Mastering is the final step in music production. It’s the process of improving the sound quality and perceived volume of your song (if possible and/or needed) with the aid of such tools as an equalizer, compressor, limiter, stereo enhancer, etc.

It’s also preparing a song for the proper medium (i.e. “mastered for iTunes”). After mastering, your song should be ready to go public.

Before and After

Here’s an example song that’s been mastered with the FL Studio mixer state file from this tutorial (download link below). It’s one of my own songs. This is an example of something that you could easily do with the same setup.

First, the unmastered version:

And here’s the mastered version. It may be a slightly too much squashed, but anyway, compare the difference:

Great. Now that we’ve set some expectations, let’s go over a few house cleaning details before we get into the tutorial. Or if you’d would rather skip all the info and get right into the detailed steps, just click here.

What Mastering Isn’t

Keep in mind that mastering goes hand-in-hand with mixing. The truth is, if your song is not mixed properly, amateur level mastering isn’t going to do you any favors – in fact, it’ll probably make it worse.

Mastering isn’t a way to fix major mixing issues and also it isn’t “magic” that will turn an unbalanced mix into a polished, commercial song. You need to achieve the “commercialism” as much as possible during the mixing stage.

So, before you consider experimenting with mastering, it’s essential to learn how to mix first. Your song needs to sound balanced and as good as possible before moving into to the mastering stage. So if all that sounds a little too familiar, I recommend checking out some of my guidelines for mixing electronic music. And even though I’m do not consider myself to be a professional, they might help you.

Do I need to Hire a Mastering Engineer?

A lot of producers and professionals say that mastering should be left to the professionals. They say that you shouldn’t master your songs by yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing.

I wouldn’t disagree because mastering engineers have the skills, professional equipment, proper listening environment, and trained ears on top of years of experience. So they pretty much know what can be done (or shouldn’t be done) to enhance the quality of your mix.

But, we’re also living in the new age of modern music production where artists and producers are choosing to do a lot more on their own – this includes the mastering phase. There are many reasons to want to take on the mastering yourself including (but not limited to): limited budget, referencing your tracks at a “mastering level”, making music for fun (not profit) and don’t need to hire anyone, and the list goes on.

Whatever your reason, I think it’s good to learn the basics and get your head around what mastering can do for your tracks. My general rule of thumb is when I’m producing a track for fun or experimentation, I handle the mastering duties. Once I feel like I have something ready for release, I’ll bring a mastering engineer on board.

But let me also preface by saying that I’m NOT a professional – I’m just a hobbyist so what I’m writing here may NOT be the best practice. If you are serious about mastering your song, I STRONGLY advise you to contact a professional mastering engineer. And for some excellent advice on mastering, check out this article by Ian Shepherd or this guide on mastering beats from Modern Samples).

So with that out of the way let’s move on!

A Bit of Info on Mastering Tools

There is a broad range of VST plugins that can be used for mastering: brick wall limiters, single band compressors, multi-band compressors, equalizers, stereo enhancers, etc. And there’s even a bunch of presets to get you started.

I have to say though, that while presets can be a great starting point, there isn’t an FX chain or “preset” that’s going to work for every mix. There is no shortcut to mastering.

Each mix is different, which is why the mastering tools need to be picked and tweaked according to each unique situation. Everything depends on the audio material you have and what you want to achieve with the mastering. Sometimes, you may only need to add a limiter to get the job done, whereas other times you may need 4-5 different plugins. The thing is, you just need to learn to use your ears and pick your tools based on that.

So with that in mind, I’m going to show the method and the tools that I used to master the song in this tutorial. The plugins and the settings were tweaked and tailored specifically to the example song so that this configuration won’t work exactly for your mixes.

The idea is to take the general knowledge that I am presenting and apply it to your mixes in a way that’s unique to your sound or your particular project.

I’ve also included the FL Studio Mixer State file at the end of this tutorial for you to download into your sessions and experiment with if you choose to do that.

But I should also emphasize that this is NOT a definitive guide to mastering as there is a lot more to the process than just throwing a bunch of plugins at your mix.

Okay, let’s begin!

Preparing The Song For Mastering And Getting Down To Business

There are actually two ways to master your songs in FL Studio (or any DAW for that matter).

1. You can master the song while you’re mixing it or
2. you can export the song as a WAV file, create a new empty project, import it back to FL Studio, and then master it.

I personally like to keep mixing and mastering as separate processes, so I’m going to use method 2 for this tutorial.

STEP 1 – Export your mix to WAV

Before you export your mix to WAV (aka do the mixdown), you need to make sure that it isn’t clipping. One way to do that is to drop the master volume level to around -6.0 dB or lower. This is to leave some headroom (“air”) between the highest peaks and the 0dB level, thus avoiding the appearance of clipping (read more about this in my mixing guidelines article).

However, if you’re exporting your WAV to 32 bit floating point format, you don’t need to worry much about the clipping  But even so, it’s still a good mixing practice to avoid clipping by using the level faders.

However, if you’re exporting your WAV to 32-bit floating point, you don’t need to worry much about the clipping(check out mixing tip on using 32 bit floating point format). But even so, it’s still a good mixing practice to avoid clipping by using the level faders.

Also, make sure you don’t have any compressor or limiter on the master fader when you export the track.

Use the highest possible quality for rendering. Here are the settings I’m usually using:

STEP 2 – Create a new empty FL Studio project, and open your exported mix in Edison

Cut the unnecessary silence at the end or beginning of the song (if any). Check the pic below:

STEP 3 – Create a very short fade out at the end of the song (if needed)

This is to avoid the song being abruptly cut. In some cases, there might be a tail of reverb or delay still playing after the actual song has ended. Check below:

**SIDE NOTE** The following step you should take with caution!!!

STEP 4 – Peak normalize the WAV file

Peak normalizing increases the amplitude of the waveform so that the loudest peak is at its maximum possible level (near 0dB). This increases the track volume without clipping.

Other producers say that you should NOT normalize your WAV at this point. However, I’ve been doing it regardless. I like the signal to be “hot” before feeding it to plugins that affect the dynamics of the audio. I may be doing it wrong, but so far I haven’t had any issues with this step.

But then again, what do I know? I’m just a hobbyist. So be cautious!

After normalization, save the changes to a WAV file.

STEP 5 – Create another empty FL Studio project and import the WAV to a Playlist

STEP 6 – Load the mastering plugins

Remember, even though I’m showcasing a “mastering plugin chain”, the set of plugins you pick really depends on your mix and what kind of treatment you think it needs. The following plugin chain may very well not suit for your needs (you could do just as fine only with an EQ and limiter).

So here goes:

Open the Mixer and add these plugins in a following order to the Master mixer tracks FX slots:

• Fruity Parametric EQ 2 for cutting unwanted frequencies.
• Fruity Compressor to make sure that the dynamic range of the whole mix is balanced so that there isn’t too big gaps between the loudest and quietest parts.
• Fruity Multiband Compressor for fine tuning the volume level in areas that are still too loud or quiet in the mix (if any).
• Fruity Parametric EQ 2 for boosting frequencies.
• Fruity Limiter for maximizing the volume of the whole mix without clipping it.

Now, few words about the order of the plugins in the FX chain: notice that the eq used for cutting comes before the compression and eq for boosting, after the compression. Why? Because the eq settings affects how the compression behaves. For example, if you boost some low fequencies before the compression, you raise their peak level and compressor will react to these peaks by trying to attenuate them.

However, like always in audio production, there shouldn’t be too much do’s and dont’s: in some situations the aforementioned can be exactly what you need, but in a normal mastering situation, cutting frequencies might be best to be done before and boosting after the compression..

