confusion?

[copper portal]

I just woke up ignore the Pyjamas lmao

It’s just muting the notes that shouldn’t be ringing 😆

[copper portal]

Now this is a certified hood classic

I like the weird glitchy sounds

[copper portal]

So many pedals, might have to get it just for that and ignore the fact it’s another 5150 lol

Though I’m sure it sounds great :D

[zinc coral]

tyyyyy

[copper portal]

Was it like birds or smth?

I thought I could hear birds

[zinc coral]

its alot

[copper portal]

😂

[zinc coral]

i have artificial birds, synth rain

[copper portal]

I heard breathing and birds

[zinc coral]

piano

[copper portal]

Aaaaah that’s what it was

[zinc coral]

this

and this

[copper portal]

Ooh that one’s fun

Weirdly squishy sounding

[zinc coral]

all synth

[copper portal]

This sounds like a doom sample

[copper portal]

Yea

What synth do you use :)

[zinc coral]

stock ableton and occasionally vital

i also wrote this part

added some whip birds i heard outside

[copper portal]

My guess is vital because that sounds like a vital patch but idk

[zinc coral]

shit thats the whole song

oh well

[copper portal]

Lmao

Nah its fun

[grand jasper]

i gotta start recording vocals

[stiff raptor]

this is one of your best mixes

i would happily listen to a whole album of this

this is super sick

sounds really full and present

everything feels well glued together

theres a few things taste-wise i'd do differently but that's just my own mixing style

we have to work together on something at some point

[grand jasper]

well i am going to do an ep with this mix

[grand jasper]

check this out @stiff raptor

[grand jasper]

may i ask you a question
how did you make the waveform at top?

[stiff raptor]

this sounds sick

very easycore

[grand jasper]

yay

[stiff raptor]

its a plugin called Global sampler

[trim harbor]

This sounds sick

We need more A Day to Remember type music

[grand jasper]

i fell asleep with the lights ooon

[stiff raptor]

Amplitube 5 is on sale for $49 right now

i just copped it

super good stuff

[copper portal]

V nice

I just got a tonne of free stuff just for having a focusrite interface

I didn’t know they did that

For anyone who doesn’t know, if you login on focusrite and then put in the serial number of your interface it gives you a tonne of free stuff, I got melodyne for free, a 3 month splice trial, and XLN addictive keys and drummer

There’s a bunch of other stuff as well I just don’t have the storage for it all lol

[copper portal]

That is indeed one of the tones of all time

[stiff raptor]

for reference:

was recreating this tone

[zinc coral]

HA i wish

"$49"

[zinc coral]

seriously tho im jumping on that hell yeah

[zinc coral]

australia lol

[zinc coral]

is this fully mixed?

[stiff raptor]

yes, i did not make that

it is a cameron mizell mix

memphis may fire challenger

I love that mix so much

[zinc coral]

oh i was gonna say it doesnt sound xenoned

[stiff raptor]

What

[zinc coral]

it doesnt sound like your mixes

your mixes always have a cirtain sound

[stiff raptor]

The producer who made that is the main inspiration for all my mixes

[zinc coral]

yeah that makes alot of sense

[grave marlin]

Aye everyone, free Waves plugin for the next 24 or so hours. Seems to be a dynamic sidechain eq plugin. From the demo video, it seems you can load it on a track and chose another it clashes with as a sidechain and it dynamically carves out frequencies between the two to make them sit clear with each other. Seems like it could be useful, and free is free.
https://www.waves.com/plugins/curves-resolve

[zinc coral]

Fuck yeah

Looks nice

I got like 7 pings for that haha

[stiff raptor]

anyone here know of a great sounding, realistic solo cello library

[minor flame]

only ever heard great stuff about the Spitfire London Symphony orchestra library, should have a cello

[zinc coral]

yeah i agree check out spitfire i used to use it

[azure gull]

I’ don’t hate the tone I have here but I kinda wish it sounded tighter and the lead notes were louder. It was amp recorded btw

Unless u think the tone is decent enough

[stiff raptor]

i think the tone is kinda nasally but it's hard to hear from the phone recording

nice guitar tho

[trim harbor]

Pretty sure there's a good one for Kontakt

https://alpineproject.wixsite.com/main

@stiff raptor

[stiff raptor]

wixsite 😭

[stiff raptor]

i honestly think what i have now has more articulations than that

EWSO

[zinc coral]

the first ever version of ableton live

[modest atlas]

metropolis ark 1 has amazing strings but also just like the whole orchestra

idk abt libraries with only strings so if you wouldnt use horns and choir etc I wouldnt really look into it

but man.. the strings are just chefs kiss when you plop Saturn and some reverb onto it

[grave marlin]

I miss the beautiful simplicity of late 90s to early 2000s GUI design

[zinc coral]

i made this theme

witch is a lot nicer then the defult

[grave marlin]

Bro gave it a dark mode

[zinc coral]

this is the defult so i think its pretty good

for some reason it darkened it

[minor flame]

Anyone got suggestions for good bassy 808s VSTs?

