Looks like Steve Duda is at the root of the Deadmau5 Kick Rant - ruclips.net/video/5Bzu8xNp5X4/видео.html Shoutout to Pyramind & Marcell Kovacs for sparking this whole video! Full 3hr Duda Video - ruclips.net/video/MOUkI5hH2HY/видео.html
if you want to know why staying big picture makes you more creative rather then focusing on something specific look up diffused mode in psychology and you can see this is actually a part of how the human brain works
back in th' 80's before genres you have an idea about what you want your song, your creation, to be like, maybe how it fits into ambient memetics, but not to fit into a generic application. if you let people tell you how to do something, to define your vision by trust, you are open to all manner of poisons. sustaining, humming kicks are fun as fuck to ride on, to bounce up and down on, pending actually having decent acoustics, but this one tale can trap you into a practice that can rob you of your finest years of creativity and impulse. in the early 90s nobody was ignoring gabber because the kicks were too long... boingboingboing that's good stuff.
yeah that was the biggest take away for me, make the kick a reference point for the listener so they think its big, and then, go BIGGER with the bass haha, cool tip
Steve Duda is the one who came up with so many of the clever tricks deadmau5 uses and its unreal how well together they work. They were made for each other
Deadmau5 and Duda are real good because they're some of the few dance producers to put "you can't have loud without quiet" into practice. In an age of dance music that's all brick walls sausage limited, it's nice to hear their stuff.
12 years of making music and I still get a tiny tip from Steve almost every time I hear him talk... Also I've played about 40 of my own productions on "big systems"... you don't want muddy low end, for sure.
I’ve never heard music explained like this. “Feels like water after being in the desert” when talking about deprecation of bass. Love the commentary and short form video. Thank you!!!
Watch the whole Pyramind talk! Duda is so insightful and you'll remember his tips years down the track! One that stuck with me is, when you introduce a new instrument or sound, automate the volume (e.g using Utility in Ableton) instead of the Gain for the entire track. This lets you bring that instrument track into focus for a moment, and then back down once its had its moment (and automate it back down to clear space in your mix)
I wish I had someone to help me out like this, Joel is really lucky to have met him, I strongly believe without Steve there would be no Deadmau5 or at least we would have a very different Mau5 lol. I have been doing music production for quite sometime all by myself and just starting to get noticed a bit now only years later. It's a tough life but alright, I really do manage by myself, but it gets tough at times and I wish I had someone to share the passion with in my studio. I learn everything myself. I would die to have a friend this cool to geek out with at the very least, magic is meant to happen when people make such cool and strong connections. Cheers and thank you immensely for sharing that!
As a wise man once said: Production is *reduction.* I'm an amateur but I am starting to think about my mixes in this way too. Typically I find when I start getting a general vibe going I start muting various elements - and per what I learned in another Sol State vid, if you don't miss the element you just paused, don't bring it back! Think of kicks this way too, in the context of your mix if you shorten it and it works better, don't elongate it again because it sounds good on its own. Think about preserving the core of your idea as much as possible.
All good tips. Side note, learning to effectively simplify takes time, so don't get discouraged. I think this is the video Winterlogical mentioned - ruclips.net/video/QZf8mzMD0Oo/видео.html
This is so odd to read because I came to this exact conclusion last night while working on something. After 8 years of producing lol. Twisting my melon man.
margix the same rules apply to an orchestra, you don't want your kettle drums banging away when your tuba or bassoon is trying to play a melody. There's a difference between playing and composition and this video is primarily about composition not playing. But it was nice of you to stop by.
this next tip is also very useful in arrangements: there's a psychoacoustic effect that states that the listener gets completely used to the constant bass/sub bass in about _40 seconds_ (or even less). so by that time, huge kicks won't sound huge, constant basses won't be as good. that's why Duda talks about _excitement:_ if you make breakdowns or just parts without kick/bass relatively often, you preserve the punch and the excitement, the listener doesn't get bored/used to it (if you don't want to remove your sub, you can also change its pitch, btw!) also, if you are making techno with huge quarter note humming and rumbling kicks, try making the sample of the kick fall in volume (doesn't have to be to -inf db), this will 1) preserve the punch and the excitement 2) allow for much more headroom in general, not just in the low end hope this helps! :p
@@margix1172 I can play 8 different "real" instruments proficiently and I still enjoy both listening to and producing electronic music, but go off I guess.
Recently, I've found this to be true. Shorter kicks really makes a difference when aiming to create more space. Your channel is my favorite for music production and I won't get tired of saying it. Those edits of the kicks graphically showing what Steve was explaining was spot on. Big fan.
@@margix1172 So bitter. At least I already play the piano. Though, thanks to all this technology we can create extremely complex sounds that not many instruments allow us to express.