Below is a pic of the mastering fx chain:

Now, to the settings of the first eq.

STEP 7 – Fruity Parametric EQ 2 for CUTTING

This is the eq unit that comes BEFORE the compressors. You may wan’t to cut the very low frequencies from around 20-30Hz using high pass filter with steep filter slope and the high frequencies near 20kHz with low pass filter. Those are frequencies that can’t be heard through most of the normal speaker systems, but they might add unnecessary energy to your mix and may make it sound louder (not in a good way) than it really is. In case like this, it’s like leftover noise that needs to be cleaned.

However, if you’re making electronic music especially for clubs, you might wan’t to consider whether you cut the lows at all. This is because if the song is played through large PA systems, you might loose too much of the low end response. And even though human ear can’t hear frequencies of 20Hz and below, they still can’t be FELT in the club.

On the other hand, and correct me if I’m wrong, not nearly all of the large PA systems are able to go down to 20Hz. I’ve heard that most will actually roll off the 30-40Hz (?), so if your mix has a lot of energy in the 20-30Hz region, it will just uselessly waste the headroom of your mix. With that in mind, setting the cut to 30Hz might be something worth to test.

Also, remember this:  if the PA system has been setup poorly, there’s always a risk that sub-bass heavy tracks may blow up the system.

Cutting the 30Hz range, when it’s not needed, removes the unnecessary frequencies and may clear up your mix nicely and gives a bit more headroom to raise the overall level of your whole mix.

But it’s really up to you and what you’re planning to do with your song. You may actually end up to not use the cutting eq at all.

Note about the high frequency cut: if you feel like it, you may also try to start rolling off the high frequencies already from 16kHz to reduce the occurance of ear aching high end on large PA systems.

Now, to the compression.

STEP 8 – Fruity Compressor

Fruity Compressor is a single band compressor and single band compressor is useful in mastering fx chain for leveling the dynamic-range variations in your mix. Compressor is great for “gluing” different sounds in the mix together to tighten up the mix. Fruity Limiter works as good (probably even better as you can SEE where the input signal is peaking so you can easily set a right threshold value) when you activate the compressor mode in it.

Let me explain the idea of compressor a bit more:

Basically, compressor is nothing more than a automated volume controller. The idea is pretty much the same like if you would try to manually tweak a volume controller in a response to the changing volume levels of your audio by trying to keep the overall volume level of the audio within a defined minimum and maximum range. With compressor, this all happens automatically: you can make the quieter parts in your mix louder and also make sure that the louder parts won’t cause clipping as the compressor reduces the gain of the peaks and you can set the threshold level where this is happening and how.

In a mastering situation, compression can be used to make your mix sound dynamically balanced.

Here’s the most common compressor controllers explained:

• Threshold sets the signal level (in dB’s) at where the compressor starts to kick in. When you start to apply compression process, start with the threshold, because to be able to hear the compression, you must lower the threshold level below the input peaks of your audio signal.
• Ratio sets the amount of compression that will be applied.
• Attack controls the time how quickly the compression starts to affect.
• Release sets how quickly the compression effect will stop after the signal drops below the defined threshold level.
• Knee sets at what rate the full amount of compression is applied. Decreasing the knee value lets the full compression to be applied more rapidly – as soon as the attack allows. This is the harder knee. Increasing the value makes the knee softer letting the compression kick in more gently.
• Gain (make-up gain) is used to boost the compressed signal output level because the compression process reduces the gain.

Couple of tips using single band compressor in a mastering situation: you might wan’t to try to use low ratio, long attack and release times for more transparent sounding results (transparent in this context means avoiding that squashed and pumpy sound… keeping the audio as original/natural sounding as possible).

However, every mix is different so it’s IMPOSSIBLE to give any exact settings, but you can START experimenting with these:

• Threshold: -25dB (or wherever the input signal of your mix is peaking at)
• Ratio: 1.5:1 – 2:1
• Attack: 50ms
• Release: 150ms
• Gain: 2-4 dB or more (really depends on where you set the Threshold and Ratio)

If your mix starts to sound too squashed, try decreasing the Ratio. Experiment with different Threshold/Ratio combinations.

As a rule of thumb, use the compressor sparingly in a mastering situation to avoid squashing.

STEP 9 – Fruity Multiband Compressor

Multiband compressor is a great tool in mastering fx chain for fine tuning the volume levels in different frequency areas.

Let me explain the multiband compressor a bit: normal single band compressor (like Fruity Compressor and Fruity Limiter when the compressor mode is activated) affects to the WHOLE frequency band, but multiband compressor lets you apply the compression to a SPECIFIC frequency bands – in this case, low, mid and high. For each band, you can set the filter cutoff point. That means you can define what frequency areas the band compressors will affect.

Multiband compression is very handy tool in mastering because, if you wan’t to compress (control the volume behavior) of just the low frequency range, you can do that without affecting too much to the the mids and highs and vice versa. For example, if  you have loud peaks somewhere in the low frequency area, you can attenuate these without reducing the gain of the mids and/or highs.

Basically, you could do this with an eq as well, but using multiband compressor here will give you a bit more different sounding results than eq – more “organic” or whatever the proper term is.

Here’s a quick introduction to different parameters in Fruity Multiband Compressor. Check the pic below (click to see it bigger):

What settings do I recommend to use with Fruity Multiband Compressor? Again, it’s impossible to give any recommendations as everything depends what kind of audio you are mastering. You can START with these though, but be cautious: these may NOT work at all with your mix (I actually feel a kind of dumb by recommending specific settings here…)!

• Limiter: 0ff
• Filter: FIR

LOW BAND:

• Threshold: -25.0dB
• Ratio: 1.2:1
• Knee: 0%
• Attack: 3.3ms
• Release: 62ms
• Gain: -1.6dB

MID BAND:

• Threshold: -9.0dB
• Ratio: 1.8:1
• Knee: 76%
• Attack: 31ms
• Release: 56ms
• Gain: 1.6dB

HIGH BAND:

• Threshold: -11.0dB
• Ratio: 2.0:1
• Knee: 76%
• Attack: 3.6ms
• Release: 48ms
• Gain: 2.7dB

Seriously, you need to learn to use your ears and let them judge what settings to use. ?

Now, to the boosting eq.

STEP 10 – Fruity Parametric EQ 2 for BOOSTING

This is the eq unit that comes AFTER the compression. If you wan’t to add a bit of brightness to the whole mix, try boosting frequencies around 8-15 kHz using peaking filter with a semi-broad bandwidth.

The boosting could’ve been done with multiband compressor gain controls as well, but the eq is here for even more precise control over the frequencies. Like I mentioned in the multiband compression section above, it will give a slight different results than eq when dealing with the frequency adjustements.

STEP 11 – Fruity Limiter

Limiter is what you use for maximizing the volume of the whole mix without distortion and Fruity Limiter is pretty good for that. The purpose of a limiter in a mastering situation is to limit the output level to a defined maximum level (usually near to 0.0dB) to avoid clipping when you’re increasing the gain.

I’ll try to explain a bit how the limiter works:

Limiter is a close relative to compressor. It keeps the signal from going above a threshold value, just like compressor. If the peaks are trying to go above the threshold value, a gain reduction will occur.

However, in compressor, the gain reduction is applied in a more gentle way and it also affects to the quieter parts of the signal by making them louder, whereas limiter (at least brick-wall limiter) squashes the peaks that are trying to go above the threshold value and leave the quieter peaks alone. Limiters gain reduction is absolut and more aprubt than compressors. That’s the main difference.