[gusty drum]

https://open.spotify.com/album/1pAOZz0toYdCdz5tNaXVI5?si=u2pX2GeWS4iC7U-lQ2YpIA
What should I do they sound separate and don't blend together without sounding muddy

[trim harbor]

FLEX

[ruby jay]

sublab
sub destroyer by jst
serum 2 is ideal for most synth needs

[trim harbor]

@stiff raptor Yo where are the lepou amps

[stiff raptor]

http://www.grebz.com/simulator_freeamp_poulin_eng.php

Second result on google twin

[trim harbor]

Guys I found my dad's old demos

I'm gonna properly produce them as a side project

Here be a snippet

90s Metalcore (like Zao)

Peak

[zinc coral]

@stiff raptor how is this mix, i feel like im going crazy

[grand jasper]

trying out ndsp mantra on restrains raws

[grand jasper]

for comparison: my mix from 2024

[grand jasper]

oh nice, i have it as well

buttttt i like pod farm more lol

[grand jasper]

oh, and also,

[zinc coral]

bit of work

[stiff raptor]

i like the amps on podfarm more but i absolutely love the VIR tech

[zinc coral]

where did gumball go

[stiff raptor]

https://youtu.be/9QUEyTI5xXs

new song

[zinc coral]

Ah I see

[stiff raptor]

my pfp is a screenshot of me in this video lol

[zinc coral]

lol

Cool warehouse

Oo heavy

I like

[zinc coral]

did some work

[ruby jay]

where did the guitars go in the last few seconds 😭

was the removing of guitars intentional?

[grand jasper]

dayum mr krabs

[grand jasper]

checking this out rn
holy shit this is good

[stiff raptor]

https://tenor.com/view/gumball-caveman-dumb-stupid-tawog-gif-13425892202206643968

Yes

It was a bass only breakdown

Have you never heard one LOL

[stiff raptor]

Thank u pookie

[ruby jay]

my first onlybass experience is through your band lmao

[stiff raptor]

Kublai khan did one

And a few other bands

[stiff raptor]

No we actually forgot to add the guitars in 😨🤯

LOL

[grand jasper]

Lmao

[grand jasper]

made the rhythm guitars a bit brighter

[grand jasper]

@stiff raptor

[stiff raptor]

snare sounds gorgeous

theres a little bit of ducking but its not too bad

cymbals kinda sound washy? like lacking some attack

arrangement is fire

[grand jasper]

ty

[grand jasper]

i have really terrible hiss on my umc22's hi-z unit. is it bad grounding or just umc22 being crap

[stiff raptor]

ive had pretty bad experiences with behringer interfaces

[grand jasper]

btw (snare&kick i made)

[grave marlin]

Banger. Never let the crabcore pose die. Sounds like new Architects meets older TDWP and Asking metalcore sound. Screamer definitely is going for that Sam Carter sound and it's working. Clean singer has a Christian Grey / Denis Stoff vibe to him. Down & Dirty era vibes. Productions fire, riffs are groovy, bass in chunky, drums sound great, sounds solid all around.

[stiff raptor]

I'm the clean singer 🤯

[grave marlin]

Guitars and vocals aye? Bros basically Jeremy DePoyster. Respect 🤘

[stiff raptor]

LOL exactly except i dont plan on ruining the band and dropping the old sound

[grave marlin]

Yeah not that part 😂

[ruby jay]

their new stuff is written by the vocalists with the help of some producers from LA instead of their own band members

not sure why they did this but it didn't seem to help their album, it sounds okayish mid at best

[ruby jay]

what did you replace or blend the live drums with?

[stiff raptor]

It's fully midi, memphis may fire challenger kit

Jake Garland snare

We didn't bother with recording drums this time lol

We wanted am actually consistent mix

We're gonna try again for the next LP tho

[ruby jay]

well there are some very loose snare flam hits around 2:50 I thought that was triggered by a live drum performance 😅

[stiff raptor]

LOL

[grand jasper]

Oh i actually have this pack

[stiff raptor]

I'm just good at writing midi

[grand jasper]

Did you use cymbals from that kit aswell

[stiff raptor]

Yes but I replaced the china with the Massive kit china

Aka outline in color kit

Cuts through way more

Also the bells from the WIM genesis kit

[grand jasper]

Nice

And I only have fop, challenger and slaves kits

[stiff raptor]

I gotchu

[copper portal]

I like it, but I like the doom stuff too for that kind of sound so I might be biased lol

That’s really fun :D

[grand jasper]

i like the melody but drums are too quiet imo

[grand jasper]

what interface are you using now?

[stiff raptor]

Komplete Audio 1

[grand jasper]

ooh I'm actually thinking about this one

i know a guy who uses it and says it's pretty good

[stiff raptor]

yeah i havent had any issues

[past shell]

it's middle of the road. Okay, not great

wouldn't reccomend it personally in the current market

If you already have it it's great. If you're looking to buy an interface it's not really worth getting atm

Preamps/headphone outputs kinda let it down

Low dyn range on mic inputs

lackluster RTL performance

etc etc

[zinc coral]

@stiff raptor there is a really nice sounding ponk in my snare at 176hz, i find it makes my snare sound super deep. should i be doing that or am i stupid

[zinc coral]

what do you think or focusrite scarletts

2i2 4th gen

[past shell]

Not good

Especially poor

Well, especially poor In some aspects absolutely adequate in others

Unfortunately, in 2026, poor in some aspects is unacceptable when a lot of products are perfect and almost all

[zinc coral]

ah

fuck

lol

[past shell]

Still absolutely adequate btw

[zinc coral]

hey ive finaly started multi routing my drums, thanks for the help with that, how do you think this mix is

[grand jasper]

i'm trying out wim american dream pack from chango and i feel like something's wrong with my mix here

[grand jasper]

@stiff raptor

[modest atlas]

im not xenon but if it sounds good then it sounds good

buster odeholm doesnt follow the rules and his mixes are great

mixing to me is about using plugins and making stuff that sounds cool

so overall, imo

if you like it then its good!

