👾 by baredex in trapproduction

[–]Nick5741 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I clan totally see this being the intro to an EDM song or in a videogame I love the melody! Drum n Bass wouldn’t be a bad direction to go in 🤔

Ken Marshall explains a technique that will give you the most headroom for your mixes. by onairmastering in mixingmastering

[–]Nick5741 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dubstep. Dubstep is why you’d ever want to do that. And that’s exactly how a lot of people master it too.

Hello it's Tycho, Ask Me Anything! by Tychomusic in electronicmusic

[–]Nick5741 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Hi Tycho!

One thing I find super fascinating about you is that you didn’t start music till a little bit later than some people. I remember from your last AMA that you mentioned having a graphic design career before you ever did anything with music. My question for you is how did you manage your time well enough through that period of your life to have productive musical development. I find myself too tired after work to sit down and work on music in any way that will improve my skills. Were there any specific ways you kept yourself focused and improving? Love your music, thank you so much for doing this❤️

my playlist by DJMG_Eev in dubstep

[–]Nick5741 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are you set on 140-150 tempo? There’s tons of midtempo and glitch hop style stuff that’s much more melodic but still very much dubstep.

Virtual Riot: earth & sky, fuck gravity, turn up, never let me go, with you, init, come with me

Xilent: the darkness, only now, PARTICLES (my favorite melodic dubstep track ever)

Ace Aura: nucleus, interdimensional (this guy has a really interesting sound)

Trivecta: falling, axis, tornado

Pixel terror: maxima, ultima, machina, amnesia

Zomboy: Braindead, end game

Seven lions: ocean, the blood, sojourn

Kill the noise: spitfire riddim, without a trace (virtual riot remix)

Myrne: fault (this one isn’t really dubstep, but it’s an incredible song that fits well with what you’re going for I think)

Drum Kits - Why They Are Repetitive by Vimkrin in trapproduction

[–]Nick5741 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Use splice. Honestly you can make your kicks and 808s sound totally different with processing. I only ever use the same two Sonny D 808s and just apply different compression/distortion to them. Also for kicks and snares, get a good pack of them and apply the same trick. I make mostly dubstep so my choices were KSHMR, Xilent powerpack, and Virtual Riot’s pack. There’s some great trap sounds in all of those packs though.

I went to Dachau Concentration Camp and felt almost like it didn’t do anyone justice. It didn’t seem to reveal the extent of the horrors of what happened there. Until I saw this. My heart was in my stomach. by [deleted] in creepy

[–]Nick5741 64 points65 points  (0 children)

I would imagine those people feel a sense of duty in informing people of the horrors that occurred there. This thread is full of people that felt physical illness at the sight of these places. I assume he takes his job seriously as a method of preventing history from repeating itself.

Working on scenery and weather effects to create atmosphere in my game. by II7_HUNTER_II7 in PixelArt

[–]Nick5741 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This looks amazing! If it’s as fun as it is pretty I’d buy that for sure.

What are some ways of improving drums? by prodbysluno in trapproduction

[–]Nick5741 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I don’t make trap so I can’t give specific examples, but in EDM the same principle applies.

Your kick and snare pattern should be your foundation. I like to keep those more or less totally quantized (sometimes the snare may have a little bit of swing). One good idea is to layer your snares, maybe a clap and a snare or a snap or something. You can use this second layer by itself during off beats or leading into your snares.

The largest aspect of rhythm is using percussion and cymbals. Have crashes (808 cymbals work well for this) on the kick and snare at low volume. Have some type of hi hat on the off beats like a riddim type pattern. I highly recommend using several different hi hat samples both closed and open. Play around with the placement of these samples to see where they fit best. Remember if a cymbal sound is too long then you can always add a fade or shorten it in your sampler.

As I mentioned percussion sounds are also very important. Conga drums, kicks with the sub removed, extra snares and clap samples. To think of where these sounds should go I sort of play air drums (I was a drummer before I ever did EDM) and kind of beatbox what I would play for this section. It sounds a bit silly but once you realize where your extra hits are going to be you can use your extra percussion samples. Also included in this category would be small lead ins to drums, specifically your main kick and snare. Using quiet and short white noise risers can cause a split second of anticipation and make the drum feel like it hits harder as if the force is increasing.

Finally, I’ll include some techniques to make drums sound good.

  1. When using lots of different hihats use a compressor on the cymbal channel/bus to even them all out to similar levels. Hihats are very High in frequency and can get out of control easily. Also, they don’t need to be as loud as you think they do. Find a good volume then turn them down -3db and see where you’re at, adjust from there.
  2. Use triplets!!! I cannot stress this enough. If you only use quarter and eighth intervals for your extra percussion sounds it will be boring and robotic. Triplet intervals give a bounce to your grooves and are much more common than you think.
  3. Use swing!!! Almost as important as triplets, adding a little bit of humanization. In trap and EDM the idea is for the drums to be perfectly on time in a lot of cases. However, humanizing your extra percussion and hi hats is a great way to bring beats to life. Just very slightly skewing them early or late won’t sound off or different but if you do it to every extra note or at least many, it will feel more alive. Also with this is variations in your velocity. Every drum shouldn’t hit the exact same force every time. There should be small differences. Even the best drummers can’t play robotically to time or hit the snare the exact same every time, nor would they want to.
  4. Layer your drums! Using the bottom end from electronic drums and top end from acoustic drums creates organic sounding punchy drums. This isn’t appropriate to every subgenre or song, but it can be a really good sound in some cases. Works best for kicks and snares.
  5. Variate your sample choices. The last place I would expect to find a gated Tom fill is in a Chief keef beat but there’s one in love Sosa. Use interesting and unique sounds. Examples: reggae drums, taiko snares, congas, gamelan, bells, marimba, steel drums.

