loads of queries

[sagar4848]

Hi,

Ok im yet just getting better. Need help with all these. I know it can be a pain to ans so many. But pleease help me with all. thank you a ton! Please answer

I just made my 1st track where there is a tiny build up till 0:30 and then the beat kick in. Though the beat dont sound that loud and like tight. When i sample them in the browser they sound loud but when i play them in the track they dont. Why so??? like i want it that when they kick in should feel the bass at every kick.

Is this a problem of mastering? What i have done is except the drums track i have given the high pass. and only the drum and the sub bass are left in the bass. Still it doesn't kick in hard! :/

Also does sub bass always have to be a sine wave??

what would be a good mastering software? I have never learnt mastering n i know its suppose to be a fucking difficult but would be able yet do it myself just after reading up the manual and watching video on youtube?

Also why do people exactly use return tracks?! Is there any other use of them than saving up some cpu? Also how do i exactly use them? Suppose i put a reverb on one of them. then i send track A and B both to it. but wat if i want a diff reverb rate for B?! Rather put a reverb seperately on both. Doesn make sense to put anything on returns becoz i would want diff parameters of an effect on diff tracks. I know there's a way to uses them pls enlighten.

I started of making my project in arrangement view. Now that i go to session view i just see the track out there but no clips. why so?
Also is the session view of any help to me if i start in arrangement view except to see the volume meters on all tracks?

i dont understand what is time signature! At all. please explain that in the simplest words ever.

When writing down the notes on a midi chart, is it smart to make the velocities of all of them same. Also its really random sometimes the velocities i draw come high and some low. It that possible or are the velocities restricted to the velocity band set by the 'C' n 'V'? i dont have a midi using my keyboard n mouse.

Also i dont know what are scales and keys so is it fine just to draw i feel sounds good? Please explain in simple terms what is a key and how many are there and so for scales and how to identify them. For chords is it fine to jump from one chord to another? Like i have list of chords from the net, can i play any one after the other which sound good?

[TCMuc]

I just made my 1st track where there is a tiny build up till 0:30 and then the beat kick in. Though the beat dont sound that loud and like tight. When i sample them in the browser they sound loud but when i play them in the track they dont. Why so??? like i want it that when they kick in should feel the bass at every kick.

Is this a problem of mastering? What i have done is except the drums track i have given the high pass. and only the drum and the sub bass are left in the bass. Still it doesn't kick in hard! :/

Sounds rather like a problem with you mixing than the (non-existent) mastering.. Make sure your kick and bass aren't clashing frequency wise.

Also does sub bass always have to be a sine wave??

No.

what would be a good mastering software? I have never learnt mastering n i know its suppose to be a fucking difficult but would be able yet do it myself just after reading up the manual and watching video on youtube?

I think you really shouldn't be worrying about mastering until you have "mastered" (no pun intended) the basics of music production, i.e. composition, arrangement and mixing. Learn how to walk before signing up for a long jump contest...

Also why do people exactly use return tracks?! Is there any other use of them than saving up some cpu? Also how do i exactly use them? Suppose i put a reverb on one of them. then i send track A and B both to it. but wat if i want a diff reverb rate for B?! Rather put a reverb seperately on both. Doesn make sense to put anything on returns becoz i would want diff parameters of an effect on diff tracks. I know there's a way to uses them pls enlighten.

No, you don't always want different parameters of an effect on different tracks... Especially not for reverb (unless it's for sound design reasons). Reverb emulates the room the instruments are "played"/recorded in. And typically for a single track, all instruments are recorded in the same room. So you don't want different reverbs but only different amounts of reverb on each track, which can be adjusted by the send knob. This will give your track a far more homogenous and "natural" sound instead of getting it all cluttered up with different reverbs etc.

I started of making my project in arrangement view. Now that i go to session view i just see the track out there but no clips. why so?

Because if you start in arrangement view you'll have to drag the clips over to session view (and vice versa) to work with them.

Also is the session view of any help to me if i start in arrangement view except to see the volume meters on all tracks?

Seesion view makes it easy to make alternative version of clips. You can also use session view to "store" all variations of a clip and drag them over to arrangement view when you need them.

i dont understand what is time signature! At all. please explain that in the simplest words ever.

Time signature shows you at what point of time you are in your track...

When writing down the notes on a midi chart, is it smart to make the velocities of all of them same?

No it isn't. Having the velocities all at the same value means all the notes will be played exactly the same way (volume-, expressionwise). Having them at slightly different values will lead to a much more dynamic and diversified sound.

Also its really random sometimes the velocities i draw come high and some low. It that possible or are the velocities restricted to the velocity band set by the 'C' n 'V'? i dont have a midi using my keyboard n mouse.

I don't know what you're saying (what is 'C' n 'V'?) and thus can't help you with this.

Also i dont know what are scales and keys so is it fine just to draw i feel sounds good? Please explain in simple terms what is a key and how many are there and so for scales and how to identify them. For chords is it fine to jump from one chord to another? Like i have list of chords from the net, can i play any one after the other which sound good?

Musical theory is probably one of the hardest things to learn, and can't imho be explained in just some simple terms (especially not the "how to identify keys/scales" part, this takes quite some experience to do...).

Generally you can say that if it sounds good, it's ok. You may run into problems when you start layering different chords/melodies as they may clash really badly if they are not in the same key.

[sagar4848]

Is there any specific range in which the kicks/snares/hi hats should be in and the sub bass in another freq range?

So you can use any sort of wave for a sub bass? So is the sub bass just suppose to be anything in a much lower octave??

The return track thing helped a lot. Thanks. Except a reverbs/EQs/Compressors what other effects are generally used on returns?

Regarding the velocity, okay i understand that i should have diff velocities but then again is there any specific patter or something or what? for eg my snares are playing for like 4 bars so should i change the vel every alternate snare etc?

Thanks a lot for the help.

[TCMuc]

The sub bass is defined as the part of the frequency range that is below ~60Hz. You can use anything that goes that low and sounds good...

I wouldn't use an EQ on a return track, as it's usually much better to EQ the sounds individually. Compressors on return tracks are great for parallel compression.
Effects that are typically used on return tracks are reverbs and delays. But again, there are no 'laws' how this has to be done. Just experiment and see what sounds good. Some of the most important progress in electronic music has been made by people who used stuff in a way it wasn't meant to be used..