[modest atlas]

ive seen crazy improvement from you

i like this mix

[stiff raptor]

the mix sounds good to me

is the guitar midi?

i think your china might be panned to the wrong side

[stiff raptor]

fx are quite loud and the mix sounds like very saturated, as if you have distortion on the drum bus

[stiff raptor]

i think you could definitely do it less

your snare is too pokey imo

too plonky

what snare is that

[zinc coral]

ggd modern guru low tuned

[zinc coral]

tysm

[zinc coral]

Jesus fucking Christ

I’m ridiculously stupid

Do y’all think mixing engineers will ever get replaced by ai?

[past shell]

alot, lot better

Why are the snare room mics in mono though?

infact the only drum rooms i'm hearing are in mono

idk whats going on there

The guitars need to come forward a bit (or the percussion is a bit pokey, like xenon said)

[zinc coral]

I don’t know?

OHHH I’m using a mono room

Is that bad?

It’s something I learned from Sam Guiana

[past shell]

No, mono rooms are great, but in combination with stereo rooms

[zinc coral]

I am

[past shell]

doesn't sound like it

bring those stereo rooms way tf up

[zinc coral]

Sick

@past shell This better?

(in context)

[zinc coral]

hey i dont exactly know about this one, i like the plonky fat snare?

ill take away some of it

is this better?

[grand jasper]

yea it's midi because my older brother took my guitar

[stiff raptor]

take it back 😂

[stiff raptor]

do you have saturation on your kick

[grand jasper]

Can't do it without a fight

[stiff raptor]

Fight him

im rooting for you

Lol i found the exact presets in Zenology

[grand jasper]

i will drag myself through a mile of broken glass
just to get my stratocaster

[past shell]

that's better

maybe a bit roomy, i'd take down the room mics by like 2db

[zinc coral]

no, i do have an issue with that thooooo

[zinc coral]

sick

[stiff raptor]

what is on your drum bus

[zinc coral]

ah

relises i had a tape saturator on it

[stiff raptor]

😭

[zinc coral]

is saturation bad for drums?

took of the tape

[stiff raptor]

i almost never saturate my drums to that extent and when i do it's blended in the individual samples in single digit numbers

And when i do saturate it's only the high end p much

[zinc coral]

oh ok, i just find it makes it sound a bit more harsh

i dont know if thats good though

holdup that needs a snare bomb

[past shell]

it's great for drums

but sometimes it's too much

In this instance it's killing your transients

[zinc coral]

ok cool, ive also been trying out new york style so that should bring out some super nice transient

[zinc coral]

this better?

[zinc coral]

absolutley relatable

stratocasters are just the guitar

[stiff raptor]

sounds much cleaner

i still hear a bit of ducking?

it sounds like the drums are causing the other instruments to duck down

also the overheads sound a little quiet

[ivory spire]

hi everyone. i need help
im a beginner. i used to use reaper to record song but just starting from today i use abletone live. this is a dumb question, but i dont understand how to make audiowave show up in the arrangement view.

[stiff raptor]

switch back to reaper 😩

[grave marlin]

https://tenor.com/view/why-huh-but-why-gif-13199396

[ivory spire]

im thinking about do live loop and people said its better to use ableton if u wanna live loop so i did that 💀

[ivory spire]

i literally just export the track to reaper and finish editing it minutes ago. ableton gave me headache 🫠

[zinc coral]

no

[stiff raptor]

Disableton sucks

[grave marlin]

heh

[zinc coral]

nuh uh

for mixing

sure

for writing its way better

[zinc coral]

i was told to glue the drums and guitar

[zinc coral]

well you have to record it first

[stiff raptor]

Well instead of glue it sounds like smash

[zinc coral]

i dont know how much you know about ableton so im just gonna start from the basics.

click the circle on the far right of the track you want to arm. then click auto and you should hear you guitar.

then just click record

[zinc coral]

ah

cool ill fix that up laterrrr

[zinc coral]

i recomend putting at least a bit of time learning it

its truly an amazing DAW

just takes a while

[grave marlin]

I have personally never had a single issue writing / recording / mixing in Reaper. It's the most straight forward DAW I've ever used to be real. I have experience in Pro Tools mainly, FL, Cakewalk, and Reaper. Reaper took me all of two hours to set up the way I liked it (about 30 minutes to get it working like Pro Tools and the rest making it look the way I wanted). Just my two cents. I don't see how writing is easier in any given DAW than another. Maybe FL can be considered "easier" to "write" edm in because of its rack system and piano roll being front and center but that also exists in Reaper and works the same way.

[zinc coral]

nothing is wrong with reaper

i love reaper

it just doesnt have the fetures ableton does

[grave marlin]

But in terms of writing music, idk you don't even really need a DAW to write music. It's more like how your recording and mixing process affects your writing I guess?

[zinc coral]

its more the fact that its easier to learn on and has a very beginer intuitive interface

it also has some fetures like its granulator and corpus

[grave marlin]

Maybe it's a preference thing. I've done research into Ableton and watched quite a few producers give tutorials on various plugins using it. Always looked alien to me.

