Category Archives: Production Techniques

Molekular

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I love creating ambience/textures in a song. Whether it’s to help shape the mood or make a sonic statement, I love creating “ambient environments”.  Lately I’ve been working on a new song idea and wanted to take the main theme and tweak it into something new. I played the melody using a Mellotron patch in Logic, converted it from MIDI to audio and then ran it through Native Instruments “Molekular”. I dig what it turned into.

Here’s a clip showing before processing, after processing and in the mix.

Arrangement Markers and Drummer Tracks

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One of the things that I love to do when working with Logic is to use Arrangement Markers to help generate Drummer Tracks. Arrangement markers are used to identify different sections of the song (Intro, Verse, Chorus, etc.). When building up a new song, I like to record a scratch/guide track (guitar or piano) and then add arrangement markers. Once that’s done I’ll add a Drummer Track. I found that adding the Drummer track _after_ the markers are laid out will cause the Drummer track follow the arrangement in terms of dynamics/parts/fills. Usually I’ll need to dial in which Drummer and/or Kit to use, edit some breaks, fills, etc. but often I’m surprised as to how close the generated track gets to what I want to use. Is it perfect? No, nothing compares to having a real drummer with great gear, in an awesome room, collaborating with you. But in terms of getting new ideas down quickly it’s fantastic!

Compression

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I enjoyed Brian Lee White’s EQ course on Lynda.com so much that I decided to do his Audio Foundations: Compression and Dynamic Processing class as well. It’s another really great class presented clearly and methodically.

Particularly liked the idea of using gradual compression from multiple compressors to get a more natural sound. E.g. using a limiter to address only the peaks with the threshold and output linked followed by a compressor using a low ratio to create body on the average level of the track while using another compressor to give a touch of color (e.g. gain cranked on a vintage styled plug-in set to a low ratio setting).

EQ

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Really enjoyed the Audio Foundations: EQ and Filters course on Lynda.com. Brian Lee White is a great instructor and did a fantastic job. Highly recommended if you have ever wanted to understand how EQ can affect your tracks/mixes.

One idea he brought up that I’m looking forward to trying out in particular is to use two different types of EQ on a track. A transparent one for corrections (cutting) and a vintage styled one for added color (boosting).