In a limiter, you set the level above which the signal will be limited by using the output Ceiling. Usually it’s set to -0.3dB. Now when you start to increase the volume by using input Gain, the limiter will squash all the signal peaks that are trying to go above the -0.3dB. So the more you are trying to maximize the volume of your mix, the more squashed it will sound. Try to be gentle here by not destroying your mix ?

Some limiters like Fruity Limiter has the attack and release controls as well. Attack controls how quickly the limiter responds to the signal peaks. The Release controls how quickly the signal will “recover” from the limiting.

Here’s some of the most important Fruity Limiter settings introduced:

You can start with these settings, but remember that everything depends on the audio material you’re mastering:

• Ceiling: -0.3dB
• Gain: 4.0dB-7.0dB
• Saturation: 0.0dB
• Attack: 4ms
• Release: 250ms
• Attack Curve: 3
• Release Curve: 3
• Ahead: 9ms

Experiment with the input gain, but be gentle with it to avoid squashing your mix. You know you’re putting too much gain when the song is starting to sound like stressed or like it’s in great pressure. Try to find a balance between maximum possible loudness and not letting your mix to sound overly squashed.

STEP 12 – Export

Export the song once again to WAV using highest quality settings, except set the WAV bit depth to 16 bit as this is standard in mastering because you can’t burn 24 bit files to CD.

That’s it. Hopefully this tutorial gave you an idea what kind of tools you can use (and how to use them) to master a song in FL Studio.

However, I can’t stress enough that EVERYTHING starts from a good mix so it’s essential first to make things sound right and polished already in the mixing stage and not trying to use mastering to fix a clear mixing issues.

Also, mastering is not something you learn overnight. Personally, I’m always kind of struggling with it as well. It takes a lot of patience and trial and error, but experimenting is the best way to learn.

Remember also this: using compression in mastering isn’t necessity. If your song sounds good without compression, then don’t use it. It’s not something that is required for making a mix sound great. It’s just there to fix the dynamic range. Actually, EVERYTHING – be it eq, compressor or limiter – depends on the mix and what kind of sound you’re after for. Ask yourself: what do I want – and start from there.

And finally, download the FL Studio Mixer State file here.

Here’s how you load it to a mixer track.

Final tip: when you test this mixer state file of mine and you’re experiencing an overly squashed sound, firstly decrease the amount of input Gain in the Fruity Limiter as I’ve set it to pretty high.

For more about mastering, I suggest reading some of these articles:

What Is Mastering?
The Difference Between Mixing And Mastering
How To Make Your Music Loud
Using Compression
Multi-band Workshop
Advanced Compression Techniques, Part 1
Advanced Compression Techniques, Part 2

If you’re really serious about mastering your song to a professional level, using a mastering engineer is recommended. Check out some of these guys:

Ian Shepherd’s Mastering Media
Streaky Mastering
SAS online mastering
Pete Maher
Tom Waltz Mastering

Ok. That’s about it. ?

Credits to Mo Volans tutorial, which I used as a reference to create this tutorial!

I hope this tutorial helped you to start mastering a song in FL Studio.

The post How To Master A Song In FL Studio appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

Most home musicians have a MIDI keyboard controller in their home studio.

But what exactly is a MIDI keyboard controller? Can you make music without one? If you decide to buy one, what kind should you get and how much will it cost?

In this article I’m going to answer all of those questions and much more.

(Also, remember to check out my other tutorial articles as well, such as “How To Make Electronic Music With Computer” and “Trance Song Structure“).

So, What is a MIDI keyboard Controller and What Can it Do?

It’s a piano-style keyboard, which you attach to your computer – usually via a USB cable.

Most MIDI keyboards don’t make any sound on their own. They just send MIDI data to your music making software.

The actual sound is generated inside your computer by different types of software like plugins, virtual instruments (VSTi), Kontact libraries, etc.

So, if you have a virtual piano VSTi installed on your computer, you can use your MIDI keyboard controller to play it in real time like you would play a real piano.

The only difference is that software generates the sound and you control it via your MIDI keyboard controller, whereas a real piano is, well, played in the “real” world.

Most regular keyboards and hardware synthesizers can work as a MIDI keyboard controller as well.

I have a Casio CK-3800 keyboard which I use when I train with my band, and it has a midi-out which allows me to connect it to the computer so I can use it as a MIDI keyboard.

Many MIDI keyboards also come equipped with knobs and sliders, which can be programmed to control different parameters of your virtual instruments.

For example, if you have a volume slider in your virtual synth and you want to control it in real time (while you play), you can route it to one of the sliders or knobs on your midi keyboard and voila: you can tweak your synth it in real time.

Almost like a real hardware synth – very cool!

However, many beginners may wonder if it’s a must-have device in the home studio.

Can You Make Music Without a MIDI Keyboard Controller?

When I started making music, I didn’t have a MIDI keyboard. Just my computer, a standard computer keyboard, mouse, and software. With that setup, I created “Primo Lux – Turnpoint” which went to top positions on the Dutch dance charts, and many other songs as well.

Hear for yourself…

Most DAWs will have some note view (often called a piano roll) where you can place the notes one by one via a mouse.

Also, many DAWs – like FL Studio for example – have a built-in option to use your regular computer keyboard as a virtual piano keyboard. That’s right, the same keyboard you use to chat and send emails with can be used to send MIDI information to FL Studio. How cool is that?

For example, you could set the letter “Q” on your computer keyboard to equal note C, letter “W” to note D and so on and so forth. From there, you could play a melody via those mapped keys. I used to use this feature a lot before I got my first MIDI keyboard. And you can too!

So as you can see, a MIDI keyboard isn’t necessary to make some inspiring music on your computer. However, hitting a real keyboard gives a whole different feel.  For this one reasons alone, I would recommend getting your first MIDI keyboard as you can afford it.

Let me explain…

Playing melodies and bass lines, live, with MIDI controller gives more of a “human touch” versus programming them with a mouse and computer keyboard.  Also, in time, you’ll most likely learn how to play the piano a little bit so it’s a natural progression and the sooner the better.

Now, if you’re already skilled in playing the piano, congratulations, because you have a head start!

And In this case, I would say a MIDI keyboard is a must-have for you. It’ll make the process of creating music not only more fun but also more efficient. Even though programming is possible with your mouse and computer keyboard, it’s VERY time consuming and can sometimes ruin the process/vibe.

And if you’re used to the feel of the piano keys and the instant musical feedback you get from playing, you will have nothing but frustration when trying to creating melodies with your mouse.

What Kind of MIDI Keyboard Controller Should You Get and How Much do They Cost?

It all depends on what kind of options you want: how many keys? 25? 49? 61? 88? Do you want the keys to be weighted (like in real piano), semi-weighted or unweighted?

How many programmable knobs/buttons/sliders? Do you need aftertouch?

Another factor you’re going to have to consider is pricing. Midi Keyboards can cost anywhere from $80 to $700 and even more. It all depends on the quality and features. A Good rule of thumb is the fewer features, the less you pay.

As a beginner and first-time purchaser, I would recommend starting at the low end (price wise). It might not seem like it now, but you may lose interest in this hobby in a year or two, and you’ll be glad you didn’t spend a small fortune. Keep it simple!

On the flip side, if you are a piano savant and are a stickler for the touch and fell of the keys, you might want to consider get weighted keys to give you something that’s more like the “real thing”. Just know that the weighted keys usually come at a cost.

So with that said, let’s go over a few options that I would recommend for anyone to get started with, regardless of skill level or knowledge.

