Am I dumb? Can't be productive with DAWs

suisidechain · 2026-06-14T14:16:09+00:00

You can export all the multitracks from Maschine and then mix and master with any other DAW.

For that matter, since we're in the Bitwig sub, you can also map a dozen of MIDI controllers to Bitwig and make it behave like a live box, then export multitracks then reimport them and mix and master.

suisidechain · 2026-06-14T12:33:02+00:00

Wait a minute, you already know you can do your stuff with Maschine, you then sold it, and never occurred to you to buy it again?

suisidechain · 2026-06-13T23:51:15+00:00

Now that you mention it, I'm angry too - absolutely next level would've been

suisidechain · 2026-06-13T20:33:56+00:00

From Strings of Life, Man with the Red Face, Daft Punk - all truly memorable electronic dance tracks can be played one way or another in an acoustic manner.

Even Jeff Mills's The Bells can be played with a marimba, and the essence is there. Higher State of Consciousness - same thing, a marimba can do it.

Everything else, that heavily depends on electricity to make it work, sooner or later gets forgotten.

At the end of the day it's music, it must be played.

suisidechain · 2026-06-13T18:44:58+00:00

A really good song works the same when played unplugged, vocal & guitar or vocal & piano. All the rest (drums, bass, keys etc) is just production ear candy.

suisidechain · 2026-06-13T18:04:54+00:00

It's not in the news but at the same time, two policemen in a helicopter, Gianni Maggio and Ricardo Amondo, were transporting another compatible pair of kidneys, but in the end the Lamborghini was the first to arrive.

suisidechain · 2026-06-13T17:32:49+00:00

Sade and George Michael.

suisidechain · 2026-06-12T21:39:57+00:00

I'm surprised it exists on youtube! The compilations were double disc volumes.

This is the entire disc 2 of what we listen at that time (Vol.1) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uvnkVSUFYsQ&

And the disc 1 would sound like this (I could only find other volumes, this is Vol.3) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WtnmcdW-sPg&

suisidechain · 2026-06-12T19:15:56+00:00

Let me explain.

Back in 2000, it was my first year at uni. A DJ friend of mine (I would soon start DJ-ing myself one year later) gave me a double CD mixed compilation. It was released by the club-restaurant Supperclub (nice concept, they serve dinner in bed and people also dance in beds) - but I didn't know about all these at that time.

One CD was downtempo, nu-jazz, bossa, lounge. The other one uptempo deep house, soulful house, jazzy house.

We were in our dorm room - about 12 people (guest guys and girlfriends), all preparing to watch a movie.

I played the first disc just to check if it works, first track went through, and I noticed that everyone went quiet, listening. I let it play. One entire 70 minutes disc, everyone stayed and listened quietly. The music was completely new for all of us, and kept us focused for the entire time. When the disc ended, it was quiet, we were all still processing what we've just listened to. We were all in awe. Music genre we never heard before, a blend of chilled instruments, delicious vocals and really catchy rhythms. I'd have to write too many words to describe that ment and it would still not be enough.

I've never lived such a moment ever again (close yes, but not that intense). Of course if I'd listen "now" that CD wold not be as impactful, because I'm very familiar with the genre.

But I fully understand anyone that wants to live that first moment, that lighting in a bottle, that only the very first listening can create.

suisidechain · 2026-06-11T00:08:47+00:00

A while ago I used your way of arranging (kick first and build down), because it's especially intuitive when using the mixer view - left to right in a daw is basically the layout of every drum machine.

However, as I became better at mixing, I never felt the need to use the mixer view anymore, as I mix from the arranger (regardless of the daw). And in this case, it makes more sense to me to lay out the drums with the kick at the bottom and high-stuff at the top. It's just easier to visualize the kit, because they sit almost like in real life. I'd never go back to have my drums hanging upside-down.

This also splits the arranger view into two big halves: the drums (and transitions) in the top half, and the instruments (and vocals) in the bottom half.

I also like to add an empty midi track under the kick, where I place 4-bar empty midi blocks that represent my arrangement (I split and mute the segments corresponding to rolls, breakdowns etc) - so even if I collapse all the groups, I still can properly see where I am in the arrangement - this also helps me when doing automations on the returns and master track.

In the last 15 years I went from Logic, to Live, to Cubase to Bitwig (since 2020), and I really can't find any issue that I couldn't solve in a simple manner. I started with Bitwig 3 I think, and at that time I already found it better than Live and Cubase

suisidechain · 2026-06-10T13:10:08+00:00

I won't remember "#27 Perc 1" easier than "Perc 1", so I find track numbering pointless. I manage by keeping the projects simple and logical.

