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Hello, I came to ask a few questions:

1. How do I add complexity to my tracks so there's alot going on? I'll just have a few synths, vocals, bassline, and a piano, arp, pad etc..what else can I add?

2. How do I add width to a track? Do I duplicate each channel and pan 1 right and 1 left? (I also find duplicating it a third time and putting it in the centre adds alot of depth and sounds wicked!) and then add a dimension expander?

3. What mix down levels do you suggest for dubstep? Kick at what -Db, Snare at what -Db? Etc

Cheers!

1) Modulation. And make sure that your element fullfil the entire spectrum. Some tracks have few instruments going on but they are so big that it sounds full (Even with only 1 bass 1 kick and 1 snare)

2) Same as 1. I've never tried to duplicate and pan differently. Might worth a go, but I don't get why do you ask about it if you say it sounds great already. Dimension expender can be good, but don't overdo it. Don't forget that exiters at the mastering stage will make everything thicker. You can also try some reverb with a really low wet amount and a really short tail (<500-600 ms) on several of your instruments. Delay could also be a way to add without really adding new things.

3) Mixdown is, to me, at the borderline between techique and art. There is an objective part, cleaning and removing mud and unwanted frequencies of each instrument.
But there is also an artistic (and thus subjective) part. What is the main focus of the track ? The drums ? Or the bass ? Every track is different, and you can mix the same track in thousands of different way for different results. Consider that choosing the volume is a part of writing the track, and no one should dictate you how to do it. Put all faders to 0 and then bring them up 1 by 1 until you find it balanced and you think you put on front what you want your listener to pay attention to the most.



To sum up i'd like to quote someone (I think it's the guy in the video below who said that but I don't remember well)
"a good painter is able to control the path of the viewer's eyes on his painting, and manages to make them look at elements in the way he wanted them to. It should be the same with a good musician".
Levels are not always constant, and you can bring an element on front, then bring it back but BECAUSE it was on front at first, the listener will still remember it and hear it as loud as it was before.
I'd like to give you an example. To demonstrate this let's experiment. There is a track of mine on my signature (and i'm not doing this to get plays, even if it looks alot like it ahahahah), I'd like you listen at the first 20 seconds before reading the end of my post.

------------------------------------------

It has a piano going on at start. Few seconds later, the level decreases, but you still hear it clearly because I showed it to your ears at first. I wanted it to be the first thing you notice. Then I draw your attention to the synth, and then the drums kick in and you switch focus again. Did it work ?



PS :
You might want to have a look at that :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... Nfd-APQUfo#!

Wow! Thanks so much!! On one of my new tracks, I have an 8 bar piano introduction to set a dark theme with a pad beneath it so I'll bare in mind what you said! I'll listen to most of your tracks in the morning and listen to the effects you used etc as I'm on my phone right now. I meant to add this: Say I have a vocal sample and want to pitch it down and add an LFO to it so as the pitch gets lower the LFO Modulation gets lower on Ableton if you get what I mean?

P.S About the widening in the tracks, I was wondering if you knew of any better ones?

Thanks again, you're a great help and I prefer the bass drop to draw the attention of the listener!

http://www.djtechtools.com/2012/02/16/m ... r-ableton/ could generate the midi for the lfo i guess

For your first question, let me ask you, what do you feel is missing? Dont let someone dictate to you what your tune should and shouldn't have. Complex in what way? Moving/twisting basslines? or 4 different synths each after an another?

I agree with faare faced about using delay for width. The panning technique you mentioned is great for vocals and pads(just panning left and right minus the center)
Also to maximize width, make sure you use mono. Low frequency elements such as the sub,kick and snare is best kept mono.

As for mixing, i would highly recommend you check out the moneyshot thread man. I tend to leave my kicks close to the -10db mark(this does vary tho) and adjust the rest based off the kick.

Yeah man, like 4 different synths doing weird shit together so theres always something going on. I already automate and add delay to.hi hats! I have a basic mixing guide someone gave me but what you said about dictating, Last year, I spent all year looking at tutorials and this year I'm moving off the tutorials and want to make really advanced stuff, one step at a time I suppose! Thanks to the above person for Mapulator!! Really sorry, I can't get your name up on my phone so I don't mean to be rude

Have you tried using call and response? Also try to pick sounds that sound tonally pleasing and complement each other. Analyze these said songs and you may realize that while the sounds do overlap, you have only one main element going on at a time. Other sounds might just be rhythmical. Just stick with it mate. Tutorials only get you so far. Its more about the time and practice you put into actually making tunes.

Be very wary about adding exciters or trickery to the entire track, or mix buss if you will. You'll notice the positive effects on some elements way before the negative effects of the rest! ALWAYS A-B!

Littlefoot wrote:Be very wary about adding exciters or trickery to the entire track, or mix buss if you will. You'll notice the positive effects on some elements way before the negative effects of the rest! ALWAYS A-B!

This for sure, I used to slap Ozone's exciter on the 2buss - thought it sounded good. Turned out on most systems better than the one I had at the time it was shredding the top end and muddying the mid/high's a little. I now add saturation/exciters/disto units to everything individually as needed, I also have slight saturation on all my busses and use the most minimal amount of Ozone's exciter on my master - starting to sound a lot nicer.