mr_debauch wrote:i dont think madlib compesses or EQ's the same for every song... if they even compress something in every song.
Agreed
haven't read the entire thread but their sound just came from how they processed their elements
When I say process I mean printing/recording sound off of... Preamps, compressors, old gear etc most of the time people like dilla and lib dont know WHY something sounds the way it does they just know if they add this and that and push it through this box they get a result they like. So then they experiment and push everything through that process chain. Overtime they know what does what for them and .... that's that. Engineers are used to fix or enhance yes but the sound has already been sculpted before the engineer touches the project.
What you people need to experiment with most to capture that sound is
Filtering
Sound choice
Layering
distortion
and stop trying to do things 100% correct
Now what i mean by distortion is clipping. YES clip your drums bounce the drums and then lower them(vol) so they dont damage the mix alot of times the drums clipped sound great they have nice punch and just a real edgy sound to them.
You have to put yourself in shoes of the person and the unit (more so the unit) What i mean by this is knowing its limitations and pushing them. when you have fewer options you work different you become more creative you tend to do things that you wouldnt do on a newer setup for example.
There would be times where I'd filter a sample for bass and it would just be too low even after i raised the vol so I would just copy the bass on top of it self and i would get these odd artifacts in the bass but underneath the track it was perfect!
Now would i do that in reason, Mpc 1000 or the motiff?.. No, never I'd just resample and rechopp or just play a bass with it but on the 3k I dont want to resample and redo all that just **** copy and layer it done.
Most of the time the tracks they made were just pure experiment. they had a workflow and they toyed wit samples over preset drums once they got it sounding good they toyed with filters and its dynamics then went back and we worked the drums they toyed with mutes. Messing with Mutes/Choke groups/ mute groups whatever you want to call them or know them as that opens soo many doors for the track to breath and in a lot of cases makes you go back and change the track because they have what I call a Collage type workflow they add everything in that sounds good (not everything) they they start subtracting and mashing up different pieces until they got something they liked and then they ran with with it,
Anyway stop being technical and experiment its crazy when you sit down and figure things out just by **** with shit.
Oh and 1 more thing on Choke groups/mute groups they often used them to control samples rather than doing but and retrimming. This is how they kept that lazy feel in of a sample somewhat in control.