[zinc coral]

witch can just extend what you can do by miles

excuse the speeling lol

[zinc coral]

yeah! most likley, i just find writing in ableton just makes me feel more comfortable, and that everything is within reach however if you want to extend what your doing its like an infinate sand box

has one of the greatest midi editors imo

[grave marlin]

Ah I looked up Granulator and Corpus. They seems neat as default plugins. There's tons of others one could grab both paid and free that do the same thing, but having that built in is neat.

[zinc coral]

obv im going to feel more comfortable in my daw however i have learnt a decent amount of pretty much every Daw out there

well the main ones

pro tools: 1 year, reaper: 1 year soundtrap: 1 year, cubase: 6 months, Fl 3 months, ableton: 4 years

i just find its design sleek and easy to use

i actually recommend you try it for a bit, the free version is shit but its good to get a grasp on how it works

[ivory spire]

i have record it. i can see the audiowave in session view but cant see it at all in the arrangement view.and i san hear the sound of my recording in arrangement view asweell, just cant see the audiowave

[zinc coral]

huh

like the clip?

[ivory spire]

im gonna screen record

a minute

there

in arrangement view no audiowav at all. but i can see it in session view.

im too dumb for this DAW 💀

[zinc coral]

just learn it

trust me

[ivory spire]

how to fix that audio wave thing tho

[zinc coral]

AHHHH you are playing a clip not the arangment

record it again IN arangment veiw and it shoud work

[ivory spire]

is it possible not to rerecord? maybe just put again the file?

im very beginner at guitar aswell and i record that track like an hour. i just wanna use that

[zinc coral]

probably?

[ivory spire]

im gonna try

[zinc coral]

wtach some vids on live

[ivory spire]

IT WORKS!

thankies for the help @zinc coral

but ngl it feels weird tho, i feel comfortable using session view because i usually use my pad controller button to record. i hope i can just record in session view and when i click arrangement view it will be right away there without im having to export the track and then import it again

[zinc coral]

fit for a king fans out there?

so fun

[grand jasper]

eh still better than fruity poops

what synths y'all would like to suggest for me btw?
(i have refx nexus already though)

[ruby jay]

adam szabo's viper

[grand jasper]

lemme see

[ruby jay]

I've yet to complete this demo but 90% of the synths are Viper patches

[grand jasper]

nice

[grand jasper]

the chorus kinda reminds me of eskimo callboy is anyone up tbh

[ruby jay]

electric callboy was the main inspiration for the chorus

[grand jasper]

can i change directory for presets, skins, wavetables, patterns and soundbanks? i store everything on my hdd drive

trying to do vocals xd

[ruby jay]

when I downloaded it the presets were installed in the c drive by default, maybe you can change directory in the latest legit copy of it

[grave marlin]

I got the PolyMax from UAD for free as part of a bundle thing and I find it to be incredible for anything 80s sounding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vICl9arFtag

[trim harbor]

That feeling when you chose the worst daw but you can't switch because you've already sunk 200$ into it

[stiff raptor]

Who cares

Ditch it

[zinc coral]

@stiff raptor @past shell i feel like this one is pretty good

sorry for pinging

[stiff raptor]

Significant improvement

still ducking too much for my taste

[past shell]

Too much ducking

[stiff raptor]

yeah

[past shell]

lack of bass

Guitars are too far back and have too little low mids and lows

Drums are too far infront

(i actually prefer the other one)

[stiff raptor]

Bros going after him

LOL

[past shell]

This one is lacking body big time

[stiff raptor]

yeah i can hear that

[past shell]

honest feedback is useful

[zinc coral]

yeah i love it

[past shell]

permission to download

[zinc coral]

i was trying to put them far back its meant to be a production focus

[zinc coral]

yeah sure

[past shell]

Meant to be a production focus?

[zinc coral]

do you want me to take off the mastering chain

[past shell]

Then why did you make a bad production choice by putting them far back lol

[past shell]

nah

[zinc coral]

idk

im stoopid

[past shell]

I don't think it's the right choice

Either way it's a nearly balanced mix

[zinc coral]

yeah cool ill fix it now

[past shell]

I have nitpicks about other things but generall speaking, good

much much better than previously

[past shell]

just bring up guitars 2db or so, boost guitars 100hz with a pultech or something like that, 4-5db

[zinc coral]

id love to hear them

[past shell]

1 sec

I'll have a clearer picture when im in my daw

[zinc coral]

ah

thats why

[past shell]

Holy shit

[zinc coral]

that threshold is way to low

lol

[stiff raptor]

interesting color choices

[past shell]

why is there literally nothing below 60hz

[stiff raptor]

Wtf

i gotta analyze this now

[zinc coral]

lol what?

[stiff raptor]

also the entire thing is like super quiet

[past shell]

Looks like a clean highpass to me

[stiff raptor]

youre right what the lol

[zinc coral]

this better?