@@margix1172 learn to chill, these are different pursuits. do you yell the same thing to people doing talk radio or people painting or building furniture?
@@cornoc For sure LOTS of "modern art" (read CRAP) have the same value compared to a Michelangelo or Leonardo paint like a piece of shit in front to the Gioconda . And so is for "music" made with dumb machines, more humans use computers and more DUMB they become.
Creativity and editing are mutually exclusive. A good workflow I've developed over the years is to first add all the ingredients without judgement or editing). I then come back to edit and remove what's not adding to the core of the track to make it stronger/better. Following this I'll come back to review prior to mixing to make sure nothing is overlooked like wonky programming. After taking a break I'll come back to mix with fresh ears. And then finally come back to master with fresh ears. This separation is more about the headspace required to do each task properly, because it actively requires different parts of the brain and to do it effectively requires preparation and the proper mindset.
I don't think creativity and editing are fully mutually exclusive, but i know this workflow helps MANY people. I think it's just nice to know what hat your wearing - creator/editor - and not stray too far. A big part of what you're saying is about taking breaks - which works wonders for me too!
my prefference - short to medium kicks. eq the mids and or highs to adjust the clicky-nes and 60 hertz for the punch AND highpassing if there is too much rumbble, doing that while comparing it to the mix. if the kick is too loud after the eq, i use a soft clipper to limit it. another thing - if i really like a kick but it has a long sub tail, i fade it out.
@ 04:20 I'm the kind of person who takes an immense amount of pride in using the right words that accurately express my thoughts. However, this onomatopoeia made me understand. He used the right words but I wouldn't have been able to imagine what he meant even if I had heard the song. Some people are just so much better at teaching.
I love that advice about the kick being shorter but adding the reverb to almost fake the natural big club reverb you would get. giving the bass even more room to play.
I'm a passionate producer and musician for over 40 years now. (I created this account just to comment, I don't want to reveal my artist name), Quincy Jones is a close friend of mine. I remember when he asked me: "Who do you make your music for?" ... I answered "for no one but myself!".... And Quincy laughed and said, "Right answer! Only for you! Not for the others, not for any events, and not for the clubs! Just for YOU!" ... Then I said "but of course it means the world to me if others like it and I make money with my music!" Quincy laughed again and said "Of course! And it's the best feeling in the world to become successful with something you made just for you!". I would never mix music like that to have the poor acoustics of a club in mind. If a great track that was mixed in an acoustically perfect room is terrible booming in a club, then the problem is the acoustics of the club, not the track. The video just made me shake my head, because there are tracks with long 808 kick drums, with a fat sub bass underneath, and in an acoustically good club it sounds incredible! So my advice to any real producer: Make music for YOU, not to please others. Mix your track the way YOU like it, but still keep certain basic rules in mind. Don't ask yourself if your track sounds good in a stupid club, if it sounds great on a reference system, on your kitchen radio, on a hi-fi system and in the car, then you've done everything right! Deadmau is a cool guy, but his music and methods are not to be taken as a reference. END OF STORY.
That's a great story, but the reality of the music business is that the trailblazers get to live that what Q said and then the endless clones make music to please others. And I don't know that in and of itself that's a bad thing, but it is quite often. However, I have made music to please others many times in my life. Who hasn't written a song to impress a girl? I've made dance tracks when the pleasure I get isn't from the song, but seeing the effect it has on people in the club, and most musicians will agree that seeing the effect on others is the true rush of being onstage. I like Deadmau5 a lot, but I think his music is trash. He makes fun of Skrillex for being a moron, but the complexity of Equinox blows away anything mau5 has ever done. Funny isn't it?
Imagine being a sound engineer working in a venue and not caring about the acoustic of the place. "Hey, it sounds good in theory, but the venue sounds bad..." That would make for a very short career :)
Great nfo!!! As a live sound engineer I learned to use my gates to tame that stuff even if the artist doesn't "get it" - almost every style of music eventually ruins the low bass area for live PA work - 40-400hz is a tricky place to fiddle, leave it to the pro's!
I used to love “Hey Baby” back then…I always loved those dirty distorted saw wave bass lines in like 2006. I remember I saw deadmau5 playing a club way back before he was as famous, and I asked him to play that song and he just shook his head. Now I know why lol
I have so many sample packs but always have to make my own kicks, kicks drive me up the wall in sample packs, you can always tell a kick that is made from a kick generator like Big kick, or kick 2, because there is always a gap between the hit and the sub layer, they’re always so boomy and long, I’ve always found using shorter kicks are so much cleaner for mixes, oliver is good with this too.
