How do you get a good sounding 808 kick drum in GarageBand 10? I currently use Garageband 10.0.3 to make hip-hop/rap/trap beats. The problem is, the sample 808 drum kit sounds horrible. Is there a way to get sound similar to the bass in this song or this one? Save hide report. GarageBand is an ideal training ground for anyone wanting to start their path in music production. We will first see the GarageBand interface and then move on to see how we can work with synthesizers, real instrument, loops and then arrangement tools. Oct 29, 2017 In this video, I will show you how to make an 808 bass in GarageBand for your trap beats. If you have any question feel free to leave them in the description. Thank You for watching. May 28, 2015 GarageBand for Mac comes with plenty of sounds, but you can make it even better with these fantastic free plugins. The 16 best free GarageBand plugins. And then manually download. Free Drum Kits & Drum Samples. How to Download Drum Kits: Click each link below and look around each website for the download link or button. Do not install any suspicious software. DJ Mustard Samples – 2MB – All The Sounds DJ Mustard Uses In His Production Can Be Found In This Kit! Dre Sample Kit – 20MB – You can never go wrong with the sounds of Dr.
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Garageband is arguably one of the more popular DAWs on the market, especially for the price: free. Despite what a lot of nay-sayers have to say, Garageband has many functions that are extremely useful for the regular musician, regardless of what genre or instrument you play.
Can i record a set using djay. DJs wanting to spice up their sets can use the new music production tools in djay to record and sequence loops during the mix. It’s as easy as tapping samples in time with the playing track, and it’ll automatically quantise, sync and repeat. If you want to dive deeper into unique musical performance can load up the grid-based Looper with up. Djay Pro does not allow you to record mixes via Spotify. Are there any hacks around this? I've read a few things around using quicktime and a 3.5MM cable to plug in a phone or iPad and record a WAV directly onto another device - can't seem to figure it out though. Dec 24, 2016 Algoriddim’s djay Pro has Spotify built in so you can DJ with a choice of millions of tracks. So why, asks our reader today, can’t you then record those mixes? Digital DJ Tips reader Germain writes: “Question: I want to record a mix using music from a Spotify playlist in Algoriddim’s djay Pro software. There is no record button when you. Jan 03, 2018 50+ videos Play all Mix - Record a MIX Djay for iPhone with Spotify! - No computer/jailbreak YouTube; First. HOW TO RECORD A DJ SET - Duration: 14:16. Jon Sine Recommended for you. I've seen questions about recording Spotify tracks in DJay Pro a number of times in this sub, since the software doesn't allow it natively. I use DJay Pro when mixing at home and have recently been looking for an easy plug & play solution for recording sets.
Garageband can perform many very useful functions. Here is a list of just a few of them:
1) Create musical projects from scratch
2) Record vocals and other instruments
3) Create samples for hip-hop producers
4) Edit and Transpose music, whether in MIDI or Audio format
5) Has a database of royalty-free loops
6) Download third-party plug-ins
7) Create custom drum patterns.
8) An automated drummer track
9) Export files to popular streaming/sharing platforms
10) Time Quantize
11) Use the musical score (standard notation), editor
12) Adjust the tempo, time signature, and key signature
13) Adjust transposition
14) Use auto-tune and pitch correction software
15) It also has a note-pad for making notes as you create music
16) Use standard dynamics, effects, and other audio processing units like compressors, channel eq, limiters, and multipressors, many of which come with presets.
17) Has a library of amp modelers and effect units for bass and guitar players, in addition to a huge variety of presets.
18) Automation functions for volume and any plug-in you want.
2) Record vocals and other instruments
3) Create samples for hip-hop producers
4) Edit and Transpose music, whether in MIDI or Audio format
5) Has a database of royalty-free loops
6) Download third-party plug-ins
7) Create custom drum patterns.
8) An automated drummer track
9) Export files to popular streaming/sharing platforms
10) Time Quantize
11) Use the musical score (standard notation), editor
12) Adjust the tempo, time signature, and key signature
13) Adjust transposition
14) Use auto-tune and pitch correction software
15) It also has a note-pad for making notes as you create music
16) Use standard dynamics, effects, and other audio processing units like compressors, channel eq, limiters, and multipressors, many of which come with presets.
