Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
User avatar
By DJ 2Much Tue Nov 16, 2004 5:05 am
First off, I notice that when some people sample from a old school soul track they loop the sample but have pieces of the vocals come in at different points. How do they get the vocals to sound clear so it dosen't mess up the contrast of the main sample?

My next question is about lil jon. How does he have such a clean loud sub bass goin on in the background and his kicks are still clear? I have tried sperating them by pan (like putting the kicks to the left and the sub on the right) but it still sounds kinda messed up. My opinion of how he does it is have his regular 808 Kick and another harder kick to make it stand out. What do yall think?

The example of a lil jon track like this is "Shut the Club down" go here to check it out:

www.soundclick.com/dj2much

By ddot_SFV Tue Nov 16, 2004 9:59 am
As far as the kicks go, they are probably eq'd so that their frequencies don't overlap. The 808 or sub kicks cover the low-mid to low, while the regular kick covers the low-mid to mid space. The regular kick provides the punch, the sub provides the rumble. Another trick is to side-chain compress the sub kick. Whereas when the "mid" kick hits, it triggers slight and fast compression on the sub-kick so that the sub very quickly ducks out of the way of the attack of the mid kick. This way you really feel the punch.

Too much competing low information in a mix usually results in a muddy sound. You have to make room by carving space with eq's and filters.
User avatar

By Smoove03 Tue Nov 16, 2004 1:58 pm
nooooo nooooo!! one important thing i learned working at the mastering studio is NEVER EVER EVER PAN YOUR BASS!!!

sorry to type in all caps, but thats important! whether its a kick drum, bassline, sub, whatever. do not pan your bass. i will throw a whole track off when it comes to mastering. especially if they dump everything to seperate tracks to work on it.
User avatar

By Lampdog Tue Nov 16, 2004 6:35 pm
Lord Toranaga wrote:multiband compression is the secret to loud sub bass., and clear kicks.


I second that. One of the best secrets if used correctly. Actually there is no "correctly", it varies for different people and their music. Good technique though.
User avatar

By DJ 2Much Tue Nov 16, 2004 9:24 pm
I just bout that Crunk Juice limited edition. I watched that dvd and it showed them in tha studio workin on almost every song on tha cd. They got lots of **** equipment, I guess thats one reason his beats sound so top notch. After watchin this dvd it made alot of things clear to me about a producers life manye.
User avatar

By Smoove03 Tue Nov 16, 2004 9:32 pm
yea im sure it shed some light on it. i like cuts like that. real informative
User avatar

By DJ 2Much Tue Nov 16, 2004 9:41 pm
I didn't even think it would show this much but it should the hard work that goes into producin' and puttin' in studio time. But it shows some fun u can have behind tha boards.

By MAD T Tue Nov 16, 2004 11:24 pm
lil jon does not put in "hard" work. Two fingers on the keys, that's all you need.

By nanoloop Thu Nov 18, 2004 5:30 am
the bass is the the low sub freq's where as the kick has more of a low-mid punch. his beats are probably mixed down by a professional and processed using a hundred thousand dollars of outboard gear
User avatar
By DOVESKI Thu Nov 18, 2004 7:14 am
DJ 2Much wrote:My next question is about lil jon. How does he have such a clean loud sub bass goin on in the background and his kicks are still clear? I have tried sperating them by pan (like putting the kicks to the left and the sub on the right) but it still sounds kinda messed


i hate to say it, but that aint nothing, all you need is a mixing board to do the same sh!t at home.

also you got to realize the kicks in top 40 hip hop now are used sparingly, and are mixed low (supppoesed to Primos shit, where the drums ARE the melody) and are super filtereed to let the sub come through.
User avatar
By Boogie Man Fri Nov 19, 2004 1:20 am
DJ 2Much wrote:First off, I notice that when some people sample from a old school soul track they loop the sample but have pieces of the vocals come in at different points. How do they get the vocals to sound clear so it dosen't mess up the contrast of the main sample?

My next question is about lil jon. How does he have such a clean loud sub bass goin on in the background and his kicks are still clear? I have tried sperating them by pan (like putting the kicks to the left and the sub on the right) but it still sounds kinda messed up. My opinion of how he does it is have his regular 808 Kick and another harder kick to make it stand out. What do yall think?

The example of a lil jon track like this is "Shut the Club down" go here to check it out:

www.soundclick.com/dj2much


damm, who is dude killin it on the mic and why do people hate on Lil Jon for?? Dude is sick with his style of beats.....