As many of you guys know I’ve been getting involved in multiple projects, one of them is x-tra sour… We’ve got a new track for you and would love to share this with anyone who enjoys our music and those who you think might.

Ok, wanna download it? click here:

http://www.xtrasour.com/XTS/beat-yah/

Enjoy!

– Juan

Please help stop this!

– Juan –

I’m excited to announce that our first X-Tra Sour release has been released on Fricton Recordings!  The single also includes three bangin’ Techno remixes follow along after with artists:

The EP is available for download directly from Juno!

Also check out our X-Tra Sour Page @ http://www.xtrasour.com

More about Friction @ http://frictionrecordings.com

Ok guys this is a quick post. I’m really sorry I don’t have the time at the moment to make a video showing you how I use this, but I’ll try to do a quick write up. I use this strip whenever I want to do a quick master to make my tracks sound more professional sounding when testing them in a club scenario. The idea is actually rather simple, I’ll explain below but first let me me show you around.

Everything I use on this rack can be found in the Ableton device browser. I’ve just mapped a couple of things here and there to add more functionality. The key thing which makes this rack important is the fact that the crossovers for the Multiband Dynamics and my custom multiband images are mapped to two macros and thus are shared between the two devices. This allows me to use only 2 macros to keep the frequency bands synced between the compression/expansion device and my multiband imager, the rest is fairly standard mastering techniques.

When I use this I start with everything except for the spectrum analyzer turned off. I then play the track I’m trying to master and use my ears and eyes to hear the music and get a visual representation as to what I’m hearing. Remember that by the time you are at this point your track should already be mixed the way you want it. Use this only to do minor adjustments so you can make the track louder.

The first thing I turn on is the EQ and I usually do not bost, but rather I attenuate the sound to smooth things out a tad, not much. If I need to do more than a few db adjustments I go back to the mix.

Next I enable the mutiband dynamics and I start lowering the threshhold, the ratio on the plugin is usually what I use it’s about a 1:4 more or less. with quicker attackes and releases on the high frequencies, and just a bit more in the lower ones as you can see from the picture above. Then I compress so I get just about a 3 to 5db max per band. I then will start tweaking the crossover until I feel that the track has a bit more oomph without killing the energy of it. You’ll know what sounds best, and it will be very subtle.

If the track needs it I then turn on the multiband imager and I make the lower end more mono, but just a tad–around 95%. The mid around 103% and the high around 110%. this is just enough to widen the frequencies without washing the sound out. There is just one trick with the imager that can be a little gotcha since all the bands are going through the device rack 1ms delay actually means 0ms this is because everything is being delayed 1ms so don’t let that fool you. What this means is that the low is delayed 0ms while the mid and high are delayed 0.15ms. This is ever so slightly of a day, in fact if it sounds odd don’t even delay the mid and if you are going to delay the mid then make sure that the low/mid crossover is not in the bass tone range.

Lastly I use a limiter to make things loud. You want to boost the signal until you see it engaging. maybe 2db or 3db max and this for peaks. You should barely see orange there. Use your ears don’t let the sound change, just make it loud, also keep you eye on the master channel and be sure that you have about 8db to 10db dynamic range. Set the look ahead to the highest as it will give you the smoothest results.

And that’s it really. Your track should be nice and loud now.

Here is the download: MasteringStrip.alp

– Juan

ps… sorry for the bad grammar, this was supposed to be a quick post…

The first thing to being efficient is knowing your environment, and also what tools are available for you. It’s crucial that you also know hot to get those tools quickly and without having to constantly shift from one input device to another, so learn your key commands and familiarize yourself with the layout of your menus as well as the layout of your library.

Before we get started keep in mind that what I’m about to tell you is actually on the Live user manual. (17.6.2 Slicing) The slicing functionality can be found by accessing the audio clip contextual menu. This is achieved by right clicking on an audio clip and selecting “slice to new MIDI track”. You’ll be prompted to with a couple of selections, one being the element you want to use as a split point, (time measure, markers, transients) and also they slicing preset.

