Friday, 13th

Hey guys,

here is my new track "Friday, 13th", another take on UK Bass influences.

Check out my soundcloud page for some of the many tracks, split in three playlists for your maximum auditory enhancement

Any kind of feedback or request is welcome!

^

pretty dope track, everything sounds really clean. good ambient vibe goin on.

thanks. weird, you are the second guy telling me that my drums sound so clean. I think the exact opposite: way to much low-end, muddy sound. how did you listen to the track(s) ?

when you created the track, your ears are forever changed.

yeah these are really good man. unique sound. i like the drums, not too muddy for me, in my headphones. interesting sounds in the 2nd one. keep em coming!

thanks. the second one messes with the free Die Artwood acapella and was done within 2 hours or so

if you want to listen to more, check out my soundcloud page. if anyone wants some samples or do a remix of a any song, you are more than welcome!

I love the first minute of the first track. That squeeky bassline is amazing! I like how dry everything sounds to begin with, but the ambient pads kinda ruin that gangsta warm you've got going. The ambient pads sounds like something from an old Aphex tune which I don't think fits the tune at all. If I was you I would remove the pads, keep it more simple and add a nasty but funky and danceable trap synthline :)

Yeah, you are right... the pads add a very weird atmosphere, which contrasts heavily with the raw bassline and beat. I personally like this, but in general, I should really try to do more simple stuff to get the $$$ flowing

  On 10/28/2012 at 6:13 PM, tokn said:

Yeah, you are right... the pads add a very weird atmosphere, which contrasts heavily with the raw bassline and beat. I personally like this, but in general, I should really try to do more simple stuff to get the $$$ flowing

I would probably leave in the pad at 1:06, because that one works fine. It's just that the pads bring the whole track down and make it seem less cocky which is a shame because that's what I think is really charming about the tune :)

heh, it is a cocky track indeed

i finally got down to master a track from this summer... much lusher und straighter, but hear for yourself. critical opinions very welcome!

http://soundcloud.com/2kn/lisas-birthday

this is way different than my other stuff and i really worked on the mastering this time... so... very interested in opinions, also about the technical sounding side. cheers

your mastering sounds good but I wonder how you dealt with compression. The master sounds low and the different sounds might benefit from some more bus compression. But I might be wrong as I don't know you mixed it.

Apart from that those three tracks really have wicked parts, keep up the good work!

  On 11/14/2012 at 7:58 PM, Antape said:

your mastering sounds good but I wonder how you dealt with compression. The master sounds low and the different sounds might benefit from some more bus compression. But I might be wrong as I don't know you mixed it.

ya you are right! i noticed this only recently. the track is mastered nicely, but way to quiet over all. I side-chained everything to the BD with different settings, I sidechained the bass to BDs and the vocals. The master is split into a parallel 4 compression and fused with a very quiet signal of the unprocessed original.

how would you do it? what do you mean by bus compression exactly?

  On 11/14/2012 at 7:58 PM, Antape said:

Apart from that those three tracks really have wicked parts, keep up the good work!

cheers, man, happy to hear that from a talented guy!

  On 11/15/2012 at 10:42 AM, tokn said:

ya you are right! i noticed this only recently. the track is mastered nicely, but way to quiet over all. I side-chained everything to the BD with different settings, I sidechained the bass to BDs and the vocals. The master is split into a parallel 4 compression and fused with a very quiet signal of the unprocessed original.

 

how would you do it? what do you mean by bus compression exactly?

Bus compression just mean a compression applied to several tracks (not sure the name is official though). One important thing about compression is that it's better to apply reasonable amounts at different levels of your mix than applying a large amount of it just in one place. And it's also often a good idea to compress together a group of tracks which are meant to sound together.

For example if you have two pads tracks which more or less play the same melody it can be a good idea to compress them separately first, in order to give them the dynamics you want, then to compress them together in order to give them more homogeneity. And then why not to compress them slightly with all your other synths (same goal of homogeneity). Then your master would probably benefit from a little bit of compression too.

It really doesn't have to be much compression at each step but it's often better to do it at different levels like that. Hmmm maybe I wrote things you already know, hope it'll help somehow though

  On 11/16/2012 at 10:34 AM, Antape said:

It really doesn't have to be much compression at each step but it's often better to do it at different levels like that. Hmmm maybe I wrote things you already know, hope it'll help somehow though

No, I didn't know that. Thanks a lot, I will try it out.

  Quote

The master is split into a parallel 4 compression and fused with a very quiet signal of the unprocessed original.

Do you think this is a good idea?

