The Producers Thread: Production Tips, Tricks, Techniques & Questions

[Digital Igloo]

This is super time-consuming but man oh man does it make a difference once you're done.

Go through every single preset in all of your sound libraries, find the ones you could totally see using (no more than 5-10% of 'em), tweak them if necessary, add whatever plugins you would normally apply (EQ, compression), route them to the correct output (if you do analog summing or mix externally), and save them into organized folders of channel strips. Include a folder for sounds you feel might inspire its own song. Include the name of the softsynth or sample library in the channel strip name and apply descriptors so you know exactly what you're getting.

Yeah, it can take months to get through everything (scripting helps), but the end result means you'll be able to find the perfect sound in almost no time. Production suddenly becomes fun instead of a slog while you spend an hour trying to find the right synth bass sound.

Bonus: You learn all the ins and outs and strengths and weaknesses of your plugins. For example, I had no idea Knif Audio Knifonium sounded so damn good. Ended up saving more sounds from it than even Omnisphere. Keep an eye out for sales; I snagged it for $30.

 

[Orvillain]

Funnily enough, I solved a lot of my problems by getting a few pieces of hardware. Novation Summit, Waldorf Iridium, and Elektron Digitakt. For non-guitar stuff, this trio is just frankly amazing. I'm insanely creative with them at the moment, and my productions just have a weight to them that they don't when I'm entirely ITB.

<ducks>

 

[Digital Igloo]

Funnily enough, I solved a lot of my problems by getting a few pieces of hardware. Novation Summit, Waldorf Iridium, and Elektron Digitakt. For non-guitar stuff, this trio is just frankly amazing. I'm insanely creative with them at the moment, and my productions just have a weight to them that they don't when I'm entirely ITB.

<ducks>

A bunch of friends that have gone the same route—rooms full of drum machines, tabletop synths, standalone sequencers, modular systems, Eurorack madness, etc. Unfortunately, my brain is wired such that if something can't integrate perfectly into and recall perfectly with any Logic project, I just can't bother. My three remaining hardware synths (Arturia MatrixBrute, Moog Subsequent 37, Roland JP-8080) are a blast to play, but for music production, they don't really get used. Maybe a weird effect here or a transition sweep there, but they're tracked as audio immediately.

Moog has a plugin that's supposed to recall the 37 with a DAW project, but it acts funky and often requires a MIDI panic; MIDI thru is off but I should probably RTFM. The Arturia needs to be retuned every session. The JP-8080 is only ever used for one custom preset, so that's fine.

Same reason why I'm 100% Helix Native and not Helix hardware.

A room full of hardware sure looks cool tho'.

 

[la szum]

Funnily enough, I solved a lot of my problems by getting a few pieces of hardware. Novation Summit, Waldorf Iridium, and Elektron Digitakt. For non-guitar stuff, this trio is just frankly amazing. I'm insanely creative with them at the moment, and my productions just have a weight to them that they don't when I'm entirely ITB.

<ducks>

Seems like those in the know don't ever choose to do it all in the box if they don't have to. Some
great outboard gear always seems to be part of the equation---whether on the front end going
in or the back end during post.

 

[la szum]

 

[la szum]

OMFG! Subtitles in the video spelt Herbie Hancock Herby Hancock.

Rick has to do a better job at proofreading/proofwatching his employee's work.

 

[State of Epicicity]

I don't know if you've seen it @la szum, but you might like the early episodes of Pensado's Place. I loved that stuff. Dave Pensado had a great spirit interviewing people, paritally because he was so meandering he would forget his own points, and the conversations went all over the damn place, to every aspect of recording and mixing. Even though I don't give a damn about hip hop or pop, the things those engineers talked about were really cool. Plus he had great interviews with people like Mike Clink.

At some point Pensado's manager for some reason stepped in to be a huge part of the show, and that was the lamest thing ever. What was cool about the show was Pensado's very quirky ways. To try to reign that in just made the show boring overall.