17) Has a library of amp modelers and effect units for bass and guitar players, in addition to a huge variety of presets.
18) Automation functions for volume and any plug-in you want.
1) Create Musical Projects From Scratch
What I mean by this is that you can use the plethora of available presets, instruments, plug-ins, and other VSTs to create your own music without owning a single instrument.
The software comes with a variety of VSTs, also known as virtual studio technology, ranging from synths, drum machines, drum kits, flutes, violins, cellos, guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitars, arpeggiators, vibraphones, and mellotrons, and so on and so forth.
Many of the software instruments are great to use, however, some are definitely better than others. Each VST typically comes with its very own set of parameters for customization, so you aren’t limited to just one type of sound.
Many of the VSTs also have multiple settings inside them, for instance, an arpeggiator might have a variety of synth types within it, including presets and helpful functions like reverb, delay, glide, and so on.
How you intend on going about making music is up to you, but part of what makes it such a great software to use is the fact you’re aren’t that limited in terms of what can be done. For instance, if you don’t own a single instrument, you can still figure out how to make music on your own.
Obviously, it’s great to have actual instruments, but it’s not 100% necessary, which brings me to my next point.
2) Record Vocals and Other Instruments such as Guitar
If you have access to an external microphone, it’s very possible to record high-quality vocals using Garageband. Truthfully, it’s possible to track vocals even without a proper microphone. All you would have to do is click on the Red Record button and start speaking into your computer.
Additionally, you have the option of recording literally any other instrument you want if you have a microphone, it really doesn’t matter, whether it’s a cello, violin, a flute, you name it.
If you want to read more about mixing vocals, check out this link here, and if you want to read about using EQ on guitars, I have an article here.
3) Create and use Samples for Hip-Hop and other Genres
A lot of people out there aren’t aware of how great Garageband can be for hip-hop producers. For instance, there is a common misconception that you can’t use a sampler in Garageband, but you actually can, and it’s called the AUSampler.
Essentially, sampling just means you’re grabbing a selected portion of an audio file, whether it’s another song, a movie, an audio recording, and you chop it out and load it into the sampler, which can then be adjusted at various tempos and key signatures.
You can also adjust the tuning, the panning, and the volume, right in the AUSampler.
Without question, sampling is done primarily in hip-hop and rap music production, with Kanye West being one of the most famous examples of sampling.
If you want to read more about how to sample in Garageband, I recommend you check out this article here. It’s really quite simple and doesn’t take much to learn.
4) Edit and Transpose music, whether in MIDI or Audio format
Using the Piano Roll and the Workspace, Garageband users can conveniently edit music in post-production. Furthermore, it’s entirely possible to change the velocity of each MIDI note, the position of the note in the song, as well as the pitch, duration, etc.
It’s definitely worth mentioning that the same thing can be done for Audio format as well, with a few exceptions. As I recently wrote about in my article on why Garageband is very easy to use, it actually comes with a series of Commands that make it convenient and quick.
For instance, there is the (Command + Z) function, which allows you to eliminate mistakes or go back to where you were before, in case you added something by accident, or deleted something by accident and think that it’s gone.
As long as you don’t open a new file, Garageband has the ability to remember exactly what you had just done. You can check out the article here to see what some of these commands look like.
Furthermore, it’s also possible to copy and paste Drummer Tracks, which are in a file format colored yellow, into a new software instrument track for MIDI Files, and Garageband will actually convert the drummer track into a MIDI File and allow for more customization and changes.
For example, if you wanted to add in a few more snare drums, or maybe even change the style of snare drum entirely, you could if you wanted too. Read more about the drummer track at this link here.
Regarding transposition, it’s fairly simple to transpose music you’ve created in Garageband using either the Transposition track or through a pitch-altering plug-in.
5) Has a database of royalty-free loops
For the most part, Garageband’s database of royalty-free loops is something that I avoided in the beginning when I first started making music with Garageband.
The reason for that was I wanted to figure out how to create my own melodies, without relying on an external library of sounds.
