Forum Activity for @samuelclouston

Cloud Bounce desktop app

General Producer Chat

[quote="deltadio"]

[quote="SamuelClouston"]

Mastering by ear is a great tool - I've always believed AI/auto mastering is just for people who refuse to learn. Not only will you get the exact sound you desire for your track by mastering yourself, but you will learn an enormous amount on the way.

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I agree with everything you say on this topic, but for me that's another s-t-e-e-p learning curve. The idea that mastering typically also should take into account which (streaming) platform you intend to publish it on almost makes me faint in utter despair...

CloudBounce is pretty loud for sure. The mastered version of a track has a peculiar rectangular wave shape so (unfortunately) it is easily recognized as being AI or a typical CloudBounce product, but like I said in my original answer, it has some worth as a 'comp' for your own mastering attempts.

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Yes you are definitely right... I should have thought about it first. It will usually require years of experience to get a good master. I reckon Cloudbounce then will do you good as a beginner, but as your mixing skills develop over the years, your ability to master will naturally come with it too. There's a good, easy to follow Mastering Course on the site: https://www.producertech.com/search?sSearch=mastering

Xmassignment - Win Big Prizes!

Announcements

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjAFCyDQA_E not sure about this one... xD

Next Member Livestream - Tuesday 21st November - 18.00 GMT - LIVE 12 SNEAK PEAK!

Livestreams

Ableton 12 is exciting! Do you get some kind of industry-insider sneak peak?

Genre recipes step-by-step

Member Content Requests

Good idea!

I'll kick things off.

JUNGLE MUSIC

• BPM - anywhere from 75-85 - you don't want to go as fast as D'n'B most of the time, or it becomes too robotic and hectic.
• Key - really doesn't matter which key you play in. As it's sub bass music though, you want your very lowest bass note to drop somewhere in the E/F/F#/G range - so perhaps you write your bassline first in any key, then transpose it down so the lowest note is one of these - then you can write the rest of the moelodic parts around this key you've chosen.
• Named parts of the song - Intro (16 bars) - Build up (16 bars) - Drop/Verse (32 bars) - Breakdown (16 bars) - Drop/Verse 2 (32 bars) - Outro (16 bars)
• Instruments typically used in each part - Bass: 808 Bass hit (unsaturated) Drums: a Funk break, chopped up and sped up Synths: classic Juno/Jupiter/Korg presets, and also rave stabs. Both of these can be samples or synth patches. Vocals - 90's RnB diva acapellas.
• Midi resources for used instruments 
• Variation indications - Main variation in Jungle comes in the breaks and bass. You want to alternate break patterns between sections, and also vary the break chopping bar to bar - not so much that it becomes a different genre (breakcore) but that it keeps the listener on their toes. 
• Insight as to which instruments are layered at what time  - Bass and Breaks at all times - then the rest of the elements fit together like jigsaw pieces.
• Reference tracks:
• Euphoric intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0tLEfD6JTc , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0IrNQsfL9c 
• Breakcore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe24PdiP55k, 
• Ragga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IezLEriYO-U , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flyCeihI8pM

Hope this helps any budding Jungle producers - one of my favourite genres to produce!

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General Producer Chat

Mastering by ear is a great tool - I've always believed AI/auto mastering is just for people who refuse to learn. Not only will you get the exact sound you desire for your track by mastering yourself, but you will learn an enormous amount on the way.

I'm no pro mastering engineer but the amount of knowledge that attempting self masters has taught me is huge. It's elevated my EQ, compression, multiband, soothe, clipping, limiter and ear training skills in every ear.

And remember - there are fashionable 'sounds' to masters that go in and out of fashion - only YOU can know how you like your music to sound. AI masters will almost always go for loud and polished sound (even if you choose the presets that appear to say warm and quiet) - and I personally prefer my masters to sound vintage and warm - so learn to do it yourself. It's hard work, but incredibly valuable.

Remember, you could always pay someone to mix your tracks too - but most producers like to do it themselves, because you can get the exact sound you want and learn loads along the way!

Synth Sound Problems

General Producer Chat

Hi Manix

Tricky one! I suspect you're right in that it's something to do with the filter envelope - have you gone through all the FX panels - Hybrid has a looooot of buttons that I find can take a while to go through.

Perhaps Rob might know the answer?

Would you admit to using AI in music?

General Producer Chat

Apparently this is completely AI generated. Don't know how many Drake fans here, but his voice is pretty similar. The Weeknd's more obvious though. Very simple track though, so easy to imitate. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HZ2ie2ErFI

Would you admit to using AI in music?

General Producer Chat

Hey - thanks for all your feedback. really interesting to hear your thoughts. It's easy to get a bit panicky about AI nowadays - it seems that several things now are threatening to end the world at any moment - but I assume human's have alwasy thought thism no matter what time period!

That being said, AI's effect on music will undoubtably be significant. Rob, your point about Youtuber's for example using AI to create library music for videos - that seems to me to be genuinely positive - especially for young, up and comers with a low budget. However, it is still a good symbiotic relationship when youtubers use real musicians music - both benefit. With AI involved that wouldn't be the case - but most musicians I imagine wouldn't rely solely on being YT background music! Maybe...

RE AI DJ's, with the advent of the Metaverse and virtual DJing to virtual crowds, I can't see AI DJ's being too far off, perhaps even to the point where AI is indistinguishable to humans! 

Re Smillington - I think you're right - there will always be a section of society who view Music purely as either a product or a means to an end to improve an ad (see; Music Industry execs lol) - but we musicians should just use this as more fuel to the fire to keep making original, human, organic music!

Thanks for your input all

First Attempt at a Dance Track

Let us hear you!

Hi Tone

No worries - all that matters is that you keep improving, and you seem to be every track you post in here. Compression is one of the skills I think takes longest to learn for a lot of producer, as it's one of the most subtle (and therefore easy to under or over do).

I personally like to mix elements (other than bass and drums) like synths, vocals etc as quietly as possible, whilst still retaining the right amount of presence - I find this gives songs a richer, warmer, more organic sound myself.

Just my 2 cents!

live 12 megga excited !!!!

DAW or Software Questions

Yes I saw it was 20% off Ableton 11 AND 12 is free. Seems like the best time to buy it. Already having 11 means I don't need to though! Anyone know how much the upgrade will be?