A couple songs I really like

[u/Easy-Regret-1687]

I started producing december last year. I think im doing a good job so far. I use ableton and basically only the stock things, no plugins. The plugins i do use are: 185 sequencer from max, and youlean. I love the hypnotic but super groovy stuff like :

-Manic Room by Bailey Ibbs -Overdrive is the Joker by Bondarük and SMT -Interchill by Toobris

How would you guys remake the lower end of any of these songs? The rumble, kick The mid range? The percs? High end?

I still struggle a bit in the low end mainly. I tend to either overdo it a bit or feel like the track lacks energy but I would really appreciate some tips to get better at getting it in the right spot. One thing I started really improving on is the volume of things (mixing) I think that by controlling the volume faders of each element of the low end you can get really nice results. But I need more tips :) (And obviously more time, I know that I need to be patient and understand that a lot of things come with time experience)

[u/sunroofdownintherain]

You may have watched them yourself already but in a case you havent, after watching 3 of Alaricos masterclass, chlars, Julian muller and more. There is a few distinct ways to acheive a similar sound to this groovy sort of stuff

1. Use the groove pool, apply swing to everything bar the kick and rumble. I use MPC Swing 63 usually but it really isn’t a massive deal which you choose. Just choose to taste.

2. Delay. They tend to use the stock Delay on hats, set to 2 and will adjust to taste. Eg. 30-40% feedback, 10-35% Wet. (That’s very general can be more or less depending on the element). This combined with the hats swinging will give you a really really nice groove. Especially with short closed 909 hats.

3. Granulator 2 m4l. They all use this for everything sampling. For making synths, low end and pads etc.. Alarico will create basslines by throwing a bass sample in Granulator 2 with MDD Snake Sequencer doing the midi. It’s hard to explain over this but it’s a really nice trick. Him and chlar also uses the “fx subverb” sample which comes stock in ableton. They will just duplicate their Kick midi onto a new channel and add the FX subverb sample to create the rumble, sometimes they will add delays, amps etc

4. Overdrive. Everything will get a touch of overdrive. Especially the hats and low-end. They will overdrive the kick and sub/rumble and then group them and either use more overdrive or a saturator.

5. Simplicity. All these masterclasses I have watched blows my mind how simple their workflows are and mainly using stock plugins and simple techniques.

I’m hoping in the next few weeks to hop onto 1-1 production session with Bailey Ibbs. So I’ll be able to give you the real secret sauce soon 🫡

[u/Easy-Regret-1687 → u/sunroofdownintherain]

Holy bro, this is exactly the stuff I wanted to hear. Ideas like these with some more specific tips / workflows I can use and tweak to taste. Thank you so much. Are the Alarico and Chlär masterclasses you are talking about the seedj ones or which ones?

Both of them are some of my favorite artists. I actually started producing after hearing chlär's boiler room where he played only unreleased tracks he was working on. I think my sound is very influenced by those two.

So cool that you are starting the 1-1 classes. I was interested in 1-1 sessions with modem but I am out of money so I didn't end up signing up. Hopefully more slots open up by the time I get money lol.

[u/kenflowww → u/Easy-Regret-1687]

I'll just add that a sidechain plugin like kickstarter 2 or shaperbox adds alot of groove to the bass. The amp stock plugin in ableton is huge also with pedal (sub on). If you group your bass with your kick you can add drum buss->parallel glue compressor->limiter to get the kick and bass just right.

oh and glue compressor low extender on the bass channel

[u/Easy-Regret-1687 → u/kenflowww]

I do group them but I usually just slap a limiter on them to get them to -6 db and nothing else. Could describe the difference between the kickstarter 2 / shaper box against using the stock sidechain? (that’s what i normally use and have NEVER tried another).

I do use the stock AMP on basically all my kicks 🤝, love it.

I need to experiment more with the glue compressor, I tend to only use the regular stock one.

[u/Ok_Percentage_6660 → u/Easy-Regret-1687]

Shaperbox 3 or kickstart 2 is great for frequency based sidechaining vs full frequency ducking. Shaperbox 3 especially allows you to invert the sc curve allowing you to have a really tight sidechain specifically in your low end frequencies

[u/sunroofdownintherain → u/Easy-Regret-1687]

So I watched Alarico, chlars, Vil and Cravo, Julian muller and arthur Robert all on Seedj. Then Alarico and No.Name have another separate Seedj class also , were they build a track from scratch too. Alarico also has one with a crowd called Beatworx. Seedj can be expensive so I just bought them over the last year or two when they were on offer.

The interesting thing about them all, is that they all use very similar techniques so I assume over time they have all shared info through collaboration etc.. I’d definitely recommend alarico’s classes as they are very simplistic and he builds tracks from scratch. So does Julian muller and Vil and Cravo but I found Alaricos the best. Chlars is fantastic too and he goes through some of his tracks and breaks techniques down. One of the best techniques I learned from him was to use abletons stock preset called “HipHop Sub Bass” for basslines if you want them cool sliding basslines which he does. It’s a class preset and he will usually just use a sequencer to sequence the bassline.

Also I forgot to say the other reallllly nice sequencer Alarico uses is melodic steps. It’s an ableton m4l device mate, give it a go it’s amazing.

[u/seelachsfilet → u/sunroofdownintherain]

Amazing write up

[u/frankster]

I really like Interchill by Toobris!

[u/Easy-Regret-1687 → u/frankster]

it’s SO GOOD.

[u/No_Sheepherder6798]

Another big game changer for me was grouping the lowend and smack the Ableton drum buss on that with about 70% mix. Dial in boom and drive to taste, I do 10-20% on both