It also helped that I already had been playing guitar for fifteen years, so it was pretty easy for me to make melodies right away without much trying. However, after perusing through the list of melodies and rhythmic pre-sets, I realized the loops it comes with are actually pretty amazing. A lot can be done with them.
For instance, in my one song that I made during the summer, “Cosmo Canyon,” which you can hear in the YouTube video below, I used the drummer track for the introduction to the song.
In the same song, I used a string section loop as well. Garageband quick tutorial for beginners. The rest of the song is my own creation, however.
As I’ve mentioned before, Apple Loops are divided up into three main categories, Instrument, Descriptor, and Genre. Within each one of these categories, there are other subcategories as well, including sub-genres, different types of instruments, and so on and so forth.
Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that each loop is color-coded according to its format, and is also identified by its tempo and key signature. If you want to read more about using Apple Loops, including even making your own loops, I would suggest checking out the following article at this link here.
6) Download third-party plug-ins
If you ever peruse the beat-making side of Instagram, you’ll countless memes about plug-ins, and for good reason: plug-ins are amazing and fun to search for, download, and then try out.
Just the other day, in fact, I discovered a brand new 808 plug-in that I’m obsessed with. It’s the Beatmaker 808 Module, which is great. You can read more about it at this link here.
Most DAWs have the capability to download third-party plug-ins, and Garageband does as well, despite what some people in the industry think.
If you want to read a tutorial on how to go about downloading and installing plug-ins, check out this link here. There is also a list of plug-ins as well near the ending of the article. Downloading plug-ins is as simple as dragging the components file into the Library > Audio.
Truthfully, there aren’t many limitations to Garageband on account of the fact you can download third-party plug-ins. If the stock compressor isn’t good enough for you, you can always move on to a much better one, free or not.
7) Create custom drum patterns and drum kits
Like other DAWs, Garageband has the ability to separate each part of the stock or plug-in drum kits and turn them into its own software instrument track for better mixing and panning.
For instance, you can have the Kick from the Beat Machine plug-in, but the hi-hat and snare from the Drum Pro Trap Plug-in.
It’s up to you what kind of instruments you want to use, and the user isn’t limited by what kind of instrument they can create. In other words, you can make your very own custom drum kit using all kinds of sounds and settings.
8) Use the Automated Drummer Track
The automated drummer track is fantastic for almost everything, including for compositional purposes, making your own backing tracks, or just getting a song started.
Additionally, one of my favorite parts of the drummer track is that you can actually convert the drummer track audio file into a MIDI one, for the sake of customization and also analyzing.
In other words, if you’re struggling to figure out how to make your own drum beats, for instance, creating drum fills with the toms and snare, you can actually use the drummer track as a tutorial.
If you copy and paste the drummer track audio file into a MIDI software instrument track, you’ll notice it turns the file into a MIDI file.
This allows you to actually see how the drummer track is created. That way you can see how the toms actually look in the piano roll and then go on to re-create those sounds on your own, without using the drummer track.
In other words, it’s like you have an in-built teacher for learning how to program drums. Check out the article on the Drummer Track to read a bit more about this.
9) Export files to popular streaming/sharing platforms
Another handy feature of Garageband is it comes with an option where you can export the files directly to your streaming platform of choice, for instance, to SoundCloud, iTunes, or YouTube.
It’s very easy to use and is done in just a few seconds. I especially like the one for iTunes and Soundcloud, because Garageband does it in such a way where the track is named perfectly and everything.
In the case of Soundcloud uploads, it also allows you to determine whether people can download your music from your page or not. It’s very convenient.
10) Time Quantize
As I’ve mentioned before, the time quantizer is something I first skipped for whatever reason. It’s the feature where you can snap all of your midi and audio notes to the grid without doing much work.
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Garageband’s time quantizer has two different parameters, the strength of the quantizer in numbers, and then the type of note it relates to. If you want to read more on how to use the time quantizer, I suggest you check out the article at this link here.
It’s worth mentioning that the time quantizer is one of those things that many people hate and many people love. Some argue the quantization of music is what robs it of its soul. I know Rick Beato – arguably the best music YouTuber on the internet – would make that case.