That's actually kind of similar to what Ian Kirkpatrick said in a stream once: If you want a sound to be huge and hit bigger, turn down all other sounds in relation to that to make it stand out. And also leave enough headroom on all tracks so you can have space to expand into when you want to go louder. If everything is loud, then in relation to each other everything will be the same loudness and that's the same as everything being quiet. That was really an eyeopener for me. It matters, what the sounds do in relation to each other, not what they do in solo.
haha i fly through samples like that also in fl studio.. when im looking for a certain sound indeed. think when youre producing for a while you become faster in searching for samples
The company Balance Mastering has free club soundsystem impulse responses. This could help to approximate the sound of club speakers on studio monitoring / headphone systems.
Flashcore producers clearly were 20years ahead (almost 30 even, look up Cybermouse - Adrenalin Structure) of everyone else. The concept of sounds being as short as possible is basically the idea behind its inception as La Peste notes in the Flashcore Manifesto. However its not only kicks its literally sonic manipulation at atomic level. IMO the ultimate in electronic music.
I didn't know I was using the same deadmau5 method for searching right kick 😂 But years ago I was getting lost in searching or synthesizing the right one. Now if it sounds good it is the right one, and I go to the next part. 💁♂️😁
This long kick "debate" wouldn't be a thing if people took in consideration where a music genre is suppose to be play. Big room for exemple is a festival genre (like big room techno or hardstyle), so the kick have that space to live and stay punchy because festival happens outside or in really big space, but playing big room stuff in club doesn't make sense. DJing culture is progressively being replace by "producer culture" where producer play as DJ without having the knowledge of what DJing is all about (they just play their own track in their own niche genre because it's easier/cheaper than doing a live show), and new producer/DJ see those big name that are great producer, but not all great DJ, but they took them as reference for DJing, and so they don't see why a genre can't be play anywhere and don't apply this knowledge to their production. I know it's a theory that sound like non sense, but it's a slow thing I notice that happen over a long time period, not just in 2 or 3 years.
i def see where youre coming from, since production is coming more available to people, its the main entry point for new musicians, certainly was for me, and you see the largest 'DJs' who are really producers using large festivals as a circuit to share their music, whereas the art of DJing to a crowd has been left behind. Still, theres something to be said how one skill can be learnt quicker than the other
this makes so much sense and was really interesting to read. I completely see what you mean. Do you think all the producers producing electronic music should work on live performance ? I love both of them to be honest. I think a good FOH monitor Ingeneer can go a long way in making the music being played fit the sound system, for a dj & a live show
@@christiand8243 This isn't really about music theory, it's more a thing of (practical) experience/the context in which somebody makes the music - knowing scales won't help with these kind of things, and lists with all the common settings regarding db's, hz's for each genre and the like won't either
I have a question: What happens if the style you are producing, the kick is simply the most important part of the song and is simply fastest ? I'm talking about hardcore or even fastest genres like french or terror. How do you make space for this?
It depends on the kick you're making even outside of specific sub genres. Pretty much 99% hardcore kicks go like this Tik - A very short part at the start of the kick that sounds like a "click" or quick "t". Basically, it's the transient that makes the kick pop out. Tok - This is the first sound that a normal listener will first hear. It's essentially the punch that makes the kick standout. Most mainstream hardcore kicks have a woodblock type of sound. For uptempo, its common to hear a "piep" sound. Tail - This is the "last" part the listener will hear. For simplicity, it's the "oomph" or bass of the kick. They are either sidechained in or exists in the kick overall (older hardcore kicks did the latter) These three elements are very important in making a kick. Some kicks might be long and tonal (like an 808 kick) while others might be more bouncy (frenchcore). It depends on what you're aiming for. I'd suggest on getting a kick sample pack (Laur Hardcore Kicks is one) and analyze them. Personally, I think making the tok is the hardest process.
Kicks are an art. Less kick tail = less low end. But that decision depends on your goal, and genre. Just keep practicing and don't forget to use YOUR ears
in 7:30 would the reverb on the kick still remain even as the bass comes in? or would the bass fill the low end so that the reverb isn't necessary anymore?
Two great dudes 🙏 A Subpac paired with good headphones gives great results when it comes to the feel and making space in the low end. It cost me around 200 dollars and it was def worth it! In my experience, a sub is kind of a distraction and you don’t really get the kick and sub to interact for a club PA.
I think I needed to hear this more than anyone have been making perfect kicks for 3 years now and always wondering what's stopping the vibe from scaling up systems. I admit I love long kicks, it's a poison.
