How to get that 'swell' sound like justice, daft punk etc... french house

  • Thread starter Thread starter KidKulture
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KidKulture

Phatty sidechained soundz
hey hey, first post here!

saw lots of threads asking the same question, and joined PURELY to answer them!
haha. its quite simple really, there are THREE ways I use to get that desired swell sound, that defines french house.

1. and easiest, go into reason (if thats what you're using)
highlight your mixer, click create effect > all effect patches > dynamics > drums > dirty bass and drum.
this will have automatically added the effect to your next aux send.
Simply turn up the corresponding aux knobs of the channels you want to send to this effect
(needs a strong rhythmic bass drum to create the swell). hey presto

2. in cubase/ableton or any other arranger, follow this link for instruction on sidechain compression (add www on)

sonictransfer.com/side-chain-compression-tutorial.shtml

its relatively easy, if you know your way around the arranger

3. in similar arranger, get a dynamics bundle, like waves, t.rackS, or you might be able to use cubase/ableton bundled plugins.
push the levels of your channels (especially bass drums) up so that the master output is clipping,
then assign a limiter to the master output channel, limiting at 0db, with a soft knee (if available)
then also assign a soft clipper (sometimes included in compressors) and set the threshold to quite low.
working?
fiddle around with short attack and long releases, until desired effect achieved. also add compression to tighten the sound up.


no. 3 is the way i do it (will be posting some tracks soon, hopefully) and i think its the best, there is more flexibility and doesnt create a mono
output like most sidechain comp vsts (no.2)

sorry for being so quick about it! Its hard to go into more detail without writing an absolute essay! haha

hope someone can make use of this!

Oli
 
wow amazing post. dont know why no one even gave you a thanks for it. I've been interested in these same effects and learned a lot from that "ducking" article you linked. If you have anymore tips of layering snares to get that same "loud&crunchy" feel as JUSTICE or others do, let me know.
 
Nice tip...but I am not totally familiar with the effect. What are some examples of these type of songs?
 
the tutorial itself has 2 examples if you are referring to side-chain compression and dumping, follow the link and listen to the Daft Punk - One More Time clip

You will notice the horns lowering as the bass kicks to give it that pulsing feeling which involved using "dumping"
 
updating to my first post:

download/buy db audioware sidechain compressor.

its brilliant and really easy to use:
load the compressor into an effects slot of you kick drum channel
set source to trigger to external, set channel to A and make sure it is SENDING

load the compressor into your synth/what you want to duck,
set source to external, channel A and make sure it is RECEIVING

fiddle with threshold on this channel to get desired effect.the vu meter should 'duck' as the kick, well, kicks.

+ cheers for the thanks 1ahB!

XXX
 
youll never sound like justice or daft punk
youre not french
 
I thought I'd put in my two cents. There's a small problem with putting a compressor for sidechaining on your master fader track. I just listened to a track that wasn't all that bad, but the lead synth during the most intense part of the song was thrown into the background because it fell underneath the sidechained compressor. It sounded less like a creative technique and more like over-compression. So...

To have much more creative control of your sidechains, here's what I suggest. In your host program (Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, etc...) create 3 stereo aux tracks, send your kick (and only your kick) to the first one, the elements you want side chained (background pads, etc) to the second, and things you want to stand out more than the background elements (leads, other drums, etc) to the third. Add a compressor to the second aux track and have it listen to the kick (the first aux track). Play with the settings until you have what you want. On the third aux track you can also add a compressor that listens to the kick but set the attack and release times very low. *NOTE* This does not work all the time, use it experimentally. What this will (hopefully) do is allow the kick to pound through the mix without making things you don't want side chained sound like they're sidechained.

This way, you can have more control of your master fader track without having to affect your sidechain effect.
 
Sidechain compression is a pretty common effect that is used all over dance music in general.

One other thing of note: if you want to have "crunchy" drums like Justice, at least the snare - the trick is to layer a snare and a clap, but place the clap like, 1/64th note ahead of the snare, that way the decay of the clap adds to the snare, while the attack of the snare will overwhelm the attack of the clap.
 
Does any 1 know we're or how to get dat kinda of long wind kinda crash sound used a lot in funky n progressive house
 
RythumPoet said:
Does any 1 know we're or how to get dat kinda of long wind kinda crash sound used a lot in funky n progressive house
Click to expand...


loopmasters electro house sample cd 1 and 2 or the deadmau5 sample pack its called XFER...

look in the Cymbal FX folders..
 
KidKulture said:
hey hey, first post here!

saw lots of threads asking the same question, and joined PURELY to answer them!
haha. its quite simple really, there are THREE ways I use to get that desired swell sound, that defines french house.

1. and easiest, go into reason (if thats what you're using)
highlight your mixer, click create effect > all effect patches > dynamics > drums > dirty bass and drum.
this will have automatically added the effect to your next aux send.
Simply turn up the corresponding aux knobs of the channels you want to send to this effect
(needs a strong rhythmic bass drum to create the swell). hey presto

2. in cubase/ableton or any other arranger, follow this link for instruction on sidechain compression (add www on)

sonictransfer.com/side-chain-compression-tutorial.shtml

its relatively easy, if you know your way around the arranger

3. in similar arranger, get a dynamics bundle, like waves, t.rackS, or you might be able to use cubase/ableton bundled plugins.
push the levels of your channels (especially bass drums) up so that the master output is clipping,
then assign a limiter to the master output channel, limiting at 0db, with a soft knee (if available)
then also assign a soft clipper (sometimes included in compressors) and set the threshold to quite low.
working?
fiddle around with short attack and long releases, until desired effect achieved. also add compression to tighten the sound up.


no. 3 is the way i do it (will be posting some tracks soon, hopefully) and i think its the best, there is more flexibility and doesnt create a mono
output like most sidechain comp vsts (no.2)

sorry for being so quick about it! Its hard to go into more detail without writing an absolute essay! haha

hope someone can make use of this!

Oli
Click to expand...

you mean something like this soundcloud DOT com/roci-1/dance-dance-dance

---------- Post added at 09:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:20 AM ----------
echoGHOST said:
Sidechain compression is a pretty common effect that is used all over dance music in general.

One other thing of note: if you want to have "crunchy" drums like Justice, at least the snare - the trick is to layer a snare and a clap, but place the clap like, 1/64th note ahead of the snare, that way the decay of the clap adds to the snare, while the attack of the snare will overwhelm the attack of the clap.
Click to expand...


yeah man getting that justice sound isnt really that hard if you know your DAW well then youll get close. i mean they so many plugins you might not get the exact sound.

but your 100% right on that snare clap park. if you play drums it comes to you naturally (im a drummer) if you wnna get the sound. itss called a flam in the drum world. lol
 
every body needs to go listen to "electric feel, justice remix", then youll understand
 
I do sidechaining in FL studio by assigning a bass drum to the mixer, and adding a Peak Controller to it. Then add the sound you want sidechained to the mixer, and right-click on level fader on the mixer and cilck "link to controller". When the box appears, click the arrow for input and select the bass drum that you assigned from the drop down. Then go below and invert it, and click "Accept"
 
Really good post, side chaining and compression in general is an under utilized tool.
 
you can do the same with sidechain compression, there are some really good instruction videos on youtube
 
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