MsTrisMusic.Com

Hey Hey all!! I missed you last week…it’s been a while since I have had to skip an entire week. You know what’s going on when I do? Beats, beats, and more beats!! I’ve got about 20 tracks in the works. The artist are writing and I am happy…

I have also been preparing for a new arrival:

I have been struggling with mixes, blue screens, and pc freezing for too long. I have a favorite soundcard the M-Audio Delta Omni i/o

I have had this for almost ten years, and I can get a great mix using it. The pc that I call “old faithful” which the omni is installed on, just isn’t fast enough to handle extensive mixing.

I have been transferring that soundcard to any pc I’ve tinkered with. My friend gave me a HP Touch Smart 300 last year. I absolutely love it. Its super fast, but one major problem? I can not do any type of upgrades to the all in one unit. That meant no transferring the delta soundcard ..ugh! I started using Roland Edirol M-16DX as my main mixer and soundcard. This mixer has so many excellent features, but my novice engineering skills held me back from it’s full potential.

I found myself using the Touch Smart to make the beats, then trying to mix on the older pc. Talk about a hassle! My “old faithful” would shut down it seemed every 30 minutes. Over the last few months I have come across several ways to avoid glitches when mixing more than 12 tracks in my DAW on the older pc. It’s nothing worst than working on a mix, getting the “sweet spot” only to have the pc freeze or restart!

Most of my beats range from 12-20 plus individual instruments when tracked out:

With out a fast processor this is almost impossible to even play within a DAW. I started splitting the mix into basically 3 projects: One for drums and bass, one for percs, and one for other instruments. This will sound like a lot of work, but it is definitely a work around if your pc is slow.

Step1:
Load all kicks, snares, and bass instruments. Save as a project file. Export a rough mix down. Name the file “rough mix drums”.
Step2:
Load all percs: crashes, cymbols, bells etc. Save as a project file. Export a rough mix down. Name the file “rough mix percs”.
Step3:
Load all instruments: Keys, synths, strings. Save as a project file. Export a rough mix down. Name the file “rough mix instruments”

Step 4:
Choose one of your project files to begin your main mix. Drums are important for most hip hop, so I start with the drums. I open the “Drum” project file. (This may have about 5 tracks: 2 kicks, snares, claps, and bass since the kick and bass are in the same frequency range.)
Next insert your rough mix that you exported of ” percs and instruments”.

Now you can mix your tracked out/separated drums and bass adding effects without maxing your cpu. You have inserted the “rough mixes of percs and instruments only as a reference at this point. Once you have a good mix on your drums, save this as your new “drum project file”. Export a mix down drums ONLY, naming it something like “Drums Mixed”. Export a mix down of bass ONLY, naming it” Bass Mixed”. Close the project.

Step 5:
Open your “instruments project file”. Insert your “Drums Mixed”, “Bass Mixed”, and the “rough mix of percs files”. Now you can mix your tracked out/separated instruments adding effects without maxing your cpu, and hear how they sound with your terrific “Mixed Drums and Mixed Bass”. Save this as your new “instrument project file”. Export a mix down of instruments ONLY, naming it “Instruments Mixed”.

Step 6:
Open your “percs project file”. Insert your “Drums Mixed, Bass Mixed, and Instruments Mixed” files which you exported earlier. Now you can mix your percs adding effects without maxing your cpu, while hearing your wonderful ” Mixed” drums, bass, and other instruments. Save this as your new “percs project file”. Export a mix down of percs ONLY, naming it “Percs” Mixed”.

Step 7:
Create a NEW project file. Insert your ” Drums, Bass, Instruments, and Percs Mixed” files. Now you can do a final mix for sending to artist.

Keep in mind that this is just my little work around which helped me get through my pc processor problems. If you have a slow pc, you can always pay a professional engineer to mix your tracks. You can use less instruments, or bounce tracks within your production hardware and software. This means the same thing can be achieved if you are mixing inside Fl Studio. You don’t have to break down your beat as I described. The main idea is to “Bounce or Mix” elements in groups of tracks small enough for your pc to handle.

Happy Mixing To All..
Pz Til Later!~

Popularity: 6% [?]

Well Well Well I’m sure you’re saying … I’ve been on a roll with my other jobs lately. I went to Philadelphia last weekend. I was there doing video and photos for a wedding. It was very beautiful, and I even got to hang out with my cousin in Philly for a while.

I’ve also been clearing the way for classes. I wanted to start now, but I had to push it back a bit. It’s cool because I have a lot going on, and I’d like to finish all music projects first.

I am about to edit the wedding material. The video takes a very long time to upload to the pc. I could watch a little t.v while it’s loading…No way! let’s get to some music …

image from www.drumworld.com

I have talked so much about kick drums here. I can’t let you forget how important it is to have a cracking snare as well. Many producers don’t pay much attention to the snare. This is where you can add a little extra to your over all sound.

Mixing Drums – Fatter Snare
Here’s something I’ve never done. Using pitch to fatten the snare…

video from danielwaves youtube channel

East Coast Beat Snare Setting Tips
This is a technique I always do: layering snares….

video from expert village youtube channel

EQ Your Snares Like a Pro in Seconds in Reason 4.0!!
This is cool because I never used the Reason Eq presets …

video from luckydatevideos on youtube

Happy Beat Making To All
Pz Til Later!~

Popularity: 7% [?]

The Ravens won last night..yaay .. I stayed up so late watching the NFL network. Some how I have energy this morning. I plan to work on drum patterns only today. I feel like coming up with something different, and out of the box.

