Thursday, March 15, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Creating Simple Transitional Effects For Electronic Mixes
his tutorial is actually based on a request that someone made in a tutorial about synth-based effects. Creating noise-based rises and drops for dance mixes is something I get asked about a lot so I though this maybe helpful to some of you.
We’ll take a look at the different types of effects typically used and the ways in which you can create them. You should be able to follow this tutorial using pretty much any DAW and any capable soft synth. In this case I’m using NI’s Massive and Logic Pro 9.
Step 1 – Up Risers, Down Risers Whooshes And Washes
So the truth is that this family of effects get called all sorts of things by different producers. You might hear some people calling them up and down risers, others might simply call them whooshes.
At the end of the day no matter what you call them they all do very similar jobs and are also made in very similar ways form one studio to another. These effects are usually key in creating smooth effective transitions, builds and drops.
I think the reason I’m asked about the creation of these effects so often is the fact that they can literally bring a project to life. Once these effects are mixed and placed correctly try playing the track back with them muted and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them.
Let’s take a look at the different ways we can create these essential dance music effects sounds. Before you jump in and say that I haven’t included your favourite method or sound, hang fire! This is really meant to be a round up of the most common techniques used and not a definitive list.
Step 2 – Noise, Noise, Noise
As I’ve already said these effects can be produced using a few different methods but I’d say right at the top of the list is the use of white noise. You can nearly create all the effects we are talking about here using noise as a sound source.
The vast majority of modern soft synths feature a solid noise generator. By feeding the noise through a simple zero attack, zero release amp envelope and a low pass filter you already have the basis for some simple but effective transitional effects.
The real key to bringing these sounds to life is modulation and effects processing. We’ll look at how to apply these two elements to our basic noise based to turn it into something really usable.
The noise bed we’ll be using
Step 3 – Modulation Is Key
So we have our static noise bed and it;s time to make it move either, up, down, around, or side to side! This can be done by using LFO’s and envelopes to control specific parts of our synthesiser.
For instance if we want to create a classic rising effect we could use a slow attack envelope to effect the cut off frequency of the low pass filter. We could then add some release and match the settings roughly using a amp based envelope. This would give us a rise and fall on release.
If you wanted the opposite of this you could use a decay based envelope to close an open filter. This would give you a rising and falling patch to use. Of course any of take place.
The opposite downward effect
Beyond this you can try using LFOs to create auto-pan and filter wobbles within the movement of the envelopes. This is just basic stuff as you start to build your first transitional effects you will soon start to add extra modulations for variation.
The modulated signal
Step 4 – Full Effects
To add some dimension to our noise based effects we can use some basic processing. Spatial effects such as reverb and delay work very well here to give a sense of depth but you can also try modulation to introduce even more movement.
I often find that a phaser works very well with any white noise based patch and it’s certainly one to try. If you find this a little intense go for a chorus or ensemble.
Delay and reverb will not only add width to your sound but it will also smooth out any rough edges. If you have sudden start or end points in your patch a well timed stereo delay will help the transition be smoothed and introduce continuity to the next section of your song.
Effects adding space and smoothing the whole patch.
Go ahead and make your own noise based transition effects and in another tutorial we’ll look at mixing these with samples and other synthesised patches to create more complex effects mixes.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
How to Get The Most Out of Your Drum Loops
Step 1: Cut Them Up
The first step to spicing up your drum loops is to cut them open. How detailed you want to do this is up to you, but each beat is a good starting point. For example, in the extremely simple loop below, I’ve used Logic’s scissor tool to cut each beat into a separate region. Any DAW has a scissor or a cut tool so this is easy enough to do.
Since I’m using Logic’s loops, it’s easy to cut in grid mode, but if you don’t know the tempo of your loop and can’t make it snap to the grid then you need to be more careful with your cuts.
As you can see above, I’ve cut the loop up into its four corresponding beats.
As you can hear from the audio sample below, listening to this loop for a whole song will get really boring.
Step 2: Label Each Hit
When you start cutting up loops like this, you’ll want to keep track of which waveform is which. Labeling each hit makes it easier to move around, since you know exactly what you’ll be grabbing and moving to another spot.
The simple loop we’re using is pretty straightforward, since it’s only kick and snare, but let’s label it anyway. I’m using Logic’s text tool to individually name each region, and as always, use a similar tool in your DAW.
Step 3: Add an Extra Kick
The first thing you can do is simply add some extra hits to your loop. I’ve doubled the loop by duplicating it to the next four bars. Just so that we add a little variety I’ve copied an extra kick before the end of the first loop, creating a grace hit.
Step 4: Add an End of Measure Fill
Let’s keep re-arranging our kicks and snares to kind of close it up. I’ve basically added a few kicks on the last bars for variation.
By now we’ve tripled the length of our kick and snare loop and given it enough variation so that it doesn’t bore us to death.
Step 5: Add Cymbals
If you have an extra cymbal crash handy you can create a new channel and add it to the end of the loop. Crashes and cymbals are really good at creating variation, and by just adding a few here and there you create a completely different loop.
I’ve added a splash cymbal at the beginning, a crash after the kick/snare fill and then a choked crash to signal the end of the loop. If the loop were to repeat the choked crash would fit it nicely with the splash at the beginning.
Step 6: Make Fills
If you have a slightly more complex drum loop, you can create simple fills to end the phrase. The following drum loop has a little more going for it, but it’s still simple enough to easily edit.
As you can see, I’ve already cut up the loop, labeled it and spliced it together in a different way. The first four bars (and the first five regions) have the original loop that you can hear below.
I want to create a fill with by using the double-kick part of the loop as well as the snare, so I’ve spliced them together to create this fill:
Nothing spectacular, but definitely usable as a fill.
To take it a step further, I’ve added some crash cymbals to really accent that fill.
Conclusion
These simple steps can take a boring drum loop and make something a little more bearable to listen to. By adding extra kick or snare hits you can variate your loops to avoid the repetitious and monotonous sound a simple four bar loop makes. Variating the fills and beats every other bars is sometimes enough, especially if the song you are creating isn’t heavy on the drums and only needs a simple beat.
Hacking up drum loops like this won’t replace a drummer, but if you only need to flesh an idea out it can come in handy. You’ll avoid the boring sound of a simple drum loop repeating over and over again, and you won’t have to deal with trying to create a beat in a sequencer or recording a real drum kit. Don’t just follow these steps, try to make your own little fills and recycle your old loops to keep your production interesting.
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