11) Use the musical score (standard notation), editor
This is perhaps one of the least often mentioned features of Garageband’s awesome interface. I love the score editor. Just the other day, I used it to figure out how to play my very own composition on the guitar.
I created it using a MIDI keyboard, and when I got my hands on an actual nylon string guitar, I just checked out the score editor and I had the sheet music right there in front of me.
One of the reasons the score editor isn’t mentioned often is many music producers don’t know how to read music. If you do know how to read music, the score editor is an incredibly useful feature that you’ll really enjoy using.
12) Adjust the tempo, time signature, and key signature
You can also adjust the tempo, time signature, and key signature using the controls in the top-center of the interface.
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It’s worth mentioning that it’s probably not a bad idea to set these right from the beginning before you’ve created your music because it can change the MIDI and Audio notes sometimes if you do it after the fact.
In other words, if you’re in the key of A Minor, and you select the Key of D Minor instead, Garageband will actually transpose all of the notes to the new key signature, and thus change the music. However, using the Command + Z function, you can undo these changes.
You can read more about using these features in this article here.
13) Adjust transposition
Garageband also comes with a transposition track, where you can adjust the pitch of certain notes by the desired number of semi-tones or whole-tones.
The Transposition track is something I admittedly don’t use very often because I just write the music the way it needs to be right from the beginning.
However, other users might find a better purpose for it.
14) Use auto-tune and pitch correction software
Garageband comes with a very simple version of pitch-correction software, often called auto-tune, and it honestly works pretty well.
A lot of people have the misconception in their mind, however, that pitch-correction is a software program that allows producers to make a bad performance sound great. But this isn’t the case.
The truth about auto-tune and pitch correction is that it makes a great performance even better.
There are three parameters of the pitch-correction software, including the strength of the pitch correction, the key signature, as well as the “Follow Key Signature” option which will actually apply the changes.
Read more about the pitch-correction tool in Garageband at this link here.
15) It also has a note-pad for making notes as you create music
This is a feature I almost never use, but it’s one that others might find useful.
In the top-right hand side of Garageband’s interface, there is a notepad icon where you can bring up an in-built notepad for writing notes or noting other important information.
Now that I think about it, this could actually be quite useful. For instance, you could write common chord progressions for a guideline, or notes of the scale, or the notes of particular chords and how they sound.
You could also use it for reminding yourself the following day what has to be done with the song.
16) Use standard dynamics, effects, and other audio processing units like compressors, channel eq, limiters, and multipressors, many of which come with presets.
As I mentioned above, Garageband comes with a plethora of plug-ins, many of which function quite well.
For instance, it comes with a compressor, channel eq, limiter, multipressor, exciter, distortion, stereo spreader, direction mixer, filters like fuzz-gates and noise gates, delays, reverbs, phasers, and other effects.
It also comes with a list of AU plug-ins that are more sophisticated in their parameters.
Many of these also come with a spectrum analyzer or a waveform analyzer that many people, including myself, like to use.
17) Has a library of amp modelers and effect units for bass and guitar players, in addition to a huge variety of presets.
Garageband’s Amp Designer is another great thing about the software, similar to the drummer track.
The Amp Designer, essentially, is a library of pre-sets, amp models, guitar pedals, and speaker cabinets that are meant to simulate something like Amplitube 4, except you don’t have to pay for the actual simulators.
One of the great features of the Amp Designer is the ability to change the microphone position on the amp. It works pretty well, to be honest.
I would say my favorite aspect of the amp designer is the presets, which are innumerable. Each amp comes with a large collection of its own presets catered to it specifically. There are many of them.
Check out my article on the Amp Designer to learn more.
18) Automation functions for volume and any plug-in you want.
And finally, Garageband comes with automation. You automate the volume, compressor functions, the Channel EQ, fade-ins, and fade-outs, phasers, flangers, and so on and so forth.
This is useful for a number of things, including changing the dynamics, and more commonly, the volume at particular sections of the song. For instance, when mixing tracks for my client, I’ll often increase the chorus volume by 1dB just to add a bit of intensity to the choruses.
