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Tutorial collection thread

Waywyn

Senior Member
hey there,

okay, i find those discussions about reverb, compression etc. totally interesting and i wonder if it would be cool to have a thread where we just collection tutorials we find in the big wide internet.

probably some of you know authors who describe stuff in a brilliant way or you also know people who just think they are good :)


hopefully we will get a cool collection about links and tutorials ...
 
Hey Alex, great idea freund, here's an EQ chart I often refer to;

https://www.futureproducers.com/site

Kick Drum

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz. Try a small boost around 5-7kHz to add some high end.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom to the sound
100-250Hz ~ Adds roundness
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness Area
5-8kHz ~ Adds high end prescence
8-12kHz ~ Adds Hiss

Snare

Try a small boost around 60-120Hz if the sound is a little too wimpy. Try boosting around 6kHz for that 'snappy' sound.

100-250Hz ~ Fills out the sound
6-8kHz ~ Adds prescence

Check It Snare ? 250hz gives heaps of body ? Matt applied around 150hz to the Battery snare in ?Scotts Drums?

Hi hats or cymbals

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz. To add some brightness try a small boost around 3kHz.

250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness

Bass

Try boosting around 60Hz to add more body. Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz.If more presence is needed, boost around 6kHz.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom end
100-250Hz ~ Adds roundness
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness Area
800-1kHz ~ Adds beef to small speakers
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8kHz ~ Adds high-end presence
8-12kHz ~ Adds hiss

Vocals

This is a difficult one, as it depends on the mic used to record the vocal. However...Apply either cut or boost around 300hz, depending on the mic and song.Apply a very small boost around 6kHz to add some clarity.

100-250Hz ~ Adds 'up-frontness'
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8kHz ~ Adds sibilance and clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness

Piano

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off around 300Hz. Apply a very small boost around 6kHz to add some clarity.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom
100-250Hz ~ Adds roundness
250-1kHz ~ Muddiness area
1-6kHz ~ Adds presence
6-8Khz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds hiss

Electric guitars

Again this depends on the mix and the recording. Apply either cut or boost around 300hz, depending on the song and sound. Try boosting around 3kHz to add some edge to the sound, or cut to add some transparency. Try boosting around 6kHz to add presence. Try boosting around 10kHz to add brightness.

100-250Hz ~ Adds body
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6Khz ~ Cuts through the mix
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8=12kHz ~ Adds hiss

Acoustic guitar

Any apparent muddiness can be rolled off between 100-300Hz. Apply small amounts of cut around 1-3kHz to push the image higher. Apply small amounts of boost around 5kHz to add some presence.

100-250Hz ~ Adds body
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness

Strings

These depend entirely on the mix and the sound used.

50-100Hz ~ Adds bottom end
100-250Hz ~ Adds body
250-800Hz ~ Muddiness area
1-6kHz ~ Sounds crunchy
6-8kHz ~ Adds clarity
8-12kHz ~ Adds brightness
 
Thanks Scott,

This is a good references, Now it's time for me to fix the room acoustic so I can hear it better :)

jackULL
 
Here's a link to some great engineering articles by Bob Katz:

https://www.digido.com/portal/pmodule_id=11/pmdmode=fullscreen/pageadder_page_id=18/ (https://www.digido.com/portal/pmodule_id ... age_id=18/)
 
There's a great book worth reading called; "Mixing with your Mind"

It goes outside some traditional engineering practices and tells you how to find the right mic for the job, "crack compressors" and many other things.

It has some great info on analog vs digital recording too.
 
Scott - great link - tons of information!!!

Alex - that was very nice of you to recap from the thread - some really useful information. Funny, but I have read many of these before and have 'forgotten' more of them than I would like to admit. :oops:

Thanks again.

Rob
 
Yeah Alex,

This is a nice practical references to keep in mind. Get those good infos from NS... :) Thanks a lot for posting this...

jackULL
 
hey thanks,

you are all welcome, but like me, most of the guys are already banned on NS anyway who took part and helped to create this pdf. i think we could still go on and everyone who likes to share into, tricks or tipps could post it here.

so we will get a big treasure in terms of mixing, sound, recording, saples etc. :)
 
I really like the orchestral references (doublings, how to get certain emotional feels - which instrument combinations get this, etc.) Good stuff. If anyone has anymore of this that would be great.