M-Audio Oxygen 61

My Personal Choice

The M-Audio Oxygen 61 is currently the MIDI keyboard that I use to make music.  It has 61 unweighted keys, 8 knobs, 9 sliders, a handful buttons, as well a Drum Pad Controller. It’s perfectly suited for my electronic music making needs. 

Not only is this keyboard very good in my opinion, but it’s also easy to set up (pretty much plug and play), and is powered via USB, which not only makes it universal but it also means you don’t have to fumble around with a bunch of cords to get it set up.

The only real problem I have with the features is that the drum pads can be a bit awkward to work with.  I find you need a lot of pressure to get them to respond.  But since I do most of my drum programming in the FL Studio step sequencer, the pads don’t get much use, meaning this minor issue isn’t really a deal breaker for me.

If you think the Oxygen might be something you want to add to your setup but still don’t want to make a huge commitment, I’d recommend checking our the 25-key version.  Even though it’s a major step down from the 61, it’s also about half the price and much more portable, making it a great entry level Midi Keyboard.

Akai Professional MPK Mini MKII

Good for Beginners

If you’re new to production and haven’t heard about Akai before, they pretty much changed the music making game with their lineup of MPC drum machines. Continuing with their tradition of helping creators make music, they introduced the MPK Mini MKII, which I think is a great addition to the beginner music creator. It gets you in the door of a well-respected brand at a low price (Currently under $100).

But don’t let the cost fool you. For such a compact unit, the MKII comes packed with features that rival even the more expensive models. Some features include 25 velocity-sensitive keys, eight backlit velocity-sensitive MPC-style pads plus two banks, a brand new four-way thumbstick for dynamic pitch and modulation manipulation and eight assignable control knobs, which is ideal for electronic style music production.

Like the Oxygen, the MPK Mini MKII is also powered via USB and fits comfortably onto any desktop or work area. It’s a great buy for a beginner but would make a great companion for a traveling music creator. To be quite honest, this one might even contain more features than a beginner would need, but because the quality and price are on point, I had to include this.

M-Audio Hammer 88

For the Piano Savant

Those who are more experienced and want a midi keyboard that feels like the “real thing” will appreciate the M-Audio Hammer 88 as it contains 88 fully-weighted, hammer-action keys.

Regarding features, it’s very minimal and is true to what you might find on a real piano. The Hammer 88 has fully-assignable MIDI buttons, pitch-bend, and modulation wheels, sustain pedal, secondary pedal, and expression pedal inputs. Though all these features might sound impressive, it is designed more for the players who more are concerned with compositional accuracy rather than editing or tweaking.

Though this Midi Keyboard is a great price for the feel of a “real” piano (usually cost more), it’s also lacking simple things like portability as well as multiple assignable control knobs, which would be quite useful in producing music like electronica. But if your music plans are more geared towards realistic playing and less on envelopes and automation, this just might be the one for you.

The Verdict.

As you can see, a lot of music software these days doesn’t require you to pick up a Midi Keyboard to make music, and if you’re an absolute newbie, that might be the way to go.

But once you get some experience and you want to inflict more of a human touch into your productions, a Midi Keyboard just might be what you need.

But not only can it humanize your music, it can also save you a lot of time.  Speaking from experience, I find melodies a lot easier when I can just play them and get instant feedback.  This is something that’s impossible to do with a mouse clicking note-by-note, and not much easier with a computer keyboard.

But don’t take my word for it, pick up a Midi Keyboard and try it yourself!

The post What is a MIDI Keyboard Controller and Do I Need One? appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

Here’s Zac Green from popular music blog ZingInstruments.com walks us through 7 simple steps to make electronic music.

In the minds of consumers, creating electronic music is as simple as pressing a “make music” button on a laptop, stealing snippets of other people’s work and then having it played in nightclubs.

Now, the reality is that creating electronic music is just complex as any other type of music. If you’re just starting out writing electronic music in your home studio, here are seven simple steps you can take to help get you started on the right path.

Step 1: Find a DAW and stick to it!

A Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) is like your instrument. If you were learning to play guitar, you’d stick to one. However, because there are so many different software out there with so many trial versions floating around, it’s easy to get stuck in the game of always wondering if there is a better one out there, especially if you spend time on EDM production forums and such.

I don’t care which one you pick, just pick one. If it helps, I started with FL Studio and didn’t change to another one until many years later.

Step 2: Learn music theory

I know, you probably just want to create some crazy ass stuff like Skrillex or whatever, so how does music theory come into it?

Just because the sounds are synthetic and seemingly chaotic, it doesn’t mean they don’t need to fit together. Learning the basics of music theory like scales, chord construction and perhaps even going further into advanced topics can give you a whole new set of tools to help you write awesome electronic music.

There are some people out there renowned for not knowing a single thing about music theory who are still able to write great music, electronic and otherwise. However, the fact is that these people do know a lot about music theory, but they simply never learned it formally from a book or teacher.

Step 3: Invest in quality hardware

If you think you can make great sounding music with nothing more than a laptop and pair of Beats headphones, you’re in for a rude awakening. Sure, it might sound good to you, but when somebody else plays your music through an entirely different audio setup, it’s going to sound bad.

If you can’t afford a good pair of studio monitors (speakers with very clean EQ) then reference level headphones are your next best bet.

There’s also the ‘car test’. It’s a simple way of testing whether your track sounds good or not, and it’s nothing more than playing your track through your car’s speaker system. If it sounds good on those, then you’re on the right track.

Step 4: Move beyond presets

The virtual instruments that come with most DAWs are pretty good, but they’re very generic. If you stick exclusively to using the presets, you’ll end up sounding the same as every other amateur producer in your particular sub-genre of electronic music. This goes for third-party VSTs like Massive as well. Learn how to adjust the parameters and how they interact, and you’ll be able to create recognizable sounds, like a musical signature.

Step 5: Work with others

Most bands will write music together one way or another, each of the members combining their musical skill, knowledge, and creativity for something far more interesting than any one person would come up with alone.

Sometimes it’s nice to have a solo project, but quite often you can benefit from having the input of others. Electronic music producers are more likely to work alone, excepting in the mastering stage. If you feel like your music is getting stale, it’s time to bring in a fresh perspective.

Step 6: Write more

Have you been working on the same track for three months? Put it aside and start something fresh.

If you’ve got the opposite problem, and you never finish anything, take a different approach. Instead of giving up, force yourself to create a one minute track, and keep working on making lots of them, one at a time. Eventually progress to two-minute tracks and so on.

The more writing you do, the better you get at your craft. Of course, this doesn’t happen automatically. You have to invest some conscious effort into learning what sounds better, finding weak spots and areas for improvement.

Step 7: Use a MIDI controller

Rather than trying to input every sequence with a mouse (or heaven forbid your laptop touchpad) invest in a decent MIDI controller, preferably with both keys and pads. There are a lot of good choices, and most of them will automap the hardware functions to those of the DAW.

Not only do they make inputting notes much quicker, but they can give you a new way of writing. Rather than programming in advance and then listening back to the result, you can record live. The layout of a musical keyboard also changes the way you approach chords and sequences.

Using MIDI controllers isn’t inherently better in every respect. Sometimes you can surprise yourself when inputting using the cursor by coming up with crazy ideas that would be completely impossible to perform otherwise. A combination of the two is the best way to go.

Now that you’ve had a chance to read through these tips, it’s time to start applying them. Don’t feel pressured to put them all into practice at once. Trying one out at a time over the course of a few weeks is fine. Likewise, don’t treat them as gospel. Rules are made to be broken, but it helps to know when to stay in the lines so that when you do go outside, it’s even better.

