New to Production - Help!

[Jambon]

I'm trying to move a track from my beat port downloads into FL but it's just coming up in a wave form. How do I bring a track into FL so I can see its pattern arrangement, as if I was doing a remix? Cheers

[efinque]

I'm trying to move a track from my beat port downloads into FL but it's just coming up in a wave form. How do I bring a track into FL so I can see its pattern arrangement, as if I was doing a remix? Cheers

You need the multitracks (and/or MIDI) in order to do that, in which case you either have to hope that the artist/copyright holder releases them, gives them to you by his permission (or the copyright holder's) or announces a remix contest.

However, many people (such as DJs) do bootlegs, remixes, mashups and sampling with material cut from the stereo master but it's not recommended due to copyright laws.

[Jambon]

Cool thanks dude. Love this forum it's really helpful.

I've got this side chaining business going today. Amazing. Pleased I've opened another door.One thing at a time!!!!

[Rek_Aviles]

wait, are you asking how do you get the individual track stems to make a remix or to see the wave form outline in FL? If the latter, in Ableton, I have to be in arrangement view - there are 2 view, 1 where you see all the clips (session view) and the 2nd view is for the arrangement which lets you see the wave pasterns of all audio. I don't know how this is setup in FL but I can't see why there would be some sort of 'arrangement view' so you can see the audio pattern.


session view



arrangement

[Jambon]

I think it was the track stems lol. Been messing around with the basics of side chaining today. Makes such a difference to what I've done so far so I'm buzzing. I suppose there arent any rules really? I assume you can side chain any component of a track to anything? For example clap to kick? Enjoying the basics and am in no rush.

[Rek_Aviles]

correct, you're free to get creative and add to any element but you don't want to compress everything. glad that is getting closer to what you were looking for.

here's a vid that I found for FL but it's pretty advanced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77P4iI_J8FY

and another that seems goes into the explanation of whats happening - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl-uG5oIUdg

[Jambon]

Thanks for the links. Whilst understanding side chaining any other techniques you recommend to concentrate on next? Trying to prioritise my learning. What sort of techniques are they using in that track I mentioned to get that techno beat/momentum drive? Understand its a combination of lots of things. Looking for another topic to get stuck into whilst exploring side chaining!! On hols atm trying to make the most if it lol

[efinque]

Portamento/glide (covering an octave or two over 8 bars) is a very easy technique to create some momentum. You can export/bounce those to use as risers, it makes the workflow faster and saves CPU at the expense of losing control over the synth parameters (you can use a separate project file though for later editing, I'd often export them like "supersaw_riserC.wav" and pitch it up/down by semitones when needed)

Another is the ADSR envelope/note length and filter (many use 3-4 pole low-pass) automation to gradually turn the sound from a pluck into a lead synth. In classical music these are called staccato (short) and legato (long) notes.

Drums are a bit trickier, you can use fills, drum rolls, or layer a loop with filter automation. Cymbals like hi-hats and crashes can be muted and brought back into the mix, I'd often use a high-passed crash with a bit of reverb on every beat sidechained to the kick drum for a ravey effect.

Basslines and anything with low frequencies are best left untouched as you can very easily run out of headroom (and many speaker systems have trouble keeping up with them) but you can create some movement with those staccato/legato notes I mentioned earlier, and LFOs.

Some of the grooviest basslines use a couple of high notes with the rest of the stuff an octave lower for a bouncy feel (don't get me wrong, there are basslines written within a few note scale that work particularly well) but it takes some skill and doesn't necessarily add much to the overall momentum of the track; bass and guitar players tend to use licks instead at the end of a bar/phrase. TB-303 users and alike enjoy and reap the benefits of the accent function which mimics this technique to some extent which is considered somewhat hard to perform on a bass guitar.

Ideally in techno music you're looking to achieve a pulsating bassline (such as ones found in psy trance) with a hint of a strip-joint groove to it and the 303 does both quite nicely thanks to the filter cutoff and resonance as well as the accent and glide functions. The NI Massive has a decent emulation although it excels at arpeggiated low-mid sequences so you may have to conjure the low register from another preset or synth.

[Jambon]

Happy days loads of stuff to focus on then over the next few months/ years. As long as I'm making gradual steps in the right direction then all good.

Managed to use the 3x osc plug in to create my first bass line today. Used the piano roll and added a note slightly after each kick of a bar. No idea if that's correct. Using slightly different keys on each kick (the first being the strongest) I've managed to add a bit of drive and depth. Is this allowed? Lol

[efinque]

Managed to use the 3x osc plug in to create my first bass line today. Used the piano roll and added a note slightly after each kick of a bar. No idea if that's correct. Using slightly different keys on each kick (the first being the strongest) I've managed to add a bit of drive and depth.

The technique you described is often called "playing off from drums" and you can hear it being used in a lot of funk music.

OT : melbourne bounce uses similar percussive basslines because they're very energetic (ie. kick drum on the first and bass on the 3rd)

K - 2 - 3 - 4 - K - 2 - 3 - 4
1 - 2 - B - 4 - 1 - 2 - B - 4

Many use a clap on the third as well as a processed, often reverbed snare on the 4th at the end of the phrase but in techno music producers tend to use a snare & clap on every 2nd beat to keep things moving and claps as fills.

There are very nice examples of snares being used as fills too but it's a matter of taste really, my drum machine doesn't have a clap nor toms but I can live without them, as much as I enjoy those clap fills (and the occasional disco toms) in some tracks.

But, by a coarse definition there's two types of techno; the satellite stuff and the festival/clubby sort of techno. I didn't listen to the track you mentioned but the latter type often requires a "live" element for groove such as percussions, the foremost on the other hand is more of a connoisseurs thing.