Here are some ideas I have put down on an excel spreadsheet over the last couple of years. Obviously - this only scratches the surface, but perhaps, this and the articles cited previously we can assemble a fairly good list of orchestral devices / ideas.


Anyone add to this list??




brass


INSTRUMENTS / DOUBLED FX

Brass SFZ - short with Piatti For Stabs / Punch

Trpts For Chords / tension

Tuba/trombones to play bass more ofter (double with doublebass) For 'rounder' fuller bass support

Trpts and trombones Q/A always a good idea

Tronbones/Xylo/2x bass/ More power on Rhythm

FH to provide percussive chords More driving power

trpts/ bones typical 'brass' sound

trpts/clarinet clearer, brighter sound

trpt/bass clarinet/bassoon huge massive sound

trpt/xylo percussive sound

horn / cello both have same sound great double

Contra bass bone/bass clarinet/contrabassoon Especially good for low bass lines




Woodwinds


INSTRUMENTS DOUBLED FX

Bass Clairnet or ContraBasson trills create 'mystical tension'

Flute trills with Vln trills High tension

Flutes with Violins on Melody Support melody

Piccolo gives melody (in tutti) the last penetrating edge Drives melody home hard

Flute and Basson Exotic

Flutes lower notes softly with Trumpets Good blend

Oboe played in unison with the flute the oboe sounds more mellow.

Oboe/Bassons organ-like' sound

Oboe/Trpts Brilliant sound

English horn - is the 'middle voice' powerful / distinctive voice

EH / Violas both 'dark' acerbic tones

Contrabasson / tuba can carry an orchestra tutti

Contrabasson / tuba (bass) Horns low on chords rich thick chordal arrangement

Contrabasson / 2x bass / cellos one octave above powerful bass section

bassoon/horn very rich blend - melodic

bassoon staccs / string pizz good combo



Percussion

INSTRUMENTS DOUBLED FX

SD doubles with Trumpets Add "punch"

Guiro on any latin groove (bass and Pno bass) Different kind of groove

Cymbal crash with Piccolo dagger stab / lightening

Timps/PO sfz power
 
8-12kHz ~ Adds Hiss

Believe it or not, bass drums often have stuff going on up there and you can add snap by boosting at 10K. Nobody thinks of BD as broadband instruments, but they actually are.
 
Something that becoming more apparent to me as I delve deeper into orchestration is the strength that different instruments can have at different ranges.

For example, a flute playing around G above middle C is fairly weak and wont stand out a lot. It is good for doubling and thickening up strings though. When the flute climbs to the top of the Treble clef, it really starts to sing and soars over the orchestra.

Also, you can focus the listeners ear with this same technique;

you might start with low oboe, flute playing high above it. The listener will notice the flute more, the oboe is there for colour.

Then, you can bring the oboe up in range as the flute descends, all of the sudden, the listener will hear an oboe come into focus.

This technique can be used throughout the orchestra and I believe an expert orchestrator can reveal different instruments to you at different times by doing this.
 
Waywyn said:
okay, i found another thing which i started looong time ago on NS, but i collected all those help, tricks and hints out of this thread and put it into a pdf file ...

here we go: https://www.cellarroom.de/tmp/collected_composing_tricks.pdf (https://www.cellarroom.de/tmp/collected_ ... tricks.pdf)

hope this also helps a little ...

Great ideas. I wish I had them a year ago. But I'll start learning them right now.

Thanks Waywyn.
 
Recently I found myself looking for this thread and it was not so easy to find.
There are some useful orchestration ideas but the thread is under postpro/ mix....
There's some really valuable stuff in here.

What say we make this a sticky so we can add to it from time to time?
 
Done 8)

David I think you asked me to do this before but I myself had a bit of time trying to locate it as well. Now stickied.
 
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