[stiff raptor]

honestly idk how its simultaenously smashed into a compressor and ducks while also being not even close to loud

[past shell]

i don't really use master comps

[stiff raptor]

well we cant hear it

[past shell]

i think they usually only ever end up sounding like pumping

[zinc coral]

holdup lemme check my master chain

[past shell]

Not to say that master comps aren't great

[past shell]

they're a very established thing to use on master

[zinc coral]

i just find it gives me a super nice sound on drums and guitar

[past shell]

Okay here's what i'm gonna reccomend

Boost guitars by 2db and resend

Then boost guitars low end by about 4db

Wide boost, 100hz

Then a large mid boost

Everything from 300hz to 1khz needs to come up in guitars

Atm, your guitars are alot of high end

[zinc coral]

sick ill do that now

[past shell]

I've attempted to do it on the master but it's not really working out since the guitars are pretty quiet

[zinc coral]

yeah i high passed it

dunno when or why tho

[past shell]

Fine, but make it less agressive

before and after this

[zinc coral]

i can send the stems if that would help

[past shell]

See how your guitars are essentially just full of high end and not much else, we gotta fix that lol

[past shell]

nah, just do what i said, resend and then it'll be easy

[zinc coral]

sick

[zinc coral]

OH I UNDERSTAND IT NOW

TYY

[stiff raptor]

@zinc coral Why after your final limiter you're still not even close to 0db?

your ceiling is so low

For metal typically you'd master to -0.1 true peak

[zinc coral]

wait what

[stiff raptor]

it depends on the person obviosly but usually it's around -1 to -0.01

[stiff raptor]

when i downloaded your file you had like 3db of headroom after your final master chain

it should not be like that after mastering

[zinc coral]

if i put it to 0db it clips

[stiff raptor]

well dont put it to 0db

like i said

usually people master metal to -0.1

somewhere in between -1 to -0.01

-0.1 is what i see most

[zinc coral]

-5.4 is where it starts going red

[stiff raptor]

HUH??

What???

something is wrong with your ableton

if it's at -5.4db on your master fader, that is not clipping

[zinc coral]

and when it blue screens my PC apparently

[stiff raptor]

??? WHAT

[zinc coral]

LOL

[stiff raptor]

So are you saying when your master fader is set to -5.4 it clips?

[zinc coral]

i dont know if it audibly clips but ableton yells at me

[stiff raptor]

How so

[zinc coral]

it just goes red

[stiff raptor]

can you send a screenshot

cause reaper measures RMS in red but that doesn't mean its clipping

[stiff raptor]

yeah im not sure

idk ableton

Do you have a limiter on your master?

[zinc coral]

ill put it at -1

[stiff raptor]

also wait, secondary problem, why are you not using an actual low cut or high cut??

you're just dragging the eq node down??

or is that just what ableton eq looks like

[zinc coral]

thats not my mater chain

[stiff raptor]

i know that

im saying

Why are you just dragging the node down rather than setting it to a real low cut

[zinc coral]

yeah thats just what it looks like

[stiff raptor]

what 😭

[zinc coral]

i know

its stupid

[stiff raptor]

you're dumb apparently

you have it set to a low shelf

it can indeed lowcut just fine

[zinc coral]

ah\

well

[stiff raptor]

Yeah when someone means low cut they mean set it to a low cut setting

not drag a low shelf down

[zinc coral]

lol

[stiff raptor]

you should probably go and change all your eq cuts to that

[zinc coral]

all the rest are fine

must have just been a stupid day

[stiff raptor]

gotcha

[zinc coral]

also no i dont have a limiter

i dont exactly know how to use them either

[stiff raptor]

ok that's your problem

[zinc coral]

its full already 😭

[stiff raptor]

what

[stiff raptor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NTCcARXyx8

you can skip the other parts for now, i dont really mean to dive into mastering as a topic

just skip to where he limits or clips

limiting (or clipping if that's your thing) should happen in stages

[zinc coral]

ok cool

[stiff raptor]

But at the end of your master bus, you need a brickwall limiter

just make sure you aren't just smashing super loud into your limiter

In my experience, limiters (and clippers) should be used to just shave off the pokey bits

just make the waveform smooth

you shouldn't really be able to tell that it's limiting anything without listening super closely

stay away from ducking and other things like that

@grave marlin

we were talking about this the other day

[zinc coral]

cool

[grave marlin]

Agreed. Limiting at the end of your master to lightly hug the sound without distorting it is paramount to getting a loud sound without making anything overblown.

[stiff raptor]

yeah this

[stiff raptor]

Without listening to the audio theres not really much to be able to take from this

[zinc coral]

exporting it now

[stiff raptor]

Yurr

[digital blade]

Feel pretty confident in saying music is like 70% sound design and 30% theory

[stiff raptor]

more like 70% songwriting

[zinc coral]

ehh i feel like its 100% for both atp

and dont come after me saying thats incorrect math

i could not give 2 fucks

[stiff raptor]

LOL

[digital blade]

Respectable

[stiff raptor]

sounds like there's still quite a bit of ducking going on but it's definitely less than before

[grave marlin]

A good jumping off point is bring the ceiling down by -1db (most streaming platforms have their own limiting so over limiting is not necessary imho) and then drag the threshold down until you see the attention touching it by like 1-4db, to your taste. Basically listening for the spot where the subspace opens up without any distortion

[stiff raptor]

People will hate me for this probably but i brickwall my master at -0.01

i do not care about intersample clipping

[digital blade]

Chad move

[grave marlin]

Bro flies close to the sun. Respect.

[stiff raptor]

LOL

[digital blade]

I always try to aim for like -7 lufs on the master

[zinc coral]

thats where i get lost

[digital blade]

some mixes just don't want to hit that hard tho

[zinc coral]

i dont go into loudness

[stiff raptor]

yeah i aim between -7 and -4 for metal, integrated

[digital blade]

This is fire dude

[grave marlin]

Just as a compliment, I fuck with the arrangement and riffs of this.

[zinc coral]

thanks!

