I have a peculiar workflow with the mpc but what I do is all the sound design first (I like the challenge of making everything from scratch) and then I’ll make loops out everything but the kick and snare and basically build a performance kit. I put a ducker input on the kick/snare and then send everything else into a sub mix with a mother ducker for sidechain. Then I “perform” the song if that makes sense. It’s not conventional and can definitely be more trouble than what it’s worth when you can just sequence stuff in midi but resampling is so essential to my sound design-especially with limited effects. Plus this workflow ticks all the boxes of production skills to acquire within the mpc
Templates really are useful. I finally created a template in Studio One awhile back and it’s great to be able to just start creating without having to set the same things up every time.
Nice one - first thing I did when I got the keys 61- but still some useful tips. Oh and just bought both the sample albums vol1 & 2. Nice work. You open to suggestions for vol 3? LOL.
Hey man, ah it was you, thank you, I appreciate it. I actually pretty much have up to Volume 20 worked out. They just need to be edited and mastered. But I am always open to suggestions. Hit me up dude and thanks again conan@thecratesmotel.com
@@TheCratesMotel Well done for spotting the sale :) I just thought that a nice idea would be to have snare fills and tom fills. I'm pretty useless at playing them, and usually end up spending far too much time in the grid trying to get them sounding convincing. An album full of fills would be great for the untalented percussionists!
Thank you for the video, it’s great, i just stumbled onto your channel and subbed immediately!! Haha this definately helps me out. Quick question, after gain staging, do you just leave the master volume on the back of the mpc all the way up then?
Hey buddy, that’s a very good question. The physical volume on the back shouldn’t make any difference to the actual settings on your levels and fx chains. It’s just for monitoring or analog record out purposes, so I’ll just set it to a level that is comfortable to work with.
I'm making a project template for the Force right now. The more advanaced macro system on the Force makes is little more tedious to set it up for all the gear that I'm using for this main template. Maaaaan! this thing is a process, but will be worth it when it's done. Now when I transfer my old SP-505 MPC-2500 beats to the Force they all boring stuff out of the way. I'll pass this around for the MPC users.
It’s definitely worth taking the time to do the preparation. Yeh I agree, it can be a bit boring and tedious but definitely worth it. That would be great if you could share it. Thanks man.
Hi, thanks for this video/ I have extracted the files to drive then put onto desktop after unzipping. I dragged the template into a templates folder on mpc ssd when in controller mode. When I try and launch the template it says missing files. Im unsure what the issue is as its just the 6 files or settings along with html in one download and the executable? mpc style file in another. I put them both in a sub folder separately within the same file and also tried placing them in space but no luck. Any idea what the issue is?
Thanks for watching dude. I check the low end with them sometimes as they’re closed back. My mixing headphones are Audeze LCD-X but I also use Beyerdynamic 1990 to check the highs and high mids.
I haven’t thought this through on the MPC yet, but one thing I do in my DAW is to put a utility on the master, and push it up by 6db. That way, when I’m producing and I see the master level just hitting red on occasion, I know that I can take that utility off and have a -6db mix. Could be useful on the MPC also… 🤔
Conan again with the sauce! Does using inputs on the sampler bake them into the sample? My process at the minute is sampling to SP 202 (lofi beast) then into MPC.
Hey, yes it will do if you leave the effects on. What I do is use the effects to get an idea if the sample works, but then I sample them in dry so I can hav emore control over them later. Or you could sample in wet and dry. It's not like storage is a problem nowadays compared to the 10 seconds we had on SP1200s lol
Conan - thanks for the great stuff. I wonder if you might discuss using stereo outs only vs individual outs? I notice you and most guys seem to always just use the stereo outs. Do you prefer this? It obviously has implications for gain staging, use of internal submixes or not, etc. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Hey mate thank you for watching. To be honest I tend to use the One which doesn’t have multiple outputs, but either way, I tend to print my tracks from my MPC to my DAW and do the final mixing in there, so using multiple outs is not really necessary for me personally.
@@TheCratesMotel makes sense. So, you’re tracking in the elements individually (muting all but one) and then finalizing in the DAW and/or just tracking in the stereo mix of the MPC. I know this is fairly standard, especially back in the day. I wonder if you have any thoughts on the sonic character vs. individual outs? Picking your brain mate, sorry !;) I have a Live 2 and a decent external mixer, so I have options - but stereo out appeals to me for simplicity sake / traveling etc.
@@KelvinK_GrassRootsRecords You can record each track one by one in real time or you can bounce out the tracks into your computer via USB or explode them to individual wavs. The analog outs a clean on the new MPCs so I think of them as a clean slate where you can imprint your own character in post. In my S2400, I have 8 outs so I record them in real time as the analog converters have quite a lot of character.
Perfect. I am on the same page. I track individual outs into the DAW on separate channels. I’m pretty new to MPCs - bought an ASR back in the day - so I truly appreciate your insight. Keep spreading the knowledge. It’s much appreciated!