I was working with the Redrum in Propellarheads Reason. I made a quick pattern, and sent each instrument to different lanes. I played both the pattern, and lanes together and really liked the way the kick sounds in the beat. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8% [?]

Happy Friday All! I am “Super Charged” today….

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A little Update:
I may be changing the site design very soon. The theme I am using will not work with wordpress updates Boooo! lol. The updates are important for security purposes so I will have to do it in the near future..I am not sure if I ‘ll change the color scheme, but you may log on and see a completely different layout.

I wanted to start with interviews last month, but music, sessions, and much more came to the forefront. I can’t pinpoint when they will start, but I am still looking for more producers to feature if you are interested. Keep in mind I can’t feature everyone, but I will try to get to as many as I can.

Thanks all who have been helping me with broken links, and correcting mistakes. You are helping me run the site with comments and suggestions..much love 4 that!

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Along my journey with Fl Studio, I have been eagerly trying to get a good clean mix straight from the program. With all the plugins included and the ability to add vsts, I am sure it can be done.

A lot of producers will tell you to export the instruments and mix in another DAW. I have even told you the same. Although this is true, I am still on my quest to perfect a song completely inside Fl ..

The best way to perfect anything is to learn as much as you can about it 1st. Next you will have to put that knowledge to work. I asked myself ” Do you really know all you can about Fl Studio?” the answer was a quick “No”.

Since my main focus is mixing at this time, the first thing I need to learn thoroughly is the Fl Mixer. I found two videos that explain the mixer clearly. Both are by:Felas212. He has a great youtube channel. I will feature more of his Fl videos , but feel free to check them out. Let him know www.mstrismusic.com sent you…
Intro To Fl Mixer

Mixing and Routing

I’ve never explained how I commit what I learn from the videos to memory. This may help others, so here’s what I do….
1st.
I have Fl Studio open, I will watch the videos, pause and try the techniques right away.
2nd
I repeat the techniques a few times with out the video
3rd
I’ll go back a few days later and try the technique again from memory

Happy Mixing To All!
Pz Til Later

Popularity: 11% [?]

Good morning all! Ready to roll …Hope all has been well with you and the beats are flowing.

Mixing is one of the most important parts of music production. You could have the hottest beat on the planet, if the mix is not great, then the beat will sound crappy.

So many questions come to mind about mixing. Where do you start, how do you know what effects to add etc. There are no set rules to mixing, but there are tips that will help you tremendously through out the process.

I was one who always allowed the engineer to mix. A professional engineer who has studied the area of sound frequencies and mixing, has a trained ear. He or she may notice things in music that the producer or beat maker may not.

A professional engineer will know the frequency range of a kick drum, snare, instruments, and vocals. I’m learning that this is essential to achieve a great mix.

This also reminds me that EQ may be one of the most important plugins to learn. Now that I have advanced into engineering..yaay! I am doing a lot of study on eq and various plugins. We will eventually cover my favorites, but I think this is the best place to start when beginning to mix.

Today I’ll post few videos I found that cover frequency and Eq..

I did a post all about sound frequency here A Look At Sound Frequency. I suggest taking a quick look for review, then watch the videos. Repetition is a great way to commit music techniques to memory.

..now on to the vids…

Home Recording – EQ Tips – HypnoticAudioSecrets by khaliqovision

I love this one! Really explains parametric eq..
EQ – EQ’ing Tutorial byPrimeLoops

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 8% [?]

Good Morning to All… Its a really bright and clear start of the day here on the east coast.
I’ve been rolling with music projects again for about 3 months now. I’m finding the balance between beats and blog. This makes me very happy!

I tried to find a send buss video for Adobe Audition as suggested by reader Dugga. I haven’t had much luck with it yet. Dugga, if I don’t find it I’ll do a tutorial with pics. I am sure I can figure it out

What I did find is an extensive effect tutorial. Most of you probably know how to add effects if you mix with Audition, but there’s some cool editing techniques described also…

Adobe Auditon Editing And Effects
Video By:www.ourvoiceoverguy.com

I know everyone doesn’t use the same program for recording. Keep in mind, almost all multi-track software have similar editing capabilities. So do watch the vids even if you use something different. You never know what new tip you can use in your set up..

Happy Mixing To All
Pz Til Later!~

Popularity: 1% [?]

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all have a studio full of Genelec Monitors like this :

Town House Studios- London Featuring Genelec Monitoring system. Picture courteous www.studioconnections.com.au

Well since I don’t ..lol, I have to make the best use of what I have. When I began producing I started with 49.00 $ pc speakers from staples. I would make beats that sound great in my lab, but in the car? I could hear all types of muffled kicks, and instruments that were too loud. On my path to a perfect mix, I learned that I need to “hear” differences in the frequencies of the sounds I use. I also realized my low budget Pc monitors just wouldn’t give an accurate response to certain frequency ranges.

After visiting several forums, I began to gather more knowledge about monitoring sound. I had no idea years ago how important studio monitors and headphones were. I finally invested in some Sony Mdr 7506 headphones, and I noticed a difference right away. The mix got a little better, but there were things that still needed fixing. I still use the Sony headphones but not for the main mix.

I am sure you have heard producers and engineers say “Don’t mix entirely through headphones”. I must agree with them. I had to learn the hard way, I continued to mix with my Mdrs, and I continued to wonder why does my kick sound crappy. One reason is, many companies make headphones for “enhanced” listening which usually results in a false representation of mid range/highs and lows. That means my kicks (low), and Snares/percs etc.(mid range/highs), were all sounding good but not accurate.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 2% [?]