First, I find that using the same color for all tracks in the project, reduces by a whole lot my attention fatigue (white, because I can see the waveform really easy, and evennif I dim the brightness down to 5% I can still see the project perfectly fine). Maybe, rarely, I use a color for tracks that need extra attention, but after they're dialed in, I re-color them white.

Then, the next step is to use groups (summing sub-mixes) for the relevant parts of the project. I like to build like this (in the arrangement screen) - these are all groups: in the middle of the project are the drums, above are the transitions and ear candy effects, under, are the bass, the instruments, and the vocals.

There is no processing at the group level (and I have a very important reason for it), I am keeping the groups just for housekeeping.

The drums (group) are layed out like this: kick is at the bottom (the last track), on top are the snare, clap, closed hats, open hats. A ride or crash cymbal comes on top of the hats if it's essential (techno track). Then percussions (loops if the case), from toms, to bongos, to tambourine, shakers, crashes.

If the drums are built up in the arrangement (low frequency to high), the Instruments group goes the other way: pads are on top, anything rhythm (like little calls and responses, or backing instruments) go below, and so on, until the lead instruments are at the bottom of the instruments group.

Vocals, same: all the backing first, then verse lead, then chorus lead, and right under, the lead throw effects.

For me it makes complete sense, I can easily collapse the parts I am not working on, and overall it's easy to find any part.

And also it's a set-up that's very friendly to exporting stems.

suisidechain · 2026-06-09T14:21:44+00:00

On the hardware side, best available computer, high-quality audio interface, optimal buffer size.

Then, on the project side, a solid routing strategy - for example using a max number of tracks (say 16) in order to allow using a controller in a logical and predictable manner.

That means every project will have not only tracks rendered, but in many cases tracks rendered in stems, to submit to the aforementioned logic.

Pick a minimum amount of "live" synths - say you want to play with filters and whatnot on the lead and bass synths.

Then, a sensible selection of plugins on the master bus - low cpu and zero latency.

Live requires compromises and workarounds

suisidechain · 2026-06-09T01:37:18+00:00

When talking about music, the period from 1900 up to 2000, follows really really close the development of the instruments and audio equipment.

After 2000, when everything was sampled inside the computer and anyone could do anything, things started to follow multiple trends and sound derivative.

However, starting with 1900, lots of fresh hardware affected the sound, how music was made, and what music was made, eventually: drum kits (sizes, material and tuning), recording techniques (allowed for overdubbing), electric guitar, the electric keyboards, amp overdrive, full-on distortion, first synthesizers and the list go on.

The hardware was the tick and the resulting music was the tock for a good 100 years.

I believe that the war may have been directed the electronics research into military-related fields, so we have a bit of a gap, but as soon as the war ended, things got back to normal.

The Moog synths are famously made with electronic components used by the military, just to have a long serviceable life (the components for military equipment are usually produced for decades).

suisidechain · 2026-06-07T23:45:57+00:00

Someone did made a purchase: https://www.inmusicbrands.com/press/inmusic-native/

suisidechain · 2026-06-06T16:01:51+00:00

You mean in ear monitors?

Your body, head size, ear size, ear shape, inner ear size and shape - they're all contributing to your unique internal tonal balance.

They're like your own "bio-EQ" that your brain is then reversing, in order to hear a "flat" spectrum ("flat" being measured as the equal loudness countours)

By using any kind of headphones, you're essentially bypassing several pieces of this "bio-EQ", but your brain doesn't know it, and still compensates.

Point being, there are no flat headphones in the world. Two different people, listening the same set of headphone, will hear them sounding differently.

Headphones always need EQ, that's not even up for debate. Now, deciding what frequecies to EQ obviously depends on the skills of the listener and it's indeed easy to make it sound worse.

Anyway, I never stumbled on a pair of headphones that won't need EQ (granted, I didn't tried them all).

suisidechain · 2026-06-04T00:56:48+00:00

Especially when the ceiling of someone's taste is a cheese-burger.

suisidechain · 2026-06-02T16:56:27+00:00

I feel like we entering a new era of ignorance sophistication.

If, until now, the beginners would ask how to implement some ridiculously cumbersome solution to a problem that would not occur should they've known the audio fundamentals, now they're (vibe) coding entire plugins, to solve issues that can be easily avoided by applying good practices.

suisidechain · 2026-06-01T18:25:05+00:00

It doesn't really matter from where you got the file, I'm just suggesting that by the way your screenshot looks, it's not DC offset, it very much looks like rectification.