The post 7 Simple Steps to Make Electronic Music appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

After a long hiatus from making tutorials here’s finally a new video. It’s about how to make a snare sound using FL Studio Sytrus.

There are no text boxes this time, I’m just showing you how to.

The method is simple: I’m using Sytrus with two Operators. OP1 is for snap and body, OP2 for noise.

In the effect chain I’m using:

• Fruity Fast Dist for distortion
• PEQ2 for cutting lows and boosting some fundamental parts
• Soundgoodizer for additional excitement
• Another PEQ2 for cutting low frequencies even more after Soundgoodizer (plus some minor tweaking in the mid/high area)
• Transient Processor for sharpening the attack part of the snare.

I also show you how the snare works in a simple mix (i.e in a ‘context’).

Enjoy!

The post How To Make A Snare Sound appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

This is a walkthrough tutorial to a 90’s/deep/tech/whatever house style beat I made while ago. Yes, I’m not 100% sure about the exact genre, but listen the audio preview below and make your own decision:

Ok. First, I’ll set the project tempo to 123 BPM which is quite typical to a genre like this.

Next, I’ll start building the drum section. In 99% of cases, I’ll begin with the drums when I make my own music. And that’s what I’m going to do now as well.

While I was originally making this beat, my aim was to find some basic but quality drum samples: clean, punchy but a little ‘softer’ kick with a semi-long sub-tail (not that short dubstep style kick nor anything distorted), basic clap sample (almost like that TR 909 clap), open and closed hihats and some percussions (mostly toms) and I found such samples from Echo Sound Works Future Deep House V.1 pack.

So starting with the drum samples, I drop them to Channel Rack, rename the Channels and assign each of them to their own Mixer tracks. I also extend the pattern length to 32 steps by dragging the bottom-right of the Channel Rack. This way I can add more variation to my drum sequence per pattern without the need to create a new pattern for each variation.

Also, while I’m making the drum sequence, I set the volume levels between the drum samples roughly in balance in the FL Studio Mixer. After the drum sequence is done, I’ll fine-tune the drum sample levels.

Now, the drum sequence sounds a bit too straightforward, so I’m going to make it ‘swing’ using the ‘Global Swing’ -slider in the Step-sequencer. It affects to the length of odd vs even steps. I’ll set it to around 67% for a quite intensive swing.

Ok. The drum sequence is ready. This is the core rhythm of this whole house beat.

But the mix is still just a rough mix so what I usually do at this point I’ll take a short break to let my hearing rest and normalize. Then I mix the drums again with fresh ears to make the drum mix correctly in balance.

(kuva | taking a break)

Ok. Back to work!

So with a fresh pair of ears, I’ll start the mixing by leaving the kick Mixer track to 0.0dB and drop all the other Mixer tracks to INF. At this point (while listening the kick), I also set the volume levels of my monitors to a value where I can hear the kick loud and clear, but not TOO loud though – something that is pleasant to my ears.

As you have probably seen in my earlier tutorials, I mix everything around the kick. So what I do next is I start mixing in the other drum instruments, so that they wont take over the kick. Starting with claps, then follow the hihats and percussion. Slowly raising their gain one-by-one.

And here’s how I ended up setting the levels:

Now, to my ears, the closed hihat sample sounds a bit too long (‘sluggish’) to sit well in this kind of rhythm so what I do next is I shorten/tighten it using a volume envelope which can be found in the Sampler Channel Settings.

Here’s how I edited the volume envelope:

Here’s how it sounds before and after the volume envelope (in isolation):

And here’s how it sounds before and after the volume envelope (with open hihats):

And here’s how it sounds before and after the volume envelope in the whole drum mix:

Sounds quite alright. However, I have a slight feeling that the closed hihat could use a little tuning perhaps..

Even though there usually aren’t any easily detectable pitched elements in pure hihat sounds, but if you feel that they wont quite match with the rest of the percussion sounds, try tuning their pitch up or down to see whether it makes any real difference.

I’ll decrease it’s pitch.

Check the audio example before and after tuning the closed hihat:

To my ears, tuning DOWN the pitch of the closed hihat kind of makes it fit slightly better to the WHOLE drum mix (especially when listened against the first percussion sound). BUT when listening it just with the open hihat…

…tuning the pitch UP would’ve probably been a better decision….

However, it’s the whole drum mix that matters and I think it works there like this so I just leave it be.

The closed hihat would’ve have also worked well in the mix without tuning at all.

As you can see, mixing and music production is full of little choices and decisions to make. Different elements can sound good in the mix in so many different ways. Sometimes, the best advice to remember is ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. And lot of mixing decisions are just a matter of taste so it’s impossible to give a one rule that covers everything.

If you feel you are STUCK on a mixing decision, try taking a break and after that, listen the whole mix again: if the decision you’re struggling with doesn’t sound overly bothering, just leave it be and move on. When you progress with your mix and build it up more and you listen it again as a whole mix, those little things may become irrelevant.

Ok. Let’s move on.

I usually create also a bus track for my drum mixes, just in case. That way, I’m able to control the volume level of the whole drum mix via one fader. Or if I want to eg. compress the drums as a group, bus track is the way to go.

Ok. The volume levels between the drums are in balance. Next, I’ll quickly check out the frequencies of the drum samples. I’ll check that the hihat and percussion samples aren’t messing with the fundamental frequency of the kick (below 100Hz area). If they are, I’ll just use EQ to roll off that range.

My favorite plugin for checking the frequency spectrum is the Seven Phases Spectrum Analyzer so I’ll just drop it to the Mixer Master track.

While checking the spectrum analyzer, I saw that some of the frequencies in the second percussion sample seems to be peaking slightly near the 100Hz (as you can see in the image below), but not much below that and based on what I hear from my monitors, I don’t see it causing any problems to the kick. So I’ll just leave it there:

To my ears, the drum mix sounds quite good already so I’ll just do some minor polishing.

For the kick, I’ll try a little top-end boost to make that sharp transient part (the attack) to poke through the mix even better. It’s pretty good already, but I’ll check if the boost makes it any better. I’ll use the Mixer Track EQ for that.

And maybe a little top-end boost for the claps as well.

For the percussion sound, I’ll use reverb. Just a to add a little more depth and feel of space to the whole mix.

I’m using Valhalla VintageVerb with it’s default preset settings and a fairly short Decay time.

Okay. The drum mix is now ready.

Next, I’ll open Sytrus and create the bass sound.

When I was originally making this beat, I had a vision in my mind to use that UK Garage -style, kind of ‘hollow’ and ‘wobbling’ bass sound to play along with the drumbeat and that’s what I’m going to create now.

First, I’ll reset the Sytrus settings by loading the default preset. I also lower the Master pitch by two octaves in the Main module.

And in the Operator 1, I’ll set it’s Frequency Ratio to 1.0000 to drop the pitch even more. This is just because I want to play low pitch notes with the mid-range keys of my MIDI keyboard.

Next, I’ll enable the volume envelope in Operator 1 and edit the envelope as follows:

Done.

Next, a little frequency modulation. I’m going to use the Operator 2 to modulate the frequency of Operator 1 to add that ‘hollow’ timbre (so Operator 2 is going to be the ‘modulator’ and Operator 1 the ‘carrier’).

The frequency modulation amount is set in the Modulation Matrix by tweaking a knob either to right (for positive values) or left (for negative values).

(Yes, it’s not very hollow’ish yet, but be patient.)