Additionally, you can even automate things like EQ sweeps, kind of like what we hear a lot in EDM music and even metal in some cases. For instance, some engineers will scoop out the lows and highs at the beginning of the song as an introductory effect to the rest of the song.
A lot can be done with automation, so it’s worth looking into.
If you want to read more about automation, I would definitely check out my article on it at this link here. It explores how to set up automation points, using examples from around 6-7 different effects and dynamics processors.
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Conclusion
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That’s all for this article. As you can see, there are a lot of things you can do with Garageband. The software isn’t quite as limited as people often say it is.
I hope this was helpful to you, and if it was, make sure to drop it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or wherever to share it with your friends. I’d appreciate that a lot.
In this tutorial today, I’m going to show you how I make bass-lines using Garageband.
Truthfully, you can create an effective low-end in a song using a Deep Sub Bass synthesizer, a bass guitar, or a traditional Boutique 808, which one you choose depends on the genre of music you’re making.
I’ll walk you through the process of making bass-lines in the first part of this guide, and then we’ll run through some music theory in the ending of the tutorial, that way, if you so choose, you can understand the theory behind why something works.
However, for the sake of not wasting time, we’ll just dive right into how I made a bass track for a recent song.
Click here for the link down below to the YouTube video.
How To Create Boutique 808s In Garageband
A lot of people like to just wing it and see what sounds good, which is a great way of going about it as well, but sometimes you may need a little extra help to make something that sounds good.
1) Figure out the Key Signature
The best way to build a bass-line, a melody, or a harmony of some kind is to understand what key you’re in first.
To this, you can just look at the very first note of your melody, either by looking at the actual standard notation option in Garageband or by clicking on the note in the Piano Grid.
Hover your cursor over the note and the DAW will tell you what note it is. This is likely the key signature of the song. Typically, the very first note of the song is representative of its key signature, but not in all cases.
Sometimes it’s the last note as well.
Let’s say you’ve made a song and the very first note is not the key signature that it’s in.
You’ll know because if the first note is A, and then you google what the notes are of A Major (A, B, C#, D, E, F#, and G#), you’ll play those notes and they won’t sound good with the rest of the music.
But at least you know that the key signature of the song features an A note.
Just open the Musical Typing in Garageband, or play the notes on the MIDI Keyboard, and play up the notes from that A.
So, you play A, then A#, then B, then B#, and then C, and then C# until you’ve figured out how many sharps in are in the song. Once you have the number of sharps, you can determine what the notes of the scale and the key signature are.
For instance, the song could be in the Key Of E Major, but the very first note of it is A.
In the Key of E Major, the notes are the following, E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, and E, which looks like this:
With that said, in most cases, you won’t have to do any of this, because usually, the first note signifies what key the song is in, so don’t worry too much.
2) Play Around With The Scale/Notes Of The Chords
Now that we’ve figured out the song is the Key of E Major, you can play around with the notes mentioned above: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, and E.
You can also use the bass-line to outline entirely new chords in the song, which will add more melodies to the song, rather than just outlining the notes of the chord.
For instance, we could play an E Major Chord with the bass-line: E, G#, and B, or an F# Minor Chord, F#, A, and C#.
Basic three-note chords are built from every other note of the scale.
After you’ve created the bass-line from playing around with the aforementioned scales and chords, you can move on to the next important – arguably the most crucial – part of the process which is mixing them so they sound cool.
In hip-hop or trap, the bassline and the boutique 808s are pretty much always matched up directly to the kick drum, which creates that strong, massive bass-sound that kicks the subwoofers in people’s cars.
You can hear the bass kicking in when people are driving around in their cars.
As I wrote in my article, 10 Tips For Better Boutique 808s, I stated that one thing I like to do is draw out the note until the next Snare beat kicks in, that way the bass stops thumping right before the Snare.
This really has the effect of illuminating or emphasizing the flow of the bass and rhythm section.
You can see what this looks like in the image below:
You can experiment with the 808 in terms of at which point you want to stop it. Playing the 808 all the way up to a clap or a snare will have the added effect of illuminating the Snare beat.
