Production tips, techniques, skills

[Maven]

I thought it would be great if we have one topic for all sorts of tips and tricks and questions.

I will be glad to answer any sort of question that I know.

[rablat]

I thought it would be great if we have one topic for all sorts of tips and tricks and questions.

I will be glad to answer any sort of question that I know.

When you feel like your track is empty, or the void spaces could be filled, what are your go to techniques to fill these void spaces?

[Maven]

What do you mean by a track feels empty? Do you talk about the space and depth in the track? Use of reverb and echo, also panning can give your track that full feeling, as it gives a nice stereo image. If all of your instruments are panned dead center it is normal for your track to sound dull.


Our forum member Tarekith has a nice tutorial for that;

http://tarekith.com/assets/creatingspace.html

He also has nice tutorials on other stuff as well in his website, check it out; http://tarekith.com/tutorials-and-reviews/

[rablat]

What do you mean by a track feels empty? Do you talk about the space and depth in the track? Use of reverb and echo, also panning can give your track that full feeling, as it gives a nice stereo image. If all of your instruments are panned dead center it is normal for your track to sound dull.


Our forum member Tarekith has a nice tutorial for that;

http://tarekith.com/assets/creatingspace.html

He also has nice tutorials on other stuff as well in his website, check it out; http://tarekith.com/tutorials-and-reviews/

Hey great atricle! That helped alot thanks. I usually dont pan anything but definatly will start doing it more often now.

Another question I have is when your making a track, what technique or process do you go through to find the sounds you want to use? Usually what I do is look through presets of the different synths usually with a midi loop being played and try and look for something that stands out, I might tweak the sound a bit to make it more to my liking but thats the genral process of things. This takes FOREVER. Sometimes ill save the preset, but usually I wont come back and use the same preset because it just doenst fit in other tracks as well. Can you relate to this or do you have another process or tips for finding and saving your sounds?

[Maven]

I used to use presets a lot, but recently I am reading and experimenting on synthesis so I am trying to create my own sounds lately.

If you learn synthesis, it will be easy for you to come out with the timbre in your mind easily once you open up your synthesizer and start tweaking things.

[rablat]

Yea synthesis is probably the way to go, but its not easy. Trying to get into it, I like using massive I find it to be easy and I like how easy modulations are, and all the visual representaions so you can have a clear image of what and how much you are modulating. Thing is every sysnth is tweaked differently so when you open up a synth that you have never used before it it can be slow and discouraging start. So I end up useing the presets haha. and have almost no clue how to use an fm synth either, but they sound awsome IMO

[Maven]

FM Synth is totally different than subtractive. That is true but if you learn how each waveform sound and how are they in harmonics, you will have a good idea of how to reach to the timbre you want.