fuzzikitten
Annunaki
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
603
Posted : Oct 22, 2005 21:32
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Wrote another tune last night (getting faster at this) and wanted to share some thoughts:
Normally I spend days tweaking my percussion, loading them up with effects and EQ and compression. This time I just slapped in samples that sounded good from the beginning, did some HPF in Battery and a delay on a snare. The only element I tweaked was the hihat. And it sounds... good! I've been spending way too much time fussing with percussion. My new personal rule: if it doesn't sound good by tuning and some minimal EQ then it doesn't belong in the song.
I bounced to audio, a lot. The more I did this the less time I spent reworking sections that didn't really need to be reworked. This kept me moving and the momentum rolling - bouncing is a good thing! Plus, when you bounce to audio you can do all kinds of one-shot effects on the bounced portions, which are easy and add a lot of interest to a song.
I tried to get sounds right in the synth. I used a little compression on the synths to keep their dynamics in line, but overall I didn't use a lot of effects on them (compared to what I normally do). Listening to it now it's clear that I need some EQ/compression for that final polish, but when writing the track I found it better to just go go go. The funny thing is that my NL3 doesn't have any on-board effects and, frankly, doesn't need 'em.
Effects are overrated. The really nice thing is that by not using EQ and compression everwhere my CPU isn't bogged down - what a treat!
Of course, everybody has their preferences. Just sharing some ideas that I would have found useful a year ago.
peace freaks!
-Alex
EDIT: Oh, and if you get stuck for percussion ideas, try loading up your favorite song in your sequencer and matching it's tempo to yours. Then start writing percussion on top of it, syncing in with it's groove. When it gets real thick and busy, take it away. Boom, instagroove. |
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