[stiff raptor]

comparing your waveform to a different song, it's still quiet (it says 1C but i just overwrote the previous file, it's the newest one you uploaded)

[stiff raptor]

true

[zinc coral]

yeah cool

[stiff raptor]

smooth out those peaks and make the waveform nice and smooth

I would recommend a limiter just barely kissing each bus

so a limiter on your drum bus just taking off like .5 to 1 db of peaks

same on the other busses

just baaarely kissing the sound

[zinc coral]

should the attenuation kick in or not?

[stiff raptor]

then the final limiter does less work and less ducking happens

[grave marlin]

Also based L1 user. I use the L2 myself.

[zinc coral]

fuck yeah, the old design is so much better

[stiff raptor]

is that just gain reduction

[zinc coral]

yes i think

[stiff raptor]

then yeah like i said

aim for like .5 to 1 db of reduction

[zinc coral]

oh ok cool

[stiff raptor]

maybe a little more, just not audibly noticeable

the whole theory, here, is to cut the transients down in a way that brings up the entire mix without it ducking

Smoothing out the peaks so the whole waveform can be larger

[stiff raptor]

look at the 2nd waveform here

[zinc coral]

im sorry if this is stupid but as i bring the thresh hold down, its making it louder

is that normal?

[stiff raptor]

i mean that's what the limiter is doing

when you bring the threshold down, it's increasing the signal to match what you set as the output

like i said just aim for 1-2db of gain reduction

[zinc coral]

this is hard to explain but if i want it do not distort it i have to turn it down

[stiff raptor]

Huh

yeah it shouldn't be distorting at all lol

[zinc coral]

im getting about 3db or gain reduvction

fucking english dude

its hard

im getting some parts at 6db though

[stiff raptor]

yeah that's too much

take it back down

[zinc coral]

thats the thing

i cant

[stiff raptor]

What

[zinc coral]

the threshold is at 0

[stiff raptor]

turn down the input then

[stiff raptor]

and watch this video

lol

[zinc coral]

i did, issnt that the oppisite of what i want?

and should i put it on my guitars?

[stiff raptor]

typically i put a veery light compressor on my guitars but its up to you

a lot of people do different stuff when it comes to that

[zinc coral]

cool

fixed it up a bit

[zinc coral]

wrote this just then

[tropic stream]

experimenting a wee bit with this one

[stiff raptor]

reminds me of terraria music

[grave marlin]

Sounds like a cool arcade machine from the 80s at the end

[nimble nova]

Proud of this tone

[zinc coral]

finished

[zinc coral]

@stiff raptor @past shell I just got some vocals back, would you mind helping me out?

[stiff raptor]

Vocals kinda sound sat on top of the mix

[zinc coral]

is that bad

[stiff raptor]

They don't really fit in the mix

[zinc coral]

how can i fix that

[stiff raptor]

From a songwriting perspective the melody kinda feels like it goes somewhere and then goes nowhere

And the flow of the lines feels a bit random

[stiff raptor]

More compression and better eq

Aim to make the vocals sit well

[zinc coral]

oh and this one, i dont know if this mix is good

[trim harbor]

@stiff raptor @zinc coral this a good mix?

[zinc coral]

quite muddy, that guitar tone needs some work

and that splash is way to loud

and off time

snare could use a boost at 200hz or wherever your snare ponk is just to bring out some fatness

[trim harbor]

Should clarify that it's not my mix

[stiff raptor]

intro was really freakin weird

uhhh

Everything sounds super distorted

especially the overheads

Snare has almost no body and is only a transient

drums sound completely smashed

And also offbeat

No offense to who made this but this is barely listenable

Whoever made it needs to start from scratch

[trim harbor]

Dude showed me peak for his portfolio and then made unlistenable distorted shit for my band

[stiff raptor]

Take off all plugins, rebalance, turn all channel faders to zero (-inf)

[stiff raptor]

Bro what the heck

if you need mixing hit me up, not whoever that is LOL

dm me his portfolio im so curious lol

[trim harbor]

I should've known better than to trust a self promo mf from r/musicproduction

[stiff raptor]

😭 bro

[trim harbor]

Not even kidding that's how I found this guy

[stiff raptor]

Just send me your music ill do a completely free track just so yall can hear it

Ill fully mix and master any song of yalls as a preview

[trim harbor]

So, we can't release it but we can hear it?

[stiff raptor]

no you can release it if you want

up to yall

The only con would be whatever you release after that wont sound as good 😉

[trim harbor]

Lmao

Thank you so much

I'll send you those exact stems in a sec

[stiff raptor]

you dont wanna do a full song?

[zinc coral]

oh dude

can i take them too

[stiff raptor]

😂

[trim harbor]

Hell yeah

[zinc coral]

xenon will give you a better mix for sure but ill still try

[trim harbor]

Ay it gives you practice mixing

[zinc coral]

yeah

[trim harbor]

It's a net positive if I do

[zinc coral]

did somebody say sub drop

[rapid copper]

Jason Richardson is that you????

