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I Have this one track I started recently, but I have a problem that has always haunted me since I started.

What generally happens is I get a nice intro melody going and some nice drums to compliment it. However, when it comes time to fill all that dreadful empty space I get a lot of the time, I'm left sitting there for hours scrolling through presets trying to hopefully get one that fits. After that fails, I spend about 30 minutes trying to make something to go in it, am left with a disappointing failure and give up.

This happens on almost track I do, and gets very frustrating

So here's my current track I'm working on *still kinda rough, the idea is there* -
Soundcloud
(I've made a few minor changes to the drums since)

FYI I am just using this as an example, this is a common issue for me and I was really hoping for some help that would eventually lead to me knowing how to select a pad for ALL my tracks.

Sorry this is posted in the wrong spot I'm still kind of a nub

go the WIP thread at the top. filling empty space comes with time and practice. to many people do it wrong, to many people dont do it.

you could put a short chord stab at the beginning of every measure. put some reverb on it, it would contrast with the rhythm led nature of the song and fill out the song sonically and melocially

glottis5 wrote:you could put a short chord stab at the beginning of every measure. put some reverb on it, it would contrast with the rhythm led nature of the song and fill out the song sonically and melocially

This.
Now that actually is quite helpful, thanks a ton ;D

downsweeps, risers, and white noise are what i use to fill a track. also something to experiment with is stereo width

you can fill empty spaces with empty spaces though the hardest part is to know when nothing is everything i am learning this stuff too! i think its a never ending story

1 shots, stabs, piano's etc. I mostly fill my empty parts with short stabs and with just one shot sounds. get some nice percussion, give it a bit of strange delay warp it, put it somewhere in the background and it's already getting more filled.

you have to be carefull though, too much isn't good. try to be really sparse with it.

Your drums are kinda bare, though. Where's the ghost hits, hats, shuffle, sidestick, etc? And where's the sub or bassline?

Unfinished songs ARE bare, that's why you should finish them. It's kinda hard to tell what you need to 'fill out the space', if there's hardly anything in the song.

add more stuff man. kick and snare are not all there is to a drum kit, and once you get there you can take it further with other kinds of percussion like bongos taikos tablas rainstick etc. Then you've got to add other insturments that can either just copy your main line, but at different octaves, or you can syncopate them (like have them play an 1/8 or 1/4 note later), or you can have them play a totally different line which is kind of called counterpoint.

I use long crashes, rides, reverse crashes, reverb, ghost hats, shakers etc. So many things you can use to fill in

Genevieve wrote:Your drums are kinda bare, though. Where's the ghost hits, hats, shuffle, sidestick, etc? And where's the sub or bassline?

Unfinished songs ARE bare, that's why you should finish them. It's kinda hard to tell what you need to 'fill out the space', if there's hardly anything in the song.

The hats are actually there, and I have tons of percussion to pick from, maybe i should just make hats louder then :l

Thanks for all the help though, I'll be much better at this now

Just go into your project file and add a ride that plays between every kick/snare or something and notice the difference

reverb, delay, widening, etc.. doesn't exactly get rid of empty space but makes it more of an element to the track. Use empty space in your favor. especially since in the end you can just bus & compress. Remember to be very subtle with your effects though, else they spoil the track.

Edit: also drums hits with different velocities can be used to create small buildups to your kicks and snares.

take a crash, cut out everything but the tail. compress it to shit, side chain to drum buss

AntidoteWasTaken wrote:

Genevieve wrote:Your drums are kinda bare, though. Where's the ghost hits, hats, shuffle, sidestick, etc? And where's the sub or bassline?

Unfinished songs ARE bare, that's why you should finish them. It's kinda hard to tell what you need to 'fill out the space', if there's hardly anything in the song.

The hats are actually there, and I have tons of percussion to pick from, maybe i should just make hats louder then :l

Heh yeah but they're just kind of 'there' I guess. And the lead is so loud and on exactly the same hit as the hats that they're sorta masked. Humanize the hats and make the lead a lil less loud!

I've been having this same problem for a while now. Actually your situation is a bit easier. You just need more hats, like everyone above said. I usually grab about 4 hihats and do it by pairs. So say i'll grab just 1 normal hihat, then another normal hihat that's been changed very slightly. do that 2 times for 4 hats. That's where most of my shuffle comes from. Also something else that may help is a distortion VST like Camel crusher, which phattens up the sound you put it on making the sound more polished and full.

what kind of distortion do you use on your hats?

ehbrums1 wrote:what kind of distortion do you use on your hats?

If you're talking to me, none :l don't have the $$ for Camel Crusher atm but I may get it soon.

Camel crusher is free.