I love how this somehat contradicts what Fox Stevenson always says. Fox is obsessed about not loosing bass. I say yes you do want to loose bass sometime cause bass rhythm is groovier than wall of bass that happens all the time
@@SolStateMusic some kind of dynamics is important though for sure, I have a tune I heard on a system recently that had the same problem as the deadmau5 one; not enough sub dynamics and it’s just a big swimming pool of bass and it loses impact, where as the stuff that I think I have lopped too much out of hits way better! Even just pitch movement in the sub will help you defeat this. I think the emphasis on movement (Steve: wat it dooooo) is super important, wether it comes from gain reduction or freq is dependent on song/style
I come from rock music, where traditionally nothing is played in clubs, and the kick and bass are eq’ed out of each other’s way. So when they say genre matters, it makes me laugh, cos in rock you can have much longer kicks. In fact, the short transient kicks in dance music really surprised me when I started listening to EDM stuff
@@notnoaintno5134 That’s very true, although for different reasons, right? Because those metal kicks have to be a sixteenth note long or shorter because the next hit comes a sixteenth note later. It might be interesting to note that the fast metal tends to use samples for their kicks, which is less common in other rock and metal genres.
Lol I remember “Hey baby” was bumping that and playing around with my copy of FL studio 7 wondering who deadmow 5 was. I found out about him because he made some of the sytrus patches in FL Studio.
Great talk, essential for all kinds of beats. I love to mess with kicks and space making experimental beats. Love the use of sonic artifacts to created the illusion of the boom tearing up the space it is in. Like it hardly fits in the track 😊 it’s all illusion
Looks like Steve Duda is at the root of the Deadmau5 Kick Rant - ruclips.net/video/5Bzu8xNp5X4/видео.html
Shoutout to Pyramind & Marcell Kovacs for sparking this whole video!
Full 3hr Duda Video - ruclips.net/video/MOUkI5hH2HY/видео.html
By sparking you mean stealing content from, right?
if you want to know why staying big picture makes you more creative rather then focusing on something specific look up diffused mode in psychology and you can see this is actually a part of how the human brain works
Oh wow, thanks! 😅
I remember watching that Pyramind video years ago and thinking then there was so much gold. Great job editing it for the topic
back in th' 80's before genres you have an idea about what you want your song, your creation, to be like, maybe how it fits into ambient memetics, but not to fit into a generic application. if you let people tell you how to do something, to define your vision by trust, you are open to all manner of poisons. sustaining, humming kicks are fun as fuck to ride on, to bounce up and down on, pending actually having decent acoustics, but this one tale can trap you into a practice that can rob you of your finest years of creativity and impulse. in the early 90s nobody was ignoring gabber because the kicks were too long... boingboingboing that's good stuff.
The craziest part about this is that Steve Duda had a "Sol State" sticker on his laptop 10 years ago... dude is an OG fan man! 😉
He was a fan before I existed. If that's not proof Steve's a genius, I don't know what is 😂
Lmao that’s what I thought the whole time
I have been trolled
Oh I thought it was just a png covering the logo of the computer, or did I just not get the joke? 💀
@@Yuuna_Sol u didn't get the joke lmao
The video being 8:08 long is the pure genius.
Jokes aside, this clarified a lot for me, intuitively. Thanks.
That last tip was huge. High end frequency reverb on a kick… illusion (huge kick) and then the bass hits (actual low end information) result=massive.
Thank you for mentioning! I love using high end reverb on kicks and I think a lot of people should do the same
Real drum kit recordings are in a room and the room mics are soooo important, even for the kick.
Same principal can apply to samples/electronic kicks.
yeah that was the biggest take away for me, make the kick a reference point for the listener so they think its big, and then, go BIGGER with the bass haha, cool tip
Or even a gated verb kick would be cool
Does that work on cats?
Steve Duda is the one who came up with so many of the clever tricks deadmau5 uses and its unreal how well together they work. They were made for each other
Steve is the engineer and Joel is the artist, they complement each other perfectly
@@marcellkovacs5452 their joint work is called BSOD its their artist name
@@realityonx3063 yeah, I love BSOD
more like steve made joel
Dude how do I get the music symbol nxt to my username
Deadmau5 and Duda are real good because they're some of the few dance producers to put "you can't have loud without quiet" into practice.
In an age of dance music that's all brick walls sausage limited, it's nice to hear their stuff.
12 years of making music and I still get a tiny tip from Steve almost every time I hear him talk... Also I've played about 40 of my own productions on "big systems"... you don't want muddy low end, for sure.
trusting in the mix and dynamics seems so hard sometimes but then i remember its gonna be freakin loud when its played lol
Steve is just one of those people that gets to the essence of any topic. Gotta love him
@@margix1172 How do you know they don’t play instruments?
@@margix1172 bro every music producer know how to play at least one instrument wdym
i know how to play 4 instruments wut
@@margix1172 Shit! Who let you in here??
I’ve never heard music explained like this.
“Feels like water after being in the desert” when talking about deprecation of bass.
Love the commentary and short form video.
Thank you!!!
Mate it's all those Vengeance packs that everybody used to buy a few years ago. Those kicks are HUGE.
