Mixing Electronic Music With Native Instruments TUTORiAL Fix

As a beginner, you might not always know where to start when it comes to DJing, or what to practice first. There are countless options of setup configurations, mixing techniques, and musical styles to choose from. To avoid being confused by the collosal number of DJ tutorials out there, it makes sense to narrow it down to a few key elements. Helping you ease into your first DJ set, Native Instruments sat down and compiled a list of tutorials providing you with the technical essentials of DJing.

A DAW (digital audio workstation) is an audio recording and editing software that acts as your environment for producing music. DAWs are, quite literally, digital representations of physical music recording studios. They contain digital instruments, mixing boards, multitrack recording capabilities, and other features you need to compose and record high quality music. So if you want to start making beats, DAWs are an essential tool for doing so.

Ambient music is a style of gentle, largely electronic instrumental music with no persistent beat, used to create or enhance a mood or atmosphere. All music with atmosphere and ambience share one thing in common: the sounds help create a sense of space for the listener with tools like sound design, panning techniques, reverb, and more.

The bare minimum you need to start producing electronic music is a computer and music software. When it comes to computers, you have a choice between a laptop and a desktop PC. The obvious advantage of a laptop is its portability that'll allow you to make music on the road. However, that's pretty much where the advantages end. A desktop PC that costs the same as a laptop will always have the upper hand in all the other aspects like processing speed and hardware longevity. So if you're planning on producing mostly at home, you should, without a doubt, go for a desktop computer.

In professional circles, the music production software is often referred to as a digital audio workstation or DAW for short. As a beginner, you'll face the dilemma of choosing the right one. There are two ways to go about it. You could download a bunch of trial versions and see which DAW feels more intuitive to you. Alternatively, you could pick a software that your favorite EDM producer uses and take it from there. Keep in mind that it won't be the DAW that'll make you a good producer. Even if some programs are recommended more often than others, they all have similar functionalities. Modern-day music software is versatile, capable of covering all the bases of music production from composition to mixing and mastering. You can use pretty much any popular DAW to make a professional EDM track from start to finish.

Making good electronic music is hard if you're only a beginner. At first, there will be a big disconnect between what you want your track to sound like and how it will actually turn out when you finish it. Because of that, many producers procrastinate and prefer to watch YouTube videos on production techniques instead of experimenting and creating. The consequence is that many beginners end up getting stuck in the tutorial rut. Although it might feel like you're learning when you binge-watch a series of videos about mixing tips, you won't internalize those techniques unless you spend actual time practicing.

The last item on the list are studio monitors. Most consumer speakers try to sweeten the sound; they boost specific frequencies to make the music more exciting. As a producer, you want speakers that don't emphasize anything and reproduce the full frequency spectrum as accurately as possible. Studio monitors are made precisely for that purpose; they will play the music without any coloration allowing you to make smart mixing decisions. Studio monitors sound like an essential piece of equipment, and you might rightfully wonder why headphones were prioritized in the list above. In short, if you want to get the most out of your studio monitors, you must treat your room acoustically, and that's not an undertaking a novice producer should worry about in the beginning.

- [Voiceover] Hello, I'm J. Scott G, and welcome to EDM Production Techniques: Drums. (electronic music) Electronic Dance Music, or, EDM, is one of the most popular types of music on the planet. I'm gonna share with you a few of my techniques that I've acquired over the last 20 years. (electronic music) To make sure you have a great foundation, I'll start by showing you how to pick the right kicks and snare sounds, and layer them into even bigger sounds. Then I'll get into programming techniques using Ableton Drum Rack, a range page, (electronic music) As well as Native Instruments Battery. Finally we'll wrap up with mixing techniques where I'll show you how to use Bussing, (drums) Tape Saturation, (electronic music) and more. So if you're ready to get started then let's get into EDM Production Techniques: Drums. (electronic music)

Point Blank China will run parallel to our London school with the highest standard of teaching and equipment available. With 6000 square meters at our disposal, our new Far East campus will encompass a DJ classroom, music production room, music industry classroom, practice room, recording/mixing room, performing area, break-out area and more. The future team of lecturers at PB China have extensive industry experience in both teaching and working in the realm of electronic music and will strive tirelessly to help our students become adept in both theory and practice. Much like our other schools, Point Blank China will welcome a diverse range of influential guest artists to teach our students exactly how this evolving industry operates.