[grand jasper]

chuggachuggachugga blegh

fop kit test

[stiff raptor]

sounds sick

synth is kinda random but still fire

[ruby jay]

ngl nexus 2 has some fire patches, really enjoying it so far

[stiff raptor]

Dang ur reaper is tiny

And default theme

[ruby jay]

it fits my tiny laptop screen

[stiff raptor]

Laptop 🤮

[stiff raptor]

this is an entirely personal opinion but can we please stop using buster kit, like all together

[zinc coral]

Yay

[zinc coral]

no more yay

[grand jasper]

Decapitated

[grand jasper]

For what reason tho

[stiff raptor]

It sounds so bad

And i always hear beginners use the fully preprocessed buster kit with their very unprocessed song and it sounds really bad

[grand jasper]

Fair enough

chango >>>>>>

[stiff raptor]

Exactly

[grand jasper]

Mizells cymbals are kinda weird though

[stiff raptor]

yeah it gives em character

[past shell]

This is fucking terrible

I hope you didn't spend

[stiff raptor]

he didnt luckily

but the problem is partially he sent the dude extremely bad stems @past shell

instead of a di, he sent an amped signal named as a di because he isn't using an audio interface

he's going through a boss katana on the clean setting

but eventually he did find that the amp has a direct out line

[zinc coral]

if you get back a really shitty mix that you hate do you still have to pay for it

[grand jasper]

Ouch

[grand jasper]

i feel like my mixing skills are going bad again

[zinc coral]

can relate hahaha

[zinc coral]

does sound like the snare is a litlle loud and dry

[grand jasper]

@stiff raptor

[grand jasper]

Idk seems fine to me

[ruby jay]

I feel like the transient designer is choking out the snare drum tone, making it pokey and clicky

[grand jasper]

I don't use transient designer there, the drum kit is entirely chango studios memphis may fire samples with Vengeance cymbals

I only added pro-c and pro-q to bus

[ruby jay]

ok then maybe it's too much compression

you're compressing an already processed snare

I did a similar thing for an old project, my snares had too much transient and compression, I remember xenon telling me to use minimal processing

and this

preserving snare clarity and body along with a healthy amount of transient, I've yet to figure that out myself tbh

[zinc coral]

add a boost aroud 200 on the snare

just to bring out that ponk

[zinc coral]

does anyone have like an obnoctiosly pingy snare sample i could borrow

i apoligise for the spelling

[grand jasper]

i don't think they're good but i made them by myself

i feel like my headphones are falling apart

something's shaking inside the right ear when i'm moving my head

sadddd

[stiff raptor]

Key: if your samples are already processed, dont process them more

[stiff raptor]

I also will eq them very generally, using large Q shapes only

very wide notches or shelves and only by a little bit

I'll eq them to fit the mix better

But only very small, general ajustments

[zinc coral]

@stiff raptor what strings plugin do you use?

if you do use one

[stiff raptor]

EWSO hollywood strings

[zinc coral]

i thought so

they seem to be a re occuring thing in your songs

they sound really cool

[stiff raptor]

Strings will always be reoccurring in my music

Lol

Orchestra in general will never leave my music

[ruby jay]

architects use fop snare in gone with the wind 🤯

[zinc coral]

NTM reference

[zinc coral]

welp goodbye my friends

its been a good run

[slow haven]

experimenting in new genres to try and get better at my main genre

[stiff raptor]

No way

Thats wild

[zinc coral]

Dialed in this clanky ass bass tone

[stiff raptor]

i think the mix is getting distorted somewhere

bass tone is p nice but needs more mids

[spice gate]

hey all. imi not usually on discord much unless im gaming. im trying to find a descent daw for recording guitar and also letting me make beats with various keyboards midi/usb i have a scarlett 2i2 and tons of fun toys to record. i dont' wanna spend more than $200 im not planning on getting big or even making money i just wanna do fun metal things for my own enjoyment 🙂 any suggestions?

[stiff raptor]

just get reaper and learn it

its $60

reaper mania tutorials by kenny gioia got you covered

it's got infinite customization and is infinitely flexible

and you can set it up for any workflow

it also arguably has the most straightforward way to record

just arm the track and go

same deal for midi as well

[spice gate]

long time ago i used audacity but that was like 8 years ago

[stiff raptor]

audacity isn't gonna cut it as a daw, it's more for basic audio editing and really really simple stuff

[spice gate]

it wasn't user frienddly

[stiff raptor]

yeah it's not a daw 😅

[spice gate]

yar

word, than you sir

the new song nic releasedd madde me wanna go back to my passion of making dubstep/metal. im no pro like him tho. but its inspirational

[stiff raptor]

ay that's what i make

https://open.spotify.com/track/0haG0ka78SunjimfxFS9TZ

check it

[spice gate]

ooh its been lesss than a minute and i like this alot gg's

[spice gate]

yeah that'ss nasty. ❤️

[torn lynx]

Better Utsu P tone match, I dont know if I posted the first one

All of the settings I used if anyone wants to mess with the tone

[stiff raptor]

https://open.spotify.com/track/6YIESqaJr2HW4DBu8LnNzr

proof you don't need the buster kit

here's one i mixed a few months ago

easily the heaviest client project i've done LOL

no thall amp either

[torn lynx]

It doesnt have the weird smoothness I think the Buster kit is meant to have

The resonant frequencies of the snare and kick in the buster odeholm kit arent very noticeable

Or distinguishable rather

[stiff raptor]

Yeah the buster kit is very "EQd to perfection "

But that makes it so sterile imo

Its too clean

[torn lynx]

Thats fair

[nimble nova]

I use counterkit

Do any of you guys know how to process drums without losing the overal impact of them

I always process them and i get a super cool impact but then i process them more by reducing some clipping frequencies and it turns out quite thin

I always compare my drums to pro mixed drums and it has more impact than mine

But then i mix real drums stems and magically has a lot of impact

Does the kit have something to see

[stiff raptor]

Minimal processing

[nimble nova]

I see

But does it also depend on the kit

[stiff raptor]

Def

[gloomy inlet]

Virtual thall (All VST's)