Watch the whole Pyramind talk! Duda is so insightful and you'll remember his tips years down the track! One that stuck with me is, when you introduce a new instrument or sound, automate the volume (e.g using Utility in Ableton) instead of the Gain for the entire track. This lets you bring that instrument track into focus for a moment, and then back down once its had its moment (and automate it back down to clear space in your mix)
Yup, definitely worth watching the original Pyramind video if you have 3 hours!
this guy is such a great speaker, really felt like i could understand everything well
Duda's the best!
I wish I had someone to help me out like this, Joel is really lucky to have met him, I strongly believe without Steve there would be no Deadmau5 or at least we would have a very different Mau5 lol.
I have been doing music production for quite sometime all by myself and just starting to get noticed a bit now only years later. It's a tough life but alright, I really do manage by myself, but it gets tough at times and I wish I had someone to share the passion with in my studio. I learn everything myself. I would die to have a friend this cool to geek out with at the very least, magic is meant to happen when people make such cool and strong connections.
Cheers and thank you immensely for sharing that!
As a wise man once said: Production is *reduction.* I'm an amateur but I am starting to think about my mixes in this way too. Typically I find when I start getting a general vibe going I start muting various elements - and per what I learned in another Sol State vid, if you don't miss the element you just paused, don't bring it back! Think of kicks this way too, in the context of your mix if you shorten it and it works better, don't elongate it again because it sounds good on its own. Think about preserving the core of your idea as much as possible.
All good tips. Side note, learning to effectively simplify takes time, so don't get discouraged.
I think this is the video Winterlogical mentioned - ruclips.net/video/QZf8mzMD0Oo/видео.html
This is so odd to read because I came to this exact conclusion last night while working on something. After 8 years of producing lol. Twisting my melon man.
LEARN A REAL INSTRUMENT AND CREATE REAL MUSIC MASS OF TALENTLESS IDIOTS!
margix the same rules apply to an orchestra, you don't want your kettle drums banging away when your tuba or bassoon is trying to play a melody. There's a difference between playing and composition and this video is primarily about composition not playing. But it was nice of you to stop by.
@@margix1172 herp de derpy derp
I remember watching that pyramind video years ago and taking it to heart. Made me the mixer I am today for sure
Amazing! Duda's certainly got a way with words
Transient plugins and decay in ADSR have become my most useful tools lately, Shaping your kicks does get the job done.
this next tip is also very useful in arrangements:
there's a psychoacoustic effect that states that the listener gets completely used to the constant bass/sub bass in about _40 seconds_ (or even less). so by that time, huge kicks won't sound huge, constant basses won't be as good. that's why Duda talks about _excitement:_ if you make breakdowns or just parts without kick/bass relatively often, you preserve the punch and the excitement, the listener doesn't get bored/used to it (if you don't want to remove your sub, you can also change its pitch, btw!)
also, if you are making techno with huge quarter note humming and rumbling kicks, try making the sample of the kick fall in volume (doesn't have to be to -inf db), this will 1) preserve the punch and the excitement 2) allow for much more headroom in general, not just in the low end
hope this helps! :p
that last part about dubstep is really enlightening
@@margix1172 weak bait
@@thetarealm simply the truth
@@margix1172 good one
@@margix1172 Imagine being this much of a douche, poor guy.
@@iWantAMod It's interesting how truth can be so disturbing for so many people
actually that dubstep kick reverb trick is a super nice tip! I hadn't even thought of that!
LEARN A REAL INSTRUMENT AND CREATE REAL MUSIC MASS OF TALENTLESS IDIOTS!
@@margix1172 I can play 8 different "real" instruments proficiently and I still enjoy both listening to and producing electronic music, but go off I guess.
@@margix1172 what do you mean with "a real instrument"? What about instruments that aren't real, what are they then?
Recently, I've found this to be true. Shorter kicks really makes a difference when aiming to create more space. Your channel is my favorite for music production and I won't get tired of saying it. Those edits of the kicks graphically showing what Steve was explaining was spot on. Big fan.
Thanks bud 🙌
Depends what style of edm youre making. In Hardstyle/hardcore its all about the kick,
@@margix1172 So bitter. At least I already play the piano. Though, thanks to all this technology we can create extremely complex sounds that not many instruments allow us to express.
@@margix1172 learn to chill, these are different pursuits. do you yell the same thing to people doing talk radio or people painting or building furniture?
@@cornoc For sure LOTS of "modern art" (read CRAP) have the same value compared to a Michelangelo or Leonardo paint like a piece of shit in front to the Gioconda . And so is for "music" made with dumb machines, more humans use computers and more DUMB they become.
Creativity and editing are mutually exclusive. A good workflow I've developed over the years is to first add all the ingredients without judgement or editing). I then come back to edit and remove what's not adding to the core of the track to make it stronger/better. Following this I'll come back to review prior to mixing to make sure nothing is overlooked like wonky programming. After taking a break I'll come back to mix with fresh ears. And then finally come back to master with fresh ears. This separation is more about the headspace required to do each task properly, because it actively requires different parts of the brain and to do it effectively requires preparation and the proper mindset.