Even the slightest changes to the oscillator shape of the Operator that acts as a modulator, affects to the timbre of the carrier. So next, I’ll edit the shape a little (which is pure sine wave by default) using the Shape Modifiers (I’ll use the Tension parameter):

If you’re asking how one can know exactly how much to edit the shapes and how much to modulate and what, search more on Youtube about FM synthesis. I usually tweak everything by ear.

Next, I’ll edit the volume envelope of the modulating Operator using the editor grid.

Usually, the volume envelope and it’s shape is used to control the volume articulation of the Operator and in which time it happens. This is the case if you have defined an output level of the Operator in the Modulation Matrix (eg. routed it to Sytrus main Output). However, in this example, I have not routed the Operator 2 to any Output at all in the Modulation Matrix – I’ve only made the Operator 2 to modulate Operator 1. So in this case, the volume level changes I make to Operator 2 via the volume envelope, affects only to the modulation amount/how it’s articulated in the carrier Operator (Operator 1 in this example). If I would’ve routed the Operator 2 to main Output in the Modulation Matrix, the volume envelope would ALSO control Operator 2 volume level.

You can also use the input modulation (MOD) of the carrier operator to achieve same results. Try setting the Operator 1 Editor Target to MOD and use envelope as articulator. This way, you control the incoming modulation amount in a given time. This is good, if you you have a situation where you have routed the modulating Operator also to eg. main Output in Modulation Matrix, but you want to control it’s volume articulation separately from the modulation articulation.

The values of the envelope points in the volume envelope editor grid of the Operator 2 are relative to the modulation amount Operator 2 causes to Operator 1. If you set an envelope point to zero per cent, no modulation cant be hard. But if you set it eg. to a hundred per cents the amount of modulation is as much as the maximum value you have defined in the Modulation Matrix.

Here’s how I edited the volume envelope:

As you can hear, this kind of envelope controls the frequency modulation in a way that it occurs in a short and stabby form, giving the whole sound kind of pluck like character.

Next, I’ll edit the MOD X Mapping envelope (note that the Editor Target is still the volume of the modulating Operator).

MOD X Mapping is linked to the Modulation X controller knob (which is in the MAIN section of Sytrus). So every value changes you make to the MOD X Mapping envelope by editing it’s shape are relative to the position of the Modulation X controller knob. And in this case, as the Editor Target is set to VOL, you can control the modulation amount (and it’s articulation set with the volume envelope) caused to the carrier (OP1) via the Modulation X controller knob by the limits you set with the MOD X Mapping envelope.

So now, I’ll edit the MOD X Mapping envelope like this:

So the leftmost side of the MOD X Mapping envelope editor corresponds the leftmost position of the Modulation X controller knob and the rightmost side corresponds the rightmost position.

So now, this kind of MOD X Mapping envelope curve defines that when I turn the Modulation X controller knob all the way to left, no modulation can’t be heard. And when I turn it all the way to right, it happens at maximum level (but of course, it’s relative to the modulation amount I’ve set in the Modulation Matrix). And also remember, that the envelope I edited in the ENV section and all the changes it causes to the modulation amount happens now by the limits I’ve set via the MOD X Mapping envelope editor.

Check the audio example below:

Now the thing is, due to frequency modulation (and the movement I’m going to create to it with automation), those pure sine wave sub tones aren’t so solid anymore. And this’ll make this bass sound partly weak. So to strengthen the bottom end, I mix in a pure sine wave which isn’t going to be modulated at all.

So all I need to do is I route the output of the Operator 3 straight to the main Out of Sytrus using the Modulation Matrix.

Alright, the bass sound is ready! Next, I’ll create the bass pattern.

First, I’ll add a new empty pattern to the Playlist and start laying down some notes to the Piano Roll.

Here’s the bass sequence:

Note that the Swing function in the Step Sequencer also affects to the notes in the Piano Roll. So our bass sequence has that swing too.

Next, I’ll make the bassline ‘wobble’ to add more movement and life to it. And I’ll do that by automating the Modulation X controller knob found in the Main section of Sytrus.

So now, in the Playlist, I’ll just create different kind of shapes to the automation envelope.

That’s it. Next, I’ll assign this bass sound to a free Mixer track and mix it with the drums.

I’ll use the already familiar mixing method to mix everything against the kick. I start by soloing just the kick and bass mixer tracks. Then I drop the bass to INF and start raising it’s volume level while listening the kick. I’ll try to find a balance between these two most important instruments so that they support each other.

Here’s how I mixed it:

Here’s how it sound with the kick:

And here’s with all the drums:

Sounds ok.

But it’s not ready yet.

The thing is, the bass contains low frequencies which operates pretty much in the same frequency range as the kick so they most likely clash a bit. That makes the low frequency area a little incoherent and not as punchy as it could be. It kind of drains the energy the kick contains. So to avoid this, I’ll use a sidechain effect, but only for a specific low frequency area because I don’t wan’t this kind of beat to be overly pumping. In my opinion, that just wouldn’t fit very well to this type of house beat.

Before I continue, I check the kick and bass frequency range with frequency analyzer. Just to be sure. I mostly trust my ears and monitors, but I’m using budget monitors and their placement and my studio room treatment is probably not the most optimal so I’ll use frequency analyzer as a helping hand.

Check image below. As you can see, the bass contains quite a lot life in the 100 Hz range and below:

And if we check where the kick is operating most of it’s energy is around the 100 Hz and below as well as you can see in the image:

And now to the sidechaining. The concept is pretty simple: I’ll use the kick as a trigger to cut off a specific frequency range from the bass sound using Fruity Peak Controller and Parametric EQ 2.

So I’ll put the Peak Controller to the kick Mixer track and Parametric EQ 2 to the bass Mixer track.

For the PEQ2 I need a low cut filter with steep slope and I can find one from the PEQ2 presets.

Next, I’ll link the PEQ 2’s frequency controller knob to the Peak Controller (to the ‘Peak’ feature of the Peak Controller to be exact).

To hear the kick, ‘Mute’ needs to be disabled in the Peak Controller.

So now, as you can see and hear, every time the kick hits, it cuts off the low frequencies from the bass sound. This is a way to avoid the kick and bass clashing together and keep the low frequency area clean and consistent.

Here’s just kick and bass:

And here’s the whole drum mix:

You can use the VOL (Peak amount) knob to control the frequency area which will be rolled off once the kick hits. Use higher values for cutting wider frequency area and vice versa. With the BASE, TENSION and DECAY you can control the peak behavior in various ways. Check the FL Studio manual for more info.

With this kind of sidechaining method, the bassline maintains it’s groove while the low end of the kick and bass can coexist without too audible pumping effect.

Next, I’m going to make that stab/pluck sound. With Sytrus.

For the stab sound I’m going to use saw wave and square wave. So I’ll need two Operators.

I’m going to set the Operator 1 oscillator type to saw.

And I’ll set square wave as the Operator 2 oscillator type. And to hear anything from Operator 2, I’ll route it to main Output of Sytrus via Modulation Matrix.

Next, I’ll set the Operator 2 Frequency Ratio to 3.0000. This’ll raise it’s base pitch up by seven semitones.

By doing this, I’ll get a power chord (fifth chord) which I can play using only one key of my MIDI keyboard. The saw wave of Operator 1 is the root note sound and the square wave of Operator 2 is the fifth note sound. And now, if I play eg. a note of E, I’ll hear E power chord.

If I play chords, E Minor for example, I’ll hear E Minor Ninth.

Next, I’ll edit the tone of this sound via frequency modulation. I’ll tweak by ear.

First, I’ll set how much the Operator 2 modulates Operator 1:

And I also make the Operator 1 to modulate Operator 2:

Sounds pretty noisy and well – horrible – for now, but it has it’s place. It’s the end result that counts.

