Make PHAT, loud beats in Ableton Live drum racks pt 5

[codyblackv2]

pro

[PatrickSugarfix]

This is the second point in time I've studied this series, and I've gotta say, it's really, really comprehensive. Last time I was learning about picking samples. This time I came to learn about processing, and it's exactly what I was looking for. Big ups for making quality vids that are great for many different experience levels, and for releasing it free.

Good luck with the new album!

[prophet840]

this is an awesome amount of information in a very tight presentation. many thanks! the insane number of people that never clicked on parts 2-4 dunno what they're missing.

[moniqueluv2luvyah]

great video......got a lot of knowledge out of it...thx man and keep up the good work

[WC7495]

Excellent set of vids man. Quick question though - is there any rough guideline as to how loud your drums should be in a track? DB-wise that is. With all the compression and limiting go on I have a rough time trying to keep the levels within reason/no clipping.

[DJVespers]

@WC7495 Glad you enjoyed them. I mix all my tracks pretty quiet at the beginning. I gain stage everything to about -15 dbfs, then I have room to move them up. By the time I'm done a mix I target having the overall levels peaking at -6dbfs.

[ryancalhounashton]

Taking a listen to your track, those beats really do sound super-phatt, which raised another question (if you don't mind):

You make mainly Breaks and Glitch Hop and I'm more into producing 4/4 EDM. Do these techniques - layering, similar EQ, distortion, etc translate easily over to 4/4 EDM?

[DJVespers]

@ryancalhounashton Hey bro. Yeah, most of these techniques will translate. In 4/4, obviously your sample selection and programming will be different, but compression and EQing layers is pretty universal. Cheers!

[ryancalhounashton]

@DJVespers I followed all 5 parts of this tut and combined them with other tuts of yours to make the grand mother of all Live templates incl. LFOs on hats and "Secrets to layering beats".

Now, I'm getting the fattest sounding beats I've ever made. Check out the example for your aural enjoyment:

dl.dropbox.com/u/21757719/Drum­%20Loop.wav

Keep in mind I mixed it on hifi speakers and it's just a couple bars to say "thanks" for the great tuts.

Take a listen and gimme feedback. :)

[MisterSuperb]

these tutorials are priceless! Thx so much Vespers!

[On3Voic3Tranc3]

Man, thank you so much for all the information. I know I speak for all of your subscribers when I tell you that your videos have been a tremendous help. After watching all of the videos in this series, I honestly want YOU to make a sample pack, I know I would love to download it! Thnks again :]

[Oezilla]

What are low ends exactly?

[DJVespers]

@Oezilla The low frequency range of the EQ spectrum. Kicks are low end, so are subs. Cheers!

[Oezilla]

@DJVespers You're so quick to reply, and so helpful. Props to you for that! How do you know when you need to get rid of your low ends and high ends?

[DJVespers]

@Oezilla Well, in general, I roll off below 30 hz on everything. Even kicks and sub bass. For super low elements, I typically roll off high end. Use your ears though. Listen to mixes of music that you really like, and perceive what they're doing with the sounds. Cheers!

[MistaMase102]

great vid! most helpful and clear tutorials ive ever seen for live. just a shame i havnt got all those cool plugins :/

[DJVespers]

@MistaMase102 Thanks for watching! There are lots of great free plugins, plus you can always save up and build your collection over time. Happy music making!

[nthegamemaster]

Great videos man. They helped me a lot. Thanks.

[DJVespers]

@nthegamemaster Cheers! Glad to help out.

[urdynamix1]

Thanks For Your Informative Tutorials, Often In Your Videos I Notice That You Use and Apply Different Plugins On Your Projects From Different Vendors, I Find That Ableton Has a Pretty Good Collection of Audio and Midi Effects, Not To Mention Their Awesome Instruments Collection, In Our Productions, We've Never Had The Need For 3rd Party Plugins For Years Since We Started in 2000, Proving Even More That Ableton Can Take an Initial PreProduction Concept All The Way To Mastering If Used Correctly.

[DJVespers]

@urdynamix1 Hey mate. I actually disagree. The built in plugins are pretty good, but there are better ones out there for mixdown. IMO you cannot compare with the UAD Neve plugin set, 1172LN compressor, UAD reverbs etc. Plus the Virus TI synth and Tillian for bass. Unparallelled.