I don't think creativity and editing are fully mutually exclusive, but i know this workflow helps MANY people. I think it's just nice to know what hat your wearing - creator/editor - and not stray too far. A big part of what you're saying is about taking breaks - which works wonders for me too!
@@SolStateMusicone more benefit is committing to ideas and then moving on to the next chapter. Thanks for the great content!
This is the best channel for music production tips hands down 100%
This channel is a true gem for producers.
my prefference - short to medium kicks. eq the mids and or highs to adjust the clicky-nes and 60 hertz for the punch AND highpassing if there is too much rumbble, doing that while comparing it to the mix. if the kick is too loud after the eq, i use a soft clipper to limit it.
another thing - if i really like a kick but it has a long sub tail, i fade it out.
nailed the video length at 8:08
Wow, this was incredibly insightful. You are still my favorite production page, pure knowledge no filler, appreciate your work Sol 🙏
Aw thanks, glad this was helpful!
this channel has so much insane value. Thanks for doing this man
Thank uu
@ 04:20 I'm the kind of person who takes an immense amount of pride in using the right words that accurately express my thoughts. However, this onomatopoeia made me understand. He used the right words but I wouldn't have been able to imagine what he meant even if I had heard the song. Some people are just so much better at teaching.
3:28 The real Steve Shady spittin bars
Ahahahh
Saw that Deadmou5 vid before. Now seeing this one, I now have a new perspective on kicks and will apply that to my next set of tunes.
Awesome! Hope this helps ;)
I love that advice about the kick being shorter but adding the reverb to almost fake the natural big club reverb you would get. giving the bass even more room to play.
I'm a passionate producer and musician for over 40 years now. (I created this account just to comment, I don't want to reveal my artist name), Quincy Jones is a close friend of mine. I remember when he asked me: "Who do you make your music for?" ... I answered "for no one but myself!".... And Quincy laughed and said, "Right answer! Only for you! Not for the others, not for any events, and not for the clubs! Just for YOU!" ... Then I said "but of course it means the world to me if others like it and I make money with my music!" Quincy laughed again and said "Of course! And it's the best feeling in the world to become successful with something you made just for you!".
I would never mix music like that to have the poor acoustics of a club in mind. If a great track that was mixed in an acoustically perfect room is terrible booming in a club, then the problem is the acoustics of the club, not the track. The video just made me shake my head, because there are tracks with long 808 kick drums, with a fat sub bass underneath, and in an acoustically good club it sounds incredible! So my advice to any real producer: Make music for YOU, not to please others. Mix your track the way YOU like it, but still keep certain basic rules in mind. Don't ask yourself if your track sounds good in a stupid club, if it sounds great on a reference system, on your kitchen radio, on a hi-fi system and in the car, then you've done everything right! Deadmau is a cool guy, but his music and methods are not to be taken as a reference. END OF STORY.
That's a great story, but the reality of the music business is that the trailblazers get to live that what Q said and then the endless clones make music to please others. And I don't know that in and of itself that's a bad thing, but it is quite often. However, I have made music to please others many times in my life. Who hasn't written a song to impress a girl? I've made dance tracks when the pleasure I get isn't from the song, but seeing the effect it has on people in the club, and most musicians will agree that seeing the effect on others is the true rush of being onstage. I like Deadmau5 a lot, but I think his music is trash. He makes fun of Skrillex for being a moron, but the complexity of Equinox blows away anything mau5 has ever done. Funny isn't it?
Imagine being a sound engineer working in a venue and not caring about the acoustic of the place.
"Hey, it sounds good in theory, but the venue sounds bad..."
That would make for a very short career :)
These videos are incredible 🥲
Great nfo!!!
As a live sound engineer I learned to use my gates to tame that stuff even if the artist doesn't "get it" - almost every style of music eventually ruins the low bass area for live PA work - 40-400hz is a tricky place to fiddle, leave it to the pro's!
3:29 is a kick
Your channel is amazing! So SO many gems! Thank you for doing this
Been hitting these short kicks for awhile now, and learning where the bass set's.
did you put your logo on Duda's laptop? I like that
just thought the same lmao
Lmao nice
It was already there
Yeah, I liked it more than the Apple logo for 8 mins.
Always coming through with these. Thank you man.
🙌👊
very good video man, learned a lot in the last section
thank you for uploading these vids, they are opening my small producer brain.
Great to hear, thanks!
