Tips on mixing/making 808 sound great

B

bousebeats

New member
Hi Producers and Others

I am using FL Studio and would be grateful if you could give me some tips on following three questions:

Can you pls give me some tips on mixing 808's?
What plugins do you use (EQ, Comp, Filter etc)?
What plugins do you use to change/mod the sound of your 808?


Thanks in advance!
 
I primarily use EQ and distortion. For EQ I use the Parametric EQ 2 in FL. For distortion you can use Fruity Wave shaper or Maximus. I personally use the plugin Fuzz Plus 3 for distortion on bass sounds because of its built in lowpass filter. Its a free plugin.

For techniques, I usually leave the sub frequencies alone. I am focusing on the more audible frequencies towards the low-mid range. If the 808 doesn't have anything but sub frequencies that are difficult to hear on smaller speakers or headphones, then I use distortion to give it a wider frequency range and EQ to get rid of the unwanted high end.

Link: Audio Damage // FuzzPlus3
 
This is purely preference, but if I'm going to compress the crap out of my drums I usually start out with samples that are already compressed. In some ways, this makes it easier for me down the line since I'm going to do it anyway. This mainly goes for kick samples since I like to shape my snares more than my kicks. I think with kicks, if you have a kick that you really like and that really works, don't be scared to lean on it.

Other than that, if I have an 808 with a lot of lows, I sometimes like to roll some of the lows off. Then I'll limit just that kick and it'll bring out the lows again without being overpowering and it'll all distort the kick a little bit and give it harmonics. So then I'll end up with a kick that has solid lows but some also some low-mids. Most 808 samples have a ridiculous amount of bass and that's just going to throw your entire mix off balance. Even though you can't hear those lows, it's going to throw off your limiter if you "master" your own stuff. You may not be able to hear it, but your limiter will be able to and it's going to start compensating for that bass before you even realize it's doing so.
 
The biggest thing I've found to make an 808 sound great is not necessarily tweaking the 808's themselves, but with the other low-end instruments (like the kick drum). Either cut the super low frequencies on the kick drum so it doesn't clash with the 808, or you can (which I highly recommend) side-chain compress the 808 so that every time the kick drum plays, the 808 is ducked and nothing sounds muddy. There are some GREAT youtube tutorials on how to side-chain compress the kick and bass. Good luck!

- Hamstank
 
The biggest issue I hear with 808's is tuning. its essential to tune them to the key of the song. if the 808 isnt tuned to the tonic, it may never sound right.
The second issue being phasing. An 808 may need to be shuffled a few ms or samples to the left or right to be in phase with the other elements. Dont unquestionably trust the quantize.

Lastly are the other normal steps that are pretty common knowledge now. Notching out predominate frequencies on the other lowend elements, sidechaning if necessary, etc.

My 2cents.
 
SomOne said:
The biggest issue I hear with 808's is tuning. its essential to tune them to the key of the song. if the 808 isnt tuned to the tonic, it may never sound right.
Click to expand...

This is everything. If it's not tuned right, it will never sound right in the mix. Beyond that, just high pass filter every instrument to clear out the way for the 808 and also consider notching out 3-6dB from the lower mids of the kick (about 400 hz). Then consider compression and other things but those first steps are imperative.
 
I cut all highs and mids and only use the range from 0-130Hz. Then a maximizer to make it louder and really fat..I am making heavy trap music so that is the best way for a heavy 808. The range from 130Hz to x is filled by a normal kick drum which is cut below 130Hz so that is does not clash with the 808.
 
I would be careful with the LPF on the 808. They have some character in the high end. Might be a worthwhile effort to leave a semi-narrow band in whatever frequency range has that "life." That would also help with playback on small speakers "phones, old car stereos" etc..
 
My 808 channel strip in order:
SSL Compressor (Waves Plug-Ins)
EQ: Shelf low end to 20hz, -8db dip at 85hz (for kick drum room), shelf high end to 300hz
Logic Built-In Compressor
Soundtoys Decapitator: have it set on 'E' (This is the plug-in mikewillmadeit and wondagirl use for their distorted bass)

Hope this helps! :)
 
First make sure your 808 is in tune. Like when you press middle C or C3 its a C. Next I Eq(pro q2) then I distort (waves NLS buss,decapitator or any amp simulator) then I hit it with either the maag eq or SSL eq then some compression.
 
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