This section explains how to use the tools at your disposal to create a good mix. Often we see new producers mixing and mastering at the same time, getting confused and ending up with disappointing results. Similarly, we observe many on never-ending search for 'mastering' plugins that will magically make mixes sound 'professional'. Be assured, everything you need to make a professional sounding mix is provided with the stock FL Studio installation. The rest can be achieved with some practice and by trusting your ears. In this section we'll consider:Setting output mix levelsUsing peak metersMaking tracks louder!The dB scale used on metersSetting Output Mix LevelsHow to accurately set the levels of your final mix.OverviewThere are two places where the overall output level (volume) of FL Studio can be adjusted -Main volume knob.Master Mixer track fader, see the 'Mixer reference diagram' below.The Monitor Volume knob has no effect on rendered levels - It is designed to allow you to adjust monitoring levels without affecting the mix level. The following discussion applies only to the Master Mixer fader.How to adjust levels of the final mixTo ensure the Master mixer track level is an accurate reflection of the final output:Adjust Mixer Track Faders and/or Channel volume knobs to obtain the relative instrument levels you desire in the mix.Use the Master Track fader to adjust the final level. Consider also, placing Fruity Limiter in the last FX bank of the master track. Limiting is a form of automatic peak volume control.Following the above steps will ensure the Master track peak meter. Orange peaks (over 0 dB) will indicate clipping in the final output or rendered mix, as depicted below.Sampler Channels vs Audio ClipsIf you are paying particularly close (and possibly unhealthy) attention to the output levels of Samples playing from Sampler Channels, you may notice they are a few dB down on their level whenplayed as Audio Clips in the Playlist. There are three reasons for this:Sampler Channels load at a default 55% volume, about -5.2 dB. This 'feature' is to prevent clipping when several Channel Samplers are used together and alsoto allow some extra headroom for note/step velocity modulation. The assumption is that Channel Samplers will be used as 'instruments' and so you will be playing (see the next point) and mixing them to sound right'in the mix'. If a Channel Sampler is too quiet, turn it up.Sampler Channels respond to note velocity. The default note velocity in FL Studio is 100 (MIDI = 0 to 127). If a sample is too quiet you can also play it louder.Sampler Channels respond to the default Circular Panning Law. This reduces the sample gain by -3 dB at center pan, tapering to 0 dB at the extreme L/R panpositions.Audio Clips include integrated volume envelope and gain controls, per slice, that can change levels from -&#8734 to +36 dB.So together the default load state for a Channel Sampler can be 8.2 dB lower than the recorded level. If you absolutely need a sample to render at its recorded level, load it as anAudio Clip by dropping your samples on the Playlist (these default to 100% volume, 0 dB). Finally, make sure the Master level is set so peaks don't exceed 0 dB.NOTE: For VST instruments, 6 dB of compensation is added. If VST is set to 0 dB internally,at default Channel Sampler settings the level is 2.2 dB lower than the recorded level, instead of the 8.2 dB for FL native plugins.

To deliver an electronic music production plugin guide, we'll first have to start with an analogy. Jack Canfield, one of the best-selling authors of all time (he wrote the 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' books) said that he's read over 10,000 books in his lifetime. And yes - that's a pretty impressive amount of books. But here's the kicker:

And the same is true with plugins in electronic music. It is far better to know a few tools really well, than to collect and stockpile plugins like an episode of TLC's Hoarders. And so, let's unpack this conversation: what plugins do we really need?

For those who are new to Native Instruments, this is a company that has been at the innovative forefront of the electronic music production industry for over a decade now. They have been trendsetters, and some of their platforms, like the Kontakt Player and the Reaktor Instrument builder, are standards used by plenty of third-party companies to create various well-known instruments and effects. 1e1e36bf2d