The Madlib Sound...???

[YoungHeat]

Whats up guys??? got a lil question for u guys...

Yo I have been listening to Madlib forawhile now and I have been a fan of his work since like last year but I have been heavy on his beats thoe I have most of his work even from way back with Lootpack...But anyways I was listening to his beats and I notice sumtimes in his beats his samples are overpowered by like the bass and the sample goes out when the kick or sumtimes when the bass of the sample is too loud the sample or the beat will kinda cut low...But his kicks dont even hit all that hard to even seem like they should do that to the samples u hear it alot on his Beat Konducta In India Joint and on the Movie Scences Joint...Anyone know how to do this???

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

He does it with the isolator.

[YoungHeat]

Like on the Sp??? i wonder how that can be done on the Mpc 1000...

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

It's even easier 'cause you can have one pad track mute another pad when it's triggered. It seems like a lot of people with mpcs don't realize how deep those machines are, there are just as many if not more work arounds and tricks on mpcs as there are on the sp samplers. Just think of your self as the sampler and the machine is just an external component of that and you'll be happy to use any and all the tools you have access to.

[J.Daniels]

Thats actually the compression applied afterwards that creates that effect. Sidechain compression in particular, which is when the audio of one track is used to control the volume of another creating that "ducking" effect. So basically you would need a sidechain compressor.

[balazs]

yeah, from your description I think your talking about compression. I like to apply the vinyl sim compression to every pad used in my beat by using the remain button. You may need to adjust the volume of certain pads or take compression off some of the pads. I like the way it makes the sounds cutout eachother.

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

Cool, I'll try that. That seems way more accurate.

[HxC]

There was an article in Remix Mag a few months back featuring a segment with the Stone's Throw engineer who mixes down a lot of the Madlib stuff.
He talked about some different methods he used to bring out the bang in Lib's rough beats-

[pt3r]

Isn't this what the Madlib expansion pack for the sp-404 is all about?

[drewzle]

I find Madlib a bit of a patchy producer. he's got some really nice beats, but then sometimes he seems to just loop a sample up and tap out some weak drums underneath it. sometimes this minimal approach works, but quite often i find it lazy.
it's hard to criticize him though, he definitely has an intangible quality imbued in his beats, the elusive 'madlib' sound. i just expect a little more sometimes

[Huph]

Ugh... assuming by 'cut out' you mean that his samples get quieter when the bass hits, you're describing overcompression. Outside of a view specific uses, I don't really like that sound at all. But that's me, people seem to enjoy it, now. 10 or 15 years ago, a non-dance record that sounded overcompressed wouldn't even make it out the door. Though I don't particularly notice a lot of Madlib's stuff to be overcompressed, but he's got a lot of albums out there. I can't claim any expertise.

I will say this: when compressed to that point, there is absolutely *no* way that you haven't eliminated all the dynamics of your beat. There'll be zero difference between quiet sounds and loud sounds, they'll all just sound like a brittle wall of sound (alright, with 'brittle' I'm drifting back into opinion, again...). Regardless of how any of us thinks it sounds, it is most definitely fatiguing to the ears, and makes WAVs, which sound awesome!, sound more like compressed mp3 files, and all I can say about that is there's a reason I still don't have an iPod or any other mp3 player.

Alright, enough grumpiness. A lot of people seem to purposefully overcompress these days, it's not completely bad form. A lot of people like it, too. I just personally wish it would go away, it's made a lot of songs/albums I like difficult to listen to for extended periods of time, so I always voice my opinions on the matter.

[brettweldele]

After looking at a couple of the India waveforms, I don't think its Brick Wall Limited. There's still a decent amount of dynamic range.

It is a bit overcompressed, but in a sort of lofi saturated kind of way.

I think its as simple as the amount of low end is causing the compressor to "pump".

I do love sidechain. makes mixdown a little less painful.

[YoungHeat]

soo it takes all that to pull of that one particualr sound.??? WOW.....it dosent seem like alot but it kinda is I LOVE the way madlib does that to his samples its sooo sweet and his beats have that gritty old sound to em...

[mostblunted]

madlib just does everything really fast.

When sampling the loop at a low volume and the kick at the normal volume,
then heavily compress that the loop mutes when the kick comes in.

[drewzle]

There was an article in Remix Mag a few months back featuring a segment with the Stone's Throw engineer who mixes down a lot of the Madlib stuff.
He talked about some different methods he used to bring out the bang in Lib's rough beats-

i think i read this article (or a similar one)
the engineer said that because Madlib doesn't track out channels individually (just records one take) he had to set up a dummy channel, replicating just the kick drums. this dummy channel was sidechained against the main track, to get a bit of knock in there