[urdynamix1]

@DJVespers I Agree With You Completely, There Are Better Third Party MixDown Plugins On The Market, But From a DAW's Perspective, Ableton Is The Most Complete Platform IMO and I've Use Several Professionally, As Far As Pluging Goes, UAD, Wave, etc are Great, Specially The New UAD Firewire Platform Which I Own, Good Stuff.

[aaaaron22]

Thanks mate absoloutly priceless information I knew there was more to it haha. Could you please tell me how to map each layered hit to one pad of the drum rack (just so i dont have to hit 4 keys on my board for the snare you know)

Cheers bro!

[DJVespers]

@aaaaron22 Glad you've enjoyed mate. Thanks for watching!

[DJVespers]

@neonhumanmusic Thanks for watching and commenting. Cheers!

[daydreaminoncloud9]

hey can you please provide some links to some good free vsts for ableton live the mac version please =)

[DJVespers]

@daydreaminoncloud9 Just Google free Mac VSTs mate. You'll find hundreds of links.  Cheers!

[sinetwo]

@DJVespers A good one is studiotoolz :)

[SeanMontie]

in this particular setup try putting the EQ before the compressor in your chain, this way the EQ filters out your unwanted freq's and your Compressor can work better and use less CPU load.

[DJVespers]

@SeanMontie Hey mate. I agree with the first part, in some cases, unless you want the compressor to be reacting to the bass. As for the CPU usage, I don't think there is any difference at all in using an EQ before or after.

[acedaface954]

yooo i figured out the filtering for my bass drums and sub bass ves. took mr all day but it was worth it. now for the brights and highs. how do you get them to not get drowned into a sea of bass??? i don't use ableton by the way dawg.

[DJVespers]

@acedaface954 Glad to hear mate. There are a couple things you can do to make sure your beats punch through the bass. Sidechaining compression (a technique called ducking - google or youtube it for examples). And notching with an EQ into your bass and boosting your kick at the same frequency, creating a frequency "whole" for it to punch through.

[acedaface954]

@DJVespers oh definitely. I'm well into knowing and doinf the art or sidechaining. A,lso my kicks are super punchy thanks to a lot of homework and experimenting. I'll send you some completed mixes in the future. Peace!

[80jeff]

Insanely helpful series. Probably dropped my learning curve by about a year in terms of effects chains and EQ, thanks! Can you talk about maybe acceptable frequency ranges for the different elements?  IE what you normally use for bass, high hats and melodies etc? Thanks again

[DJVespers]

@80jeff Hey mate. Thanks for the comment. Much appreciated. Frequency ranges are a big conversation. I'd recommend getting a book called The Mix Engineer's Handbook. It's awesome.

[TwickenStep]

great tutorial helped me out alot

[DJVespers]

@TwickenStep Glad you dig. Cheers!

[noharmny]

Great tutorial but i have a question (propoably a nooby one). Is there any way of routing those single layers of kicks, snares etc. into one controller so that i've something like abletons impulse thing? Right now i'm inserting each single note of every drum layer into the note editor and i find quite annoying

[DJVespers]

@noharmny You mean when you program them with midi? You could just export your layered kicks and snares to a single audio file and make a kit with it, then reimport back into Impulse if you wanted.

[BossMD311]

are all of these plugins free? and are these controlled by an outside source or what? im so new i dont even really know how plugins work

[DJVespers]

@BossMD311 The grey ones that are built into Ableton are all free. The 3rd party ones aren't. Cheers!

[gcnubian]

I don't know why there aren't a whole lot more views for these videos. Some of the best tutorials I've seen out there. Kudos.

[DJVespers]

@gcnubian Thanks mate!  I'll be makin more don't you worry ;)

[DJVespers]

@gcnubian Thanks mate! Keep tellin people about them and sharing online. The more the merrier.

[drprobe]

Thanks a lot mate, really interesting videos.

[TheChainsawSound]

Nice one Drew! Solid tutorial and PHAT beats.

[oxfordskeet]

thank u vesssss

[teletubby999]

thanks vespers