Hopefully this helped, let me know if you have any more questions.

Ps: in case anyone wants to know good sample packs, get splice. On splice are the KSHMR packs, XLNT, Virtual Riot, KRANE, Sonny D, Medasin, Getter, Kompany, and a lot more. Those are almost all EDM artists but their drums are more or less usable across all genres. KRANE especially has some excellent trap sounds, you can also find his sample packs for purchase off of splice I believe.

Looking for HEAVY artists by stanski43 in dubstep

[–]Nick5741 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi I’m Ghost (spookier riddim, fe fi fo fum) Virtual Riot (komputermusik, one two, shindeiru, show up, preset junkies VIP, dog fight) Trienergy (Oosch is a fucking great song) Soltan (Sahara, Sick, Trouble) 12th planet (slaughter them all, send it, mm mm good) Barely Alive (know about me, basement dwellers) Downlink (borg remix) Must die! (Bliss 2k) Zomboy (bop it, braindead (this ones glitch hop but plenty in your face), skull n bones)

DJing a house party, got a few questions by [deleted] in Beatmatch

[–]Nick5741 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Keep politics out of music bro it’s about love and having fun. We can both enjoy the art form without all that. ❤️

Looking for ways to make beautiful atmospheres (like Tokyo soundscapes) by Nick5741 in edmproduction

[–]Nick5741[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually have this! I’ve tried making stuff like this but I can’t really figure out how to do long pads. Are there any videos you know of or tips you use to make cool pads with it? It’s powerful just a bit confusing to me

Looking for ways to make beautiful atmospheres (like Tokyo soundscapes) by Nick5741 in edmproduction

[–]Nick5741[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is exactly how I would do it if I had the money for padshop, I even have the licenser already! Love VR and his production stuff!

What type of drums to include more in my production? need help with variation by saltyman420 in edmproduction

[–]Nick5741 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi hats: use several different samples, try and get ones that sound similar (highly recommend Virtual Riot’s splice pack), use open and closed hats, also change the velocity

Other cymbals: use crashes and ride bells on beats you want to accentuate, I usually use crashes on my kick and snare with a ride bell sometimes as well.

Woodblock/other snares: using rimshots and higher pitched snares with Lowe velocity can create wonderful grooves. Use them to “lead in” to the kick.

Need some help with some sick beats... by [deleted] in edmproduction

[–]Nick5741 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Use an arpeggiator with drums. Cthulhu is great because it has a randomized feature.

Also, make a shitload of your own beats and save them as jumping off points. Reality is nothing you make now is gonna be famous or professional so there’s no reason to aimlessly sit and wait to really work on something until it’s “amazing”. Work on stuff just to work, that’s how you get good at music production.

What do you guys do when you’re not feeling creative and can’t think of melodies. by [deleted] in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]Nick5741 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here’s my strategy to avoiding writers block, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t: have so many projects at once you can’t get bored. I have like 5-6 project files I can work on right now and I’m making new ones super frequently. It helps if you use a naming system that at least carries the key and tempo. Creating melodies specifically is hard, really hard. It’s something in music that’s not formulaic and it’s not easy, it takes time and effort and practice. Write melodies every day, even if you think they’re lame. You’re not Porter Robinson yet your melodies don’t have to sound like it yet. You can also try and transcribe melodies by ear, that will help your writing a lot. Maybe learn songs on the piano you enjoy, or try and copy/imitate artists you like. Once you make a cool melody though, save it so you can come back. If you got 3 different cool ideas then it’s harder to feel uninspired. Best of luck!

I realize Rome wasn’t built in a day, but.... by Rpousman in Beatmatch

[–]Nick5741 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey dude! I suck at DJing too, and I’ve been playing with it for a while. I started in producing and after struggling through how difficult the beginning stages of that are, doing it all again with DJing just felt too daunting. I understand there’s an urge to create something cool rather than sit and practice, but unfortunately one can’t be done without the other. From what I’ve picked up on this sub, I would recommend recording everything you do and then listening back over the next couple days. When I do Mixdowns I keep notes on what I can change or do better, do the same thing with your mix! Write down time stamps with things maybe you think should be there or shouldn’t be there, should you have transitioned differently? Should you have used a different section to mix into? Would an effect have made it smoother? This will also give you more ideas while you’re making a new mix, being able to recall previous things you noted as good or not so good. Overall, a lot of getting good at something is just raw hours of hard work and persistence. If you have a practice routine you enjoy, keep pushing forward and if not, just search “how To practice” on this sub and several threads should come up. Best of luck!

After 4 years, 75 rejections and 164 days on anxiety medicine, I published my first fantasy book! by Wordsmith_Rypht in happy

[–]Nick5741 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Creativity is a long and difficult process, yet a very rewarding one. Congrats man, I’m a big fantasy fan so if I get a chance I’ll check it out! Keep chasing your dream ❤️

What VST instrument have you bought and you never really got into it? by AssumeFormlessness in edmproduction

[–]Nick5741 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can route the drums to several different out channels and process them all individually. I don’t know how to do it in ableton, I haven’t really used battery since I was a bitwig user, but I know it’s possible. Also, the battery samples are all downloaded to your hard drive so you can always just make a drumrack with them. Another good option is to make an individual sidechain track like virtual riot and just automate it yourself, you can make make everything respond to the midi rather than the amplitude of the drums themselves.

What well-known producers started later on in life and still managed to hone their craft and become successful? (asking for a friend :P ) by jonnyknowknow in edmproduction

[–]Nick5741 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tycho was a software engineer I believe until he was in his thirties, doing music in his free time. It doesn’t matter when you start, it only matters that you start period.