When you are trying to make filthy music one challenge is keeping it untamed yet crisp and clean. When you are making filthy, bass heavy music you have a similar challenge. Not only are you fighting to keep it clean, but you have to really keep an eye on your frequencies. They are vying for a small range and you are pushing the sounds to the limit. It is so easy to end up with audio mud.
Mud is your enemy, no matter your musical goal. Even if you are making noisecore, if your music is muddy it becomes boring and uninteresting. It is the audio equivalent of beige.
Whatever genre, whatever sound you are after (Unless perhaps you are a shoegazer / wall of sound musician) you want brilliant colors, not beige.
Before I begin, remember I am no expert by any means. I am just a hobbyist musician. So take this article with a grain of salt.
When fighting mud you have three major tools at your disposal.
Frequency Analyzers
As their name implies, frequency analyzers help you see which frequencies your sounds are occupying. They do not alter your sounds, but they help you see where sounds are trampling each other. I personally don't use these, I'll explain why in the next section.
As their name implies, frequency analyzers help you see which frequencies your sounds are occupying. They do not alter your sounds, but they help you see where sounds are trampling each other. I personally don't use these, I'll explain why in the next section.
Equalizers
I put an equalizer on every single track in my songs. They are invaluable. My EQ of choice is EasyQ which is a parametric EQ. Using this I can easily see which frequencies I'm limiting and which I'm boosting. I use EasyQ so much that I have a good idea how I'll need to EQ different types of sounds. It serves as a pseudo frequency analyzer.
I put an equalizer on every single track in my songs. They are invaluable. My EQ of choice is EasyQ which is a parametric EQ. Using this I can easily see which frequencies I'm limiting and which I'm boosting. I use EasyQ so much that I have a good idea how I'll need to EQ different types of sounds. It serves as a pseudo frequency analyzer.
Sidechain Compression
Sidechain compression is also an invaluable tool (And in Reaper it's super easy to do). The idea is you route the output of a sound, like a kick drum, to other sounds that will be occupying a similar frequency range. Whenever the kick hits, it compresses the other sound so it essentially takes the backseat for a moment. Sidechaining is amazing and when you listen for it you'll hear it everywhere, often it is overdone intentionally to give songs a very unique sound. But yeah, it's surprising how much it can clean up a bass heavy song.
Sidechain compression is also an invaluable tool (And in Reaper it's super easy to do). The idea is you route the output of a sound, like a kick drum, to other sounds that will be occupying a similar frequency range. Whenever the kick hits, it compresses the other sound so it essentially takes the backseat for a moment. Sidechaining is amazing and when you listen for it you'll hear it everywhere, often it is overdone intentionally to give songs a very unique sound. But yeah, it's surprising how much it can clean up a bass heavy song.
Obviously there are many other tools and techniques out there, but EQ'ing and sidechaining are my go to's.
Interesting read. I was actually going to suggest side chaining before you mentioned it. You should also look into ducking. Side chaining and ducking really give a track a clean and pro feel to it. Instead of mudding the crisp highs and works really well when applied to synths and glassy sounds. FL and Ableton are my playgrounds for DAW's but I haven't really tried Reaper yet. Might have to check it out.
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Oh! I've not encountered ducking yet! I will DEF have to check that out. Thanks!
DeleteWell... It turns out I actually need to research side-chain compression. After watching some Reaper vids on ducking - it appears that is actually what I've been doing. :)
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