Next, I’ll map the Operator 2 volume to the Modulation X controller knob – same way as I did with the bass sound. Only difference to the bass sound is that as the Operator 2 now goes straight to Sytrus Main Output as well, the Modulation X knob controls also the volume of Operator 2 besides the amount the Operator 2 modulates Operator 1. I’m going to automate the Modulation X controller knob later for some additional nuances to the pitch and color of this stab sound.

Next, I’ll route both Operators to Filter 1 module. I wan’t to be able to use low pass filter to soften the sound.

So first, in the Modulation Matrix, I’ll disable the Operators 1 & 2 going straight to Main Output and route both Operators to Filter 1 module by setting their Mix levels to 100 % in the ‘Operator to Filter’ -row. And finally, I’ll route the Filter 1 module to Main Output of Sytrus to hear the filtered sound:

In the Filter 1 module, I’ll select Lime Low Pass as the filter type. It’s a nice low pass filter for my needs here. And with the cutoff knob, I can control the filter amount.

Next, I’ll enable the volume Envelope. I have to admit that at this point, I made a little “mistake” while I was originally creating this sound. My intention was to use the FILTER CUTOFF envelope in the Filter 1 articulation section to make this patch sound like a stab. But instead, I used the VOLUME envelope for some reason. The volume envelope of the Filter 1 section doesn’t affect to the movement of the filter like the filter cutoff envelope does. Instead, it affects only to Filter 1’s output volume. And by using it, I’ll get same end result as if I would have used the volume envelope in the Operator 1 & 2 articulation section. However, this is the sound I used originally in the example mix and it seem to work there just fine so let’s just continue with this way.

After filtering, the sound is a bit quiet so I also raise the Sytrus master volume level a little in the Sytrus Main module.

Next, I’ll enable delay and reverb effects to add a bit of echo and sense of space.

First, I’ll send the Filter 1 output to FX module at full level.

In the FX module I’ll disable the Chorus effect as I don’t need it in this sound example and I activate the Delay unit 1 and use following settings:

To break the delay settings a little: I waned a long lasting echo so I set the Delay feedback level to fairly high. I also increased the delay volume level a bit as I want it to be quite audible.

Next, the reverb:

And little about the reverb settings: I enabled the Tempo-based predelay because I want the reverb to have that slap-back echo type of effect which is in sync with the project tempo. I set the Predelay to 2:00. This sets the delay time when the first reverb reflection appears. This is for a slap-back type of echo in the reverb. The reverb should be pretty big so I set the Decay time to fairly long. I also set the color of the reverb to warmest possible.

Next, I ‘ll go to the Main module to make some final adjustments.

I’ll add a tiny bit of Unison to ‘thicken and smear’ the sound. I also use EQ as it is a bit too bass heavy so I roll off some of the low frequencies. And I also raise the master volume to the max.

Ok. That’s about it. Next, I’ll create the chord for this stab sound in the Piano Roll.

Here’s the notes I’m using:

These notes alone forms E Minor chord, but keep in mind that we have the Operator 2 tuned up by seven semitones so the patch itself forms a power chord (Operator 1 is the root note sound & Operator 2 the fifth note sound). So with that in mind, this chord is actually E Minor Ninth.

Next, I’ll assign this stab sound to a free Mixer track and set it’s volume level in balance against the other sounds in the mix:

Next, I’ll extend the arrangement in the Playlist.

Next, I’ll automate the Modulation X controller knob. Just to add a little variation to the pluck sound.

So as I already mentioned, the Modulation X controller knob controls the volume of Operator 2 and at the same time also the modulation amount caused to Operator 1.

I’ll edit the automation curve as follows:

Here’s how the stab chord sounds now. First, in solo:

And in the mix:

That’s about it. That drop in the curve drops the Operator 2 volume level quite a bit. And this will also partly kind of change the chord a bit (not entirely though), because the Operator 2 contains the fifth notes sound together with Operator 1 and now, as the Operator 2 volume level drops, those fifth notes aren’t so apparent anymore. If I would’ve dropped the Operator 2 volume to 0%, then the chord would’ve been pure E Minor. But as I’ve set the volume level to around 11%, it’s a… well, I’m not quite sure what it actually is (the modulation messes the sound as well).

Ok. Next I’ll create that short intro sound you heard at the beginning of the audio preview.

The intro sound is simple: I’ll just record the pluck sound chord into audio with Edison, drag it to Playlist and reverse it.

So first, I solo the pluck sound track (and the Modulation X Automation Envelope track) and make a 4 bars long selection in the Playlist.

Next, I load Edison into the stab sound Mixer track using keyboard shortcut SHIFT+E. This’ll open Edison in loop recording mode.

So now, all I need to do is to press Play and Edison records the selected 4 bar section of that pluck sound in loop. It will also set region markers to the beginning of each loop. This way I can easily select exactly 4 bars long audio clip which I can then drag and drop into the Playlist.

Ok. Now I just select a loop in the Edison by double-clicking that region marked titled ‘Song jump’ and drag it to the Playlist as a audio clip using the drag-tool.

Next, I’ll make some room for the intro sound…

Next, I reverse the audio clip, rename it and assign it to a free Mixer track

I also remove the last few milliseconds from the reversed stab sound, leaving a very short silent part in the arrangement just before the section where kick and bass hits. This’ll increase the impact of the kick and bass section.

And lastly, I set the volume level of the reversed stab in balance.

And here’s how it sounds:

Next, I’ll extend the arrangement a bit more and make some changes to the drums (and some to the bass as well). This is all for the sake of variation and for building the tension towards the section change.

Next, I’ll add in that reversed kick. It works as a small transition effect.

So first, I’ll drag and drop the kick sample as a audio clip into the Playlist. I rename and reverse it and align it to the beginning of the kick and bass section (TIP: hold down ALT if you want to move clip in the Playlist bypassing snap-to-grid settings. This is good for precise placement of clips).

That sharp snap (which is the attack part of the kick) needs to be removed because it kind of takes away the impact and sharpness of the kick and bass section which follows right after.

And finally, I’ll assign the reverse kick to a free Mixer track and balance it’s volume level with the rest of the mix.

And lastly, I copy/paste the reverse kick to the beginning of the another section of the beat.

Final step is to increase the loudness of the whole mix.

In my opinion, this mix doesn’t require any other additional polishing than increasing the overall loudness.

So basically, if your mix is sounding good already, it may not require whole lot of work in the mastering stage. And in my experience, good sounding EDM mix starts almost always with good quality and right kind of combination of drum sounds. So sound selection is very important.

I guess you could call what I’m doing here ‘mastering’ because after this, I won’t do anything else that affects to the whole mix (other than convert it to MP3).

So. I start by selecting the ‘busiest’ part of the mix (by busiest I mean a part where lots of sounds are playing at the same time) so I can play it as a loop.

Next, I’ll playback the looped section and check that the Master channel isn’t clipping.

It seems that the highest peaks are around -6 or -7dB which is great. So I don’t need to adjust any single Mixer track volume levels.

Next, I load one of my all-time favorite tools to the Master channel: Fabfilter Pro-L.

Pro-L is really cool for all-kinds of normal limiting tasks, but also great for increasing the loudness. It can be very ‘transparent’ even in very heavy limiting tasks (by transparent I mean that the artifacts that are usually caused to audio signal with extreme limiting settings – such as pumping – aren’t so noticeable when tweaked right).

I like to start tweaking the Pro-L from a preset and surprisingly often I end up using a patch called ‘House – Transparent and Loud’ which can be found under the ‘Dance & Electronica’ -category. And that’s what I’m going to do now.

