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Originally Posted by panda blablabla. yes, of coarse he really needs like a manley vari-mu, or a crane song, or whatever. and of coarse maxed out gain knobs on a DJ mixer is wrong.
but!! thats what is going on. you can not like it all you want. its not changing cause you say so. if the guy wants his stuff to be DJ'd. it needs to be as loud as possible. "."
if he wants to fight the system, and do his thing, he should make records with great dynamics, that require you to turn up the grain, over normal records.oh, and not have it Dj'd. and then he can have all the great recording/production cred he wants, even though no one is getting down to his tracks. cause no one is playing them cause, why, they are to quiet! i'm not saying its fair or right. it is what it is.
panda |
not true at all. while a record production for a dance track should be loud, and pump out of the PA, this is not achieved by squashing everything completely. In fact you will ruin the chance for a DJ to use the dynamics. Why do you think fast envelopes are important? (high slew rates, fast attack)
You could do that, of course, as there are NO rules in dance music. It's your choice. But you will produce something that is lacking dynamics. Fine for a 6 AM acid party with all the knobs at 10 (earbleed), but to state that you have to squash everything to death because everbody is doing so, and DJs have the gain on their mixer at full, is complete nonsense. (to put it mildly) The creation and production of a dance track are one and the same thing. So use the mixing tools like you use your synths and effects.
IMO, and this is just my approach, some parts of your track, for instance the bassdrum, or snares, you compress to death, with a mean machine, while others retain dynamics, for instance percussion, or a background synth. The whole track gets a 2 buss compression treatment here too, to make it louder and to glue, but always retaining the original idea. And certainly not all the time. If the original idea was to squash the hell out of it, it gets squashed. If not, not.
Again, please note that "dance" music should be made, in the way YOU want it. If you want to sculpt your music after some example, that is cool, you will put your music in a recognisable, and mixable format. But a high amount of your OWN ideas is required. Make it special, and people will recognise your signature. If not, your track will end up on the ever growing pile of simular sounding crap. A lot of great tracks were done, with NO buss compression at all.
As for what compressor? Try the free SSL plugin. I get very nice artefacts by squashing loops. It is not the same as the SSL hardware clone that I've got, as the hardware will not mess up the lows that much. (even when compressing full range) To compress bass try the DBX 160. A Crane Song is a magic machine, but try to get by with something less expensive first (unless you have plenty of cash, then go for it). An L2 or simular machine can be used to level things, but is not my favourite. I like spectral compressors, where you can balance stuff. Also use the sidechain. Or go for a compressor that has a "big" switch like the 1968 or 2500.
And have fun. f*ck the "rules".
EDIT: oh and Panda; if it is too quiet, your PA sucks, or the guy controlling it. or both.