Explained in another way, if play the 808 all the way through claps and snares, it probably won’t sound as good. It’ll just sound like a bunch of noise, and won’t add to the rhythm of the track.
Moreover, If I’ve created a beat with many different kick beats (notice I didn’t say snare/claps), I’ll extend the bass-line so it plays all throughout those beats, but also at the same time, create a new bass-line – which is the same note – that falls on each kick beat.
It’s hard to explain in words so here’s what that looks like:
Another that I like to do when creating bass-lines is using what’s called a “slur,” or as guitar players call them, hammer-ons and pull-offs.
The “slur” is a term used in Western notation that signifies that two or more notes should be played together without separation.
For instance, on the guitar, it means you pick the one note with your picking hand, but then you play the rest of the notes with your left-hand without doing any more picking.
Regarding bass-lines, especially in the DAW scenario, this means that you’re quickly oscillating between one and two notes, and you usually do this so that the bass-line falls on the kick – as I noted above.
You can see what this looks like in the image below:
You don’t always have to match the bass-line with the kick, as I did in my song Lydia, which you can hear in the link below.
The very first 2 minutes of the song features a bass-line that doesn’t always match up with the kick, however, in the last section of the song, which is about 2:49 minutes in, you’ll notice that that the bass falls more on the kick notes because I’m trying to make the track far more aggressive.
Another tip for making a bass-line is to use a different instrument to play a melody, such as the piano or the bass guitar, and once you have the melody created, you can switch the software instrument track to a Boutique 808 or a Deep Sub Bass synthesizer, and then select all of the notes in the Piano Grid, and then drag and drop them to the desired octave.
I find that using the bass guitar or the piano is a great way to ensure that your bass-line sounds good melodically, and it’s also a better way to actually hear what the notes sound like, otherwise, you may find yourself with a bass-line that’s off-key – a common occurrence when producers create bass-lines.
Another important thing to keep in mind is to use a kick that has a lot of mid-range (500Hz to 2000kHz) and “punchiness” to it, so to speak.
This makes a significant difference in how the 808 and the kick work together. Personally, I’m a big fan of the Beat Machine kick.
I think it sounds great.
Also, make sure that you’re elongating the 808 note for a little while. In other words, let the note ring out. This looks like the image you can see three paragraphs down.
You’ll notice that the desired note is much longer than the shorter one. A short note won’t sound that good as a bass frequency. This matters more for actual “Boutique 808s” rather than a Deep Sub Bass synth.
If you’re confused by use of the terms, boutique 808s are actual software instruments that you can find in the Software Instrument track section in Electronic Drum-Kits.
The Deep Sub Bass synth is found in the Synthesizer sub-category.
Also, you could use pitch correction on the 808 to ensure that it’s not slightly detuned, which is a common problem when using different drum kits or bass synthesizers.
Explained in another way, you’ll hit the note ‘C,’ on your Musical Typing/MIDI Keyboard, and the note will actually be a D or possibly a C#.
This can be quite annoying when you’re trying to lay-down a bass-line because the notes you think you’re playing aren’t actually the ones you want.
Remember, to use the Pitch Correction feature, find out the Key signature of the song, and then set it in the top-center console of your DAW. Then check the box, “Limit to Key,” in the Pitch Correction option down in the Smart Controls. Slide the bar all the way over to 100.
Once you’ve created the bass-line, you can move on to the mixing of it, which is equally as important as the actual notes.
With the use of a few plug-ins, notably, the compressor, distortion, and channel EQ, you can really improve how hard they hit and how good they sound.
3) Mixing the Boutique 808/Deep Sub Bass
As I just mentioned, the mixing process is just as important, and without a doubt, distortion is the most amazing plug-in for making the boutique 808 sound more intense, aggressive, bassy, and overall, just a hell of a lot better.
Be careful when you first turn on the distortion, however, because it’s going to increase the volume of it like crazy.
Go into the plug-ins in Garageband, find distortion, which typically falls under the ‘Distortion’ section, turn it on. +6dB is usually the default setting when you first open it up.
