Make PHAT, loud beats in Ableton Live drum racks pt 4

[tobypdx]

Your snare compressor's output is in the red. Is that intentional?

[ryancalhounashton]

Just started watching your vids and now I'm an addict. Great work. :)

Question: Why put you samples on different pads on the Drum Rack? You could easily put all your snare hits in chains (with their individual FX) on 1 pad - all together and then add another FX chain at the end which would cover the entire pad. The only reason I can think that you'd do this is so that you can vary the velocities of each hit of each sound within the snare group of sounds. Is that the the only reason?

[DJVespers]

@ryancalhounashton Glad you like the vids! No, that's not the only reason. I also sometimes stagger the MIDI timing of snares that are panned left and right so they sound wider. Typically, most of my drums are done in Multis though, where multiple layers are put on a simple pad, then I use Simple Delay's to delay the left or right samples for stereo separation. Also, sometimes, I like to have one layer only playing in the intro or breakdowns. A lighter hit, for example. Cheers!

[SkywayTraffic]

Hey Vespers! I've been watching this entire series and it's really helping me out, so first and foremost thank you for this awesome series! I have a quick question. How can I lower my input level when bussing it to the Ozone plug-in? My input is practically off the charts and I'm not sure what I did wrong. Thanks again!!

[DJVespers]

@SkywayTraffic Thanks for watching! It's super easy actually, you just drag down the input slider of Ozone until it isn't clipping. Also, when you're doing you mixdown make sure all your tracks are in the green and not redlining. If you do this, the input to Ozone shouldn't be clipping very hard.

[SkywayTraffic]

@DJVespers Awesome! Thanks so much for the response. I figured it was something simple like that haha thanks again for all of your awesome videos!

[kuzov]

it's really good video! but here's some questions))) that snare samples u use is great? where did you get it? i have really big drum lib, but there only "very-live-sound" drums. I tried to make it myself, using massive, operator, old analog-hard-synt. but i cant do it so punchy? like yours drums. is there any technic to make snares more-blow-punch, grimy?

[DJVespers]

@kuzov Thanks for watching! The snare is a combination of layered samples. Mostly Vengeance samples if memory serves me correctly. Check them out. Cheers!

[eArtrash]

Some great tips right there! Good work V

[DJVespers]

@eArtrash Thanks for the comment.  Cheers!

[k3rkis]

very nice and useful videos u make . i need to ask you for some help , i got a question about ableton`s drum rack ,wrote it here, but unfortunately due to shortness of youtube comments service i could not send it.so i would really appreciate you help on this. im using 2 padkontrol, 4 drum rack kits, changing them on-the-fly. If i won`t be able to solve the problem , ill probably switch to NI Battery. But im pretty sure that ableton provide that simple functionality that i need. k3rkis@gmail.com

[DJVespers]

@k3rkis Hey mate, if you have a legit version of Ableton they have a very helpful tech support division. Unfortunately, I can't answer complex, tech support questions here. Or, you can always hit up the ableton forum. Good stuff on there. Lots of support available. Cheers!

[LucidSpore]

Great set of video's again just what i was looking for. Just one question, i see this comment saying your compressor is clipping, then i see it in the video. Just curious if its ultimately bad or not? I noticed the actual volume of the drum tracks were fine though. I have noticed it in my sessions with ableton.I can't seem to maintain "loud or phat" sounds without my master volume going red sometimes as well, not clipping but jumping above the line every now and then. Any suggestions? thanks

[DJVespers]

@LucidSpore Good question. I always seek to avoid any type of digital clipping/overload situation within Live's mixer and plugins. Sometimes third party plugins can handle it, and may even be desirable. For example, the UAD Precision Maximizer has a saturation effect that occurs when you overdrive the input. For the most part, keep things in the green though. For Live's master out, never clip the red, it'll sound bad. Use a mastering plugin on your export to get your mix to sound phat.

[LucidSpore]

@DJVespers I see, thanks. I will look into some plugins for just that. Drum racks are awesome!! i now know the power :P

[dasinfi]

your ableton snare compressor is clipping

[DJVespers]

@dasinfi Touche ;)

[larararara4]

Nice tips!

Keep making good videos !

[DJVespers]

@larararara4 Will do, if you keep watchin. Cheers!

[Sonoranwind]

Great stuff Vespers!!!

[DJVespers]

@Sonoranwind Thanks mate.

[reloopx]

awesome! thx Vespers

[DJVespers]

@reloopx You're welcome.