Industry Knowledge with Akil Esoon: How to Make CRAZY Thick, Well-Produced DRUMS!

How to Make CRAZY Thick, Well-Produced DRUMS!


Layering is the key to creating phat Drums, but not everyone who tries this does it successfully. It's essential to make sure that the hits you use don't fall on the exact same frequency – I'll show you how to do this and build a beat that's bold and beefy.


Step 1: We're going to layer up a beat from the ground up, and our first port of call is to establish a tempo and time signature. Then find a kick drum sound – if necessary, we'll layer up more than one sound to create a fat kick. Good hits can come from a wide variety of sources, Vinyl, Cd's, Mp3's & Live drums. just because we're making 'unreal' beats doesn't mean the hits can't come from a 'live' source.


Step 2: Once you've got the kick playing, use a spectrum analyser to determine where it's peaking. (I like izotope and waves plugins myself) If it shows the kick pumping away at 50Hz. Just bear in mind that you don't want the frequency of the kick to clash with that of the bassline. Also remember that you can resample a drum sound and repitch it in a sampler, if needs be.


Step 3: Virtual drum machines are very useful for layering, as you can use the pitch controls to shift sounds into the desired frequency area. To reinforce the sound further, and make it punch, I'm using a fat kick layer from FXpansion's Guru, which also allows for very fine adjustments to the amplitude envelope. Once the kick is sorted, use the same techniques for layering up a snare.


Step 4: Once you've got suitable kick and snare layers on the go, it's time to start sequencing the rest of your percussion. Reason, FL, & Guru is great for this and includes a nice selection of funky groove templates to shuffle your beats. Playing with the different velocity, shift, and swing levels can add character by varying the sound of each hit.


Step 5: So far, we've worked with single hits, but, to really give the drum beat a sense of size, depth and momentum, we're going to layer on an old breakbeat. Guru comes with its own loops, although if you're feeling adventurous, Go DIGGING! You never know whats gems you could find, or you could construct your own rhythm and then use the effects section to make it sound dated, as if it's been recorded from vinyl.


Step 6: Once you're satisfied that you have a nice, fat loop – complete with kicks that punch and snares that kick, and a good sense of separation, depth, and clarity – you'll need to route all the layers to a bus channel. Here, you can apply subtle effects to help gel all the sounds together, to promote the illusion of one big, bad beat. I've used Warm from Antares, a Waves compressor and Izotope. (My secret weapon is: Guitar Rig 5 from Native Instruments. It's CRAZY on drums!)


Step 8: Now that you have everything bussed, you can inspect the overall frequency distribution by using a spectrum analyser on the Group Channel. If you need to make adjustments to the sounds after this point, it's a good idea to refer to the analyser to help you determine what effects your adjustments are having. But remember to prioritise what you hear over what you see – it's only there to identify problems.

That's it Fort Pitt! Try out some of my techqunics and see what works for you. In the mean time I want to wish everyone blessings and and success in 2012!!!
That's all for this year, now go out there,Make CRAZY Thick, Well-Produced DRUMS and win some awards and make some money!

Hit me with any ?'s, Comm's, or Concerns.

Peace!

Industry Knowledge with Akil Esoon: Mixing Vs. Mastering!

Mixing VS Mastering!

From internet forums to music magazines, the term "mastering" is one of somewhat mythical proportions–the final step to end all of your problems and to give you that "BIG, major-label sound (!!!)" Mastering is important and it is the final step, but any respectable mastering engineer will tell you that mastering is not a substitute for a good mix. Mastering can, however, take a mix from good to great! Many musicians may be curious about what the difference is between the two. Since most people refer to both mixing and mastering together, they must basically be the same thing, right?

No! Well, not quite. They are related, though. They are both part of the post-production process of recording an album. They both involve using equipment to tweak the sound of your recording to get it sounding like a professional product. But they’re not exactly the same, and they are never done at the same time. Mixing and mastering are two distinct and separate steps of making an album.The most important thing to understand is this: a mix engineer applies effects and level changes to each individual instrument separately. A mastering engineer can only apply effects to everything in a mix at the same time.

For example, a mastering engineer can't add echo to the vocal without adding echo to all the other instruments in the song too. So what's the point of mastering, anyway? Mastering serves as a 'glue' to your mix by making overall changes. The main goal of mastering is to match the overall loudness and frequency balance (bass, treble and mid range) to A) your favorite professional (or amateur!) recordings and B) the other songs on your album, EP, etc.

Here's an example of what mastering can and can't do: Let's say a kick drum sounds weak. A mastering engineer may try boosting the low-end with a specialized mastering EQ to add impact, but if the instruments are poorly separated in the mix, the bass line will also be boosted by this EQ–in a way that causes the mix to become muddy. Both mixing and mastering are essential.Understanding both the power and limitations of each process is crucial to your success and your art.

Mixing and mastering go hand-in-hand.

Mixing always comes first. After recording your tracks, they go to the mix engineer, who listens to the song and adjusts each track individually—every guitar track, every vocal, even individual drum microphone tracks. He makes sure each one’s volume is at a good level and in the right proportion to the others. He puts effects on each track individually—like reverbs, delays, and compression—plus he puts effects on the overall mix as well. He also pans everything left or right, and sets up automation to make sure all volumes, effects, and pans are adjusted exactly right for every part of the song, every time he plays it back. Finally, the mix engineer bounces the mix to a stereo audio file, usually in full-quality WAV or AIFF format.

Next is when the mastering happens. Mastering serves a similar purpose to mixing, but instead of being applied to each individual instrument, mastering is applied to the completed mix, (two-channel stereo audio track). It is the final step of the process, the cherry on top of the recording. Mastering gets the finished product to sound sonically full and balanced, plus it brings the volume up so the recording can compete with other professionally made albums.

So although mixing and mastering similar, they are not one and the same. A good general rule to remember: if your song is mixed and not mastered, it’s not finished!

Hit me up with any ?'s, Comments, Or Concerns! Until next time, Go Mix a Hit Record! (then do it again!)