You’ll notice you get a significant push in volume, so you can equalize this by decreasing the total output level of the track.
It’s up to you precisely how much distortion you want to use.
I’ve noticed that some forms of hip-hop, especially the kind that’s mixed with the hardcore scene, like Ghostmane – these guys love to use a ton of distortion on the bass because it makes the song far more aggressive and “metal” or “hardcore” sounding.
4) Using the compressor (this is optional)
This is optional because this doesn’t always have the desired effect.
The issue with using compressors is that you don’t want too many compressors running on your music, because, the final mix will have this wobbly “hitting-the-ceiling” type sound to it, and you don’t want that.
A track with too much compression sounds straight up terrible, so this is to be avoided.
Just be careful with the compression function. Set the ratio quite low at first to figure out precisely how much you need. Remember, a low ratio is 2:1 or 5:1. Anything closer to 8:1 or 10:1 is a lot of compressions.
From what I understand, anything past 8:1 is considered as limiting.
Another added feature of using the compressor feature is that you can maximize the loud and quiet parts of the bass-sound, thus, ensuring that the note doesn’t simply fade out in an undesirable way.
This isn’t a problem when using the Deep Sub Bass synthesizer, however.
5) Using Channel EQ
When using the Channel EQ to get the perfect 808 sound, there is a number of different things one can do.
Perhaps, the most common piece of advice you’ll hear is to decrease the frequency where the kick lies by about +2-3dB, and then you go into the Channel EQ of the boutique 808 and increase that very same EQ, rather than decrease it.
Or you can reverse it, and increase the kick and decrease the 808.
The idea behind this is to essentially carve out room for the two to co-exist and kind of feed into each other.
Truthfully, I don’t do this that often, but a lot of people recommend it. Results may vary.
What I will do, though, is I’ll increase the mids of the bass and the highs, simply because I like the way that it sounds.
Too much Sub frequencies in a bass-line don’t sound great to my ears. It just makes it sound weird in my opinion.
Music Theory To Help Your Boutique 808s
As I’ve pointed out in many of my other tutorials, a great way to understand how to build simple little harmonies is understanding basic triads, which is Latin for a group of three interconnected things, in this case, notes.
Every key signature has a corresponding scale related to it, for instance, the A Major Scale, which is made up of the notes A, B, C#, D, E, F#, and G#.
If we’ve created a song using the Key of A Major, then it’s more than likely that we have a melody that is using chords or single notes from the aforementioned scale.
The Major Scale, which is the scale on which the rest of Western Music Theory is based, is made up of 7 notes/chords.
In the case of A Major, it is the aforementioned notes:
A, B, C#, D, E, F#, and G#
The chords in the major scale are in the following order:
Major, Minor, Minor, Major, Major, Minor, Diminished.
These notes and chords are typically identified using Roman numerals, a capital roman numeral for Major and a lower-case numeral for the minor.
The little ‘º’ symbol signifies a diminished triad.
A ‘+’ means augmented.
I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, viiº
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A Major, B Minor, C# Minor, D Major, E Major, F# Minor, G# Diminished
Here are the notes of the chords above
A, C#, E = A Major
B, D, F# = B Minor
C#, E, G# = C Minor
D, F#, A = D Major
E, G#, A = E Major
F#, A, C# = F# Minor
G#, B, D = G# Diminished.
B, D, F# = B Minor
C#, E, G# = C Minor
D, F#, A = D Major
E, G#, A = E Major
F#, A, C# = F# Minor
G#, B, D = G# Diminished.
If you know what key signature your song is in, it’s easy to construct a melody, whether it’s a bass-line or a piano line, because you have 7 notes at your disposal and all of the octaves of the same note, as well as the chords.
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In my song, “Airway,” I actually constructed a bass-line using the notes of a chord, but rather than following the melody, I just created an entirely different melody altogether.
The way I just constructed chords from the notes of the chord, can be applied to every other key signature, so now you have a tool-box for creating bass-lines and other melodies.
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Once you have this figured out, you can create chords and melodies just by simply experimenting with whatever note sounds good underneath the rest of your song.
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Conclusion
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