Samples volume

[Antee]

how do you set the volume of your samples into the SP? do u have a standard volume for kicks, snare e bass note?

[kel]

you just hit the pad you want to change the level of, light the start/end/level button and use crtl 3 knob to change it. can't really give good mixing advice, but there are no rules.

[tape smoke]

i know i shouldnt use crappy headphones for monitoring but this is how i set levels now,

i always always have the sp full blast . always . not shure why someone told me its better.

and on my headphones there is a volume control and i use that for the monitor. for kicks i lower the volume till it sounds good full blast, then i also do that with bass. the bass might sound good pumping kicks too, but when you try to record its gonna be way louder then everything else so you want everything nice around the same level, another thing . when you put a deep kick over a bass they will combine forces and double the bass, so my work around sometimes is use a less bassy kick. when i first got my 404 , i tryed recording what i thot were propper level beats, but when trying to record them to tape the bass would just turn into an awfull ticking sound . maybe its just im recording to tape, cause when im working on the BR, i can really get that deep shit goin. . another cool way to check levels of your stuff is just bang each pad into an acurate db meter, like the one at the bottom of cool edit. and adjust them to that, (if you want the absolute best level) i know there not just 1 way to do things, im still learing this production stuff. oh yea when im done recording to tape i bounce it back to the sp with vinyl sim maxed out, it grimes it up a bit but i like it .

[JayLost]

on my headphones there is a volume control and i use that for the monitor

me to

[Platypus Beird]

when you're talking about the kick and the bassline interfering there is something you can do about it, if you track your stuff out sound by sound, once it's in your DAW. You set a compressor on the bassline that has "sidechain" and for the sidechain input you set it to your kick. You'll have to set the threshold and attack per sound and tailor it to whatever you want it to sound like obviously. The general gist of this is that when the kick hits, it triggers the compressor and it smashes the bassline for a quick second so that the full lower frequencies of the kick are heard. Classic technique, hope I don't insult anyone if you already knew about it. I did this with a 404 beat I tracked out with Adru recently and it came out nice. Some of the early and classic Scarface records have the best examples I can think of regarding this technique.

Another instance of using it is announcers as a voice over, when they talk the music gets compressed so you hear their voice more fully.

Aiiiight

[tape smoke]

would it work to just use vintul sim on kick and bass ?

[Platypus Beird]

would it work to just use vintul sim on kick and bass ?

no, basically what the sidechain compression does is keep the bass at a reasonable level, where you want it to be in the first place...and just compress the shit out of it, super fast, only when the kick hits...that way you get the full impact of the kick and the bass line...used a lot with a bassline and an 808 type kick since they both hit in the sub range...it's also called ducking, since the bassline ducks when the kick hits...

[tape smoke]

i shoulda mentioned aswell that when you record on a computer i think if you use a windows mixer, mute everything on the recording properties except line in, then set the line in recording level to all the way down. then max out the SP volume and then increase the recording mixer level until it bleeds on the db meter, i remember a lil clipping with digital is fine if you limit it to -.5 after. cause you want it to be loud but not bleeding over especially digital. i dont record much to computer anymore just drag and drop and quick master. my sound card is pretty much garbage right now , and i think it has a too rank of a soundblaster sound so, i use the 4 track and br, with pretty much the same shit as i wrote to record to computerand im going to have to check out this kind of compresstion i dont really want to multi track start stop midi cause the 404 doesnt have a midi out . and for sampling kicks i usually drag drop chopped kicks or or drum machines to memory card. you can get a lot thinker sound if you use the mic input and isolater then a bit of vynyl sim. and even a couple other kicks some with diferent eqs. dont sleep on fx 13 . use it on snares and even isolator kicks. a teeny bit of reverb on hats is cool too. i use the fx limiter . cancel + efx . this way when you sample is all tweaked run it thru isolator with fx limiter and everything maxed out, thats some hard core compression right there. im still practicin but i heard when you get the levels right , you dont have to master it after. and another thing about the midi in i just realized the daw can send pattern start stop triggers. so dont beleive anythign i say

[tape smoke]

i think a better way to record might be to start the sp at half and creep it up .