The extremely embarrasing basic question thread

[Perej]

Basic FL question.

By the time I'm done making a tune, I've got about 30 channels used up and I've filled like 12 spots on the mixer.

There must be a simpler way? I'm constantly opening and closing various windows and attempting to make everything fit on the screen!

For instance, say I have a 909 kick, maybe I want to change up the pitch every now and again - the way I do it is to clone the original kick, change the pitch and then start using it.. this is long winded as fuck and means I have to create a new channel every time.

Does this make sense? I'm only a few months in but it's starting to bug me.

[Anne Droid]

can you just make those changes as automations drawn in the arrangement on the original channel?

[jrisreal]

theres glide settings in every synth

read ur synths manual and focus on the portamento or glide part

this, or you can automate the channel's pitch knob.

[jrisreal]

The heck is a breakdown?

[accordionfan]

The heck is a breakdown?

[3za]

The heck is a breakdown?

@2.33


@2.10


@2.21


Few examples of edm breakdowns

[jrisreal]

The heck is a breakdown?

@2.33
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvbrovEDXKE

@2.10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3yHbf7XEXU

@2.21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3xYzkObjxc

Few examples of edm breakdowns

Ooh, I think I got it! Thanks for that

[_v_]

Does the order you put your fx make a difference to the sound you get?

For example,
if ive got 5 things on my master channel, compressor, eq, limiter, donk, etc...

will I get a different result if say my compressor is in the top/first slot, as opossed to the last/fifth slot?

[Hircine]

Does the order you put your fx make a difference to the sound you get?

For example,
if ive got 5 things on my master channel, compressor, eq, limiter, donk, etc...

will I get a different result if say my compressor is in the top/first slot, as opossed to the last/fifth slot?

Yes.

[cmgoodman1226]

Does the order you put your fx make a difference to the sound you get?

For example,
if ive got 5 things on my master channel, compressor, eq, limiter, donk, etc...

will I get a different result if say my compressor is in the top/first slot, as opossed to the last/fifth slot?

Absolutely! Say for instance I had 2 effects on a sound, a lowpass filter and heavy distortion. If I have the distortion first, the lowpass filter will effect the already distorted sound, but if I have the filter first, the distortion will bring out more harmonics and will most likely undue some of the work that the filter did, which may be a sound that you're going for. Obviously the order of my example matters much more than yours does, as distortion units and filters can drastically change the timbre and tonality and harmonics of a sound, where as compressors and limiters are typically more subtle. I don't always have a set order, but I typically put the EQ last in any effects chain, and usually a compressor right before that if it's needed.

[_v_]

Thanks for the replys, ive noticed this myself a bit lately and couldnt believe ive never considered it before, I realized they would affect eachother, but thought they just sort of blended into eachother...

so its sort of a first in first served type of situation?

Ill have to go have a think about this... thanks again

btw, I just used compressor & limiter as an example

[cmgoodman1226]

Thanks for the replys, ive noticed this myself a bit lately and couldnt believe ive never considered it before, I realized they would affect eachother, but thought they just sort of blended into eachother...

so its sort of a first in first served type of situation?

Ill have to go have a think about this... thanks again

btw, I just used compressor & limiter as an example

Yeah. first in first served. Like if I'm using something that can really thin out a sound like a bandpass filter, I'll typically use that early on in the effects chain, so I'll add distortion and other effects to re-thicken in afterwards, so the sound will still retain the movement of the bandpass, but it won't be as drastic. Or if I know I'm going to use a compressor, I'm not going to add a whole bunch of new distortion or movement to the sound, because that might negate the compression I just did.

[_v_]

thats really cleared that up thanks a lot.... an eye opener for sure, ill have to open up my DAW and have a good look at the order of fx, and think about how they are affecting eachother...

[kejk]

thats really cleared that up thanks a lot.... an eye opener for sure, ill have to open up my DAW and have a good look at the order of fx, and think about how they are affecting eachother...

A real easy way of recognizing the order does affect the sound is just trying reverb > distortion and distortion > reverb.

[Attila]

I'm not sure how basic this question is, but whenever I'm putting together drops one of the few problems I have is that all my sounds aren't as tight and cohesive as I think they should be.I know a lot of people say it comes down to compressing and using the right effects, etc... so is it really as easy as putting reverb and a compressor on a couple send tracks and tweaking them? Listening to for example Madeon's Island remix, all the little melodies and sounds just work together so well (technically speaking).

[Space Whale]

When layering basses, what should i use to cut out the unnecessary frequencies? should i chop them off hard with a filter or use an EQ? and also would it be effective to use for instance abletons EQ 8 or a seperate eq plugin

[cmgoodman1226]

I'm not sure how basic this question is, but whenever I'm putting together drops one of the few problems I have is that all my sounds aren't as tight and cohesive as I think they should be.I know a lot of people say it comes down to compressing and using the right effects, etc... so is it really as easy as putting reverb and a compressor on a couple send tracks and tweaking them? Listening to for example Madeon's Island remix, all the little melodies and sounds just work together so well (technically speaking).

There's no magic plugin or effect that can make a sound work. It's all about using different effects for a purpose. I honestly don't compress much of anything unless it really needs it. One of the most important things is EQing imo. If your mix sounds cluttered, it's probably because there's too many sounds occupying the same frequency range. If I have two sounds that I really like but clash a bit when played together, I'll figure out where the most important parts of each sound are frequency wise, and cut other areas as to make room for the most important parts of the other sound. But either way, it's all about using effects for a purpose, not blindly adding effects to a sound hoping that it will just magically make it sound better, because most likely it won't.

[stranger_sounds]

Basic FL question.

By the time I'm done making a tune, I've got about 30 channels used up and I've filled like 12 spots on the mixer.

There must be a simpler way? I'm constantly opening and closing various windows and attempting to make everything fit on the screen!

For instance, say I have a 909 kick, maybe I want to change up the pitch every now and again - the way I do it is to clone the original kick, change the pitch and then start using it.. this is long winded as fuck and means I have to create a new channel every time.

Does this make sense? I'm only a few months in but it's starting to bug me.

if i wanted to change the pitch of a single drum hit occasionally i'd go to the step sequencer and click on the graph editor in the top right corner, controlling pitch change from there

[Perej]

How do I make just a standard bassline? I don't want any wobble shit on it. I just want a straight forward bassline. I know how to make one in massive with one osc and just lowering the cutoff with a lowpass filter but it sounds pretty shit. What should I be using? When I make it in massive it is so hard to make it sound good in the mix, it just doesn't sit properly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmxyL--7 ... re=related

Joy O does the kind of thing I want to do, it's just a bass that sits in the background, if that makes sense, that might not be the best tune to show what I mean however.

[Electric_Head]

How do I make just a standard bassline? I don't want any wobble shit on it. I just want a straight forward bassline. I know how to make one in massive with one osc and just lowering the cutoff with a lowpass filter but it sounds pretty shit. What should I be using? When I make it in massive it is so hard to make it sound good in the mix, it just doesn't sit properly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmxyL--7 ... re=related

Joy O does the kind of thing I want to do, it's just a bass that sits in the background, if that makes sense, that might not be the best tune to show what I mean however.

basic sine, basic saw, basic sqr, etc.

it`s ...... basic