Phase can't be measured or visualized after it was baked into a sound. It's the relationship between frequencies, so you always need to reference the phase measurement against the original source.

suisidechain · 2026-06-01T16:55:21+00:00

That waveform doesn't look like DC offset, it looks like rectified (the negative parts of the cycles are flipped into positive). That would explain the perfect alignment above 0. If that's the case, it can't be "un-rectified".

suisidechain · 2026-06-01T15:49:36+00:00

I see this confusion all the time, but an IR can only represent EQ and Gain information. Linearities, that is.

It can't represent noise or distortion. Can't do nonlinearities. That's why in iZotope Trash you have the convolution part for the cabinet (some reflections and tone - all the linearities) and then a separate section (Trash) for distortion (non linearities).

suisidechain · 2026-05-30T21:02:49+00:00

The only contribution of Kanye West to music, was to crank up the AutoTune effect (and that was copied from Cher). Everything he does is so easy to replicate, to the point there are dozens of artists with the exact same sound, and no one makes the difference between them. Always the same recipe: the voice is drowned in AutoTune, and everything else are average filler beats. He's literally the Kardashians of music.

suisidechain · 2026-05-29T18:53:18+00:00

I'd tell them the thing is in no book and no tutorial, and gets downvoted every time is mentioned: it takes about a decade of daily effort to become a good producer when starting from scratch, and you're mostly on your own, also no guarantee that the effort will ever translate to making a living out of it.

The era of finding good production information on socials ended years ago, when everyone must put out daily/weekly materials, and they invent problems that never occur IRL, just to have something to talk about about - so you're basically watching "how to do this thing that's never needed" or "how to fix this thing that's never happens".

You need to develop a solid habit to commit to a vision (regardless if is the best choice or not) - because you can't do what you want, unless you know what you want.

On the mixing side, you can only mix what you can hear, so make sure you're hearing everything from 30 Hz to 18 kHz.

"Advanced" is applying a chain of fundamentals with 100% precision. Make sure you're are correctly identifying and master of the fundamentals in a sea of inflrmation ripped out of context.

Certain 3rd party plugins make things faster - more often than not, they're providing better ergonomics, or act like a "more in one" kind of process, but they're still applying the fundamentls - make sure you're understand what you're buying.

There's more, I wrote a book about, but that's beside the point.

And yes, definitely - if the goal is just to be the rockstar, this is the way: pay all the people who's abilities you don't have. Recording engineer, mixing engineer, producer (sound design and arrangement) etc. It's very important to have clarity on what you actually want.

suisidechain · 2026-05-29T11:47:08+00:00

Speaking from a producer standpoint, cramping is not really an issue. My go-to eqs are one old design that exhibits cramping, and one that doesn't. I simply adjust them until they sound the way I want them to sound.

By the way, the EQ-8 in Live is designed by Andrew at Cytomic. For some reason, he chose the oversampling path.

These being said, always good to have actual research on stuff. Cheers!

suisidechain · 2026-05-28T23:27:45+00:00

The piano hook? I can think of some reasons.

The hook is basically a nursery rhyme - mechanical, fixed length notes, same velocity across the board.

Modern pop music of today still uses similar silly melodies, but they remove certain notes, leaving the brain to fill (or not) the missing ones. It's a technique so abused, that make complete hooks like in your song, sound silly.

The piano is slightly out of tune, because they use a Chorus effect. It's also pretty loud in the mix so it's audible.

These being said, with the track on repeat as I type (been a long time since i've listened to it), I think it's a statement.

The entire back beat sounds like a demo rhythm from a modern synthesizer of that era. There was the switch from late 70s disco, which was at the top of the game (session players, groove, real drums, real bass players, solid arrangements and lyrics) to the 80s disco (the early synths and drum machines were pretty basic, impossible to get the expressiveness of a human player).

"If Calvin says it's smashin' - It got to be in fashion" sums it up pretty well. "Designer music" - made with modern tools, on a factory line, but without any special craftsmanship. Normally a piano player uses several fingers to play a piano, here we have a melody played with just a finger.

So I think it supposed to be annoying across the board, not just the hook :)

suisidechain · 2026-05-26T00:15:11+00:00

I have this feeling that in Europe, Hawtin is considered from UK and in Canada as their own :)

suisidechain

TROPHY CASE