I set the final Output level of Pro-L to -0.3 dB. This is quite common practice when dealing with the final effect in the effect chain in mastering situation (which is usually a limiter). This is to avoid the occurrence of ‘inter-sample peaks’ (Google for more info about it).

And now, I’ll start boosting the loudness by increasing the input signal level via the Gain -knob.

Of course, this kind of tweaking needs to be done mostly by trusting your ears and your monitors/headphones. When I increase the overall loudness of my mix, I listen very carefully and raise the gain to the point it’s quite loud while still sounding punchy and dynamic (= not squashed).

I mostly trust my ears, but I do also check the RMS meter (RMS meter tells you the average level of the signal peaks over time). Pro-L has RMS meter, it’s that brighter blue bar there. I aim somewhere near -10 dB.

After listening the whole mix for a while, I left the Pro-L’s Gain to +9.5dB. To my ears this was the optimal loudness for this mix without squashing it too much. Also, I didn’t need do any additional adjustments to the Pro-L settings. So in other words, here’s the final mix:

FL Studio has RMS meters as well. Just load Wave Candy to any Mixer track, load a ‘Peak Meter’ preset and under the Meter -tab select RMS as Mode.

The end.

Watch the video version below and download the FLP file for this project below the video:

Download The House Beat FL Studio Project File (This is a .FLP file and it requires FL Studio 12.2 Build 3 or later to open. Also, I can’t share the drum samples I used as is as I used a commercial pack so the project probably opens a bit ‘crippled’ if you don’t have the same drum sample pack or Pro-L or Seven Phases Spectrum Analyzer. But nonetheless, you’ll get to see the exact settings I used to make this beat, Sytrus settings, note data, etc.)

The post Walkthrough To A Deep/Tech/90’s/Whatever House Beat appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

Here’s part four which is the final part of the sound design video series from the Studio DMI’s Fly On The Wall sessions with Ed Strazdas (check the previous parts here: part one, part two, part three).

Enjoy!

The post Studio DMI’s Fly On The Wall: Sound Design with Ed Strazdas Pt. 4/4 appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

About week ago I posted part two of the four-part sound design video series from the Studio DMI’s Fly On The Wall sessions with Ed Strazdas (also, check out the part one here).

And here’s part three.

I’m going to post part four next Sunday which is the last part of this series.

Enjoy the video!

The post Studio DMI’s Fly On The Wall: Sound Design with Ed Strazdas Pt. 3/4 appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

Week ago I posted part one of the four-part sound design video series from the Studio DMI’s Fly On The Wall sessions, featuring Ed Strazdas. And here’s part two.

I’m going to post part three on next Sunday.

The post Studio DMI’s Fly On The Wall: Sound Design with Ed Strazdas Pt. 2/4 appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

By the permission of Studio DMI, I’m posting a four-part sound design technique videos from Studio DMI’s Fly On The Wall sessions on my Youtube channel. This series features Ed Strazdas where he show’s some of his techniques and approaches on sound designing.

I’m going to post part 2 on next Sunday.

Enjoy the video!

The post Studio DMI’s Fly On The Wall: Sound Design with Ed Strazdas Pt. 1/4 appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.

Splice gives you everything you need to create music and collaborate fearlessly – automatic private backup of your songs and project files, free unlimited storage, and access to a growing community of musicians that are sharing work on the platform and opening their sessions to the world every day.

Similar to Loopcloud (from Loopmasters), Splice has introduced a revolutionary new subscription-based service for audio samples and loops called Splice Sounds.

With Splice Sounds, you can turbo-charge your writing and production workflow by browsing, curating and downloading more than 500,000 samples from over 1,500 sample packs which you can drag right into any DAW from the Splice desktop app. Plans start at $7.99 and included unlimited browsing of the catalog and up to 100 downloads per month. Below we’ll highlight some features of Splice Sounds and share tips for working with samples in your projects. You can also watch the video from HTMEM below to see Splice Sounds in action.

1. Create Custom Drum & Percussion Kits

With Splice Sounds, you have access to so many great sounding one shot samples in addition to audio loops. While it is often helpful to start a project from a template, inspiration can happen even more quickly when you create custom drum kits in software plugins like Ultrabeat (Logic) or racks (in Ableton Live) from Splice Sounds you download. Many software samplers also give you the option to layer sounds so you may want to experiment with creating non-traditional kits by subtly layering FX like sirens or vocals with your primary drum sounds. You can also try layering multiple drums like a “boomy” kick and a “punchy” kick to really sculpt the sound you are looking for. Working with custom kits as a starting point can also be a huge time saver.  Splice Sounds brings a whole new level to custom drum and percussion kits with its wide variety of sounds – get started by exploring some of my favorite drum and effects packs on Splice Sounds, including Bomb Squad Tactical Beats & Sample Artillery, KJ Sawka’s Live Drum & Bass Drums and Cinematic Effects for inspiration.

2. Add Reverse Reverb to Vocal Samples

Adding reverse reverb to any sample can give it a haunting quality and it works especially well on vocals. Easily create a reverse reverb effect by downloading a sample then reversing it. Once you’ve done this (and the process is different depending on DAW), add a reverb with a long tail. Next, bounce the audio file to disk and reverse it again. Now, the sample will be playing forwards as it was intended, but the huge reverb tail will play in reverse, creating a swooping lead into the sample. For an in-depth look at creating reverse reverb effects in FL Studio, check out HTMEM’s tutorial here.

3. Explore & Organize Sounds On-The-Go

You can easily browse samples from your mobile device while on the go and get instant access to them when you’re ready to sit down and work on your latest track. If you are a Sounds subscriber, just log into your account from your device and audition samples to find what you are looking for. Then, favorite them or create custom packs to add them to – when you get back to your studio, they’ll be ready to be downloaded and used instantly! Get creative with your organizing principles – you might separate custom packs by function, i.e. “Song Starting Points,” “Powerful Leads,” and “Rhythmic Inspiration,” or perhaps you can create custom packs of your favorite sounds found while exploring a specific genre, such as Trap, Dubstep or Deep House. No matter how you choose to organize your sounds, you’ll have a great resource to help you get started making music quickly when inspiration strikes.

4. Resample!

Resampling is a powerful sound design technique you can easily accomplish in your DAW to create interesting variations. Once you have a basic arrangement, try sampling the master output on another track. From there you can add pitch shifting effects, different reverbs and layers to create even more unique sounds.

5. Re-use the Groove

Many popular DAWS such as Ableton Live and Logic allow you to extract MIDI from audio samples. This works particularly well for drum loop samples. If you like the groove but don’t necessarily like the drum sounds themselves, try converting the sample to MIDI so you can extract the “groove” of the sample and use your favorite VST sampler to replace the drum parts with your own sounds. For inspiration, try starting with Vintage Breakbeats, Samba Drums & Percussion or Underground Dubstep & Breaks. All of these packs and much more are available on Splice Sounds.

6) Use Splice Sounds In Your Favorite Wavetable Synth

Certain soft-synth plugins like Xfer Records’ Serum or Omnisphere 2 allow you to import your own audio samples to create custom synth patches. With Splice Sounds, you have a huge library and a variety of sample content to use as a starting point to dive in deep and make your own unique presets. Try experimenting with long, drawn out sawtooth wave samples as well as airy pad samples and list to how the sound changes when you use these different sample types as a modifying sound source. Try experimenting with this Dark Atmospherics pack or this Jupiter 6 vintage synth pack on Splice Sounds to get started.

The post 6 Creative Approaches For Working With Splice Sounds appeared first on How To Make Electronic Music.