 

[DrewJD82]

Anxious to watch this! I love a lot of his work. While Superunknown was one of the first CD’s I ever bought, I wasn’t paying attention to producers much until my 20’s. When Korn came out with that album he did with them I remember cranking it on a killer set of speakers, kinda on the fence if I was digging it or not and then “Alone I Break” came on and I laughed my ass off.

I remember reading an interview in a guitar mag with Munky and Head and they said they made life hell for the producer on that album, so I had two conclusions after hearing that song-

1- The producer was so pissed he convinced them this song would be great, knowing they’d get laughed at for putting something out like that, in retribution for putting him through hell.

2- Korn was full on selling out and the record label hired this pop producer guy to assist them in doing so.

20 years later, it’s been a staple song in their set and Korn‘s long solidified they just do what they want to do at the time. I still go grab a beer when they’ve played it when I’ve seen them.

 

[la szum]

I don't know if you've seen it @la szum, but you might like the early episodes of Pensado's Place. I loved that stuff. Dave Pensado had a great spirit interviewing people, paritally because he was so meandering he would forget his own points, and the conversations went all over the damn place, to every aspect of recording and mixing. Even though I don't give a damn about hip hop or pop, the things those engineers talked about were really cool. Plus he had great interviews with people like Mike Clink.

At some point Pensado's manager for some reason stepped in to be a huge part of the show, and that was the lamest thing ever. What was cool about the show was Pensado's very quirky ways. To try to reign that in just made the show boring overall.

Thanks SoE! I am on the last chapter of that amazing book you recommended to me a couple of years ago.
It is so good, and provoked so much thought inside of me that I have to digest it slowly. I think it should be
required reading for every lover of music.

 

[la szum]

Anxious to watch this! I love a lot of his work. While Superunknown was one of the first CD’s I ever bought, I wasn’t paying attention to producers much until my 20’s. When Korn came out with that album he did with them I remember cranking it on a killer set of speakers, kinda on the fence if I was digging it or not and then “Alone I Break” came on and I laughed my ass off.

I remember reading an interview in a guitar mag with Munky and Head and they said they made life hell for the producer on that album, so I had two conclusions after hearing that song-

1- The producer was so pissed he convinced them this song would be great, knowing they’d get laughed at for putting something out like that, in retribution for putting him through hell.

2- Korn was full on selling out and the record label hired this pop producer guy to assist them in doing so.

20 years later, it’s been a staple song in their set and Korn‘s long solidified they just do what they want to do at the time. I still go grab a beer when they’ve played it when I’ve seen them.

That's funny. He seems like a guy that would both get it in spades, and also handle it well.

When he was announced as the Producer on the follow up to Badmotorfinger (love Terry Date!)
I was a bit miffed about it to be honest.

It worked out.

He mentions in the video (not to spoil it) about how he has had to repeatedly earn the respect and trust
of the artists he worked with. He was often a label hire and not the band's first choice.

 

[State of Epicicity]

Thanks SoE! I am on the last chapter of that amazing book you recommended to me a couple of years ago.
It is so good, and provoked so much thought inside of me that I have to digest it slowly. I think it should be
required reading for every lover of music.

Man, you just brought back the sense memory of being at the insanely huge Powell's bookstore in Portland, OR, where we lived for many years, and they had the coolest music book section (I'm sure they still do). That's how I discovered that book, and the MixerMan first book, and Bob Katz's great Mastering Audio (great punny title). I miss that kind of discovery so much. These books that put a huge hand on top of your head and force you to view concepts at a different angle. It's the best kind of neck fatigue.

 

[DrewJD82]

That's funny. He seems like a guy that would both get it in spades, and also handle it well.

When he was announced as the Producer on the follow up to Badmotorfinger (love Terry Date!)
I was a bit miffed about it to be honest.

It worked out.

He mentions in the video (not to spoil it) about how he has had to repeatedly earn the respect and trust
of the artists he worked with. He was often a label hire and not the band's first choice.

Oh, the end of my story was supposed to include me realizing Beinhorn did Superunknown and Ozzmosis, which were huge albums for me early on and I quickly dropped any resentments I created in my head for him.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Anxious to watch this! I love a lot of his work. While Superunknown was one of the first CD’s I ever bought, I wasn’t paying attention to producers much until my 20’s. When Korn came out with that album he did with them I remember cranking it on a killer set of speakers, kinda on the fence if I was digging it or not and then “Alone I Break” came on and I laughed my ass off.