Mr Crates this is very helpful. I do have one question though: if the compressors have a mix where it has wet dry for parallel compression then how come you have yours on a send? Thanks for your insights
Thanks for watching. That's a great question with a rather long winded answer. Initially it is out of habit from the days when compressors did not have wet/dry knobs, however, nowadays I quite often send multiple tracks to a compressor and blend those with the main output (mix buss). If I was to place a compressor as an insert, I would only be able to affect the tracks in that program, or on that pad, but quite often I like to send all the vocals and instruments to a compressor and blend that signal win. It's kind of related to a technique known as the rear buss technique (check out Andrew Scheps Rear Buss technique) and the main aim is to hit the compressor quite hard with the everything except the drums, driving the vocals into it harder so it activates the compressor first. You then have a parallel track with the instruments and vocal, heavily compressed with the vocals almost ducking the compressor when it comes in. Then blended subtly in the mix buss it can really make a vocal stand out against the instruments. There is a lot more to it, but that is teh basic idea behind it.
My favorite MPC guy 👍🏻
Thanks for watching man, I appreciate it
💯
The professor is back and class is in. MPC MVP.
Couldn't agree with this more . This guy creates the best MPC content hands down
Aww thanks for the support dude, I appreciate it.
Thanks for watching dude
The best on RUclips dude. Humble. Real. No BS. Thank you.
Thanks man, I appreciate it.
First! Let’s see what I’m going to learn today.
Hopefully something that will put a smile on your face and please your MPC. Thanks for watching.
I was lazy to set up the template for years! Thank you for the perfect hint and the downloadable tamplate! Pure gold!
You’re welcome. Thank you for watching.
Cheers Conan
You're welcome. Thank you for watching.
Thanks again, This is very helpful Conan....
You're welcome, thank you for watching
Really looking forward to a gain staging episode as mentioned. I'm looking forward to trying your template
@@BackToTheBMX Enjoy my friend
Gratitude 🤝🏾 this will help me gravitate to the mpc a little more when I want to do a quick cook up!
Yeh man. The MPC is perfect for sketching. Thank you for watching.
I have a peculiar workflow with the mpc but what I do is all the sound design first (I like the challenge of making everything from scratch) and then I’ll make loops out everything but the kick and snare and basically build a performance kit.
I put a ducker input on the kick/snare and then send everything else into a sub mix with a mother ducker for sidechain.
Then I “perform” the song if that makes sense.
It’s not conventional and can definitely be more trouble than what it’s worth when you can just sequence stuff in midi but resampling is so essential to my sound design-especially with limited effects. Plus this workflow ticks all the boxes of production skills to acquire within the mpc
Cool thanks for sharing
Great gain staging technique. I never thought to do that with any MPC i've owned, but it totally makes sense!
Thanks for watching dude
Awesome video just got an MPC keys 37 last month new to the MPC world this helped alot we appreciate you down here in San Antonio TX 🙏
You're welcome dude. Enjoy making beats!!
Templates really are useful. I finally created a template in Studio One awhile back and it’s great to be able to just start creating without having to set the same things up every time.
Exactly
Gold content as always!
Thank you for watching
I appreciate you. Props from Oakland
Thanks for watching. Appreciation from Dubai.
Nice one - first thing I did when I got the keys 61- but still some useful tips. Oh and just bought both the sample albums vol1 & 2. Nice work. You open to suggestions for vol 3? LOL.
Hey man, ah it was you, thank you, I appreciate it. I actually pretty much have up to Volume 20 worked out. They just need to be edited and mastered. But I am always open to suggestions. Hit me up dude and thanks again conan@thecratesmotel.com
@@TheCratesMotel Well done for spotting the sale :) I just thought that a nice idea would be to have snare fills and tom fills. I'm pretty useless at playing them, and usually end up spending far too much time in the grid trying to get them sounding convincing. An album full of fills would be great for the untalented percussionists!
@@stevekirkby6570 Good shout
🤔 I didn't know about the samples
Great tutorial. I just updated my template thanks to you! I also added midi template for Korg Nanokontrol 2 to use it as a track mixer.
Awesome. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment.
Thank you for the video, it’s great, i just stumbled onto your channel and subbed immediately!! Haha this definately helps me out. Quick question, after gain staging, do you just leave the master volume on the back of the mpc all the way up then?
Hey buddy, that’s a very good question. The physical volume on the back shouldn’t make any difference to the actual settings on your levels and fx chains. It’s just for monitoring or analog record out purposes, so I’ll just set it to a level that is comfortable to work with.
great stuff, thank-you, I have learned so much from your channel.
You’re welcome dude. Spread the knowledge. 🙏🏼
Thank you!🙌
You’re welcome dude
Almost exactly what I have, good insights as usual, good job!
Thanks for watching dude
Thank you very much for your work. Very informative videos.🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching dude.