I used to love “Hey Baby” back then…I always loved those dirty distorted saw wave bass lines in like 2006. I remember I saw deadmau5 playing a club way back before he was as famous, and I asked him to play that song and he just shook his head. Now I know why lol
I have so many sample packs but always have to make my own kicks, kicks drive me up the wall in sample packs, you can always tell a kick that is made from a kick generator like Big kick, or kick 2, because there is always a gap between the hit and the sub layer, they’re always so boomy and long, I’ve always found using shorter kicks are so much cleaner for mixes, oliver is good with this too.
That's actually kind of similar to what Ian Kirkpatrick said in a stream once: If you want a sound to be huge and hit bigger, turn down all other sounds in relation to that to make it stand out. And also leave enough headroom on all tracks so you can have space to expand into when you want to go louder. If everything is loud, then in relation to each other everything will be the same loudness and that's the same as everything being quiet. That was really an eyeopener for me. It matters, what the sounds do in relation to each other, not what they do in solo.
This is amazing! Saving this video rn. Starting to grasp the idea that producing is constricting perception.
You make excellent informative videos! Keep going my dude (:
Thanks, planning on it!
"its like drinking after being in the desert." 🤞🔥
haha i fly through samples like that also in fl studio.. when im looking for a certain sound indeed. think when youre producing for a while you become faster in searching for samples
Duda is such a brilliant mind. Thanks for this!
this channel is a blessing
People really don't comprehend how much this man has given to music.
Great tips!
i love the logo on Duda's laptop haha
Gosh where have i seen that before? 😉
The company Balance Mastering has free club soundsystem impulse responses. This could help to approximate the sound of club speakers on studio monitoring / headphone systems.
Great video. I could listen to that dude all day. He seems like he really nerds out on this and that’s right up my alley.
Clever, good watch.. nice editing !
Man I discovered this 6 years ago I feel like a nerd.
Great info,-thx and cheers!
Really loved the added stuff to help us learn thank you 🙏
Glad it was helpful!
A lot of "no duh" yet really profound information in this clip. Just brilliant.
Very, very insightful. Duda is a prod guru.
the full interview of steve duda is super inspiring
I have never used a reverb on a kick… I think I shall. Great video, these always inspire me to get back in.
Happy to hear the videos are inspiring you!
This is so enlightening! Thank you ⛽⛽⛽⛽
That was fucking interesting. Good infos and clean edits. Gg and thanky
Flashcore producers clearly were 20years ahead (almost 30 even, look up Cybermouse - Adrenalin Structure) of everyone else. The concept of sounds being as short as possible is basically the idea behind its inception as La Peste notes in the Flashcore Manifesto. However its not only kicks its literally sonic manipulation at atomic level. IMO the ultimate in electronic music.
Ayyyye that's my sticker on steve's laptop
Ayyo! Welcome to the video
@@SolStateMusic I watch your videos all the time. Great stuff 👍
I didn't know I was using the same deadmau5 method for searching right kick 😂
But years ago I was getting lost in searching or synthesizing the right one.
Now if it sounds good it is the right one, and I go to the next part. 💁♂️😁
Huge value as always
Another great video - I wish I was aware of this when I first started producing, beginner producers take serious note!
bro, why you added your logo on his laptop?
This is really good info, thanks!
great vid, thanks for putting this together
This long kick "debate" wouldn't be a thing if people took in consideration where a music genre is suppose to be play. Big room for exemple is a festival genre (like big room techno or hardstyle), so the kick have that space to live and stay punchy because festival happens outside or in really big space, but playing big room stuff in club doesn't make sense.
DJing culture is progressively being replace by "producer culture" where producer play as DJ without having the knowledge of what DJing is all about (they just play their own track in their own niche genre because it's easier/cheaper than doing a live show), and new producer/DJ see those big name that are great producer, but not all great DJ, but they took them as reference for DJing, and so they don't see why a genre can't be play anywhere and don't apply this knowledge to their production.
I know it's a theory that sound like non sense, but it's a slow thing I notice that happen over a long time period, not just in 2 or 3 years.
i def see where youre coming from, since production is coming more available to people, its the main entry point for new musicians, certainly was for me, and you see the largest 'DJs' who are really producers using large festivals as a circuit to share their music, whereas the art of DJing to a crowd has been left behind. Still, theres something to be said how one skill can be learnt quicker than the other
this makes so much sense and was really interesting to read. I completely see what you mean. Do you think all the producers producing electronic music should work on live performance ? I love both of them to be honest. I think a good FOH monitor Ingeneer can go a long way in making the music being played fit the sound system, for a dj & a live show
Every producer should have strong musical theory knowledge... the basics at least!
@@christiand8243 This isn't really about music theory, it's more a thing of (practical) experience/the context in which somebody makes the music - knowing scales won't help with these kind of things, and lists with all the common settings regarding db's, hz's for each genre and the like won't either
Love this channel!!!!!!
I didn't realise you ran this channel Dylan!
Great video, great channel 😎
this channel is amazing
When a mix and production is what makes music... Genre defined.
this was amazing!!