I remember reading an interview in a guitar mag with Munky and Head and they said they made life hell for the producer on that album, so I had two conclusions after hearing that song-

1- The producer was so pissed he convinced them this song would be great, knowing they’d get laughed at for putting something out like that, in retribution for putting him through hell.

2- Korn was full on selling out and the record label hired this pop producer guy to assist them in doing so.

20 years later, it’s been a staple song in their set and Korn‘s long solidified they just do what they want to do at the time. I still go grab a beer when they’ve played it when I’ve seen them.

Hahaha HARD relate to this. I remember the album leaking with a different track order and names, and was trying to work out “is this actually it?” and when I heard Alone I Break I was praying it was some kind of elaborate joke.

That album still sounds like absolute benchmark reference production/mixing for that kind of genre, it must have cost an absolute bomb to make and I’m guessing that’s why Beinhorn doesn’t typically do multiple albums with bands. I’ve heard when Korn aren’t on the road, they still pay their touring crew and look after them well which I have a lot of respect for

 

[DrewJD82]

Hahaha HARD relate to this. I remember the album leaking with a different track order and names, and was trying to work out “is this actually it?” and when I heard Alone I Break I was praying it was some kind of elaborate joke.

That album still sounds like absolute benchmark reference production/mixing for that kind of genre, it must have cost an absolute bomb to make and I’m guessing that’s why Beinhorn doesn’t typically do multiple albums with bands. I’ve heard when Korn aren’t on the road, they still pay their touring crew and look after them well which I have a lot of respect for

Yeah, I heard that album was well over a million to make because the band was just off the rails at the time. Much agreed on the production. I couldn’t even enjoy that band until Follow The Leader because while I appreciate Ross Robinson’s work and those first 2 albums are awesome, I hated the way I couldn’t tell WTF the guitars were doing.

Kinda wish I could go back to that moment of hearing that song again for the first time. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed at a song like that before.

 

[la szum]

Putting this here for future referencing.

 

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

- I didn't come up with this, but try some Eventide or similar stereo micropitch on the snare (!). Yes, on the snare.
(For a real world example, AC/DC's Back In Black album does exactly this)

- dbx160 compressor on drums.

- I'll double down on DrewJD82's recommendation for Parallel Compression on drums. Pipe your separate drum tracks to another track and slap heavy compression on it. Adjust level/comp to taste.

- Know your frequencies. Like, really know them.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

- I didn't come up with this, but try some Eventide or similar stereo micropitch on the snare (!). Yes, on the snare.
(For a real world example, AC/DC's Back In Black album does exactly this)

- dbx160 compressor on drums.

- I'll double down on DrewJD82's recommendation for Parallel Compression on drums. Pipe your separate drum tracks to another track and slap heavy compression on it. Adjust level/comp to taste.

- Know your frequencies. Like, really know them.

Tbf, the AC/DC Back in Black thing is more of just a straight detune and delay rather than the micropitchshift effect (which is up and down like 9-11 cents or so with some delay).

Quote from Tony Platt:

“We fed a gated snare signal into an H910 detuned to about 93 with the feedback and anti feedback up. This was a real pain as it would fail to trigger sometimes. Yes it was just under the real snare. no other harmonizer will work!! I often use short delays to fatten up the sound of many instruments."

Definitely something worth trying though

 

[Bruce]

- dbx160 compressor on drums.

Oh god yes, if anything was ever made for drums since the sticks, it is this compressor. I have this one

AudioScape 260VU Compressor/Limiter — Vintage Pro Audio Equipment | AudioScape Engineering Co.

AudioScape 260VU Compressor/Limiter. Original stereo design based on the vintage VCA compressor, using RMS-based detection.

www.audio-scape.com

 

[DrewJD82]

I’ve actually been using Fab Filter’s MB-2 for parallel drum compression lately. There’s one preset I make a slight tweak in the low end to and it’s nearly perfect for the metal stuff.