[stiff raptor]

i vote you use real guitar

🗳️

[gloomy inlet]

I can't play 🥲

I have been using virtual instruments for 6 years so I'm used to them

[stiff raptor]

Hey, you can always learn

never too late

Real guitar sounds way better

[nimble nova]

I want to afford one

But no one comms me

I have learned abit in my acoustic guitar but i want electric lol

I used my guitar teacher's stratocaster once

And theres not much difference from acoustic to electric i think

[torn lynx]

I like this as it is, I think the vst guitar fits it

[torn lynx]

I've recently been having this issue when recording or playing back audio in my DAW and I dont know how to fix it. I think it might be an issue with my PC as I have been using the same software for recording for about a year and this has never happened before

[grave marlin]

Heads up: PluginBoutique has the SSL Native X-Saturator on sale for $7.99 until Feb 15th. Also get a free plugin with it. Choice between a delay plugin and some multilayer sampler virtual instrument.

Also AudioDeluxe seems to have the SSL X-ValveComp Compressor on sale for $10 though I've never personally used them.

[stiff raptor]

Ooo

[minor flame]

dont underestimate that. Different scale length and fret size, string spacing is different + the feel is completely different of both strings and body; it´s quite a bit different, though some basics do translate

[nimble nova]

i used a stratocaster

it was less big than my acoustic guitar

and im not underestimating at all

[minor flame]

not what I meant

[nimble nova]

what did u mean

[south violet]

What do you think about amplitube 5 worth buying ?

[stiff raptor]

it was on sale for $50

i got it, i think it was worth it for the VIR tech

but im kinda disappointed in the amp catalog

really less than i thought

[azure gull]

Fun improv nu metal riff. Phone rec doesn’t sound horrible

[south violet]

Yeah that's why I think of buying it cuz it would be good enough for me

At least I think so

[torn lynx]

the latency issues made recording this difficult but I did a thing

[torn lynx]

I love this tone so much

[zinc coral]

but why?

[torn lynx]

Wdym?

I like his tone

[zinc coral]

ok, for me i belive that pre mixed drums like the one kit wonders and buster kit, they can let you fall into a mindstate of, it already sounds good just leave it. this can make HUGE issues like an un even sound, eg. if you have a shit guitar tone but "proffesianally" proccesed drums, you will never get them to sit right, it can also make you beleive things like multi routing is not neccisary.

[zinc coral]

its just

over complicated

every plugin is deteriorating your sound

you should aim to get the best sounds out of the least plugins

[torn lynx]

Have you ever heard of metal

Theres this thing called distortion

[zinc coral]

bru, i know what distortion is dont be a dick

[torn lynx]

Also I understand if you dont like the tone, thats okay

[zinc coral]

1 plugin and a stock eq

[torn lynx]

But I like how it sounds

[zinc coral]

yeah ofc just, try to simplify it a bit

[torn lynx]

But the point of doing a tone quest is to get as close to a specific artists tone as possible

[zinc coral]

that would be possible with nolly only

maybe a bit of eq

im not saying its wrong

its just

not exactly nessicary

[torn lynx]

Like all I did was use archetype abasi and then copy the settings the artist uses to get his tone

[torn lynx]

Go ahead and try

[zinc coral]

bro sure

[torn lynx]

The album that the tone is from is Renaissance by Utsu P

Its also pretty similar to the tone from Galapagos and Unique

[zinc coral]

also no offence but

the tone issnt the best i think you could make better

[torn lynx]

I think your just missing the point

Also your being kinda disrespectful

[zinc coral]

welcome to producer land

also im probably the least agressive guy in here so

[torn lynx]

Im in five other music associated servers and no one has responded to me like this

Wdym producer land

U just sound like a stuck up chud

And I'd wager your probably a stereotypical metal elitist

[zinc coral]

what in the hell is that insult

[torn lynx]

Insult?

Im just communicating my opinion about the way you are talking to me

If you are allowed ur opinions I am allowed mine

[torn lynx]

Can you share the guitar tone isolated

Where did you go?

I thought we were engaging in productive dialogue

[zinc coral]

mb was mixing brb

[torn lynx]

Ah

[zinc coral]

nu uh only noobies say that

lol

[torn lynx]

What does that even mean?

[zinc coral]

yeah ofc, im just saying there is a lot that could be improoved

[torn lynx]

Elitist ass response

[torn lynx]

I dont know you nor did I ask for your input, I shared a thing I made that makes me happy and you said it was bad.

Like what are you trying to accomplish

You know nothing about me or the music I make except what I've shared here and yet you think you could make my music better than I can

[zinc coral]

1 did you not get the joke, 2 bro did you have to google what that meant before responding

[zinc coral]

feedback

its actually really usefull

[torn lynx]

Huh? No

I was just confused

[zinc coral]

bru

[torn lynx]

Damn bro ur really just an asshole for no reason

[zinc coral]

do you actually think someone would say that

[zinc coral]

what? lol i was just giving a bit of feed back but yeah if you see it that way

go ahead

[torn lynx]

Listen I dont really want to continue to engage with you, I dont think your communicating in an effective manner.

[zinc coral]

yes good sir i find the formality of this converse very aproppriate for this matter

dude im a 13 year old on the internet, just leave the convo its not really going anywhere

[stiff raptor]

https://tenor.com/view/antman-what-the-hell-happened-here-avengers-gif-18240147

[nimble nova]

sd3 is cool

what do yall think

also produced this a while ago