By default Live comes with several slicing presets and all which are really useful. However, you are not confined to these. The “Defaults” folder in your Live library contains a series of sub-folders which are used for creating your own default behavior when doing such things as slicing or dropping new audio files, etc. Section  16.1.1 “Live Default Presets” covers some of this. In fact here is what the manual has to say about creating your own:

Default Presets

Presets saved to the Defaults folders in Live’s Library will load in place of Live’s generic device settings. There are also Defaults folders that allow you to customize how Live responds to various user actions, such as sample dropping and slicing.

To save the current settings of a device as a default preset, open the (PC) / Ctrl (Mac) context menu on the device’s header and select Save as Default Preset. This works

The Save Preset Button.

The Default Presets folders in Live’s Library.CHAPTER16. WORKINGWITHINSTRUMENTSANDEFFECTS 218

for all of Live’s instruments, MIDI effects and audio effects (including the various types of Racks). If you have already saved a default preset for a particular device, Live will ask you before overwriting it.

To specify how Live behaves when dragging a sample to a Drum Rack or the Track View of a MIDI track:

• Create an empty Simpler or Sampler

• Adjust the parameters as you like

• Drag the edited device to the On Drum Rack or On Track View folder, which can be found at Library/Defaults/Dropping Samples

To adjust how Live behaves when slicing an audio le: • Create an empty Drum Rack • Add an empty Simpler or Sampler to the Drum Rack to create a single chain • Add any additional MIDI or Audio Effects to this chain • Adjust parameters in any of the devices • Assign Macro Controls to any of the controls in the chain’s devices • Drag the entire Drum Rack to the Library/Defaults/Slicing folder

You can create multiple slicing presets and choose between them in the Slicing Preset chooser in the slicing dialog.

 

In the following video I will describe how you can exponentially  speed up your Drum Rack building process by using these tools. I’ve also add some of my own little tricks for speeding. I will be moving fairly fast on this video so try and keep up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n0ubs2bVDM

Ok so it sounds like a lot to take in at first, but it really does open up a whole bunch of new possibilities allowing you to control a number of events which otherwise you would need maxforlive for. But don’t take my word for it see it for yourself…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCFFIVCculI

You can download the script from the beatwise network blog. You don’t need to be a member thought I highly suggest you do these kids are doing some mazing stuff!

http://beatwise.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=production&action=display&thread=716

Another great tool from nativeKONTROL is Macrobat. This MIDI Remote script that adds a bunch of new functionality to Racks in Live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKXsZeMliHk

Here is how you can download this script:

http://beatwise.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=production&action=display&thread=712

If you thought that it was only possible to explore granular synth with max for live think again! This drum rack makes it possible for you to turn sampler is a granular synthesis machine.

I’ve been playing with this device rack and it’s amazing! The rack uses a arpeggiators to create grains and velocity devices to offset the sample start position. I have to say this is simply brilliant! But don’t take my word for it. Watch his video and download the device with the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ2K_GPtc6g

Here is the original post from the Ableton Forums:

garyboozy Post subject: Granular synth / time stretching rack [Sampler, 8.1] Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 2:55 pm Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:27 pm Posts: 1534 Location: UK here’s the latest version of my VeloStretch rack for Live 8/Sampler. free!new version 3 makes the rack a playable granular synth; now it can play chords!  also improved: the ‘spray’ for finer dispersion of the ‘grains’. much smoother buzz-free sounds. i’ve also added a Velocity device to further mangle the grains. try the ‘drive’ parameter to alter the acceleration curve of the sample playback. >>> download <<< Last edited by garyboozy on Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:13 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Here is a quick little tool to do some glitchy like effects on vocals. The top row controls a series of beat repeats, 3 to be precise. You can set the grid of the repeat with macros 2, 3, and 4. Then use macro 1 “Engage Grid” to mix between them. At 0 your dry signal goes through, as you raise the dial you will cycle through Beat Repeat 1 2 and finally 3.

The bottom row is used to change pitch, and add some grains. The first knob changes pitch using a Frequency Shifter. Then the macro 6 also changes pitch but using Grain Delay, so you can do some further glitching when engaging the “spray” and “freq” macros. These will all come in handy when automating in the arrangement view.

Anyway try it out for yourself…

Here is the pack:  glitcher.alp

Enjoy!