I'm making a project template for the Force right now. The more advanaced macro system on the Force makes is little more tedious to set it up for all the gear that I'm using for this main template. Maaaaan! this thing is a process, but will be worth it when it's done. Now when I transfer my old SP-505 MPC-2500 beats to the Force they all boring stuff out of the way. I'll pass this around for the MPC users.
It’s definitely worth taking the time to do the preparation. Yeh I agree, it can be a bit boring and tedious but definitely worth it. That would be great if you could share it. Thanks man.
Hi, thanks for this video/ I have extracted the files to drive then put onto desktop after unzipping. I dragged the template into a templates folder on mpc ssd when in controller mode. When I try and launch the template it says missing files. Im unsure what the issue is as its just the 6 files or settings along with html in one download and the executable? mpc style file in another. I put them both in a sub folder separately within the same file and also tried placing them in space but no luck. Any idea what the issue is?
Thanks a lot. Do youalso mix with those beyerdynamic headphone?
Thanks for watching dude. I check the low end with them sometimes as they’re closed back. My mixing headphones are Audeze LCD-X but I also use Beyerdynamic 1990 to check the highs and high mids.
I haven’t thought this through on the MPC yet, but one thing I do in my DAW is to put a utility on the master, and push it up by 6db. That way, when I’m producing and I see the master level just hitting red on occasion, I know that I can take that utility off and have a -6db mix. Could be useful on the MPC also… 🤔
Yes definitely. Kind of the same principle, but in reverse. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks brotha!
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching.
Conan again with the sauce! Does using inputs on the sampler bake them into the sample? My process at the minute is sampling to SP 202 (lofi beast) then into MPC.
Hey, yes it will do if you leave the effects on. What I do is use the effects to get an idea if the sample works, but then I sample them in dry so I can hav emore control over them later. Or you could sample in wet and dry. It's not like storage is a problem nowadays compared to the 10 seconds we had on SP1200s lol
Conan - thanks for the great stuff. I wonder if you might discuss using stereo outs only vs individual outs? I notice you and most guys seem to always just use the stereo outs. Do you prefer this? It obviously has implications for gain staging, use of internal submixes or not, etc. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Hey mate thank you for watching. To be honest I tend to use the One which doesn’t have multiple outputs, but either way, I tend to print my tracks from my MPC to my DAW and do the final mixing in there, so using multiple outs is not really necessary for me personally.
@@TheCratesMotel makes sense. So, you’re tracking in the elements individually (muting all but one) and then finalizing in the DAW and/or just tracking in the stereo mix of the MPC. I know this is fairly standard, especially back in the day. I wonder if you have any thoughts on the sonic character vs. individual outs? Picking your brain mate, sorry !;) I have a Live 2 and a decent external mixer, so I have options - but stereo out appeals to me for simplicity sake / traveling etc.
@@KelvinK_GrassRootsRecords You can record each track one by one in real time or you can bounce out the tracks into your computer via USB or explode them to individual wavs. The analog outs a clean on the new MPCs so I think of them as a clean slate where you can imprint your own character in post. In my S2400, I have 8 outs so I record them in real time as the analog converters have quite a lot of character.
Perfect. I am on the same page. I track individual outs into the DAW on separate channels. I’m pretty new to MPCs - bought an ASR back in the day - so I truly appreciate your insight. Keep spreading the knowledge. It’s much appreciated!
Mr Crates this is very helpful. I do have one question though: if the compressors have a mix where it has wet dry for parallel compression then how come you have yours on a send? Thanks for your insights
Thanks for watching. That's a great question with a rather long winded answer. Initially it is out of habit from the days when compressors did not have wet/dry knobs, however, nowadays I quite often send multiple tracks to a compressor and blend those with the main output (mix buss). If I was to place a compressor as an insert, I would only be able to affect the tracks in that program, or on that pad, but quite often I like to send all the vocals and instruments to a compressor and blend that signal win. It's kind of related to a technique known as the rear buss technique (check out Andrew Scheps Rear Buss technique) and the main aim is to hit the compressor quite hard with the everything except the drums, driving the vocals into it harder so it activates the compressor first. You then have a parallel track with the instruments and vocal, heavily compressed with the vocals almost ducking the compressor when it comes in. Then blended subtly in the mix buss it can really make a vocal stand out against the instruments. There is a lot more to it, but that is teh basic idea behind it.
Very much appreciate your taking the time to explain!!!
What headphones are those?
Beyerdynamic DT770 250ohms
where did you get those q-link rotary buttons and that jog weel?
Check the bottom of the description dude, they’re linked there. Amazon. I’m not affiliated.
Amazing video !! ✌🏾✌🏾
You’re me if I’d followed my dream. The least I can do is give a like and a follow 😅
Thanks for watching. The dream is still there!
👌👍
🙏🏼
Ex-so-lent info.
Than kew sir 🙏🏼