I have a question: What happens if the style you are producing, the kick is simply the most important part of the song and is simply fastest ?
I'm talking about hardcore or even fastest genres like french or terror.
How do you make space for this?
It depends on the kick you're making even outside of specific sub genres. Pretty much 99% hardcore kicks go like this
Tik - A very short part at the start of the kick that sounds like a "click" or quick "t". Basically, it's the transient that makes the kick pop out.
Tok - This is the first sound that a normal listener will first hear. It's essentially the punch that makes the kick standout. Most mainstream hardcore kicks have a woodblock type of sound. For uptempo, its common to hear a "piep" sound.
Tail - This is the "last" part the listener will hear. For simplicity, it's the "oomph" or bass of the kick. They are either sidechained in or exists in the kick overall (older hardcore kicks did the latter)
These three elements are very important in making a kick. Some kicks might be long and tonal (like an 808 kick) while others might be more bouncy (frenchcore). It depends on what you're aiming for. I'd suggest on getting a kick sample pack (Laur Hardcore Kicks is one) and analyze them. Personally, I think making the tok is the hardest process.
I saw in another video that you shouldn't cut the tail of the kick because you loose the low end frequencies does anyone know more about this?
Kicks are an art. Less kick tail = less low end. But that decision depends on your goal, and genre. Just keep practicing and don't forget to use YOUR ears
This video was uploaded one day ago but I swear I’ve seen this many many years ago, by this I mean this exact Sol
state video
The original clips are from a 3 hour Pyramind video haha
@@SolStateMusic ahh I see
in 7:30 would the reverb on the kick still remain even as the bass comes in? or would the bass fill the low end so that the reverb isn't necessary anymore?
and im guessing that if the reverb on the kick is kept (either big kick or big bass) would the bass have to have less low end or not be as big?
If you're using a reasonable amount of reverb, and a big sub bass, you should be able to keep the verb. Use your ears!
Two great dudes 🙏 A Subpac paired with good headphones gives great results when it comes to the feel and making space in the low end. It cost me around 200 dollars and it was def worth it! In my experience, a sub is kind of a distraction and you don’t really get the kick and sub to interact for a club PA.
Would a subpac cause vibrations audible to my downstairs neighbors? I've avoided butkickers for that reason.
I like how Sol State placed his logo on Duda's laptop lmao
Now I’m getting self conscience about my kick drums xD I changed my way of mixing drums for the new album
Can this be applied to hip-hop/boombap? Just wondering lol good video btw!
I think I needed to hear this more than anyone have been making perfect kicks for 3 years now and always wondering what's stopping the vibe from scaling up systems. I admit I love long kicks, it's a poison.
I love how this somehat contradicts what Fox Stevenson always says. Fox is obsessed about not loosing bass. I say yes you do want to loose bass sometime cause bass rhythm is groovier than wall of bass that happens all the time
I think it's important to bring genre into. In D&B I (and Fox) want max subs, house is more about the groove and space
@@SolStateMusic some kind of dynamics is important though for sure, I have a tune I heard on a system recently that had the same problem as the deadmau5 one; not enough sub dynamics and it’s just a big swimming pool of bass and it loses impact, where as the stuff that I think I have lopped too much out of hits way better! Even just pitch movement in the sub will help you defeat this. I think the emphasis on movement (Steve: wat it dooooo) is super important, wether it comes from gain reduction or freq is dependent on song/style
4:34 Neighbors at 6AM on a sunday be like
I come from rock music, where traditionally nothing is played in clubs, and the kick and bass are eq’ed out of each other’s way. So when they say genre matters, it makes me laugh, cos in rock you can have much longer kicks. In fact, the short transient kicks in dance music really surprised me when I started listening to EDM stuff
if you listen to fast technical metal the kicks are very very clicky, because they get played fast
@@notnoaintno5134 That’s very true, although for different reasons, right? Because those metal kicks have to be a sixteenth note long or shorter because the next hit comes a sixteenth note later.
It might be interesting to note that the fast metal tends to use samples for their kicks, which is less common in other rock and metal genres.
I like the little Fox Stevenson kick there. My mans kicks are somethin else
Great video, the first one was so true!
well i am happy to say that i have always used short kicks from day one
Lol I remember “Hey baby” was bumping that and playing around with my copy of FL studio 7 wondering who deadmow 5 was. I found out about him because he made some of the sytrus patches in FL Studio.
that last tip was insane. so many things clicked there
Great to hear :)
8mins and 8 secs... nice.
Nice solstate sticker on duda's laptop
Love the fact that the video is 8:08 long
Great talk, essential for all kinds of beats. I love to mess with kicks and space making experimental beats. Love the use of sonic artifacts to created the illusion of the boom tearing up the space it is in. Like it hardly fits in the track 😊 it’s all illusion