  Quote

  Quote

The master is split into a parallel 4 compression and fused with a very quiet signal of the unprocessed original.

Do you think this is a good idea?

I didn't understand that one, what do you exactly mean ? That you used a 4 band compression ?

I mixed everything seperatly into the master. The master then is split into two paths: One goes through a 4 band compression, the other one stays the same. Then the signal is fused again - mainly the 4 comp, but also a bit of the original. I do this, because I think, it will add some dynamics... but maybe its stupid because it lowers the possible maximal volume?

  On 9/24/2012 at 5:02 PM, tokn said:

http://soundcloud.com/2kn/die-antwoord-this-is-why-im

Needs hoovery bass. The kind that struggles to come through the kick.

  On 11/17/2012 at 9:03 PM, milorad said:

  On 9/24/2012 at 5:02 PM, tokn said:

http://soundcloud.com/2kn/die-antwoord-this-is-why-im

Needs hoovery bass. The kind that struggles to come through the kick.

could you elaborate or give examples? i don't quite understand.

  On 11/16/2012 at 12:41 PM, tokn said:

I mixed everything seperatly into the master. The master then is split into two paths: One goes through a 4 band compression, the other one stays the same. Then the signal is fused again - mainly the 4 comp, but also a bit of the original. I do this, because I think, it will add some dynamics... but maybe its stupid because it lowers the possible maximal volume?

I'm not sure how much this method is a good way to obtain more dynamics. And it actually all depends about how exactly you compress the signal : if you tweak the attack time(s) of your multi-band compressor in order to let some attacks pass through before the compression happens, then indeed you'll add dynamics. Then mixing the processed signal with the dry one would simply attenuate the compression effect in a certain amount (depending on how much of the dry signal you bring). That said I've not a big experience in parallel compression and your questions is a good reminder that I should get into it one of these days.

Another point is there are two types of dynamic : the instant kind (how do the peak variations in your track vary ; using the compressor like in the example above would thus add instant dynamics) and the general kind (which define more the whole track : do the different parts of it sound evenly loud or are there some calm parts where the general level is quieter). That global kind of dynamics depends on a lot of things (how you compress the different tracks, how you tweak the volume automations, ...). The global dynamic of a track depends more on the general approach of the whole mix than a precise effect that you will put in a precise step of your mix.

So I don't know which kind of "more dynamics" you are looking for with this 4-band compressor but I hope what I wrote was clear and could give you some ideas about how to do it better. Anyway, the reason your mix sound quiet might be that some peaks are really above the level of some others, making the master clipping and thus preventing you from raising the overall level of your mix (a peak limiter could solve that problem). Another reason could be that you tweaked the 4-band compressor in a way that one or several band provides peaks that are louder than the peaks of the other bands.

A last note about Band-Compressors : these are in my opinion really complicated tools to use and can easily ruin your mix if you're not already well experienced in compression. I try to use multi-band compressors myself once or twice some time ago and decided that I'll come back to them when I'll be more comfortable with dealing with compression in a mix (at the moment I think I'll still wait a little bit more). Compression is probably the harder and more sensitive aspect of a mix and need some time and experience to feel more comfortable with.

Well, that was long but I hope it's not confusing and will help you, and anyway that is just a personal point of view so don't take anything in there as a rule of the thumb. Maybe you'll find some interesting ideas though.

Good luck !

Wow cheers antape for this long explanation... I just use a basic Reason preset, the 4-band-comp, but after reading your words i think it's pretty stupid actually and I should continue to master the elements as good as possible before they come in the mix and then just use one comp and a limitier maybe in a very gental way, also depending on the actual track.

Anyway, here are three new tracks:

Remix of Nina Kraviz - Ghetto Kraviz

http://soundcloud.com/2kn/nina-kraviz-ghetto-kraviz-2kns

It is way louder than the one before, right?

Shut Your Trapstep

http://soundcloud.com/2kn/shut-your-trapstep

The voice is way to loud but I like it that way

Bass Upon A Time

http://soundcloud.com/2kn/bass-upon-a-time-2kns-lazy

Something is wrong with the stab sample, I know

opinions and criticism is very welcome!

Come on guys, Bass Upon A Time is a funny tune, isn't it?

And Shut Your Trapstep should be something for you IDM-guys as well... IDM / noise meeting UK Bass and Juke...

The opening beat of Bass upon a time is really nice, I'm not a fan of all those vocal samples though. That track's also got a nice progression. Shut your trapstep doesn't really grab my attention, apart from the rough stuff at about 4:00. Maybe you could move it forward a bit. Oh and I really like the first track.