You're welcome!
I listened to your songs on Youtube and I had to subscribe, I look forward to hearing more from you. I really like the Dark Psy track "A Snake Behind You." I feel that one is missing an open hat in some places but that is truly just a personal preference for me.
I'm by no means a pro at mastering or mixing but I found a post by SonicEther on the Image-Line forum sometime back. It's titled "For the serious Trance producer... Tips, Pro vs. Amateur." Its a bit older now, but for those of us needing help, it may be great insight. The songs that SonicEther refers to are Dash Berlin's - "Janiero (First State Remix)," which sadly has been removed from Youtube, the second is "Dash Berlin feat. Solid Sessions - Janeiro (First State Remix (AROPA006)" which is still available. Even though we don't have the full example, I think we can all follow the instructions regardless of our genre of choice. He also has a .zip file hosted on the forum. I reposted his topic here as I've seen comments in another thread about getting hand-slapped for links. Just PM me for the link to the thread if desired.
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"For the serious Trance producer... Tips, Pro vs Amateur"
So, I'm not quite sure what compelled me to make this thread, but I know that there are a lot of FL users who produce Trance (myself included). A lot of the tips and techniques I am going to share will be applicable to other genres as well, so if you want to learn a thing or two about why professional tracks sometimes seem far away, regardless of what genre you produce, then read on. I've been producing for 7 years with FL Studio and I'm about to share just a bit of what I've learned recently.
DISCLAIMER: This thread is not for the beginner producer. If you have a good understanding of what it takes to produce a valuable track, but don't quite know how to bridge the gap between what you hear from Armin and what you typically hear from FL users, then this thread is for you.
Firstly, if you are serious about producing Trance, you really need to listen to what is modern, and what people like right now. If you have a youtube account (get one if you don't!) I suggest subscribing to channels that regularly upload quality picks from recent radio shows. If you're like me and use Trance radio (Trance Around The World, A State Of Trance, etc.) as a reference point, you might find yourself thinking, "How are these producers achieving such incredible sound?? I can't even get close!" I found myself thinking that throughout my experiences as a producer, and that still goes through my mind every once in a while! I am going to explain a little bit about what goes on behind those great tracks.
I'm going to start you off with an example so we have something to talk about. This is one of my favorite Trance tunes at the moment:
Now that we have something to talk about, let me just say right off that I don't really like the vocals in this track.. I admire this track for its incredible unique qualities and immersive soundscape. If you're like I was when I first heard this track, you're freaking out at how amazing this sounds... I mean, how does a producer get to that point? I'm not talking necessarily about specifics, I'm speaking in broad terms. Yes, the mixing is fantastic, the synths are unique and pleasurable to listen to, and the soundscape is clear and immsersive... But there's something else going on here. Listen to this version, now:
Wow, what happened? I mean, it still sounds great, but not nearly as good as that last video.. Is this a different mix? This link I just gave you is actually closest to what the producer created and gave to his label. When a track is released under a label, it typically gets mastered once or several times, and then any radio show it's being played on applies plenty of compression to the track. So, by the time you hear it on your favorite show (or hear a rip of it on youtube), it's been compressed many times.
Don't lie, you know you like to use the Soundgoodizer every once in a while! I mean, it makes things sound good, right? What exactly about it makes your track sound better? It's the same reason that this first video sounds better than the second video I linked you to (some people might disagree with me), multiband compression. More specifically, I'm pretty sure that the most popular Trance shows use Waves C4 as their multiband compressor.
Okay, I'm going to stop you right here. I know you're about to go get yourself Waves C4 if you don't have it, and then slap it on top of one of your tracks to see how amazing it sounds. Okay fine, you can do that if you want... But that's really not the point of this guide/tutorial. First, I'm going to show you what you can use (free and inexpensive alternatives to C4), and what kind of settings you can use to imitate radio compression. Then I'm going to talk about the reasons why you should/shouldn't use multiband compression, and how to use this newfound knowledge to your advantage.
If you're still reading and haven't skimmed, I praise you for your patience. Please continue to be patient and you will learn a lot from this
First of all, I do not condone the illegal acquiring of commercial software. While I am not responsible for what you do, I highly advise against it. Honesty is a good practice in all aspects of life, and there are always free/inexpensive alternatives to frequently warezed software. Here are my top pics for alternatives to Waves C4:
BuzComp CP5 ($50):
GranComp3 (free):
Fruity Multiband Compressor
ReaXcomp (free)
GMulti (free)
Honestly, for CP5 I just use the demo version. Since I do not export my tracks with compression on them, and the limitation is a periodic reduction in volume which is rather infrequent, it works just fine for me.
Download "Clips.zip" attached to this post. For legal reasons I am only sharing a small portion of the track. There are ways to rip audio from youtube, don't make me google it for you. Now, it should be obvious which one is dry and which one is a rip from the radio. Load both of them into the playlist as audio clips, and then assign a mixer channel to each of them. That way you can listen to one or the other quickly by soloing its channel in the mixer. Leave the compressed channel empty, of course, and load the dry channel with the plugin of choice. I'm going to use BuzComp CP5 since it has a beautiful character.
NOTE: All of these compressors (and all compressors you will ever use) have different sound characteristics, even at similar settings. It's important to use your ear when choosing which compressor to use and when tweaking that compressor.
Now, you can start tweaking the multiband compressor, get it to match the radio one. Okay, done.
Not really, I'll give you a bit of a guideline so you can know where to start! Generally you'll want to use a LOW threshold and a LOW ratio. Also, a low to zero attack time, and a pretty low release time (depending on the compressor). Here are my recommended settings:
Threshold: -40db to -30db
Ratio: 1.3 to 3.1
Release: 20-50ms
Attack: 0-5ms
If you're using Fruity Multiband Compressor, make sure the filter mode is set to FIR. I actually quite don't like the character of Fruity Multiband Compressor, but you can use it if you want to.
I've spent sever hours downloading tracks (the full uncompressed mix and the radio rip) and tweaking a setting that matched that track's compression, and saving those settings. Don't think you're going to get it just right, right away. It's important to note where the track was ripped from, you see here it was ripped from Manuel Le Saux - Top Twenty Tunes 310. Naturally a track ripped from one show will sound different than one from another show.
Now, assuming that you've tweaked well and come up with several good presets, I need to tell you why I shared this. I actually use this as a comparison tool, to get another angle on how my mix sounds. It's important to be able to hear how my track stands on its own, and how it's going to hold up under that kind of compression. Often times, I'll hear mistakes I didn't notice before by switching the compression on/off. By achieving a mix that sounds good both compressed and uncompressed, you'll be sure to have a well-balanced mix ready to be heard on A State Of Trance! This is how I intended you use this guide. I wanted to bring to you the awareness that has helped me have a greater understanding of professional vs not quite there.
What I don't want you to do is go crazy adding multiband compression to anything that doesn't sound quite good enough. It's important to keep in mind how talented these producers really are, and how long they've been producing. Most of them have more than 10 years of experience and maybe even tens of thousands of hours behind them. Their tracks are good because they devote their lives to perfecting their art in every way, from every angle. They have a good ear for melody, they have a good ear for what is interesting to listen to, and they have creative sound designing skills.
Well, that's it for now. Please let me know if you have questions, and I'll share what I know. Share this guide with a friend if you found it useful!
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Hopefully this helps us with understanding how to achieve a higher level of production.
